Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

This didn't quite go to plan yesterday and today: I got to Sydney OK but my bag didn't, scuttling my plans for a Monday night swim (will have to wait until Friday to check out the Coogee baths) or a Tuesday morning run with the Hoggster. My gear eventually turned up and there was a bit of a gap in the conference program in mid-afternoon so I headed out then, for what turned out to be the most intense session I've done in a while - 10x1 minute hill reps on the northern headland of Coogee beach, downhill jog recovery. Was starting to get pretty lactic by the last few and was half-thinking of turning the last couple into flat reps on the waterfront, but was glad I didn't. Good to get this one under my belt.

This is a part of town I've spent very little time in: the only previous time I've been to Coogee was in search of a beachfront shower between the 2005 NOL sprint and the airport. I did, however, know enough about the reputation of a certain local drinking establishment to advise those of my colleagues at the conference from non-rugby states that it was a place known for footballers disgracing themselves by getting into altercations, suffering from minor continence difficulties etc.

I'm not used to being out and about at this time of day, so I think it's the first time for a long time (in a big city anyway) that I've had the chance to witness the standard of driving at school pick-up time. And I thought the drop-off was bad...

Going to/from Coogee from the place I'm staying, which is on top of the Randwick ridge - close to UNSW and a pretty solid climb home.

Perhaps I should add to the 'you know you're an orienteer when' list the thought that when you step onto a university campus for the first time in a long time - I'm pretty sure I haven't been to UNSW since Year 12 - one of the things which immediately comes to mind is how good the place would be for a sprint. (I assume it's been tried but they can't get permission).

Most of the conference presentations I'm interested in are on days other than today, but today's highlight for me was the east coast lows section, in which all four talks featured pictures of the Pasha Bulker (from four different angles).

C • Pasha Bulker 2

Didn't sleep that well last night due to a combination of steamy conditions, tennis (although I only lasted until halfway through the fourth set) and having too much to do before going away. The steaminess was still there this morning as I set out for a bit of a plod around the streets of Eaglemont - as with yesterday, feeling OK at a low intensity but not in a way that filled me with confidence about my ability to handle a higher intensity.

Arrows and various hangers-on long run, from Bridgewater to the Mt Lofty summit and return. Not exceptionally hot (low 20s) but very humid. It was one of those days where I mostly felt reasonably comfortable at the level I was running out - and was pleased with how I was able to lift myself for the big climbs, especially the very steep final climb up to Mt Lofty - but didn't feel like there was another gear there. Bruce and Simon were going a bit faster than I wanted to be (or perhaps could be) going, so I was happy enough to settle in with others for most of it, mostly either Jenny (honeymoon? what honeymoon?) or Lauren. Quads threatened to rebel a bit after the major downhills but ended up OK, and certainly less drained than after recent long runs (probably something to do with the shorter length) - a good thing with 8 1/2 hours on the road ahead of me.

It was nice to have a few days away in Adelaide, the first time I've done this without there being a (significant) orienteering event involved - just good in general to have a few days to relax amongst friends. (I will, however, be hoping not to be making the same journey two months from now - if I am, it will be because I've found it necessary to implement my escape plan for if things get too ugly after the public data set launch, although with some of the intensity having gone out of the issue since the middle of last year that's now a fairly unlikely scenario).

Oddity of the trip home: someone in a spacesuit (or close facsimile thereof) pushing a cart along the side of the road somewhere between Keith and Bordertown. I'm assuming it was being done in the name of raising funds for some cause or other.

I'm back home now for all of one night - in Sydney for a conference during the week, then fly directly out to Geneva on Friday night. Excessive heat is certainly not going to be a problem I'll have to worry about for next weekend's long run: the current forecast for Sunday morning is -14.

C • Spacesuit 4

Moved down to Morphett Vale last night (in a spare Casanova family house, with Tracy and family) to give the newlyweds-to-be their place to themselves. I haven't been to this part of Adelaide before (except quickly through it on the reversing freeway); it looked like an area of suburbia developed in the 1960s (or maybe early 1970s) and frozen in time since. One oddity is that it's a land of heathens - Kingston has the highest percentage of atheists of any Australian federal electorate, something which took me very much by surprise when I saw it - I would have expected it to be one of the Canberra seats, or inner-city Melbourne, Sydney or perhaps Adelaide. (It came up in the context of a discussion of the under-acknowledged role of religion in explaining why outer suburban Sydney and Brisbane swung massively to the Liberals at the last election, while outer suburban Adelaide swung equally massively to Labor, with Melbourne somewhere in between).

The local area didn't look too inspiring for running but the coast looked within range so I headed in that direction. Getting there involved a traverse of industrial land featuring a (defunct) oil refinery and a (defunct) Mitsubishi factory, but once near the water there were some nice views to be had from the top of the coastal escarpment. Didn't have time to get right down to the water. Coming back it was apparent that the house was at almost the highest point of the area, and it was hard work on an increasingly warm and humid morning.

Of course, the real reason we were all there occupied large parts of the rest of the day, and a very nice occasion it was (and a great spot for it). The storms also had the decency to hold off until well after the end of proceedings.

Pool running at Unley - a nice spot for a session in the water on a warm morning (I imagine it gets pretty crowded later in the day), which I did while Jenny and Susanne were swimming. Felt pretty good doing this and didn't get the cramps that have sometimes troubled me in this session of late (possibly because I was coming off a shorter day yesterday than is often the case on Thursdays).

This led into another pleasant day at the cricket (and less crowded than yesterday). I did, however, miss the opportunity to undergo a bit more South Australian cultural assimilation - the pie floater van didn't turn up today.

Summer Series at West Lakes. I don't normally run on Fridays these days and it was still very warm (33-34), which made me wonder how it would go. The answer, as often on hot days, was that I was good for 15-20 minutes - surprisingly so - but then faded out after that. A little off pace throughout before a beach section put paid to any chance of a fast km rate.

SA summer series events offer both line and scatter options. I'd been led to believe that most of the big guns did the long line course, but in fact they mostly opted for the scatter and I was pretty much on my own. Some interesting route choice on some legs - and some pockets of this area would be good for a sprint. 8-9 offered the chance to swim 100 metres or run 800; even for me, I think swimming would have been faster but I don't know if my watch would have survived the journey.

One feature I haven't seen at Melbourne street events: the Aboriginal group congregated on the bench next to #4. They were more friendly and less boisterous than their Canberra counterparts the day before.

Joined various Arrows (and Bruce) as part of the Australia Day run from Brighton to Hallett Cove and return. A coastal track doesn't sound too challenging but this one has a challenging section, from about 4-6k going out, with several gully crossings on stairs which go from 30-40 metres to near sea level and back again in a hurry. That was hard work (in both directions) but quite nice running terrain otherwise. Didn't try to go at the pace that the faster people were going, and felt a bit weak at time - still suspect I'm fighting off a cold - but some good patches too. Not as hot as I thought it might have been.

Various groups were already setting up their Australia Day BBQs/champagne breakfasts on the foreshore. I pointed out to the others that one group still had 11 minutes before they could legally start on the grog (it was an alcohol-free zone from 8pm to 8am) but Bruce pointed out that that particular group looked like they had two or three years before they could legally start on the grog. Such Australia Day gatherings seem to be becoming increasingly popular, although I still prefer the pancake breakfasts everywhere that were a feature of Canada Day the year I witnessed it. (The pancake breakfasts were especially abundant that year because there was a Liberal Party leadership election pending - in Canada all party members get a vote in these - and several of the breakfasts were being run by supporters of the candidates trying to sign up new members).

After that (and a brief cleansing dip in the water) it was off to the Adelaide Oval for a relaxed day after a non-relaxed few weeks. I'll give the Adelaide Oval points (at least relative to the MCG and Docklands) for the variety of their food offerings - I mean, who would have thought there would be a market for curry at an India match?

And, against stiff competition, I think Brighton Beach has the most ridiculous warning sign I've seen anywhere - one warning that there may be soft sand on the beach.

C • I think the MLA and Sam are to blame 1

C • Warning signs 2

250 on/250 off on the Tan in the morning. Definitely not a good session - feel as if I'm on the edge of a cold and had little enthusiasm (the best that could be said is that it was better than the last time I did this session, which was straight after getting off an overnight bus).

Going to/from the Tan.

Hit the road to Adelaide around lunchtime - a trip with a few minor frustrations, some of them involving the eating and drinking departments (an Ararat cafe which I had plans to visit was closed, and I gave up on the pub in Bordertown as a potential dinner spot after nobody appeared at the counter in five minutes; Jenny's assessment of the bleakness of evening eating options in eastern South Australia proved to be on the mark). Other frustrations involved trying to check out the Black Range near Stawell, as the three roads the Vicroads directory showed to get across it from the east side (a) didn't exist (b) ended up at a locked gate and (c) was undriveable, although I did still see enough to think that the area has potential - although perhaps more the private land around than the range itself.

Started from near the Tan and headed out as far as Kooyong before coming back through Toorak, a good place to see real estate no readers of this (except possibly Liggo) are likely to be able to afford. Still grinding a bit; better after the first 10 minutes but this was never a great run, having trouble finding an extra gear to go uphill when it was needed.

Can't say I was hugely surprised by the report today which found that people who flew Australian flags on their cars were more likely to be racist than the broader population.

C • Aussie Flags 10

Did street-O out west tonight because I'll be on the road to Adelaide tomorrow night. It was out at Laverton, a location I know mainly as the home of one of my 112 temperature sites (on the grounds of the RAAF base); the height of the fences outside the area's schools was an indicator that this isn't the best of neighbourhoods (I can understand why the Western Autistic School needs a high fence, not so sure about the other two). It was also a pretty hot night (30 at start time), although with a hint of seabreeze developing during the run.

The main feature of this area is that the freeway and railway line cut through it. We had to drop 6 controls (more than usual) and a number of people decided that the six south of the freeway were the ones to drop, but I'd spotted that there was a set of four on the south side which linked together nicely with each other and with the crossings.

This was the first time I'd tried (for more than 10 seconds) to run fast since the Two Bays. In the first couple of kilometres I hadn't really freed up, but then got into a couple of nice battles where I was gradually pulling in people who were running at a similar speed to me but making small mistakes. I'd just opened up a bit of a break on them when we hit the railway crossing with a train coming - giving me the frustrated feeling that an F1 driver with a decent lead must feel when the safety car comes out. 90 seconds later (I haven't counted this in running time) I got a reasonable jump on the restart and ran a solid last section. Somewhat to my surprise, I saw Bryan behind me at the second-last; less surprisingly, he'd run me down by the exit from the last control and beat me by 20 metres. (It turned out his north-of-the-freeway route was a kilometre longer).

Not a terrible run, but on a flat area I'd want to be faster than this, even given the heat. It will be my last one of these for a month so maybe in March?

The drive there took me past Melbourne's most unfortunate billboard juxtaposition. The first one is a large Worksafe ad featuring a sad-looking girl saying "Where's daddy?'. Immediately behind that is an equally large billboard for a King Street strip club.

Fairly relaxed swim at North Melbourne, mostly trying to work stiffness out. Sun glare a bit of a nuisance at times but that's an outdoor pool in summer for you.

First MFR Monday night of the year, from Ilka and Vanessa's in Parkville; it was also the hottest run I've done this year. Took the reasonably usual route from here up around Royal and Princes Parks with some minor variations. In the first half felt OK but unable to get beyond a plod, but when the pace picked up a bit in the second half when it was just Kez and I it felt a bit better. Shouldn't be too upset after a big day yesterday.

After a rough week I'd definitely have taken this performance had I been offered it at 7.45 this morning, a start time determined by the juggling act between wanting to get a reasonable amount of sleep, wanting to run before it got too hot and wanting to watch the Norwich-Chelsea match from last night before doing so. It wasn't as good as the New Year's Day run (and was definitely slower than Bruce's run from last week), but was a good steady accumulation of kilometres, starting out east to Ruffeys Lake via the river and then doing a big semicircle as far west as Kew. Not an especially hilly run but felt reasonable on the hills which were there, in very marked contrast to most other runs this week (especially Wednesday night).

No real signs of tiring until 2.20, but once I started to fade I started to fade quickly (I won't blame stopping to have a quick chat with Cracker about 10 minutes earlier), and was hanging on at the very end. The reason why became apparent when I hit the scales before stepping in the shower - 5 kilos lighter than at the same time yesterday, presumably mostly lost in the course of the run (I guess that's one way to get one's weight into the 60s). Not sure why I lost quite so much fluid on a morning that was a bit warm and a bit humid but hardly exceptional in either respect (23/16), and surprised it didn't hit me harder earlier.

I'd still like to be able to hit 2.30 a bit more convincingly than is happening at the moment. At least heat or fluid replacement are not going to be concerns the next time I try, in Geneva two weeks from now if things go to plan.

Romantic of the day: the Norwich supporter who proposed to his girlfriend via the PA system at half-time of the Norwich-Chelsea match. I haven't heard what the answer was.

Starting to get back to something closer to normal, although still a bit slower than usual and didn't test myself particularly hard, staying on the river flats for the most part before coming back through Ivanhoe. The Achilles, which has been pretty good for the last 10 days or so, was a bit touchy today. Rather humid but cloudy until early afternoon; hopefully tomorrow is the same.

In the pool. Reasonably relaxed for most of it but starting to be troubled by cramps towards the end. Starting to feel better generally (although working until almost 11 tonight may not be the best thing for continued recovery; I'm very much in need-to-get-this-done-before-leaving mode) - am hoping for some signs of improvement running tomorrow.

My ambitions were scaled back considerably from a normal Thursday. By normal standards it was an ordinary run but by the standards of this week it was modest progress, although still decidedly weak on the (few) hills. Good to explore the Banyule Flats singletrack again; not so good to see someone doing burnouts and fishtails at a back-street roundabout at 7.30 on a Thursday morning. (Down on the Peninsula they have an easy-to-remember number to report such people but I'm not sure what the northern suburbs equivalent of 1800 NO HOON is).

Tweet of the day: "The Wikipedia blackout presents a horrifying picture of a world with no knowledge. So does the Fox News website, which is running normally."

Street-O at Mooroolbark, far enough into the outer fringes that we started next to the premises of the local branch of the CWA and were in territory where main roads don't necessarily have footpaths on both sides. (There was also some evidence of an elevated local bogan concentration, most notably the two shopping trolleys hanging off the fence west of 12).

This is starting to get rather frustrating. I feel better during the day than I have for the last couple (and have been eating properly for a couple of days now), but am still turning to mush when I attempt to run. A jog was as much as I could manage tonight. More frustrating was that tonight, instead of conceding 400-500 metres on route choice like last week when I was running well, I was the one who gained it, on a night when all it did was cut the margin from nine minutes to seven.

Started out with the thoughts of attempting to do something faster. It was fairly obvious in the first 10 minutes that that wasn't going to be happening and it turned into another easy and shortish run; still felt weak but not as ghastly as yesterday. Also wanted to be watchful for dehydration given the warm conditions - definitely a good thing that the change will have gone through by tomorrow afternoon. (I'm not sure if I'll run fast tomorrow night - will leave a decision on that until closer to the time - but should at least jog).

It's beginning to look as if a reasonable chunk of this week may be something of a write-off for training, which is annoying.

I may have had worse runs but I'm struggling to remember one - didn't feel too bad when I got up but quickly weak and listless on the run, especially when it came to any sort of incline. Not horrendously stiff. Became a little less bad towards the end. No doubt a lack of fuel had a fair bit to do with this - as of this morning I still hadn't eaten a lot post-yesterday (a deficiency I've been making up since, hopefully with some results tomorrow).

After a tough day I do like to do something, to loosen myself up if nothing else; would rather have been swimming but my illness ruled that out.

Two Bays Trail Run. The die was cast on this one sometime around the middle of Saturday afternoon when I started to feel rather out of sorts, and I knew something was fairly seriously wrong when I didn't feel remotely like eating when out for dinner with Jenny and George and only just got through a not terribly large plate of pasta.

I also slept very badly, but felt sort of better when I got up and was good enough on the warm-up that I thought I'd at least start and see how it went. Was pleasantly surprised on the first (and largest) climb, maintaining a steady grinding rhythm in a place when many others were walking, but by 10k it was starting to become like hard work; my original race strategy was to start conservatively and then wind it up in Greens Bush from 12k onwards if I thought I had something in reserve, but by then it didn't look like I was going to have much in reserve. Still kept plugging away through this section which doesn't have much in the way of meaningful climbs, but it was always on the cards that I was going to run out of fuel eventually, and it happened somewhere around the Boneo Road crossing. Jase (who'd started in the second wave 10 minutes behind) went through me here, and it was a real battle to make it to the finish from here, walking some pretty modest rises and sort-of-jogging the rest. Found something in the last few hundred metres to try to get under my time from last year, but ended up 20 seconds short.

The hour after finishing was awful. Evetually I decided to see if I could keep a banana down, a question which was emphatically answered in the negative. Actually felt a bit better after this and was up to eating sort-of-properly by lunchtime (although I'll still be surprised if I make it past 9pm tonight).

I've now done the Two Bays twice, once coming off an injury and once sick. One of these years I might actually be able to race it properly; 'one of these years' now means 2014 (or later) because I'll be in NZ this time next year. 2012 does have the useful function that when things are tough in a long race this year - not that I'll be running as many of them as usual because I'm IOF Event Adviser for the Australian Long Championships - I'll be able to think 'well, I did manage to finish Two Bays'.

C • After all that effort... 8

The main purpose of the early parts of today's run was to remind me that I need to do a good warm-up tomorrow - if I hit the Arthurs Seat climb feeling the same way that I did after the first kilometre today the outcome doesn't bear thinking about. It did improve a bit after that, although still numerous random bits of soreness and a fairly mediocre effort all round.

A reasonably relaxed session after a reasonably proper night's sleep for the first time in a while. A bit of cloud cover was enough to make Fitzroy a lot less frenetic than it has been the last couple of visits.

It takes some doing, but the Citizens Electoral Council have reached new heights of loopiness. I seem to have found myself on their e-mail list and got a missive today headed: "Isherwood: Anglicans side with Satan, Prince Philip to destroy Murray-Darling Basin food bowl". An impressive effort even by CEC standards. (There must be fewer wackos on the other side of the border because a couple of elections ago, a CEC Senate candidate in South Australia got one vote in the entire state, presumably his own).

The novelty of today was that it wasn't in the morning - I'd had an international teleconference at 1am which meant that getting up at 5.15 to run would be stretching it (as it was I got up at 7 and didn't really feel awake until about 10, which is most unlike me). The greater novelty was that it was the first time I've run home from work in our present office location (I did it once when we were on the other side of the CBD) - this requires a certain amount of pre-planning for the logistics.

It wasn't a direct route (that's about 16k but involves going along or crossing a lot of busy roads). Instead I headed along the Yarra (choosing the south bank where it was an option rather than the north, which at going-home time has its share of Cadel-wannabes), as far up as the Walmer Street bridge - a big advantage of this route at peak hour is an hour's running with no road crossings. Would have liked to have kept going further upriver but that would have made the run longer than I wanted - keeping it to two hours today was a concession to Two Bays coming up and the fragmented sleep last night - so instead headed north through Yarra Bend, Fairfield and the west side of Ivanhoe.

The run never sparkled but I got close to achieving what I want to be achieving out of a long run, that of feeling much the same after 120 minutes as after 20 - only in the last 10 minutes did I tire significantly. Not for the first time this month, a bit awkward on the small hills but reasonably strong on the bigger ones (notably Walmer Street).

From Surrey Hills in the name of positioning myself for tonight (a better option than it used to be because, as I discovered, there are now trains that go express from Surrey Hills all the way to Richmond). From there one of the nicest running areas in suburban Melbourne, Blackburn Lake and its surrounding streets, is within range and it was there to which I headed.

The run was very slow indeed for the first 10 minutes - just struggling to move, although the Achilles has been going OK lately. Settled after that but never sparkling, just a steady accumulation of distance.

The dark clouds were building to the south towards the end, in preparation for a reasonably impressive summer cold outbreak (although in reality snow on the peaks is something which happens at least once in most summers, and a maximum of 19.0 is not really extraordinary - in 1983, the Ash Wednesday summer, there was a run of nine days in mid-January when it only reached 20 once).

And, much to the annoyance of Melbourne's (commercial) radio listeners, the city's most annoying advertisers, Chris and Marie's Plant Farm (which went bust in November), appears to have risen from the ashes. Readers are invited to nominate other businesses whose bankruptcy would be of benefit to the airwaves (I'll start the ball rolling with National Tiles).

C • Nominations 17

Street-O at Valley Reserve. Easily my best street event of the season physically - was in a good rhythm by 2k and held it all the way to the end, and was even reasonably strong on the hills. (The cool conditions helped). It was a pity I made a mess of the route choice, dropping 14 and 16 rather than 10 and 13 and dropping 400 metres to Bruce - without that the five-minute gap would have been three, which would have been the closest I've been to him in a street event for a while. A couple of slightly adventurous controls (one near a creek, one on a rocky creek crossing) which slowed things down a bit.

Didn't get as much sleep as I would have liked (not the last time I'll be saying that this week) and was still pretty sleepy for my first hour up, which extended into the start of this run. Started to get going a bit in the second half and at least managed to get into single figures for the final loop.

On the way back I spotted a vacant business in Burgundy Street with a rather ambitious real estate sign 'surrounded by Australia's leading businesses'. I'm sure Shield's Stamps and Coins and Australian Home Brewing will be flattered (although there is a TAB a few doors up).

And spotted in today's Herald-Sun: a vox pop with Luke Poland, who sensibly declined to be outraged on the Herald-Sun's outrage du jour, allegedly high petrol prices. I'm amazed they printed it.

Morning swim at Fitzroy. Again more crowded than usual, despite the lack of a 40-degree day or a public holiday, and this time the crowds were a problem because of people who variously turned around in mid-lane without seeing what was coming the other way, pushed off to start a lap as someone faster than them was just about to turn, or stopped and started again repeatedly in mid-lane. Normally we don't get three of these a year at Fitzroy, let alone three on the same morning. Not a bad swim when others weren't getting in the way. Flat bike tyre was a bit of an annoyance.

A fairly unspectacular lunchtime run around the Tan, though showing some decent signs on the hill - something I'll want to see more of because there is a big hill coming up on Sunday.

A tough week coming up outside of training: I'm still at work at 10 tonight, expect to be again tomorrow night, and then have a 1am teleconference on Wednesday night. (The last of these means my Thursday run will be in the late afternoon instead; fortunately the forecast is friendly).

As some of you will have heard, Cassie broke her arm when she fell on ice at a street event in Oslo last week. Perhaps it's a bit of a family curse when it comes to urban events, since it happened seven years, almost to the day, since I did myself roughly the same injury in roughly the same way (except that it involved wet rather than icy pavement) in New Zealand.

The official training camp finished on Saturday (with several decamping to the Dederang picnic races), but a few of us stayed on to the Sunday and took on Kangaroo Crossing. I haven't been here since 2005 and was interested to see the changes, especially after some less-than-favourable reports from the training camp. In general the verdict seems to be that the western half of the map is still tough, but fine; the eastern third (which was always the greenest part of the map) is very thick now, and the slope in between is still just about manageable, but tough going. There's been quite a bit of new growth of cypress pine on the lower slopes, which cuts the visibility but only has a moderate impact on runnability; further up a lot of cypress pine seems to have fallen over in a storm or similar and new growth has come up between it, turning light green into medium (at best). Not that it was ever a fast area: I did 8.5 min/km there in 2000 and that was enough to win a selection trial with room to spare.

It rained solidly through the early morning; not much fell while we were running but the ground and forest was still wet. Much happier with my navigation than yesterday, both in the planning and execution (a 30-second mistake at 2 while I was still getting into the map as it now is, otherwise good). Struggling to get much momentum in the bush although this was a bit below race intensity; in particular I don't think I was as aggressive in taking advantage of the intermittent 20-metre openings in the rougher stuff as I'd hope to be in a race. A tough first half with lots of climbing, opened up more on the second half.

Good to get a weekend like this under my belt - if only as a reminder that I'll need a bit of technical training before the first lot of NOL events (something for which I'll have only one available weekend after returning from Geneva). Also nice to have a weekend which was devoted almost entirely (other than driving) to the four activities depicted on my WMOC-acquired T-shirt (running, eating, sleeping and orienteering).

In other news, there's been a complaint about the allegedly improper walking style of a participant in the power walking class in Melbourne street-O. As my only official position in Victoria is chair of the bush orienteering sub-committee, and Melbourne street-O is probably not high on the priority list of the IOF Foot Orienteering Commission, I think I can safely consider this to be Someone Else's Problem.

C • improper walking style 11

First stage of today's squad training camp activities at Rowdy Flat - thinking I should be fresh relatively to everyone else coming off a hard day yesterday but it didn't seem quite to be working like this. Lots of navigational rust was evident - no technical fluency and going from point to point rather than with a good plan - but only once did it cost me much time. On that occasion I was wondering if I'd found a local magnetic anomaly because the compass seemed to be misbehaving when I was trying to relocate - and then I realised I'd brought my Northern Hemisphere compass by mistake.

It was warm, although not ridiculously hot, but another hazard of summer was very much in evidence - grass seeds. If nothing else this is good practice for Easter in Queensland.

Second stage of the Rowdy Flat training and this time it was a shocker - a major parallel error at 3 costing me several minutes, then finding a route to 5 which seemed to involve clambering up and down just about every erosion gully in the place - not that the map suggested there was much better around. Hard to get myself going again after that, around Matt Parton for a while but couldn't hold onto him at the end.

Sprint O training at the former university campus in Beechworth, re-running the course from the 2003 carnival event (which wasn't yet an official Australian Sprint Championships). It was a bit disconcerting at times running a sprint on a non-ISSOM map (most significantly that dark green was used for both thick vegetation and garden beds), but technically this was OK except for not noticing as early as I might have that one control was on the far side of an uncrossable wall, losing maybe 10-15 seconds.

Felt weak at the start, better from the second control onwards but still outrun by Jim, and later Bryan. About 90 seconds slower than I did in 2003.

Jogging to/from the campus from the caravan park, feeling ordinary in both directions.

For the second time in two days encountered the police, this time to be diverted around what I presume was a crash on the way to the pool. Once at the pool a nice morning to be in, but didn't always seem to be making a lot of progress in the water.

Heading up to the training in NE Victoria over the weekend: I hadn't been sure whether there was going to be enough happening to be worth my while coming to, or whether I would be sufficiently on top of work to get away, but it's a yes on both counts (tentatively so in the latter case).

At this time of year you take advantage of nice mornings when you can find them. This was a run which seemed promising at times (and the hills were better than they have been in most recent runs), but a lot of it was a slog. Headed east as far as the east end of Doncaster, back along the Koonung trail, which meant most of the climbing was in the first half.

Biggest excitement for the run was towards the end with police converging on the west end of the Manningham Road bridge (hosting a massive-by-January-standards traffic jam). I hoped (from the point of view of getting through on foot) that it was a prang rather than a crime and it was (and there was nothing on the news so presumably nobody died). It was a head-on which seems odd on a dual carriageway, but there was a third car pulled up so I'm guessing what happened was that car 1 collided with car 2, which spun around and was then hit by car 3.

A Richmond base for the day as a result of tonight's street-O location, and decided to make use of the time of year to do something that was vaguely familiar in my days in Albert Park but not something I'd normally consider now because of traffic, south through Como and Toorak, back via the path under the Monash Freeway.

A major interest of this run was the weather; the change was making its way through, and while it's a standing joke amongst meteorologists that all newsworthy hail is the size of golf balls, some of the raindrops seemed to be almost as big as golf balls. The run itself was nothing special, although improved in the last 20 minutes. Achilles so-so.

This was the preparation for a big media day (release of our annual climate statement). Scoreboard for the day is ABC News 24, Weather Channel, Daily Telegraph, Australian, Courier-Mail, 3AW, MTR, 2UE. The last six of these all had the potential to go pear-shaped, but the radio slots were fine and the News Limited journos were OK to talk to, although we'll have to wait and see what appears in print. Most of the rabid shock-jocks and their print counterparts are on holidays.

Street-O at Burnley, the first time I've done an event here (although it's certainly familiar ground for other reasons), on an evening which had become ideal for running by the time we started. (Next week also looks cool, although not as cool as it looked on the forecast issued this afternoon - a glitch somewhere resulted in a forecast maximum for next Wednesday of -20 for every place in Victoria).

It's rarely a good sign at these events when you find yourself on your own going to the first control. I spent most of the first half thinking I'd botched the route choice horribly - by definition any street-O route that involves a crossover is suboptimal - but most others botched it worse. Felt as if I couldn't make my legs move fast (or uphill on the few uphills) and was pursued by several who were running faster than me but making more mistakes. Got more into it in the last couple of kilometres, and ended up with my fastest km rate for a while, as I should have done in ideal conditions on a fairly flat map.

8x400 on a 2.5 minute cycle at Clifton Hill. A good session to use for a warm morning and it's not surprising that I got off to a less slow start than I did in Geneva, but unlike Geneva I stopped getting faster from the fourth rep onwards. Lacking a bit of mental intensity this morning.

It must be the season of goodwill: on entering the track precinct I saw a woman with a dog and pointed out to her that it was supposed to be on a leash (apart from anything else, I've had issues here in the past with dogs getting in the way on the track). She complied gracefully - although a contributing factor was that someone who I presumed to be her partner was doing sprints too.

Warm up/down for the interval session.

Too much of a chip off the old block department: a friend who's a union organiser found her daughter looking up the Children's Services Award, trying to find out how much she should be paid for doing jobs around the house during the holidays.

Definitely the morning after the day before - albeit for different reasons to those experienced by a lot of people approximately 24 hours earlier. Very stiff through the first 10 minutes, but loosened up after that into a reasonably normal Monday run (except for the fact that it was in the morning - certainly wouldn't have fancied going in the evening tonight on a 40-degree day), starting from near the Fitzroy pool and out into Yarra Bend.

You'll be shocked to hear that the building works which have blocked one of the paths near Dights Falls, which were supposed to be finished in mid-2011, are still in progress (using 'in progress' in the sense of 'not yet finished').

Unsurprisingly, with such a hot day in prospect (and with the delayed public holiday opening shunting the usual early-morning crowd back a couple of hours), Fitzroy pool was rather busy, although nowhere near as crowded as I expect it was this afternoon. Fortunately those in my lane seemed to be much the same speed (or lack thereof) so the numbers didn't cause any issues, at least for me. Started out OK but drifted out of it by the second half.

Random fact of the day: the inventer of Velcro was a Swiss who got his inspiration from the burrs which stuck to his trousers when walking in the forests around Lausanne. Potential WOC 2012 participants should consider themselves warned.

Sights of the ride from work back to near the pool (where my car was):

(1) a (probably inebiriated) taxi passenger next to me at some traffic lights in Docklands was taking a vast number of photos of this crazy person who was riding on a 40-degree night (the photos are probably on Facebook by now if you know where to look).

(2) someone skateboarding down a footpath in Carlton while in the act of eating an ice-cream. (This still has some way to go to match the multi-tasking feat of someone I saw on a bike last week, who was using one hand to hold the handlebars, the other to hold a bag of shopping, and was talking on a mobile phone which he was holding between his head and his shoulder).

(3) a family sitting under a tree in the Exhibition Gardens near a parked car with the bonnet up, presumably waiting for the RACV. Not a great day for it to happen.

C • Cars expiring on a hot day 5

C • Bike multitasking 1

Where did this one come from?

With hot weather forecast several days ahead, I decided not to attempt to get to midnight on New Year's Eve for the first time since I was a small child (discounting 1989/90, when I was flying back from North America and went in and out of 1990 three times before settling into it for the duration) - a decision which was made easier by a lack of alternative offers.

Nevertheless, I expected this run to be a battle - as regular readers will know, I've been struggling with my long runs in the last few weeks, the conditions were challenging (the forecast morning cloud failed to appear, although it didn't heat up quite as quickly as I'd feared and was mostly in the mid-20s), and I didn't have any company this time for the first time in a few Sundays. Knowing the distance would be quite challenging enough, I didn't add anything else to the degree of difficulty and plotted a course which was mostly either near the Yarra or in leafy suburbs (down to the Studley boathouse, then east to Camberwell).

The Achilles was a minor nuisance but by the first drinks stop, 35 minutes in, things were feeling quite encouraging, but it was the second hour which was the special part of this run - totally in the zone, something which occasionally happens on a long run in the cooler months but it's a long time since I've experienced it in summer. It wasn't until after the two-hour mark that fatigue started to set in at all, but only modestly so, nothing like the can-I-squeeze-out-another-five-minutes stuff of recent Sundays.

This was a very encouraging start to the year and should build my confidence on a number of levels, both with respect to distance and (relative) heat.

There were plenty of runners (and walkers, and cyclists) out early - I obviously wasn't the only person to think that the middle of the day was worth avoiding. Very few cars which is a good thing - you can't really count on the sobriety of drivers at 7 on New Year's morning.