Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

My goals for this race were over almost before it started when I blew 5 minutes on the first control, a dodgy vegetation boundary. I missed 4 a little as well and it was in danger of turning into a total disaster, but from there it was much better as I got into the map (by the last quarter I could even recognise charcoal burning grounds without controls on them). Worked hard through some steep stuff in the middle and then had a second wind around the spectator control. I was around Jeroen Hoeckx for much of the way - I thought I might have caught him but he'd caught me (the running numbers were in reverse order). Lost it again on 27 and 28 with one-minuters on both.

The one positive today was that I didn't drop my bundle and ran the race quite strongly, but I am still losing far too much time in the circle - I haven't come to terms with the vegetation mapping enough to use it effectively for relocation (and in many areas there is little else). There have been seven mistakes this weekend bigger than my worst of the Australian season to date. Ended up 16th in a field which I'd rate as being of similar strength as an Australian NOL field (but with more stragglers); again a decent run would have seen me seventh or eighth.

I feel better tonight than I would after a normal Easter Sunday, which may be because I had no meetings to go to and could therefore join my Spanish roommates in a siesta. There was a bit of background noise from what appeared to be the Belgian Car Doof Doof Championships in the local shopping centre car park.

C • Steep stuff 2

Event: 3 Days of Belgium 2008
 

First day of the Belgian 3 Days, in fairly typical flattish continental terrain - vague with lots of vegetation changes. Also a bit of depression detail (probably war relics).

Too many mistakes today, about 8 minutes in total. The worst was on 6, a short leg in the depressions and green. I took off without a proper plan and paid for it to the tune of 3.5 minutes. Also lost time in vague low-vis country at 20. All in all useful for getting used to the demands of this terrain before tomorrow. Placed 15th - without mistakes it would have been about 7th or 8th.

Running OK if not brilliant. Quite a warm day for this time of year (mid 20s), and also had one of those multi-split-second connection journeys without which no trip to Europe is complete, finishing in a sprint 200 metres dozn the road with full pack to make the last bus to the event.

Arrival day in Holland. No running - Friday is a scheduled rest day anyway. Spent a bit of time doing as the Dutch do and riding a bike, not very fast (it was a not very good rental bike, but you don't need anything more on Dutch paths). Slept a fair bit on the plane and generally in good shape on day one.

Yesterday had two good runs but today was ordinary - almost felt as if I was jet-lagged except that I haven't actually got on the plane yet. (This emphasised that much of what feels like jet lag is actually lack of sleep - something that I definitely have been experiencing in the last few nights). Felt rather sluggish most of the time and almost sleepy at times, doing the rounds of the streets of Ivanhoe and Heidelberg. Calf tighter than it has been for some time.

I'm about to leave for my latest trip - mainly a work trip to Holland but I'll be making a side trip to Belgium on the weekend for the Belgian 3-Day (it's a long weekend). It may be one of the physically tougher multi-days I've done for a while as it's the first one I've done since 1992 without a middle-distance day (the three days are 13, 14 and 11 km), although the climb is only about 2% so it may be pretty fast. It looks like a large elite field but I don't recognise many of the names other than the leading Belgians.

I've managed to avoid Holland on all my previous European travels in recent memory; my only time there was as a young child when we were living for a year in London. On that occasion, I must have been listening to my parents discussing one of Amsterdam's more notorious industries because I proudly announced to my (presumably embarrassed) grandmother that I'd seen a sex shop.

Insides still not quite right, but it doesn't seem to be affecting my running at all (other than resulting in additional contributions to greenhouse gas emissions). A nice session based on the Yarra at Studley Park; a little muddy and slippery in places after evening rain which added to the fun.

A landmark at the start of the Eastern Freeway for a long time was an old clothing factory with a big sign 'Buy Australian - If We Don't Who Will?'. Obviously no-one did because it's in the process of being demolished and turned into apartments.

C • That sign was there where I... 1

One of the nicest lunchtime sessions I can remember for a long time - hit a good rhythm early and kept it most of the way. A pity there wasn't a race today (especially as the Tan is in a slightly better state than it has been for the last few weeks).

Had to squeeze this one in between a couple of Queensland TV interviews - our Queensland person made some rather misinterpreted comments and then fled the state. I made some follow-up comments and will now flee the country.

A bit of a stomach upset this morning and therefore a little apprehensive about this run, but it wasn't too bad. Felt quite lively, certainly more so than on recent attempts to run fast, but still slower than I'd like to be (9.23).

Morning session at Northcote. Felt slow after another night with less sleep than I'd like (got home pretty late last night), but wasn't as slow as it felt.

I was a bit surprised to see a job ad in the education section of today's 'Age' for a teaching position in Wangaratta, headed 'CHAPLAIN/RAVE MUSIC'. On closer inspection the RAVE goes with Chaplain, not Music (I think it stands for Religious and Values Education or something to that effect). Some would suggest that if they were really looking for someone with expertise in rave music then chemistry might be a more appropriate second string to the bow.

Regular MFR Monday night session from Nicola's place; as is often the case for these sessions, it started very slowly but then picked up a bit in pace as it went on. Felt very comfortable and smooth for a lot of it. We failed to find Dion's car (stolen last week), despite diverting through some of the more industrial bits of Northcote, a reasonably common dumping ground for such objects. I wouldn't have thought his car was an obvious target for thieves, but after the incident some years ago when the Goddard's old Tarago was stolen (presumably by a very large group of joyriders) I guess anything's possible.

On mentioning that I was heading for Belgium shortly I was advised by the others to stay out of basements (this being prompted by a discussion of recent goings-on in Austria). I didn't realise that the exploits of Marc Dutroux were so well-remembered in this country (I was in Europe at the time that happened so heard much more about it). I have no plans to visit any basements in Belgium (unless someone puts a control in one, and as there are no sprint events I suspect that is unlikely).