Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

NSW Long Championships. Found out before the start that Julian wasn't running, which turned this into a potentially winnable race. As noted before in these pages the NSW Championships is one of only two state championships I've never won at senior levels, and opportunities are quickly running out.

They will have one more year to run out because I didn't win this one either, thanks mainly to a slowish start which saw Hoggster come close to catching me at 9. I got two route choices wrong, not dropping on 2 and dropping on 8 (an excellent leg), losing about a minute apiece, and was also a bit on the slow side, although my fine navigation was much better than yesterday. Missed 20-30 seconds on 12, not long before the map change, and thought Hoggster might get me, but he didn't. By this stage my running was going pretty well and I settled into a good stretch through the map change, only to be interrupted by losing 2 minutes at 15. (I don't think it was in the right place (and neither did anyone else on our course), but it ultimately had no effect on the placings). This was slightly rattling but things soon got back under control, and my last quarter was excellent - as strong as I've felt at the end of a long race for ages (which probably indicates that I didn't get my pace judgement quite right). Might have caught Ben if it had been an 18k race, but it wasn't, so had to settle for second place and fastest on the second map :-)

Ben 99, me 101, Hoggster 103, Rob 104.

I'm still getting my race judgement sorted out but this will do me good, and I think running a half-marathon next weekend will do so too. Australian Long Championships and WMOC are the main targets from here.

It was a cold day (although pleasant for running out of the wind); when my fingers have thawed out I'll have a report to write on how Australia is having its hottest August on record.

C • 4

Event: NSW Middle and Long Distance Champs
 

NSW Middle Champs at Burngoogoo, 5th. A rather scrappy run, perhaps not surprising as it's the first time I've been in technical terrain for a long time - fine navigation in the circle was a bit of a trouble spot. Also lacking power on the steeper climbs, although flowing OK elsewhere. Ground abit slippery in places but not as wet as had seemed likely (although the organisers got collected by a thunderstorm when packing up).

This was my first run in new shoes; still getting the lace tightness right.

Julian 34, Shep 37, Ben 41. Could see 40 with a good run but probably not a lot faster.

Swim at Ivanhoe. Seemed a bit better than in recent times, although a bit of left shoulder soreness at one stage.

Noticed on a look at the rankings yesterday that I'm currently 8th (and only 4 points behind Ryan in 7th). This is the highest I've been for several years from memory (and higher than I really deserve to be), and might creep up a bit more if I run well this weekend (small strong fields are often good for getting good scores, especially if someone has a bad run). Suspect it will drop again once we hit nationals though, especially given the depth of the field (apparently the top 13 ranked are all running, plus Runo, Shep and, for the sprint, Troy are in the mix).

Reasons to go to NSW Championships #1: not to be in Melbourne when there's a Jehovah's Witnesses convention in town.

C • jovo's 2

Headed out from near work out north-west as far as the vicinity of the Afton Street bridge on the Maribyrnong at Essendon. I thought I might be able to get further round the river but couldn't without going a fair way into the suburbs, so there were some meanderings at the front end before returning along the river (where the tide was just as high as it was yesterday). Never really able to get my legs moving on this run; I hope it wasn't an effect of yesterday's race as I would want to be able to go faster than that (and recover better).

I should have taken my phone with me: returned to messages from several journalists.

Morning session from home into Bulleen and North Balwyn, clear morning with a rather icy wind (at least by the standards of the non-winter of 2009). Didn't get a great run with the traffic (and it wasn't the nicest of mornings to be standing around). Felt reasonably smooth much of the way but not especially quick. Achilles, which has been improving slowly, went very tight on the final climb home, but no obvious lasting effects.

The winds from yesterday's front weren't as dramatic as advertised except in the outer eastern suburbs, but one consequence of the windfield and the low pressure has been to set up one of the more impressive storm surges I've seen in the bay and the tidal reaches of the rivers. Long stretches of the Moonee Ponds Creek trail under Citylink were inundated (not just the underpass which is a common trouble spot) and the water was probably only 5-10cm short of spilling over onto the lower-lying parts of Docklands between the NAB building and Newquay. I'm told parts of the Main Yarra Trail also went under. I haven't been able to find any sea level data for the bay, but Stony Point (Westernport) peaked around 0.85m above normal tidal levels.

Update on the trackworks: some, but not all, of it was done last night - I moved into the back room and slept through it without any dramas. Hopefully they'll get the rest done soon (if I'm really lucky it will happen on one of the nights when I'm out of town, but that seems unlikely).

First foray onto the Tan for the season - this time with a Bureau team in the Corporate Cup for the first time in a few years, including our new star recruit. Got dropped at the start but my 500m split wasn't terrible, and got into a nice rhythm after that, particularly on the hill. Also had people to chase most of the way which helps. A bit scrappy across the top with traffic (both pedestrian and vehicle) but lost a few seconds at most. Hints of a stitch on the later downhills. Not a bad day for it, with the wind not as much of a factor as I had thought it might be.

I'd want to be under 13.30, and hopefully will be sometime in the next couple of attempts as I build towards the championships season, but this is still better than anything I did in the autumn which is progress. Km splits 3.33, 3.42 (uphill), 3.35, 3.32.

My Bureau record is no more: Chris Bridge ran 12.14, taking a single second off my time from 1997.

Going to/from the Tan.

Hit the track for the first time since returning for an intervals session - 8 x 400 on a 2.5 minute cycle. Fairly standard pace for the first part (coming down progressively 1 second per rep as I usually do) but couldn't take it down below 79 which was a bit disappointing. A little bit of wind but nothing of any significance (compared with what was forecast for later in the day, anyway). Felt reasonable without being really sharp.

Warm up/down for the intervals session. While I was driving to Clifton Hill the phone rang. I rang back when I stopped - it was 3AW (not sure where they got my mobile number from, and given that they have form for calling people at extremely early hours I'm not sure I'm too happy about the fact that they have it). They said no problem, we've got someone else - Stewart Franks (a well-known climate change sceptic).

I managed to restrain myself from uttering any naughty words to the producer.

C • What defines a "climate change sceptic"? 2

A morning session starting near the Fitzroy pool because I'm otherwise engaged in the evening. Felt rather stiff and sore for a lot of the way but picked up in the last 15 minutes. Probably reasonably normal for a Monday morning.

The Merri path is finally open again, seven months after the major works were finished on the Clifton Hill rail bridge - a statistic which tells you everything that needs to be said about how much priority cyclists and pedestrians get in transport project planning. At least it's got some attractive new signs now.

Not a good weekend for the sporting causes I supported: Australian cricket (lost), Essendon (lost), Canberra Raiders (lost), Wallabies (lost), Mark Webber (didn't score a point) and Australian orienteering (OK, but not what we might have hoped for). Just as well for Dani Samuels and Steve Hooker.

Second leg of the Monday triathlon. Again couldn't really get going. Some quite heavy showers came through during this session, but I was happy that they happened while I was in the pool and not while riding to work afterwards.

Spent the rest of the day keeping track of the vast number of August temperature records that either had been broken or were broken during the day in more northern parts, by up to five degrees in places. In terms of statistical improbability this is the equivalent of getting to 49 or thereabouts in Melbourne in summer.

C • 49 or thereabouts 1