Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Today's plan was to run the WOC 2011 middle distance final course, and hopefully do it in a faster time than Peeter Pihl (and perhaps a few others). One thing I certainly didn't expect was to find that there was an event on (probably using the relay map from where the start area was and where I saw other orienteers in the forest). I was tempted to see if I could run in it - it seemed a fairly small local affair from the turnout - but was keen on the WOC course, plus I hadn't brough competition gear like SI stick and control description holder (and that pesky French medical certificate rule might have got in the way too).

After a jog to the start to warm up it was into the course, and for the first six controls it was going pretty well - just one small time loss at 3 where I couldn't find the peg (most, but not all, of the control sites still had red pegs in the ground). I already knew that 7 was an 'oh my god how do they do this leg', was in control for 90% of it and then messed it up in the circle to the tune of a couple of minutes. That was annoying, but then things came horribly unstuck - I couldn't get to grips with how the big rock and steeper ground was mapped at all, and also probably underestimated the difficulty of 8 which looked like it was at the end of a long flat ridge. I couldn't make anything fit and ended up bailing out to the track to the northwest, probably blowing something like 10-12 minutes. That shot my confidence in that stuff and I lost time on each of the next four controls, too, before settling down a bit on the last part before the spectator leg.

Cue my most bizarre error of the day (and probably the decade) - crossing the open area between 16 and 17 (the leg which was the marked run-through at WOC), I got confused over which tracks were mapped and which ones weren't and somehow managed to convince myself that I was exiting the yellow in a completely different location than I actually was - something which would embarrass any self-respecting M12. I ended up going slightly off the map here and lost probably another 3-4 minutes. Fairly tired by then and plodded through the last few. My time for the actual course was 81, well outside the time limit; most people at WOC hit this after a fair bit of training in relevant terrain, not first time up on the first full day after a flight. I'm still not happy to have been defeated so comprehensively by the terrain, but definitely glad to have done it. Picked up a bit of a corkie in a fall - hope it doesn't cause me too much trouble.

Spent the rest of the day doing a bit of a circuit through parts of the Alps back to Geneva, including some decent Mont Blanc views - although my idea of having a relaxed lunch in a rural French restaurant went slightly awry because hardly anything is open on the Le Revard plateau in November (ended up finding something OK next to the highway). The weather was astonishing for its mildness (probably mid-teens at Le Revard at 1300m, although there was some lingering mist which cooled things down in some of the valleys) and its lack of moisture, considering the carnage which was happening on the south side of the Alps. The rainshadow was certainly in full effect today.

C • Mapping 7

In Abu Dhabi between flights at the moment. So far so good and had a spare seat on the plane next to me which helps. I did wonder if I was the first person ever to fly Virgin to Sydney/Etihad to Europe because the person on the check-in counter was trying to tell me that I'd have to go through immigration and recheck my bags in Abu Dhabi (only the Americans make you do that) - I was sufficiently insistent that she called a supervisor who actually knew what they were doing. Also clueless was the person at the Melbourne Airport car parking office (where I'd gone to claim a refund for my extra day's parking from last weekend) who initially claimed their office didn't handle that despite there being a sign on their window which said they did. (This did at least give me the chance to find out that last week's alleged car park vandals - they were mostly vandals, nothing much was stolen - have been caught and charged).

Reports of 500mm+ rainfalls in northwestern Italy. I'm glad I'll be on the other side of the Alps (the Sunday forecast is looking OK for Geneva now, although I suspect it won't be quite as good on the WOC terrain at 1300m).

Arrived in Geneva early morning after an on-time flight, which had the drawback of having to kill eight hours until I was able to check in (at least this gave me plenty of time to sort out things like my train tickets to Venice next week and a local mobile internet connection).

I'm staying somewhere different this time, an apartment a bit south of the city centre - in a residential area and essentially a perfectly normal apartment, nothing flash but it looks like it will do the job pretty well. Finally got out running around 3.30, essentially up and down the river Arve with a bit of climbing out past Bout-du-Monde. I didn't expect this to be a great run and it wasn't, but at least I managed to stay awake, and saw the city doing what a city does on a Saturday afternoon (lots of park football games, and I even saw a cricket pitch, although it wasn't in use).

The Mont Blanc rainshadow was in full effect today - floods continue just on the other side of the ranges in northwestern Italy, but on this side of the mountain it's mild, sometimes sunny and a little humid (got a bit of a sweat up which I wasn't expecting). Coming a couple of weeks earlier than last year definitely makes a difference to the vegetation; still plenty of leaves on the trees at the moment.

Next challenge will be to try to stay awake until a reasonable hour (aiming for 10 but won't be totally upset with 9).

A session at Ivanhoe in between packing and heading for the station (and thence to the airport en route to Geneva). Felt reasonably comfortable - seem to have recovered OK from yesterday. My main worry was whether the people who were setting up in my street were going to have dug up the road in front of my house before I returned (they hadn't).

First proper Thursday long run of this cycle, although perhaps it wasn't really a proper Thursday long run because I was heading in late (having to pick something up at 9 from the auditors) so there wasn't a 5.15 wake-up. A bit disjointed through newsletter delivery in the first half through Eaglemont and Ivanhoe. Some good patches from time to time, but every hill was a struggle today. Did manage to fight it out but I'll want to be doing better than this on long runs in general during the summer. Hint of cramp at the end but it didn't come to anything.

I'm heading to Geneva tomorrow, and as usual don't have as much done as I would like at this stage.

Starting from near Scotch on another step of the ramping up of training - two sessions in a day. This one is my once-or-twice a year opportunity to get a look at some extremely posh real estate in Toorak, out as far as Malvern Central shopping centre (which isn't in Malvern). Mansions row in Toorak wasn't exactly the place I expected to see flyers campaigning against the extraction of coal seam gas; the issue has made for some interesting bedfellows at both ends of the political spectrum, but I'm guessing the flyers were in that particular spot because the CEO of a relevant company lives there.

The run was fairly mediocre, although improved in the second half.

Street-O at Smiths Dell. A short course without a lot of route choice once you made the initial decision, which meant pretty well everyone went the same way. Thought I might have been a bit unsettled after something went pear-shaped during the day, but fine once running (in fact running was no bad thing in these circumstances).

Got dropped a little at the start but then built into it, solid in the uphill first third and then flowing OK over the remainder of the course without feeling especially fast. Once again Tony Bird edged away from me on the level and downhill legs, and this time there was no steep climbing or terrain in the second half to peg that back, although I did pick off a couple of others over the closing control.

Once again 4 minutes down on Bruce, but did manage to get under the 4.30 mark for the first time in a couple of years. Hopefully this is only a staging post and the pace will come down a fair bit further by the time we get to March.

My next street-O will be in Venice.

First attempt at a non-racing speed session since the Australian Championships, at a somewhat unusual time of day because I had a few hours' work to do (mostly things I'd intended to do tomorrow but couldn't do from Canberra) and wanted to get home before the Melbourne Cup if I could.

The unusual time of day demonstrated that I warm up faster at 5pm than at 7am, but after that it felt like a rather weak and uncomfortable run, although the times were no worse than usual this year. (The discomfort may have been associated with the surplus weight jettisoned shortly after returning). Definitely didn't feel like I had too much zip on the hills.

There will be some Qantas passengers who have a(nother) nasty surprise waiting for them when they get home - probably a dozen cars in our corner of the long-term car park, including both those next to mine, had been broken into. Obviously the person or persons responsible decided there was nothing worth stealing in mine.

You don't see political ads like this any more:

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/1221267?zoomL...

(from the 1925 NSW state election campaign, discovered while I was doing research into a flood)

C • Much in common with CEC 2

A recovery run in Canberra, on a fairly classic circuit for such things, round the outside of Aranda and Cook. By no means the worst Monday run that I've had, although still found such climbing as there was challenging at times.

Random encounters of the day in Canberra; Jose at ANU at lunch, and Dave Searle on the bus back to Aranda.