Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

A long trip which became even longer than originally planned - the Dubai-Casablanca leg was two hours late (playing catch-up from fog in Dubai the previous day), then the Casablanca-Marrakech train that put me on was another two hours late, meaning that I didn't get in until 10pm instead of the originally planned 6 (at least this meant I could go straight to bed). Obviously that ended any thoughts of doing any sort of session after I arrived. One plus was getting an upgrade on the second leg.

Event: NOL Round 1
 

First leg of the NOL sprint relay on Roma Street parklands - a tricky map with a lot of multi-levels, and a small area well used. The first leg was quite long and I felt initially that I hadn't got the route right, but looking at the map it looks like I did. Was then with Jas for a bit on a common section before splitting off. A generally decent run though lacking top-end speed. Definitely not as humid as yesterday.

Second leg of the NOL sprint relay. Mostly reasonable, but one significant error when I didn't see that a track passed under another one rather than join it, and pulled up when I realised I was going into the out-of-bounds area (perhaps I'm fortunate that the precedent established at WOC is that if you turn around and exit at the point you entered the result stands) - probably dropped 20-30 seconds there. Was dicing with Mat McGuire for most of it but he got the jump on me with the route choice into 15 - turned out this was academic as his team was already DNFd.

Sprint qualifying at Griffith Uni. I was never likely to qualify with only 10 to go through (5 from each heat) - and even if I did qualify I wouldn't have been able to take my place in the final because by the time the final takes place I'll be in Dubai. In any case, I didn't feel as good running as in the morning, and made sure of it with several bits of technical dodginess. Drifted a bit on both of the bush legs and also missed 8 a bit. My objective had been to stay ahead of Simon (4 minutes); he caught me at the spectator about 3/4 of the way through, and then I had a blowout on 19 - ran within a metre of the control without seeing it, convinced myself I'd gone in one building too early, and wasted about 90 seconds confirming this wasn't true. This turned a mediocre result into a bad one.

My one moment of triumph was getting Lachy on a route choice from 3 to 4, whereupon he said a word which has been known to get people disqualified at orienteering events in Queensland back in the day. Not even Andy Hill (the 6th placegetter in Lachy's heat) thought that saying that in front of the presidential ears would be worthy of disqualification these days (saying it to an event official would be a different story - but I've only seen that happen twice, with the offenders in both cases being middle-aged men).

We were a touch later getting there than I would have planned because of a traffic jam getting out of Sunnybank shopping centre. This has a place in Queensland political history because the development of it was what landed George Herscu in jail for bribing Russ Hinze (Russ himself died before facing trial). The ostensible purpose of the bribe was to facilitate easier access to the shopping centre; on the evidence I saw today, I'd suggest that the money was wasted.

Now at the airport about to head to Morocco.

C • what was the dirty word? 6

Flew up to Brisbane in the morning (mainly because I had work to do in the Brisbane office). The original plan was to go for a swim after work but the inner-city pools close at 6 on a Friday, so went to Spring Hill at lunchtime instead - about a 15-minute walk from the office past tomorrow morning's venue (enabling me to scout out potential parking spots, and note that the venue is definitely not flat). As previously noted, this is an 1880s-style public baths and has a lot of character to it, though I wouldn't fancy being there when there's a crowd around. On a day when I was rediscovering serious humidity, the water was also seriously warm - at least 30, I would think.

The swim was reasonable - good to get a bit of a hit-out, and not floundering quite as much as usual.

A slightly later long run than usual because of the timing of a massage appointment which had been rearranged at a late stage; also starting from the somewhat unusual location of East Melbourne. Started down past the MCG and then along the river and the Gardiners trail, then across Hawthorn and Kew to hit the river again near Warren and Tash's before heading south and west.

Plugged away for much of the way without feeling as if I had a lot of energy (and had enough throat-clearing to wonder whether I'm getting sick), and slow up such hills as there were. Picked up a bit as it went on, though, and a pretty good last 15-20 minutes - definitely something I like to see on a long run at any time, but particularly given what's ahead of me. (I'd hoped to go about 2.15 today, which will probably be my last chance for a proper long run unless I can fit one in in Marrakesh, but was running a bit late).

Summer series at Dandenong Creek, which had plenty of water in it tonight thanks to a line of storms which went through about 5 (still fairly tame compared to Geelong's 40mm in 30 minutes, or in Canberra, Gilmore's 28 in seven). It was a bit moist in the first half of the run, too - a bit of a novelty this season.

This course was a three-leaf clover - probably more interesting for B (who had to pick whether it was worth dropping one of the leaves altogether) than for us. (I left 13 and 17, in the core of the middle area). Started out north, something not too many others did, and struggled on the climbing through the first 2km (back a bit tight tonight). Settled a bit after that. Someone who said they'd lost their map (possibly it had dissolved to mush?) latched onto me for a few controls (but then disappeared, not sure to where). Enjoyed a small bush pocket at one point before the flat last section. Still a fair bit slower than I'd like to be, but a bit faster than last time. No hamstring issues tonight.

Control 19 was described as being on a "fie hydrant". Presumably this is what you use if you've got a Shakespeare that needs extinguishing.

Fairly early start after dropping Jenny off at the airport, then coming in towards work and doing a run from North Melbourne - out along the west bank of the Maribyrnong past the Merv Hughes Oval, then back through Ascot Vale. A fairly nondescript run, though hamstring better than yesterday with only a very slight twinge.

Slept pretty badly which probably didn't help (not for the first time, I remedied some of the deficit, not entirely intentionally, during a 2pm meeting). I might have slept worse if I'd known what the Australian was going to do with the quotes I'd given them (the quotes were reasonably accurate, but they framed them in a 'this proves the Greens are wrong' context) - though it might mean that the sceptics are under the illusion that I'm on their side.

Was also putting together some material today for my monthly talk on global climate. The flipside of the unusual cold in eastern North America (apart from a dry and warm west) has been exceptional warmth in parts of the Arctic - Svalbard is running 13 degrees above normal for the year so far - and the flipside of the storm track parking itself over the southern UK for the winter has been extraordinarily dry conditions in central and northern Norway (I'm guessing it's not widely known in these parts that more properties have been lost in bushfires so far this year in Norway than in Australia). Most areas from Trondheim northwards got no, or almost no, rain or snow for all of January.

A couple of positive bits of news (no, they don't involve drug tests) for orienteering in Australia in the last couple of days, though I can't say much publicly (yet).

Early session in the Fitzroy pool (as with last week, doing this session on Monday because I won't have my belt with me on Friday). Reasonably routine, with sunglare an issue later on.

Unsurprisingly, there were a lot of "does this rain mean the drought is broken?" media enquiries today. (Answer: not yet in the core areas but will make a difference around the edges, and there's more coming later in the week in many areas).

Jenny was keen to get out on the All Nations Park sprint map (left over from a summer series event last year) so I was quite happy to come along for the ride - some tricky route choices to be had (though in a proper race you'd definitely need officials to police the crossing of 'uncrossable' walls). Left hamstring a little tight - first time I've had any sign of trouble since November, and something to watch given the trouble it caused me then. Cruised around without pushing it too hard.