Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

A see-if-things-still-work run. Knee still not quite right but had settled down a fair bit from yesterday, and OK on the run. Felt rather sluggish in the first half of the run but flowing reasonably well by the end.

A potentially interesting route choice problem: according to Google Maps, each of three widely separated routes from Canberra to Bathurst (via Boorowa/Cowra, Gunning/Crookwell and Taralga/Oberon) each take exactly 3 hours 27 minutes.

C • I believe it. 4

Knee still a bit dicey today and a few other niggles - could certainly run on it if I had to but didn't want to risk making it worse with races coming up. Wasn't entirely free in the water either, but good enough to end up as a reasonable session.

A certain amount of record-watching was done during the course of the working day - don't think it's the last bad fire day we'll see in coastal NSW this spring.

River tracks, pretty slow in the rougher stuff and didn't really get going. A bit of knee soreness in the first few minutes which disappeared on the run but was evident later in the day; will need to watch this. Most humid morning we've had for a while; haven't done much sweating lately (even in Queensland, which was exceptionally dry).

Running a bit later than usual after a fairly late night returning last night, and a bit slower than usual after a reasonably tiring weekend. Seemed to be plodding a bit (or whatever the aquatic equivalent is of "plodding"), but still a reasonable morning to be out, and the tailwind on the way into work was nice, too.

Wasn't quite so nice once I got there to the news that one of my colleagues had been the subject of a flagrantly defamatory article in the Spectator. (I caught up with Rachel Nolan on the way back from the event yesterday - first time I've seen her since she was a minister - and you probably won't be too surprised to learn that a certain amount of swapping of News Corp war stories was involved).

2nd day Queensland Championships at Amiens. Took a while to get into this physically but eventually settled into a mode of plugging away for a long(ish) distance. Also a little wobbly early and had an odd mistake when I missed a track junction on the way to 3, but managed to recover that without more than 30 seconds or so lost, and generally navigated well for the rest of it, although never strong, especially on hills. This is a very enjoyable area, though, and moments such as ticking off features on the way down into 15 (and then nailing it) were a reminder of how enjoyable this sport can be.

Ended up maintaining 3rd; Tony Woolford had a good run and went through me, but Mark Nemeth had a blowout. At the start of the weekend it looked like there was a strong top four and then a long tail after that. As it turned out, those four were the only ones of the 14 starters left standing at the end of the weekend with the others all failing to finish one of the days (although at least one of those was amongst those who abandoned in order to assist Winnie, who appears to have suffered a serious knee injury).

This was definitely a weekend worth going to, for the outstanding terrain, and more generally for a weekend of being amongst friends. (I'm not so sure I'll be quite so welcome in some circles next weekend, although my work life should have taught me not to let a few vocal critics be representative of a wider community).

First day of the Queensland Championships at the Cascades - always an area worth coming to, and always a serious challenge. This was a long distance style course rather than a middle, so longer legs - not a lot of major route choice (it's not that sort of area), but you can't let your concentration slip for a moment.

I let my concentration slip once, at 5 - lulled into a false sense of security by bare rock near the control. Dropped perhaps 2 minutes there. Otherwise, it was a steady run without a lot of pace or aggression, with only minor wobbles on 7 and 11. Mark Nemeth caught me 4 minutes at 8; I knew I wasn't going to be able to outrun him so the only way I was going to beat him was if he made a mistake and I slipped through, so not worth staying with him. (This strategy sort of worked, but his mistake was only enough for me to re-catch him, and we finished together).

Mark did 61 and a visiting Swede 60. Belinda did 59 (the only person between 14s and 65s to break the hour) and Bridget 61 on the same course. I haven't seen full results yet but suspect they will have a long tail.

I knew I was in rural Queensland when I saw a One Nation billboard coming into Warwick. Thought that Warwick might have brought me undone when a roll I bought there contained some rather undercooked chicken, but nothing's happened yet (for good measure I caught a finger in a rubbish bin flap). Those with long memories will recall that I have some history with eating misadventures on Queensland Championships weekends in this part of the world.

Didn't feel especially energetic,especially in the first half, but turned into a decent session. A nice morning helped.

Dumb criminals (an occasional series): if you're reporting to police as part of your bail conditions for allegedly driving while disqualified, it's not a great idea to drive yourself to the police station, and it's an even worse idea to do it in a vehicle containing assorted drugs and prohibited weapons.