Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Going back to what I think of as a 'normal' weekly schedule, notwithstanding a fairly low-volume weekend (the fact that today's minimum was 27.8 provided a certain amount of encouragement to take to the water). Quite busy given the aforementioned warm conditions (and not the coolest water temperature I've ever experienced, either). I often struggle to get going at Northcote, and today wasn't really an exception. Looking forward to getting out in running - in considerably more friendly conditions - tomorrow.

Final race of Sprint Canberra at the south end of ANU - using quite a small area well (nothing north of South Oval or east of Liversidge). Didn't feel quite at my best this morning - hints of a cold - but still probably my best run of the weekend (and the first where I've achieved my 2017-18 elite sprint basic target of being less than 50% behind the leader). No fine navigation issues, just a few slightly suboptimal route choices (#6, #15, #19) which perhaps cost me 5-10 seconds apiece. No injury issues.

Good to get this weekend behind me without any significant damage - hopefully this means I should be in a position to launch into some heavier training from now. Also a good race weekend in the broader sense, as the last couple of Sprint Canberras have been, and it should raise some worthwhile funds too.

Wanted to do a bit more than 20 minutes for the day so headed down to CISAC for a session. Fairly mundane although a bit less slow than most recent swims. Water seemed surprisingly cool (not that I was complaining about this).

Turned out the CISAC session was about the only time today that I was navigating competently. This was a technical map in places with a 1:2000 scale, and there was one particular spot with a very narrow passage that I got disorientated coming out of twice - particularly badly on #2 where I dropped probably 40 seconds or so. (Normally narrow passages, in their southern European incarnation, are something I do well in). Nearly punched a wrong control too, double-checking just on the way out. Also struggling a bit with the back (which has been absolutely fine the last three races) this evening, and was generally struggling for concentration, as sometimes happens when things aren't going well physically.

Sprint Canberra stage 2 at the University of Canberra. Running much better than yesterday, but ended up with a similar result after a big mistake on #12 - the classic University of Canberra misadventure of making a mess of going from the lower level to the upper and ending up on a ramp to nowhere. Hip now down to minor nuisance level on the warm-up, and barely noticeable whilst running.

Started in front of a challenging bunch. I knew I had little chance of defending 1 minute on Andy Hill or 2 minutes on Bruce, but was hoping to be able to hold off Martin Dent (6 minutes). Might have just about managed it without the mistake.

Stage 3, bush sprint at Bruce Ridge. Continuing to get back to some level of running normality - although still a bit iffy uphill (in a fitness sense, not an injury one) and got to be in a decent race as well. Mostly fairly clean, except for an unnecessarily conservative route on #6 (avoiding an area with green and an erosion gully which as it turned out didn't need avoiding) and dropped 30 seconds or so. Ella Cuthbert caught me a minute there and we were dicing the rest of the way; she's significantly faster in open country but not in the thicker stuff (and had a couple of wobbles too). Also caught Ted towards the end; I thought he was coming back at me hard from the last control to the finish when I heard someone coming up rapidly behind me, but it was Simon.

We were starting next to the ACT Athletics Championships, where various 100-metre rounds were under way; I wonder if Ben Johnson still holds the ACT all-comers record? Like a lot of ACT all-comers records, it dates from the 1985 World Cup, certainly the highest-level athletics meeting ever held in Canberra, and possibly the most doped one in the history of international athletics. Marita Koch's 400-metre world record set there (which Cathy Freeman never got within a second of) still stands, and probably will for a long time to come (unless it's struck out).

Event: Sprint Canberra (5 day entry)
 

1st day of Sprint Canberra at the AIS. Achieved my limited objective today, which was to get around without any significant pain. Also got around without falling into any of the traps for which this area is famous (every time we run here there's at least one person who ends up in the hockey fields with nowhere to go other than a lengthy beating of the retreat). No speed - and felt like I was lacking a gear on my limited attempts to go a bit faster - but this will do as a starting point. A long way back even by recent standards, but will hopefully be able to have more of a crack tomorrow.

A test to see if things worked again. There was still some discomfort in the hip throughout, but it didn't get any worse through the run (and hasn't tightened up afterwards), which gives me some level of encouragement for the next few days.

Headed up to Canberra this morning (initially for a talk I'm giving tomorrow).

Tested things out this morning but not yet ready to run on. Progress gradual but frustratingly slow. Hoping to at least being up to running over the long weekend.

Saw one of the more aggressive bits of road rage I've encountered for a while when on the way home - a truck aggressively tailgating and horn-blasting a taxi (which wasn't doing anything wrong other than being a bit below the speed limit), which then overtook said taxi when it was stopped at an intersection and drove through the red light. The driver definitely looked like someone you wouldn't want to get into a fight with (bearing a close resemblance to the sort of people you see at United Patriots Front marches).