Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Event: Bendigo Bush Classic 1 - Wildflower Drive
 

First Bendigo outing of the season at Wildflower Drive, in classic Bendigo early-season conditions: a bone-dry and rather scratchy forest on a warm day (perhaps the last warm-weather race of the Australian autumn season, although I'll see a few in other places).

A decent run was turned into a disappointing one when I blew around 3.5 minutes on the second-last, a vague gully in some green; came in a bit too low and didn't see it - didn't help that the vegetation mapping is a couple of decades old so green boundaries couldn't be considered reliable. (Vague controls in the second half troubled quite a few of us, and I suspect #7 was in the wrong place - which for me just meant hitting it before I was expecting to, but others lost time there). Would have broken 50 without that, which I would have been happy with. Certainly felt stronger than I did in Tasmania, and OK on the injury front once warmed up. Bruce did 41, with some time losses.

C • Map age 5

No go today either - this time I seemed to twinge something when getting up. A pity not to take the last chance of a traffic-free Grange Road crossing (it reopens tomorrow), although I did get close enough to see the new bridge.

Unlike yesterday, I did leave myself with enough time for a plan B and a plan C. As I'd misplaced my pool running belt, it was plan C. Went smoothly enough and picked up in the second half.

I'd been holding up OK since returning from the hamstring but today was the first day that I got up with a suspect back; gave it a try but it wasn't going to work. Will try again tomorrow.

Heard today that the Federal Government was committed to the eradication of ice. This seemed to be an unusual expression of honesty, and then I realised they were talking about drugs.

Plan for the morning was do a 7.10am ABC Gippsland interview, then run, then ride to the far end of St. Kilda Road to lodge a Chinese visa application when they opened up at 9, then go to work. This plan went slightly awry when the ABC called me at 7.08 to reschedule (and then rescheduled again), so I headed out to run immediately. Wasn't a bad one as it happened, and the longest I've done since Melbourne Sprint Weekend, but a little bit of Achilles discomfort in the second half so will need to watch this.

I ended up doing the interview at 9.35, from the side of the street while I was riding back to work. Perhaps it was fitting that it took place during some physical exercise because I spent quite a bit of time talking about our 1986 school cross-country. (If you're wondering why I would talk about such a thing to the ABC, the context was April heatwaves, 4 April 1986 being the hottest day on record in plenty of places in Gippsland, as it was in Canberra).

I've previously noted the occasional tendency of my music player to come up with appropriate songs for what I'm doing (or where I'm going) at the time. A variation on this theme came today when I was responding to an FOI application (a pointless one, since all the relevant "documents" are already in the public domain) from one of our serial pests regular correspondents and started to hear "Shut up, just shut up, shut up, shut up, just shut up, shut up....".

The sure return-to-winter symbol of a swim under the night sky (although winter looks like it's going to feel a long way away around this time next week), the product of today's complicated logistics which started with an early flight out of Hobart. (Why is it that, whenever you set an alarm for an early morning flight, you invariably wake up at least an hour before the alarm goes off?). The first few laps seemed to take forever, but got into a reasonable rhythm eventually, and a bit less slow than my last few attempts at this.

Felt decent in the warm-up but not the start I was hoping for; back turned out to be troublesome once I was actually running (although it eventually settled), and I had small time losses in the circle at both 2 and 3 as I came to grips to which root mounds were and weren't mapped. (They were abundant features today, and made up 9 out of our 14 controls). Improved after that although running speed and strength not much (if at all) better than the last two days. Not quite as far off the pace today (although Greg came close to catching me again - 4 minutes this time), and ended up inheriting a not-particularly-deserved third placing after Anthony blew 4 minutes on 2 and 10 minutes on 3.

The terrain today didn't get rave reviews from everyone. I thought it had a lot in common with some continental terrain areas (point features, lots of vegetation changes, mostly bland contours) in countries like Germany, the Czech Republic, Belgium and southern/central England - and hence potentially useful for training for same.

I was wondering at the presentation whether Scott, Greg and I had previously shared a podium, but some result-searching suggests the best we can manage is two out of three, with the nearest-miss coming in M14 at the 1984 Australian Championships (Scott second, me third, Greg eighth).

Notwithstanding managing to scramble a vaguely respectable placing, I was fairly disappointed with my performance this Easter; will certainly need to improve my running in the next three months to have a reasonable shot of making an A final in Denmark. Pleased with the way the event as a whole went, though (for those who were a bit critical of the terrains, it's really an indicator that the Hobart area doesn't have a lot of terrain to choose from, given that Pittwater is probably logistically impossible for a national carnival event).

C • Confessions of a number thief 15

C • Terrain 8

Didn't really feel at my best today - pretty sluggish most of the way (especially when any hills were involved). Again got through without major error, just small time losses through going in a bit early on 9 and 12, but felt slow even on the flat and downright weak elsewhere. The leg which actually shows up as an error, 4, just demonstrates that I'm not very good at rockclimbing - don't think too many other courses had this one (the longer ones went further up the valley, the shorter ones didn't get to that part of the map). A minute further back than yesterday on Scott, which is about what this run deserved, and the same top three as yesterday so it looks like fourth's where I'm headed unless something unexpected happens. (Jon blew us all away today, but didn't run yesterday).

Didn't quite manage to break the hour for my course, and didn't quite manage to break the hour for the OA AGM either (although both were within 60 seconds of that objective).

It's a potentially interesting chasing start for the elite and junior women tomorrow (less so for the men, with Simon and Aston in possession of large leads), which took minds back to the famous 1987 M21 sprint finish. For those who haven't been around for that long, this involved a sprint finish between Rob Vincent and Rob Plowright (including someone's pants falling down - have forgotten whose) - which turned out to be a sprint finish for last place because both punched the wrong last control. Recounting this story on the way back, I realised that no-one else in the car I was in was born at the time of this event (although Simon goes close).

C • Not born then 1