Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Since I first saw the original proposed World Cup sprint area in April, I’d been telling anyone who would listen that it would be the most technical World Cup sprint ever. The World Cup itself has been moved to another area for largely logistical reasons (the new area also looks very good from the old map, though I’ll get a closer look tomorrow), but we were on the original area this morning. I was looking forward to this.

I was not to be disappointed (except by my performance). This was the most difficult sprint I have ever done, and I’ve been to Venice - an absolute maze of lanes and passages with some random thickets thrown in. Perhaps it would have been a bit too extreme for a fair World Cup race (though I think that could have been largely dealt with with careful setting) - some of the passages were so narrow you couldn’t really run through them - but everyone was raving about this, and with good reason. (Nothing quite like actually running a course to focus your mind on the key issues as a controller, either).

I didnt feel as good as Sunday, and navigation was a bit patchy, losing 30-45 seconds apiece to a poor route on 3 and a dead end at 8, plus a few other bits and pieces. Would have been satisfied with 26; Tim won with something in the high 16s.

They operate in a different financial world in some other sports; a piece I’ve just read on the sacking of Manchester United’s coach said ‘it is understood the compensation due to Mourinho will be no more than £15 million’. (That said, there’s some good money around this week by our standards; found myself handing over an oversized cheque to Tim for something close to $2000).

C • Financial mindset 1

I’ve spent enough time in urban China to know that any opportunity where you find yourself in a good place to run is to be grasped. We were staying across the road from a large lake so I headed out along its shore. An early start and it was only just getting light when I began, but it gets light quickly in the tropics, so there were good views of the small jagged peaks rising out of the other side of the lake - what I think of as a classic Chinese scene (not that I’ve seen too much outside the urban agglomeration).

Slow to get going - it was the fourth kilometre before I broke 6s - but again positive on the injury front. Better than my two early runs last week, too.

Spent the rest of the day checking things out for World Cup - arenas for the middle and sprint, a more extensive look at the sprint relay area which I hadn’t been to before. I came out happy.

Seem to be making a habit of being here for fruit harvest festivals. The mandarins are divine.

And since when has New Idea been in the business of breaking political stories which actually appear, from the speed of the resultant resignation, to be true? (As someone put it, did they find out before or after Harry and Meghan conceived triplets?). Best hashtag spotted so far: #malleeroot.

Ran the sprint in China after the field proper. This well and truly lived up to expectations; as with the April event, much of the map was based around complex old villages, with alleys everywhere and just enough irregularity in the alleys and courtyards to make it very intense. In April the courses didn't really make the most of complexity, but here they did - apart from one long transport leg, you rarely got a chance to relax with rapid decision-making required most of the way. If the World Cup individual sprint area and courses are as good as this I'll definitely be happy.

Felt pretty good running, too, by recent standards - no real niggles (apart from brief back tightness) and generally more lively than on any other occasion since returning. Held the navigation together, too, with only a couple of 5-10 second wobbles on an area where disaster was possible (Peter Hodkinson dropped two minutes on the last control, of all places). I didn't manage to get within 50% of the winner in any of the Sprint Into Spring races so to get within striking distance of it in a field of this quality was pleasing. Robert Merl won with something in the 16s, beating the likes of Yannick Michiels and Tim Robertson (although Tim is on the comeback trail after shoulder surgery). The internationals ranged down to the 20-21 range but when all the locals were thrown in I was a bit over halfway down the list.

We're staying in Zhouqing, another in the long list of Adelaide or Perth-sized cities in China which I had not previously heard of (about 100km west of Guangzhou). It has a nice-looking lake whose shores I intend to explore more in the morning. On a pleasant Sunday afternoon (it's a novelty to be in this part of the world without serious humidity, although had I been here last week when a couple of days only got to 10, it may have been too much of a good thing) lots of people were out and about, although the parklands are large enough that the crowds weren't as overwhelming as they sometimes can be here.

And you have to put up with canned carols everywhere here, too...

C • Guangzhou 4

C • WRE results 5

Another incremental advance - had originally been thinking in terms of an hour but ran out of time for that. As with Thursday, felt rather slow and sluggish (perhaps not quite as slow as Thursday), but no signs of trouble on the injury front. Saw plenty of signs of the storms last night - Darebin Creek is still high and there were big puddles everywhere.

And in the latest edition of today's Saturday, so it must be (insert place here), I'm off again - this time for another SEA visit to China. Have landed this evening after a fairly routine flight. Looking forward to seeing the events tomorrow (and properly checking out the areas and how things are going for next year).

Morning session at Fitzroy. Fairly routine, although it's good to see that my calf is no longer tightening, even slightly, after this session - the physio was pleased with its progress when she saw it later in the day, too.

I dodged the rain in the morning, but there was no such luck in the evening. Looked at the radar before leaving work and knew I was going to get wet (I couldn't delay because of said physio appointment), but didn't realise just how wet - 17mm fell in 5 minutes at the peak, and all up 36 in 15. I made it - there was a lot of streaming water (and a bit of uncomfortably close lightning) but no real flooding - but some of the contents of my bag didn't fare so well.

The last of four domestic trips in rapid succession - this time to Sydney for a Sport Australia meeting. Stayed with Tracy and Paul last night so headed down the river in the morning - always a nice place to run. Slow and sluggish (and I don't think I can blame all the slowness on the sometimes rough tracks), but at least both the calf and the back were basically OK, so that's an advance on the last couple of days. Also advancing the boundaries of length a little bit each time.

Interested to see a news story that the Australian media is being very coy about for legal reasons. Let's just say that one of the buildings we ran through at the 2015 Australian Sprint Championships is probably going to be getting a new name.

C • Coy 1

Undeterred by going out early not working out yesterday, I went out even earlier this morning. Can't say it was great, but this time early back stiffness eased after the first few minutes.

First time I've done pilates after a run (necessitated by the change of day this week). The plus was that I was already well warmed up (sometimes it takes me the first few sets to loosen up properly), the minus was that it took a few sets before the sweat stopped being a nuisance. Not too bad as a session, except for the one bit that relied on my left shoulder (still a bit sore after an injection yesterday).

You learn something new every day: the expression "Blind Freddy" comes from the exploits of Sir Frederick Pottinger, a British aristocrat who led the police force which attempted (conspicuously unsuccessfully) to track down Ben Hall and his bushranging gang in 1860s New South Wales.