Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Did a run first thing in Gundagai before moving on to Canberra for the cricket. Almost a false start - my right foot was quite painful early and I was about to pack it in, stopped for a bit, restarted and it was fine again within a minute or two. (It's pulled up sore afterwards, though, so will need to watch it). Once that was out of the way, a struggle for the first 10 minutes, but after that picked up to be better than I've felt in other runs this week (an admittedly low bar to clear). Headed across the river flats and the (low) bridge to South Gundagai and back, a route I don't think I've followed since the Hume went that way up until the late 1970s. (The semi-ruined state of the Prince Alfred Bridge, a rather narrow timber structure the best part of a kilometre long, makes it hard to believe that the Hume crossed it recently enough to be within my memory).

Spent the rest of the day at the cricket (predictably bumping into a school acquaintance I hadn't seen for 30 years within the first five minutes of the lunch interval) - a fairly slow day for the most part but still a good occasion.

C • Cricket Weather 5

Bit of a change of plans this morning because a waitlisted pilates booking came through (as it turned out nobody originally booked for the class turned up...). Seemed OK. I don't always feel as if progress is obvious but the instructor says he's noticed some (or maybe he was just trying to make me feel good). A bit sleepy.

So the run became a post-pilates session. Not really any injury concerns, but horribly sluggish - suspect I may not be 100% well (had a bit of a runny nose this morning). The relatively small climb past the old Kensington saleyards was as much as I could handle today.

On the road to Gundagai tonight (en route to the Canberra Test). Not the easiest of road trips I've done with two major accidents to negotiate; took about 1 1/2 hours to get as far as Wallan.

Felt very tight today, perhaps not surprisingly given how marginal yesterday was, and didn't take long to work out that going out today was going to be a problem. With the PM10 level (otherwise known as the Crap In The Air Index) somewhere north of 200 after an overnight wind change, it probably wasn't the worst of days to swap with a planned non-running day tomorrow.

Hobart's a nice place and the workshop was worthwhile (one talk yesterday afternoon was worth the trip on its own), but in the current circumstances I'm not too upset to be out of there. Hope things improve soon but there doesn't seem to be any real prospect of substantial rain - the only thing that will put out fires on this scale - in at least the next week. (Not sure if Anna, whose mine is expected to get roughly a full year's normal rain in the next week, can send them some of the surplus?).

C • rain 1

This was pretty borderline - felt sluggish throughout, a bit awkward on the climbs, and stopped to stretch my back a couple of times, but eventually got through it, more or less. Probably about as flat as it's possible to get in this part of Hobart but still a few sharp slopes (more down than up) and a long grind back up the rivulet to get home. Knew I was in for a rough morning when the downhill first split started with a 6 (and I don't think I can blame the smoke - better than yesterday evening but still pretty ordinary - for this).

My historical discovery of the day was the continued existence of the Guano Islands Act 1856. This entitles any American citizen to claim any uninhabited and unclaimed island upon which there is a deposit of guano (and let's face it, what island doesn't have one?) for the United States. No claim has actually been made to any island under this act since the 19th century (and there aren't that many unclaimed islands around these days), but it's the thought that counts.

C • Any excuse 10

In Hobart, staying with Kirsten, Keith and family in their new place near the Cascade Brewery (where Keith is working) - about 3km from the city centre (but still sufficiently close to the bush that I encountered a couple of bits of roadkill walking up last night). From here there are undoubtedly plenty of good runs to be had if you feel in the mood for some vertical, and hopefully I will by later in the week. For today, it was just a short one, climbing most of the way up Old Farm Road (a steady but not overly steep climb with which my back coped sort of OK), before coming back and doing a loop down to the Female Factory. (Before you get any ideas, this was a facility designed to keep women convicts away from the unladylike activities taking place in central Hobart).

It hasn't got a lot of attention so far in the mainstream media (perhaps it will now that the Tahune Airwalk has been burnt out), but Tasmania has large and ongoing fires. For most of the day it wasn't too bad, but in the late afternoon a seabreeze brought the smoke plume from the Central Plateau (which had been tracking east of here) back into town and the PM10 pollution index jumped to bad-day-in-Delhi levels. I think it will clear out to some extent overnight, but if it doesn't I'll need to give some thought as to whether it's runnable in the morning.

C • You call that vertical 4

Last stage of Sprint Adelaide at Mount Barker - a couple of blocks of schools/TAFE campus with some parkland in between, but in general the challenges were more those of route choice than fine navigation - plenty of fences. Didn't feel too brilliant in the first few controls, but gradually got into it and not as bad on the climb on the long leg as I though I might be. Only navigational wobble was starting down the ramp instead of the stairs at 14. Was chasing Tyson (1 minute) most of the way; gradually pulling him in but didn't quite catch him, while Warren was doing the same to me. (Other reports from weekend rivals watch: Leith dropped a minute on #2, was pulling me in most of the rest of the way but ended up 21 seconds short).

Thought I might have got within 50% of the lead (a rarity for me these days in good sprint fields) when Simon came in, but Martin dropped the benchmark a bit further. (I suspect a few competitors, although not Martin or Simon, would have been a bit below par whilst recovering from last night's beer-O). Still probably my least worst run of the weekend, even if Jenny did claim my scalp; showing our consistency, the only splits where we were separated by more than 5 seconds or so were #1 (where she didn't realise the straight line was legal) and #14 where I wobbled at the ramp.

So ends a well-run series of events, although it's a pity there wasn't a bit more local attendance. Onwards (for me at least) to Hobart for the next few days, where the land environment is good for running but the atmospheric environment probably won't be.

Qualifier for the knockout sprint at Flinders Uni. I obviously wasn't going to qualify (although I thought that last time I was here, too) and was happy to settle for just getting round a course feeling reasonably OK after last night's debacle. That more or less happened, although I was blown away for speed by the people I expected to be blown away by. Got the key routes right, I think.

Apparently a sign on the way in (I didn't see it) said Flinders was a 'top 2%' university, on unspecified criteria. Not sure if it's in the top 2% of Australian campus sprint venues but it's still well above the median.

Usually on these weekends you end up finding someone who's running on the same level as you. This time it seems to be the South Australian junior Leith Soden, who beat me today by the narrowest possible margin after being 15 seconds or so ahead of me in the night event. Comparing splits, he blew me away on the downhill legs at the end, confirming what I already knew - I'm not much good at stairs (in either direction) at the moment.

Mass start for those who weren't in a semi-final. To my less than overwhelming surprise, I was dropped immediately from a mostly junior lead pack, did the unconventional mass start thing of doing a different route on #1 to everyone else (seemed to come out fairly even), then settled into things. Once we were through the butterflies, got into a bit of a scrap with Tyson; another split separated us but we came through my second-last (his split meant he had an extra control to get) and I thought we were still pretty close. I hit the last control a few metres ahead, which I didn't think would be enough, and it wasn't. Don't think either of our finish splits would stand up against the sprint finishes in the actual semi-finals.

Another mass start on the final course. I wasn't sure how I'd come up after the break (which I spent doing not much; Dante found other ways to keep himself occupied between races), but it turned out more or less OK (probably a bit worse than the morning). Once again, fell off the main pack immediately and found myself in a three-way battle with my two main competitors from the two morning races. For the most part I was at the back of this group and I doubt I would have been able to win a running race, but I didn't need to because it was decided by the two route-choice legs at 13 and 14; Tyson took the sub-optimal option at 13, then Leith followed up at 14. (Martin Dent lost the A final on the same leg).

A good event, and good to be able to give people exposure to this format, before it starts getting run regularly at international level.