Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

First attempt to take on Darwin's rather unseasonable humidity, and it wasn't pretty. About the most positive thing to be said for this run was that my back wasn't giving trouble, but it was a real struggle and one of those days where I was more than happy to make stops to read signs at attractions, admire a very low tide (and the resultant expansion to Mindil Beach) and so on.

Without any talks of my own to do today, I spent plenty of time following other people's (as well as pulling out my Hug A Climate Scientist Day T-shirt for the occasion). As usual at these conferences, the ratio of (ideas I'd like to pursue further):(ideas I'll have time to do anything about) is probably at least 5:1 if not beyond.

C • Ratios 2

Early morning (earlier than might otherwise have been the case because I had to go and pick up my poster before the conference sessions started) in a hotel pool which wasn't really well-suited to lap swimming, but I managed to complete something resembling a session without feeling too dizzy. As might be expected in Darwin, the water was warm.

Got my first talk out of the way, with its slightly quirky title (inspired by seeing bleached drought-affected grass outside the Helsingor castle last July, a photo which was my opening slide): "Something rotten in the (climatic) state of Denmark: global climate in 2018". I'm next up on Friday, this time talking about dense local observation networks in Bendigo.

C • Dense 9

Tadpole Bay, a map almost entirely yellow and green, with some limestone but not the features of yesterday, a patch of sand dunes, and some flat areas. Felt very ordinary at the start - back troublesome on the first hill - but thought there would be enough to be worth exploring a bit at least, and hope that things settled down, which they did on the downhill through 6 (though I still walked the climb to 9). Dropped maybe 30 seconds on 3 and a minute on 4, a vague control, but navigation decent thereafter. Don't think the route choice along the top of the coastal cliffs to 8 was optimal, but it was scenic. Went wide to 11 which seemed to work, got the dune controls well, and thought I'd nailed the potentially troublesome 14 as well - which I had (the place that it was supposed to be), but no flag in sight. Dropped about 3-4 minutes there in collective searching, before playing out the last part of a hare-and-tortoise game with Ethan (who'd caught me at 9 but lost time going straight to 11) and Remi, decided in unusual fashion when they both veered off going from the last control to the finish - not quite as good a finish chute scalp as Martin Dent in similar circumstances this time last year, but I'll take it :-).

Pretty disappointing performance today but enjoyed the experience, once I got moving. Think an easier day will be in order tomorrow, particularly as I attempt to adjust to an unusually humid dry-season Darwin.

I wouldn't normally expect to feel happy after a run which contained a 4-minute, a 2-minute and a 1-minute error (even if Winsplits failed to notice the last two), but I was pleased just to get through a run of this length without significant physical trouble, in interesting terrain which always felt enjoyable. The limestone terrain in the Eyre Peninsula, as I've noted before, is like nothing else in Australia (reading the vegetation is a bit like Cantara before it got overgrown), and provides a major challenge - not just for me judging by the number of big blowouts.

I got out of the car stiff and wasn't even sure at that point whether I'd be able to go out, but was pleasantly surprised that things loosened up well on the warm-up (maybe Bridget was sending me positive vibes). Got the first three OK, then was very hesitant on the way to 4 - this is unforgiving terrain if you lose contact - but didn't actually go too far off the line, which is probably how I still won the split despite regarding it as a mistake. The other two misses were at 6, where I struggled to pinpoint a small depression (in the company of Ethan, for whom this was the start of a day he'd probably like to forget, culminating in punching the wrong last control), and 9, where I thought I'd found a gap in the green which would lead me to the control but had got the wrong gap, and was sufficiently confused on the other side that I ended up dropping 4 minutes or so. From there it was pretty good, and I even started to feel as if I had a bit of flow in the running at times.

Ended up further ahead of my opposition here (Greg, Ruhi and Ben) than I might have expected, although Ruhi is carrying an injury. Simon put all of us into perspective by doing 72 for 12.something.

Wildlife log: one dead roo and one live (and fast-moving) emu.

Coffin Bay event which I was treating as a warm-up for the more interesting stuff to come with the limestone on Sunday and Monday. Back wasn't great from the start, and eventually decided that 30 minutes or so would be enough for it today so called it a day early (not that the compilers of the results seem to have noticed the last time I checked). Nominally a park/street event but in fact a few patches of bush too (of the might-be-worth-crashing-this-50-metres-of-green variety). Didn't help that two early controls were misplaced (I never found #5, but didn't spend too long looking for it).

Did some pleasant exploring around the national park afterwards (and put a face to the name of Point Avoid).

Travel day today and didn't get the chance to get out; Melbourne to Adelaide first thing in the morning, then Adelaide to Port Lincoln late afternoon after working the day out of our Adelaide office. (I'm going to get to know Adelaide Airport pretty well - these were the first and second of four visits in just over a week, the last of them to come as a result of a slightly creative route choice to Geneva). A few minor annoyances at the start of the day - including the automated check-in not coping with the fact that my "connecting flight" was nine hours after the first one (eventually sorted - I didn't really want to haul my bag around Adelaide if I could help it).

You know you're an orienteer when #149: you walk/run/drive past a school and immediately start sizing it up for sprint potential. (The one which caught my eye here was the block that Pulteney Grammar and another primary school are on - our Adelaide office is at the junction of King William and South Terrace - but it might be a bit small and I'm not sure there's a way to link the bits together other than coming out to the main road).

I've joined the Casanova clan for the weekend and part of the accompanying reading material is a book on the 'Deceptive Lands' (country which will be familiar to those who've orienteered around Burra), published in 1968 by the Terowie CWA. Opening this at a random page, my attention was captured by the following account (undated, but other searching suggests late 1890s):

"An attempted demonstration of great interest was that given by Matthew Eyes, the engine driver, when he attempted to prove his worth as a rain-maker. The Government, assisting his project, provided the necessary equipment and Mt Packer, a hill to the north-west of the town, was chosen as a suitable site for the demonstration.

All was in readiness as government officials, newspaper reporters and a large crowd of spectators gathered nearby; land-owners who had ridden over from all directions to witness the event, stood around tightly gripping the reins of their horses. The procedure went as planned until the balloon was half full when something apparently slipped and Whang! - over went the whole contrivance on top of men and horses. Fortunately no-one was injured and a disgusted crowd straggled disappointedly homewards".

(Other accounts of the event I found online suggests the plan was to send explosives up in a balloon; what could possibly go wrong?).

C • I believe pultney school an... 1

Something of a replay of yesterday, except that I went northwest rather than northeast, and an unusually good run with the lights meant I didn't get the chance to put the stop-at-10-minutes theory to the test but my back loosened up after that anyway. A struggle in the first couple of kilometres but got better as it went on. Originally had thoughts of doing something longer before the start of the day, but got squeezed a bit for time because my parents dropped in their way through from the airport (they've been in Norway), and things are still sufficiently fragile that a shorter run probably wasn't such a bad thing ahead of the weekend.

Looks like I really will be doing the crime scene tour in Darwin: I sent my conference poster to Darwin Officeworks for printing and discovered that they're across the road from the Buff Club.