Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

I love the smell of eucalypts at dawn on a summer morning. This run wasn't at dawn (though it was when I first stuck my head out the door), but it was a bit closer to it than most runs of late (a forecast of min 11, max 35 provides some encouragement in that respect). It took me to Gunbower Island, formed where the Gunbower Creek splits off from the Murray before rejoining it and variously claimed as Victoria's, Australia's and the world's largest inland island. (Only the first of these is true - in fact you only have to cross the Murray to find a much, much bigger one, formed by the Murray and Edward Rivers, although that one doesn't have a name; according to Wikipedia, the NSW one, which is about 70 times the size of Gunbower Island, is third-biggest in the world after two in Brazil).

Most of this run was on fire trails in river forests, and was dead flat (I suspect Strava's 3 metres is cheating me out of a bit of climb, but not much). Once again found things a bit of a struggle with the back intermittently troublesome; I'd hoped for an hour but didn't get there. Still nice to be in the bush, though - very open forest, but no features so I'm not in a rush to suggest it be mapped. Somewhat to my surprise, post-run waffles were on offer at the local cafe.

Made my way back to Melbourne via bits of the river forest (some of the roads were pretty badly cut up, I suspect through locals using them in the wet last winter when no-one was looking), then Echuca, the Lower Goulburn NP, Tatura and Murchison. A pleasant weekend at least until I ran into the traffic jams coming into Melbourne (part of the Hume Freeway after Craigieburn was closed for works, with predictable consequences - if I'd known I'd have taken the Wandong-Epping route, as I used to before the Craigieburn bypass was built). I was impressed by the visitor centre at the Torumburry Weir, particularly their accounts of some of the more offbeat things which had happened there (like the strike during construction in 1919, triggered by the sacking of two waiters at the construction mess for throwing tomatoes at each other).

Every second farm between Cohuna and Echuca seemed to be flying a Eureka flag. In the city the flying of Eureka flags is most commonly associated with the CFMMEU or, occasionally, the sort of people referred to politely as "white nationalists" (not that such people really deserve politeness), but out here I presume it has something to do with water.

C • Epping 5

The vagaries of my music shuffle turned up Talking Heads' "Burning Down The House" three times in a couple of hours (given where I was and what I was doing, perhaps "Take Me To The River" would have been more appropriate).

Headed up to northern Victoria for the weekend, making a success of this trip on the third attempt (I'd originally planned it for July, and then for two weekends ago). Stopped in on the way to do a run at Browns Reef, using part of a course from 2016 (including one very long leg, hence the modest number of controls). Probably a similar sort of run to last Sunday, moving more or less OK on the flat and downhills but finding climbing of any sort increasingly problematic as it went on. Got under 8 min/km (straight-line) for the first time in a while, but it's the sort of area where the likes of Aston and Pat would be deep into the 4s. A pretty cool day for February in Bendigo - only about 18 when I was running, although it warmed up later as the cloud broke up, which made for good conditions for some of the most impressive mirages I've seen for a while in the flat country north of Bendigo.

Did a bit of a tour of granite hills as I continued north, most notably at Mount Hope which Neil had previously mentioned (lots of rocks, and would definitely make for an interesting map with some similarities with Korong). Finished the day at Cohuna, where I certainly won't have any hills to deal with tomorrow. Just being on the road felt reasonably relaxing after a pretty stressful week.

I thought it in the interests of diplomacy to stay clear of the discussion in the pub about the forthcoming duck-shooting season. There were also various signs expressing disgruntlement with aspects of water policy, which I suspect differ from such signs which have been on display in various parts of the Murray-Darling Basin for decades only in as much as these days they have hashtags.

Definitely appreciated some time in the water today (at a somewhat unusual time because I had a 7am meeting; this sort of flexibility is one benefit of not being in the office, although on a day when I was otherwise going most of the time from 7am to 10pm, it's perhaps a modest benefit). Felt pretty good once I was going. Rather strangely, had a twinge in a muscle in the stomach area while getting changed afterwards, but nothing seems to have come of it (we'll see if any issues are evident when it comes time to run tomorrow).

Haven't tried doing two evenings in a row for a while. Might be a while before I try doing it again - my back, which hasn't had a great week, was a bit of a disaster area tonight. Perhaps a bit less awful in the second half but this was always a struggle, even on the flat.

Looking at the course (with controls on either side of it) I thought I might have had the chance to run down the middle of Victoria Park and imagine myself bouncing the ball several times before slamming it into the cheer squad behind the goals, but there was training on so I had to go round the outside. The ground was last used in 1999 but $20 for a seat in a private box (as indicated by the sign) seems a bargain even by 1999 standards. I seem to recall we were in one of these on the one occasion I went to an Essendon game there, in 1980, but that might have been because my parents/grandparents thought that even as a nine-year-old I'd be taking my life in my hands - or at least have my vocabulary significantly expanded - venturing into the outer as an away supporter. (Dad tells me that when he was a hanger-on with his uncle coaching in the VFA in the 1950s, Port Melbourne was the one away game he wasn't allowed to go to). Essendon had long since stopped playing at Victoria Park by the time I moved to Melbourne, and the only game I've been to there since was a Collingwood-Freo one.

(Anzac Day notwithstanding, Essendon and Collingwood are some way down each other's rivalry list - both teams certainly dislike Carlton more, and in Essendon's case probably Hawthorn too. I suspect this is probably because the successful eras of Essendon and Collingwood have rarely coincided, so they've met in remarkably few big finals - 1990 was their only Grand Final meeting in the last century).

Went a night earlier than usual and a course longer than usual for the street-O championships - I knew I wouldn't be competitive but still thought I'd give it a go (a mass start was also a novelty this season). Felt reasonable on the warm-up and early on, but as with yesterday, back started to become a problem from about 25 minutes on, and this time the climbing wasn't done - walked a lot of the hills in the second half, though still an improvement on most recent evenings (being cooler probably helped).

The route choice was interesting, and I changed my strategy twice during the course. The first time was early on after noticing that #6 wasn't a good option, and I switched to counter-clockwise rather than clockwise. The second time was by accident - I made a mistake exiting #9 (in a small bushy park) and found myself heading towards #15 (which I hadn't planned to go to), but that opened up the option of dropping the other three controls in that part of the map, rather than finding one drop on the east side where there wasn't an obvious drop.

Cathies Corner (as it was then) was a regular venue in my early Wednesday night days, but I haven't been there for a while - I think it may have been a Monday venue a lot of the time once that series was introduced? My other well-remembered visit to this part of town was for the 2001 Aston by-election, when this was still considered a marginal seat (these days it's the heart of the Bible Belt and just about the strongest Liberal area in Melbourne). As with a lot of by-elections, this featured a large and sometimes eccentric cast of characters, including someone from Help End Marijuana Prohibition who disappeared periodically behind the bushes (presumably to smoke a joint), and the Wilderness Society koala turning up to scrutineer for the Greens. (You're actually not allowed to wear partisan clothing inside a booth, but I was hardly going to attach my name to a PR disaster by complaining about it).

Morning session out towards Ruckers Hill, clearing up a few loose ends on the east side of High Street (I've now completed this area between Separation and Westgarth). Started out reasonably well - didn't even need what has become the semi-standard stop at the 6-8 minute mark this time - and handling the climbs OK, but back was starting to become a little troublesome from about 25 minutes onwards. I might not have fancied climbing at that stage but it was all done by then. Coolest (and least humid) morning for a while, which made for nice conditions to be out in.

Fairly quiet week this week by recent standards: only five meetings outside working hours (not counting orienteering ones), and none of them are between midnight and 7am.

C • Urgh :( 1

Looks interesting.

Back after a week's break, with a new instructor (who extended me a bit further on a couple of the exercises, something I was probably ready for). Woke up with a rather stiff back, which loosened a bit during this session (and more during the swim); would definitely have struggled to run this morning.

Took longer to get going than some of my recent swims, but picked up later on and brought it home with a relatively fast final lap (even if I felt anything but smooth during the course of it). The low sun in the closing laps is another reminder that autumn is approaching.

This evening we (finally) approved the OA constitutional changes which seem to have been going on forever (but it's actually been a couple of years, I think). Amongst the consequences of this is that no amount of persuasion will be able to get me to stand again at the AGM for President (or Chair as it will become) - I'll have reached my maximum term on the Board and am ineligible to run again.

C • Ineligible to run 6