Training Log Archive: PrueD

Walk around North Blackburn. There was an armed holdup by a machete wielding gang at the North Blackburn Square Woolworths last night, with the offenders escaping in a silver Subaru hatchback, driven by a woman. JennyCas wasn't in town and we can't blame Kath Copland as she is back in NZ. I haven't checked to see if mine is full of groceries.

C • holdup 3

It was raining during the morning and I really didn't feel like going all the way to the Woodlands event. Somehow the Melbourne bush Os don't inspire me very much - and perhaps I am subconsciously wanted t o protect the recovering knee a little longer (and it is definitely recovering, which is good). Anyway, I opted for a swim in the Nunawading pool instead. On a Sunday evening, the fast lane is slower than the slow lane at 6.00am. Of note is that my swimming is definitely getting faster :)

Despite the best of intentions to hold off running, and TT's wise words - I couldn't resist and ventured out to the orienteering training run at Tally-Ho this morning. I plodded around - dropping back to a walk frequently. Knee is OK and certainly better than it was - but I have to be careful not to overdo it.

Yesterday's conference with Mr 'Snoggins', a very entertaining British barrister who defended the police after the London bombings and the erroneous shooting of a citizen, was very interesting. He would only defend people who kept the correct evidence (i.e written notes) and apparently the prosecution in the London bombings case was out to nail the senior police commander (coincidentally called Christine) but she was well prepared and the attention went elsewhere. The parallels to our royal commission were remarkable - but with a dramatically different outcome for our Christine.

I was also reminded of my terrible log keeping on Black Saturday - he quoted the British police logs as containing:
7.30 - Got to work
7.40 - Report of bombing in the underground
8.10 - This might be worse than we thought.
23:00 - Went home later than usual.
My log was, unfortunately, remarkably similar.

Swim in the crowded Nunawading pool. My only news is that today l am attending a conference led by a British disaster expert whose name is remarkably close to 'Snog' - only one day after our website was again hacked - this time by Viagra!

Walk around Blackburn. My knee is a lot better,and my leg is starting to feel like one of a pair, rather than independent. I still think I'll take it easy for a while and aim for a full recovery

C • Wise move 1

Walk around Blackburn after work.

I have been doing quite long hours at work lately and haven't had a lot of time for much else. The 'Command and control' rewrite has been finished, which is good. Our website at work (commissioner workplace) has been hacked into several times this week - nothing malicious, but enough to know it is vulnerable. I arrived to work yesterday to find a picture of a rogue firefighter on the screen! I yelled out 'we've been hacked' and the office staffed yelled back 'how do you know?'. The policeman who sits next to me advised that his police detective skills had been tuned to such a high level that even he too could see it had been hacked! (given the whole sceen was covered and signed 'Neo Hacker').

Walk in Reef Hills. It was another day of glorious sunshine and there seemed to be a lot of new growth. There were plenty of (what looked like) orchids sprouting everywhere, and the area that was burnt last year had a thick forest of new trees growing.

Solo swim in the Benalla pool, which seems to have warmed up the requisite 1 degree.

Although I am in Benalla this weekend and the weather is gorgeous - I need to work for most of it on the state command and control arrangements that need to be rewritten (into clear English) by Monday. The process is extremely frustrating and has (almost) brought a new meaning to the term 'tiers of control'. I am also using Office 2010 for the first time and can't find anything - which is adding slightly to the frustration.

I have been having a bit of a laugh watching a magpie outside try unsuccessfully to bite a bit of wire off a long piece dangling from the pergola, presumably for its nest.

Swim in the Nunawading pool.

Walk around Blackburn after work. I went to the osteopath this morning and had some dry needling and some very intense massage on my calf and hamstring. Lots of pain and lots of gain! I felt like a new woman tonight! But then I noticed that the other leg didn't feel so good either and I think a bit of the same is needed there as well. I am getting a wobble board to address my lower leg issues, which the osteopath described as 'needing a lot of rehabilitation from previous injuries'.

Swim at the Nunawading pool. I actually measured my time today and was a bit quicker than l previously thought. I have had a sore hamstring since Sunday - but the further l swam, the better it felt - so l did 1.5k today.

Further to yesterday, regarding the parking, BKV is in no position to be critical of parking officials -as our chief parker is Henry.

Orienteering at Wellington Chase, which is not one of my favourite places - and it was not one of my better days either. The area was quite steep and bushy in parts, with a lot of blackberries. The low lying areas were water logged.

I headed off and was passed by Anne Arthur (I think she started a minute or so behind) before I even got to the first control. She then gradually crept away from me for the next few controls - before dropping her SI stick and having to retrace her steps. However it was not far and she soon caught up and passed me again. I wasn't really checking the control numbers because they were on the map and it was a bit of an effort. Consequently I nearly mispunched 7 (until Anne told me it was the wrong one) and then I mispunched 10 - which was on top of a ridge - realising my mistake after climbing down again and nearly making it to the next control. Things didn't seem quite in the right position and I soon realised that this was because the control I had come from wasn't in the right position either. So I climbed back up and down the ridge again.

The knee (hamstring) was really tight at the end and I felt really unfit running (trying to run) and climbing hills. I also sustained a lot of scatches. I also had problems with watery eyes in the cool, windy conditions. So it was not one of my better days (and I can't really see any of those limiting factors improving in the near future). I had an epsom salts bath when I got home and felt a little better. However the newcomer / families / rogaining types all thought it was great so that was good. I think I prefer dry open forests.

Forgot to mention that I had a laugh at the parking arrangements when I arrived at the event. There was Wally pointing one way and Carl pointing the opposite way. 10 metres behind them was Peter with a large arrow pointing to the right, while he gestured for me to park to the left. Very confusing :)

C • DROC 2

Walk around Blackburn. Knee feels stronger and I'm going to give it a run at Wellington Chase tomorrow.

I'm staying in Melbourne this weekend to try and catch up on some things. I did some gardening this morning. I had to laugh because the minute I started pulling weeds out in the front yard, the Chinese man (no English) from over the road came running over with a spade in his hand and started madly gardening too...and didn't stop talking (in Chinese)!

Morning swim at Nunwading pool. I really must get a life - l rewrote the state command and control arrangements for emergencies in my sleep last night -so am well prepared for work today.

Walk around Blackburn. I went to the osteopath today. My knee is getting better and l got some strengthening exercises.

Morning swim in the Nunawading pool.

Walk after work.

I spent about an hour and a half trying to teach my friend Peter to orienteer. The 2009 W45 Aus champs relay course at Mt Killawarra was probably not the best place to start......but it was the closest map to Benalla. He did really well considering - but we could only do about 1/2 the course (walking slowly) in the time.

A swim in the Benalla pool. I decided to swim an extra half km as I will not be running this weekend. It was no problem at all, and perhaps indicates that I should increase my distance. The pool was even colder than normal - but OK as long as you kept going. I spent the rest of the day gardening.

It was a freezing morning with a heavy frost over everything, followed by a gorgeous sunny day. The garden looked like one of those photos you see of mid-winter European gardens. I am starting to see some return to normality in both my houses. I have only a few more loads to cart up and down to and from Benalla. The whole exercise has reminded me of two huge jigsaw puzzles - with 50 big pieces and 200 little pieces. Moving every piece has required a 2 1/2 hour car trip towing the trailer - only to find the pieces don't fit or don't look right in the light - and then having to perform the return trip. But I am nearly there and most of the pieces seem to have found a home without looking cluttered. Those that don't have gone to the tip or to a charity. There are now only a few pieces to go. Yay!!!

I went to the osteopath for a bit more knee treatment. The verdict was to rest the knee for a while - doing only activities which don't aggravate it. This could be a problem because walking up and down the stairs each day at the station definitely aggravates it. Otherwise the weather makes it easy to avoid weight-bearing exercise.

Amusing event this week. There is a Chinese man (straight from China) staying with the Chinese family over the road. He doesn't speak a word of English (and I don't speak Chinese) but continues to chat on regardless. He's determined to be friends and has helped me move things in the garage - all accompanied by lots of smiling and arm-waving.

Walk around Blackburn on a cold night. I wore a thermal and a polar fleece, fully zipped, and was not hot. I considered going to street-O - but the website was down and I couldn't get the venue details.

I had a interesting day. There was lots of banging and crashing sounds at work, which sounded like a demonstration but couldn't have been as we were on the 26th floor. Turns out it is NAIDOC week and there was an aboriginal traditional dancing display going on directly above our heads on the 27th floor.

I was sorry to hear last night that Ian's family farmhouse at Rheola (near Mt Kooyoora) where I have stayed for about the last 20 years or so, partly burnt down on the weekend. Tthe remainder and the contents were severely damaged. Fortunately his brother and girlfriend weren't inside at the time so were OK. Turns out the fire was started by an electrical fault in the back of the almost new Westinghouse fridge, which was one of the newest items in the house!

Orienteering at Warrandyte Common. One of my earliest events was near here and I remember becoming quite keen after that. Hopefully some of the newcomers who were there today will have a similar experience. It was also nice to be able to go orienteering and then return home to do a few other things.

The map was nice and clear and the course straightforward. However I still managed to mess up one control - heading off down the wrong track for some distance. It started raining half way through my course and visibility became an issue (through the fog and raindrops) towards the end. The area was hilly - but it was nice to be in the bush again.

Evening swim at the Nunawading pool - one of the benefits of staying in Melbourne for the weekend. I am trying to catch up after a week of inactivity. Although I was sorry I was not in Benalla to meet Bruce and Suzanne as they passed through.