Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

If only I'd gone across to South Australia a bit earlier, I could have taken in the header demolition derby in Keith.

Victorian Relays at Eppalock South. Back in the day, the Eppalock areas (along with Lyell Forest) were places I went in pursuit of the fast-terrain holy grail of a kilometre rate starting with a 4. Today would have been a good day for that in terrain which was fast even by this area's standards (in fact it would surprise me if Bryan went close to or under 4.5).

My days of running kilometre rates starting with a 4 are over (except on the streets), but I was hoping to get one starting with a 5 and did. Two long legs early; on my own fairly quickly after the start (not sure how much was speed and how much was route choice), but eventually got into the eclectic second group, which at various stages comprised myself, Tash, Aston, Simon Rouse and one of the Goonans; I filled my usual function in such groups of being the slowest but the most accurate. We split after the sequence of short legs 6-10, with Tash getting ahead a bit, although I saw a bit of Simon at various stages. Had my first wobble of the day on the way to the last control, drifting a bit low, which cost me enough time (maybe 15 seconds) to place Aston within run-me-down-in-the-chute range, an opportunity he accepted with open arms. 8 down on Kez and Eon, probably a slightly better-than-par result for me these days. Good to feel like I was racing, although still feel questionable on such hills as the area had.

This is the first time I've seen much of Aston in competition. He's technically confident in detail and I liked that he was prepared to make his own decisions in a pack situation (reminds me a bit of a previous tussle with a junior of similar age who went on to bigger and better things), but sometimes had trouble holding a line in vaguer country.

I took off pretty quickly afterwards to make the start of the World Cup final (a mission accomplished with 30 seconds to spare), so I don't know where my team ended up - although as I was its only member under 60 (Ted and Russell being the others) I'm not expecting miracles.

C • Fairly wide variantions at times 3

On this occasion, a run was a good opportunity to get out of the house while it was swarming with potential purchasers (which meant the run was a bit later than it normally would be). This was another one on familiar territory which is soon to become less familiar - the Banyule Flats singletrack then out to the Finns Reserve bridge (although I came back along the riverbank on the other side for longer than I usually do), with the first hint of dampness on autumn leaves and the associated smell. Not the greatest of runs, though; never really felt as if I'd loosened up.

C • Kosher? 2

At Fitzroy for the first time in a while, on a morning which was definitely autumnal, with a cool wind which was fine once you were in and therefore low enough to be sheltered. A fairly routine session.

Today's historical trawlings were from 1926, and turned up plenty of distractions (alongside the March heatwave in NSW and southern Queensland which was my primary object of interest). Highlights included the cricket match between the Jockeys and the Pressmen (either the pitch or the batting were rubbish, because the highest team score in four completed innings was 70, with the Jockeys narrowly prevailing - probably would have been different if they'd been playing basketball), and someone being fined 5 pounds in a Melbourne court for being found drunk in charge of a horse and carriage in William Street. In the latter case, the constable reached this conclusion after finding the driver asleep in the back of the carriage and asking him to get out, whereupon the driver fell over. (This isn't an offence you see much these days, although I've had traffic issues in the Melbourne CBD with horses and carriages more recently than most, being knocked off my bike by one in Swanston Street in 1998).

Also in the news were two separate items about the Box Hill and South Melbourne Councils resolving to send deputations (you don't see that word much any more) to the relevant authorities to lobby for the immediate construction of, respectively, a tram extension along Whitehorse Road to Box Hill and a bridge across the Yarra at Spencer Street. Clearly not much has changed in 89 years about the relative priority of roads and public transport in Victorian transport planning because South Melbourne got their bridge the next year, whereas Box Hill had to wait about 70 years for their tram extension.

It was a long day. The main reason I was in Canberra was for an external review of our data set. I expected this process to be challenging without being hostile, and it was (if the minister had wanted to cause trouble the panel would have looked very different - mostly statistical types, summed up by the fact that no fewer than five of the eight panel members, on being introduced, asked me how Dad was or words to that effect). It's fairly hard work, though, doing three talks (and associated intensive Q+A sessions) back to back. Wasn't as if I had nothing to do beforehand either - started the day with an IOF Foot Commission teleconference from 6 to 8.

We now need to wait for the report (which will be a "damning report" in the Australian regardless of its actual contents). I expect the most challenging thing it will do is make recommendations which involve doing lots of extra work.

This process has been consuming me for a while and my plan was to get out immediately afterwards for a run on familiar territory from times past (was hoping Lucy, who's also been deeply involved in this process on the organisational side, would also come but she couldn't make it) - this being the Red Hill ridgeline (except for the very western end beyond the reservoirs at the Deakin end). Feeling a bit clogged up - after a fortnight as intense as this I feel as if getting sick is almost an inevitability - and battled a bit on the initial climb, but much stronger on the Davo section, and then nice coming back down on the track alongside Mugga Way, on a cool evening with the sun sinking behind the ridge.

Scary to think that it's 30 years, almost to the day, that I rounded the La Perouse signpost, saw no-one within 150 metres and realised that this was a race (to be specific, the school under-14 cross-country) that I was going to win....(I did have the considerable advantage, relative to the opposition, that I was actually training).

This was the sort of day where I was running on adrenalin for most of it - but I've definitely hit the wall now ("now" being in the lounge waiting for a delayed flight back to Melbourne).

Did something I didn't do enough of while I was actually living in Canberra - taking advantage of the abundance of terrain right outside the back fence. Took a little while to get my terrain legs back (and get used again to Lizzie's trademark spider web facials), but not too bad a run - another step closer to post-Six Foot normality, which is hopefully a good sign for Easter.

While I'm mostly here for my day job, as I often do when I'm in Canberra during the week, I scheduled a meeting with the Sports Commission about something (mostly governance in this case). You're certainly reminded that this is the bush capital when you arrive - one of the first things you see is a poster 'Venomous Snakes of the ACT'. (By the way, the ASC's new participation strategy was launched today but I've yet to fully digest what it all means).

Back to something reasonably close to normality - still a bit slow (although doing the first half-hour in the dark probably had a bit to do with that), but had some good stretches through the middle and reasonably strong on the hills of the Bulleen pipeline track later on. Achilles a little sore in the later stages, but nothing to worry too much about. Probably the longest I'll do between now and Easter.

The far point of this run was the Eastern Freeway footbridge between Doncaster and North Balwyn, a place which has been much seen in the news in recent days. As one might expect, the small park at the end has become a shrine to the victim of the appalling crime committed there this time last week (the sea of flowers must be the best part of 20 metres wide); I paused briefly to pay respects.

In Canberra for the next couple of days.

Took a long time to get going this morning, and generally felt unawake (at least until the ride afterwards) - not really Six Foot-related soreness, just took ages to loosen up more generally.

I suspect part of the reason why I wasn't feeling that great is that it's been a pretty full-on last week or so (in addition to work, there's been preparation for OA meetings - and I haven't even started on Thursday morning's IOF one yet). I did, though, leave work today thinking that I'd cleared some big items on the to-do list (scoreboard for the day: finalising my presentations for the Canberra meeting on Thursday, of which you'll hear more in due course; finalising a climate statement on the extreme heat in northern and central Australia, to be released tomorrow; finalising the content for the next issue of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Journal; and getting together a list of the Australian region's longest-lived cyclones, a list Nathan is still some way from joining).