CoolRunning 5km Challenge

Not the best of preparations for this. Eventually set off in the car with Dad at 6.40pm and realised that if I wanted to jog 3km to start with I'd need to put the foot down. Got to the Harbour Bridge and for some reason ended up in the tunnel lane and realised on exit that I was on the wrong side of the city. Frantically tried to find the entry to the cross city tunnel, only to end up on it heading the wrong way! Eventually found somewhere to do an illegal "U"ey and turned up in Five Dock with about 5 minutes to go. Found somewhere to jump out the car and give Dad the keys and started jogging (running) to the start line. Passed runners who were getting faster and faster going the other way (including Kanser and Flake) and eventually turned up at the start line with 30 seconds to spare.

Heart rate was racing by this stage - not the warm up I intended but it seemed to work. Set off with Uncle Dave and Ray and just tucked in behind Dave for the first 3km. Felt great at this stage - even pushing the pace at one point. The 3km split was 9:28. However, from the sharp turn beside the motorway he started just to drift away as the lactic started to build up. Really struggled at this stage, crept passed Richard and the chap he set off with and then Superflake just under the bridge. Felt a little better in the last 0.5km and was really pleased with a 16:06. 12 second PB. There was quite a bit of headwind on the way around but the conditions were otherwise great - about 17c.

Uncle Dave must have run around 15:50. Richard ran around 17:30, Ray must have been just over 16:30 as Richard said he held him off. Good to see Flake set a PB - his sub3 at Canberra is a cert. Also good to see Kanser getting back into things again.

Easing up (without any choice)

Very easy 8km around the city - through Hyde Park, past 3 Wise Monkeys and through Darling Harbour and Hickson Road. 32:25. Lovely run in the evening, not pushing it and shaking off all the worries of work before dinner with Dad and Kirst.

24 little hours..

Wednesday

What a difference a rest day makes. 14km run to work. Felt sore around both achilles to start with but gradually eased my way into the run. And then it was fantastic. Beautiful day - a little warmer than the weekend but crystal clear. Just bounded along without any effort, thinking about the time trial on Saturday and how attractive Parriwi Road is. 27:40 at Spit Junction then 57:28 all up. Pushed it a bit over the harbour bridge as usual.

Was thinking after the run how it's incredible that you can know so accurately the speed that you are travelling at. When I was at Spit Junction, I was thinking that if I maintained the same pace I'd probably reach work in around 57:20. To be only 8 seconds out over 14km is pretty amazing. You'd never be able to predict that sort of accuracy if you were driving to work....

Tuesday

Rest. Too busy at work. Schmoozing people at lunchtime whilst looking longingly out of the windows at everyone running Pain....

Fitting it in

14km run to work. Extremely tired after yesterday's run - it was a real slog the whole way. 29 minutes at Spit Junction and 61:03 all up (first time over the hour). Felt marginally better over the Harbour Bridge but this is all comparative.

Long Sunday

Long Sunday route - 23km. Amazing what a difference the cooler temperatures makes. Headed out at around 2pm when the temperature was about 18c. Felt pretty lively right from the start and was pushing it without thinking about it. Reached the Stone Arch in 44:55, Fairlight Pool in exactly an hour and all up in 1:33:28 for a new course PB. Didn't really let up once I'd seen my time at the Stone Arch.

G-Mapped the route - it reckons only 21.7km but I think you must lose quite a bit on a run that length due to G-Map not taking into account variation in distances due to elevation. That's what I'm trying to persuade myself at least.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=799907

Enjoying it again...

Headed out at around 4pm in between dropping off and picking Bec up from a party. Still just under 30c, but with low humidity not half as bad as it could have been. Didn't want to push myself so ran a new course - basically the 8km Manly route in reverse but adding the loop via the Campbell Parade playpark.

Still quite quick, but never a struggle and felt very easy at the end. About 10km I reckon in 39:38. Will use this course again as it's really nice.

Here's a G-Map Pedometer for the route. Not very accurate in the first half cutting a few corners but I zoomed in for the second half to plot more accurately. Reckon it's about 9.8km.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=797368.

Back in the fold

Rested Wednesday and Thursday due to too much work and too little sleep.

Ran into work this morning. Still suffering from fatigue but a beautiful morning for running, not too warm, fresh and no breeze. 28 minutes at Spit and 58:28 all up. Had a much shortened stride than normal because of the tiredness. Feel great for having forced myself to do it now though. And now to work....

Pain

3km warm up jog + 6km Pain + 1km warm down. 10km all up.

Pushed Pain hard today. 24:11 all up but a 1:56 on the 709m rep chasing down a new bloke called Steve Thurston (you'll no doubt be pleased to hear I caught him). Struggled over the last 2 reps. Durante, Ray and David Clark all showed up, Durante and Ray running well but Dave struggling.

Was going to rest, but then...

12km lunchtime run with Beaky. Very steady recovery run in about 52:30. Talking pace all the way. Woke up very tired after a disrupted night's sleep and a heavy weekend and so passed on the run to work. Pleased to have got out at luncthime though as I feel a lot better for it now.

Manly Sunday

Long Manly Sunday run route. 23km in 1:37:28, at the stone arch in 47:15. Nice and cool conditions, felt comfortable the whole way.

Saturday in the rain

Left it until the humidity broke and the heavens opened to go for today's run. Felt good at the start so turned it into a tempo run over my 8km Manly route. Felt strong throughout although was pushing at a pace that was never entirely comfortable. 29:04 which I think is a course PB.

Couple of photos from last weekend added for any family reading.....

Friday warm down

14km run home from work. 30:35 at the Toyota Garage and 57:29 all up. Hot and humid, struggled on the hills again. Toyed with the idea of Beaky's "marathon pace" fast spells but after about 20 metres of that over the harbour bridge dismissed it as a ridiculous notion and decided to treat the run as a recovery run.

Hickson Road

Back to Hickson Road - 5 x 1.17km (now measured on G-Map Pedometer) with 2 minute rest. Good crowd today with a first appearance of Kanser getting back into training after injury, Richards (High and Palmer), Chris, Ray, Durante, Bill and David(?). Times went:

3:46; 3:37; 3:33; 3:37; 3:37

First was slow as running by myself. Durante then showed up and pushed the next three, with Ray returning to form with a good session pushing the last one in running a 3:36. Pleased with the session as after the first I was willing to write it off as a post-6ft hangover session. Glad to be able to hang on for the final two after a very quick third.

10km all up.

Attached are a couple of photos from 6ft - Cox's River and the end. Shame I look like such a mincer in the river, as soon as I saw the photographer I tried the masculine pose but it was obviously too late.

Wednesday to work

14km run to work. 27:15 at Spit Junction and 57:19 all up. Started out feeling quite fresh which explains the quicker than normal time. Settled into a pattern of struggling on the hills (6ft ankle weights being attached) and feeling sprightly on the flat and downhills. Beautiful morning for running - cool, sunny and no wind.

My mind was wandering most of the way trying to decide on goals for the rest of the season. I reckon they are:

1. City to Surf
2. Lowering my 10km PB - probably North Head in May or September.
3. SMH Half
4. Lowering my 5km Road PB - hopefully end of this month.

JPMorgan in November is a little too far away at this point but that will become the priority after City to Surf.

Pain

3km jog + 6km Pain + 1km jog = 10km.

Didn't push it at Pain today - hung off the back of group 1 (led by Scott again in 24 minutes) with Ray and Tim Cradock chatting about 6ft and Tim's race plans. Good to see him back in full training in earnest again. Legs felt pretty good - a little stiff beforehand but much looser for having done the session.

Ran the long rep in 2:00 feeling pretty strong and with a bit of a headwind. Everything seems so short compared to Saturday...

Six Foot Track

I was still queueing for the toilets when the first wave gun fired, so had a very nervous 5 minutes before our wave was to go. Just managed in time, joining the rear of the second wave as I didn't want to be involved in any mad rush down the steep first section. I thought this was the most dangerous section of the course - large loose stones, lots of people around so your visibility is very short and most people shooting off too quick. Was pleased to get to the stairs where we had to stop for short while before gently making my way down. Dennis Wylie had stopped half way down, suffering from what he described as "arse cramps". Their weren't as many steps as I had imagined, and soon found myself in fantastic running country.

Took it very easy to Cox's, deliberately slowing myself down. Had two toilet stops in the first hour which is ridiculous given I would never normally do so on an hour run, but may have something to do with all the liquids I was taking on at each aid station. As I got to Megalong Road I started to stretch it out a bit but got caught in traffic on the technical section in the 2-3kms before Coxs which slowed me down again. Waded through Cox's river which was fun but not so getting the shoes sandy on the other side doubling their weight. Passed over the mats in 1:22 and started the hills in earnest. Ran most of them up to Mini Mini - walking (but with a lengthy stride) only the very steep sections. Went past Uncle Dave and Blue Dog on this section and was surprised at how quickly Mini Mini came up. Then headed up to Pluvi where I was walking a little bit more and again was surprised at how quickly it cam around. Took on a load of fluids and snakes at the top and felt great to be running on a flattish section starting Black Range.

The start of Black Range was probably my most encouraging section as I was starting to overtake first wave runners who appeared to have slowed down considerably. I worked out that if I averaged 5:00/km until the finish I'd be around 4 hours so just tried to keep the legs rolling over and churn out the kms. This worked until about the 31-32km mark where I was increasingly looking out for guidance as to how far there was to go. There were fewer people on the track here to so I wasn't overtaking so many. By 35km I was starting to struggle. Caught a chap I worked out was called John Hill (organises the High 5 products?) by the shouts he was getting but from here any slight incline was getting harder and harder to negotiate. I was desperately waiting for Caves Road, knowing that was around 37km and I'd only have 8km to go. The two hills before Caves Road did it for me - walked them slowly and really struggled to get any pace in the legs after that. John Hill (appropriately enough) was overtaking me on the uphills and I'd catch him again on the flat/downhills. Crossed Caves Road and briefly the spirits lifted but, to be honest, from then on I was just hanging on - walking even only slight inclines. Realised that you can make up huge amounts of time if you can finish this race strongly.

The sounds of the announcers voice at about the 43km was just fantastic. Pushed down the steep section to Jenolan Caves where others were starting to cramp up (overtook John Hills for the last time here) and gave it one final burst leading into the finish line. Felt a bit emotional at this point (obviously the feminine side comes out in times of extreme fatigue) and could barely manage a word to Kirst, Dad and the kids. But was surprised and pretty pleased with the time (4:12:35).

Amazing run by Fats. I hope he never beats me by 50 minutes in a race again. Great run by MPH too - I was half expecting to catch him along Black Range but he put time on me over that section. Chris also ran really well (4:04) given the interruptions in his training in the last 6 weeks. If anyone deserves to go sub-4 it's him.

Note for next year - if trying to beat 4 hours, take it a little quicker to Cox's (1:15 I reckon), about the same up the hills and try and finish strong. This may require training runs of more than 30km rather than stepping into the unknown shortly after Pluvi.

Run home the hard way

Plan was to run home but spoke to Beaky in the afternoon and planned a session he described as "2kms at marathon pace, jog, another 2kms at marathon pace, jog, then 1km at marathon pace". All sounded fine until I realised his marathon pace is my 10km pace.

Took my usual route with added bits. Mostly stayed with him on the fast spells but was getting lactic build up towards the end of each. He peeled off at Parriwi Road and from then I could take it easy.

Great taper for 6ft! 14km in total.

Pain

4km jog then 6km Pain then 1km warmdown: 11km.

We let Scott and one other go ahead for Pain and ran it ourselves more sensibly. Didn't get a split for the long rep (Ray said approx 1:59 for him so about 1:57/8 for me) or for the whole thing. Certainly felt easier towards the end without pushing all the way at Scott's usual pace. Durante was strong over the last 4 reps having eased off on the long one.

Sunday from home

23km North Head and Balgowlah Heights route. Ran in the midday sun on a very hot (31C) and humid day. Legs were rolling over fine to start with so just went with the flow which meant too fast. Hit the stone arch in 46:45 and realised I'd taken it too quickly, from then on I really struggled, plodding along at the pace I intend to run 6ft track in next week.

Stopped at every bubbler but was still parched. Reached reef beach and decided to go in for a swim which was fantastic. Haven't felt so relieved. Picked up a bit after that and finished in 1:39:16. Pretty respectable in the heat but am knackered now and need a sleep.

Striders 10km Homebush

9th place in 34:31. Not sure why the time was so slow - no wind but it was very humid. My vest and shorts were drenched in sweat at the end. Disappointed with the time but not so much with the position - everyone seemed to struggle.

Had originally planned to set off at 34 minute pace with Keith Bateman. Didn't want to push it too much to start with after struggling at 3km at Lane Cove last time out but in retrospect I think I took it too easy early on. Tim Ashby had about 20 seconds on me by 3km. Ran most of the first 5km with Guy Doulman. Ray (who was only doing 5km) came past at about 4km chatting as usual - I tried to mutter some reply but was not making any sense in between gasping for breaths.

Time at 5km was 17:03 so tried to push it from there. Gradually reeled in Damian Tancred by the top of the hill between 6 and 7km and then Jake Shaw(?) going around the circular gravel path between 8 and 9km. Could see that I was catching Tim but ran out of time in the end.

2km warm up and warm down - 14km in total.

Recovery jog

Very easy 8km to Darling Point and back. 35:08.

Hickson Road

Big crowd there today - Ray, Phil Woods, Richard High, Pete Walker, Michael Durante, Christian Ellis, Bill and Dave Le Banh. Very consistent session (the usual 5x1.2km with 2 minute gap) went:

3:40; 3:34; 3:39; 3:37; 3:39

Richard pushed the first which is why it was quicker than normal. Chasing down Ray on the next three and then Phil Woods on the last. Easily the quickest aggregate time as first time all have been 3:40 or under. (Actually, just checked this point and I did a couple in November all 3:40 or under (one with aggregate time quicker too) when I was peaking for JPM. So won't expect anything special on Saturday morning.)

Jog there and back made 10km all up.