Easy Monday

Took Friday off with a sore achilles and hangover. Was heading to Centennial for Sean's session on Sat morning when I got called back home due to a home intruder. Trawled the streets of Fairlight looking for her then had to deal with CSI. I'd come down with a cold anyway so didn't feel like going running. Sunday still felt crap so another day's rest.

So today I was well rested for the usual 15.8km route. Very easy pace and felt full of energy. 1:11:15. Durante was there, bouncing around as usual.

HuRTS 8 x 800m

Over to Rushcutters again and off with the shoes for 8 x 800m going off a rolling 4 minutes. Good crowd seeing as MC allowed me to change the official session so Tucks, Kanser, Timmy, J-Fen, Richie H, Big Sam, Pete W, Vicky Joe, MC himself, Laura, Emma and a heap of others were in attendance. I had Tucks alongside for the first couple and leading the final rep and Vicky Joe blasting out rep number 5 otherwise I was leading. Reps went as follows:

2:22
2:21
2:23
2:22
2:22
2:21
2:21
2:14

Felt comfortable again barefoot but I'll pay the price with my achilles tomorrow. Kanser took a step forward today, running the reps with J-Fen in the 2:27 - 2:28 range before a quick final one. Poor little Timmy seems to be a bit out-classed these days. Rumour is he's shying away from my Lane Cove bet. So that'll be $20 please young sir.

11km all up.

Mid week wanderings

Massage this morning with the Tiger which worked wonders then rocked up at lunchtime with Kanser, Big Sam, RMR, King James, John Bowe and the Whores for the Centennial route. I was planning on cutting back at Fox Studios and only doing 12km but felt good today so continued on for 15km with the rest of the group.

1:06:42 (4:27's).

HuRTS 14 x 3mins

Somehow managed to find some time in the day to get down to HuRTS. Felt tired from the off. Arrived to find a massive crowd gathered (JPMorgan aka the HuRTS Squad Champs are around the corner). We started with a very easy rep in about 3:26 pace and then Bartles, Richie H and Vicky Joe took turns to face the wind while Ray, Tucks, J-Fen, Jason, TB and I bludged. Richie in particular was running very strongly. I was finishing mid pack (Tucks was even behind) and just felt fatigued. However, looking at my watch we were averaging 3:15 to 3:18 pace per rep so I wasn't too bothered. A few pulled out after 10. A few more after 12 and then I suddenly felt really good running the final 2 reps in 3:06 and 3:02 pace. A few days rest and I'm confident things will come together.

16km all up.

Long run in

Summer has arrived. I had forgotten how hard the long run can get in the heat. Ran my 14km Manly route (Shelley and back) in 60:15 (4:17's) after turning at Shelley in 30:24. Then drank some Endura, brushed my teeth, picked my bag up and ran into work (57:38). Running to work was bloody hard, every hill was a real struggle and it was as much as I could do just to keep on turning the legs over.

All up 27km. Struggling with fatigue at the moment but hoping it's just a phase I'll pull through.

Easy Sunday

11.76km in the late afternoon with the elder 2 kids riding their bikes alongside. 52:03 (4:25's). Very tired after yesterday's session and achilles very sore.

More Centennial Stuff

Session this morning was 6km tempo followed by 10 hills. Long warm up, chatting to Keith, Wildman and CT then straight into it. The big guns went off like hares (Benny and Harry went through 5km in 13:59 and did the 6km in 16:40) while I found myself alone as usual - it was a real tempo. CT had gone off hard and hung on well today running 18:35. I did the kms in 3:07, 6:20, 9:35, 12:52, 16:08 and finishing in 19:16. Barefoot again.

Quick chat and jog over to a 100m fairly gentle slope for the hills. These were pretty hard as they were run quick (about 21/22s) with a quick jog back down between each. Then finished with another easy internal loop of the white fence with Wildman, CT and a fast chap called Tony.

CT definitely favourite for the $20 off today's performance.

16km all up.

HuRTS 10 x 400m

Hardcore band of merry men today, strictly for the current form 35min 10km runner. Timmy was nowhere to be seen. Tucks, TB, Richie H, Vicky Joe, J-Fen, Ray and Richies mate fronted on a beautiful day. Check out the shot from my phone on my (very late) commute into work this morning:



We marked out 400m around the Oval - 410m on my Garmin but 400m on others (I don't cut the corners - at least when marking out the lap). The grass was in fantastic condition so I went barefoot again and started the session - each rep run off a rolling 2 minutes. Times were:

68
67
66
67
68
66
66
67
66
62

I was in front on each, had Tucks on my shoulder for most (with him in the lead for the first half on a few) and had to work hard to reel in Vicky Joe on the last. But once again loved the barefoot running. Not the same fatigue on the final 3 reps that I usually get.

10km all up.

Even better than the view from the boat this morning were the views down in Circular Quay at lunchtime where one of my spies took this pic:



Go Cat!

Stuffaroo'd

Manic at work. Managed to sneak out for an 8km jog at 7.30pm before back to the office. Knackered from running anyway.

HuRTS 45mins Fartlek

Lovely day. The usual healthy crowd with a good core group of 5 of us (J-Fen, Bartles, Dicky High, Gus McGillivray and myself) upfront. After last month's effort, I decided just to sit in and bludge off everyone until the final 3km (Opera House gates). That's basically how it went. Felt quite comfortable (physically, not mentally) bludging. We reached halfway opposite the Lend Lease steps so a good effort, the pace then dropped with no-one wanting to do any work into the wind. Running alongside the Toaster I realised we were unlikely to get back in time unless we upped the pace a lot so I started pushing the fast sections hard. This damn near killed me with just Bartles clinging on. Got a slight gap coming up the hills which he closed on the last easy 30 second section. Finished in 44:56 so judged it well. The Garmin measured it accurately at 12.8km averaging 3:30's.

Had stomach cramps all afternoon. I took Voltaren last night and this morning as my achilles was swollen and so I could hammer the eccentric loading. It's disagreed with me (other than for the achilles).

15km all up.

Long Monday

Did 8km by myself struggling and feeling tired, then joined the usual HuRTS squad Monday run and immediately felt good chatting away. Huge crowd but I was chatting mainly to MC, Tucks, TB, Big Sam and Jonathon W. Of the huge crowd, only those guys (less JW), plus the King and Brendan ran the whole thing. I then tagged on a couple of extra km to make it up to 26km. Beautiful day and perfect temp for running.

26.2km in 1:55:48 (4:25's).

Steady Sunday

Hungover this morning after drowning my Welsh glory sorrows in The Steyne last night so only managed a steady 11.5km this afternoon. Despite having spent the whole weekend on my feet I felt great today. 45:50 (3:59s). Seem to have hit a bit of a purple patch. Will try to squeeze a long one in tomorrow.

Wallabies beaten by the better team. That Dagg fella was my man of the match.

Bejaysus! Just seen the results from Burnie 10. Wildman just missing the win but running sub 30 and beating this years City to Surf winner!

Tempo 10km

Over to Centennial this morning to join Sean's group for a tempo 10km. It was pissing with rain and as I sat in the car at 7:25am I seriously contemplated driving straight home. HTFU'd and joined in the 4km warm up chatting to Anna F who was making a first time appearance with Sean.

CT, Huw Williams, Benny St and a couple of other fast guys turned up and we were off in the pouring rain. Made a last minute decision to run barefoot as were on the 1km loop of the playing fields. The corners were a bit slippery but otherwise it was a great choice. Benny disappeared off into the distance and I settled into a group with Huw, Sean, CT and 2 others. They pulled ahead on the 3rd lap but given I was doing km splits of 3:13 or thereabouts I wasn't fussed. Went through 5 laps (5.1km on my Garmin) in 16:28. Caught CT at 7.5km. Pushed on to finish in 32:51 (16:23 second 5km) but feeling great. There really is something in this barefoot running stuff. I notice my stride being shorter but the cadence being higher and seem to suffer fewer aches or fatigue. Although the Garmin said 10.2km, CT reckons it's 9.8km. Still pleased with the time. He finished in 33:50 bludging the last 2 laps and claiming we need to renegotiate the bet. But he's a wily old fella and I can tell he's trying to rort me in some fashion.

Friday run in

Ran in. Holey moley. Small girls on trikes were overtaking me this morning. Not sure of time as my watch ran out of juice half way, very shortly before I did. 27:45 at Spit Junction so I'm guessing high 58's all up.

Been thinking about last night and I'm just proud to have competed with those chaps. Timmy really is an awesome swimmer.

115km for the week.

Biathlon bollx

I needed a minute! I only had 52 seconds and the wily old bugger beat me by 5 seconds. Set off quick tracking CT before he pushed ahead up the hills. Stuck with Fast Charlie until 1.5km when he started catching CT. I was then on my own, but closed in a bit in the final 500m. Finished the 4km run in 12:48. Then spent what felt like a frickin' age trying to get my trainers off before I dived in and before I knew it, Dicky H was coming past. Then Jamie Stewart, then Enda, then Pete W. I think that's it, before I hear Kanser screaming at me from the end of lane 4 telling me Timmy's just behind. Reach the end of lane 5 still ahead and thinking I had a chance. Then inexorably Timmy comes past with 20m to go. Managed to stay ahead of Eoin and Christian so at least I wasn't last placed HuRTs man.

Finished in 19:23, a new PB but $30 poorer. Enjoyable beers after handing over the money to Timmy with Enda, Kanser, CT and Greta in attendance. Fantastic news to hear that Greta is pregnant, no doubt that kid will be able to run. CT was kind enough to offer me a bet for Lane Cove - $20 with him giving me a 20s start. Got something to work towards now.

HuRTS Hickson Road

Woke up feeling very tired again and sore. This will be a 115km week, stepping up from 80km and 15km over the previous 2 weeks so it's probably no surprise. Have got the biathlon on this evening and wanted to stretch the legs a bit so headed down to the HuRTs session on Hickson Road and just ran easily in the second group. Pace was between 3:40 and 3:55 (per/km - 4:15 to 4:25 overall) for each of the reps. Big crowd with J-Fen running from the front but Kanser and Clyde looked very pleased at the end describing in detail how they pulled him in on the final rep.

Have $30 on a head to head with Timmy tonight. He tends to swim 5:00 - 5:15 for the 300m and I'm very consistent on 6:00 with my breastroke, so I reckon I need a minute over the 4km run to be safe. CT and Fast Charlie will no doubt take it out very quick so I'll just try to stick behind them for as long as possible. The tension is mounting.

Wednesday MLR

Out with Jonathan Wors, Big Sam (yay!), John Bowe and Keith for the usual Wednesday route. However, they all peeled off after one lap of Centennial leaving me to run the second half alone. I think John Bowe did after I gave him a whole load of grief for his handicapping for the Striders Internal Half on Sunday. Me giving Tucks a minute headstart - are you joking? Giving Timmy 6 minutes - is he having a laugh? JB 6 minutes!!!!

Easy pace run (1:22:23 - 4:26's for the 18.6km). Heel a bit sore as is my swollen toe, but no-one wants to hear about that. Saw the Tiger for a massage this morning. I blame him for pulling my toes out of their toe sockets in his obsession with deal with plantar fascia issues.

HuRTS 4 x 3km

Massive crowd today and the temperature is rising. Dicky High was sweating before we'd even started but seemed to calm down once he realised Timmy hadn't shown up.

I was tired from the current heavy training load so the plan was just to try and stick in for as long as possible. The group upfront was Bartles, Fast Charlie, J-Fen, Dicky H, Enda and Vicky Joe on the first rep, with Bartles pushing on and the rest of us chasing. Gangsta Jason appeared on the 3rd and 4th reps running very well. The third was interesting as Fast Charlie, Gangsta Jason and Bartles opened up a big gap ahead of J-Fen and myself before we crawled our way back to them by the Art Gallery. This was after I had a head on collision with some doofus just after Mrs Mac's Chair. Times were as follows:

9:55
9:28
9:57
9:32

So very similar to August 2nd. Don't feel as rodgered back in the office as I obviously did back then judging by the report I wrote.

Run home

Felt very sore all day. Had a huge lasagne and chips for lunch, followed by a big Tiramisu and still felt bloated at 7.30pm. Ran home in any case. Bumped into Martin Thomas in the city and ran to Military Road with him. Nice easy run as a result and legs feeling better this evening. 59:16.

Longish Sunday

Out with Dickyboy, Ben and Tim Peel for plenty of bush and hills. Ran to Dee Why hugging the coastline (include the very technical trail in front of the Windy Drop Down estate) then up the longest and steepest hill in the world to the top of Red Hill. Back via Manly Dam trails then around Queenscliff and Manly. 26.01km in 2:06:14 (4:51's). Soles of feet now very sore due to all the rock hopping.

Some great results from Melbourne with TB running 2:37:05, Macca 2:37:50, JB 2:39:15 and JC dipping under 2:50 - fantastic for someone who ran many marathons trying to get under 3 hours. Also congrats to Tucks for taking out the Fitzroy Falls Fire Trail marathon on Saturday in 2:47 against good competition. Undoubtedly King of the Trails.

Saturday Tighe session

Wanted a tough session today so planned for the hardest one I do - 5km hard, 8 x 250m hill then 5km hard. Dickyboy agreed to join in but had Cameron in the pram so was just running at 4min kms, cutting short a couple of sections to give me something to chase.

I ran 17:10 then 17:24. Not quite as good as the week post State 10km (where I did 17:17 and 17:15) but I just couldn't keep it up on the second 5km - in June I felt good on the final lap, today I was just holding on running 3:30's before putting in a final sprint. Still, it was consistent and it is done.

A few more recent photos for the family:

Run in

Met up with Dickyboy in Fairlight and ran to work with him. Was intending on a nice easy pace but Dicky starts with a 4:10 and keeps the pace up the whole way, clocking sub4 mins kms along Military Road. I was trying to chat but was gasping for breath mid-sentence.

Ended up with 54:46 after 26:15 at Spit Junction. Dicky goes a slightly different route through Neutral Bay and once off the bridge but I don't think it affects the overall tuime too much. Turns out he tries to beat his time to run in each time he does it.

82km for the week.

Couple of photos from holiday:

Kids on the beach:



Highs and Highnams:

HuRTS Pyramid

Really small crowd today. Tucks showed up at the Art Gallery but sporting an iPod and just heading off for a jog before he attempts to cement his position as King of the Trails in the Fitzroy Falls Fire Trail Marathon on Saturday. Bartles, New Dad J-Fen, Todd, Ray, Hamish and Killa were men there for the real session.

Bit nervous beforehand, haven't done any speed in weeks (and nothing since pulling out of SMH) so set of gingerly but felt quite comfortable. Reps went as follows:

82
2:47
4:12
5:38
4:11
2:42
75

Ran them all bludging off Bartles until the final lap of each rep where I'd take the wind. Times were comparable to what I did back in May but without feeling absolutely shattered. Uncomfortable running 3min kms again mind. Took my shoes off half way through and ran the back reps barefoot. Interestingly it felt easier doing so. I could be on to something here. I've discovered a new running technique I'm going to reveal to the world...

Home again

10km in shoes both yesterday and this morning. Then a 10 hour drive back to Sydney. Slow yesterday, steady this morning (4 min kms). Stiff and sore now. Need to get back into the regime again.

Attempt at a longer one

Did 5.5km along the roads (seeing Charlie D drive past in the process) then hit Tallows beach running the length from Broken Head to Byron Bay lighthouse and back. I'd bandaged my blistered toes but the tide was high and I was running on the soft sand and in the sea when I couldn't avoid the waves. Before I hit the lighthouse the bandages were flapping off. 2km later the toes were shredded. Felt a bit sick with the pain at the end, but finished up with 20.78km in 1:35:10.

Mr Sand Man

Yesterday was a very easy 8km barefoot on the sand again with the blistered toes feeling very sore. Averaged about 4:17's.

Today I had 30mins to fit a run in before LF Charlie was turning up with family to watch the mighty Sea Eagles win the Grand Final. This place has become a HuRT Squad northern base over the past week. With only 30mins to spare I went hard from the beginning, feeling great before turning after 15mins only to discover I'd been running with the benefit of a strong Southerly. Finished up with 8.04km in 31:04 averaging 3:51's. Again, on the sand barefoot. Feel as though all this barefoot sand running has done great things for my PF and achilles, with no issues from them whatsoever.

Great Grand Final to watch, even for the impartial observer with Glenn Stewart, Will Hopoate and Shaun Johnston showing some lovely bits of magic. LF Charlie managed to remain suitable muted, but at least his eldest son showed some allegiance.

Good results from Homebush yesterday. Tucks beat my Homebush PB by 13 seconds so will be hard to beat from here on. Timmy is on his summer decline and Kanser is slowly progressing. Thought JF would go quicker though. But then I remembered he's probably only had 3 hours unbroken sleep for the past 2 weeks so fair play..