HuRTS Hickson Road

The old session. I was in the front group with CT, J-Fen, Big Sam (running very well), Andy, Enda and a few others with MC taking it easy in the second group in prep for North Head and his big showdown with Timmy.

Felt good again today following a massage with Amanda this morning. We all nearly died on the first rep narrowly avoiding a car and I couldn't tell where the official end spot is with roadworks going on so the time was off. Settled into it after that with CT pushing me all the way and making a break on the final one.

Times were:

3:48 (off)
3:31
3:39 (still slightly dodge)
3:31
3:36 (about right)

Jog back for 11km all up.

Wednesday MLR

3.4km tempo with the kids (Billy, who is getting stronger every run, 15:46, Bec, 17:03) around the Golf Course from home. Then ran to work via Queenscliff lagoon. Felt pretty good today although some of those hills are pretty tough.

All up 22km in 1:39:46 (4:32's).

HuRTS 14 x 3mins

Big crowd today with lots of the speedsters upfront. Fast Charlie, J-Fen, Macca, Fats, Young Timmy, the mystery fast chap who no-one knows the name of, Truscott, Bartles, Ray, MC, Big Sam, Mr Ace plus a host of GCM participants like Sonya, Emma, Indrajeet and Laura. Birthday boy Tucks was sipping wine in the leagues club, JB was flying solo and Kanser was having another rest day but otherwise pretty much everyone in attendance.

I felt OK in the ,owning but after a couple of reps my legs felt like lead. Still settled into a pace of 3:20's or thereabouts with everyone trailing in CT's wake. Macca and I briefly trailed in Fats' wake until he gave us a taste of one of Amanda's vegetarian curries and his recent home brew. I picked up the pace over the final 5 reps running 3:10's or quicker. Legs felt just generally fatigued at this stage but warmed up. Cadence was good.

Pretty tired this arvo. In fact, I feel permanently knackered at the moment. But that's marathon training.

No Geb

Just an easy run home at the end of the day in 59:29. Need a massage on my poor hip flexors.

Bec won the 800m in her School Athletics Carnival today. Thing is she came home disappointed because I told her this morning she should try to get under 3 mins. She ran 3:04. When I told her I was proud of her and would put it on my Blog she cheered up no end. So here you go. This Blog is spreading happiness.

Go Geb!

With news of Macca and my infamous long run reaching far and wide, I was up at 6am this morning to meet Macca along with JB, Bartles, Craig Mac and his Irish mate Tom Buckley Thank God Enda and POD didn't know about this chap as he'd have shown 80% of the Irish team a clean pair of heels if he'd run last weekend.

Very cold to start but soon warmed a bit and it was a pretty uneventful easy paced 25km chatting until the end of Narrabeen Lake when we started to speed up. From then it was a 37:45 final 10km, pushing it a bit through Dee Why to finish in 2:32:59 for the 36.8km (4:09's). Felt great this morning after yesterday's rest day. All the boys looking strong with Bartles in particular very impressive given this was 11km further than his longest run all year.

Spent most of the final 10km considering the palindrome that is The Voice contestant Rachael Leahcar. Tried to think of other music palindromes but could only come up with Abba. I was pretty tired mind and the brain slows down when the legs speed up.

Run home

Buggered at work. Found myself at home at 3.45pm so ran back to work in 58:24. Bit average feeling.

Now out with the boys for the Striders dinner. Could be a big night...

Somehow managed to cobble together 90km for the week.

HuRTS 400m reps

The smallest and most select group today of Bartles, Young Timmy, Pete W (telling me that he's decided that the way to beat Timmy is to train like Timmy) and myself.

First rain of May and pretty cold but Rushcutters was as pristine as ever. Straight into it and for every rep Timmy and Bartles would go out hard with me chasing them with Pete. For most reps I'd nudge ahead of Bartles by the end other than a couple which he held on for and the last when both he and Timmy were burglars. I had a go at Timmy about this and he got very upset. I've never seen him lost for words before.

Reps were very consistent but noticeably down on the last time we did this. No doubt SMH Half still in our legs. Amazing how many people I've heard from who are still suffering the after-effects of it.

69, 69, 68, 69, 68, 68, 68, 69, 68, 69

I like the 400's. Not while doing them of course, but you recover fairly quickly and feel virtuous.

Workout Wednesday

Watched Billy coming 17th in Zone XC this morning. He was in 10th at halfway but obviously has his Dad's stamina.

Then ran to work easily in 58:24 feeling as though I'm finally recovering from the weekend. Beaut of a day. But stuffed at work.

HuRTS 4 x 10mins

Going through the motions today with Bartles, others including Timmy, Big Sam, Tongey, Fast Charlie and J-Fen hitting the front. Good crowd and plenty of chat.

Hip flexor marginally better but left calf feels like a leather sack full of ball-bearings.

Monday recovery

11.7 in 56:xx very easy recovery with MC, JB, Ray, Indrajeet, King James and others.

Hip flexor so sore couldn't even get my leg onto the clutch in the car in the morning without physically lifting it.

SMH Half - 13th in 72:38

Where was Ireland? Looks like the English thoroughly put them to the sword this morning. The Churchill/Sands trophy will stand proudly for a year alongside the huge monolith that is the City Mile Dash trophy.

Drove Ben, Dicky, Big Sam and Charlie Girl in this morning after waking at the ungodly hour of 4.45am for the 2nd time in 3 days. A few run throughs then stood on the start line with loads of familiar faces around It's what I love about this race, tends to bring out all the good runners ready to give it a go.

Felt great at the start heading the second group as the group of about 15 leaders quickly gapped us. Ran through 2km in 6:29 with alongside Bleasel, Geoff Arnold and JB with CT about 20m in front. Bleasel then puts in a burst which I wasn't willing to go with so continued on with JB and another tall chap until Pyrmont. As we went over the flyover I worked the hill and felt as though I was making good ground. Then all though Pyrmont from 7km until squashed car roundabout at 14km I felt fantastic - relished all the crowd support and it just felt easy. Caught Bleasel and CT and tried to push on but without gapping them. Went through 10km in 33:37 thinking a sub72 was in the bag. Then from nowhere at 14km Tongey and Nick Bellemore overtake me and I try to stick with them going up the big hill all the way to the corkscrew. This hurt quite a bit but meant I'd gapped Bleasel and CT. Held on to Tongey and Nick until Macquarie St by which time we'd caught a tiring Vlad but my legs just failed me going up Macquarie St. I was then by myself just holding on. Felt OK going downhill to Mrs Macs Chair but it was a question of just putting my head down and working to get back up.

Rounded the final corner but with no sprint to get under last year's time. Ended up with exactly the same time.

Pretty pleased with the run. Would have been nice to hold on to Tongey and Nick but they were just too strong. Still plenty of time until GCM to work on that and taper properly.

JB finished in 73:38, Fats another minute behind but still in front of Ireland's first counter with Macca running 74:38. Nice PB for him but sure there's still more to come. Bartles beat them both with a high 73 just behind JB. J-Fen was next looking slightly disappointed with a low 75. Kanser's shoes didn't agree with his Central Governor and got him a low 76. Best of all was Timmy pipping Enda by 4 seconds despite Enda bludging off him the whole way. Dicky rounded out the Poms with a low 79 beating the final Irishman (Eoin) by a few seconds. Big Sam surprised me in particular by showing up despite being sick all week (I was about to drive off this morning before Ben spotted him jogging down Griffiths St!) and pulled himself around just over 80mins. He reckons the Tiger was just in front so looks like I'll be taking another $50 off poor Gary.

May even make some beers this arvo if the Sheaf lets 18month yr olds in. Just to see Enda and POD. Wonder if they'll buy my kids their drinks too?

Fitting it in

With Kirst gone, I had to do a fair bit of kid juggling to fit in an easy 7km jog today. It involved one pushing the pram while another did their weekend run nearby (before switching roles) while two were at a party and while I ran between the lot of them. Not sure how I feel about tomorrow. Still got some remnants of this gastro cold thing but it could amount to nothing. I'll just give it a shot and see how it goes.

Great run by Tucks today in TNF100 to finish 3rd in his first attempt at the distance. As usual, it looks like he paced it perfectly.

Monster day

Had about 2 bottles of red last night at Bambini Trust and crawled in at 11pm. Then up at 4.30am for a 6am flight to Melbourne. Did my talk, got a flight back and squeezed in a 56min run across Anzac Bridge and back via Sydney Uni. Head still pounding and knackered but at least feeling as though I've shaken the virus.

100km for week.

HuRTS 8 x 800m

Got some good work on my hip flexors this morning then out to a small crowd of Timmy, Louis, Dom and new chap James Everett at lunch with Tucks jogging by to say hello.

Planned on doing one easy, one hard etc off 2 mins rest. Timmy and Dom really pushed the first hard 800m with me wondering why I wasn't out clear. Turns out they were just running very quick.

I ran them in:

2:48, 2:19, 2:49, 2:19, 2:51, 2:20, 2:51, 2:17.

Once I'd resigned myself to the fact that it wasn't going to be an easy session it felt better.

Still not 100%, feeling a bit shivery now but 3 days to recover. But first, off for some fine wine at Bambini Trust now...

HuRTS 45min tempo

Not sure I'm 100% yet. Turned up to HuRTS with a vest and a long sleeve top on as I was freezing. Everyone else, in singlets, thought i was nuts.

Started off with J-Fen, Fats, Macca and new recruit Tongey (as if HuRTS wasn't competitive enough). Around CQ Tongey suddenly put his foot down leaving J-Fen, Fats and myself to run together until about 50m short of the second speed bumps on Hickson Rd (6.25km). I was really heavy legged on the way out. Felt slightly better on the way back and pushed the hills finishing in 44:41, final gate to gate in 10:17. Averaged 3:34's. J-Fen was strong today finishing with me.

Got stomach cramps after. Will take the rest of the week easy to freshen the legs for Sunday, although I'll probably do some grass reps on Thursday. GCM remains the priority.

Brass Monkeys

Very easy run home untimed as I forgot my watch. Felt very tired though. Yesterday has scarred me.

Other exciting news of the day is that I have a new office at work. And I now share. So no more intimate phone calls or days spent surfing the net. Arse.

Put to the sword

Put to the sword by Macca this morning. In fact, he stuck it in, twisted it and laughed maniacally the whole time. Started out feeling pretty good considering it was just 12 hours since doing the 14km tempo last might. Another beautiful morning although much cooler than recently.

Started to feel a bit heavier legged than usual around the 20km mark just past the Academy of Sport. Another gel at 25km and I thought I'd be ok. The tempo increased to sub 4min kms as usual but instead of leading the way I was just holding on to Macca. Through Dee Why we were going faster than usual (sub4 up the big hill) which I used as an excuse for being 5m behind Macca. The elastic finally snapped at 33km when I dropped to a 4:06 unable to do anything about it. Struggled home over the final 3km with Macca powering on looking super strong.

Pretty disappointed as I hate falling apart on runs. I was working harder trying to stick to Macca over the final 10km than I was at any point on the 14km tempo yesterday.

All up 36.86km in 2:37:10 (4:15's).

Manly tempo

Usual Manly route starting at dusk. It was pitch black by the time I turned at Shelley so had to tiptoe over the rough ground. Felt great on the way out and, with 25:12 at Shelley Beach, thought I'd beat my PB from March 24th easily. Then I drifted coming back along Manly beach thinking it was all too easy. Switched back on and worked hard over the final 4km but only managed 50:26 for the 14.1km (3:34's).

Great news for Gregson overnight running an A qualifier of 3:33 over 1500m but still only finishing 11th! Happy to see Allyson Felix take out the dodgy VCB over 100m. But best of all Hooker seems to have overcome his mental demons in clearing 5.72m.

Tis a pleasure

Beaut of a run solo on the Wednesday route but straight back from Fox Studios. Untimed but felt bouncy.

Hammies very tight though.

30km for the week.

Back!

Very frustrated to have missed Sunday's State 10km, especially with the guys I'd hope to run with posting such fast times. Still, all very easy saying what could have been. Got the chills on Saturday night and was feeling fluey Sunday morning so I pulled the plug. Whole family was sick by Sunday evening and I spent Monday in bed recovering. Doing anything was exhausting. Finally felt better today so headed down to the 4 x 2km.

Ran behind J-Fen with Daniel M and Timmy just behind for the first 2 reps. Felt comfortable until the end of the second rep when my legs felt dead and arms started to ache so ran the next 2 reps with MC.

Times were 6:29, 6:34, 7:05 and 7:08. Just pleased to be back on track and feeling OK.

Right groin and hip flexor a bit tight. Achilles slightly stiff from NOT running!

Hate the taper

2 kids with a gastro bug and Kirst feeling fluey. Trying to stay clear of them but got a sore throat and feel a bit achey. Pretty sure it's psychosomatic though. Always get like this when I get psyched up for a race. Ran a slow 6km to Campbell Parade and back with Charlie and Maggie on their bikes. Took about three hours or felt like it.

Easy Friday

Very easy 12.5km to Cremorne Point and back in 64mins. Ran with MC, Mr Ace, King James, The Kilted Scot and Marty. MC told us about how he ran 11.1s for 100m in Year 11 winning the State title. A few eyebrows were raised but I believed him. I laid a bet with MC for Sunday's race (my only one, which is rare). He bet that Young Timmy wouldn't run sub36. I chastised him for his lack of faith and then gamely took the $20 bet. So leave the pub now Timmy and get some sleep.Just found this. Depressing, as it looks like Billy wants to be a lawyer.

113km for the week - even tapering. Due to the weekend.

Papiss Cisse!

Holey smoke! If you missed them, take a look at this. Very easy trot today with J-Fen, Bartles, Big Sam, Young Timmy, Laura and Laura's mate Elle McPherson. At least that's what Timmy was thinking. It was all very strange. You normally can't shut Timmy up, a constant verbal stream usually ensues unless he has to start working hard (i.e. sub 4:40's). But faced with Laura's mate, he goes all Koothrappali on us! Anyway, we jogged over to Rushcutters on a beautiful Autumn day (it really is the best time of year, but don't start talking weather with Big Sam - he exhausted 5 different runners with his chat on the weather yesterday) and just did laps with a few strides thrown in. All up 10km. More good news this afternoon - Bec won her school cross country! She goes to a nerdy school now though so it's not quite the same as the sporting superstars from Manly West. Still, great stuff for her and well deserved.

Wednesday SLR

Big Wednesday crowd including MC, Big Sam, JB, Mr Ace, Spike, Marty and a load of others. I only did one loop so just 15km and untimed.

Ran in my new Mizuno Wave Musha 5's which, despite their shite name, felt great. We'll see how the achilles reacts.

Second!

After Christmas I was talking to the elder kids about representing their school and both said they wanted to get through in cross country. We started training on 1 Jan and have been out 3 days a week every week since then. Billy has only missed 4 sessions and Bec just the 1. Today Billy had his school xc and finished 2nd, 3m behind the winner. It's a great result and revenge will be had at District. Bec goes on Thursday.

Today was 2 x 20mins with the HuRT Squad off 3mins break. Legs felt really heavy to start with and I was struggling running 3:30's trying to hold on to Fats and Tucks. Scotty and Bartles were well ahead. Things improved after 3km and I bridged the gap Tucks had formed to finish with him, about 12s behind the front two.

Felt much better on the return but Bartles, Scotty and a marauding Macca had caught us by Circular Quay. We then ran with them although Scotty soon dropped off and Macca was only doing 3km reps. I pushed the hills back home to get back in 19:41 (averaging 3:21's) including 9:50 for the final gate to gate - very quick. Tucks and Bartles were right behind. John will go very well on Sunday - I'm predicting 32:40.

Great to catch up with Big Sam and good to see MC and Young Timmy back out again. The English are starting their fight back in true Bulldog spirit!