Back in the fold

Went home early from work on Tuesday with the flu. Took Wed and Thurs off feeling rotten (temperature, swollen glands, listless). Back to work yesterday but still not 100%. So today was the first day I've felt vaguely like running. Conscious not to overdo it so decided to run easy for an hour today. Felt great from the off though. Ran 14.2km route in 55:08 (3:53's) feeling comfortable the whole way. No orthotics again.

Then did 2 hours of "Yoga for Runners" with Kirst this arvo. Bloody good stretch and plenty of core work. Got cramp half way through though and a pretty intense headache (no doubt remnants of the virus), particularly when the humming started.

Monday meander

Easy Monday. Late from interviewing so only caught the rapidly disintegrating pack half way.

Summary of today was:

1. Charlie's getting quick.
2. Ellie's getting hardcore.
3. LJ's getting serious.

13.5km in 4:26's (60 mins flat).

Long and easy

Usual 35.5km route in 2:37 (4:26's) with Heydo, Binfield and Barts. Beautiful day and thank God no pace pick up. No orthotics today. Planning to race Berlin without them so want to get the body used to long runs au naturel.

Feeling good. Got the tough weekend over and done with without falling to my knees.

Long tempo

Just Barts this morning for the 19km tempo on the Shelley Beach route. Plan was to try to run 3:30's not feeling too uncomfortable. Weather was nice and cool albeit with a bit of wind.

Splits went as follows:

3:24, 3:31, 3:34, 3:24, 3:31, 3:28, 3:29, 3:29, 3:29, 3:29, 3:36, 3:32, 3:33, 3:35, 3:39, 3:42, 3:31, 3:34, 3:39

All up, 19.1km in 67:36 (3:32's). In truth, I never felt comfortable running 3:30's. Went through 10km in 34:50 trying to hold on to Barts but once again he was much stronger than me on this long tempo session. After that I was just trying to get home without dropping off too much. Briefly felt much better coming around the Golf Course (the 3:31 and 3:34 towards the end) before the gradual climb of the final km. Barts looking great once again. He's going to smash Berlin.

Makes the idea of running 3:30's in Berlin seem a long way off. Not sure why I struggle so much in these long tempos when the other training seems to be going so well. It is the equivalent of a 1:14:30 Half though so perhaps I shouldn't be so hard on myself pretending that should ever feel comfortable.

Knee was good after plenty of rolling out (and Voltaren) so that's good news. Ran in the orthotics to protect it.

2km warm up and down for 23km all up.

Aborted

Met Dicky at 7.30am to run to work but pulled the pin after a km with the right knee too sore. That's what happens when I run without orthotics.

112km for the week (including 2 rest days). Grrr, this was supposed to be a big one.

HuRTS Pyramid

7.5km very easy around Manly this morning.

At lunchtime did a slightly longer warm up down to Rushcutters for the Pyramid. The first group was just Barts, Kenny, Dom and me. Ditched the orthotics again today and ran in a new pair of Sayonaras and felt great again. I've got to run Berlin without them. Led every rep with Barts just behind. Times were:

78, 2:38, 4:01, 5:25, 4:00, 2:37, 72

So the best I've done that session but not that much quicker than I initially thought I'd done previously. 9th May when I was trying to hold on to Barts' coat-tails was my previous best. This was a bit quicker, but felt less desperate running it which was the confidence booster.

Long warmdown with Barts, MC, Jeet and Slapstick for 15km all up.

Wednesday MLR

Usual 21km route with MC, LF Charlie, Kanser, JW, MrAce, BW, Jesse and Slapstick. Easier pace today but didn't feel as good as recently.

HuRTS branded tour singlets almost ready. The boys are going to be excited.

HuRTs 8 x 5mins

Yesterday I had my problem tooth out which meant no running and much feeling sorry for myself.

Was tentative today as still in a bit of pain and my legs felt dead. Ran with Enda and Kenny doing just short of 1.5km on a new route straight down from the Stone Gates. Struggled to get back up the hills in the 5 mins. Good to see Laura showing more confidence in training and LF Charlie showing me a clean pair of heels on the final sprint. That chap is getting stronger and is one to watch.

Felt better during the final 2 reps. 2km warm up and a long warm down with an ever increasing crowd for 18.5km all up.

Easy Sunday

Full on day out to Newcastle at 6am. Got home, had 20mins lie-down then did 15km easy at 3pm. No orthotics again and more of the short stride, high cadence stuff. But legs felt magic again. If I could guarantee I wouldn't get injured I'd chuck them out in an instant.

62:59 (4:12's).

Fast finish Sat

Up early doors after a pretty poor night's sleep. Met Andy, Ray, Binfield, Big Sam and Banksy outside and we were off for the usual route.

Somehow managed to leave my orthotics at work last night so ran without them which immediately felt weird. My stride was much shorter (JB said subconsciously protecting my achilles) but cadence was higher. Funnily enough it felt easier running. Nice and easy until Narrabeen chatting the whole way. Banksy then lifted the pace a bit and coming back around Narrabeen lake we were already running 4:00 kms but felt fine doing so. Back past Warringah Mall and I wanted to get the pace down to 3:40's and Ray and Andy were following. Final 5km and I tried to get down to target marathon pace of 3:30's. Ray dropped off here and I had to work hard for it but managed the final 5km in 17:23 (passing LF Charlie and Ellie in the process which lifted the spirits). Final 10km was 36:02.

Tired at the end and just want to sleep this afternoon. Great running all round with Sam doing 30km in 4:10's (he could yet run Berlin if he continues this rate of improvement) and Andy even doing 40km in 4:13's after an earlier warm up. All up 35km for me in 2:22:04 (4:03's).

Health Assessment

Ran to work dead easy untimed on another beautiful day. I'd post a photo from my office but Timmy gets upset when I do that.

106km for the week.

Had my annual health check at 11.30am. Only really interested in an accurate weigh-in and the cholesterol levels. These were the results (comparison to last year).

Weight: 65.2kg (68.3kg)
Resting pulse: 37 (42)
BMI: 19.7 (20.6)
Blood pressure: 115/65 (118/60)
Good cholesterol: 1.9 (1.7)
Bad cholesterol: 2.5 (2.4)
Adjusted age: 27 (27)

Pleased with the resting pulse result. Almost got my Dad's PB there too. I think he got his down to about 32. Mum used to say it was like listening to someone bang slowly on a bass drum.

Looking forward to seeing Ezekiel Kemboi on the SBS highlights tonight, one of my favourite runners. Now double Olympic and triple World Champion. Beaten by the young upstart Kipruto every time they've raced this season until the big one when the wily old fella showed him how it's done. Bit like me and Barts leading up to Berlin...

HuRTS 2km reps

This session has changed to 3 reps instead of 4 to make them quicker and differentiate them from a Tuesday session. I planned to give this session a go today and try to go lactic. Jogged down with Timmy and joined a fair crowd.

Reps went:

6:21
6:10
6:15

Fair headwind on reps 1 and 3 hence the quicker 2nd rep. Also aided by the fact Kenny was on my shoulder until half way, came past strongly before I kicked hard for home. Last rep was tough with Andy going hard pushing me all the way.

Pleased with that and like the session. It's hard from the get go and teaches you to hold good form for an extended period.

Long warm down after when MC got all Richie High on us telling Big Sam how much he reminded him of pin up boy, and Mikey's hero, Nick Symmonds. The rest of us just went quiet and looked at our feet as Mikey gazed at Sam all doey-eyed.

But the good news is that Sam has finally agreed to the Premiership bet, shaking on it with Timmy today. Got to get my picks in tomorrow...


Sam:

Nick Symmonds:

Mikey:

Wednesday MLR

Usual wharves route with MC, LF Charlie, Clyde, Mr Ace and a couple of others. Usual trash talk and property prices.

21km in about 4:35's. For some reason my watch always measures it slower than everyone else's.

Benny St

HuRTS tempo today with everyone cruising it following C2S. Felt quite comfortable running 12km in 44:20 with the thighs easing up.

Huge respect for Benny running the 5000m heats at the World Champs today despite being sick over the past few days which caused him to miss the 10000m. For a guy that was in the form of his life that must be gutting. Here's me fretting over a sore tooth pre-C2S. But a hugely respectable time of 13:33 in the process and great photo op:

Monday recovery

Some little fella took a hammer to my thighs while I was sleeping last night.

Today was 15km with a large contingent from the squad swapping stories about yesterday. Very easy pace but that was enough.

City to Surf - 36th in 46:42

Up nice and early with Kirst bobbing around early doors even more nervous than me. Mat Kaley picked me up (many thanks) with Big Sam and LF Charlie and we were dropped in the City by 6.45am. Caught up with Timmy, Pete W, Kenny, James M et al and we did a couple of km warm up. Then headed to the start with Barts catching up with all the preferred and seeded runners on the start line.

Plan was to try to hold on the Barts and CT for as long as possible. 50% of that plan went out of the window within 30s of the gun when CT shot off and had a big lead on us even before the Kings Cross tunnel. I was just tracking Barts at this stage. Up Edgecliff and, bloody hell, was that hard. We still seemed to be sprinting and that hill is deceptively steep. It looked like a huge crowd was still in front and I just couldn't believe how fast everyone was travelling. Up and down the rollercoaster through Double Bay. Barts would gap me by a few metres before I would tell myself to man up and hold on. Through Rose Bay and more gapping and ungapping. We'd be running with others for periods before they would drop off. CT was still well ahead along with Neil Pearson (also conveniently wearing illuminous yellow), Chadi (in his instantly recognisable St George strip and headband) and Crasti. Kept on thinking "they're bound to come back soon" but it wasn't happening yet. Then Heartbreak Hill starts. We immediately catch a group ahead and Barts lets me take the lead for a bit. Just worked the hill (which I never find as bad as all the other hills on this brutal course) and at the top I start to feel good for the first time in the race. Some fellow runner kindly passes me half of his cup of water and I hear this desperate cry behind me going "Tommy!, Tommy!, give me some" so I hold the cup out for Barts but he's three yards behind and for a moment I think he's expecting me to drop back for him (I temporarily thought this could be my "gel" opportunity) but he speeds up to grab it. I then kick on a bit and feel like I've got a bit of a gap.

Continue to try to press home the advantage and go through 10km in 33:50. All the hills done. Hooray. Keep on hearing these huge shouts for someone just behind me and assume it must be the first chick. But then this little kid overtakes me. WTF!? He comes up to about my shoulder height. So I go with him which helps me along that long straight before you turn for the downhill. Then down the hill and I'm catching Chadi. Made my mistake here of not going straight past Chadi but sticking with him. Hit the bottom of the hill and get a massive shout from Matty Palmer and then immediately hear him shouting "Johnny!". Did I mishear that? Was he just shouting "Tommy" again? Or is Barts right behind me?! Holy cow please no. The comes that dreaded rise along Campbell Pde. Chadi pulls ahead, my legs start to scream and I'm a sitting duck. Sure enough, Barts comes past like Mo down a homestraight. He immediately puts 10m on me and I'm battling along Campbell Pde. See the corner, my spirits lift and see the clock ticking down so sprint for the finish. Just fail to catch Crasti and 8s outside my PB but I honestly don't think I could have gone any harder.

Then all the chat begins. It's a picture perfect day (I didn't see cloud all day). CT runs a stormer in 46:14. BOB continues his rapid improvement beating Kenny in 48:4x for next HuRTS man home. Jamie S has a great run to go sub50, Enda runs a PB in 49:30 then wees himself on TV but is pipped by Richie P and Andy, Dicky G just misses a sub50 after stopping to tie his shoelace on HH (so he says) but LJ has run of the day for 5th lady home in the biggest footrace on the planet running a jaw-dropping 50:38 and chicking half the HuRT Squad!

A great morning and afternoon of beers in the sun with all the squad with Timmy, Anna and I moving on to the Beach Road hotel. I took myself home after I started bumping into people. Got home to be greeted by a beaming Kirst who ran 74 mins despite having to duck and weave and only plod the first 5km due to the crowds. Brilliant stuff.

Here are a few photos. Love this race.

Courtesy of Matty Palmer approaching Campbell Pde. That's Barts' shadow you can see in the background.

Glenn, Young Timmy, Me, Jeet, LJ, J-Fen, Ellie, Barts

Barts, Young Timmy and Myself looking happy.

Stroll

Easy 10km in 43:30.

Easy Friday

Just an easy 14.5km with Ray, Kanser and Kaley.  Paranoid about antibiotics, chicken-pox and my right knee for Sunday.  Otherwise getting pretty pumped for it.

77km for the week.

HuRTS 10 x 400m

It was wet and cold, the C2S is in 3 days and Mikey offered up a pussy alternative run so only 3 of us showed up. Angus and a chap called Greg.

Felt pretty good today. That's what 3 days rest does for you. Ran them all in 69/70 I think. 11km all up. Tooth OK and antibiotics doing the trick.

Charlie has now managed to spread his chicken pox to Bec, Billy and Mags. Kirst is crook. It's like a leper colony at home. I'm quarantining myself downstairs for the next 3 days.

Bear with a sore tooth

Took yesterday off work after I got a tooth infection on Sunday night. Now on a course of heavy duty antibiotics for a week. Hoping they won't affect C2S (the infection is just about gone already and the Interweb seems to suggest antibiotics themselves have no impact on athletic performance).

Particularly keen to run well on Sunday now that I put a bet on (usual $20) with one of the grads in the office that I would beat her brother. Thing is, he's quite handy. He's called Oliver Lord and as you'll see from the State 5000m and 10,000m results this year (below) he smashed me. But I figure I'm fitter now and the C2S is a whole different kettle of fish that suits gnarly old blokes training for a marathon rather than young whippets.

Today was an easy plod around the 3min reps. I did 9 running at the back.

Shorter Sunday

Caught up with CT, Ben, Macca, Big Sam and Andy this morning for the usual Sunday route but cut short at 30.5km in prep for C2S next week. Took 2 gels and felt fine today. 4:21 pace. Didn't stop ,e lying on the sofa for 4 hours after.

Short course XC - 15th in 25:42

Wow, what a stunning day. Was hanging around afterwards watching the Under 20's race just soaking up the sun.

Knew I was tired after the past fortnight so turned up not expecting much. Just wanted to ease my way into it and work the many little hills. It's a tough old course and saps the strength out of your legs. At end of first lap I was running solo about 50m adrift of Kevin Robertson and Nick Cope but with Richie Roberts lurking ominously behind. End of second lap and the position hasn't changed much - Kevin and Nick now further ahead and Richie the same distance behind. Now I know Richie just gets stronger as the race goes on so I worked hard on the hills on the final lap to try to keep him at bay. Picked up a couple of places in the process and closed a bit on Nick and Kevin.

Solid run but nothing spectacular. It just made me want to taper next week properly and give C2S a real crack. Sod the marathon. It doesn't get bigger than the City to Surf.

Another lap warmdown with Kenny for 11km all up. Big thanks to Timmy for showing up to give our Over 35's team a bit of respectability. Oh, and Anna wanted everyone to know that, despite winning the Over 35 state title, she was mistaken by an official for an 18yr old.

Kenny, me, Anna and Timmy enjoying XC in sunshine. It was never like this in Northumberland.

Tired

14km very easy around Centennial on a beautiful Winters day with Big Sam, Barts and TKS.

130km for the week. Last week felt fresh every session. This week the opposite.

The Tourists Part 6

Strength with Carl this morning, then a 7km jog around Manly.

Was feeling very tired at lunch so decided to take the new course Hickson Road session easy. Massive crowd (although absent MC with a calf issue). Muz and BOB were on fire leading the group with Barts also backing off. Gave it a go in the final rep but that was it. Long warmdown with Barts after for 14km all up. Right knee very sore so need to work on my thighs and hip flexors.

Next of The Tourists is CT. Current form is the same as ever - good. He's always fit and rarely strays far away from 130km per week. Has got a bit confused recently thinking that running 100km is sensible, but the World Champs have now been cancelled so he'll be concentrating on Berlin. Lovely chap but hates to be beat and Barts has started to do that quite regularly so you can be sure CT will be more determined than ever.

Tour nickname: CT
Other names: Truscott

Most likely to: Hit the beers early and hard and then pass out. Much like me.

Predicted time: The boys said 2:31. I'm going to piss him off now and agree.