Monday morning starter

Manic morning with Kirst held up in Melbourne overnight.  Managed to get out at 6am for 12km to Shelley and back.  Ran fast up the hill behind Shelley just to get the blood pumping.  High fived Lewis running back along Manly Beach and chatted to Macca after bumping into him on Riverview Pde.  How very social.

4:24's.  Left achilles sore after the weekend.

Sunday similar

Just me, Craig and Rich Mullaney this morning.  Slightly different route going around the back of Narrabeen Caravan Park and the West side of Narrabeen Lake.  28.5km averaging 4:24's.  Bit quicker as Craig was down to do the final 8km in 4min clicks.

Tom B has got Craig into shape nicely for the 50km World Champs in Doha.  He's put in some big blocks of mileage, has been sickness and injury free and now just has to taper nicely for the race in 2 weeks.  I sense Craig's biggest worry is whether to ease off at the start and run his own pace or whether to go in a pack with someone like Brendan Davies.  I think he should just see how he feels on the day.

Manfred Mann and Parkrun

Busy morning on kid duties with Kirst away so had to do the 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1min reps (off 1mim jog) before Parkrun and under strict instructions to do it on the grass.  So did 3+km warmup then the set on the fields adjacent to the Parkrun start.  Found it tough going on the grass.  Got through it averaging 3:30's (inc. the jogs).

Then 5mins jog and rest before starting Parkrun.  Recognised Gary Mullins but didn't realise how fit he was.  First km was comfortable in 3:17 (having been fully warmed up), then 2nd km in 3:17 and he's still there.  Third km in 3:23 and now Gary is in front, 4th km in 3:16 and we're side by side, final km in 3:05 after being urged by Gary to keep going with 500m to run and I get the win by 5s.  Pretty bloody tired at the end of that.  3+km jog home for 17.5km all up.

Charlie at cricket this morning.  His batting is improving:

London bound!

Session this morning was 75mins continuous - which is 15mins jog, 20mins fartlek (2mins on, 1min off), 5mins jog, 20mins tempo then 15mins jog.

Ran with Erika and Emma around the usual loop of Nolans and Passmore.  Longer warm up of 3.8km then into it.  Always find the fartlek harder than the tempo and I usually run the tempo at a slightly quicker pace.  But not today as its the first one i've done since June.  5.81km for the fartlek (average pace 3:26) then 5.75km for the tempo (3:28's).

All up it's over 19km which is why it's such a solid session.

Erika and Emma averaging just over 4:00mins per km for both.

Congrats to my eldest brother on his new job.  Looks like he's about to become a pom again!

Redonculous

Saw this graph on Twitter this morning:

I was surprised to see so much red towards the top of the map.  It seems that Americans have become hysterical about settling 12,000 "widows and orphans" (as described by Obama) on the basis of the Paris attacks, when something not too far removed from the Paris attacks seems to occur in an American school or university with depressing regularity.

But back to running.  Today was a very nice slow run to Redleaf Pool in mid-30's heat with Mikey, Charlie, Hoey, Andy, JW, Tym, Nathan and others.  7km there, lovely dip in the cool water watching the rich socialites before running 7km back.

Wahey!!!

Have You Been Paying Attention

12 x 500m again this morning off the usual rolling 3 minutes.  This is rapidly turning into my most dreaded session.  Hurts like hell and if it doesn't you ain't running fast enough.  This morning it was Erika, Emma and Jamie with me on the pain train.

1:31 on the first rep, then a series of 1:30's with me wondering how I ran 2s per rep quicker when chasing Quentin.  Then after 6 reps Jamie woke up and started pushing harder on my shoulder, so I pushed harder thinking I was slowing.  A series of 1:28's finishing with a 1:26 followed - the last was eyes closed, pumping the arms waiting for the lags to buckle.

3km warm up and 5.5km warmdown for 15.5km all up.  Solid and legs comfortably numb all day.

Today's title is in homage to my favourite program on the box at the moment.  Sam Pang's dead-pans are priceless.

Monday commute

Too hungover yesterday to do anything other than yoga in the late arvo.  Big curry night Saturday night which unwittingly ended in The Old Manly Boatshed.

Today was a slow commute to work in 69:26.  Made the mistake of running across Passmore Oval which soaked my feet from the off.  Traffic was a bitch today so was very satisfying overtaking all the buses.

Saturday long

Usual route with Macca, Craig, Rich M, Darren and the Cap'n.  Nice and easy but picked the pace up to sub 3:40's over the final 4km.  28.5km averaging 4:33.

Breakie in Emporio afterwards which is cementing its reputation as the finest b&e establishment in Sydney.  They've gone brioche with the rolls which is slightly inner-west hipster wank but I was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.  I could tell it was a step too far for Macca though.  Here was mine - 10/10:

Then Rich M arrived and shunned the protein for a sugar burst.  Here is the over-elaborate Muffin with Richie showing us that it has no impact on his fine figure:

National Walk to Work Day

So I ran in.  Legs were smashed in the first few km following Wednesday night's exploits, but then felt pretty good after that.  Deliberately took it very easy and it was a beaut of a morning.  Had a cyclist slow down and start chatting to me going down Spit Hill and turned out to be Mark Green - he was impressed by Quentin's run on Wednesday.

67:06 all up.

JPMorgan CC - 4th in 17:16

This is just the best race.  Everyone in the HuRT Squad does it.  Everyone wants to look good in front of their fellow employees so lays it down.  Throw in a tough but fast course and you have the recipe for an awesome night.  I think I left the Cross, pizza in hand, at about 1am.  Actually, not sure about that.  Ask Birchy.

Spent the whole day as a nervous ball of energy.  Couldn't sit down for more than 10 minutes a pop.  It's always my second most unproductive day of the year, rivaling only the day after JPMorgan.  We had a bus laid on to take everyone from work but I just jumped on the train to Bondi Junction.  Couldn't face being trapped in there in traffic crawling down Anzac Parade.

Did a warm up with Barts, Emma, CT and Muz.  Then headed over to the start line for the warm up (including a few strides up the hill) and to meet a mass of HuRT Squad members.  You stand on the startline and, every direction you look are more members of the squad - acknowledging each other with nervous smiles and wishes of good luck.  Here's the front row:

We're held there for ages and I'm getting more and more nervous, just trying to collect my thoughts.  Here's me, Crossy and 2:28 man Darren Moyle taking it very seriously:

And then we're off.  I try not to blow my legs too early by sprinting the hill, but you do have to commit early in this race as there's limited time to recoup any early losses.  My plan from the start was just to stick to Barts.  I figured Jeff Hunt would be way ahead and that Barts would be leading the charge.  I hadn't figured on Quentin.  Anyway, by the top of the hill (it always goes on a bit further than I expect it to), Quentin, Barts, CT, Alex Rogers and myself have formed a little group behind Jeff who has put a big gap in early on.  This was at the bottom of the hill, I'm hidden behind Crossy:

Alex drops off around the 1km mark (3:05) so the group going around the Woolhara Gates is the usual CT, Barts, Quentin and myself.  Going down the hill we're side by side.  Through 2km (another 3:05) and CT starts to drop off.  I'm just tucked in behind the two big guys all the way to 3km (3:02).  At this stage, Quentin mutters something to Barts which I found out later was words to the effect of "C'mon, let's drop him".  And drop me they did.  Just as we're running past Coach Tiger.  Between 3km and 4km Quentin runs a 3:01.  I must have done something like a 3:08.  At 4km it's really starting to hurt and my brain starts scrambling.  I look ahead and see a white singlet running ahead of a black one.  I think to myself that I'm sure Barts was wearing a black singlet, not a white one and can't quite comprehend what's going on.  What is going on is Quentin continuing to apply more pressure and drop Barts.  He's run an absolute stormer and is now closing in on Jeff Hunt.  Meanwhile, I'm desperately trying not to fall apart.  Kick again I'm thinking at the Fox Studios Gates, attack this hill.  Not long before the final turn.  I see Barts running on the wrong side of the road and realise that he's goooone.  But too much to make up and too close to the finish.  Here I am at the Fox Studios Gates:

Finally turn the corner and try and lift for the line but I am knackered.  But dead chuffed.  Just nice to be back in the mix again after injury.

Then turn around to see everyone finish and the usual fantastic tussles.  Surprised to see Neil next in 14s behind me.  I didn't think the shorter course would suit him but he's run a great race to beat CT, Crossy, Hoey et al.  Then 18 minutes clicks over and these two come sprinting in, eyeball to eyeball:

Then look out for the girls.  Lucy Starrat wins it in a very quick 19:08.  Lexy Gilmour next, then Kirsten Molloy just ahead of Erika in 4th for the second year running, like me.  Just behind is Emma who had been in 3rd until 4km when she blew.  LJ was there at the end (in active wear) screaming at us all.  If there's anyone who loves this event more than me its LJ.  Love the fact she turns up regardless to support us all.

Behind Quentin my run for the evening goes to Charlie dipping under 21mins (20:58) and smashing his PB, taking some big scalps in the process.

Back to our marquee for the beers and banter.  The best bit.  The girls:

Then we have the boys:

The rivals:

Super Elle made a stunning sub22 comeback:

Some of my banking team at Allens:

Larger group of reprobates:

And now it's starting to get a bit loose:

And some real old timers reliving the good old days:

And today, 'Beckham' paid up on his bet:

And my favourite, Barts looking nervous and Quentin knowing exactly how it's going to go:

The day before JPMorgan

Busy all day in meetings.  Finally got out at 6pm for 30mins very easy followed by the same 4x80m Domain hills as last Friday.  Felt the same - crap on the first but moving much better by the 4th.

All manner of bollx being spoken about tomorrow's race.  I've got a feeling Jeff Hunt is going to be out on his own, Barts is going to be chasing on his own, Quentin and CT will be duelling next with Alex R, Brett Halls and Miles Waring thereabouts and with me, Hoey, Crossy and JFen in the subsequent chasing pack.  And I've probably missed a few there.  So a top 10 finish would be a bonus.  You read it here first.

Fartlek

3km warm up, 11mins Fartlek (1min on, 1min off), 3km warmdown.

Headed down from work in the late afternoon after 5 hours of meetings (only marginally better than yesterday's 7 hours - remembering it's Monday today) to a freshly mown Rushcutters in the warm sunshine.  Was pretty magical and made the fartlek almost bearable.

Barts ran a super 8:46:00 in the State 3000m in Saturday, a seriously quick time.  He was only 10 or so seconds behind Jeff Hunt.  The lad is in fantastic form.

Curl Curl Parkrun - 2nd in 15:54

Got a bit nervous for this one.  Realised yesterday that Quentin was running as a final tune up before JPMorgan.  The Tiger had it down for me.  I was a bit worried I'd run an average time and lose confidence for Wednesday.  But with Q running, all I had to do was hang in for as long as possible and be dragged around.

Did a 4km warm up.  Changed into the Fastwitches. Bit of a chat with Macca, Bindi and Q and then we're off.  Feels quick but I'm not going lactic so just go for it.  Through 1km with Q in 3:02, push ahead for a bit and through the second mm in 3:08, then the third km in 3:19 exchanging the lead but starting to feel the pinch.  Up the hill, still holding on but waiting for Q to pile the pressure on.  But we're still together at the bridge and it's only in the last 400m that he puffs he chest out, extends those long legs and pulls ahead to win by 3s.

Very happy with that.  I wanted something sub 16:20 so to get within 1s of my course PB was a huge bonus.  4km warmdown with Macca bumping into Emma who surprised herself over a 2km time trial.

Now to rest up for Wednesday.

Maggie's party this arvo:

Friday Fastwitch

So with just 40mins easy with a few hills on the cards, I jogged over to The Running Centre in Edgecliff and settled on a pair of Saucony Fastwitch's as a racing flat.  Haven't raced in anything but my Mizuno Wave Rider's - including 5000m on the track - for the past 2 years.  But in a fit of desperation and clutching at straws for a boost in performance at JPMorgan next week, I decided a lightweight flat was the way forward.  There's a teeny bit of science here in that I seem to run my reps quicker barefoot.

They felt great, so bought them and ran back to the office.  Stopped at the Domain and did 4 x 80m hill.  First one was shocking.  Last one felt great. I guessing Tiger put them in to activate the glutes.  If so, it worked.

Remember remember

Well, that session this morning was as average as they get.  Just me and Emma in rotten conditions.  Did 3 x 1 min hill (over Queenscliff bridge and up the path).  Then 4 x 5min efforts along the beach.  First one was OK averaging 3:18's.  Then turn around to realise I'd been running with the benefit of a huge tailwind.  Almighty struggle to get back on the second rep where the Garmin was reading 3:50's at one point.  Ended up averaging 3:42 for that.  Then it died, obviously in sympathy for me in avoiding having to record any more piss poor performances.

Just felt really tired again today though.  Need a good night's sleep tonight as I fell asleep and was dribbling on my Fast Ferry morning commute.

Longish warm down bumping into Macca a couple of times for 15km all up.

Post Melbourne Cup hangover

No Justin, just for the win.  All or nothing with me.  There was plenty of shouting at the TV.

16km today with a bit of a hangover but with Andy to chat to and drag me around.  Saw Hoey and Gleeso, then - bizarrely - Mikey C running solo.  Normally he has more hangers-on than Floyd Mayweather.

Untimed, unmeasured and unsightly.  It was just a case of getting it done today.

Melbourne Cup

Out early again for 12x500m off a rolling 3mins with Quentin, Macca, Jamie, Erika and Emma on the path through Nolan's.  

Really pushed hard today trying to stay close to Quentin.  It may have been a touch short of 500m as I averaged 1:29's to start and 1:27's for the last 6.  But it certainly felt like 3min km pace.  Q was 1-2s in front for each rep.  Was running through treacle on the final rep so hope it does me good.

2.5km warm up and 4.5km warmdown for 14km all up.

Gleeso says to bet the house on his top tip and, as a fellow lawyer I trust that fella.  But I'm going to put $500 down on Max Dynamite instead.

Monday moaning

Out on a very warm (29C when we set off) and muggy day which wasn't conducive to feeling sprightly.  But for some reason the pace was quick - running 4:20's around the wharves.  Massive group but I was mainly chatting to Enda, Hoey, Kanser and James Lambert.  Well, I say chatting, more like grunting and complaining at the pace.  14km.

Sunday easy

Tired.  3km then yoga then 6km.  Legs very wobbly post yoga.

Saturday Parkrun and long run

Out at 6am for 11km solo before meeting Macca, Andy, Ben, Paul and Chris Yates at Curly for Parkrun.  Andy was dressed in a full length skeleton suit including mask so sole aim of the morning was not to let that joker beat me.  But general intention was to run with Macca and push him around.

Set off easy, caught Macca between 2 and 3km, would feel him slow a bit on the hills then come past me again on the down.  He pushed hard with 600m to go but just failed to get under 17mins.

Then did a warmdown with Macca and Andy before taking Charlie to cricket at Seaforth Oval and doing my final 7km from there - pretty tired at this stage.

27km all up.  Average 4:31's.  16:59 Parkrun.

Then on to Oktoberfest:

Aberdeen Asset Management

So after 600m I was writing my CV and tracking down my P45, Barts nearly got run over while Statto, MC and New Boy Tim remained diplomatically silent.  All after seeing Andy "training" with his fellow employee.  And Andy had no intention of joining us for the run and spreading the joy. Oh no.  We were brushed off summarily with a very clear indication that    he was not to be disturbed.

13km very easy with the above mentioned plus Kanser and Ronan.

113km for the week. 

Thursday early sess

Again just the hardcore of me and Emma for another early start Thursday.  Session was 3 x 2.36km for me (figure of eight Nolan's circuit) with Emma doing 3 x 2km.  I ran 7:43, 7:37 and 7:36 putting some real effort in.  Another confidence builder.

4km warm up and 4.5km warmdown for 15.5km all up.

Will be interesting to see how Emma goes at JPMorgan.  Chatting to her you realise there's a competitive mongrel in there..

Wednesday MLR

Out with Iain, Macca and Quentin this morning for a very easy 16km in 4:47's.  Hammy a bit sore. 

Hills and decreasing hard tempos

Just Emma C and me for the session this morning.  First up 6 x 30s hills beside Mackellar Girls, then 10, 5, 3, 2, 1 mins off a 2min jog.

Felt strong today and able to hold form.  10, 5 and 3 were all at 3:18-3:20 pace then 3:09 and 3:00 pace for the 2 and 1. Although feeling good while running I started to feel really tired on the long warmdown and the glutes in particular were aching.  Only issue was hammy was a bit sore at the end.  Tough session to test it out though.  Was pretty blustery out there so at times had to work very hard to maintain pace.

Emma got stronger on each hill but was complaining of lack of speed on the reps. Great to hear she's entered for JPMorgan though - another girl to add to the mix.

15.5km all up.

Monday morning

Out early for a very easy 4km with Bec (couple of faster loops of Passmore for her) then carried on for another 11km for me.  Ran past Lewis and his unmistakeable bouncing stride along Manly Beach.  Pretty tired towards the end.  These early mornings kill me.  Another tomorrow.  But also affected by an hour of yoga last night.  Yes, you read that correctly.

15km averaging 4:49's.

Sunday shock!

Poor Ben was beside himself.  It had taken him 48hours to adjust to the idea that we wouldn't be running Narrabeen Lake back via Cromer, only for Macca to head up Pittwater Rd on the usual route. Dicky was quietly seething that his planned route to Tania Park had been usurped.  The rest of us (Quentin, Rich Mullaney, Erika and myself) were just enduring the pain of low 4min kms while Macca and Dicky fought for who would be leading and therefore determining which way to go.  The problem, you see, is that Macca can't face hills, at least for the first 15km of a run.  On the other hand, Dicky doesn't like the flat.  It's all too stressful.  We'll be reverting to the usual route next week.

Another cracker of a morning.  I was a bit stiff after too many red wines last night meant I neglected the stretching.  With the hilly route on top of that I was feeling the hammy a bit towards the end.  All up 28.5km averaging 4:36's.

Cop a load of that Hoey.  Emporio's Big Breakfast.  Macca and I are in food heaven.  10/10.

Saturday fitting it in

All day outside first at cricket then at the Manly West Carnival bumping into half of the HuRT Squad including Jimmy, Darren, Erikakaka, Dicky et al.  Managed to offload Claudia onto Bec for an hour to sneak home and fit in the scheduled 40min run.  Felt good today so just got quicker throughout - as the splits show.

10km.

Friday rest day

So I did 8km very easy to Shelley and back instead.  Bit of a hangover after a full house at the Bull & Bear and an ISDA members dinner.  37:36 (4:34's).  

106km for the week.

HuRTS 8 x 800m

Small but loyal crowd.  Each one will PB at JPMorgan. The rest of youse are gooone. 

Ran with Tongey on the first then alone but with JFen dipping in and out and Timmy doing 400's so helping me on the first lap of each alternate rep.

2:30 to start with and 2:20 to end off the rolling 4 mins.  Average was 2:26.50.  2-3s per rep slower than earlier this season but very happy with that as a first speed session in 3 months.  Took the shoes off after 5 reps and made a big difference.  Take away is to buy lighter racing flats for the race.

Told JFen (who was flying on the few 800's he did after his solo 10x400m set) that my sole aim was to beat him at JPMorgan so the cat is out of the bag.

14km all up.

Wednesday MLR

Caught up with Iain early doors for the North Head loop.  Bumped into Quentin on the way to Shelley who then joined in. Beautiful morning for it.  Can't beat Manly.  Legs fairly cactus again but slow sign of improvement towards the end when I picked up the pace a bit.

16.5km in 74:36 (4:30's).  

I'm hoping at some stage things are going to click.  But it ain't happening yet.

HuRTS - Progressive Hurt

Got a chance to pop out at lunchtime for the progressive 45min tempo in the heat.  Wasn't what was scheduled but given the chance to run hard with a crowd I took that over running by myself.

Set off with World Silver Medallist Crossy, Hamish and Clydesdale Jono.  CT and Barts went off ahead.  That said, when we picked up the pace every 10 mins we started to catch them as they dawdled around, such that on the turn at 23:15 at the entrance to Barangaroo we were right behind them.

Crossy pulled out at CQ and the others had dropped off by then.  CT and Barts had gone past me even before the Harbour Bridge so it was a lonely struggle back home.  But managed it with 2 seconds spare in 44:58.  LJ should take some pacing lessons from me.

Thighs were wrecked the whole way around and my legs just felt lethargic and tired throughout.  Some nasty virus toxins still in there I reckon.  But the breathing was fine and I haven't passed out at my desk this arvo which is a plus.

4km warmdown with Charlie and Barts for 16km all up.

Run home

Ran home.  Felt shocking.  Still feel as though I've got the virus in my legs.  The Ebola virus.  Maybe due to the Tiger massage this am stirring things up.

68:49 via Burnt Bridge Creek.

Solid run by the Cap'n in Amsterdam running 2:46.  Sensational run by Milly Clark in 2:29.  She could be on the way to Rio with that.  The Cap'n went through the Half in 1:19:06 feeling great, so what is it about our marathon prep?  Too few kms?

Sunday with the boys

27km with Macca, Ben, Craig and Rich Mullaney.  We extended the latter an invite to the exclusive Northern Beaches long run/breakfast club on the basis he's English, lives NOTB and has some talent. Few have the trifecta. 

Slow (4:38's) but I was still struggling my way through it still suffering a bit from last week.

Forgot to mention that we saw the who's who of the Northern Beaches on this morning's run.  First up was Elle enjoying breakie in the cafe at North Narrabeen.  Then another talented female athlete in Melinda Gainsford-Taylor jogging around Narrabeen Lake.  All the stars are NOTB. 

Also didn't mention that Charlie's cricket team smashed Peninsula yesterday (4-117 versus 20-74) with Peninsula managed by none other than Michael Slater.  Here he is imparting advice to his outgoing batsman.  Made Charlie even happier with his 2 wickets off his final 2 balls:

Great runs by Barts, Q and JFen at Curl Curl yesterday.  Mixed performances at Melbourne.  Jess Trengove stunned with her 2:27 but Erika will be a little disappointed with her 2:57 after struggling from not taking enough water on.  A PB is a PB and it shows her strength of character to fight through but there's definitely a low 2:50 in her.

Saturday return

Avid readers of my blog will have noticed an absence of a few days.  They will both be wondering what had happened to the 16 day consecutive run.  Well, on Monday night I can down with gastro (which probably explains why I felt so average running on Sunday and Monday).  Tuesday I was bed-ridden - couldn't even crawl to the sofa to watch TV.  Back at work on Thursday but couldn't really stomach anything until Friday night.  Only plus is that I lost 2kg which I'll try to keep off until JPMorgan.

Did 10km on Saturday evening.  First 2km were a shocker (so lethargic probably from lack of food) but felt better as I got into it.

Monday moanings

Jeez I'm tired.  Like, marathon training tired.

Fronted up today with a big crowd in attendance including Enda, Kanser, Hoey, Worswick, BW, Renee, Jerome, Happy Hammer, TKS et al.  Plodded around feeling uncomfortable.  Felt a bit better after Enda and I stopped for water around Barangaroo and started running 4:00min kms to catch everyone.

Plenty of chat between Kanser and Enda.  I understood about 20% of it.  Enda pretty psyched up about beating JFen at JPMorgan.  It'll be pretty close between these two but I'll plump for Enda in that he always seems to perform well at this event and is looking lean after a 3 week break in China.  I'm just hoping to keep them both in sight and, who knows, if they fight each other hard enough I may be able to reel one in over that tough final 600m.

15.5km in 70:26 (4:32's).

Farked

Busy all day walking, at Nippers and lugging stuff around the garden.  Got out at 6pm for 40mins but was shagged.  Just couldn't get going.  Some days you just have to accept you haven't got it.

About 8km.

Saturday long

Out early doors with Barts, the Cap'n and Macca (the old team) for 27.5km up and down the beaches.  Finished with a dip in the ocean at Queenscliff and bacon and eggs at the Grumporio.  Absolutely magic.

4:34's so nice and easy.  Massive stretch of my quads last night and the hammy is better than ever.

Friday holy cow

So I was schedule a rest day.  But then Erika said she was running at lunch so decided to head out for an easy run and chat about her upcoming marathon.  Then she says she needs to run 6km at 4:00 pace so I think, OK that should not be too tricky.  Then we meet and she says that Gary has instructed her to run quicker.  So I think, well, I'll just run and see how it feels.  So we so 3km warm up before, BAM!, there goes her first km in 3:30 and BAM BAM!!, there's the second km in 3:24.  I kid you not, I could not hold on.  She has a 15m lead on me and I start thinking I can kill myself to bridge the gap or I keep running the same pace and surely she'll start to fade soon.  I catch her by the end of the third km (3:35 for me) and then into the wind around Barangaroo we run a 3:51, then a 3:48 and a 3:45 to run the 6km in 21:20 or thereabouts (3:38's).  Gary has got her into fantastic form for next week's marathon and I hope she smashes it.  I'm predicting a 2:53.

12 all up and 100km for the week.  Haven't had one of them since June.

Tiger Woods, eat your heart out

Out at 8am in Manly for 10 x 1min hills plus 10mins hard.  4km warm up to the hill at Shelly Beach. Didn't thrash myself on the hills but solid and was tired towards the end.  Then did the 3km back towards Queenscliff running 3:21, 3:20 and 3:14. Happy with that with the legs feeling comfortably numb at the end.

Then down to The Lakes for a day of corporate wanker golf.  Had a top day playing Ambrose.  I was the weak link as usual but got my 3 drives in early including my best drive ever on the 1st.  And we won!  Nice bottle of vintage bubbly to crack open next time we have something to celebrate.  So it will be very vintage bubbly when consumed.

MLR, kinda

Well, just coming home now at 9pm so my deal didn't quite sign at 10am but at least 'tis done.  Managed to get out at 2pm for 16km around the wharves and Barangaroo in 1:12 nice and easy.  Been taking Voltaren last 2 days for this troublesome glute insertion and feels much better.

Solid

In at 8.30am, out at 1.30am.  Massively busy day but somehow managed to get out to do 60% of a HuRTS session.  Session was the 3, 2, 1 fartlek x 5 but I just did x 3.  Very hot but surprised myself in running pretty well turning not far behind Barts.  But I couldn't have gone much further.  

Hoping this deal signs tomorrow so I can get some kip.  May come home early if it does.

Monday long run

Out for the Sunday run on Monday with Ben, Banksy and the Cap'n.  Up to Narrabeen Lake via Cromer, one loop then home the same way.  27.5km in 2:06:12 (4:35's).  Longest run I've done since the end of July and felt it at the end.  Hammy ok but the insertion to the glute was a bit sore (which I think has been the issue all along).

Then rode with Claudie, Mags and Charlie to the Grumporio for breaky with the Cap'n and his boy Toby.  Beaut of a morning.  Think I'll have a kip now.

Sunday scorcher

Scorchio today.  Early start heading down with Craig to the Wharf Bar to watch England humiliated at home by the Wallabies.  With the clocks going forward last night it was a super early start so had a bit of shut-eye watching Paw Patrol with Claudie over lunch.  Headed out in the early evening (when it was still in the high 20's) for 10km easy feeling pretty good.

Saturday canter

Easy 12km in the afternoon.  54mins.

Recovery Friday

Out for a very easy 11+km with Kanser around Barangaroo.  Felt pretty tired today for the first time on the comeback trail - must have been yesterday's reps after Wednesday's tempo.

80km for the week.

HuRTS 6 x 1km

Back out with the HuRTS crew.  I'd woken up in the Daintree at 4am before a 6.45am flight from Cairns so was pretty tired.  Eased my way into the session running with Macca and Bruce. Good crowd with CT leading the way, Timmy falling further back in each rep, JFen and Hoey looking controlled and our three leading ladies (Erika, Greta and Renee) all looking strong.

Times went 3:26, 3:21, 3:19, 3:16, 3:06 and 3:13.

Then did my glute stretch on the grass only to have Mikey G come over and say "you don't want to do it like that, you want to do it like this!", and then proceed to show me an eyeful of one muscle of his body which certainly wasn't his glute.

10km all up.

Tempo time

Final day here in Mossman.  Felt good after yesterday so planned a tempo today.  Did 2km warm up jog, then 10km tempo, then 2km warmdown.

Set off at a solid but relatively comfortable pace and just tried to hold it and keep consistent.  Had to work a bit between 7km and 8km in the full sun but generally pretty good.  All km splits were between 3:42 and 3:47 apart from the final one pushing on a bit to finish in 37:02.

Been a great holiday.  Haven't been as relaxed or slept as much in a long time.  Some pics of our house here:

Holiday running

Another 12km in the morning - pretty quick again (seem to do perennial tempos when in on the comeback trail) but Suunto lost batteries after 6km.  Hot and humid.  

Cairns Parkrun

I'm Up nice and early and cajoled the family out of their beds for the short hop down to the Esplanade for Cairns Parkrun.  Did a 2km warm up then listened to the bloke try to explain the course route.  He did so FNQ style, so I was none the wiser at the end of his talk.  We had a load of visitors given it was school holidays - must have been 150+. 

Decided just to sit behind whoever was in the lead.  Did so for 1km but then couldn't help myself but drift to the front. All was good until 4.5km when I was about a minute ahead of the next chap and started looking out for the turn to the finish.  At 4.8km I knew I'd missed it and saw a random volunteer packing up from the first lap who told me I had run well past it (thanks mate).  Eventually got back with 5.8km in the watch.

Chap who won was on his 100th Parkrun so nice for him to get a win.  I jogged afterwards to pick up Charlie, Bec, Kirst and Maggie and all loved the occasion.  Then out for breakie.  No pan-served breakie or brioche in FNQ.

Splits were 3:21, 3:23, 3:24, 3:28 and 3:45 (becoming frustrated).  Hammy held up well so will try 90mins tomorrow.

How we felt after:

 

Mossman

11km straight out from the property, turned around and ran back.  22km in 1:33ish (4:14's).  Felt it towards the end in the heat and humidity.  Basically ran through sugars cane fields alongside the cane railways on quiet roads.  Amazing scenery.

Having said that, doing a long(ish) run solo on holiday is one of the hardest things for me.  Need company on the long runs and when on holiday it just feels unfair.

Cairns!

Nice and hot here.  Did 10km along the Esplanade in the evening.  Move to Mossman tomorrow but not before Cairns Parkrun which starts less than 1km from where we're staying.

Bit of speed

So the toe made a bit of a recovery overnight so I ventured out with Timmy, Mikey, TKS, Renee, Ray and a host of others for a very easy run around the usual route. 

It was 3 old school HuRTS Warriors fighting back from injury who turned at 5.5km to head back in anticipation of a quick OH Gate to St Mary's Gate (2.9km).  Got a bit of help from Ray around Farm Cove then hit by hurricane force winds up the hills which had us all at a standstill.

Pleased to get 10:14 under the belt with the hammy feeling tight early on but no issues in the warmdown jog.

11km for the day.

Gammy toe

I had to type this heading 3 times because it kept on auto-correcting to "hammy", which is ironic.

Anyway, hammy fine today and was going to try my first speed work.  But I was picking my toe-nails last night and managed to yank off half my big toe nail and now it's infected and too painful to run.  Take a look:

In other news, here's me next to a monster truck earlier today:

STOP PRESS:

I've had many requests for an afternoon update on the toe which has continued to deteriorate and has prevented any running.  In fact, I can barely get my foot in my shoe.  So here goes:

Monday starter

10km out to Shelley and up the hill and back.  Went quicker this morning.  Saw Lewis on the return and exchanged the usual friendly shouts.

Have started doing a new glute stretch and it seems to be working a treat.  I'm crap at it at the moment but plenty of scope for improvement:

Sunday MLR

So, next big test.  Out at 6am with the Cap'n running 20km.  Reached the new toilet facilities at Narrabeen Lake then back again.  Noticed the hammy on the way up but had a good stretch and it was fine on the return.  Perfect morning for running - cool but clear and no wind.

Some great results from Blackmores but they are not courses to run PBs on.  I thought Angus went very well to dip under 78 as did Bruce.  Barra took top honours again with a high 71 but he wasn't impressed with his time.  Standards have been raised this year.  Jeet ran well to get under 80 and Erika was solid with a mid 83 in her marathon build up.

Also great to see Manly local Emma C back racing again.

Saturday plod

10km very easy in the late afternoon with the Cap'n but starting to feel as though I could run harder.

Friday meander

Up in BrisVegas all day Thursday so couldn't get out.  Friday was an easy 10km bumping into Jimmy and running with him for a bit.  Tried to persuade him to shave the beard off but he was having none of it.  Claims that he's growing it to help fight the ladies off.  I would have thought his conversation was sufficient but apparently not.

Another easy one

Out with Timmy for an easy 10km over lunchtime.  Joined by Andy from G&T and Kanser and Hoey for periods.  More shite was spoken in the 10 minutes that Kanser ran with us than an episode of Geordie Shore.  Poor Andy was silent and must have been regretting his decision to run with us.

Back to Black

5km walk with the missus feauturing breakie at Emporio then 7km run in 4:29's to the wharf.  In honesty, hammy was giving me a bit of jip following last night's run home.  Just need to keep up the rehab.

The Wobbly Head Cup League Table.  You can just see 'Proud Potter' Timmy in 20th. I couldn't fit Enda (in 35th place) on the one page.  That's me #1.

Turnbull, PM

It's 11pm and kookaburras are screeching outside.  What's going on there?  Maybe they are aware of something afoot in the electorate of Warringah.

Ran home (well to Manly Wharf) in the next real test.  Felt aware but fine the whole way.  Hoping a bit of muscle memory is kicking in as, although it was slow, didn't feel as though I was huffing and puffing as much as of late.

14.5km.  Did a brisk walk with the missus this morning which was nice, if a little elderly.

Sunday getting longer

Out at 7.15am to track down the early starters and join them for breakie.  Bumped into Macca, Erika, the Cap'n, Richard B and Q between Dee Why and Cromer with Ben who was a few hundred metres behind.  But the heartless bastards refused to wait for him against my protestations despite stopping for water.  The Manly Crew are ruthless.  I imagine the East Side Crew would have been only too happy for a couple of extra minutes rest.

Managed 12km all up with the hammy ok but a bit stiff starting from cold early on.  Nice breakie in Emporio with Macca and the Cap'n afterwards.  I feel no need to post the photos.  We enjoy engaging conversation rather than endless selfies.

Mad Dog and Englishman

Out for 10km with the Cap'n in the heat of the day.  Avoided the crowds and headed up the BBC Deviation to Seaforth.  Which meant hills.  Crikey, not encountered them in a while.

Nice easy pace and pain free again.

Pain free

Trying not to get too excited but today was first pain free run.  Did the same as yesterday on a beautiful Melbourne morning but a bit slower averaging 4:24's.

Hoorah!

Birthday run

In Melbourne but managed to get out at lunchtime for a bIrthday run.  Found a new route to the Tan - running along the river before cutting across to join at the bottom of the big hill.  Did a loop then back to the hotel.  

Lovely day.  Hammy gets better each day. Just over 34mins for the 8km.

AVCAL 2015

The usual 8km this morning with Erika this time chatting about all manner of stuff.

Now flying off to Melbourne to attend the AVCAL conference, which basically involves drinking large amounts with a bunch of uber-wealthy private equity types, where somehow I end up buying all the rounds.  Keen followers of the bog (both of you) will recall that it was at this event 3 years ago that I turned up expecting to breeze the "Conference 5km" only to be out sprinted by a dark horse despite running 16:05.  At least a few of the squad will be there so we can talk running.

Getting it done

Usual Shelley Beach route times today in 34:12 (4:16's).  Aware of the hammy the whole way but it's getting better.

Thoughts for the day:

1. Today over Sunrise.

2. Response to Syrian refugee crisis shows the power of a photograph.

3. Mike Baird for PM. Now.

4. Is it sexist for me to enjoy The Bachelor but have no interest in The Bachelorette?

5. Sydney in Spring is just the best.

6. How does Keith Hong manage to smile when he talks on his daily updates for his 8 week challenge? I can't smile when I talk.

7. Wales have just lost any chance of making it beyond group stage of World Cup.

Monday

8km to Shellley and back bumping into Lewis of all people!

Felt marginally better today.  Have also done a lot of stretching of adductors.  Hoping I'm on the right track.

Striders - North Head - 37:59

Fronted up late and just in time to get a spare bin before burying myself in the pack with the intent of jogging around.  Only really showed up to go out for brekkie with Big Sam and the boys at Sydney's top breakfast establishment - Bench.  Rated 10/10 by Tommy and all non-hipsters who are bemused by brioche.

Anyway, I digress.  Saw the Tiger who told me not to do anything more than a jog.  Set off and ran with Hamish who was on 40min pacing duties but it felt like a jog so decided to catch up to Sammy for a chat.  Hovered behind Tiger for a while not wanting to get told off, then saw Erika up ahead looking strong so decided to run with her knowing she was on for a PB.  Gave her a bit of encouragement for the rest of the way but she is in great form and needed nothing from me to get her first sub38 and PB by definition. 

Hammy was pretty tight on the warm down.  Resolved to see Lewis over brekkie to get to the heart of the problem.

Saw him on Sunday (with large hangover having been on a curry and beers night with Big Sam and the crew) and he reckons it's an excessively tight piriformis which he worked on with me in tears.

Had a great Fathers Day with more soccer in the field in the arvo with all the local Dads and their kids.  I struck a beaut of a volley which had the local Mums aghast in admiration.

Thursday

Jogged down to HuRTS at Rushcutters and did a few 400m jogs and a 1km slightly faster jog before jogging back to the office.

Getting bored of this jogging malarkey.

Wednesday

Up early and ran 8km to Shelley and back, initially with Erika but she pulled out  after 2km with a sore ankle.  Hope she's OK.

Hammy got progressively tighter at the top and bottom.  Had a massage at lunch and the Tiger worked on it solidly saying 'twas feeling much better than last week.

Tuesday

Rode into, and home from, work.  Love my bike.  My problem with riding is that I treat it like a tempo run the whole way and can't let myself just spin.  Too many bloody competitive commuter cyclists.

Monday

Very easy 7km with the HuRT Squad.  Hammy a bit tight at top near flute insertion.

Sunday continuers

8km this time getting to Shelley and back.  Been hammering the rolling out and have loosened up a lot.   I can now put my pants on without having to sit down.  High fived Paul and Chris at the lagoon.  Hammy better today with most of the pain in the tendon behind the knee.  34 mins odd.

Will be out early tomorrow training Bec and Kirst.  Bizarrely Bec wants me to train her again - 3 years after swearing she never wanted to run ever again in her life.  Has the aim of running under 25mins for Parkrun.  Which is about my standard atm.

Saturday starter

Tried 6km down the beach.  Conscious of the hammy for most of the way but determined now to hammer the rehab - particular getting the cricket ball on to my ass.

Spent the evening with the Manly runners curry club - Macca, Craig, Charlie, Quentin, Banksy, Skins, Jamie, Paul S, Benny and the Taffy lad.  The Steyne followed by Ashiana's followed by the Steyne watching the Toon go to the cauldron of Old Trafford and hold on for a creditable draw.  Who said our defence was shite?

City to Surf

Washout.

Did 6km on Saturday with a few strides.  Could feel my hammy a bit but took more Voltaren and thought it might survive.

Sunday - travelled across with the Manly crew.  Great start as ever chatting to the masses but they get stricter every year on the start procedure.  Survived running with Barts, Neil and CT until KX tunnel then on the downhill afterwards my hammy grabbed and I was hobbling.  Jogged to Rose Bay then took the shortcut to Bondi where I could scream at the squad over the final km.  Standout performances from Barts, CT, Big Kev, Angus, Timmy and Erika.  Shouted myself hoarse then drank for England in the Allens tent with the crowd.  Magic day despite my disappointment.

2 weeks off now to regroup and rebuild.

Have to live vicariously through my kids.  This is Claudia today at her Sports Day:

Ice Ice Baby

Went down to ES Marks in the evening for the RunCrew session.  No Alex this week but Sam Strutt and Tiger's ever increasing crew of attractive female runners was there to chase.  Session was 2 x 6 x 400m.  400's were rolling off 2:10's and we had a 5min rest between sets.

First set of 6 were a bit laborious trying to settle in.  Reps went 70, 69, 68, 68, 69, 68.  Was about 2 or 3 seconds behind Sam on each.  Then the second set started and suddenly I feel great.  68, 67, 67, 67 then, fucky wank shite, my hamstring tightens up down the back straight while overtaking Sam so I pull up at 200m.  Try and stretch, try and do a jog but it's pretty tender and tight.  Get home and stick it on ice.  I blame the lack of beers in my diet over the past few days.  Plainly not getting enough salt.  Should never rattle the cage and do things different.

Now to rest and hope it comes good by Sunday.  If it does, it could be just the enforced rest I need.

(Haha, just checked the blog for C2S last year as I seemed to remember I strained my hammy in the week before then too.  And it looks like I had an identical blog post heading on this day last year.  Maybe Timmy is on to something!)

Monday meander

10km very easy catching up with Enda and Hoey.  46mins.

Sunday struggle

Had too much wine while entertaining yesterday so eventually got out in the afternoon when I felt less shabby.  17.5km around North Head including the Fairfax track.  Easy pace just under 4:30's.

Saturday Parkrun - 2nd in 16:12

5km warm up, quick chat to Jamie, Darrell, Jake, Mrs Heyden and Sonia from Liverpool - an old friend of mine from Uni days who is over in Oz for a few weeks.  Jake asked what my plans and we agreed to share the pace.

Went off hard along with Jake.  Watch beeped at 1km and it was 3:09 and my heart sank a bit - it felt closer to 3:00!  So put more effort in as the plan was to get to 2km in 6:20.  Got to 2km in 6:20.  Then a 3:21 across the fiddly grass bit and Jake and I are still together going up the hill on Harbord Rd.  But he starts to pull ahead towards the top and eases ahead from there.  I finished with a 3:13 and a 3:08 (+10s for the extra 60m as the COURSE IS LONG).  Hardly shabby but Jake managed to put 22s into me over the final 1.8km - he must have run sub 3's to finish.

Turned around to see a big smile on Jamie's face as he finally went under 17mins in running 16:52.  Well done mate.  Also had a chat with Andrew McFarlane who I haven't seen in ages.  Then jogged back around the course with Jake to find Sonia (who's local Parkrun is the same as Big Sam's in Bromley) who ran 30mins.

3km warm down for 13km all up.  Good rust buster.  Now need to freshen up for the big dance next Sunday so that the first km doesn't feel so tough.

Thursday

AM:  6km dead easy.

Lunch:  8 x 800m off a rolling 4mins.

2:28, 2:26, 2:25, 2:24, 2:25, 2:23, 2:24, 2:23

Legs felt dead.  Struggled today.  13km all up.

Wednesday MLR

Out for the usual Wednesday route but missed Dicky and the Cap'n due to my

newly discovered slow running pace.  Bumped into the Cap'n near North Head and ran back with him, on the receiving end of one of his legendary sprays.

Saw Lewis along Manly beach as usual and told him to slow down.

15.2km in 1:14 something (just under 5mim kms).

Latest bets for C2S, I must be mad:

1.  Barts $100 head to head.  I've already provisioned for that.  Made a while back when drunk.  What a goose.

2.  $25 with Timmy on LJ to beat him head to head.  She just has to show up uninjured and healthy I reckon.  One of my more sensible bets.

3.  $20 with Timmy with me giving him a 7 minute headstart.  This should be close.  Always a fair spread agreed on for our head to heads.

4.  $10 with Danielle (Kirsten's close friend) with me giving her a 24 minute headstart.

5.  $20 with Enda with me giving him a 2:30 headstart.  I've been rorted here.  But that's almost the definition of any bet with Enda.

Very disappointed in CT refusing to accept a head to head (which he should romp away with given his current training form).

Back into it Tuesday

AM:  8km very easy to Shelley and back.  Bumped into the Cap'n and chatted to him a bit.  Otherwise just a thoroughly enjoyable plod on a cold but beautiful morning.

Lunch:  45mins progressive tempo for the Squad but Tiger changed this for me to 20mins solid, 5 mins easy, 10mins hard, 5 mins easy, 5mins kamikaze.  Went very well, feeling up for each fast section by the end of each easy section.  Felt comfortable on the solid section (averaging 3:30's), pushed the hard session (averaging 3:20's) and then 3:30's on the final 5mins but given it's pretty much all uphill the effort was there.  Turned on 22.5mins at the main entrance to Barangaroo and finished on 44:58 which was good.  Had Tucks to chase on the final section after Barts and CT had gone past previously running very quickly.

12.75km total (3:31 average) followed by 4.5km warmdown with Barts and Jeet.

Easy peasy Monday

Very gentle 14+km run with Mikey, Timmy, Nathan and James at 5min km pace.  We were even joined by Hoey fresh from his 2:33:12 at M7 yesterday which picked him up a tidy $2.5k.  Although did he offer to buy us one of his fancy brunches?  Did he hell.

Right hip flexor a bit sore.

Sunday long

First long run in 5 weeks (ignoring the marathon). Caught up with Jamie, Erika and Ben for the usual route.  Tired after yesterday's session and just pulled myself through.  Poor young Erika was struggling with recent volume too but will go well if she avoids injury.  Spent the whole run bitching about our coach.

30km in 2:20 (4:40's).

Saturday speedwork

Session was 3 x (1km hard, 1 min rest, 500m hard) with 5 mins jog between each set.  Marked out the 500m and 1km on the path through Nolans so flat and straight.  And I could pretend I was babysitting too.  Times went:

2:59.7
1:29.6
2:59.7
1:29.1
2:58.8
1:29.1

How about that for consistency!  Felt great today - bouncy and full of running.  First time since GCM.

Long warm up and down for 14km all up.

Friday

Very easy 10km with Kanser - back finally from the emerald isle.

HuRTs Hills

Out with the HuRTS Squad at lunch for Argyle Hill reps running solidly back down so no real rest.  More like a hilly tempo. 

Good turnout with Tucks, Tongey, CT, Barts, Crossy, JFen, Andy, Timmy, Boydy, Jeet, Erika, Rich M, TKS and even Wildman putting in an appearance.  AND JAMIE WAS THERE.  Didn't know what to expect for my first Tuesday HuRTS appearance in a long time.  What I was dished out with was a taste of reality.

CT and Barts quickly imposed themselves on the session with me a distant 3rd.  Was aware of someone behind me and thought it was Tucks but found Tongey coming past me on the 4th rep.  You can see from the times below I slowed on the 3rd, made an attempt to stick to Tongey on the 4th then gave up on the 5th and 6th.  To be honest, I was a bit of a soft cock on those reps.  However, I saw Tongey was not gapping me further so made an attempt to catch him on the final 2 reps.  Came past him on the final downhill.

Barts was a good 50s ahead at the end and is in fine form.  Here's his C2S cash.

I ended up with 35:24 for 9.86km (3:35's) but there's a lot of switchbacks so it will measure long.  One positive was finishing  relatively strongly.

Uphills: 2:15, 2:13, 2:18, 2:15, 2:19, 2:18, 2:15, 2:15

Downhills:  2:03 (shorter route), 2:09, 2:11, 2:12, 2:12, 2:11, 2:08, 2:01

5km warm down with a gradually thinning crowd for 16km all up.

MLR Wed

Very easy 17km this morning back up around North Head with Justin and Erika.  Plenty of chat with the conversation including everything from vomiting to testicles to how hot Sara Hall is.  I think sometimes I forget Erika is a lady.

4:41's.  Luminous orange snot diminishing.

Easy morning

12km along the beach.  Easy pace with the sinusitis still hanging around.  Bumped into Justin and ran with him for a bit - interestingly he's had exactly the same symptoms as me.

6C this morning but at least the sun was shining.  I'm sick of winter.  I didn't travel half way across the world for this.

In other news, I watched the final of House Rules last night to discover Steve and Tiana won and had their mortgage paid off.  This made me feel a little jealous.  That result needs some serious auditing.  First, the judges (whose scores amount to 50% of the result) award them 19 points versus Ben and Danielle's 17 points.  The remaining 50% of the result is made up by the audience voting either "NSW" or "QLD" via text.  So how do they calibrate that over 17 and 19 points?  We are not told.  We just have Johanna Griggs (whose chest seems to grow by the week) read out the winners.  Secondly, my guess is that Steve in his 50's has a considerably smaller mortgage than first house buyers Ben & Danielle.  My guess is that the opacity in the voting allowed Channel 7 to save themselves a couple of hundred $.  This upset me with my strong lawyerly sense of fairness.

Back to basics

Sunday felt crook again so no running.

Read an article recently that Benny St did for a magazine where he said that when he doesn't feel great, he applies a 10min rule.  Which means he gets out to run for 10mins then reassesses whether to carry on or give up.  I did that today.  Got to 10mins, felt pretty good so carried on.  Did 22km in the end around the wharves. 

Going to stop chasing the fitness, get myself 100% healthwise and just enjoy running in the meantime.  I'll hand Barts his $100 for C2S at some stage this week.  At least I'll get 25% of it back from Timmy.  Caught up with the squad for a few km on my run and was chatting to LJ who ran high 38 at the Sutho to Surf yesterday.  She tells me Timmy is trying to back out of the bet.  Which means he's mentally shot.  Which means we're 80% there...

Saturday

Friday was a rest that I needed.  Saturday still felt under the weather but got out in the later arvo for 10km.  Felt surprisingly good when I was actually running so did some fast patches - 2 to 3km (3:20 into the wind down Manly beach), 5 to 6km (3:14 in opposite direction) and 3:15 for final km along Pittwater Rd.  Ended up with 40:40 for the 10km which is quick for me.

Farked

AM:  8km (Shelley) very easy bumping into form man Lewis half way around and finishing with him.  38:16.

PM:  HuRTs 4 x 2km.  I think we turned early in the first rep so more consistent than it looks.  Barts was flying upfront running his final rep in 6:03.  I've got a lot of work to do until I smash him at C2S. I ran with (variously) J-Fen (in good form off this showing), Andy, Colin and Tongey.  Times were:

6:20

6:25

6:23

6:22

4.25km warm down with Barts and Timmy for 13.5km all up.

Got back to the office shaking due to low blood sugar, ate some lunch then promptly fell asleep at my desk.

Wednesday MLR

Out with Timmy, Crossy, Jerome, Worswick, Hoey and Gleeso for 8.5km up the C2S course then a return.  Very easy pace which was tickety boo.

Brass monkeys.  

Got a bet out of Timmy for $25 him head to head with LJ at C2S.  Go you good girl.

First tester

AM: Very easy 8km to Shelley Beach and back in 38:15.

PM:  Jogged to ES Marks (6km).  Then 3 x 1200m off a rolling 6:30 followed by 6 x 400m off a rolling 2:30.  Wasn't expecting much post marathon but held on better than I thought.

1200's went 3:40, 3:38 and 3:38 (71, 75 then 74/72 for each).

400's went 71, 69, 70, 68, 68, 68.

Chasing Alex on all reps with Benny St shouting the lap times.  Alex running freakishly well - 4s ahead on some of the 400m reps running in lane 4 on the last.  Davina would keep me company for the first lap of the 1200's and the first half of the 400's, which was pleasant.  Good to see Anna back out running well.

2km warmdown.

New blog linked with Big Sam posting thoughts from London.  Worth a read if only for the anti-Stoke humour!

Back home

Easy 11.2km around Manly feeling almost back to normal.  Still a bit of a shuffle but a faster shuffle now.  Averaged 4:16's this morning (47:59).  Still glad I wasn't racing this morning and bet Barts was too, suffering after last week's Half.  Lewis fared a bit better but neither can expect to back up after big Half PB's on an unrelenting course the week before.

Scott's Head

30mins very easy in the morning from the AirBnB place we stayed in at Scott's Head.  Great spot - log house built by the owner and fully sustainable with views of the ocean.  Felt better than yesterday and a few hills thrown in today.

Byron Bay

Friday - very easy 30mins along the beach at Byron Bay with Craig.  Just over 6km.  Bit of a shuffle and felt pretty tight around the groin area.

Gold Coast Marathon - 26th in 2:33:09

Well, that was hard.

Enjoyed an easy start to the morning.  Craig and I found out way to the elite athlete area.  This was a very nice set up with grandstand views of the finish line and we just saw 70 minutes tick over before Eloise came through (wow, what a run) before Barts, Alex and Lewis then came through in quick succession.

Then off to the start line.  Few hellos to Andy, Hoey et al and we were off.  Settled into the first km with Craig trying not to go too quick.  Rowan Wker comes past with a big group but let them drift ahead.  Another group including the first female being paced by Jackson Elliott comes past at about 5km so I ask what pace they're aiming for - he says 3:28's so again I let them go.  Craig drops off somewhere around 7km and I'm now running with the second female but the 3:30's still feel very comfortable.

Just concentrating on reaching the 15km turn at this stage.  At dinner the night before, Tom Buckley said something about knowing how well the race will go at 15km.  Well, I turned at 15km, saw Hoey was fairly close behind but Craig appeared to be having a bad day.  And then suddenly trying to run 3:30's became a whole lot harder.  I managed to just about hold them to half way but I realised then that it was going to be a massive struggle to get home.  The splits show that:

Hoey comes past at 23km bouncing along and I wave him on telling him he's looking great.  I'm now running 3:35's and it's hurting.  Gary appears on his bike, asks how I'm feeling and I tell him I feel like crap.  I can tell he thinks I look like crap too.  He's a great fella Gary, but not very good at hiding his true feelings.

Huge shouts from Clyde at Surfers and then LJ, Jeet (who had a fab sub80 run in the Half) and crew at Main Beach and then Angus on the Broadwater side of Main Beach.  Here's a photo from Angus at 28km:

At this point, Hoey (who's still only about 30m in front) takes a wrong turn due to some dopey traffic warden looking the wrong way, but quickly gets back on track.  Heading back into the crowds at the start finish area and I'm now really hurting and trying to hold 3:45's.  Barts offers some coke but I wave him away, being very ungrateful.  Can't concentrate on anything other than getting to the finish line.  The final 7km is just a world of hurt, trying different running positions to get a bit more pace into the legs and just keep the turnover going.  A Japanese fella overtakes me at 40km (I'd overtaken him earlier while he was running 4:30's!) but I don't care.  Turn back onto the main road and can see the final turn but it's so far away.  Eventually get there, turn the final corner, see the clock ticking over in the 2:32's but don't even bother to try to get under 2:33, I just want to stop.  And then, finally I can.

Have a chat to Dean and Julia then wait to see Craig come in on 2:36 having had an off day.  Then Andy and Matt Gibson race in on 2:37 with Andy having had a great run and negative split.  Next is Macca on 2:43 having also had an off day.  Maybe Hogs Breath Cafe the night before wasn't the great idea we thought it was at the time.

But run of the day goes to Hoey.  A low 2:30 in those conditions was sensational and the way he ran the race was perfect.

Then for some trash talk and beers in the beautiful surrounds of the Southport SLSC hearing about Barts eventually hauling in Lewis, how much of the work Neil did, how CT did exactly what we predicted and how LJ "jogged" around for 82mins. Wasn't she supposed to "jog" with Clyde, who himself managed to beat Enda?  The latter needs to retire after yet another underperformance.

And now back at the ranch for a bit of R&R.

Would I have rather run the Half with such a good pack?  Maybe.  But there's something very satisfying about doing the marathon even if you don't quite do what you wanted.  Anyone who finished that yesterday is deserving of huge respect - Birchy, Sonya, Jacquie, TKS - all suffered but got through.

Final run

Shelley Beach and back (8km) but run as 10min warm up, 8 x 1min fast, 1 min float, then 10min warm down.

Brass monkeys this morning.  In fact, stepped out with a singlet and t-shirt on, stepped straight back in and changed the singlet for Timmy's favourite Milk Tray top.

3 days to go.

Short, easy Wed

8km along the beachfront and including 4 x 100m hills next to MacKellar.  Didn't feel like running faster than 4:30's but bouncing along fine.  Saw Mrs Bromley and Lewis running the other way, the latter doing his 3:50's as usual.

8 years at Gold Coast:

2007:  10km in 33:02

2008:  Half in 1:13:09 (windy)

2009:  Spectator with achilles injury

2010:  10km in 33:21 (injury comeback)

2011:  Marathon in 2:36:40

2012:  Marathon in 2:34:00

2013:  Half in 1:11:16

2014:  Missed as in Europe

4 days to go.