Thursday 2nd

Missed intervals with Ray and Tim becuase of work meetings. Headed out around 4pm for the 10km route to Darling Point and back around the Domain and mixed it up with some fast spells at random (about 5 or 6). 39:15 all up for the 10km. Faste on the way out than back. Felt stonger than yesterday so hope it's another days recovery before Sat morning.

Recovery Run

13km loop around Balls Head Reserve. Very slow and deliberately so. Having said that, felt so tired I'm not sure I could have managed anything more. Felt much better towards the end. 57:52 all up.

PITD

Pain in the Domain followed by 1km cool down. Good crowd in the fast pack including Ray, chap from Macquarie, another who pushed the long rep and Chris who (as always) pushed the reps in the second half.

1:56 for the long rep but stopped the watch slightly short due to being crowded at the gate. Probably closer to 1:57. Very pleased as I was by myself nearly all the way - letting the chap from MBL and A.N.Other pull ahead before the first mosaic before I started to pull them in following the second mosaic. Also assisted by a following wind in the 1st third - against towards the end. Pushed all the other reps hard. 27:00 in total.

7km all up.

Easy Monday

12km in the early evening to Centennial Park and around a bit and then back. Ran with Beaky at talking pace. Just over 48 minutes. Felt fine, calves a bit stiff.

Beautiful Sunday

23km long Sunday run around North Head and Balgowlah Heights. Felt great for the first 16km - running very easily yet still 45:52 at the stone arch corner heading down to Little Collins Beach. Struggled from Fairlight path onwards and took it easy through Balgowlah Heights as a number of aches and pains were starting to surface. Finished in 1:36:43.

Strange intervals

Saturday

Plans to run the CR 5km challenge went up in smoke after Billy woke me up in the middle of the night. Slept in instead. Headed out around 5pm for intervals along Manly beach from Manly Surf Club to Queenscliff Surf Club - 3 x 1 mile with strict 2 minute recovery. Times went:

5:00; 5:34; 4:56

Almost gave up into the second rep as it was a farce. I had barely noticed the tailwind on the first rep, but on the second I felt as though I was jogging and bent double. Knew that I'd be disappointed with myself if I gave up so struggled on expecting something around 6 minutes. Was quite pleased with 5:34 but in truth the second half was more sheltered. Just blasted the third.

10km all up.

Friday

3km very easy either side of an Easy Tiger massage.

Super Session

Every now and then things just go right in a session. This was one of those days. Rocked up not knowing who was going to turn up but we ended up with a decent crowd being myself, Tim, Ray and two of Ray's mates.

Intervals session was 5 x 1.2km along Hickson Road with strict 2 minute recovery. The intervals went:

3:44; 3:33; 3:43; 3:36; 3:39

On average, that's about 3-4 seconds per rep faster than I've done before. Ray held back on the first and then got very competitive with Tim and I on the second leading to the ridiculous time. Tim was competitive throughout, holding back for the first three-quarters of each rep and then always coming onto my shoulder on the last quarter. Was especially pleased with the final rep where I even managed a pathetic Highnam sprint over the last 50 metres.

10km all up for the best session I've run this year.

Getting tired

14km run into work. 26:36 at Spit Junction, 57:16 all up. Struggled towards the end feeling very tired - probably as only 14 hours rest from yesterday's interval session. Surprised at the time at Spit Junction as I seemed to struggle up Parriwi Road.
Plenty of stretching afterwards - slightly sore hip flexor.

Worse than Pain

Intervals - 5 x 900m gate to gate around Farm Cove with strict 2 min recovery.

2:52; 2:46; 2:50; 2:47; 2:50.

Missed Pain in the Domain due to a last minute conference call. So punished myself by having to do intervals alone. The doubt demons were out in force, particularly after the first rep where it took me a good 20 seconds staring at my analogue watch to realise I was over 2:50 and not under. They then resurfaced after the second rep telling me I couldn't possibly maintain that pace and I was going to crumble. But there's something character building in intervals alone. In truth, the session was all about the wind - a real truggle into it on reps 1, 3 and 5 and a pleasure on the others. Pleased with the effort put in on the last as I was determined not to drop off in the last two reps as last time.

10km all up.

Proper training starts from here...

Monday

14km running into work. Felt very easy from the word go which is no doubt as a result of 10 days rest or very easy training. 26:40 at Spit Junction, 56:26 into work. Pleased with the pace as I didn't feel as though I was pushing too hard. Felt strong all the way up Parriwi Road. Only concern is my left hip flexor is sore again but physio at lunchtime today.

Sunday

Rest. Ben's buck's night the night before. Walking into Manly was about as much as I could manage.

Rebuilding

Saturday

Easy 8km at 6.30am. Very slow to start with, quick stretch along Manly Beach (5:30 for the mile finishing very quickly) and 30:55 all up.

Friday

Easy 8km running from work to Spit Junction. 30:07. Picked up the speed in the second half and finished feeling great.

Running again!

First run back after a week off with a back problem. Easy 8km. Ran down to Hickson Road and joined Ray, Tim, Peter, Richard and Phil Dove for intervals. I just strided 4 of them without putting too much effort in. Plenty of stretching before and after - particularly of the hip flexors which appears to be the root of my back problem. Back felt stiff towards the end but not painful as it has been.

Fixing the problem

Friday, Saturday and Sunday - zip, nothing, nowt. Tried to run Friday and Sunday but both times gave up after 1km in pain with the back. Went to see Tara Lal today and it appears as though it's related to the groin strain I picked up (falling off a nightclub dancefloor) in New York.

Massage with Easy Tiger tomorrow morning and back to see Tara on Wednesday. Hope to be back in action by Thursday to limit the time off to one week.

Injured again

Tried to run home but only got as far as Circular Quay before the pain in my back was too much. Better to rest now rather than aggravate it further.

Back to Intervals

Met up with Chris Graham for intervals at lunchtime along Hickson Road. 5 x 1.2km (ish) with a strict 2 minute recovery. 3:45, 3:40, 3:45, 3:45, 3:50. Second and fourth intervals are supposed to be about 5 seconds quicker as they take the inside edge of the big corner. So 4th and 5th intervals were 5 seconds down on usual. Pleasde with the consistency of the first three. Was initially disappointed with the last two but was clearly affected by fatigue over the events of the past week and the heat didn't help.

Jog there and back. 10km all up. Jog back very painful as I seem to have pulled a muscle in my back trying to sleep in airline seats.

News from New York

Thursday 5th

Rest. Flight to New York.

Friday 6th

9km easy getting lost in Central Park. About 40 minutes.

Saturday 7th

JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Championship Race. Finished 19th in 18:03. Started very quickly and was suffering around 1km. Then just tried to focus to maintain my place. Started to feel stronger between 4-5km but the legs were really hurting in the sprint finish. Chuffed to bits with the time - about 20 seconds faster than I was expecting. Just vaguely disappointed not to have cracked 18 minutes. Pete finished in 17:16 (exactly the same time difference between us as at Sydney last November) after running with the leaders early on.

Sunday 8th

Beautiful day - did one loop of Central Park with Prue and then another by myself. About 23km in 1:38:52. Really struggled towards the end feeling the effects of yesterday's race (and the hangover).

Monday 9th

13km in about an hour running around Central Park with Peter and Dave from Telstra. Very sore legs.

Tuesday 10th

This day didn't exist. Crossed the Pacific Ocean and it was gone in an instant.

Wednesday 11th

Suddenly reality bites. Arrive at Sydney Airport at 7.40am, rush home, shower, into work and final leave work at 11:50pm. No time for a run. Probably a good thing as very, very tired from the last few days.

Starting to taper

Just an easy 10km at lunchtime. Out to Darling Point (15:15) and then back via Garden Island (faster tempo running) out around Lady Macquarie's Chair (another faster stretch) and finishing the short cut through the Botanical Gardens. 40:01 all up which is almost identical to last Friday. Quite warm by the end. Followed by stretching.
Looking forward to New York now. I'll be on the flight this time tomorrow...

Pain in the Domain

Head out to Pain in the Domain at lunchtime where I led the first and second groups combined. Good to catch up with Ray, Tim, Chris, Simon and a couple of the guys from Telstra who are heading to New York for the weekend. Quite a good session - pushed all the reps. Ray looks to be back in form pushing most of the reps too. He overtook me as usual in the last 100m of the 709m Farm Cove rep where I recorded 2:00. Pretty pleased as it was into a headwind for most of the way and was stopped in my tracks half way around by tourists. Felt as though I had strength in the legs to muster another effort when Ray came by.

Plenty of stretching and 1km warm down for 7km all up.

The male competitive streak

10-11km early this morning. Ran my usual 8km route but started along Griffiths Street to Condamine and through North Harbour Reserve and added a loop to Shelly Beach and back. Started out very easy and still a little sore from Saturday's race in the flats. About 6kms in on the way to Shelly Beach and ran past the Indian chap I often see on the Northern Beaches - very easy flowing runner who covers the gound quickly. Anyway, turned around at Shelly and tried to catch up to have a chat. He must have been about 40 seconds in front so I had to speed up a lot to do so. Eventually got within about 2 yeards by North Steyne whereuopon he realised I was catching and so sped up himself. It just so happened he was travelling back towards Fairlight as well so we had a ridiculous situation where both of us were running at pace about 5 yards apart! So was knackered by the time I got home and crawled up Suwarrow street.
41:35 all up.

When running's fun

Head out at 7am for an easy 17km. North Head circuit but going via Manly Lagoon rather than straight dowen to North Steyne. Slow to start with but gradually picked up the pace. Overtook an older chap just before Manly Hospital and then overtook him again on the way back from North Head (he didn't do the Fairfax walking track). We started chatting and turns it it is Dave Robinson - Sydney Strider over 60 runner. He was having an easy run before heading down to the Melbourne Marathon next weekend. We had a good chat - turns out he's an ex-sub 30 10km runner and 1:52 800m runner who grew up in Kenya running with Kip Keino. Completed over 100 marathons. Fascinating bloke who's only just got back into running in the last year after 15 years off. I'll catch up with him at the Striders 10km at Lane Cove.

Total time was 1:12:51 but took it easy whilst having a chat.