Snakes while I Train

Long Manly route: 23km in 1:37:44. 46:45 at the Stone Arch and 1:02:30 at Fairlight Pool. Very heavy legged in the second half. Met the usual Manly crowd whilst out - Dave Robinson at North Head looking good and the chap who always runs intervals near Shelley Beach.

Highlight of the run was a near brush with a snake on the path to Shelley Beach (strange given all the bush I run through on this course). Saw this dog sniffing something strange on the path and I ran between it and the snake - must have missed it by about a foot. It was rearing up and curling it's body - obviously in a defensive pose for the dog. Certainly raised my pulse for a while.

Easter Sunday

Very easy 8km Manly Route late afternoon. 32:29.

Striders 10km Domain

5th in 34:11.

Very cool and wet with a blustery southerly wind. Very narrow start for a Striders race so a mad dash in the first 100m before hitting the first dragging hill up to the State Library. Set off in a group with Tim Ashby and some tall chap who was proving very useful into the wind. Tim pushed on at between 1-2km and once again I failed to go with him, sitting back more conservatively. On the second lap I heard the familiar voice of someone chatting and then heard Sparkie shout some words of encouragement which confirmed that Ray was with our group. He came past on a storming run - for a while I thought he'd be stopping at the 5km mark but he just kept on piling on the pressure. At the end of the second lap I realised from the clock that a sub-34 was going to be a push so just concentrated on trying to reel Ray in. He was still looking strong at 8km but then slowly started coming back towards me. Caught him at 9km and finished quite strongly.

I've got a real problem with 10km races at the moment. Don't seem to have the confidence to attack them all the way through. Felt tired during the race but not knackered at the end - I obviously had the fitness to up the tempo (in catching Ray) when I had something to chase but without that incentive I think I'm just too lazy. Felt as though I gave last Saturday's 5km time trial a far more honest effort when I had a simple plan of just sticking to Uncle Dave for as long as possible. Not sure how to address this.

2km warm up and down for 14km all up.

Hill Reps

Hill Reps with Ray and Peter. We've decided to start alternating Hickson Road reps with hill reps for a bit of variety. 15 x 200m up the grassy hill in the Domain. Steep first section then flatter second sectyion which I'd try to stride out on. Did 10, then a rest, then another 5. Ray did 18, Pete 13. About 35 seconds each. Didn't go flat out as I was trying to keep something in reserve for Satrurday morning. Also still had a bit of red wine in the legs from last night.

Jog there and jog around Domain afterwards for 10km all up.

Early bird

Heading down to Melbourne to talk today so the only way to fit the run in was to get out early.Set off at 6:15am expecting a slow slog but felt surprisingly sprightly. Mixed it up with a few fast sections - particularly along Manly beach. Had a huge stitch at the end of that section (reminiscent of the final km of last years SMH Half) so jogged back home from Queenscliff. 8km in 30:54.

No Pain, so punishment

Talking at lunch so 14km run to work today. Decided to make it into a proper session by incorporating 3 "marathon pace" sections, one up Parriwi Road, one along Military Road and one across the Bridge. Was pretty tired on the run but forced myself to do it.

Tough run as a result.

26:27 at Spit after running up Parriwi about a minute quicker than normal, cut short the Military Road section at the bathroom and tap shop just past Fanuli as I was flogging a dead horse by then, but picked up well across the bridge.

55:40 all up (which is close to the PB for the course). Very tired at end.

Tough Day

Bed at 3am Sunday night after working all day on a signing, up at 6am to feed Charlie before catching a flight to Brisbane, talk at lunch, flight back, work until 8pm then decided to run home before stopping at Spit Junction pretty exhausted. 30:48 for 8km.

Manly Sunday

23km long Sunday run route. Lovely conditions, sunny but cool with a little bit of wind. Enjoyable run without pushing it. 45:40 at Stone Arch, 61 minutes at Fairlight Pool and 1:34:36 all up (albeit legging it from the Condamine crossroads back home in 4:01 in order to get under 1:36!).

For any family reading, here are a couple of photos taken on a nice walk yesterday afternoon...

CoolRunning 5km Challenge

Not the best of preparations for this. Eventually set off in the car with Dad at 6.40pm and realised that if I wanted to jog 3km to start with I'd need to put the foot down. Got to the Harbour Bridge and for some reason ended up in the tunnel lane and realised on exit that I was on the wrong side of the city. Frantically tried to find the entry to the cross city tunnel, only to end up on it heading the wrong way! Eventually found somewhere to do an illegal "U"ey and turned up in Five Dock with about 5 minutes to go. Found somewhere to jump out the car and give Dad the keys and started jogging (running) to the start line. Passed runners who were getting faster and faster going the other way (including Kanser and Flake) and eventually turned up at the start line with 30 seconds to spare.

Heart rate was racing by this stage - not the warm up I intended but it seemed to work. Set off with Uncle Dave and Ray and just tucked in behind Dave for the first 3km. Felt great at this stage - even pushing the pace at one point. The 3km split was 9:28. However, from the sharp turn beside the motorway he started just to drift away as the lactic started to build up. Really struggled at this stage, crept passed Richard and the chap he set off with and then Superflake just under the bridge. Felt a little better in the last 0.5km and was really pleased with a 16:06. 12 second PB. There was quite a bit of headwind on the way around but the conditions were otherwise great - about 17c.

Uncle Dave must have run around 15:50. Richard ran around 17:30, Ray must have been just over 16:30 as Richard said he held him off. Good to see Flake set a PB - his sub3 at Canberra is a cert. Also good to see Kanser getting back into things again.

Easing up (without any choice)

Very easy 8km around the city - through Hyde Park, past 3 Wise Monkeys and through Darling Harbour and Hickson Road. 32:25. Lovely run in the evening, not pushing it and shaking off all the worries of work before dinner with Dad and Kirst.

24 little hours..

Wednesday

What a difference a rest day makes. 14km run to work. Felt sore around both achilles to start with but gradually eased my way into the run. And then it was fantastic. Beautiful day - a little warmer than the weekend but crystal clear. Just bounded along without any effort, thinking about the time trial on Saturday and how attractive Parriwi Road is. 27:40 at Spit Junction then 57:28 all up. Pushed it a bit over the harbour bridge as usual.

Was thinking after the run how it's incredible that you can know so accurately the speed that you are travelling at. When I was at Spit Junction, I was thinking that if I maintained the same pace I'd probably reach work in around 57:20. To be only 8 seconds out over 14km is pretty amazing. You'd never be able to predict that sort of accuracy if you were driving to work....

Tuesday

Rest. Too busy at work. Schmoozing people at lunchtime whilst looking longingly out of the windows at everyone running Pain....

Fitting it in

14km run to work. Extremely tired after yesterday's run - it was a real slog the whole way. 29 minutes at Spit Junction and 61:03 all up (first time over the hour). Felt marginally better over the Harbour Bridge but this is all comparative.

Long Sunday

Long Sunday route - 23km. Amazing what a difference the cooler temperatures makes. Headed out at around 2pm when the temperature was about 18c. Felt pretty lively right from the start and was pushing it without thinking about it. Reached the Stone Arch in 44:55, Fairlight Pool in exactly an hour and all up in 1:33:28 for a new course PB. Didn't really let up once I'd seen my time at the Stone Arch.

G-Mapped the route - it reckons only 21.7km but I think you must lose quite a bit on a run that length due to G-Map not taking into account variation in distances due to elevation. That's what I'm trying to persuade myself at least.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=799907

Enjoying it again...

Headed out at around 4pm in between dropping off and picking Bec up from a party. Still just under 30c, but with low humidity not half as bad as it could have been. Didn't want to push myself so ran a new course - basically the 8km Manly route in reverse but adding the loop via the Campbell Parade playpark.

Still quite quick, but never a struggle and felt very easy at the end. About 10km I reckon in 39:38. Will use this course again as it's really nice.

Here's a G-Map Pedometer for the route. Not very accurate in the first half cutting a few corners but I zoomed in for the second half to plot more accurately. Reckon it's about 9.8km.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=797368.

Back in the fold

Rested Wednesday and Thursday due to too much work and too little sleep.

Ran into work this morning. Still suffering from fatigue but a beautiful morning for running, not too warm, fresh and no breeze. 28 minutes at Spit and 58:28 all up. Had a much shortened stride than normal because of the tiredness. Feel great for having forced myself to do it now though. And now to work....

Pain

3km warm up jog + 6km Pain + 1km warm down. 10km all up.

Pushed Pain hard today. 24:11 all up but a 1:56 on the 709m rep chasing down a new bloke called Steve Thurston (you'll no doubt be pleased to hear I caught him). Struggled over the last 2 reps. Durante, Ray and David Clark all showed up, Durante and Ray running well but Dave struggling.

Was going to rest, but then...

12km lunchtime run with Beaky. Very steady recovery run in about 52:30. Talking pace all the way. Woke up very tired after a disrupted night's sleep and a heavy weekend and so passed on the run to work. Pleased to have got out at luncthime though as I feel a lot better for it now.

Manly Sunday

Long Manly Sunday run route. 23km in 1:37:28, at the stone arch in 47:15. Nice and cool conditions, felt comfortable the whole way.

Saturday in the rain

Left it until the humidity broke and the heavens opened to go for today's run. Felt good at the start so turned it into a tempo run over my 8km Manly route. Felt strong throughout although was pushing at a pace that was never entirely comfortable. 29:04 which I think is a course PB.

Couple of photos from last weekend added for any family reading.....

Friday warm down

14km run home from work. 30:35 at the Toyota Garage and 57:29 all up. Hot and humid, struggled on the hills again. Toyed with the idea of Beaky's "marathon pace" fast spells but after about 20 metres of that over the harbour bridge dismissed it as a ridiculous notion and decided to treat the run as a recovery run.