Striders Internal Half Marathon

Great event. It's more like a hard time trial than a race. My handicap assumed a time of 76 minutes which I just managed to sneak inside with a 75:50. Not bad given you run by yourself and it's a hilly course (2 laps of the Striders Lane Cove 10km route but going further up the hill at Scribbly Gums). Tucks was the only person behind, starting on 73 minutes. Spent the whole race on the switchback sections working out by how much he was catching me - turned out he was catching quite significantly - running a quick 73:36.

I was in no-mans land most of the way as the people directly in front were Richard H and Tim C on 79 minutes. My 5km splits went 18:02, 36:12, 54:32 and 72:18. Pushed the last 5km as by then I was starting to catch people and the spirits were lifted. Caught Richard H at 20km and realised I need 3:40 over the last 1.1km to beat our handicaps so I told him we had to start working and ran a quick last 1.1km as a result. Tim C had a great run and was probably second fastest behind Tucks.

Beautiful day - sunny, no wind and cool (in Lane Cove NP certainly - bit warmer down on the beach afterwards).

Where was Ray? Where was Uncle Dave after negotiating a better handicap?

Steady run

14km around Balls Head in 60:03 (56:20 for the 13km route I always used to time). Not a recovery run as I had no-one to chat to and needed to get back to the office to do some work. So a steady pace all the way around - quicker to start with before yesterday's session hit my legs and slowed things down.

Back of right knee a bit sore, as was right achilles. Got drenched near the Waverton bowling green in a freak rain shower.

Aerobic conditioning

8 x 5mins off 90 second recovery.

Another big crowd, which gradually thinned as the reps continued. A few dropped out after 4, Durante, Mike, Toby and Christian after 6 leaving Tucks, Anthony, Richard H, Enda and me to complete the 8. They gradually got quicker and quicker such that we ran gate to gate on the final rep in 2:47 (3:03 per km pace). Felt great to start with, number 6 started to feel tiring, no.7 more so then number 8 was run so quickly barely noticed.

Love these sessions. Easy enough to chat along when doing them but you feel as though you've had a proper workout by the end.

1km warm up then 3km warmdown for 16km all up.

Wednesday slog

19km run to work with the usual 4 marathon pace stretches in 82:29.

Beginning to dread this session. Not sure why though as it's never as bad as I think it will be. I think it's the fact that the fast stetches are spread out over the whole run such that you're always anticipating the next one. Today though the quick bits felt fine, that is I seemed to have good form (never know as I don't time them) but the slow sections were tougher, particularly on the hills where the remnants of yesterday's hangover made the legs feel pretty lethargic.

5 seconds quicker than the last time I did this run on 19th September but looking back that was a pretty tough week...

Hangover Pain

3km warm up plus 6km Pain plus 3km warmdown.

Stinking hangover (summer clerk cocktails last night) ensured that I just went through the motions today. Barely changed pace between the fast and slow sections. Apple Martinis were repeating on me at the steps. Shame as it was a good crowd (Dave Clarke 5 and Michael from MBL, Durante, Anthony, Toby, Steve, Luke and even a rare appearance by Keith) although a bit of wind about. The warmdown was a joke, I was almost motionless by the end. Managed to sweat some of the alcohol out though and now fatigue has set in.

Recovery run

14km around Balls Head with Gerry, Tucks, Mike, and Durante in 63:27. Nice and easy (although not quite as slow as I'd normally take it with Ray). Beautiful conditions again.

Long Sunday

25km in 1:58:01. North Head and Balgowlah Heights route but continuing straight on after Tania Park to run down the side of Burnt Bridge Creek deviation to Campbell Parade then home. Beautiful morning for running - cool (about 17C) with no wind. Bumped into Richard Green and others on North Head and someone who looked like Hamburglar near Campbell Parade. Out by 6am as I had to get back to take Bec to her first Nippers. Here are the photos...

Striders 10km Homebush

3rd in 33:30.

This could turn out to be my best race of the season. Went into it pretty low key, just hoping to go and race Anthony and Tucks and not worry about the time.

Started quite conservatively and just tucked in behind Tucks. Tom do Canto had shot off like a hare with Jeremey Horne running one of his tempo sessions in 2nd. Went through 1st km in 3:12 with Tucks and Anthony with Chelli just behind. 2nd km (which includes the long drag) reached in 6:36 and Chelli had just dropped off so from then on it was just like every other training session I do with Tucks, Anthony and I running together. Only difference was the absence of Serg in front and Ray chatting away. Quite missed his conversation today!

It stayed like this until 6km. 3km was reached in 9:55, 4km in 13:20 and 5km in 16:45. As usual for Homebush, the conditions were humid but at least there was no wind. At 5km I thought we'd struggle to crack 34 mins given how the humidity normally drains energy in your legs. I started to struggle up the long drag between 6 and 7km. Tucks pushed at the top of the hill and Anthony went with him. I knew that if I dropped off then the elastic would break and I'd run a poor time so I forced myself to catch up and just sit behind Anthony and hold on without trying to force the pace. Recovered on that stretch between 7 and 8km such that I was feeling good again by 8km, so forced the pace. I could feel that I was dropping them so just continued to pile on the pressure. Tucks had latched on to me again by 9km though so the race was on. Just what I'd been dreading - a sprint finish.

I'd thought before the race that if I could hold onto them by 8km I quite fancied my chances in a sprint. By 9km my thoughts were the exact opposite. We rounded the hairpin to climb onto the bridge for the final 300m run to the finish and sure enough Tucks drew level. I just gave it everything I had then, thinking that if he beat me I couldn't blame myself. Just managed to hold on.

Chuffed to bits afterwards. The time wasn't special but it was never going to be in today's conditions. First time I've beaten Anthony and first time I've beaten Tucks when he's been fit (...I'm ignoring the fact he ran a top quality marathon 2 weeks ago for the time being). Both are easily capable of running sub 33 so I'm sure that will come in time. Great to run this race against the lads - we were saying afterwards that if we hadn't been there to push each other along we'd have all run at least 30 seconds slower.

Good to catch up with everyone afterwards including Springer, Flake, Uncle Dave, Tim L and Chelli. Didn't see TJA afterwards - Tim L suggested he pulled up between 5 and 6km so hope he's OK.

Easy Friday

14km run home from work. Very easy - 60:32. Very sore right achilles which didn't really ease up. However, looking forward to the race tomorrow morning.

Mona Fartlek

5km jog in the morning picking the car up from Brookvale.

Mona Fartlek at lunchtime with Ray, Tucks, Anthony, Luke, Dylan, Fats, Enda and Bill among others. Decided to really try and push the first half today to see how close to the stone gates I could get and then just hang on. Was about 15 yards short, but continued to run well finishing halfway down the Opera House (last sprint just past the gates) despite running the same route back rather than the slightly shorter route around Mrs Macquaries Chair. Ran with Tucks the whole way (he was kind enough to say he was hanging on) and Anthony who fell off towards the end. Dylan is going strong which is great news for the JPMorgan CCC.

3km warmdown for 15km altogether for the day.

Easy Wednesday

Too busy at work for a run at lunch and had to drop the car off to be serviced so no time for a long run this morning. Also convenient as I'm still not feeling 100% (although better than yesterday) so don't want to push it yet. Hope to be feeling back to normal by Saturday morning to put in a good performance at the Homebush 10km.

So 4km around home in 17 mins before taking the car to Brookvale and then 6km running from Brookvale to Manly Wharf in 25 mins. Quick along Manly Beach, legs still a bit lethargic on the hills. Wish this damn virus would disappear.

Pain

Felt terrible after yesterday's run - stiff neck and shoulders, very lethargic and headache. I think I may have pushed it too much coming out of having a cold (mainly through drinking too much on Sunday night). So was in two minds whether to run today but felt OK by lunch so headed out for an easy Pain. Didn't push it, just eased around in 25:32 and easy following Tucks on the Farm Cove rep. Not many out today (last Thursday's session seems to have killed everyone off) - just Ray, Tucks, Chris G, Toby and Dylan.

2.5km warm up and 3.5km warmdown for 12km all up.

Supposed recovery run

A combination of a hangover (out watching Manly lose the Grand Final) and running too soon after lunch meant the run home from work (3pm - it's Labour Day today) was very average. Felt awful - the legs haven't felt so lethargic in months. Started to feel slightly better as the run went on but it's all comparative. Had a following wind most of the way which was about the only way I got home.

32:00 at the Toyota Garage and 59:37 all up. Not bad in the end. Looked at my watch with 1km to go and it read 56:00 so put the effort in to get home in under an hour.

Medium Long Slow Sunday

23km in 1:42:12. Loop around Balgowlah golf club until I got caught short so came home. Then did North Head route via Campbell Parade including Fairfax Walking Track. Beautiful day today - crystal clear, coolish, no wind and a pleasure to run taking it very easy.

Still recovering from cold that has kept me sidelined for the last two days.

[Pretty good guess on the distance - just G-Mapped it at 23.2km here...http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1357974]

Aerobic conditioning

14 x 3 min off 1 min rest around Farm Cove.

Averaged about 3:25 - 3:30 per km pace per rep. First 5 feel great, chatting away. Then you start to think they are going to go on forever and you haven't even reached halfway. By 10 (when Ray put in a quick one) I was starting to struggle but picked it up again over the last 2 knowing I was home. Pretty hot today - grabbed a rushed drink from the bubbler after no.10. Managed to run gate to gate plus some on the final rep - about 930m.

Good crowd led by Charlie, Serg, Anthony, Ray, Enda, Mike C, Toby and Derek from BT, Luke and Tim C joining after 5. Lots dropped out after 8 and more after 10 (including, inexplicably, Charlie), Ray, Serg and Anthony stopped after 12 leaving just Tim C and I to run the last 2.

Felt shafted at the end. Barely able to manage a jog. Now sitting at my desk with a sore stomach contemplating how to stay awake for the rest of the afternoon.

1km warm up plus 3km warmdown for about 17km all up.

Long endurance

20km from work to old unit in Mosman via Cremorne Point and back again. 86:30.

Couldn't do the usual session running to work as I hadn't left a suit so was planning to run home but weather was beautiful and work quiet so headed out at lunch. Still a little tired from the weekend and in anticipation of tomorrow's tough session I dropped the marathon pace sections and just ran it easily. Lovely run as a result.

Pain

No Charlie session today due to recovery from the Half so ran Pain. Calves are very sore today - I've been walking around like John Wayne all morning. Ran 3.5km warm up then Pain with Serg, Anthony, Ray, Dave Clark, Dylan, Luke, Phil, Enda and Toby. Highlight was a new PB on the 709m stretch around Farm Cove - 1:53. Tucked in behind Dave at the start and let him drag me around (Serg flying by half way around as usual).

3.5km warmdown with Serg afterwards for 13km all up.

Recovery run

Very easy 14km around Balls Head with Ray. 67:53. Nice run chatting about yesterday's race in the sunshine. Bumped into a chap Ray knew on the way back who introduced us to the 2 Kenyan's who finished 4th and 7th in yesterday's marathon. Turns out they only arrived in Sydney after a 20 hour flight from Nairobi on Saturday afternoon for the race early on Sunday, which probably explains their positive splits (after I was rude enough to ask them how come they ran so slowly in the second half).

Jamie - there were about 3500 runners in the Half - results here.... http://www.runthebridge.com.au

Sydney Half Marathon

8th in 72:21.

Woo-hoo! Finally beaten one of Dad's PBs!

Felt great heading into this race but had a bit of a panicked morning preparation. The organisers have finally plotted a great course but they really need to sort out some of the basics. The queue for the toilets was huge, as a result I only managed to drop off my bag (another organisational fiasco) with 5 minutes to spare. So no warm up at all. Set off with the lead pack of about 8 and ran together until the far side of the Harbour Bridge when Tom de Canto put a sudden surge. A group of 5 went with him, including Anthony just hanging off the back. Struggled a bit through Pyrmont but checked my time at 6km which was 20:04. Realised things were going well then. Fortunately I was caught just coming onto the City Westlink by a chap and we ran together for the next 9km. Went through 8km in 27:00 and 10km in 33:51. Coming back towards the Anzac Bridge I was dropped and on the turn I could see Ray wasn't too far behind.

From then I just tried not to let the gap with Anthony grow while really being more concerned with Ray catching behind. I was still doing 3:23 and 3:24 kms between 16-18km so knew that Ray would have to be charging if he was going to catch. Relieved to get to Hickson Road as I know the route like the back of my hand from there.

Loved the course. Lots of long straights just to put your head down and get into a rythmn. The out and back route means you get loads of shouts of "go Striders" which really picks you up.

Fantastic run by Ray to finish in 72:37 - a PB after 13 years. Anthony probably just ducked under 72. Good to catch up with 26miles, Tim Lindop, Keith and Sparkie afterwards.

[Added some photos taken this afternoon of the kids]

More easy stuff

Very easy 7.5km route around Manly early in the morning before the rain came. 33:42.