Tempo run home

Training schedule is all over the place at the moment with being busy at work and holidays. Planned a long run today but couldn't get out all day and felt it was too late at 7.30pm when I finally left for the evening. So decided to do a tempo run home (about 14km) and will do 2 hours running in tomorrow (client lunch so am missing HuRTS) .

Looked back in my blog to see what my PB for this route was and saw that I ran 50:47 nearly a year ago (June 7th) shortly before setting my 10km PB at Gold Coast. Surprised I haven't done this run more often as I think the long tempo runs are pretty useful. Given I think I'm now in better shape, I psyched myself up to set a PB. Really pushed the pace from go to whoa. 25:18 at the Toyota Garage (1:17 ahead of the red line) and 48:51 all up - a 1:56 PB. Chuffed to bits with the time. Still think there's more to come as I eased off a little from Spit Junction to Spit Bridge. Having said that, I really pushed the uphills.

Flake - I'm back up to Smiths Lake on Thursday night so will be missing Novice. My money's on Harry Summers. Expect a big improvement from Dave Kane too. Given his recent Hickson Road rep times and the fact that he's equally as competitive as those gun 18yr olds, I'm predicting he'll run 34:27 and kick himself for not getting a PB before agonising over whether it's a full 10km or not. I'm just throwing everything at the State 10km. Saw a recent thread on Coolrunning which suggested DrJH would be running. To beat him would be the dream scenario.

Running and camping..

..don't mix. Had a fantastic time at Seal Rocks (at Smiths Lake now having just dropped Kirst and the kids off) but sleep has been hard to come by - Charlie doesn't like the "flapping" noise a tent makes. As a result, I've woken up stiff every morning and felt like c**p when trying to run. Beautiful surrounds though. Rested Thursday, ran for an hour on Friday and Saturday and 45 minutes this morning. Had to dodge a pack of dingoes yesterday (if you can call more than one a "pack") which got the heart rate up at least.

Stiff as a board now. Can't wait to sleep in a bed again. Will download some photos soon.

Niggle count: top of left glute, back of right knee, hamstrings, back in general, achilles a bit sensitive.

Medium long Wednesday

18km around Centennial (including an extra internal loop) but cutting short back down the steps from Macleay St. Ran with Serg and Tim C. 1:18:03, average pace 4:20. Very easy to start with but picked up the pace a little from 7km onwards.

Niggle count: Top of left glute. Outside of right foot.

45 mins Fartlek

The inner child inside me still stifles a chortle when I write the word "fartlek".

Great crowd today including the Judge, Serg, Phil Dove, Kanser, MC, Durante, Tim C, Enda, Richard G, Richard M (first time in a while), Clement, Greg, Stephen C etc. Set off at quite a quick pace with the Judge, Serg and Phil. We all stayed together until just before the turnaround point when Serg dropped off. Phil then stopped (only to reappear later) at the turnaround point leaving me to try and stick to the Judge. Turned at the top of the steep short hill just before the Art Gallery. The Judge helped me catch up with some of the pack before he dropped out worrying about a leg injury. Picked up the pace a bit coming home running with the rest of the crowd again.

Fast sections were probably between 3:10 - 3:15 per km and averaged close to 3:30 per km for the whole thing. 1.5km there and 2.5km back for about 17km all up.

Recovery Monday

Serg's 15km Centennial Park route run with Serg. 66:11. Slightly quicker than I'd normally do a recovery run (I was running with Serg after all) but nice nonetheless. Managed to run out a few aches around the left glute I'd had from the weekend. Perfect running conditions - cool and rainy. Some people were complaining about the cold running in the Canberra marathon yesterday. I didn't realise it could be too cold for running. They should try running the North East Cross Country Harrier league at Prudhoe in January.

Congrats to Tim L for his 2:47 in the London marathon yesterday - great run mate.

Long Sunday run

Caught up with Fats and the Tiger in Centennial and basically meandered about - a couple of laps around the outside and a few more in the middle. Ran parts with Dimitri and Caleb. 2 quickish inside loops at the end. About 30km in 2:13:34. Beautiful morning.

Some great preliminary results from Canberra - Uncle Dave second in 2:27:40 and Tucks 3rd (beating Jeremey Horne) in early 2:29. I think my days of being competitive with Tucks are over.

Campbell Parade stuff

Was planning on the usual 7.5km tempo run but needed to get the kids out so took them down to Campbell Parade with their bikes. I ran 13 loops of the 650m circuit, one float then one fast etc. Map is here: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1784328 Loops went as follows:

2:26; 2:12; 2:21; 2:10; 2:23; 2:09; 2:21; 2:07; 2:21; 2:04; 2:22; 2:05; 2:21

Works out at averaging about 3:36 per km for the floats and 3:15 per km for the fast sections. Overall average of 3:29 per km for the 8.45km. Great session in the end - felt as though I got more out of it than the usual tempo run. Interesting how the faster sections get faster but the floats remain consistent.

Billy did 13 loops on his razor (over 5 miles) and was complaining at the end that his leg was sore. He only ever stands on his right leg. I've got high hopes for him.

Good luck to Tucks, Springer, Superflake, TJA, Uncle Dave, Chris G and all the others running Canberra tomorrow and Tim L in London.

Sore recovery

14km North Head route early in the morning. Felt very stiff and sore so very slow, especially to start with. 49:26 at Stone Arch and 62:48 all up. Top of glute very sore this morning. Nice and cool and great views from the Fairfax Walking Track.

400s

Caught up with Tim C, MC, Fats, Dickyboy (first timer), Clement, Pete, Stephen Cox, Greg and one other and headed over to the Reg Bartley oval for the usual 400s going off every 2 mins (ie about 50 seconds rest). 12 this time rather than 10. Ran the first 7 with Tony then he headed back to the office which is when the times started to suffer. Then managed to pull them back together, with Tim C putting up a fight on the final rep. Times went:

70, 70, 70, 70, 70, 70, 70, 71, 72, 70, 70, 67.

Compares favourably with December 20th and March 13th (the other times we ran them over this measured section - times before were over a shorter section). Beautiful day and a nice session. 3km there and back for about 11km all up.

Back to marathon pace

AM: Run to work from Redlands House incorporating the usual 3 marathon pace stretches. Cool and wet, felt great this morning. 53:50 all up (24:19 at Spit Junction). Might try and fit in an easy 10km over lunch.

Lunchtime: Very easy 7.5km run around the Opera House with Kanser in 32:10.

8 x 5mins

Crowd today included Serg, Muz, MC, Kanser, the Judge, Tim C, Enda, Durante, Mike Race, Greg and Phil Woods, with Springer appearing after the first 2. Usual session of 8 x 5mins off 90 seconds rest, although only Tim C and I actually did 8. Lots stopped after 6 and MC, Enda and Muz did 7.

Felt really good today. The judge was pushing ahead as usual (running 3:10s looking like he was going for a jog in the park) while Anthony and I were probably averaging just under 3:20s. Still felt comfortable after the final rep. I think I need more speedwork at the moment. Kanser and Durante would wait until Muz and I caught them on each rep (starting from behind) and then run off so they must have upped the pace midway through. Kanser seems to have taken another leap forward recently.

Rest yesterday. Had a client lunch then just couldn't be bothered. That's probably why I was feeling fresh today.

PB - great to hear you're making plans for races in the not so distant future. Don't get injured. Try and organise a race in Sydney when you're about 80% fit and I might have a chance...

Couple of photos added from the weekend.

Long Bay run

Caught up with the Tiger and ran three extended 9km loops of the Bay Run. Times went 43:00, 41:30 and 41:51 for 2:06:21, plus 1km warm up for 28km all up. Lovely cool and still morning. Good chat with the Tiger in between him saying hello to virtually every runner going around the Bay.

Striders 10km Lane Cove - 7th in 33:16

Picked up Richard Green on the way (shortly to become a Dad - good luck mate) and caught up early on with Tim C who I ran a 3km warm up with. Then did some quick strides to get the heart rate up and feel less shocked when starting the race. My worries about no-one turning up were quickly dismissed on seeing Tom Crasti, Colin Johnston, Robin Whiteley, Guz, Chris T et al. Quick chat with Tucks, Kanser, Timinerko, Darren and Pete and then we were off. Or at least the front crowd were. The first 8 shot off like rabbits. I ran through 1km with Guz and Ray (who was just on a run from home but decided to join in the race) in 3:14, 2km in 6:30, 3km in 9:49. At that point I was by myself, with James Swadling and some visiting runner from Belgrave Harriers about 80m in front. I could see James was slowing so just tried to reel him in. 4km was 13:19 and 5km (when I caught James) 16:46. From then on I was by myself and just trying to push as hard as possible to get close to 33 mins. I think 6km was 20:08, 7km 23:30, 8km 26:48 and 9km 30:08.

Felt great all the way back - the kms were just ticking by. Probably more suited to a half than a 10km at the moment though as I need more speed in the legs. Finished with a 3:08 final km in 7th in 33:16.

Good to Kanser back on track, running a 35:19 despite still recovering from a cold that has sidelined him for the past few days. Good runs also from Pete W, Darren and Timinerko. Chris T is obviously in great form running 31:52.

Friday meander

Very easy jog around the flat 10km route but finishing straight back to the office from the Art Gallery. 8km in 36:29. Much cooler over the last couple of days so should be good conditions tomorrow provided the wind stays down. Back still sore but I've always got to have something to moan about.

Sounds like Tucks and Chris Truscott are running (although Tucks claims to be only going for a 35min - we'll see after the race starts - he's even more of a competitive bugger than Kanser).

Dave - Lane Cove is hilly and am very flattered by your predicted times but feel they are a bit ambitious...

Looking forward to my pre-race junk food loading tonight.

8 x 909m

Originally planned 8 x 800m at Rushcutters Bay but the lack of interest and my workload resulted in a last minute change to 8 gate to gates around Farm Cove, off 2 minutes. I did the odd ones fast and the even ones easy. It was the founding members of HuRTS (Tim C, Ray, Chris G and myself) plus Durante for the first 4, Pete W and Tucks (jogging) for the last 3 and Mike Race, Dave Le Banh and Stephen from JPM.

Reps went:

2:54; 3:02; 2:45; 3:04; 2:46; 3:01; 2:43; 3:02

Felt good running the quick ones. Almost harder work running the "easy" ones. Works out at an average of 3:00 per km for the quick ones and 3:20 per km for the easy ones.

Back still sore and doesn't seem to be improving.

Easy run home

No suit at work so couldn't run in. Busy day at work, couldn't get out all day so ran home when I eventually finished at 10.30pm. Nice way to unwind. 31:05 at Toyota Garage and 58:27 all up. Things still OK for the weekend:
(a) chaffed groins have healed;
(b) seem to have avoided (to date) all the colds/flu going around at work and home; but
(c) back is still sore on the downhills.

4 x 3km

Perhaps it should be retitled; "Getting used to running 3:25s".

Really good crowd (to start with) today, including Fats, Ray, Kanser, Durante, MC, Springer, the Judge, Anthony, Tim L, Mike Race, Enda, Darren and Pete W. Started off with a big crowd staying towards the front and ran through reaching the second lamp post short of the Stone Gates in the 10 minutes. This involved a detour up to Art Gallery Road as the open air cinema section of Farm Cove was blocked off. Picked up the pace on the way back running with Charlie, the Judge, Tony and Fats in 9:21 (about 3:23's). Pace picked up again on the third rep with Fats really pushing on such that we reached the Stone Gates. Then on the final rep the Judge took it out and pulled me around - dropping me while coming around Farm Cove. Still managed 9:23 over the longer distance.

Chuffed with the session. When we last did this 4 weeks ago I was shattered on the last rep. Felt great out there today.

Fats is looking in great shape, as is the Judge who plainly took it easy to start with so he could finish the session strong. Tim L also looked good again, peaking at just the right time for London. A few are crook or coming down with colds, including MC, Kanser and Durante.

Monday recovery run

Very easy 14km around Balls Head with Ray, Kanser and Springer in 64:39. Legs tired from the weekend's efforts, but cool conditions and a beautiful day. Springer is trying to hose down his Canberra expectations, but Kanser has predicted a 2:44 and the Tiger and myself both independently predicted a 2:43. If Cameron Arnold can run 2:44 at Canberra, Springer can go quicker on his current form...

Confused long Sunday

Planned on running the Vaucluse Variation STaR but got confused with the clocks going back and assumed it happened last night. Was driving through Bellevue Hill and saw a load of Striders when my mistake dawned on me. Quick call to Kanser meant I switched plans and met up with him, MC, Enda, Terence, Timinerko and Ger(?) for their usual Sunday run. Covered 26.4km in about 1:56 so averaging under 4:30 per km. We started very easy (around 4:40s to 4:50) but the legs still felt tired after yesterday's efforts. Gradually started to feel better and we gradually speeded up. The last 8km averaged under 4 mins per km, ending with 4 x 1km strides in the centre of the Park speeding up each time until the last was run in about 3:23. Tim was running well and hope he has a great run in London. Kanser was with me on the quick reps right to the very end - he's certainly got the strength on the long runs. That's nine 2 hour runs for me in the last 10 weeks and the strength is really showing - I'd have been all over the road at the end of that run 2 months ago.

Great to catch up with the crowd on a beautiful day.

Saturday tempo - PB!

Headed out in the late afternoon in good conditions (about 23C) for the usual 7.5km Manly route. Felt strong even though the back is a bit sore, the groin chaffing is bad and my thighs were stiff after yesterday's cycle. I think the strength came from not running on Thursday and the cooler weather. 7:22 at Fairlight pool, 19:39 at Queenscliff (5:36 for the Manly mile into a slight headwind) and 26:34 all up. A 5 second PB from 28 July last year when I was really going for it. Very pleased with the run as I was cautious on the downhills because of my back so there is a few more seconds in it. Particularly pleased with the way I finished - 32 seconds quicker over the final 2km than last week.

When I set the PB last year I went on to run 33:31 at Lane Cove the following week which should give me some indication as to where I'm at for next Saturday.

Pete - good to hear from you and hope the uninjured running can continue. I'll be expecting a trip down to Sydney in the next few months for you to test things out...