SMH Half - 18th in 1:13:21

Bit of a strange run. I'll get the excuses in first. Had a terrible preparation - Kirst was out at a Ball with her girlfriends until 1am and Maggie decided to start screaming at 11pm so only managed about 4 hours sleep. Stomach had also been giving me problems although before the race I had thought it was just nerves. Having said all that, I felt pretty good lining up at the start after catching up with Kanser, Charlie, Tucks, Mike, Durante et al beforehand.

I set off far too quick. My plan was to stick with Tucks for as long as possible and so for the first 5km I was in a group with Tucks, Chadi, Robin Whiteley, Anthony Farrugia, DrJH and Nick Bennett. Tucks made a sudden detour half way along Hickson Road to "do a Paula" which confused me for a second, I lost a bit of concentration coming under the Harbour Bridge and suddenly I was 10 yards off the back of the group, by myself. From then on, I was on a damage limitation exercise. I could see the group had fragmented up Hunter St and tried to concentrate on catching DrJH as I knew he always goes out quick and would likely be the one to tire in the 2nd half. I seemed to make good progress going out around Art Gallery Road and suddenly felt quite good again. However, I could hear footsteps behind which I guessed was Tucks and, sure enough, between 9 and 10km (outside the Art Gallery) he came past. We went through 10km in 34:10 - the only split I took.

I then hung on to Tucks until Argyle St (passing DrJH on Macquarie St), by which time we had also been joined by Robbie Neal. It's amazing how much easier it feels running with others - suddenly the pace seemed to be back in the legs again. However, up Argyle they created a gap and I was on my own again. DrJH caught me on Hickson Road and we ran together until the bottom of Hunter when he dropped back again. At this point, Mark Warren and another chap came flying by. I tried to cling on to them around the 3km Mrs Macquarie's Chair loop knowing I could salvage something by beating Mark (who had beaten me at Homebush). Also realised that if I lost touch with these two, Fats was likely to catch me, having noticed how much ground he had made up when I turned at Mrs Macquarie's Chair. So I clung on. Mark struggled up the hill just before the Art Gallery and the other bloke (who had pulled slightly ahead up the hill) wasn't extending the gap so just clung in. Realised I was catching him at the St Mary's u-turn so put in a final sprint into Hyde Park to pick up one more place. Robbie Neal must have slowed over the last few km as I wasn't far behind him in the end. Tucks finished strongly (of course) to pick up Farrugia and Glenn (who is plainly struggling). If he hadn't had the pit stop he'd have been ahead of Chadi.

Pleased to have beaten Mark and DrJH, a bit disappointed with the time but it's a tough old course. Not many PBs out there today, Fats being the notable exception with a great 1:13:4X. Durante also had a good run in 1:15:15. Richard P got a slim PB and Tim C is getting back to form with a 1:16 something but Kanser was well down on what I thought he'd run and nor was MC as quick as I thought he'd go.

Half's are a strange race. Realised today that you have to put a bit more thought into them that just "go out hard and hold on". Have bad stomach cramps now so will see how I pull up tomorrow.

(PS. HB - cheers for the photo. Thank god I hadn't realised how close Charlie Low was at that stage!)

Trundle

Very easy trundle around my Manly 7.5km route (run clockwise). 33:25. Michael - we should catch up for a run sometime.

Have managed to avoid the lurgy but not a heavy night of red wine. Got back home at about 2.30am last night after losing all my money at Poker. Was looking good at one stage.

Thinking of running without a watch tomorrow and just racing it. Felt as though I became a little obsessed with my time at Homebush - particularly towards the end when I should have been concentrating on beating people. I'm predicting big PBs for Tucks, Fats and Uncle Dave. Dave should go under 70 and I reckon Tucks will be under 71.

Easy Friday

Dave - my wife and eldest have since caught the vomitting bug so I wasn't being paranoid! I'm the only clean member of the family.

Very easy 10k run up to Kings Cross and around the Domain with Serg, Kanser and Enda. 48:45. Felt fine and nice to loosen the legs after yesterday's session. Now just to relax until Sunday and not drink too much red wine or smoke too many cigars at Poker Night tonight...

HuRTS Hickson Road

Back to where it all began, and an appropriate session given Sunday's race will involve 2 Hickson Road reps. I don't think I'll be running them as quick as we were today though.

5 x 1.2km (well, 1.18km and 1.17km to be exact). Reps went as follows:

3:34; 3:30; 3:30; 3:29; 3:30

That's averaging about 2:58 per km. Way faster than I've ever run them before. I think my best Hickson Road session prior to this was 10 May last year (again, just before the SMH Half) when I averaged 3:35s. Not as if I was on my own either. Another great crowd again today, similar to Tuesday but with Durante and Fats showing up too. Serg, Durante and I led the first couple with Tucks, the Judge and Charlie just behind. Serg and Durante really pushed hard on the third rep from the start. This is usually the make or break rep which determines how well the whole session goes. Clawed my way back to them with about 400m to go. Just held off Durante on the 4th rep then KMK appeared from nowhere on the final rep to keep them all honest. Loads of people running well - Durante was right there on all of them before holding back on the last, Serg still put in 3:32s on the final two reps and Kanser kept them all at or about 3:40. Tucks as usual loitered around the front keeping a low profile. Given how well everyone is going it will be interesting to see how the placings pan out on Sunday.

I've taken to washing my hands every half hour like a tourettes sufferer. Billy, Charlie and Maggie all projectile vomitted last night (I was amazed at how much Maggie must actually consume - whenever I feed her about 95% ends up on her face or on the floor), and Bec still has a hacking chesty cough. I'm contemplating just booking myself into the Sheraton for a few nights.

Easy recovery

Easy 16km recovery run with Durante, MC and Serg.

Out around Darling Point, Double Bay and almost Rose Bay then back adding a loop around Mrs Macquarie's Chair and the Opera House in 1:13:16 (averaging 4:35s). Beautiful day, easy pace, plenty of chat (as you'd expect with those 3) but the highlight was Durante pretending to be his brother when a loose soccer ball came our way at Double Bay only to plant his clearance straight into the head of a sweet 6 year old girl standing only 5 yards away. That only just surpassed Serg running into a Korean tourist and knocking his latest model digital camera to the floor.

We ran pretty quick after both of those episodes.

HuRTS 45mins Fartlek

1min quick, 30 seconds slow. Managed to program my watch this morning to beep alternately on 60 seconds and 30 seconds, which was very useful. Did waste about 2 hours of good billing time trying to achieve this though.

Huge crowd today, probably a record turnout. I counted 23 starters. Not sure why everyone was so keen on this particularly tough session and far fewer than 23 actually finished it. Notable absentees were Fats and Durante. I expect the latter was probably playing Badminton or mixed Netball. Perhaps he was reading about the Central Governor theory in order to engage in intellectual conversation with Kanser.

I set off quickly with Serg in order to spread the field a bit to avoid any disasters running down Art Gallery Road. We started at the Stone Pillars today as it's quicker for most people to get there from work. Given the first 2km is all downhill, it makes for a very quick start. We were quick also because of the large group of us upfront, including Serg, Tucks, Charlie, the Judge and Phil D. Serg, Phil and I largely took it in turns to push the pace. Reached the turnaround just short of the end of the Hickson Road rep when Phil D dropped out. It was then a war of attrition trying to get back to the start in the remaining time. The Judge dropped off at about 32 mins, Charlie at just before the Opera House, we went through the 10km mark in 34:35 (this is including the slow bits - would have been a PB until 2 years ago) then Serg dropped off at 11km complaining of an injury (hope it's nothing serious as he's starting to get quick again). Which just left Tucks and me, Tucks having been quietly hanging around in the background for most of the session.

We continued pushing the pace just failing to get back to the Stone Pillars in the 45 mins. All up, 13.09km at an average pace of 3:27 per km. The fast stretches were run between 3:10 and 3:15. On my very basic maths, that makes the slow sections averaging 3:59 per km.

One of my best sessions of the year. Felt very comfortable until the last 5 minutes. Looking forward to Sunday morning now. Tucks will be strong though.

Easy Monday

16km around and about the Botanical Gardens and up towards the cross with Serg, Ray, Muz and Enda. About 72 minutes. Felt full of running after yesterday's rest but it was good to have an easy run as this week is shaping up to be a tough one.

Long Saturday

Mothers Day tomorrow so headed out at 6am for 2 hours. Beautiful time of day to get out and perfect Autumn conditions again. Ran along Sydney Road to the Burnt Bridge Creek deviation, down to Campbell Parade, through to Queenscliff, around to Shelly, up around North Head and Fairfax walking track then completed my old 22km Sunday route around Balgowlah Heights.
28km in 2:04:31. 4:10 and 4:00 for the final 2kms of the North Head route. Hillier than I've been doing my Sunday runs for the last 4 months and the back of the right knee and achilles started to feel it towards the end. Will probably try to stick to the flat in general. Felt good today though.

Easy Friday

Easy 12km around the Botanical Gardens with Springer, Serg and Kanser. Picked it up a bit doing the last 3km by myself around Mrs Macquarie's Chair. Beautiful day out there. 56:09 all up.

HuRTS 12 x 400m

It's was commonly accepted today that, of all the sessions we do, this is one of the toughest. Probably a close run thing with Hickson Road. Strange as it is also the shortest session we do. The reps involve you going partially lactic from the first rep onwards, but the toughest element is how mentally difficult it is, particularly between reps 4 - 8 when you are hurting and yet feel as though you still have so much to do.

Really good crowd today (people are getting keen) including Ray, Kanser, Serg, Muz, Durante, MC, Tim C, KMK, RMR, Greg, Fats, Stephen, Pete W etc. Reps went off every 2 minutes as follows:

69, 69, 68, 68, 68, 68, 67, 68, 68, 67, 67, 67.

Huge improvement from 10th April, mainly due to having a big crowd around. Serg and Durante were pushing each rep (in particular Durante in the second half) so that we were finishing them all together. I was pretty stuffed on the final 2 - tried to increase the pace to catch KMK and Durante on the final rep but the legs said no.

Great session though.

Post script: Got SMH Half number and chip in the post today - No. 28. Pleased with that.

Medium Long Wednesday

Ran flat 10km route extended around Opera House to the Overseas Passenger terminal then back with Springer, then added a 3km loop of Mrs Macquarie's Chair to bring it up to 16km. 69:11. Nice and easy although Springer was feeling good and trying to push the pace beyond easy comfort level at times. Beautiful day and plenty of people out.

HuRTS 5min reps

8 x 5mins off 90 seconds. Big HuRTS crowd today including Charlie, Serg, Durante, Kanser, Muz, Springer, MC, Enda, Greg, Tim C, Ray, Dicky H, RMR. In fact, easier to identify people by their absence, the notable absentees being Tucks and the Judge.

We were flying today. We started off pretty quick and then ramped it up. This was mainly because Serg and Durante were putting some effort in. How Durante only managed to run 34:17 on Saturday, God only knows. The bloke must be the world's softest racer. I think Kanser needs to have words and explain that it's supposed to hurt when you run a race. Serg leaped forwards today, getting back to form. He completed the session (for once) and had 30 yards on me on the final rep before I clawed it back just before we finished. I had us running over 1.6km over the final rep which is well under 3:10 per km. http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1689559

Warm up and warm down for about 15km all up.

Long local Sunday

2 x 10km route in Manly plus to South Steyne and back. 27.5km in 2:03:22. Caught up with the Tiger for the first 2 laps (47:30 and 44:50) then by myself. Beautiful morning, cool and sunny.

NSW State 10km Road - 20th in 32:37

Had been pretty nervous about this one, and felt very much so travelling out to Homebush. Nerves were eased after a quick chat with SilverFox and Tucks then headed out jogging the course with Kanser, MC and Durante. The course looked fantastic - nice and flat with long straights just to put your head down and run. Conditions were also perfect - cool and no wind.

Lined up next to Uncle Dave and Chris Truscott (pushing Chadi back into the second row, felt a bit guilty about that as he's a much better runner). Set off very quickly. I'd heeded Serg and Pete's advice and wanted to make a very positive start. Followed just behind Chadi in 3:02 for the first km. Wasn't feeling completely shot so was quite pleased. Missed the 2km mark and went through 3km in 9:33. At this point, Robbie Neale went past so I decided just to try to stick with him as I knew he would run well. This is basically how the rest of the race went. Felt good in parts, just tried to hang on in others but it was basically a good hard race, never at all comfortable. Robbie and I picked up others as we went so that for the last 3km there was a good group of five of us, including Mark Warren and Richie Roberts. 5km was reached in 16:09, 8km in 26:07 and 9km in 29:25. At that stage I was just hanging on. Even though we were all in a group I had nothing left for a sprint to try and pick up any more places.

Stoked with the race and the big PB (as well as knocking off another of Dad's PBs). A load of great performances out there. Keith and Fats running 33:20s (Fats will go quicker at North Head without a cold), Kanser back under 35, Uncle Dave back under 32 and SilverFox setting a very low-key PB!

Thanks for all the comments and encouragement. Amanda - sorry for very confused conversation! Not sure my brain was working probably on account of being so knackered.

I can now lock-in the Half at Gold Coast.

Easy plod

Very easy run around and about in the Botanical Gardens with Ray and Tim C. 10kms in about 50 mins.

Disappointed to hear that Tucks is now a no-show for tomorrow after pulling his hammy again. Further, Fats has come down with a cold. Neither of which does much good to our Striders team (or my bet).

Thanks for the comments Pete (over ambitious as usual) and good luck Greg and everyone else for tomorrow.

Farm Cove intervals

Instead of 8 x 800m we did the pre-race gate to gate Farm Cove reps (909m) - 7 of them running the odd ones fast and the even ones as floats. Rep times went as follows:

2:42
3:00
2:38
3:01
2:43 (had to stop because of a large bunch of schoolgirls)
3:03
2:37

Charlie, Tim C, Ray, Springer, Greg, RMR, Kill Michael Kill, Dicky H and Steve showed up, with Durante and Kanser dropping by on easier runs. Wasn't going to push the last one but KMK got competitive and I'm not mature enough to resist. Felt great today. Hope I haven't peaked two days early.

Medium Long Wednesday

Centennial Park route with Tim C. Beautiful day for running - cool and crystal clear. Went a bit quicker than I had intended - 63:40 for the 15km. But that's running with Tim C for you. It's like running with a Kenyan, he suddenly puts in these surges of speed and twice dropped me going around Centennial.

Injuries have cleared up nicely (even top of left glute) but feeling a bit sore around the shoulders so hope I haven't got a virus coming on. Whinge, moan, whine etc...

3 x 3km

Originally 4 x 3km was scheduled but decided to drop down to 3 to avoid killing ourselves before Saturday. 4 x 3km is probably the hardest session we do. Had planned to take them easy but with Fats and Tucks around that was never likely. Other attendees were MC, Tim C, Adam, Pete W, Enda and the Irish contingent. Notable absentees were Kanser and Durante, putting in some secret training tomorrow instead.

Fats ensured the pace was honest from the start, with Tucks and I just behind him. We ended the first 3km rep at the lamppost just short of the stone gates (i.e. further than ever before) but given we were only doing 3 I thought that would be OK. Probably averaged about 3:28s. On the way back, he picked up the pace even more so that we returned to the Opera House gates in 9:21. Averaging sub 3:20s. Having been conditioned to that pace we just continued on in the same way on the third. I pushed the hills near the Boy Charlton and then up to the Art Gallery. Fats finalled dropped off on that second hill, leaving Tucks and I to go beyond the stone gates to just short of the road outside St Mary's. That's as far as we've reached in our best Mona Fartlek session.

A real confidence booster before Saturday as I didn't feel so shattered that I couldn't have done a fourth. Tucks looked like he was cruising as always but Fats is plainly in sparkling form and I'm likely to be running with him on Saturday. MC also seemed comfortable and is getting back into form.

About 14km all up.

Have added some photos from Seal Rocks.

Medium Long Run

Decided against 2 hours today in light of a mini-taper for Saturday instead doing 1.5 hours. Ran Serg's Centennial Park route in about 63 mins (picking it up in the second half in order to get back in time to catch up with Kanser) than ran about 5.5km around the Opera House with Kanser in 25 mins, bumping into Durante on the way around.

Back from Smiths Lake

Headed up on Thursday evening in the pouring rain. The rain didn't stop until Saturday when it turned out pretty nice and had a great time in the Lake and in the surf at Seal Rocks and Blueys. Managed 11km in the pouring rain on Thursday feeling great and running quickly over a hilly course - 44:42 (measured it in the car). Ran the same route in the sun the next day but turned around sooner as I was struggling - 44:12 for about 10.5km. Rested today.

Some interesting results from Novice. Times look about a minute slower than where I expected people to be so the ground must have been pretty tough on the legs. Will be interesting to see how people pull up next week.