Easy Monday

Just the full Monday route with Wildman (grrr) and Kanser for part of the way. 15.8km in 69:48. Nice and easy.

Long Manly Route

Hadn't done this in a while and knew I'd run too quick if I did the old flat 10km loops so planned to do this very easy. Felt great to start with and was slowing myself down. 43:27 at 10km, 1:12:05 at the stone arch and still feeling great. Only started to run out of energy coming along the Manly to Spit section (unrecognizable now they've improved the path). Finished in 2:01:12 - one of my quickest times for this route. Hopefully means I'm finally over the bloody bug.

Frustrated not to be out there racing today. Some mixed results. Sounds like Darren had a flyer, JB sounded disappointed with his 2:38 but Sydney probably isn't the course to run quick. CT ran 2:43 so I should have taken him up on the bet. JF won me $50 after toasting the Tiger. Robbie dropped out of the half at 14km.

.....just notice that Mike Race smashed through the 3hr mark with a 2:56 - fantastic result mate and well deserved.

Manly 10.2km

Haven't done this run in a while but fancied throwing in a couple of hills and only had a 45min window. Went off pretty quick and maintained the good steady pace. 15:05 at Queenscliff, 21:08 at Manly SLSC and 38:38 all up. Bumped into Dickyboy at Queenscliff. Like my Manly tempo runs.

Good luck to all running tomorrow. GO JOHNNY FENTON!! TAME THE TIGER!!!

HuRTS Hickson Road

Rocked up to a small crowd due to Sydney Marathon Festival this weekend. Just planned on rolling through the reps to see how I felt. Ray, Chris G, Todd, Marc, Darren and a new chap called Josh Rix were there. Turns out Josh is a pro-triathlete sponsored by the Giant team so was pretty handy. Reps went as follows:

4:00
3:45
3:46
3:41
3:41

Felt pretty comfortable and didn't smash myself but I'll be playing it cagey for a while.

Big race for Benny this weekend. Not least in that he's running on hallowed turf (the streets of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne) but also that he'll be up against Mottram (Aussie 5000m record holder) and Collis Birmingham (Aussie 10,000m record holder) in the first race they've all been in together in a long time. If he can beat them both he'll pretty much establish himself as the current top distance runner in Australia. Apparently not tapering for it though. Dad, make sure you're there...

Run home

Busy at lunch so an easy run home. Was quite quick though due to the amount of rest I've had recently. 30:05 at Toyota Garage and 56:50 all up. Nice clear night. Spring has arrived. Praise the Lord.

Starting new program

Felt slightly dodgy all last week. Started to feel worse on Saturday, first nauseous then started throwing up in the evening. I reckon I've had a low level gastro bug since the week after C2S. Feeling better enough today to try a 6km easy jog. Ran past the boys doing their 4 x 10mins. Not concentrating on anything other than getting well and fit enough for JPMorgan/State 3km in 8 weeks time.

Sick note

I am Darren Anderton.

Decided to take the week off. Came down sick again after Sunday. Same thing again, flu-like symptoms. Shouldn't have raced on the weekend. Need to be careful as it's been almost 4 weeks now.

Middle Harbour Picnic STaR

Small crowd at the 6.20am group of JB, CT, PT, Flakey, Steve Hume and Jo Cowan. Nearly all are running Sydney Marathon so were only doing 25km as a taper so I stuck to that too. Lovely day for it (although still a bit blowy). Struggled on the hills though, not sure whether as a result of yesterday's race or the lingering effects of the virus. Pace was very easy. Feel pretty average now with aching shoulders and a slight headache. 2 hours exactly and 25.2kms.

Striders 10km North Head 10th in 34:25

Showed up to find the unofficial HuRT Squad 10km Championships forming. Massive crowd including JB, Andy, Tucks, Darren, Timmy, Kanser, MC, TB, JF, Rob, RMR, Dicky H, Richie P and Geoffrey. The Tiger and Bleasel were also there, setting up our bet nicely. Conditions were pretty shocking - strong blustery winds and raining. I wanted to take it easy at the start as I was worried about how the effects of the illness would play out so plan was just track Tucks as he never goes off quick.

Went to plan to start with - nice sedate start then we started picking our way through the field. First km was reached in 3:18 and was feeling fine. JB, CT, Uncle Dave, Thamal and a triathlete were in a front group having gone off very quick. I started to climb the hills and immediately knew it wasn't going to be my day - the legs just felt dead. Heard the masses gathering behind me. Then started to try to pull away along the long straight over the speed bumps but it was direcly into a strong wind and all I was doing was providing a wind shield for everyone else. As soon as we turned at the Hospital the crowd (including the Tiger, Andy, Bleasel and Darren) started to pull ahead. I was now running again with Tucks who also seemed to be struggling. Stayed this way until 5km (reached in 17:10). I was considering pulling out at this stage but knew I'd never live it down so just carried on. Then Tucks and I seemed to get into a rythmn and the Tiger started coming back towards us. Soon after we picked up Brendan Davies and then Bleasel and another chap. All was well with the world again. Then I started to think about trying to beat Tucks but at 9km he seemed to put a surge in which I just couldn't be bothered to bridge. However, a bloke behind started to catch and I wasn't going to allow him to beat me so sped up to hold him off. In doing so I started to catch Tucks. A bit annoyed that I didn't put more effort in but there you go.

So mixed feelings. Managed to salvage something from what was looking like a dire situation at 5km. Almost an even split (17:10, 17:15). Affected by the recent illness so hopefully things will be better in 2 weeks at Sydney Half. Timmy was far more affected by recent flu and struggled in 38:xx so $50 from him but Gary pulled a fast finish out the bag to overtake a tiring Bleasel in the final km to take $50 from me. In fact, Bleasel must think I have a set plan in these races as I've overtaken him with 2.5km to go in our last 3 outings at North Head.

JB was a bit disappointed to be beaten by CT but has huge km in his legs so will come good after a taper for Sydney Full. Andy had performance of the day to run 34:00 in bad conditions. In fact, Steve Jackson said that the course was 20 seconds long as they put the 3km turnaround marker 50 yards too far down the road. I blame Fats. He plainly didn't want anyone PB'ing. Other great performances were Gary's 34:49 and JF finishing just in front of him. Kanser was smiling like a Cheshire Cat to beat Timmy and run low 36.

Great to catch up with everyone before and afterwards. Didn't stress so much about this race this morning and it makes the whole event much more enjoyable.

Easy Friday

Gerry took a few photos on Tuesday of our session. First (from left) is JB, Tucks, the Judge and JF. Second is Kanser and myself. Third (from left) is RMR (sunnies and cap), Christian (cap), Todd (sunnies), Kanser, Jamie, Dom and MC.

Just a slow jog after work half way home finishing at the Toyota Garage in 32:06. Still feeling slightly off with a light head but will race tomorrow and just see how I feel. It won't be pretty but I need some hard sessions in the legs before Sydney Half.

Curry Club was relatively sedate compared to previous outings but can heartily recommend Darbar on Glebe Point Road. But why does everyone insist on drinking Kingfisher when they order Indian?

HuRTS Hickson Road

Woke up this morning for the first time in 2 weeks feeling vaguely OK, so immediately decided to push today's session as a kill or cure test to see whether I run on Saturday morning at North Head.

Reps went as follows:

3:34 (3:01 pace)
3:32 (3:01 pace)
3:37 (3:04 pace)
3:34 (3:03 pace)
3:58 (3:22 pace)

Felt pretty free and easy on the reps but by rep 4 I was starting to hit the red zone and was developing a headache so decided just to run through the final rep. Had Darren on my shoulder for the first 3 reps with Andy (who went on to run 3:35 for the final rep) very close behind him. Feeling a little bit under now but not too bad so things are looking up. However, got Curry Club with the boys tonight so that could put me back to square one...

Smallish but nice crowd today - Brendan, Dom, Ray, Todd, Geoff and Bill all showing up with Anna running well too. Will be interesting to see how she goes against Laura in upcoming races.

Wednesday MLR (not)

Caught up with Kanser, Rob, RMR, Brendans (x2), Andy and others for the Centennial 19km route but was never really feeling great and with another headache pulled up short by running straight back from Centennial half way around. 12.5km in 56:30 (4:31's).

HuRTS Progressive Tempo

Still not feeling right so took it easy today. Hung around at the back but it was a bit slow so joined MC's group with RMR, Kanser, Jamie and a few others. We turned at just over 5.6km on 23.5mins (i.e. about 4:10 pace) feeling very comfortable then Kanser picked the pace up a bit. He pulled up at the Opera House gates leaving Jamie and I to finish off. Jamie was pretty strong pushing the pace around Farm Cove and we ran together back to the gates in 44:19 (i.e. about 3:42's for the return). Felt comfortable enough not to trigger off any nasty reaction from the virus. A massage this evening has stirred up all the free radicals but will drink a load of water and see how I feel tomorrow before deciding whether to do North Head on Saturday or offer to marshall.

Kanser's getting confident about staying within 20s of young Timmy whilst our Stoke City reject is playing all manner of mind games on the big Irishman.

Easy Monday

Very easy 15km with the usual crowd but joined by Kanser who I haven't seen for a while. Felt fine running but got a headache again now. Beginning to get pissed off by this...

Easy recovery

Another very easy run - 26 mins around Manly. Feeling much better than yesterday and a beautiful day. Made me wonder why I don't just do this everyday.

Recovering

Diagnosed with sinusitis on Wednesday so am on a course of antibiotics. Felt crap until this morning so ventured out this afternoon for an easy run. Lasted 15 minutes before a headache came on so cut short for 25 mins all up. Had planned to try a long run tomorrow but won't bother now. Just want to knock this illness on the head as I've had it for nearly 3 weeks now.

Jamie - I use Endura Optimiser (the powder form) although Carl is recommending I try the one with protein or whey in. Works a treat helping recovery from long or tough sessions. So you probably don't need it.

HuRTS 14 x 3mins

The usual session off 60s rest. Crowd upfront included JB, Fast Charlie, the Judge, JF and Andy with MC, King James, RMR etc behind. Laura James showed up again. She's going to improve massively if she keeps on doing sessions like this.

Felt heavy legged from the first rep today and had to break it down in sections to get through the session. Ran the first 2 reps with JB and Fast Charlie but then they were just too strong, finishing each rep about 30m ahead (i.e. about 7 or 8 secs per rep). I started to get closer to them after rep 8 then ran the last 3 reps with them. Distance and average pace were as follows (discrepancies due to stopping the watch at 3:00, 3:01 or 3:02):

912m (3:19)
916m (3:19)
917m (3:18)
915m (3:18)
916m (3:18)
908m (3:20)
921m (3:17)
918m (3:18)
912m (3:18)
919m (3:18)
933m (3:14)
925m (3:15)
953m (3:09)
947m (3:12)

Pleased to have kept them consistent on tired legs. Need to get some more Endura. I'm addicted to the stuff. It's probably got EPO or steroids mixed in it or something.

Easy Monday

Very easy Monday route with a large crowd including MC, Brendan, Rob, King James, Ray and others. Felt very tired to start with but the pace was very easy. Turned at 7.5km (last bit of Barangaroo shut off) on 34:20 and back for the 15km in 1:06:40 so it picked up a bit on the way back. Felt better as the run went on.

Long local Sunday

Just did 10km loops today. Thought I was going to struggle after yesterday but felt great just coasting along. The 10km loops were run in 42:00, 41:38 then 40:38. Started to feel it a bit from 20km and the final 5km was a struggle but I haven't done a long run for a month so not unexpected. Seem to be in a bit of a purple patch at the moment.

Saturday tempo

Ran the same route as last week (14.1km) as a tempo, which I think I'll be doing more regularly. Struggled to find a rhythm in the first 2km but then settled into a decent clip and just ground it out. Felt pretty comfortable from then onwards. Finished in 49:49 (3:33 pace) so really pleased with that. Splits were 15:43 at Queenscliff SLSC, 24:37 at the turn at Shelley and 33:37 back at Queenscliff.

Bit of wind but perfect temperature this afternoon. Still got a tight chest from the cold which is why I rested yesterday.

Not running Pub 2 Pub tomorrow, got to take Bec to Band Camp and received an email from Thamal's wife saying he was running so any remote possibility of a win was out of the window.