Easy Wed

Rocked up for the usual run to Kincoppal and back to find Wildman showing up for a run. Select crowd alongside him including Simon, Brendan, RMR and a couple of others. Turned around after 30:30 and got back in 61:05 as I'm still keen to drop the mileage this week. Very easy. Hardest thing was coping with the hangover after celebrating yesterday's big win in the Melbourne Cup.

Tiger's lined up a 2km time trial for tomorrow afternoon at ES Marks which should be interesting. We've got $50 on the head to head after choosing 2km as the point of equilibrium between our respective running abilities.

HuRTS Gate to Gates

Melbourne Cup today so headed out early for 6 Gate to Gates (909m) with Tucks, JF, Todd, RMR and Mike Wingram. 2 mins rest based off Todd. Felt great this morning despite a bad night with Claudia so planned to take them out hard and see how I felt. Did the first rep, got scared by the time and felt as though I was already going lactic. Did each other one feeling the same way telling myself "if it's any slower, I'll just stop there". But having Tucks alongside meant they didn't get slower. Reps went:

2:41; 2:40; 2:40; 2:40; 2:41; 2:40

2:40 is 2:56 pace. I think that's the fastest pace I've ever done them, but having said that we normally do 8. Really pleased with the session and a good confidence booster.

Anaerobic/VO2 max training really is the hardest training you can do. I dread 10 x 400m more than 32km.

Easy Monday

Lots of easy days of late. Usual Monday route with a big crowd including LF Charlie, Luke, Laura, Springer, MC, Simon, Russell etc. Felt very sprightly from the word go after an easy weekend. Very slow to start with but picked up the pace quite a bit from the turn. That's shown in the first and second half splits - 36:00 (4:33's) and then 31:28 (3:59's).

Very short Sunday

Came back from Nippers knackered and very lethargic - had to sleep and in no mood for a run. Think I was low on carbs. Felt better after lunch but didn't want to go long so just did the not quite 8km Manly route. Felt crap to start with but then picked up throughout. 31:00.

Steady Sat

Manly 10.2km route, testing out my new Brooks T-6 racing flats. They weigh next to nothing but you can feel every stone through the forefoot so I'll be saving them for races only. Started very slowly but picked up the pace all the way through finishing in 42:44.

Very easy Friday

A few too many Mojitos at The Ivy last night so went out for a very easy run at lunch with Ray, Laura and thingy from Ord over the usual route but cutting back through the City from Circular Quay to sweat it out. Served the purpose but have just wanted to sleep all afternoon. About 12km in 53:56.

HuRTS 10 x 400m - the Return of Wildman and the Stallion!

Over to Rushcutters. Smaller crowd including Timmy, Kanser, Ray, JB, LF Charlie, Andy, Luke and Geoffrey. "Inside Lane" Kane marked out the 400m and off we went and, fair play to the big fella, he was banging them out in 70 looking fairly comfortable. Looks like weeks of running 23km on a Sunday in 2:45 may finally be paying off. My reps went as follows:

69, 69, 69, 69, 69, 68, 69, 67, 69, 64

Turned around after rep 5 and, after doing a double take and wiping the sweat from my eyes, who should appear but Durante and Thurston! It was like old times. After big group hugs and everyone getting a little misty eyed, we set off on rep 6 with the two stars of the Sydney running scene circa '08 helping out up front and, what do you know, I start running a bit quicker. The boys had to have a bit of a sit down on rep 7 but popped up on rep 8 and, whoa!, it happens again. Rep 10 was all in with Young Timmy showing everyone that he can run a mean 350m before the boys helped pull me over the line.

Beautiful day and the oval was in top condition.

Steady run home

Start out, legs feel like deadweights, struggle up the stairs at the Rocks, think what the hell's going, I thought running was supposed to make you fit, bump into Eoin at start of harbour bridge and have a quick chat, start to feel a bit better and feel like I'm running more freely, 16:00 at bottom of Ben Boyd, think that's not too shabby, push the hill, feeling good now, running well along Military Road, Toyota Garage in 29:24, that's not too bad, starting to motor now, push the Spit Hill, hit Balgowlah Boys school in 47:21, can I get under 7 mins for the final 2km?, will give it a shot, 6:45, pleased with that, 54:06, who'd have believed it 50mins ago?

HuRTS 45mins Fartlek

MC was absent so Fast Charlie changed the session to 45mins Fartlek. I'd raced to get there on time after a conference call, wasn't really in the mood, knackered after a bad night's sleep last night and generally tired from training. Legs felt like wood but the breathing was fine. I was in a group with Fast Charlie, JF and Dicky H. Kept on trying to up the pace to drop them all, kept on looking over my shoulder to see them all just sat there for almost the entire session.

Turned at the second speed bumps so not very fast but it was also warm today. Got back on 45:13 so a pretty honest session not dropping too much on the hills towards the end. I felt better nearer the end when the legs felt tired like they should in any case. Dicky H dropped off around the Opera House and we finally shook JF on the hill up to the ABC Pool. He's looking strong. Tiger - want to take a head to head on him at the Run for Fun weekend?

Pleased to have finished the session holding on to Fast Charlie but I need some rest to let the recent heavy training load sink in.

Run home

Busy at lunch so an easy run home. 57:54 after 30:57 at Toyota Garage.

Huge congratulations to my big brother, Jamie, who smashed his marathon PB yesterday in running 2:53. Next stop sub 4min kms! Full report here.

Manly Loops Sunday

Recovered well overnight and knew before I set off that it would feel comfortable today. Got into a nice stride early on and it was just enjoyable - certainly for the first 22km. Completely different to 2 weeks ago. The 10km loops went:

42:58
42:09
40:48

So 2:05:55 (4:11's). Weather broke last night and it was cold and wet. Quite a strong southerly which made it a struggle heading down Manly beach but a dream on the way back. 31km all up.

Another hardcore Saturday

Not enough sleep to join the Tiger early this morning so headed out at lunch for the Chloe Tighe session of 2weeks ago. 2km warmup, 5km fast, 8 x Suwarrow hills then 5km fast. 2.5km warmdown. 4mins rest between each.

Times went as follows:

17:22 (8:42 then 8:40)

66, 66, 65, 63, 66, 65, 63, 61

17:24 (8:47 then 8:37)

It's a monster session. Absolutely rodgered now. Really pleased with the time improvement from 2 weeks ago though. 18km all up.

Easy run in

Beautiful Sydney morning (20C, no wind) so ran to work. Nice and easy although legs a bit tired. 27:05 at Spit Junction and 57:32 all up. Bumped into Pete W at Kirribilli and had a quick chat about race plans.

Hickson Road

5 x 1.2km reps. Got a bit nervous beforehand, especially when Ray reminded me of the "Highnometer" predictor of adding up the total time of the 5 Hickson Road reps to work out your JPMorgan CC time.

Good crowd today with Tucks and me upfront, JF and Jason Ibrahim behind, JB still struggling post marathon blues and "One Rep" Kanser making a late showing. Times went as follows:

3:38 3:33 3:34 3:31 3:35

I was hoping to keep them all under 3:35. I ran the first from the front and it felt comfortable which always means it's not quick enough. You have to be in constant pain to make this session solid. I was just in front of Tucks for the first 4 but couldn't hold on to him on the last when Kanser pushed him through to a 3:32. We were also cut up by a car on the final rep which must have cost at least a second or two. Quite a bit of wind on the return reps.

So not quite the pace I was looking for (Tucks said the same thing) but not too far off.

11km all up.

Core and jog

Jogged to Spit Bridge for strength session with Carl at 6am (4km in 19:40), did session then did 13km very easy afterwards nearly all on grass around Campbell Parade. Very slow today, barely got below 4:40's but strength training sapped the life out of my legs. Nice to finish a fairly long run feeling fresh though. Now just need some sleep.

Manly 10.2km Loop

Very easy run around the Manly 10.2km loop. Tired to begin with after yesterday's session but started to feel better after stopping to chat to Thamal when I bumped into him on Manly beach. 44:34.

Very broken night's sleep last night - no more than 2 hours at any stretch.

400s

Had to pick Maggie up from Narrabeen so decided to combine it with a 10 x 400m session on Narrabeen track. Was really nervous about this all day, partly because I was a bit tired from yesterday's run and partly because I'd be running on the track where the distances would be spot on and there'd be no hiding from the times.

Reps went as follows:

68, 70, 70, 69, 69, 68, 69 69, 67, 67

Straight into a 200m jog between each rep.

So 5 seconds overall slower than the session I did with Wildman, Durante and Serg almost exactly 2 years ago. But given I ran these by myself it's not too bad. Mentally it's bloody tough. After 2 reps, I was thinking I'll stop at 5. Then at 5 it was just, "one more, try and keep it consistent".

Bit of wind down the home straight. I was thinking of Keith struggling in the 3000m on the same track at the weekend. Had an email from Sean saying that Keith ran 25:10 for 8km in Moore Park a couple of weeks ago. If that's an accurate 8km (and if it's the 2km loops it is) he's a bit out of my league at the moment.

2km warm up and down for 10k all up.

Long Manly Sunday

The usual Seaforth, Queenscliff, Shelley Beach, North Head, Balgowlah Heights route. Ran into LF Charlie along Manly Beach and stopped for a quick chat. 10km in 43:00, Stone Arch in 1:11:18 and 1:59:44 all up. Quickest time for this route and first time under 2 hours. Had to run the final km in 3:30 to achieve it though.

Beautiful day and warm but lovely cool breeze off the sea when you could see the water (quite frequently on this route).

Top of back/glutes a bit sore after some beach sprinting at Nippers this morning. They had a parents race and I couldn't resist the challenge.

Claudia Esme Highnam

Born last night, weighing in at 3.2kg and 51cm. Loads of dark hair but otherwise (thankfully) looks like her Mum. Didn't run. In fact, spent the whole day in a comfy chair watching the Commonwealth Games - the marathon, the hockey then the netball. Shelley was inspirational in the marathon.

Today, ran from home to see Kirst and Claudia in the Mater in North Sydney (10.28km). 45:44 on the way there (4:26's). 44:01 on the way back (4:16's). Very tired for the first 6km (struggled to do the first km in 4:35) but felt much better on the way back. Feel like I'm on the verge of hitting some good form. I can tell Kanser and the Tiger are scared. Unfortunately, I don't think any good form will result in any PB's for 2010 as my final 3 races of the year are over distances for which I have my strongest PBs. It will mean 2010 will be the first year in which I haven't set a PB since I started running again properly in 2004.

Wednesday MLR

Out with Kanser and RMR to Kincoppal and back. Nice warm day. 44:59 on the way out and 42:00 on the way back but we took a wrong turn down Thornton St at Darling Point so cut about 90s off the journey. 18.5km.

127km for the week - my highest ever weekly volume.