Monday meander

10km around and about with Clyde, MC, Indrajeet, JW, Gerry et al talking Olympics.

3 days to go!!

Long Sunday

Shocking nights sleep with Charlie up and watching the rest of the world conspire against Team GB in the road race. But was up at 6am to meet Macca and Bartles for the usual 37km route. Pretty nippy this morning but the time passed easily chatting. Macca turned around at 14km. Bartles and I carried on with me dreading the inevitable pace pick up. Did the last 12km averaging close to 3:50's but with Barts dropping me in the final 2km. He's getting stronger every week and will run a great C2S.

Now for a nap, some early beers and some Olympics viewing...

Too much TV to watch

Same as last week. No zip in the legs this week though probably from the hills on Thursday. Gave up pushing hard after some hoon (Flakey) shouted at me at 1.5km. All up 27:54. Warm up and down for 10km all up.

Go Cav!!!

The Greatest Show on Earth

Out with the squad today but with no MC we stuck to the Barangaroo route. TB, The Kilted Scot, Dom, Emma and others in attendance. Very easy going until the turnaround point when TB announced he was going to pick the pace up. Dom, some French chap and I went with him averaging just under 4mins per km all the way back. It felt better at that pace - I would have stopped at 11km otherwise.

15.75km all up averaging 4:16's? 105km for the week - first time over 100km since mid-June.

Fame at last for the HuRT Squad in Australia's running bible. Even Matt at work pointed it out.

HuRTS Hills

Over to Observatory Hill today for 10 reps up the 580m hill. Hadn't had my morning doughnut so was feeling a bit weak, not helped by not having done a tough session like this in ages. Tucks, Fats (who disappeared around a corner after rep 4 and turned into Barts), J-Fen, Macca, Dicky's G and H, MC, Dom and sole female Em were all there plus more. We were also graced with the mighty presence of Robdog, pretending as ever he lacked fitness.

Fats, Tucks, Dom and Robdog powere ahead for the first 3 reps with me, J-Fen and Dicky H a short distance behind. Did these in about 2:10. Gradually felt more comfortable with the pace getting closer to the front guys and led the last couple out.

Tough session. First time my legs have felt wobbly in training in ages.

1 week to go!!!

Big Skies

Have a lunch with NAB today so was up and out by 6.30am for the route to Shelley Beach and back. Stunning morning and plenty to enjoy along Manly Beach. 14km in 58:47 (4:11's) with 30:14 on the way out and 28:33 on the return.

Post 1500

Today was the HuRTS 2 x 20mins session off a 3 min break. Usual good Tuesday crowd with Barts, a resurgent Tucks, Fats (everyone seems to end with an "s" these days), Dicky H and TB running well upfront. On the way out Bart's and Tucks were ahead but I made an effort around he Park Hyatt to bridge the gap. 5.88km in the 20mins (3:24's). I gave myself 50m start on Tucks and Barts on the way back knowing I'd pushed it on the way out. Judged it just right (despite the boys overtaking me early on) to finish in 19:58 (3:25's).

People are hitting some good form. I reckon Fats will go very well in the Mt Solitary run and TB has a good shot of breaking Kansers PB in the C2S. Meanwhile, MC goes from strength to strength despite inventing sessions on the hoof.

Post script: Alaoui got busted for drugs overnight, as I'd suggested might happen on 13th July. So long as they ping Cakir too, I'm predicting my original choice of Aregawi will take Gold.

Ninky Nonk

After a coconut cocktail, 5 glasses of red, 1 glass of dessert wine, a beer chaser and bed at 1.30am, I was pretty concerned about the 6:10am start with Tucks, Bartles, Dicky G, Dicky B and Jason. Felt strangely OK though. Bartles said he could smell the booze coming off me in the first 5km.

Plenty of chat and the kms passed by in a blur. Tried to up the pace in the final 10km but I had nothing to give. We had a few 3:45's so probably covered it in about 39mins. All up 36.4km in 2:32 (4:10's). Then straight back to bed.

Igglepiggle

Got out in the late afternoon with only 30mins spare so did my old Manly 7.5km route. Wanted to go quite hard but not chasing a PB. Just concentrated on holding my form the whole way. Was surprised at the time at half way and finished in 26:46. 3:34's which sounds slow for 7.5km but its a nuggety little course. Anything under 27 I'm very happy with so looks like I might finally be shaking the marathon jet lag.

Now heading out for a boozy late night dinner party before meeting Tucks, Barts, Dicky Green and Richard Banks at 6:10am for 37km. Christ.

The Tombliboos

Go Cav! What a finish, he destroyed them. Great to see him back to form.

Today was just a very easy 13.5km over to Cremorne Point with MC, Mr Ace, Ray, Rob, Indrajeet and Georgie Moore. 65mins or so.

Makka Pakka

Out to Rushcutters for the thrill ride that is 10 x 400m off a rolling 2 mins. They'd fenced off a bit of the oval for ground maintenance but had conveniently marked out a running track so Timmy improvised and created a 400m route largely involving the outside lane of the newly marked out track. MC insisted it was 2s too long, I reckoned 1s max. The Garmins said 430m but they always measure long when going in circles.

Small but select crew with Bartles, Tucks and Darien up front, Timmy just behind (to be fair to him, he runs this session very well), MC following with Pete W, TB (taking it easy), Louis and others and Aparna the only girl but looking good for my JPMorgan team.

I was worried about my sore hammies so wanted to take it easyish. I started to feel more confident about them after 5 so picked up the pace. This tactic seemed to coincide with the way J-Fen runs the session so we ended up pretty much running them all together.

Reps went:

74, 74, 74, 74, 73, 73, 72, 72, 69, 67

Really enjoyed it.

I've ditched the no coffee, no beer diet. Bloody stupid idea, I was getting depressed on it.

The Wottingers

12.3km run in 55:20 up and around Centennial. Hammies very sore but the Tiger got into them this arvo.

The Pontipines

45mins tempo today and a good crowd on another beautiful Winter's day. I say Winter, but checking out the forecast in London it's 3C warmer here and there's not a cloud in the sky.

I set off with Bartles, Timmy, Tucks and Enda and, feeling good, pushed on a bit running with Bartles. We ran really consistently until the turn, picked it up a bit and then at 8km my legs just slowed down. They'd been feeling pretty dead the whole way but my breathing was fine so thought they'd come good later on. But between 8 and 9km I ran a 3:42 so decided there was no point flogging a dead horse and decided to stop at 10km and jog home the short way.

Plainly still got the marathon in my legs, but it'll come good at some stage. Very consistent times today until the 8th km:

3:30, 3:31, 3:32, 3:30, 3:30, 3:29, 3:34, 3:26, 3:42, 3:30.

35:18 for 10km.

Tucks was taking it easy after some monster bush run on Sunday. Barts finished well and Fats is showing some real form but man of the moment is Dom who is hitting form beautifully for C2S. He's got some real pace and now seems to be backing it up with some stamina.

Female Field (this will be patchy):

Shot Put: Adams
Javelin: Spotakova
Hammer: NFI
Discus: NFI
High Jump: Lowe
Long Jump: Proctor
Triple Jump: Savigne
Pole Vault: Maurer
Heptathlon: Chernova

A bet was laid

Got home on Friday just in time to run to the bathroom and shout at the toilet 5 times in a row. Spent the next 24 hours either in bed feeling sorry for myself or being miserable to the rest of the family. I'm not pleasant to be around when under the weather. Needless to say I missed the Short Course XC but the boys did the job in my absence.

Felt better today so ventured out with the usual Monday crowd. I was feeling pretty average though after a couple of km and was planning on cutting short at 11km but by this time Rozza had joined us and was telling some interesting stories so I stayed on for the full 16km. He still claims not to be interested in running C2S despite donning the trainers again so I put $100 on the table and told him it was his if he could beat my man Bartles.

Rozza smiled and shook his head but I reckon he's considering it. Meanwhile, Barts emailed this arvo planning a monster run on Sunday to put some steel in his legs.

Oh, and I'm going dry for the rest of July and have cut out coffee. Had 4 cups of peppermint tea today. Life is dull.

Mens Field Events:

Shot Put: Reese Hoffa
Discus: NFI
Hammer: NFI
Javelin: Vesely
Pole Vault: Otto
High Jump: Robbie Grabarz
Long Jump: Mitchell Watt
Triple Jump: Christian Taylor
Decathlon: Ashton Eaton

I think I missed the Mens Steeple the other day. I'll go with my man Kemboi, the dancing wannabe murderer.

Shock! Scandal!

OMG!

Caught up with Mr Ace, TB, Gerry and John Bowe for the usual route and bumped into Mermaid Em around Farm Cove. Now, Em was on J-Fen, Indrajeet and Angus's winning trivia team on Tuesday night but in two shock revelations she divulged that:

(a) there "had been a bit of Googling going on", and when she saw the shock on my face she added; "but everyone was at it, right?"; and

(b) Em had recently been to a Macquarie Bank quiz night where; "most of the questions were the same ones Dave asked".

So Kanser's a lazy arse and half our squad are cheats!

I could barely carry on running. Managed to trot out 15km in 65:50 though on a beautiful day.

Tomorrow is the Short Course XC champs and with Tucks, Tongey, Robbie Neill, Fats, Kevin Robertson and Richie R running it should be very competitive. Will just have to see how the legs hold up. It'll be my 5th consecutive weekend of racing. If you count my 20km hilly tempo (which was as hard as a race) it's 7 weeks in a row, which has to be a record.

Women's Gold Medallists (Track):

100m: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
200m: Allyson Felix
400m: Amantle Montsho
800m: Fantu Magiso
1500m: Mariem Alaoui (before she's busted)
5000m: Vivian Cheruiyot
10000m: Tirunesh Dibaba
110m H: Sally Pearson
400m H: Melaine Walker
Steeple: Milcah Chemos
Marathon: Mary Keitany

New Hickson Road

We had roadwork going on along Hickson Road so MC made the long overdue decision to switch the session to Barangaroo. You always pick up the wind along Barangaroo but it wasn't too bad today, slightly behind on the odd reps and against on the evens. We decided to measure a 1.2km on the Garmins (slightly longer than the traditional route) and funnily enough we all reached the same spot. I was in the front on the first but then Richie H told me to calm down and remember I'd run a marathon only 11 days ago. So I eased a bit but not too much, feeling pretty comfortable. Rep times were:

3:44
3:50
3:52
3:51
3:46

All between 3:05 - 3:10 per km. I reckon it's about 6-7 seconds slower than the usual Hickson Road route (on the way out). J-Fen, Julien and Aparna's boyfriend were upfront going well (Julien monstering us on the final rep) with Dom also running really well.

Not feeling great this arvo but I've been abusing my body with beer and the Tour de France. Stayed up to watch all of last night's stage. As Sammy said this morning, it finally looks as though cycling could be clean, when the sprint finish is won by someone looking as though they are cycling through treacle.

Finally, been thinking about the Olympics a lot (I travel 3 weeks today) and have decided on my Gold Medallists (Mens track today):

100m: Blake
200m: Bolt
400m: Santos
800m: Rudisha
1500m: Kiprop
5000m: Gebremeskel
10000m: Farah
110m H: Liu Xiang
400m H: Greene
Marathon: Kipsang

HuRTS 3 min reps

First HuRT session in a while for me but the crowds haven't diminished. Everyone who is anyone was there. I pushed the session a bit, particularly the 7th rep but after that my quads felt smashed so cut short at 10 reps. Will have to start some proper training again soon as I'm turning into a lazy arse.

Then in the evening it was off to the Benny St fundraiser. Had a great night and drank far too much beer among many friends. Kanser set the toughest trivia night I've ever attended, with a heavy emphasis on All things Irish. J-Fen, Indrajeet, Angus and co were quickest on the iPhones so took out the first prize. Durante won a running technique session from Keith - behind the Tiger probably the person who least requires it. I won jack-sh*t. Thank God Kanser didn't push harder in making me sing I Feel Fine.

Getting back into it

Charlie's birthday party this morning so just an easy 12.5km with Billy on his bike this afternoon - to Shelley but back the short way via the playpark. Averaged 4:18's but to be honest the legs are still feeling a bit dead and was happy to cut short.

Couple of photos from Charlie's party this morning...

State Road Relays

First up was the kids, Billy running very well but Bec struggling a bit. I think she's going through a growth phase. They both then ran with Charlie on the 2km fun run and he ran all the way and was stoked.

For the relays, it was a case of the HuRT Squad old guard forming the 35+ team with Tucks leading off, followed by Fats, Dicky H then me. We also had an Open team of Andrew Wilson (fresh from 4th in the Striders 10km earlier in the morning), Dicky P, young kid Taiki and supposedly EJ, but he was a no-show so I made Tucks run twice (but didn't tell him until after the first leg).

We though ASICS Wests would be our main rivals but hadn't counted on Sutherland entering a strong team including Kevin Robertson, Nick Bennett and Greg Graves. Fortunately the boys ran really well (Fats in particular) and handed over to me with a 10s lead on Wests and 15s on Sutherland. I just went out hard and tried to hold on. Felt fine on first lap but felt the marathon in the legs up the hill on the second. But we won! See pic.

Special mention for Amandas cakes. They were sensational. When we were lining up for our medals Fats told me he was contemplating a third. I thought he was talking about kids until he corrected me and said he was talking about cakes.

Some fine results in the Suncorp 10km this morning. In particular Andy and J-Fen scoring good PBs. Tucks and I were talking only yesterday about how 10km PBs are to be savoured as they don't happen often.

Gold Coast Marathon - 16th in 2:34:00

Rocked up on a beautiful morning having walked from Main Beach. Said a few hellos to JB, Macca and TB before listening to some chap murder the National Anthem. I don't bother with a warm up before the marathon, figuring that 42.2km is enough for the day.

We were off and I was feeling great. The Garmin was all over the place but I think I went through the first km in 3:26. I wasn't too fussed though as it felt fine and I thought it would be a few seconds in the bank. Settled into a group of 3 ladies and a couple of blokes so it was a decent crowd. And it stayed this way for quite a while. We were regularly ticking off 3:35's and if they drifted to a 3:38 I'd push the pace again. Gradually though the group was whittling down. At the turnaround at 16km I could see JB about 30s back but running alone, with Macca and Tongey about 10s behind him. I was surprised about Tongey but was expecting him to come through in the second half, remembering what he did at the SMH Half.

We caught a guy from the ADF at 17km and by that stage it was me, ADF chap and Ogi the second placed lady. This was the best bit of the race. I was leading the group but getting loads of shouts from the runners going in the opposite direction which really lifts your spirits. By 20km ADF chap had dropped so it was down to me and Ogi. I was working harder to keep the kms at 3:35s but told myself just to get to 30km where the real work would begin. I picked up what i thought was my Thomas the Tank Engine drinks bottle at 20km only to discover it was a Buzz Lightyear one with Dave Kane written on the side! Had a bit of a chuckle to myself but then was a bit pissed off as he didn't tape a gel to it.

Coming back into Main Beach suddenly 3 chaps come back to us paying for the early pace. Its not nice but very satisfying to start picking people off in the latter stages of the race. Here I really started to work hard, determined to keep the pace consistent at least until 35km. It paid off as the results show I had the 7th fastest split between 30 and 35km. The splits went as follows:

5km: 17:45
10km: 18:04
15km: 18:02
20km: 18:01
Half: 1:15:56
25km: 18:13
30km: 18:09
35km: 18:27
40km: 19:04

Ogi was still with me and at 35km as I started to fade a bit she started to lead for the first time in the race. I just held on to her telling myself every extra km she could drag me through would be a bonus. Coming back over the little hill over the bridge at 37.5km was the doing of me though. I was now knackered. Saw Gary an JB by the road at 38km and I was struggling, the next 2km were just trying not to fall apart and went on for ages. I was still doing 3:48's though so thought I might still sneak under 2:34. Before 40km I did some maths and thought I'd need to go through in 2:25:30 to have a shot. I went through in 2:25:50 so thought it was out of reach so just tried to get home. Every time I tried to pick up the pace my hammies would seize up so it was a balancing exercise at this point. Hit the crowds coming towards the finish and immediately my spirits lifted - it's a fantastic feeling. Turned the final corner to see 2:33:45 on the clock. I thought "I can do this!", I just need to sprint. Tried to sprint but my hammies seized, so I tamely crossed the line in 2:34:00, only temporarily rueing it.

I was chuffed to bits. Ogi said something in Japanese and we hugged having shared 2.5 hours of pain. Had a good chat with Mark Tucker then watched Macca and TB cross the line. News coming in wasn't good on Kanser or JB. They're both fit though and will regroup to run a good one soon.

Then got a bit emotional like I do after long races. Pulled myself together and had a few lively beers with Macca, Glen and Bartles before heading off to Moo Moos with the rest of the squad. Don't remember much after that but I've for a cracking hangover.