Hungover Saturday

Too many beers last night to do anything more than a gentle 10km this arvo in 44:03.

Not too bad

Gentle run to work. Actually felt OK. Left hammy sore though and restricted full range of movement.

116km for the week but some good quality stuff in there.

Forgot to mention about my warmdown with Barts last night. A couple months ago we were doing a long run through Castlecrag when Barts casually mutters "snake" while pointing to this long-toothed yellow thing curled in the middle of the road that I was about to step on. Well, last night we did a loop of the horse-track at Homebush when this rat runs out in front of us. Well, I've never heard Barts squeal so high-pitched or leap about so madly. It was like jogging with a 3yr old girl. Wish I'd had my camera.

Great photo I was sent yesterday. Love the look of the old school cyclists. Not sure about the chap on the corner getting a bit too excited.

2km Time Trial

Out for the haul over to Homebush in rush hour with Barts. Traffic meant we were half an hour late but Tiger was being generous and allowed us a good warm up. Did about 3km including a few strides then we were into it. Megsy was to take us through 800m in 2:20 and Gary to carry on at the same pace after for as long as he could be arsed.

It was pretty windy down the back straight and on he second lap I felt it was getting too comfortable so pushed ahead with Gary coming past in the home straight and Barts just behind. Gary then gapped me a bit and I struggled through the next 600m (with the lap splits showing). He stepped off the track at 1400m and Barts was about 2s back at this stage so I was solo for the final 600m. Had a good last lap though (67.x) to bring a bit of respectability to the time. Finished in 5:53.1. Was secretly hoping for 5:48 but I didn't have the confidence to go with Gary at 800m. Barts also had a good last lap to finish in 5:57.

Lap splits went:

1:10, 2:20, 3:33, 4:45, 5:53.

Still think the fitness is there as it's been a very big week.

7km warmdown with Barts for 12km all up. Thanks to Barts (who was even more nervous than me beforehand), Gary and Megsy for joining in. Megsy looks a class act running at pace.

Dropping like flies

Top of left hammy was stiff for the last 3 reps yesterday. Got worse in the evening and was very sore this morning. Did strength with Carl this morning but all upper body and core to avoid any pressure on the hammy. Just did a 7km plod at lunchtime to avoid having to buy CT a bottle of Moet and hammy a bit better after. Then saw the Tiger who abused me with needles like a voodoo doll and have to say it's feeling a lot better now. So the 2km TT tomorrow is still on.

Timmy threatening to drop out of Six Foot. We're dropping like flies.

HuRTS 14 x 3 mins

EaMo will have to start watching his back. Sounds like Timmy is going to do a Richard 3rd on him after the latest attempt of the Irish to steal back the Churchill/Sands trophy. Poor Sammy ended up in Manly hospital today after 2 reps (photo below). Good luck on the recovery mate.

Big crowd, C.T. showing us how it's done. Ran with Barts most of the way. Felt heavy-legged to start with but rolled through fine by the end basically averaging gate to gates (910m) for the 3mins. Great to see Durante out there. Also very impressed by Bart's (the apostrophe is key) final rep where we ran toe to toe at 3:10 pace. This from a guy who claims he couldn't run quicker than 5min kms 12 months ago. Could be an early call for HuRTS Improver of the Year.

Maggsie's Monday

Usual route with a big crowd. 16km untimed. Stiff and sore from the weekend.

Maggie's first day at school today. 4 down, one to go. She was pumped.

Centennial Sunday

Drove Macca over to Kanser's and we started the run from there. Met Timmy, Ray, Laura, Enda, C.T. and Fats at the kiosk before doing a couple of loops of the park, then headed down to Coogee and did a great run along the coast to Bronte before climbing back to Queens Park. purple of loops of the park bumping into Ray and J-Fen (who upped the pace) then back to Dave's for some top bacon & egg sarnies, tea, melon, fizzy lime juice, the works.

32.6km all up. Quick final few kms. 4:30 average all up.

Strider 10km Homebush - 5th in 33:52

Got up early to pick Dicky up as we planned on doing a longer warm up (5km). It was pissing with rain and had been for 24 hours but very cool temps for February. The course was sodden with huge puddles around the horse track which meant diverting onto the soft gravel or wading through the ankle deep water. Really appreciated the warm up though as I'd ironed out all the aches and stiffness before the start.

Good crowd with Dave Criniti, Robin Whitelely, CT, Fats, Craig Mc, Sam Walker, the Horne and Brendan Davies all in attendance. Had a good chat with the lads (Timmy looking very nervous) and off we went. Funny start as everyone stormed off and I was we'll back but then picked up a lot of places in the second km to be running alongside Robin and Sam. I think the long warm up avoided the excitable start with inevitable 2km slowdown.

CT and Dave jumped ahead at the start and Sam and Robin had closed the gap by 2km and pulled ahead of me by 30m in the process. I think Brendan was right behind at this stage but I was basically running solo from here on. At 5km on the switchbacks I could see that Brendan and Fats were about 60m behind and was worried as I knew those 2 would be competitive and push each other along - so I made a concerted effort to go hard until the top of the hill. From here I was just concentrating on getting under 34mins and knew it would be close. Used CT up ahead as someone to chase and pleased to come in with a few seconds to spare. Felt great in the second half. Splits went: 3:12, 3:19, 3:19, 3:25, 3:29, 3:18, 3:26, 3:21, 3:23, 3:23 (18s - measured 10.1km).

Some great battles out there. Timmy did enough to hold off Laura and Elvis but obviously made a real effort in doing so but fair play to him. Kanser missed the start by 20s (surprise surprise). Macca ran as solid as ever and has been given some impetus for Six Foot by an ill conceived goading from Elvis, who seems to be specialising in this.

A good morning was topped off by winning the spot prize which I swapped with Timmy for my $20 bet.

5km warm up and down 20km all up.

Plod

7.5km plod around Manly early doors with a few strides once I'd got out of shuffle mode.

Bloody humid. If it's like this tomorrow the rust buster at Homebush will be brutal.

65.0kg after brekkie this morning.

Ahh, just reliving one of the happiest days of my life...

HuRTS 10 x 400m

Or, the Return of Inside Lane Kane.

But to be fair to the big fella, he was flying today and seems to have hit a rich seam of form.

Big turnout on a lovely day, if a bit humid. But for this sort of session and bit of heat and humidity is actually beneficial as it loosens the legs. Vlad, Barts, Kanser, J-Fen, Big Blue John, MC, Enda, Timmy, Killa (last session before emigration) and Dicky G all in attendance. I led the first two, tucked in behind Vlad and Barts on the third (when I thought - here we go again) but they quickened the pace a bit and it was much easier following. I should do it more. We took turns like this for the rest of the session with Kanser and Big Blue John also sharing the pace. Times were:

69, 68, 67, 68, 67, 68, 67, 67, 66, 66.

All off a rolling 2 minutes. MC told everyone off for running too fast after the second rep, which gave us all a good giggle. It's not like anyone (including himself) slowed down.

Long warmdown to Darling Point and back with Barts after. Planning a 2km time trial for next week.

Also 4km with Billy very easy this morning for 15km all up today.

Ran in my new Elixir 8's which I'm disappointed with. Aggravated my left achilles. Over the past 12 months I've gone from Elixir 6's, through 7's to 8's. why do they mess around with a good formula?

Wednesday MLR

Strength with Carl early doors this morning. Legs a'wobbly again.

18.6km usual Wednesday route nice and easy with MC, JW, French Ben, Jeet, Glenn and Elvis. Had some pest loitering around us when circling Centennial and I was ready to call the cops but MC said not to bother as he reckoned we'd all easily outrun him if things got dicey.

Bianca massage late arvo. Forgotten how good she is. Brought tears to the eyes.

Now working late to catch up...

HuRTS 4 x 10mins

Typical Sydney turn-out in a damp day. Irony was most of those missing were English or Irish.

Didn't want to go full-bore on a Tuesday again and Fats, Macca and Barts obviously had the same plan. Ran with James E on rep 1 to the footpath short of Rabbie (3:38's). Back in 9:25 (3:29's). Bit further going past Rabbie with Barts on rep 3 (3:33's) and back in 9:52 (3:30's).

3km warm down for 15km all up.

And the heavens opened

Pissed down in the Blue Mountains so we came back early. Headed out for a large loop around Manly before picking up chocolate, milk and bread in the Fairlight shops (we feed our kids well). Quietest I've ever seen Manly seafront on a public holiday. But although teeming with rain, it was quite warm and pleasant enough to run in. Felt great today. 13km in 54:50 (4:13's). Finished by running up Sydney Road.

Fascinating fact #1, I've never run up Sydney Rd from Manly until today.

More exciting news tomorrow.

Slowest run ever

Ran out to Evans Lookout then realised there was a cliff top route from there to Govett's Leap and beyond to Popes Glen Track which lead straight back to our campsite. Hadn't reckoned on it being steps the whole way and creek crossings which, given all the overnight rain, had turned into torrents. Nearly got swept off into the Grose Valley 500m below. After a few 8min kms I ended back at the campsite and did the same again, but turning back the way I came from Evans Lookout and avoiding the bush bash.

25 kms in 2:12. Beautiful weather for running - cool, still and damp.

Australia Day

8km plod early doors before heading up to them there mount'ns.

Not the Friday Swim Squad

Out for the usual harbourside route with Big Sam, KiltedScot (on Burns Day, although he was unaware he runs past Rabbie at least 6 times a week), Aidan, Serious Simon and Indrajeet. Very easy pace on a warm and humid day until the final 4km when Aidan picked the pace up.

Big Sam and I had a great laugh running by the ABC Pool on the way out. We saw the legendary Friday swim squad alright - all standing around in the shallow end of the pool having a chat and admiring the boys sunning themselves on the side!

16km all up and 123km for the week. Handled the mileage much better this week - helped in large part by easing off on Tuesday.

HuRTS 8 x 800m

Not sure what was going on today. I'm usually the world's most boring runner. Pretty much know what pace I'm going to be going at and tend to be very consistent and not vary the pace much. Well, that wasn't the case today. Felt fantastic on the first three reps and breezed through them running with Vlad or just in front - Barts saying I was looking very bouncy. Then on the 4th my legs felt dead, Barts and Vlad were 4s in front and I couldn't do anything about it. Was ready to pull out but told myself to HTFU and make sure none on the next 4 were any slower than that one. Toiled away after that and achieved the aim but it wasn't pretty and felt nothing like I did on the first 3. Times were:

2:25, 2:24, 2:26, 2:29, 2:28, 2:27, 2:28, 2:22

Not sure why I bonked on rep 4. Maybe it was doing squats with weights yesterday. Maybe it was the Tiger's needles. Maybe I got carried away running with Vlad the Superstar on the first 3 reps.

Not a bad session in the end. The most positive thing is that I'm hoping that when I ease off the heavy training load sessions like this will feel like the first 3 reps but all the way through.

Good crowd out today on a warm one. Rests were 90s off MC's time. Rare showing by Enda who's very presence seemed to mess with Young Timmy's head. Great to watch MrAce and Elvis going eyeball to eyeball on the final rep.

Sense prevails

Well, I'm pleased to say that despite the efforts of Mr Neutral and Timmy's Chinese spy, Yu Wort Mei, the young fella finally agreed to the 3 min bet. I've been conned but it's a season starter.

Did an hour strength training with Carl this morning - loads of weights which had my legs trembling all morning. Headed out with MC, Big Sam, Rob C, the KiltedScot and Serious Simon for the usual Wednesday route. Was knackered the whole way but nice run with the lads nonetheless.

Saw the Tiger this arvo who stuck some more needles in my ass. Never look forward to that bit. Only consolation was him acknowledging (in flagrant breach of the Hypocratic Oath) that I handle the needles much better than Kanser, who in turn handles the needles better than the ultimate needle pussy - Fats. I held back the sobs after hearing that. Who'd have known it. I am the hard man after all.

The shame of Young Timmy

Today was the 45min tempo. Still tired from the weekend so took it easier. Ran with MC, Ben O'B and Macca on the way out and Macca and the chap from AMP(?) who always finishes fast on the way back. 11.81km in 44:12 (3:45's).

I'm very disappointed to say that last night Young Timmy brought shame upon himself. We were having the usual banter about bets on the 10km race at Homebush in 10 days and remarking on how close our bets usually are. Now I have traditionally offered him 80s and we normally finish within a few seconds of that mark so that's where I started my offer last night. He went though a list of excuses as long as his arm and, dare I say it, sounded right like a whingeing pom. So, to end the conversation and move on I relented and agreed to give him a 3 minute(!) headstart. And now he won't even take that!!!!

Just to lay down a few stats:

1. My training this month is almost identical to Jan 2012 (check the blog) - running every day, building a base, getting tired but knowing it's for benefit in 3-4 months.

2. Timmy tried to train through Xmas this year (albeit not with great success) but certainly more successful than last year (check his blog).

3. In the Feb Homebush race last year I ran 34:33 and Timmy 36:53. (Just noticed that Michael Ho - who was just behind me in training today - smashed me in the Feb race last year)

4. Look at my post from Feb 26th last year. Timmy had his bad turn trying to do a Sunday run on the trails and had his Elvis moment with me forced to pick him up in the car. Yet 3 weeks earlier (with 3 weeks less training in the bank) he was able to run 36:53. So any claim of his that he'll only run 38:xx next week needs to be evaluated in that light.

So I will open it to the court of public opinion. If you think I'm being unfair offering 3 minutes, let me know and why.

Timmy, yesterday:

Manic Monday

Very slow jog into work. The first 3km were agony. But 'tis done.