HuRTS Pyramid

Plenty of rain. And cold. What a difference a week makes.

Big crowd today but we were thrown off the oval by a grumpy groundsman. So after a bit of dithering we settled on loops of the concrete path surrounding the oval. GMaps has it at 500m. Maybe a bit shorter. We split into a few groups with Barts, Andy C, Kenny, Ray, J-Fen, some big chap and me in the first group. Basically, I just sat on Barts for the whole session. Felt pretty good today with plenty of running in the legs. Reps (1 lap, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1 with a rest of half the time of the previous rep) went as follows:

1:33, 3:08; 4:44, 6:20, 4:39, 3:03, 1:30

That's pretty quick if it is 500m so must be a bit shorter. Still, all going well. 2km jog there and 4km jog home for about 14km all up.

Wednesday MLR

Strength with Carl this morning then 19km easy with Mikey, Andy's H and C, JW and the Kilted Scot. 4 Englishmen, a Scot and an Aussie.

Going OK.

Good news today with Neil Pearson (40+) joining Striders ranks for the ANSW winter events and Dicky H getting in touch to do the same. Sutherland will be tough to beat with Andy C joining them but should make for some great races in the O35's, especially relays.

HuRTS 45mins Fartlek

Great crowd today in the Autumn sunshine. Barts, Fats, J-Fen and Andy's H and C all running upfront with a big group including Ray, Macca, MC, Enda etc in support. Hell, even Durante was there. I planned on holding back a little as I've done in the past few Tuesday's but that went out the window on the very first 60s on. I think it was because I was feeling refreshed after a very easy run yesterday. Barts was taking it easy no doubt saving himself to smash me on Saturday so we had a good group of 5 of us running together on the way out.

Reached the second speed bump on the way out, still feeling fine (at least breathing OK - legs are always tired these days) and then tried to get home. Andy Cross left us at the turn, Fats upped stumps at CQ and J-Fen cut short half way around Farm Cove with Barts pulling ahead of me at that stage so ran up the hills alone but with the squad to overtake in order to get back under 45mins. Just managed it with a final gate to gate of 10:15. All up 12.67km in 44:57 (3:33's). Put a lot more effort into that though than I have in any recent Tuesday sessions.

Jog around the gardens to finish for 15km all up.

Monday meander

Very slow 11km around Manly with Maggsie on her bike. Had a chat with Hamish M. That was about it. Tired.

Easter Sunday

Out with Macca early doors for some flat stuff around Manly. Perfect morning being a bit cooler than recently. Time passed quickly. Macca stopped after 23km so finished it off solo. Felt Ok at end for first time in a while. 30km in 2:13:50 (4:28's).

Selfie with the kids pre-world's toughest Easter egg hunt.

Manly hilly tempo

Same as last week. Went out a bit harder but then settled into similar km splits. Started to hurt like hell through Balgowlah Heights and thought I was cactus but recovered a bit towards the end. Glutes tired though as I struggled on any sort of hill.

Total time of 50:54 and v happy with that. Splits (last week in brackets):

3:25 (3:33), 3:43 (3:46), 3:50 (3:55), 4:03 (4:04), 3:38 (3:45), 3:54 (3:50), 3:59 (3:54), 3:39 (3:42), 3:56 (3:57), 4:46 (5:07), 4:34 (4:14), 4:27 (4:25), 3:01 (3:23) [910m].

Easy does it

Few too many Asahi's with Wildman, Durante, Kanser, Fast Charlie and Patrick Hodgens last night but they were going down beautifully.

Got out this arvo for 9km easy with the eldest 3 kids on their bikes. Ran to Ben & Jerry's, bought a tub (Maple Tree Hugger for the fans) and ran home. It was the only way I could persuade Bec to come out with us.

110km for the week.

8 x 800m

Rocked up looking forward to the session after Mikey was spruiking it to me yesterday. But it's all quiet despite me being a bit early. Hung around a bit then thought Mikey must have left early like he's prone to so I slog my ass over to Rushcutters to find it deserted. Wrong session. So I've got to run 8 x 800m solo. In the heat with no shade. Brilliant.

Did 2 reps and felt like shite. I was suffering from yesterday's hammy strength session and just felt dead flat. Battled not to give up there and then and eventually got through all 8. Times were crap but one good thing was a little fortitude of mind learned in persuading myself to do the lot. Legs finally felt better over the final 3 reps. Times (off a 2min rest) were:

2:35, 2:33, 2:34, 2:34, 2:33, 2:33, 2:30, 2:27

11km all up.

Wednesday SLR

Out with MC, Ben O'B and Andy Cross (who, it turns out, is almost a Geordie) for the usual Wednesday route but cut short after 1 lap. 15km in 70mins.

Good strength session with Carl this morning concentrating on hamstrings and core.

HuRTS 8 x 5mins

Very warm again. Turnout getting better. Mikey back, Barts way out front again. Ran with Andy for most reps with Ben O'B and the AMP lads hovering around. Averaged between 3:30 and 3:36 for each rep. Kept them consistent without getting excited.

Lovely dip in the harbour for afters. 14km all up.

Usual Monday

Another beautiful day and still hot for this time of year.

15km with Mikey, Barts, Andy, Kanser, KiltedScot and plenty of others including a new girl who looked like she had great form.

More good news on the Berlin Marathon tour is that TB is now on-board. That makes 15 of us. Will have to organise the tour singlets shortly.

Long Manly route

Did my old 27.5km route via Burnt Bridge Creek, Campbell Pde, Queenscliff, Shelly, North Head, Little Collins and Manly to Spit coming back from Tania Park.

Tired after yesterday and ran in the heat of the day at 4pm. I'll suffer for this tomorrow. 2:03:37 (4:30's).

Hilly tempo

51:34. Better than I thought I'd go but still a minute down on 6 weeks ago. Felt good through Seaforth and the Heights but lost it in final 3km.

2km warm up and down for 17km all up. Humid.

Tired Friday

Easy 10km with John Bowe until half way.

Bumped into Enda on the way back. Strange experience. First he told me he was trialling a new running style, which I listened to with a raised eyebrow seeing as I'd only originally recognized him 100m ahead based on his old running style. Then he pulled his pants down and showed me his arse telling me he'd finished 2nd in a near naked race in the morning.

Certainly distracted me from how crap I'd been feeling plodding around 10km.

104km for the week.

HuRTS 10 x 400m

It's all about the glutes. Gary freed them up yesterday and I felt like a different man today.

All reps were 67/68 (although I reckon we were maybe 10m short) with a final one at 65, finishing just behind Barts each time.

Did a longer jog back home with Barts for 11.5km all up.

James E went very well, leading us out on 2 or 3. Good to see plenty of girls in attendance too, with HuRTS #2 showing HuRTS #1 a clean pair of heels over the sprints.

Wednesday getting better

Usual Wednesday route (showing 18.48km on current Garmin - old one used to say 18.75km - I know Durante appreciates the accuracy) in a fairly sprightly 82:10 with Jonathan, Anna and AMP chap, the latter two cutting short. Must have been sprightly as JW was dropping at the end and he usually pushes the Wed runs.

Anna looks to be running very well - she was the one pushing the 4:10's around Centennial looking very easy.

Then a good massage from the Tiger concentrating on the still dodgy hammie with more needles in the ass.

HuRTS 45mins tempo

Strength with Carl this morning (first in a long time - need to get back into this and massage regularly).

Small crowd for HuRTS today. Not sure where everyone has gone. Barts ran off waaaay into the distance leaving me running temporarily with Enda and then all alone. Didn't push too hard. Tried to keep the average under 3:40's but just failed. Pleased to get back in under 45mins though. 12.24km in 44:49 (10:40 for the final gate to gate) for a 3:40 average. Turned about 100m down Hickson Road after the bridges (but before the first speed hump).

Achilles slightly swollen after whacking it while going down Mach 5 at Wet 'n Wild on Sunday, which then gave me a nasty blister. Hammie still not quite right but working on the exercises and need some dry needling with the Tiger tomorrow.

Run home

Did just that. Untimed, but it wasn't too shabby. Not the same eye candy as Main Beach, Queensland.


Was following through a link on Fats' blog and saw the website for the Blaydon Race. Tis is a big road race on the North East calendar which always attracts a good field. The current race record holder is none other than Patrick Makau. Anyway, check out who won the Vets race (a big thing in the North East - referred to as "Gadgies" in this race that celebrates all things Geordie) - back in 1984:

Blaydon Race Results

Longish at Surfers

Out at 7am but it was still warm then. Just ran down the coast to the end of Broadbeach park then back. Stopped at 20km as I'd got into quite a quick rhythm and was getting tired. 20km in 1:24:53 (4:15's). Dead flat the whole way and just a gentle Northerly. Then did a 4.5km warm down up to the end of the spit and back. Sweated buckets but I need to as I've piled on the pounds in the past 4 weeks.

Main Beach Park Run - 1st in 17:12

Woke. Jogged from Sea World resort to Southport SLSC. Ran the parkrun with out 150 others, but was all alone. Felt pretty average to be honest. Then jogged back. Then jumped in pool. Perfect morning and a great place to run.