Can't cope

Had a work call at lunch I couldn't avoid so the 800's were out. Contemplated doing them solo but, to be honest, I'm knackered and I'd be flogging a dead horse. So just did a very easy 12km up to Centennial bumping into Barts and Andy, the men in form, on the way.

More beers tonight. Will the form ever return?!

Wednesday MLR

Strength with Carl this morning avec hangover then usual Wednesday route with JW and Mr Ace in about 1:25. Feeling very sluggish but a nice run with the boys on a beautiful day with no one pushing the pace.

Forgot to give a massive congratulatory shout to Craig Mc who ran 2:29:17 in Paris on the weekend. Wowsers, that's raised the bar. And he's only 4 days younger than me.

HuRTS 4 x 10mins

Well, the boys were flying today while I continued winding my way down struggle street. Reached just shy of Robbie Burns on the first rep, back in 9:45, then 10 seconds beyond Rabbie on the third rep and back in 10:00. Just can't turn the legs over any quicker but at least the breathing was fine.

Amazed at how quickly the lads are running. On the third rep I think I was 8th with Barts, Fats, Andy, J-Fen, Clyde and some new random dude all putting plenty of distance into me. Andy in particular was flying. The times they are 'a changin'.

Good to see Timmy back out.

Out in the evening for a few Hooergaarden's and plenty of red wine.

These days I check my phone and always find some random photos on it. Damn kids. So I'm going to start publishing them.

Early doors

Beautiful day so got out early doors for 14km to Shelly Beach and back. Felt uncomfortable the whole way. Legs tired and sore.

East Side Sunday

With Macca flying to the States and Dicky and Sam still on the injury bench, I was left with the option of flying solo or venturing over the Bridge to Centennial. I was knackered from yesterday so didn't fancy the idea of 30kms feeling sorry for myself and Kirst gave me the early morning off so off to Cenetennial it was to meet up with Kanser, Enda, Clyde, Wildman, CT, J-Fen, Ronan and even Young Timmy for 30kms. Time flew chatting away and felt Ok by the end. Pace was quick mind - those East Side Boys don't hang around. They all slow down on the hills though as they have soft legs.

30km averaging 4:25's.

Now off to watch Bec play U12's soccer at the bottom of the hill for new club Brookvale. Hopefully she can reverse a weekend of shocking defeats.

Striders 10km Homebush - 4th in 34:05

5km warm-up with Macca and Barts for a bit then quickly into the congregation for the start. Didn't see any guns on the start line other than some unknown chap wearing a English athletics team top. Well the gun went off and so did he. Briefly saw him on the switchbacks as he whizzed past us.

Neil Pearson went off pretty hard with Barts and I next. Going up the hills at Scribbly Gums Barts started to pull ahead (hills always show who's feeling strongest) and he'd gapped me by the top and was pulling ahead. So from then on I was running solo. By the top of the hill at 5.3km Barts was with Neil and they had about a 20-30s lead, but Neil looked to be fading and rounding the hut at the bottom I could see him ahead so just concentrated on catching him. Worked my arse off to do so (which helped me run a good negative split) and caught him just after the hill at 8.5km but he immediately put an effort in and got 10m on me soon after. Then rounding the penultimate corner I gave it one final go and got on his shoulder before he responded once again. I pussied out at this stage, telling myself I'd tried hard enough. But in short, crap first half when I just couldn't get going but more encouraging second half.

Tedious fact #1: I ran exactly the same time today as I did on the same course in November. Andy almost did too.

Great run by Barts who was strong the whole way and continues his good form - he ended up with 33:43. Enda also had a great run in 35:12 and will undoubtedly PB at the Sydney10 next month if he continues this run of form. Anna won the ladies dipping under 38mins (and thanks for the top Anna - Bec loves it!) but run of the day was Laura's fellow Macquarie employee Ella who has run almost every HuRTS session over the past 2 months and improved her 10km time from 43:xx at North Head last month to 40:36 today!

Ran a warmdown with Enda and Andy afterwards before heading out for a couple of km with Barts and Darren Deed - the English gun we saw on the startline who is over here for 10 days for his mates wedding. Turns out he's a 29:40 10km runner and debuted in the marathon last year in 2:18 - knocking on the door of Commonwealth Games selection. He won today in 31:03.

21.5km all up.

Plod town

9km jog bumping into Ray. At one point Kanser ran past us running 3 min kms so I guess he's not racing tomorrow.

115km for the week.

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.