New Wednesday

Test drove the new Worswick inspired Wednesday route today and it was a roaring success. Biggest Wednesday crew I've seen in months including MrAce, JW, Aidan, Peter W, Philip Dove (!), KiltedScot and Andy C. 20km all up around the wharves of Hickson Road and Pyrmont, averaging 4:27's. Took a tumble but luckily hurt nothing but my pride. Chatting all the way, no more so than when the subject of Game of Thrones came up.

HuRTS 2 x 20mins

Tired and sore beforehand so planned to take it easy. That said, I couldn't have gone any faster. In fact, I tried to catch J-Fen on the first rep but couldn't (ran with Muz). Bit better on the way back finishing in 20:05. Averaged 3:35's I guess.

Fats was way in front of us. Barts and CT were even more way in front of him. Less said about this session the better.

Constantly hungry at the moment but also losing weight - took a notch in on my belt today. Got to be careful not to get injured or sick.

Monday aches and pains

Big crowd on Mondays. Made me realise I haven't been out with the crew on a Monday for a while. Chatted with Barts, JW, Clyde, Chris Graham and Charlie among others. Steady pace the whole way with Barts and I did 3 sets of strides at the end. Right knee a bit sore from Saturday night when I twisted it badly. Also generally tired from the weekend's efforts.

Thought for the day: Mary Cain, talented girl - but nutjob.

Fast finish Sunday

Just Barts and me this morning heading out in the dark and pouring rain. To compound my problems, my nips started to hurt about 4km in and, sure enough, they were bleeding so I was running shirtless from 10km onwards. Nice.

Time passed quickly chatting about anything and everything (well, anything and everything related to running) before taking a gel at 20km and picking the pace up from 21km onwards. Barts had eaten white beans the night before which wasn't agreeing with him so I was leading most of the way. We did most of these kms in 3:46 to 3:50 ending the 33km in 2:19:46 (4:14 pace).

NSW Cross Country Relays

Massive day. Started early heading up to North Head for the Striders 10km to marshal with the kids and watch Kirst run her first 10km. She did fantastically, running with the 50min pacer until the final turn before pulling ahead to finish in 49:38.

Then on to Charlie's soccer for a 3-2 victory (although he was pretty knackered) before wandering over to watch Billy's game which ended 2:2 with Billy scoring both.

Then down to Miranda. Usual mad scramble entering teams (I should really sort this out earlier online) and with a slight shortage of numbers it worked out as Andy, Fats, Ray and me in the Over 35's (our best chance of success) but with Ray and me doubling up in the Over 45's and Open teams respectively. It's an incredible event really - just small scale relays around some hilly and boggy school playing fields but the cream of Australian distance running talent was out in force - Benny St, Liam Adams, Jeff Hunt, Ben Moreau, Nipper, etc.

My plan was to go out as hard as possible and hang on. I did the former but not the latter. Went through lap 1 in 6:01 then proceeded to die on my arse. First 4 blokes went past (including Kevin Robertson) then Richie Roberts came past at about 2.5km (and proceeded to put 18s on me in the final 1500m) then Chamkaur came past at 3.5km. Ended up with 12:26.

Some interesting times out there. Fats had a great run ending up with the same time (but the first leg, being a race, always produces faster times). Richie Roberts ran really well with 12:08, but Geoff Arnold (12:37), Robdog (12:43) and Peter Costello (12:30) were comparatively slow compared to what they've done in recent races. Great to take out the Over 35 team Gold in a very close finish over Sutherland - Nick Bennett got within 7s of Ray on the final leg. Massive thanks to Andy for making the effort to come along despite achilles issues. The win was all the more satisfying with Andy C in the Sutho team!

Ran the 4th leg for the Open team as they were a man short. Rob Lansdown (coming back from injury), Kenny (running a great 13:01) and EJ ran first so I had about 30mins rest. Couldn't contemplate doing it for the first 5mins after the first leg, but then did a jog and felt ok. Started much more sensibly and actually really enjoyed the second run, feeling stronger on the hills and aided by overtaking people the whole way. Ended up with 12:59.

Great day. Shame about everyone scoffing the scones after LJ's mum had gone to so much trouble. I'm trying to get over it.

Awards photo. Strangely, Andy H decided to put some tights on. Even more strangely, Andy C decided to copy him but with 3/4 length versions.

107 km last week.

Thursday ramble

Should have done speedwork which is what I'm lacking, but when your eldest daughter is running her zone Cross Country then priorities lie elsewhere. Ran up to Artarmon Reserve and back and saw a few races. Bec made me dead proud. She went off hard in 5th position after 400m, suffered badly mid-race falling down to 18th but fought back strongly on the last lap to finish 13th. She was absolutely spent. I wish I could finish a race having given as much as she did.

There and back for me was 14km.

Few beers with the Berlin boys in the evening. Much fun. Barts is taking a bit of stick for his SMH race report.

Wednesday MLR

Usual route, usual jog. Feeling very tired today (particularly after a tough session with Carl this morning) and was solo until Centennial when I bumped into JW for a couple of laps.

Saw the Tiger this arvo and bumped into Benny St. Turns out his first hit-out post racing Mo could be a relay leg for St George on Sat afternoon in the ANSW XC Relays. Shaping up for a competitive event which will be great to watch. Fats, Andy and me confirmed for the Striders 35+ team but struggling for the 4th man. Barts too interested in personal glory these days.

Thoughts for the day:

1. Sad day: http://m.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/28/little-chef-sold-nostalgia

2. Eddie McGuire - WTF?!

HuRTS 4 x 10mins

Sneaked out for this with heavy legs. Not good with our intrepid leader Conway upping stumps with the hammie problems again and threatening retirement. Timmy a no show yet again but good to see Andy C back in action.

Felt better as the reps went on (usually the way when running on tired legs). Ran the first with Kenny and Vlad with Fats and Barts smashing it upfront. Reached the final lamppost short of the gates (i.e. about 10s short). Back in 9:35. Vlad took off with Barts and Fats on the third rep with Ray and me chasing. Felt like I was working this one well and caught Fats by the ABC Pool to reach the gates in 9:55. Back in 9:32. So a solid session in the end. Longer warmdown for 15km all up.

Some shady shenanigans and hot gossip in the hill walking in excessive branded gear world (otherwise known as ultra running). Deliberate false accusations of cheating and ghost Facebook accounts? You don't get this in your average Striders 10km (except when Kanser decided to gob over his fellow competitors).

Walker apologises to fellow walkers

Long Monday

Made up for Slovenly Sunday with Masochistic Monday. 19km around Manly and then picked up the rucksack and ran to work. 32km all up in 2:25 (4:32's). Was pissing with rain when I set off, bright sunshine by the time I finished. Left achilles sore, right hamstring is tight and my nipples were bleeding. And running for 2.5 hours by yourself is bloody boring - there's only so many times you can dream about outsprinting CT, Tucks and Barts under the Brandenburg Gate while dipping under 2:30.

Slovenly Sunday

10km jog in the darkness in the early evening. Rolled my ankle but its ok. Nice moonrise.

Saturday hilly tempo

Just the same old route. Always ahead today, although the Garmin measured it longer than normal so I can't really compare km splits. Got the 4th km under 4:00 for the first time (3:54) which I think was accurate but the 6th km was short (3:42 against the usual 3:54). Anyway, ended up with 49:55 so sneaked under 50mins for the first time.

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

Billy had a great game of soccer today almost scoring in the top left corner but just drifting wide of the stanchion. Charlie's team coached by Big Sam continued their impressive run with a 5-3 win (albeit causing us a few nervous moments throwing away a 4-0 lead to 4-3 until the last minute).

Out to a 40th tonight so I don't think the long run with be taking place at 5:45am.

Friday apologies

Well, all hell broke loose this morning when one of my key clients sends an email explaining that a member of his team was very upset at being left off the list and that I couldn't expect any work to flow my way as a result. So, with grovelling apologies, this has been rectified. Please view yesterday's updated list of the HuRT Squad Chosen Few.

Today was an easy 13km with Ray. 86km for week.

Was checking some old race results yesterday and found these PDFs of the English Schools Track and Field champs in 1988 when I was 14. I just missed the final in the Junior Boys 1500m that day in a sprint finish (as usual) but more interesting is Junior Girls 1500m. Check out who finished 8th in the final. I'd travelled down with the Northumberland squad all the way to Yeovil on the bus and was quite interested in a girl on the bus from Northumberland called Valerie Botham (albeit in a 14yr old asolescent sort of way and who I think was from the same school as Timmy's mate Sian Ellison). Great pins. Little did she know she'd just beaten a girl who would go on to be the greatest female marathoner in history.

Check it out:

HuRTS 1.2km reps but, shock horror, at new location

Given it was teeming with rain, I made the call to shift to Farm Cove knowing it would be deserted (and having G-Mapped the distance from the Opera House Gates to the bottom of the hill at Mrs Mac's Chair at a convenient 1.29km).

I would like to note for posterity the hardcore of the squad who showed up for this session on the coldest and wettest day that Sydney has produced in living memory:

"Young" Timothy Lindop
John "Bartles" Bartlett
Jonathan "J-Fen" Fenton
Indrajeet "Jeet" Aich
Michael "MrAce" Race
Andrew "Skippy" Heyden
James "Kenny" Everett
Charles "Warrior" Dalziell
Damien "Damo" Sullivan
Paul "Paul" Birch
John "JB" Bowe
Ben "Bob" O'Brien
Anthony "Muz" Murrell

and Yours Truly*

*[let me know if I missed you out]

If they ever read my blog, let them say that I walked with giants. Men rise and fall like the winter wheat, but these names will never die. Let them say that I lived in the time of the HuRT Squad, tamer of chicks. Let them say I lived in the time of Conway.

I wore two short sleeved tops as I was cold. All this meant was that both layers were soaked through within 5 minutes, weighed a ton, and I was still cold. No hanging about today so we were off. Barts was taking it easy so I ran alone at the front other than rep 2 when Muz stayed just behind most of the way and the final rep when Barts helped me out and stretched his legs. Rep times were:

4:00, 4:00, 3:57, 3:57, 3:56

Works out at about 3:06 to 3:03 pace. Legs felt pretty heavy but breathing was good. Pleased to have got it done as those VO2 max sessions always test you mentally. Longish warmdown for 11km all up.

HuRT Squad stretching out around Farm Cove today:

MLR Wednesday

Strength with Carl this morning. New regime, lots on the hammies. Was walking like Elvis afterwards.

19km at lunch just avoiding the rain. Was late to start so had to run solo. Finally saw MC and Mr Ace crossing the road at the very end. Felt magic today.

HuRTS Fartlek Not

Monday

Rest

Tuesday

HuRTS Fartlek with the plan just to take it easy. Everyone else (Fats, Andy, Ray, Smolly, Muz(!) etc.) had the same idea. So much so that Smolly was calling out the start and end of each split and half the time we couldn't work out whether we were supposed to be speeding up or slowing down.

Turned at 2nd wharf on Hickson and pace actually picked up on the way back finishing in 43.5 mins and ended up averaging 3:44's. Felt fine albeit legs a bit weary when pushing on at the end.

I now know Fats' formula for winning Six Foot. It's all about meticulous preparation. Check out the cutlery tray in a Fats' loaded dishwater:

Gary Howard, August 11th 2013:

SMH Half - 15th in 72:36

Went into this race feeling pretty confident after some recent consistent training and generally being a bit more healthy than my usual debauched self. But then Saturday morning my stomach starts producing noises from deep within and doing somersaults and was just painful after I ate anything. But figured I wouldn't be eating anything before the race. In the end, it wasn't an issue.

Met up with Timmy early doors along with Kirst and Dan (her relay partner) before heading out to meet all the usual suspects. I love this race. There's a great atmosphere to it, and there always has been. Despite doubling in size in recent years it has maintained its feeling as a real runner's race. I also love the switchbacks where you get loads of cheers and encouragement (thanks for all those who shouted - not least Phil Dove who I could hear from half a mile off). It's why I always wear my Striders top as you get a load of "Go Striders!" shouts which never cease to lift you

Set off feeling comfortable running just behind Barts and with Jim Perrett and Robdog. I think Fats may have been on my shoulder too. They then edged ahead and by 4km I was running with Hamish pushing a good pace. Felt OK at this stage but not as comfortable as I felt last year. Going through Pyrmont, Fats and Nikki Chapple caught us as we caught Jim. This was my lowest point - Fats and Nikki looked really strong and I was worried they were just going to power ahead. But we managed to stick together as a group going through 10km in 33:56. Then coming back along Hickson Road I first felt good leading the group, then felt as though I was barely able to hang on. When we got to the nasty hill at the squashed car roundabout I drifted to the front and started to feel more confident - it's always the hills where you can tell how people are feeling. But if that's the basic gauge, Nikki was feeling good as she powered up onto Kent Street with me just trying to stick to her heels thinking it may be hurting Fats and Hamish. We overtook Neil Pearson at this stage with Barts next in front. Any thoughts of Fats being done were dispelled when he reappeared at the head of the group going along the Cahill Expressway. It was at this point last year that I began to unravel so made a real effort to keep it strong up Macquarie Street and then attack the loop around Mrs Mac's chair. Sensed Fats had dropped a bit here so really started to push hard but it hurt. The little pinch before the Art Gallery made my legs a bit wobbly so tried to shorten the stride and increase the cadence. This seemed to work as suddenly Nikki dropped too. I may avoid being chicked! Hell, that was enough to start sprinting. Wait there, I've gone too early. Bugger, I'm starting to fall apart. Then I see the line, see the clock and it looks as though I'm going to run 72:38. I like the symmetry of that, but the results give me 2s quicker. I'll take it. It's an SMH PB. It's probably a Half PB as I'm fairly sure the Blackmores was short in '07.

Happy with the form. Stronger in the back half than last year (where I went through 10km in 33:37) and last year I was further down the marathon training plan. Would love to give the Half PB a shake at Gold Coast.

Some great runs out there today in perfect conditions. Robdog smashed it with a mid 71. Barts got my PB with 72:08 but Eoin was my run of the day in 76:50 closely followed by Justin B in 77:20. Also great to see RP with another PB in low 76. The Tiger lost his bet going down by 7 minutes against the 6:40 on offer. I'll claim some beers from Andy C too...

The Churchill/Sands trophy looks to be England's again. You can expect a few more photos while testing Fats' homebrew this afternoon, but here's a starter.

CHAMPIONES!

Saturday jog

6km jog with a few strides.

Great result by Benny last night - 13:18 for 5000m in the States finishing 3rd behind Mo and Dathan Ritzenheim.

On other world class performances, congrats to Brenda Davies taking out the North Face 100km in a record time with Tucks smashing his PB for 3rd. Looks like CT had a tough day in the office. Hope he decides now to stick to what he has great talent for rather than this trail walking stuff.

Friday meander

13km very easy with Ray. Wandered over to the SMH route in Pyrmont. Still can't tell what extra fiddly bit they are making us do around Barangaroo but a new entrance popped up today so maybe that's it. Only looked as though there would be one hairpin so not too bad.

Now just have to get through the trauma that is the Manly West Primary School Carnival that's on tomorrow.

HuRTS 8 x 800m

Small but merry band not shying away from a bit of speedwork. Ray, Andy, French dude, Durante, John Doe and a couple of others. Left hammie started to feel stiff after 4 (and I was looking for any excuse) so just pushed every other rep after that. Tired going in but felt good on the last rep. Times were:

2:30, 2:28, 2:29, 2:26, 2:48, 2:24, 2:48, 2:20

1:30 rest between reps (I'm sure we used to get 2 mins?).

Andy looks good and is foxing for Sunday. Expect a big one from him. Have a feeling I'll be chasing him and Fats around Mrs Mac's chair with 2km to go. Andy says JB is a dark horse too. The English are on fire...

Busy Wed

Strength this morning with Carl. Busy all day so couldn't get out. Ran home untimed nice and easy with a few strides.

Ooh, nearly forgot. Saw the Tiger and he cajoled me into a bet for Sunday's race and forced me into accepting a 6:40 handicap. If he doesn't take $50 off me he should be ashamed of himself.