NSW XC Champs - Nowra - 17th in 41:49

Manic day. Dropped Billy at soccer, took the rest of for breakfast, then took Charlie to soccer, left him with Big Sam as I was then late for driving down to Willandra. 3 hours later I was there, quick warm up with Barts then mad panic as the starter called everyone to the line and I realised I hadn't put the chip on my new spikes. Ran back to the car, tried to find the key on the front wheel BUT IT WASN'T THERE! Then realised the white Golf GTi I was searching the wheels of wasn't mine but someone else's parked 2 spots closer. Got it, put the chip on, triple tied my laces and lined up with my heart going 200bpm.

Wanted to ease my way into the race so started easy then picked my way through the field in the first km. It was a strong field (not at the pointy end, but around the pace I would be running) and I knew the blokes to look out for would be Barts, Robdog, Geoff Arnold, Kevin Robertson, Richie Roberts and Peter Costello. By 1km (on the steep downhills) I caught a big group including all those names (except Richie who always starts easy) plus Dylan Dudley and Cale Bowd. This was to be a feature throughout. I ran the downhills really well and made up good ground but struggled going back up. The course was a bit easier this year avoiding the big hill but adding a longer section on the way out. It still undulates the whole way and gives you no opportunity to get into a stride. At the end of the first lap I had dropped slightly off the back of the group (see the splits below) but not before Robbie and Geoff. Second lap was the same again, not losing contact completely and finding a bit of a rhythm but starting to struggle by the end. Nice to get a couple of shouts from Aparna from work. Final lap was holding on hoping someone may drop in front of me to give me something to aim for. A chap called Matt Cole fell off badly and I nearly caught him before he recovered very well over the final km to pick up 3 more spots.

Still felt relatively OK at the end so pretty pleased with the result. 3rd race in a row where Barts has finished 1 place in front. He's becoming the new Tucks. Nice to finish in front of Geoff, Robbie and Richie. Would have been good to be closer to Kevin R. But a solid run which will pay dividends in a couple of weeks.

Then drove 3 hours back home. Shattered now.

Wave Sayonara

Can't find any Elixir 7's in my size online anymore so went with Northside Runners' recommendation of the new Wave Sayonara. Spent 15.25km umming and ahhing. I think they're OK. Much lighter and look good, but hyper sensitive about my achilles with any new shoe. 4:32's.

107km for week.

Thursday starting to double

AM: 6 and a bit junk kms. 29:58 (4:46's).

PM: Talk at lunch so had to do the speed session solo. But these will be the sessions I remember in September. Or so I told myself. 10x400m off a rolling 2mins. Usual loop of Rushcutters but ending at the floodlight.

70, 71, 71, 69, 69, 69, 69, 69, 69, 66

Had the usual morbid thoughts during 2nd and 3rd reps but felt OK once I got into a rhythm.

3km warm up and down for 10km all up.

Mr and Mrs Highnam line up for the big dance:

Busy Wed

Training with Carl in the morning with some butt clenching work on my hammies.

Easy 20km at lunch in 1:30:11 (4:30's) with Jeet, J-Fen (he was late, we didn't wait), JW, Anton and senior UBS dude.

HuRTS 13 x 3 mins

Yep, you read it right. 13, not 14. That's because I arrived 1 minute late to find a bemused Paul Hannell and half a dozen others standing around wondering where everyone was. Well, it turns out they were half way around Farm Cove on their first rep with J-Fen having set everyone off early in order to get back for a chest, back and sack wax at 2pm.

Was pretty sensitive on the first few reps with the legs still feeling yesterday's session. Felt better as the reps went on feeling pretty good averaging 3:10's for the final 4.

Good to see Young Timmy looking upbeat again. Big Sam is on the mend. Anyone heard from Kanser or Macca?

Long Monday

Cheered up today so squeezed in 30km at lunch in 2:09 (4:18's). 13km solo then the rest with the squad - with Barts, Andy C and Slapstick for the second half.

Felt great today. Been inspired by Seb Coe's autobiography.

Short Sunday

Felt rough Saturday so rested. Saw the Lions play the Tahs Saturday night and celebrated a bit after so was feeling little better Sunday. Managed an easy 10km in the late afternoon separately bumping into Charlie D and Sam (both running) and felt good.

Good game of soccer with the kids in the arvo. Team Highnam managed to overcome Team Agnew/Dalziell with some quality moves.

City Mile Dash

5th in 4:42.

Pretty disappointed with the run. Lots of twists and turns and I struggled to regain the pace after each one. Finished without feeling i'd given 100%. I thought I'd hit a bit of form before this so was disappointed to be 7s behind Barts.

101km for week.

Easy Thursday

Had a lunch on today and in any case its the Dreamer Mile tomorrow so just an easy run home after work. Ran past this bloke doing hill repeats on Parriwi Road (hardcore). He caught me up running back down so had a brief chat. Had an Irish accent and, of course, he was a triathlete. Why do all Irishmen insist on doing triathlons? When they can't swim? Said he was training for Busso. Seems a long way out to start training hard for that.

Joana took a good photo of Charlie and Claudia today:

Easier Wednesday

Very easy shuffle to work this morning untimed. Lovely when I ran in, but Looks like I managed to get out during the best part of the day.

HuRTS Progressive Tempo

Back to this old session, dropping the pace by 10s per km every ten minutes. No Barts today so ran upfront with Fats, Roxy and Kevin(?) - with Vlad running with us until the turn.

MC had a go afterwards saying no-one paces this session properly but he can have little complaint with mine - km splits as follows:

3:50, 3:52, 3:52, 3:40, 3:39, 3:34, 3:33, 3:27, 3:21, 3:17, 3:20, 3:28 (up the hills), 1:35 (486m).

All up 12.5km in 44:35 (3:34's). Final gate to gate in 10:00. Felt strong when speeding up today. Very inconsistent at the moment. No idea how I'm going to feel from day to day.

Shuffle

10km shuffle around Manly. Almost pulled the plug after 1km, so sore was I. Beautiful morning and pleased to have struggled on, bumping into Justin and Ben on the way.

Charlie's becoming obsessed with dominoes

Tired Sunday

Mates 40th last night so struggled to get out of bed at 5:45am this morning. Had forgotten how much hills take out of you too. Was tired, sore, stiff and grumpy. Met up with Barts, Banksy and Justin for the usual 33km route, albeit run as a shuffle. Barts had done a tough hill session yesterday too so was feeling very similar to me. Banksy and Justin pushed on after 20km while we kept the same pace. All up 33km in 2:28 (4:28 pace).

Knackered for rest of day. Have to go out in Manly tonight too to check out a band at The Boatshed. Never been less keen to visit my favourite late night haunt.

Margaret St hills

Ran out of time today so squeezed in 10 x Margaret St hills. It's a 610m loop - about 410m uphill and 200m down. Just ran the 10 loops as hard as I could. 24:59 all up (4:06's).

Don't think I injured myself which is always my main concern doing hills. 10km all up.

Easy Friday

Easy 14km around the wharves with MC, J-Fen, Johnbo, Ray and Vlad.

All quiet on the western front from Young Timmy. Despite desperate pleas from Big Sam to deny the birth rumours, he's gone AWOL. Although there was a sighting in Centennial Park this morning:

120km this week.

HuRTS 3 x 2km

MC back and on a new regime with an exercise physiologist. Timmy out sooking with his achilles. Crowds galore. Time for the new 3 x 2km - reduced number in order to keep the pace quicker. I'd had some emails from Robdog last week telling me I needed to do fewer reps and run them faster so this was the intention today - to make myself lactic.

First rep I run with Barts and Vlad and this random chap who looks so easy it's a joke. Barts turns to me and Vlad half way through the rep with a look on his face saying; "who the f**k is this kid?!". I'm giving it everything with Robdog's words in my head and we finish the 2km in 6:15. 2 mins rest then same again - kid still with us. I take some time at the front when I feel the pace easing a bit. End in 6:13. Struggling now. The boys started 5 yards in front on the final rep and I never caught them, finishing 5s adrift of Vlad and Barts (the kid finally blew half way through) in 6:21. Rooted, but this is exactly the session I've been missing. Blowing hard over a sustained effort and desperately holding on. Hurts like hell but felt great after.

Had a chat with the kid and turns out he works at NAB in the financial institutions group (good client of mine). He's called Jason Roxburgh and has form - a 31:30 10km PB and 69min half. Barts is already counting down his days as HuRTS #1.

Well, that was the session. Then on the extended warmdown the bombshell was dropped. Take a look at Timmy's blog today. More Aussie bashing. Well, news has filtered through that our John Bull, Anglo-loving, Churchill admiring man from the Black Country turns out to be an Aussie. Not only does he have an Aussie passport (which, in fairness, most of us have adopted for expediency sake), but HE WAS BORN IN MELBOURNE!!! Yes, you read that correctly. Young Timmy is more Aussie than Richie Palmer.

Thank God he's no longer fast enough to make the English team. Big Sam will be weeping by now.

Timmy, yesterday:

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).