Back to the longer stuff

Last long run was 3 weeks ago and, having to go solo, I wasn't really looking forward to this. But a beautiful day (Narrabeen beach looked superb) made it a bit easier. Wouldn't fancy doing the Sydney Marathon today. Just the usual route but felt as though it took ages with no-one to talk to. Got in a good rhythm again but felt it in the final few km from Dee Why onwards. I reckon this says something about the taper - I wouldn't want to have more than 2 weeks since my last long run before running a marathon.

2:04:36 for the 30km (details here) but the Suunto measures the course about 200m shorter than the Garmin.

Grey running

Steady run over the usual 14.2km Shelley beach route. Achilles feels better by the day and just got into a nice rhythm banging out 4min kms.

Then out for a bike ride with the kids while Kirst did her run:

Friday meander

Very easy 15.8km route with a decent HuRTS crowd including MC, TKS, Big Sam, Kanser and others. A few beers in the evening to console Macca who pulled out of Berlin in the morning due to injury.

73km for the week.

Easy stuff

Wed was an easy hour with Bart up and down the coastal path from the Sheraton Mirage. Thursday was the same but solo, followed by a dip in the ocean. Idyllic weather. GC may be naff and vacuous but it's a great place to kick back.

Another update

Pulled out of Berlin yesterday. Kirsten has an op on Wed so it was a no go. Good news on Kirst though so very relieved.

To be honest, the last 3 weeks have been an emotional rollercoaster, but had a great party on Saturday with a good showing from the Squad and backed it up with a win today in the AVCAL 5km in 16:34. Check out the AFR (Street Talk section) for a write up tomorrow. I ran solo the whole way so it was a time trial and 30s slower than last year with no Jamie Palmer to push me on. But 40s quicker than my solo win in the Park Run iver the same course in April. Clive was 2nd with Jamie from McGrathNicol 3rd. Some celebratory beers were had after.

Tempered though by my left achilles now being generally sore - all the way up rather than localised. This was despite trying to warm it up beforehand by running 9km easy.

I inaugurated my Tour Singlet even though it will not be officially put to use:

Back to earth

100% gravity today running 15km very easy early doors with Sam and Ben. Achilles felt fine. Woo-hoo - rock on!

Brad Pitt Friday

Acupuncture at Sydney University, Alter-G in Kingsford, all on the bike, felt like a student again. 1 hour with 15.5km covered watching some old film called "Across the Tracks" with a young Brad Pitt who looked as though he could actually run.

Felt easier again today, despite being on 75% weight. Garage door open though so less sweaty.

Alter - Grrrreat!

Another hour on the Alter-G, courtesy of Harry Summers instead of Sean. Felt much easier today even with weight at 73% instead of 70%. Ran 15.8km in the hour. Sweated buckets again.

Interesting chat with Harry who runs the Adelaide City to Bay this weekend. Only just back from injury but won the Perth C2S two weeks ago - he puts a lot of maintenance of fitness down to the Alter-G.

Update

Headed out on Sunday for a long run but cut short at 15km with the achilles having progressively become more sore. Going back to the Elixir 7's definitely helped though.

Saw the specialist on Monday, acupuncture on Tuesday, then caught up with Sean Williams for an hour on the Alter-G anti-gravity treadmill today. Wow, it was amazing. Did a solid workout (last 30mins at 3:40's) and sweated buckets, all the while watching videos of Benny, Mo, Rudisha and (best of all) Daniel Komen. Now that bloke had real talent. I was bloody impressed with it, not a hint of aggravation of the achilles. I was on 70% weight. 15.56km in 60mins.

Oh, and I've taken to riding into work again to keep the weight off. Inauspicious start, as I stacked while leaning into a 90degree corner in Balmoral, my bare tyres just sliding out from under me. Some pretty nasty grazes to my arms and hip (see attached).

It hasn't been a good week.

Hickson Road abort

Park Hyatt 1.2km reps. Felt magic on first one. Then achilles suddenly tightened up significantly on the 2nd (fast) rep trying to hold on to BOB. 3:39, 3:29 then bust. Bloody stupid of me to try them in the first place. Walked back to the office having a good chat to Big Mikey H.

Achilles now on ice, as are weekend racing plans. I knew that SMH medal would come in handy one day.

SLR

Met up with a big crowd for the Wed run but my calf/achilles got progressively more sore so cut short for 14km in 4:36's. Then went to see Gary who prodded it, massaged it then stuck random needles in it so hopefully better in next couple of days.

At least Kirst is running well. Photo taken of her running on the beach this morning:

At home

14.2km route from home. Did 5km (Queenscliff - Shelley) targetting 3:30 pace and managed 17:25 but I went to slow on the way out with a following wind (8:56) which meant I had to work hard on the way back into the wind (8:29). All up 57:40 (4:04 pace).

Liking the Suunto Ambit S2 (looks very accurate) but need to work out how to change the display and if I can get it to spit out km splits.

Today's session

Photo of kids on Sat night at Jellyfish:

Easy Monday

Just an easy run home (in orthotics) in 59:36. Lower left calf very sore, think I may have slightly strained it.

Father Day

Out with Macca early doors for some flat stuff around Manly. I thought he wanted to take it easy but we were just hitting 4:15's the whole time. Then at 20km he made some remark about running faster over the final few km and suddenly upped the pace. The final 13km were all around the 3:45 per km mark. Macca went home separately with about 5km to go.

Felt good again, no orthotics. Left glute was tight though which put some strain on the achilles.

Congrats to Tucks on what looks like a great race at UTMB for 36th place overall.

Got home to a glut of Fathers Day cards and this present. A Suunto S2. How good is that?!

Back in the fold

Went home early from work on Tuesday with the flu. Took Wed and Thurs off feeling rotten (temperature, swollen glands, listless). Back to work yesterday but still not 100%. So today was the first day I've felt vaguely like running. Conscious not to overdo it so decided to run easy for an hour today. Felt great from the off though. Ran 14.2km route in 55:08 (3:53's) feeling comfortable the whole way. No orthotics again.

Then did 2 hours of "Yoga for Runners" with Kirst this arvo. Bloody good stretch and plenty of core work. Got cramp half way through though and a pretty intense headache (no doubt remnants of the virus), particularly when the humming started.

Monday meander

Easy Monday. Late from interviewing so only caught the rapidly disintegrating pack half way.

Summary of today was:

1. Charlie's getting quick.
2. Ellie's getting hardcore.
3. LJ's getting serious.

13.5km in 4:26's (60 mins flat).

Long and easy

Usual 35.5km route in 2:37 (4:26's) with Heydo, Binfield and Barts. Beautiful day and thank God no pace pick up. No orthotics today. Planning to race Berlin without them so want to get the body used to long runs au naturel.

Feeling good. Got the tough weekend over and done with without falling to my knees.

Long tempo

Just Barts this morning for the 19km tempo on the Shelley Beach route. Plan was to try to run 3:30's not feeling too uncomfortable. Weather was nice and cool albeit with a bit of wind.

Splits went as follows:

3:24, 3:31, 3:34, 3:24, 3:31, 3:28, 3:29, 3:29, 3:29, 3:29, 3:36, 3:32, 3:33, 3:35, 3:39, 3:42, 3:31, 3:34, 3:39

All up, 19.1km in 67:36 (3:32's). In truth, I never felt comfortable running 3:30's. Went through 10km in 34:50 trying to hold on to Barts but once again he was much stronger than me on this long tempo session. After that I was just trying to get home without dropping off too much. Briefly felt much better coming around the Golf Course (the 3:31 and 3:34 towards the end) before the gradual climb of the final km. Barts looking great once again. He's going to smash Berlin.

Makes the idea of running 3:30's in Berlin seem a long way off. Not sure why I struggle so much in these long tempos when the other training seems to be going so well. It is the equivalent of a 1:14:30 Half though so perhaps I shouldn't be so hard on myself pretending that should ever feel comfortable.

Knee was good after plenty of rolling out (and Voltaren) so that's good news. Ran in the orthotics to protect it.

2km warm up and down for 23km all up.

Aborted

Met Dicky at 7.30am to run to work but pulled the pin after a km with the right knee too sore. That's what happens when I run without orthotics.

112km for the week (including 2 rest days). Grrr, this was supposed to be a big one.

HuRTS Pyramid

7.5km very easy around Manly this morning.

At lunchtime did a slightly longer warm up down to Rushcutters for the Pyramid. The first group was just Barts, Kenny, Dom and me. Ditched the orthotics again today and ran in a new pair of Sayonaras and felt great again. I've got to run Berlin without them. Led every rep with Barts just behind. Times were:

78, 2:38, 4:01, 5:25, 4:00, 2:37, 72

So the best I've done that session but not that much quicker than I initially thought I'd done previously. 9th May when I was trying to hold on to Barts' coat-tails was my previous best. This was a bit quicker, but felt less desperate running it which was the confidence booster.

Long warmdown with Barts, MC, Jeet and Slapstick for 15km all up.