State XC Relays

Down to deepest, darkest Shire territory for the XC relays in Miranda.  Always love this event.  The different clubs line their tents right by the course (the toughest section), plenty of viewing opportunities to cheer your team mates on and a short, sharp course that has you blowing hard and legs a burning due to the little hills.

CT went off in the first leg and they were sprinting.  Crossy (running for Sutherland) said he went through the first km in 2:56 and he was mid-pack!  CT was well up with Robin W and Nick Cope until the hills on the 2nd lap where they put a bit of time into him.  Still, he handed over after running a quick 12:48.  

I went off quick in my track spikes and caught a couple early and had Big Jim Dawes to track down after he took over from Nick Cope from RBH.  Caught Jim at the end of the first lap but was making no headway into Geoff Arnold of St George who ended up running 3s quicker.  Happy enough to finish in 12:57 after blowing hard on the hills and handing over to Fats leading the O35's.  The achilles was buggered though.  With no heel on those spikes it was always going to be a risk.  

Fats ran a great 13:04 (ahead of Muz 13:07 and Crossy 13:14) - I think the hills suit his strength and with Keith running a good 13:10 we won the O35's pretty easily:

Fats and I, with the Tiger at far left for RBH and Crossy at far right for Sutherland.

But story of the day was the scones.  Much has been said and written.  Suffice to say I finally got some.  And, boy, were they good.  Some more jam next year (maybe the Bonne Maman variety) and it will be perfect.

Finally, for the family, Claudia is desperate to start soccer.  Here she is, shin pads, boots and all, in Maggie's kit for the mighty Brookvale FC:

Freewheeling Friday

Had to do some corporate charidee cycle challenge this morning which involved sitting on a stationery bike for 30mins freewheeling furiously.  I was intending to take it easy until they announced that the person who rode the furthest in the room would get a prize.

So got off the bike 30mins later with the tightest hip flexors known to man.  Then joined LJ, Erikakaka and, subsequently a big crowd including Adam, Andy and Ray for the usual harbourside route.  Andy accompanied me to the very end of 15 odd km and had a great chat about the life of a QPR supporter.  Jeez, dunno how he does it.  Life's tough enough.

Poor old Timmy was upsetting LJ's Mum with his banter today but the lovely lady has still promised to deliver scones, jam and cream to the relays tomorrow.  Let's hope someone saves me my fair share...

Only 80kms this week.

HuRTS 8 x 800m

So I took yesterday off from being too tired on Tuesday and also had a massage - my first in 6 months.  Also did some stretching last night. Woke up this morning feeling like a million dollars.  

Over to Rushcutters to meet a good crowd including Timmy, Tucks, Barts, Andy, Ray, CT, Enda, Crossy, MC, LJ, Renee and plenty of others.  Haven't done this set in a while and it's tough.  1:30 rest in between.  First group was me, CT, Barts, Dom, Timmy and Rich Mullaney.  Went straight to the front feeling great.  Ran about 2:21.  Same on rep 2, rep 3 Adrian joins us and runs in front of me the whole way - 2:19.  I pay on rep 4 running 2:24 and they stayed that way until the last rep which CT made an effort on running 2:19 to my 2:20.

The Garmins said 800m, I've got my doubts but there was some wind on the home straight so it was a rock solid session and confidence booster nonetheless.

Extra jog with Barts and CT to Darling Point and back before heading home for 14km all up.

HuRTS 10 x 3mins

So it's supposed to be 14 but:

1. I was late and missed the first 2 reps because I couldn't extricate myself from

a meeting;

2. I'm just knackered at the moment.

Seem to start every run feeling tired at the moment before slowly easing my way in.  Same running home last night and same today.  Felt shocking with CT blazing on ahead.  Then gradually eased in but still never felt comfortable nor felt that i'd manage 14.  Ended up doing 8 quick (running even paced the whole way, which means pushing the hills to strengthen the glutes), then 2 cruising with Mikey.

Great to see Barts back but jeez, you'd think he'd been out for 6 months rather than 3 weeks.  Whinging like a pom.  We should claim him for Churchill/Sands next year.  I think it may have been an act to get CT to give him a head start at GC Half.  It seems to have worked.

Muz is coming back.  Will be interesting to see what he runs in the relays (for Sutherland) at Miranda on Saturday.

Run home

Ran home.

Sunday slog

Took Saturday off with hangover.  Nice evening at Ronan's 40th then dinner with Kirst and just enough sleep to get out with Macca and Ben this morning for a very easy 2 hours covering almost 26km.  Time flew and the chat came easy.

Bec's team staring down their first defeat of the season.  2-1 with 10mins remaining...

Only in Sydney

Friday was a run over the C2S course to Bondi with MC, Richie Palmer, Erikakaka, Charlie D, Dr Skins and others.  Quick dip then a cab back.

Drank and ate too much at the Striders dinner in the evening.   Striders needs sorting out.

HuRTS sprints tempo combo

Over to Rushcutters for 8 x 400m followed by a 3km tempo.  Reg Bartley was closed so Timmy marked out a (slightly long) 400m on the plying fields adjacent, with his pathways 3km to follow.

Crowd smaller than usual on the jog over but joined by a few more at Rushcutters. What we lacked in numbers we made up for in looks with myself, Timmy, Darien, Charlie, Jeet, Greta, Erikakaka and Timmy's latest yummy mummy client (Ceron?) in attendance.

Legs were fatigued on the 400's and only managed to pip Darien on a couple of the later ones.  Otherwise he was 2-3s ahead looking super smooth as ever.  Tried to concentrate on form given the tiredness.  Felt much better on the tempo which, despite being longer than last time was still a bit short (Garmin's had 2.96km) which I did in 9:35 running even laps of 3:12's.

Rooted on the jog back to the office.  12km all up.

Wednesday ramble

Short Centennial route with MC, Big Kev, Crossy, Adam and Jonathan(?) the South African chap.  Enough of this easy crap, it's time to get sweaty again.

Tuesday un-HuRTing

Rocked up to HuRTS where 90% of us trundled around for 45mins instead of the progressive tempo.  Plenty more chat.  Did another 4km "warm down" with MC, Andy and Quentin.

Bec finished 21st in her Zone XC.  Despite her despising running with a passion, so far she's the one who's shown most aptitude for it.  I'm still holding out hope for the uber-competitive little Mags.

Monday recovery

Achilles very sore after the SMH Half in flats.  Calves are like rocks.  Took Voltaren Sunday night and Monday morning and felt better after getting out for a trot (11km) with the crew on Monday.  Obviously all the talk was about the race.  Lot of chat on how to run it, a 60-90s fade or even splits. 

 

LJ didn't do too badly on her predicted times - results in brackets

 

Tom:  72:11  (72:21) - 10s.

CT:  72:37  (73:14) - 37s

Fats:  74:44  (74:22) - 22s

Enda:  75:14  (75:36) - 24s

Dicky P:  76:10  (78:37) - 147s

Phil Dove:  77:20  (79:01) - 101s

Macca:  78:22  (76:53) - 89s

Big Kev:  79:59  (80:19) - 20s

LJ herself:  cagey, but I reckon she's thinking 80:00  (82:29) - 149s

Timmy:  81:52  (82:58) - 66s

Jeet:  82:15  (83:16) - 61s

Erika:  83:55  (84:04) - 9s

Kilted one:  84:25  (86:00) - 95s

MC:  84:44  (84:04) - 40s

Anton:  85:00  (84:56) - 4s

Elle:  86:37  (89:22) - 105s

Renee:  87:44  (89:40) - 116s

Jacqui:  89:17  (Can't find)

 

So she got 6 within 25s and was furthest out with her own time!

SMH Half - 12th in 72:21

Was pretty psyched for this one.  Prepared very well and no excuses this time around.  Up at 5am and into the City to meet the squad for a warm up at 6.25am.  Loads of the squad there.  I love this race.  We always get a big turnout, it's a true runners race (and always has been), minimal fuss and excellent organisation.  Did a few run throughs and lined up next to Chadi and behind a stellar field at the pointy end - Marty Dent, Ben Moreau, Michael Shelley, Liam Adams, Jeff Hunt, Tom do Canto among others.  

Off we went and for the first km I felt fantastic.  Coming down Macquarie St I was running with Dave Criniti and Sean Bowes just behind the leaders but barely breathing.  Told myself to ease off as I would undoubtedly pay for this and then settled into a nice group with CT and a few others - but couldn't make out who they were as CT and I were sharing all the pacing duties at the front.  Here we are under the Harbour Bridge and then this was the group at the end of Hickson Rd about to turn on to the Darling Harbout flyover:

 

Notice in the 2nd photo how Nikki Chapple hasn't joined our group yet?  When we hit Pyrmont CT put in a burst and gapped us a bit.  I figured though that, as none of the rest of the group had gone with him, it was him speeding up as opposed to me slowing down so didn't get too concerned about the form.  However, I was a bit worried that he'd be able to latch on to Sean Bowes and the chap he was running with in front, so on the new loop around Fairfax wharf I put in an effort to catch him.  Noticed Enda and Fats going in as we came out.  Suddenly, we were right on Sean Bowes and went straight past him on the little hills around Pyrmont - with his running partner (a bloke called Klarie McIntyre) latching on to us.  This is one of the best bits of the course.  You suddenly come back against the tide of runners going in the opposite direction and get huge numbers of shouts and encouragement from your fellow runners.  Mikey had a huge group around him and gave a big cheer, but Timmy, Muz and Dicky were also very vocal.  Coming back past Star City I start to hear a motorbike behind us and realise Nikki Chapple has caught us.  And then gone straight past us.  Klarie latches on to her, as do I and Matthew Fenech.  I ask the latter our split at 10km and he says 33:30.  We then go through the half way point in 35:28 and technically we're on for a 70:xx, but I knew there's a minute drift there at least so a sub72 is the aim, as it was from the beginning.

After the half way mark there's a sharp little hill and this is where Nikkie and Klarie gap me and Matthew.  However, we get back on the flyover and Matthew bridges the gap.  I try to but give up.  This was the big mistake I made in the race.  If I'd planned to be aggressive, this was the chance to be so.  I'd end up beating Klarie and Matthew, but by running conservatively and not aggressively.

We get back to the Slip Inn and I'm starting to struggle but if there's anything to jolt you back into action it's Barts and Sammy on the sidelines screaming at me.  "GET ON THE BACK OF THAT GROUP TOMMMMMYYYYY!!!".  Get back into a good rhythm along Hickson Road (which we know so well) and start to think about attacking the hills.  Turn at the squashed car, have a quick look around to see if I can see CT (thank God no) and immediately start to gain on Matthew Fenech.  Pick him up on the hill to the corkscrew and again gauge the distance to CT on the hairpin at the top.  It's about the same as the gap to me and Nikki - he hasn't fallen off by much, he never does.  Cahill Expressway is fine but I hit the bottom of Macquarie St and feel as though I'm jogging.  Klarie is about 50m in front but I'm not gaining much.  Then again at the top the booming voices of Barts and Sam come out and spirits lift again.  Back on home territory now.  And here's J-Fen with more encouragement in the park.  We do reps of MMC all the time so know the road like the back of my hand.  I start to catch him coming back past the ABC Pool, but hell, these final hills are starting to hurt now.  This is what it looks like:

But then we're back to St Mary's and Barts again screams "GET HIM TOMMMMYYYY!!!".  So I do what I'm told and put some real effort in going down the outside of the road so that he doesn't latch on.  Fortunately, he's more buggered than me and I can enjoy the run into the line:

And then to watch the others arrive to see how the English have done.  Fats runs a stormer and raises his game significantly from the past couple of races to run a low 74 - you can always count on him when it matters.  Enda is next with a mid 75 PB.  And he's farked.  Check out Fats and I peeling him off the pathway:

For how well Fats runs for the English, Macca matches for the Irish.  This guy struggles to an 18:00 for Parkrun last week, but pulls a 76 out of the bag, doing it tough the whole way.  I don't think anything can sum it up better than this photo:

Other great performances followed, Timmy on the comeback (and cleaning up bets) with an 82:xx, but none more so than Erikakakaka's 8min PB running 84:04 (ably paced by HuRTS CEO Mikey "Hold the line" Conway).

The Churchill/Sands Cup was officially won by England in a very close contest (36s in it).  But Timmy and I had had enough of Enda's whining so gave it to the Irish by way of a 2 minute start.  But at the end of the day, healthy competition was the winner:

HuRTS 3 x 2km

Smallest crowd in memory today with everyone resting for Sunday.  Just me, MC, LJ, Crossy, Kaley, Gus Mac, Adam, Craig P, Ray, Adam and the 2 Gregs.

I ran with MC and LJ at 3:50 pace with a few sprints thrown in.  LJ was providing sparkling conversation and entertained us throughout.  She then gave her list of predicted times for Sunday which surprised me, but this is what I can remember:

Tom:  72:11

CT:  72:37

Fats:  74:44

Enda:  75:14

Dicky P:  76:10

Phil Dove:  77:20

Macca:  78:22

Big Kev:  79:59

LJ herself:  cagey, but I reckon she's thinking 80:00

Timmy:  81:52

Jeet:  82:15

Erika:  83:55

Kilted one:  84:25

MC:  84:44

Anton:  85:00

Elle:  86:37

Renee:  87:44

Jacqui:  89:17

So she fancies the Irishmen but we shall see.  I think she was just being diplomatic  giving me the nod over CT.

C'mon England!!!

Lucky 13

Very easy 13km Centennial route with LJ, Big Kev and Greg.  Tired after yesterday.

HuRTS 2 x 20mins

Low turn out today, not sure why.  We normally get a pretty good showing the week before a big race.  Muz, Fats and Gus Mac were upfront with me and CT.  CT said something about only doing 5 mins of the second rep and promptly put his foot on the gas going around Farm Cove leaving me running solo.  Managed to get to the corner of Hickson Rd with CT about 50m in front.  He said he averaged 3:19's so I must have done about 3:21's.  Ran together until CQ on the way back when he pulled aside and bid me on my way so I had to work hard solo to catch anyone.  Finally did so going by the ABC Pool to finish in 20:10 (3:23's).  

Pretty rooted after that.  Going well though.

Nice warm down around MMC with MC and TB (can I include any more acronyms?) for 16km all up.  TB has given out some free samples of his Race Names (c) for the SMH Half on Sunday. They look good.

I liked this:  http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisstokelwalker/the-north-east-responded-in-the-best-way-possible-88k0

Particularly no.40.  I've been calling Kirst "pet" since I met her and wondered why she was so confused.

Moody Monday

Knackered after yesterday.  Was in a massively grumpy mood this morning and felt so lethargic walking to the ferry wharf.  I put it down to a tougher run than expected yesterday and, more importantly, not getting any nutrition in me until 2 hours after I'd finished.

Very tired running today.  Cut short at 11km.  Need to freshen up for Sunday.  Big crowds as we get into the heart of the Winter racing season - MC, TKS, Charlie, Enda, Crossy, LJ, Renee, Jacki O, Erikakaka and Elle.  New Churchill/Sands recruit Phil was looking super smooth running the opposite direction.  Irish vice-captain Kanser less so.

Mothers Day

Gave Kirst the honours this morning so headed out from The Spit after dropping Billy off at MHYC for sailing.  I had 2 hours and 15 mins so basically ran a slightly shortened version of the Middle Harbour Picnic (missing some of those nasty bits in Balmoral).  Came back on 2 hours 18 mins.  Forgot how hilly the bloody route is.  Felt pretty good though.

Curl Curl Parkrun - 1st in 16:44

Jogged over with Macca.  Plenty of hellos then into it.  Went off fairly quickly but just can't push myself when I'm going solo.  Slowed quite a bit in 3rd km.  Beautiful morning with mist rising from the fields as we arrived.  Jogged back with Macca and Jamie for 15km all up.

Where was Renaud?

Friday frolics

11km very easy with Enda, Ray, Birchy, Damon and Paul H. 

111km for a good, solid week.

Enda has agreed to a 2:34 headstart for SMH Half - $20. 

HuRTS Pyramid

Had a few jars last night at trivia night at The Australian in The Rocks.  Sample questions:

1.  Name 3 countries which start with a letter of the alphabet that no other country starts with that same letter.

2.  Which 5 vegetables make up a chiko roll?

3.  Who was the oldest Formula 1 World Champ?

Ended up feeling a bit dusty this morning, so treated myself to a bacon and egg roll at 11am.  That was a mistake.  But other than feeling as though I wanted to barf, today was one of those sessions where you feel full of running and everything is easy.  Had my Tudor on so no accurate times but I think one of the 3 lappers was 4:04 and the 4 lapper was 5:28.  Darien was gliding around like a superstar when he felt like putting some effort in.  CT was struggling with his legs today.  Tucks is coming back into form but training performances of the day went to Young Timmy who stuck with Group 1 with some good consistent times and Young Erikakaka who was smashing it out at the front of Group 2 on the final couple of reps with MC and LJ.  In fact, with the more attractive Truscott putting in an appearance today we had a phalanx of Sydney female running talent at the head of Group 2 in LJ, Gretstar and Erika with Elle, Renee and Jacki close behind.  The girls are showing us how it's done.