Friday Fastwitch

So with just 40mins easy with a few hills on the cards, I jogged over to The Running Centre in Edgecliff and settled on a pair of Saucony Fastwitch's as a racing flat.  Haven't raced in anything but my Mizuno Wave Rider's - including 5000m on the track - for the past 2 years.  But in a fit of desperation and clutching at straws for a boost in performance at JPMorgan next week, I decided a lightweight flat was the way forward.  There's a teeny bit of science here in that I seem to run my reps quicker barefoot.

They felt great, so bought them and ran back to the office.  Stopped at the Domain and did 4 x 80m hill.  First one was shocking.  Last one felt great. I guessing Tiger put them in to activate the glutes.  If so, it worked.

Remember remember

Well, that session this morning was as average as they get.  Just me and Emma in rotten conditions.  Did 3 x 1 min hill (over Queenscliff bridge and up the path).  Then 4 x 5min efforts along the beach.  First one was OK averaging 3:18's.  Then turn around to realise I'd been running with the benefit of a huge tailwind.  Almighty struggle to get back on the second rep where the Garmin was reading 3:50's at one point.  Ended up averaging 3:42 for that.  Then it died, obviously in sympathy for me in avoiding having to record any more piss poor performances.

Just felt really tired again today though.  Need a good night's sleep tonight as I fell asleep and was dribbling on my Fast Ferry morning commute.

Longish warm down bumping into Macca a couple of times for 15km all up.

Post Melbourne Cup hangover

No Justin, just for the win.  All or nothing with me.  There was plenty of shouting at the TV.

16km today with a bit of a hangover but with Andy to chat to and drag me around.  Saw Hoey and Gleeso, then - bizarrely - Mikey C running solo.  Normally he has more hangers-on than Floyd Mayweather.

Untimed, unmeasured and unsightly.  It was just a case of getting it done today.

Melbourne Cup

Out early again for 12x500m off a rolling 3mins with Quentin, Macca, Jamie, Erika and Emma on the path through Nolan's.  

Really pushed hard today trying to stay close to Quentin.  It may have been a touch short of 500m as I averaged 1:29's to start and 1:27's for the last 6.  But it certainly felt like 3min km pace.  Q was 1-2s in front for each rep.  Was running through treacle on the final rep so hope it does me good.

2.5km warm up and 4.5km warmdown for 14km all up.

Gleeso says to bet the house on his top tip and, as a fellow lawyer I trust that fella.  But I'm going to put $500 down on Max Dynamite instead.

Monday moaning

Out on a very warm (29C when we set off) and muggy day which wasn't conducive to feeling sprightly.  But for some reason the pace was quick - running 4:20's around the wharves.  Massive group but I was mainly chatting to Enda, Hoey, Kanser and James Lambert.  Well, I say chatting, more like grunting and complaining at the pace.  14km.

Sunday easy

Tired.  3km then yoga then 6km.  Legs very wobbly post yoga.

Saturday Parkrun and long run

Out at 6am for 11km solo before meeting Macca, Andy, Ben, Paul and Chris Yates at Curly for Parkrun.  Andy was dressed in a full length skeleton suit including mask so sole aim of the morning was not to let that joker beat me.  But general intention was to run with Macca and push him around.

Set off easy, caught Macca between 2 and 3km, would feel him slow a bit on the hills then come past me again on the down.  He pushed hard with 600m to go but just failed to get under 17mins.

Then did a warmdown with Macca and Andy before taking Charlie to cricket at Seaforth Oval and doing my final 7km from there - pretty tired at this stage.

27km all up.  Average 4:31's.  16:59 Parkrun.

Then on to Oktoberfest:

Aberdeen Asset Management

So after 600m I was writing my CV and tracking down my P45, Barts nearly got run over while Statto, MC and New Boy Tim remained diplomatically silent.  All after seeing Andy "training" with his fellow employee.  And Andy had no intention of joining us for the run and spreading the joy. Oh no.  We were brushed off summarily with a very clear indication that    he was not to be disturbed.

13km very easy with the above mentioned plus Kanser and Ronan.

113km for the week. 

Thursday early sess

Again just the hardcore of me and Emma for another early start Thursday.  Session was 3 x 2.36km for me (figure of eight Nolan's circuit) with Emma doing 3 x 2km.  I ran 7:43, 7:37 and 7:36 putting some real effort in.  Another confidence builder.

4km warm up and 4.5km warmdown for 15.5km all up.

Will be interesting to see how Emma goes at JPMorgan.  Chatting to her you realise there's a competitive mongrel in there..

Wednesday MLR

Out with Iain, Macca and Quentin this morning for a very easy 16km in 4:47's.  Hammy a bit sore. 

Hills and decreasing hard tempos

Just Emma C and me for the session this morning.  First up 6 x 30s hills beside Mackellar Girls, then 10, 5, 3, 2, 1 mins off a 2min jog.

Felt strong today and able to hold form.  10, 5 and 3 were all at 3:18-3:20 pace then 3:09 and 3:00 pace for the 2 and 1. Although feeling good while running I started to feel really tired on the long warmdown and the glutes in particular were aching.  Only issue was hammy was a bit sore at the end.  Tough session to test it out though.  Was pretty blustery out there so at times had to work very hard to maintain pace.

Emma got stronger on each hill but was complaining of lack of speed on the reps. Great to hear she's entered for JPMorgan though - another girl to add to the mix.

15.5km all up.

Monday morning

Out early for a very easy 4km with Bec (couple of faster loops of Passmore for her) then carried on for another 11km for me.  Ran past Lewis and his unmistakeable bouncing stride along Manly Beach.  Pretty tired towards the end.  These early mornings kill me.  Another tomorrow.  But also affected by an hour of yoga last night.  Yes, you read that correctly.

15km averaging 4:49's.

Sunday shock!

Poor Ben was beside himself.  It had taken him 48hours to adjust to the idea that we wouldn't be running Narrabeen Lake back via Cromer, only for Macca to head up Pittwater Rd on the usual route. Dicky was quietly seething that his planned route to Tania Park had been usurped.  The rest of us (Quentin, Rich Mullaney, Erika and myself) were just enduring the pain of low 4min kms while Macca and Dicky fought for who would be leading and therefore determining which way to go.  The problem, you see, is that Macca can't face hills, at least for the first 15km of a run.  On the other hand, Dicky doesn't like the flat.  It's all too stressful.  We'll be reverting to the usual route next week.

Another cracker of a morning.  I was a bit stiff after too many red wines last night meant I neglected the stretching.  With the hilly route on top of that I was feeling the hammy a bit towards the end.  All up 28.5km averaging 4:36's.

Cop a load of that Hoey.  Emporio's Big Breakfast.  Macca and I are in food heaven.  10/10.

Saturday fitting it in

All day outside first at cricket then at the Manly West Carnival bumping into half of the HuRT Squad including Jimmy, Darren, Erikakaka, Dicky et al.  Managed to offload Claudia onto Bec for an hour to sneak home and fit in the scheduled 40min run.  Felt good today so just got quicker throughout - as the splits show.

10km.

Friday rest day

So I did 8km very easy to Shelley and back instead.  Bit of a hangover after a full house at the Bull & Bear and an ISDA members dinner.  37:36 (4:34's).  

106km for the week.

HuRTS 8 x 800m

Small but loyal crowd.  Each one will PB at JPMorgan. The rest of youse are gooone. 

Ran with Tongey on the first then alone but with JFen dipping in and out and Timmy doing 400's so helping me on the first lap of each alternate rep.

2:30 to start with and 2:20 to end off the rolling 4 mins.  Average was 2:26.50.  2-3s per rep slower than earlier this season but very happy with that as a first speed session in 3 months.  Took the shoes off after 5 reps and made a big difference.  Take away is to buy lighter racing flats for the race.

Told JFen (who was flying on the few 800's he did after his solo 10x400m set) that my sole aim was to beat him at JPMorgan so the cat is out of the bag.

14km all up.

Wednesday MLR

Caught up with Iain early doors for the North Head loop.  Bumped into Quentin on the way to Shelley who then joined in. Beautiful morning for it.  Can't beat Manly.  Legs fairly cactus again but slow sign of improvement towards the end when I picked up the pace a bit.

16.5km in 74:36 (4:30's).  

I'm hoping at some stage things are going to click.  But it ain't happening yet.

HuRTS - Progressive Hurt

Got a chance to pop out at lunchtime for the progressive 45min tempo in the heat.  Wasn't what was scheduled but given the chance to run hard with a crowd I took that over running by myself.

Set off with World Silver Medallist Crossy, Hamish and Clydesdale Jono.  CT and Barts went off ahead.  That said, when we picked up the pace every 10 mins we started to catch them as they dawdled around, such that on the turn at 23:15 at the entrance to Barangaroo we were right behind them.

Crossy pulled out at CQ and the others had dropped off by then.  CT and Barts had gone past me even before the Harbour Bridge so it was a lonely struggle back home.  But managed it with 2 seconds spare in 44:58.  LJ should take some pacing lessons from me.

Thighs were wrecked the whole way around and my legs just felt lethargic and tired throughout.  Some nasty virus toxins still in there I reckon.  But the breathing was fine and I haven't passed out at my desk this arvo which is a plus.

4km warmdown with Charlie and Barts for 16km all up.

Run home

Ran home.  Felt shocking.  Still feel as though I've got the virus in my legs.  The Ebola virus.  Maybe due to the Tiger massage this am stirring things up.

68:49 via Burnt Bridge Creek.

Solid run by the Cap'n in Amsterdam running 2:46.  Sensational run by Milly Clark in 2:29.  She could be on the way to Rio with that.  The Cap'n went through the Half in 1:19:06 feeling great, so what is it about our marathon prep?  Too few kms?

Sunday with the boys

27km with Macca, Ben, Craig and Rich Mullaney.  We extended the latter an invite to the exclusive Northern Beaches long run/breakfast club on the basis he's English, lives NOTB and has some talent. Few have the trifecta. 

Slow (4:38's) but I was still struggling my way through it still suffering a bit from last week.

Forgot to mention that we saw the who's who of the Northern Beaches on this morning's run.  First up was Elle enjoying breakie in the cafe at North Narrabeen.  Then another talented female athlete in Melinda Gainsford-Taylor jogging around Narrabeen Lake.  All the stars are NOTB. 

Also didn't mention that Charlie's cricket team smashed Peninsula yesterday (4-117 versus 20-74) with Peninsula managed by none other than Michael Slater.  Here he is imparting advice to his outgoing batsman.  Made Charlie even happier with his 2 wickets off his final 2 balls:

Great runs by Barts, Q and JFen at Curl Curl yesterday.  Mixed performances at Melbourne.  Jess Trengove stunned with her 2:27 but Erika will be a little disappointed with her 2:57 after struggling from not taking enough water on.  A PB is a PB and it shows her strength of character to fight through but there's definitely a low 2:50 in her.