Melbourne

Caught up with Melbourne clients last night.  If my liver survives intact until Christmas I deserve HuRTS PoTY.

This morning was a run to the Tan, couple of laps, then back to the hotel for a lovely breakie.  Perfect morning in Melbourne - blue skies and cooler and less humid than Sydney.  

Wednesday short

Too busy at work then went to the STC production of King Lear starring Geoffrey Rush last night with Bec.  So missed my PM run and was too knackered to join Justin when my alarm sounded at 5.30am.  Got out at 7am for a very easy run to Shelley and back in 35:50 (4:28's).  

Usual crowd out there including Amelia (the future Mrs Cap'n) and Lewis who I high-fived in exuberant fashion.

Double trouble

AM:

6km tempo along the beachfront.  Erika, Jamie, Quentin and myself fronted up.  I told Quentin we needed to be sub20 and he duly obliged.  Km splits went:

3:13, 3:17, 3:18, 3:23 (turning at Shelley), 3:19 and 3:09.  So through 5km in 16:30 and 19:40 all up.  Mission accomplished.

Hard work that, but great to have Q there pushing the pace with me occasionally doing my share if he slacked a bit.

Saw the Cap'n pretending to smile on a see-saw.

3km warm up and 5.5km warmdown.

Sunday Special

The usual route with a returning Barts, Macca, Ben and Justin.  Stunning morning and we ran nice and easy but stretched our legs over the final few km.  29km in 4:31's.  Then a dip in the ocean (cold but perfect for the legs) and bacon & eggs at Emporio.  I challenge anyone to top that for a Sunday morning.  Saw Anna Fitz running around Narrabeen Lake.

Put up a new bed, chucked one out, lay down on the sofa to watch some David Attenbrough then wandered along to the Riverview Pde Christmas Street Party.  Lasted 30mins, just enough time to remind myself why I appreciate living at the povo end of the street.

Maggsie all dressed up for next week's ballet performance:

Saturday cop out

Another missed session.  This time courtesy of the Annual Super Series lunch at North Bondi Fish.  But a top afternoon celebrating with CT, Q and Barts - us all buying the latter his lunch as a result of winning with 2015 season.

Managed to get out in the late arvo for 10km around Nolan's running with the kids.  Charlie did 5km in 28:47.  I did about 45mins.

4 x broken 6:30's

Different session today.  4 x (2:30, 1:30, 30) with 1min easy between each rep and 3mins jog between each set.  So it works out as a continuous 35mins.

Just Quentin, Macc and me this morning.  Wasn't looking forward to it as I was tired all of yesterday and convinced myself I'd take it easy behind Q.  We did ease into the first set (just 3:20 average for the first 2:30) but you'll see those times started coming down for each new set.  Nice session in the end - mentally easier as once you've done the first 2:30 then 1:30 and 30 reps can be blasted out.

9.3km in total for the 35mins (3:45 pace including 9mins of slow jog).

2.5km warm up and 3.5km warm down for 15km all up.

Wednesday MLR

Same as last week with Emma - elongated it to 17km this time but with the same 4 x 80m hills which I'm finding really beneficial.

Emma's getting stronger.

12 x 500m

AM:

It's now become my most dreaded session.  Hurts like hell and is hardly over and done with quickly either.

Big group out on Nolan's this morning with Macca, Jamie, Emma, Erika and the Cap'n all showing up.  Beautiful morning with mist over the fields but which meant they were pretty damp.  The shoes were heavy after the warm up.  Marked out 500m on the grass to keep the boss happy.

Reps went 1:33, 1:33, 1:34, 1:34, 1:34, 1:34, 1:33, 1:33, 1:33, 1:32, 1:30, 1:28

Took my shoes off for the final 3 which made a big difference as ever.  3-4s a rep slower than on the paths but made a difference when Jamie or Justin was on my shoulder.

3km warm up and 4km warmdown for 14km all up.

PM:

11km running at the back of the HuRT Squad 45min progressive tempo.  Canny warm like.

Monday get together

Strangely Monday is almost the most popular running day of the HuRTs week.  Big crowd today including MC, Charlie, Erika, Renee, Sonya, Enda, Birchy, Jacquie et al.  Achilles a bit sore again - need to stretch and get the magnesium in.  Too much beer and too much heat makes the body very stiff.  Out to Barangaroo and back around the wharves.  Finished up with 4 x 80m hills with Erika for 17km all up.  Legs and achilles felt much better after the 4th hill rep than before, as ever.

Plenty of banter and stories today with Charlie cowering inside his house all last night because he's forgotten how to fight and Mikey giving us his stock picks after telling us he did 7 hours of meditative silence yesterday.  He's unique, that fella.

Sunday

Saturday was a wipeout.  Felt guilty.

Out again Saturday night to Jon and Jane's Shaggiversary in The Rocks.  Too tired Sunday morning so got out at 3pm after joining the Climate Change march.  26km around North Head and Manly.  Felt fine but Achilles was sore.  Got some abuse from Darren out of a car window up at North Head and, thankfully, bumped into Thamal at Shelley beach on the way back so ran the final 10km with him chatting the whole way.  4:29's.

HuRTS Beer Mile

So Friday evening was the scariest event on the HuRTs calendar - the beer mile.  4 beers (min 5% vol, 355ml), one at the start of each 400m lap.  Now, I'm not renowned for the swiftness of my beer drinking.  More like a chugging Diesel engine than a TGV.  So this is always a struggle for me.

Double the crowd from last year and I can see this event becoming more and more popular.  We had to split into two races due to numbers - I went in the first "fast" race only because all my betting rivals (Macca, Timmy and Birchy) were in this one.  I'd have been more comfortable in the B race (as would Birchy and Timmy as history will show - but more of that in a second). I had 3 bets on - head to heads with Timmy and Birchy and with Macca giving me a 29s head start - based off last year's result.

Timmy's done a great job in marking out the lap with his magical cones and laying out all the VB and New on the picnic table ready for us to grab each lap.  We line up, Birchy goes early opening his can before the starter gives the sign, someone cracks the obvious joke and then we're off.  At least everyone else is while I do my repeated gulps.  The leaders start the run and I'm only half way through. Everyone is now off bar Me and Nick Roberts.  Someone is as slow as me!  We eventually go, I burp for 100m then start sprinting.  Just catch Birchy by the end of lap 1 and the next beer awaits.  

Same again, everyone else slowing down now though.  Next lap I overtake Timmy and Birchy and, barring a barf, I know I've got $40 in the bag here.  Where is Macca.  Holy cow, he's challenging the leaders.

And so we get through.  Nick Roberts is with me the whole way, beer for beer and stride for stride but a barf on lap 4 consigns him to a penalty lap.  I run 7:44 (pretty much same as last year). Birchy is happy with his 8:00.  Macca takes $20 off me running an impressive 7:04 for 3rd place behind Nick Haines and Charlie Low.  Captain Grumpy was in the mix enjoying th VBs.  Funniest thing though was seeing a table of VBs lined up for race 2 with almost everyone in race 1 choosing the New.

I won't mention how Timmy went.

Then we watched race 2.  Great showdown between Durante, Darren and Greg(?) and then Jacquie, Sonya and Erika for the ladies champion.

Then we're all on a high so retire to O'Malleys in the Cross.  Never seen Macca so high.

4 x 2km

Probably my worst session of the year.  Got up at 5.30am for the 6th time in a row and it showed.  Not helped by it being 28C at 6am and blowing a hot westerly wind.

Just me and Emma today.  Used the same 1km Nolan's route as Tuesday and did 2 laps changing direction each time.  That was the first mistake.  Clockwise was considerably slower than anti-clockwise due to the wind.

Reps were ugly.  When things got really bad, I just concentrated on form.  Reps went:

6:52

6:42

6:50

6:34

Last rep was barefoot finally feeling vaguely ok.  Otherwise I was heavy legged and lacking desire.  Emma was the same.  We decided not to ever talk about that session again.

Long warm up and down for 17km

all up.

Beer Mile tomorrow.  I don't think I've ever wanted to beat anyone in a race as much as I want to beat Timmy in this one.

Wednesday MLR

16km easy with Emma, Erika and Dicky followed by 4x80m hills.  Beaut of a morning.  Then onto Claudia's Christmas concert where she was a Japanese dancer.  Not sure what it's got to do with  Christmas but she got to dance with a parasol so she was happy.

Tuesday 3 x 1km

Short and sharp today.  Up at sparrows fart as usual and managed 3km jog before meeting Erika and Emma for the session.  Decided to finally obey coach's orders to run on grass and so got my cones out and marked out 1km around Nolans.  Grass was fairly long and dewy so was expecting the times to be down a bit.

Km reps went 3:03, 3:00 and 2:57.  Happy with that on the grass.  Took my shoes off and ran barefoot for the final rep which feels magic in longish damp grass.  Anything to take concentration away from the lactic build up in the legs.

Girls going well running under and over 3:30.  5km warm down and all done before 7am.

Monday morning starter

Manic morning with Kirst held up in Melbourne overnight.  Managed to get out at 6am for 12km to Shelley and back.  Ran fast up the hill behind Shelley just to get the blood pumping.  High fived Lewis running back along Manly Beach and chatted to Macca after bumping into him on Riverview Pde.  How very social.

4:24's.  Left achilles sore after the weekend.

Sunday similar

Just me, Craig and Rich Mullaney this morning.  Slightly different route going around the back of Narrabeen Caravan Park and the West side of Narrabeen Lake.  28.5km averaging 4:24's.  Bit quicker as Craig was down to do the final 8km in 4min clicks.

Tom B has got Craig into shape nicely for the 50km World Champs in Doha.  He's put in some big blocks of mileage, has been sickness and injury free and now just has to taper nicely for the race in 2 weeks.  I sense Craig's biggest worry is whether to ease off at the start and run his own pace or whether to go in a pack with someone like Brendan Davies.  I think he should just see how he feels on the day.

Manfred Mann and Parkrun

Busy morning on kid duties with Kirst away so had to do the 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1min reps (off 1mim jog) before Parkrun and under strict instructions to do it on the grass.  So did 3+km warmup then the set on the fields adjacent to the Parkrun start.  Found it tough going on the grass.  Got through it averaging 3:30's (inc. the jogs).

Then 5mins jog and rest before starting Parkrun.  Recognised Gary Mullins but didn't realise how fit he was.  First km was comfortable in 3:17 (having been fully warmed up), then 2nd km in 3:17 and he's still there.  Third km in 3:23 and now Gary is in front, 4th km in 3:16 and we're side by side, final km in 3:05 after being urged by Gary to keep going with 500m to run and I get the win by 5s.  Pretty bloody tired at the end of that.  3+km jog home for 17.5km all up.

Charlie at cricket this morning.  His batting is improving:

London bound!

Session this morning was 75mins continuous - which is 15mins jog, 20mins fartlek (2mins on, 1min off), 5mins jog, 20mins tempo then 15mins jog.

Ran with Erika and Emma around the usual loop of Nolans and Passmore.  Longer warm up of 3.8km then into it.  Always find the fartlek harder than the tempo and I usually run the tempo at a slightly quicker pace.  But not today as its the first one i've done since June.  5.81km for the fartlek (average pace 3:26) then 5.75km for the tempo (3:28's).

All up it's over 19km which is why it's such a solid session.

Erika and Emma averaging just over 4:00mins per km for both.

Congrats to my eldest brother on his new job.  Looks like he's about to become a pom again!

Redonculous

Saw this graph on Twitter this morning:

I was surprised to see so much red towards the top of the map.  It seems that Americans have become hysterical about settling 12,000 "widows and orphans" (as described by Obama) on the basis of the Paris attacks, when something not too far removed from the Paris attacks seems to occur in an American school or university with depressing regularity.

But back to running.  Today was a very nice slow run to Redleaf Pool in mid-30's heat with Mikey, Charlie, Hoey, Andy, JW, Tym, Nathan and others.  7km there, lovely dip in the cool water watching the rich socialites before running 7km back.

Wahey!!!

Have You Been Paying Attention

12 x 500m again this morning off the usual rolling 3 minutes.  This is rapidly turning into my most dreaded session.  Hurts like hell and if it doesn't you ain't running fast enough.  This morning it was Erika, Emma and Jamie with me on the pain train.

1:31 on the first rep, then a series of 1:30's with me wondering how I ran 2s per rep quicker when chasing Quentin.  Then after 6 reps Jamie woke up and started pushing harder on my shoulder, so I pushed harder thinking I was slowing.  A series of 1:28's finishing with a 1:26 followed - the last was eyes closed, pumping the arms waiting for the lags to buckle.

3km warm up and 5.5km warmdown for 15.5km all up.  Solid and legs comfortably numb all day.

Today's title is in homage to my favourite program on the box at the moment.  Sam Pang's dead-pans are priceless.