HuRTs Rushcutters photo fest

Biggsy had his drone so Renee demanded a change to Rushcutters.  Mona Fartlek was the scheduled session so I changed to 8x800m off a rolling 4:30 (front group) and 5:00 (second group).

Great turnout, ground in mint condition and achilles still feeling good.  So I put some effort in for the first time in 10months.  Scotty was way out front; Andy, Jerome, Jack and Mikey L were in a group next with Fats, Enda, Macca and me behind.  Kept them consistent around 2:30 (it was short) with the last 2 a bit quicker.  Great to be able to push myself hard again so hopefully the improvements will come.

Great crowd as I said and nice to see LJ out having avoided the injury she feared and with Renee, Jac, Enda and another chick we had a decent female contingent for a change.

11km all up.

Not looking hugely comfortable.

Melbourne Wednesday

Best thing about staying overnight in Melbourne is the morning run from the Grand Hyatt.  Same as yesterday but:

1. Turned 1km further for 14km.

2. Cooler and beautiful weather for a run.

3. Had to face the mad commuter cyclists along the Yarra Trail. They're fucking nuts.

4:26's and moving well.  Happy. Achilles good.

Melbourne Tuesday

Down for a meeting and managed to get out along the Yarra Trail for 12km (turning at St Kevin's boat shed).  Bloody hot (32C) and as a result required more effort than would otherwise have been the case.  4:27's, picking up the pace gradually the whole way.

Sunday 2km extra

So each Sunday I'm adding 2km in order to build gradually. After an unexpected big night on Saturday (ended in the Boatshed at 1am with Mrs H and showing some good moves on the pool table) I got out in the afternoon and had the pleasure of Birchy's company. Even better, we ran into Erika along the way. 

Stayed local and finished with a couple of laps of Nolan's. Very easy pace (5:00+) for the 20km and the Achilles was a bit sore as a result so took Voltaren.

Saturday doublay

Dropped Charlie at Kogarah and met Timmy for a coffee which turned into 2.  So only 30mins odd for a ride which I did pushing around Centennial.  Did 2 faster laps (5:51 and 5:56) amongst the 20km.  First ride since Nepean and the legs were a bit rusty.

Got out in the late arvo for a run. Decided to put a place marker down on the 5km double loop of Manly Golf Course. Did 17:41 which I was pretty happy with. Laps of 8:50 and 8:51 so managed not to fall apart.  11km all up.

Friday I'm in love

Very easy plod in the late afternoon.  10km in 4:50's.  Had a very tough week at work and struggled with work and today was the result of that.

Wed easy

Out with Timmy for my 7th consecutive day for 11km very easy. Joined by Hoey and Marko.

91km over the past 7 days and feeling upbeat.

Tuesday HuRTs

45 continuous for my first Tuesday HurTS session in a year.  Feeling more and more confident with the achilles following the added glute exercises so set off with the intention of sticking to Macca for as long as I could.

Session is 7 x 2mins on, 1 off, 5min jog followed by 20mins tempo. Stuck to Macca until the turn, catching Enda just as we started the 5 min jog. Very impressed to see Cathy Liu only 100m back, got into the tempo return and stuck to Enda before pushing ahead from Mrs Macs back home.

Really happy with that averaging 3:49's for the whole 45mins.  3km cool down with Scotty and Q.

Encouraging

Ran 12km with the Monday HuRTs crew chatting mostly to Enda, Brendon F and Hoey. Best run I've had since injury.  Felt like I was finally flowing and achilles better than ever at the end. Have done some new glute medius exercises (my "Stephen Bradbury" exercises) so perhaps they are setting everything up properly.

4:36's br a great confidence boost.

Sunday increasing mileage gradually

Out for my first early Sunday run in 9 months. Caught up with Ben, Darren, Macca and the Cap'n for 18km on the flat at an easy pace.  Achilles good all the way although a bit sore now.  4:42's.

Saturday

6 hours of driving to kids activities with a hangover and then got out at 5.30pm. Couple of tempo sections - one Nolan's/Passmore loop and then another 2.2km around the golf course to keep the average pace for the 10km respectable (4:12's).

Beer Mile

Got out at lunchtime on Friday for an easy 10km around the wharves with Gidon, Jeet, Jerome and Mark.

Then it was the Beer Mile. Arrived and was very nervous.  Watched the B Race and was even more nervous, especially seeing JC and Jac both hurling big style.

Plan was the same as always, multiple swigs but just keep them going, 100m of burping while jogging then 300m hard.  Had a ding dong battle with Birchy and Brendan early on with Craig Mc just ahead. Pulled ahead of them towards the last lap but had Nick Roberts come flying by me with 100m to go and I had nothing. Happy to finish and with exactly the same time as last year (8:31). 

Here it is:  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hMYUSvdWviY

Then on to O'Malley's for what is becoming the biggest social night of the year.

Thursday early

A rare early run for me but took some Voltaren last night to deal with this knee bursar and felt a million dollars.

13+km with Darren and Benny around the flat bits of Manly in 4:30's.

Melbourne Cup

Out early before our department lunch and Crossy was keen to do a tempo. I ageed to go with him provided it was no quicker than 3:50's.

Did a nice route around Blackwater Bay but by Anzac Bridge (7km ish) I was struggling to hold on.  Each km split was between 3:45 - 3:50 until we climbed the bridge where I blew out to a 4:24!  

Chest still very tight but fitness is appalling.  Nice to get it done though and thanks to Crossy.

Lost as usual on the Cup.  My annual contribution to the Allens banking team.

MLR

Well, longest run in a long while. Did the North Head loop (16.6km) in 1:12:24 (4:22's).  Bouncing along nicely with a much higher cadence than recently. Maybe that Parkrun yesterday was just the ticket.

Nice to do a different loop if a very familiar one. Achilles good, right knee a bit sore.

Back to Parkrun

Have decided to try and get in a regular habit of doing Parkruns. I'm a bit worried that all my running is at a slow pace these days so need to get the legs used to some faster stuff. Didn't want to go full bore though (chest still very tight post cold) so a tempo it was.

Got up and did my usual eccentric loading and roll out which had the achilles feeling good. Woke Mags up and headed over with Kirst who was doing some laps of the oval.  Started very easily mid pack and spent 2km overtaking people.  Was in about 7th at 2km and noticed the bloke 100m in front of me cut the corner at the netball courts the cheating bastard. Resolved there and then to beat him. Took me until the final 300m to get past him (and a significant pick up in the final km) but karma was restored.

All up 4th in 18:43.  It's a start.

Jogged back up the track to see Mags having a great run not having done this for a few months. I think she came in at high 22's but looked great doing so and put a few middle aged men to shame.

Cold FFS

Still can't shake this cold. Actually feel worse today than yesterday. Got out at lunch on a manic day for 10+km very easy with Enda, Jerome, Mark B, TKS and Jack the Lad.  Running feels fine (albeit I haven't tried any pace work since my depressing 400's of last week) and only averaged 130bpm.

Post JPM blues

Missed JPMorgan due to sickness (I was bed-ridden Monday and Tuesday) which was frustrating given I've been running pretty much pain free for 3 weeks now.  Got out today for 10+km around the wharves with Hoey (talking about Quintis), Jerome, Renee, Gidon, Birchy and Jack the Lad.  4:45's feeling pretty comfortable (138 bpm average heart rate).

Some great runs last night. Scotty dipped under 17 for 3rd, Barts just over but got the last of my PBs by 3s, great to see Andy putting it on the line to go under 18 and LJ returned to racing with a low 20 for 4th.

Moving around

Saturday 16th was a 12km where I picked up the pace and ended up doing 4:15's which was pretty encouraging. Feel as though I have the cardio with the bike work but no running legs at the moment.

Sunday and Monday were travelling to Menorca.  Arrived stiff and sore and immediately hired a bike on Monday afternoon.  Got out for ~55km rides each morning (Tues, Wed and Thurs) since. Brilliant country roads to ride along and wonderful way to see the Island.  Have absolutely loved it. All at a good pace (30kmh+) and feel as though the riding is going well.

Been doing some new exercises for the achilles which is giving me some new hope. Will try a run in Berlin tomorrow.

Progress

Thursday was another missed lunchtime session so got out at 5pm and did the 12.5km loop of Centennial via the Cross and Ocean St.  Sick of the wharves and love getting out to the Park.  Even the prospect of all the hills didn't put me off.  Also feeling really upbeat with the achilles starting to feel better.  I'm still as slow as.  It's like the increased strength of cycling muscles just doesn't allow me to run freely very well.  Either that or I'm just crap at running due to lack of training.  Anyway, it was an enjoyable 4:45's.

This morning was a response to a call to arms from Timmy.  6am bike training in Centennial was called, and I felt as though I needed to keep the NOTB in the game knowing Macca couldn't make it.  It involved a 4:50am alarm, motorbike to the city then ride from work to Centennial.  Kroney and Timmy had just finished a warm up lap and 30km was called comprising the 6.65km hilly loop we did last time followed by an easy lap x 3.  A beaut of a morning and a brief shot from Timmy before we were straight into it:

Good loop for me as we start with only 400m on the flat loop before we swing left up the hill.  I give this a bit of a nudge, see I've got a small gap on Kroney and a bigger gap on Timmy.  Head around the U and down the hill only to see it was actually Timmy just behind up the hill with BK nowhere in sight.  Some big fella comes past down the hill, I jump on his wheel and we are flying.  Work well with Timmy for the rest of the loop and we finish in 10:30 - much quicker than I expected.  Kroney just dips under 11mins having ridden solo.

Then a gentle lap to recover before we're straight into it again.  I jump out of the saddle up the hill but this time Kroney matches all the way and, seeing a gap between us and Timmy at the top we then work together all the way round.  Far out he's strong, taking big turns on the front into the wind.  Plainly he was just sizing us up on the first lap.  Legs go lactic as I push the false flat around Fox Studios Gates and we finish together in 10:22.

Another sort of recovery lap but we're all dreading the final interval.  It comes around too quickly and we're off again but this time Kroney really pushes the hill gapping me by about 5s at the top.  I look around to see Timmy about 10s behind and realise that I can:

(a)  put a huge effort in to catch Kroney knowing he'll drag me around ahead of Timmy; or

(b)  not do so and have Timmy catch me and work with him.

So (a) is obviously a much more attractive proposition so I do that.  Catch him around the U and again we work together well but at times I'm giving 90% effort just to stay on his wheel.  Finish in 10:23.

Stoked with that session.  Really fast times and a rock solid effort.  But always satisfying to do a great session early in the morning on a beautiful day.  Full cycling gear wanker coffees ensued: