Berry long run

Down in Berry for the Fairgrounds music festival for the weekend. Woke up in a tent on Saturday morning having had my best nights sleep in yonks. Nothing starting up until noon so got permission to do a long run in the morning. Did two 13km loops of a route going up Agar’s lane south of Berry and it was magic. A bit undulating but on quiet roads in beautiful countryside. And my Achilles wasn’t even sore. Managed 26.5km in under 2 hours (4:28’s).  Then a dip in the pool and starting on the cider at 1pm listening to some great bands. Happy days.

Post script:  Went for a little “lie down” at 8.30pm - 3 hours before the kids - and woke up 11hours later.  Booze and sunshine don’t work for me.

Friday hungover

Hungover from my client Xmas party. Managed my slowest ever 10km in the late afternoon.  Didn’t get one 10km split in under 5mins. Checked out a few ovals though.

HuRTs 10 x 400m plus 4 x 150m

Jogged over to Rushcutters still feeling fatigued and not much better than yesterday, although the achilles and calf were much better after ditching the exercises last night and just resting. I think I’ve been hammering it too much.

Arrived to find Timmy had set up the cones and marked out the beautiful surface perfectly. So after a bit of procrastination we were into it.  Didn’t smash them out but ran relatively hard and tried to stick with the same people. Timmy was running them well and Brendan, Jerome and Andy were ahead.  Picked up a bit towards the end when I gained confidence about not falling apart.

Times were: 74s, 74s, 74s, 74s, 74s, 74s, 73s, 73s, 72s and 71s.

Then onto 4 x 150m with a different person leading out each rep.  This is when you see the testosterone fly and some different blokes come out of the woodwork.  Have to say that Jerome looked majestic on the final 2. 

Jogged back for about 10km all up.

Wednesday abort

Late out at lunch. Planned a run around Centennial. Got to Kings Cross and pulled the pin. Left calf very tight, Achilles sore, knackered and couldn’t be arsed.  Liam and Biggsy both stopped to have a word seeing me walk back to the office.

HuRTs 4 x 2km reps

And Jac’s last session. Bumped into her on the way down with Renee. Said a few words and then we got into it.

Approached the session apprehensively, trying to feel my way in. Ran with Enda and Fats on the first rep overtaking Timmy towards the end  (6:56) so tried to keep them all under 7:00.  Enda ran away on the 2nd but then found out he was only doing 2. Fats also ahead.  But quicker in 6:50.  6:57 on the third when I set off behind the group so was playing catch up.  Then decided to put an effort in on the last rep and felt great running with Q and Jono for a 6:43.  Tired after that though.

3km warm down with Q and happy enough. Until I got back to the office and saw what times I ran this session at the end of July 2016, off a rolling 8:30 (instead of 9:00 today).

Monday recovery

12km nice and easy with Enda, Hoey and the HuRTs crew. Feeling ok.

Almost a long run

Shunned the 6am start despite a 5.30am alarm as I need the sleep recovery after a harder run on the Saturday.  Fortunately Craig and Hamish were keen for an 8.30am start.  Bit of a discussion as to where to go but we settled on a run around Narrabeen Lake getting there the most direct route.

Nice run. Felt good. Shout out to Lewis on our first km flying back the other direction (although as it turned out we were to return running the same pace over that section).

Pavlov Dog reaction on that route results in the pace increasing from Cromer onwards.  Last 2 km with Craig in under 4mins per km and I was cooked (it was pretty warm by then).  All up 25.2km in 4:28's.

Getting there.

Saturday session

Dropped Charlie at Kogarah then back to Centennial to catch up with Timmy and Birchy. Plan was a warm up then 8km tempo around the park then a cool down.

Hungover after our Department Xmas Lunch in the Lord Nelson yesterday. That said, we set off on the tempo with Timmy running 3:35 for the first km and I felt pretty comfortable.  Struggled a bit on the slight rises but then back into a good rhythm after 5km with Timmy helping out. All up ran 8km in 29:33 (3:41's) feeling ok.

14km all up.

Amazing runs by Scotty and Dave Criniti at State 5000m tonight.  14:48 holy crap with Scotty nudging Dave by 12 hundredths. 

HuRTs Awards

Too busy at work for session so just did 10km

in the late afternoon heading up to Centennial as I'm bored of the wharfs.  Very easy pace - 4:41's.

Then on to the awards and a great night.  The winners were:

1. Male POTY:  Barts off of his sensational C2S.

2. Female POTY:  Erika off of her Sun Run victory.

3. Improver:  Scotty based off his improvement from an already high standard.

4. Ultra: Luca due to his World Record exploits on the dreadmill.

5. Spirit:  Renee. Say no more.

6. Underperformed:  Timmy. No explanation required.

7. Triathlon:  Travis. Rare talent.

8. Nomad:  Andy.  Carcoar.

around and about

Up at Sparrow's Fart to wake Maggie and announce to her she was doing a speed session with 3 of the Beaches finest female runners in Erika, Amy and Emma.  They were doing 10 x 500m on Nolan's so I figured Maggie could do 250m reps.  Bit on confusion on which way they were running but she managed a few and loved it trying to keep up with her older fellow runners.

I ran about a bit, then did a cool down with Erika before heading on to Shelley where I joined in with Lewis for a bit (boy he goes hard every day) before retreating home.

15km slow but plenty of time in feet and a top morning with some top people.

HuRTs 1km reps

First up was final stroke correction class at 6.30am.  Still lots to work on, particularly relaxing my arm on entry and pushing the shoulder down.  But getting there.  I can now swim a much slower stroke so will join the Vladswim squad and hammer out the km for the time being.  Leaves me totally shagged (hence today's feeling at lunchtime) but so be it.

Out at lunch feeling knackered but down for the 8 x 1km reps (2min rest) at Barangaroo which is a pretty social session.  Massive turnout for a popular set which I may amend to put on more regularly.  First rep was a heart starter in 3:23 struggling along but then felt good for the next 5 running with Fats and Lachie in the 3:17 - 3:18 range.  After 6 the heat, humidity and morning swim got to me so eased up over the final two running 3:40's.

Another session done.  A bit of progression each time.  Cool down with Macca, JFen, Barts and Geordie for 13km all up.

Sunday on Monday

Missed Sunday run because:

1. I slept in having had the best night sleep in ages; and

2. Was going to go out in the afternoon but ended up taking the boys and 2 of Charlie's mates to "Thor: Ragnarok", which I thought would be 2 hours of kip after buying an Asahi with my popcorn but which turned out to be one of the funniest films I've seen in ages.  4 out of 5 popcorns on the Timmy scale for that one.

Anyway, got out at lunchtime today and had a great run with the squad, chatting to Gleeso, Biggsy, Jerome, Brendan and Heydo - finishing the whole 22.5km with the latter. Felt nice and bouncy today. A day's rest helps. The new Wave Rider 21's no doubt assisted.

Parkrun - 2nd in 17:12

Turned up today intent on staying with Darren and Ben for as long as possible. Ben was a no-show and Darren had had a few beers the night before so wasn't sure how he'd go.  But on the start line Jody Wall showed up and he ran a 16:4x a couple of weeks back so knew he'd keep it honest.

From the start Darren goes off like a shot and has gapped me and Jody by 20m. Stays that way gradually reeling him in by 2km. Then on the miserable pathway from the netball courts Jody pulls ahead as I'm feeling glum. 3:17, 3:23 then 3:30.  Then the hill and Darren drops off and Jody pulls ahead by to about 50m.  The gap stays that way. I was 15:00 at the bridge so a pretty poor effort coming home for 17:12 (last 2 kms 3:31 and 3:30). 

But all in all a good hit out and the times are starting to come down.  3km warm up and a 3km jog home for 11km all up.

Friday plod

Out solo although Jerome caught me at the end and we briefly ran together.  Tried to keep the heart rate low but still 135bpm for 10km in 4:45's.  Some people swear by this heart rate thing (Darrell credits his marathon PB at Sydney this year on it despite less volume) whereas others (Tiger in particular) think it's bollocks. 

My guess is that it has a place for building endurance for marathons, Ironman and above but no use for anything less.

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.