MLR with marathon stretches

Burnt Bridge Creek, Queenscliff, Shelly, North Head then straight home. Included three 2km marathon pace stretches along Burnt Bridge Creek, Manly Beach and the final 2km of the Striders North Head route. Fast stretches times were 3:29, 3:29, 3:27, 3:27, 3:37, 3:29. Overall 18.52km in 1:17:40 for 4:12 per km.

Went out in the heat of the day (32C) and suffered as a result. Was fine until 10km then really tailed off. Pushed the final 2km fast stretch but it meant I crawled home from Manly (had to walk part way up the hill) and the pace dropped from 4:05 to 4:12 in that final 2km with a couple of 5:XX. Suffered from heat exhaustion at home feeling nauseous and light headed.

Need to do this session more though. The sort of session that makes you hate training.

Holiday time

Heel was agony and hugely swollen after the State 5000m so took Friday and Saturday off and took Voltaren. Dread to think of what it will be like after the 10000m. Fine by Sunday so ste off midday from Seal Rocks towards Yagon campsit on an undulating unsealed road. Hit the beach after about 25 minutes and then ran straight along it, into a headwind, until I reached the end. Pretty tough going in softish sand. Elapsed time was 1:05 so turned around and ran home. Tail wind all along the beach and was easily running sub-4's all the way. All up 27.4km in 2:02:40 (4:24's). http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2518730

Monday, legs were tired so ran to Yagon campsite and back. 19:00 (4:18's) on the way out, 16:10 (3:39's) on the way back pushing the hills and stretching in between.

Tuesday, back in Manly. Hilly 10km route feeling great in 37:22 (20:42 at South Steyne).

State 5000m - 15:39:07

Rocked up to see myself in the B Race, AthleticsNSW having split the competitors into 4 races. The A race was basically Australian representatives whilst the B Race was recent ex-Australian representatives and some gifted juniors. Plus me. The C race was the people I normally run against.

It was hot. I was sweating just sitting on the train to get out there. Not only that but the wind had picked up and was strong coming around the 200m bend. Having said that, I was protected for most of the way from the wind by tucking behind a good group I was running with and actually found it a bit of a relief to step out into it every now and then to cool down.

Did a bit of a warm up (not that that was necessary) with Ray before nervously heading over the the start line. Saw Keith Bateman, Paul Arthur, the Tiger and others flying around in the C Race and thought what the hell am I doing in the B Race lining up with the likes of the Shepster (see comments of 2 days ago), Nick Cope, Caleb Wegener, Liam Ridings et al, all sub-15 runners. Quick chat with DrJH and Truscott before picking up my lane number (no.13, which about summed it up) and we were on the start line. Waited for what felt like an eternity before we were off. I settled into a comfortable position (last) but at least I was running right on the inside of the track. All I could think of during the first km was that it was typical that the one race Kirst comes to see me run, I'm going to finish last.

Actually felt pretty comfortable for the first km going through in 3:04 so pushed ahead of the small group of 3 I was in to catch the next group which comprised Chamkaur, DrJH and Brad White(?). We were running well as a group - stretching out with the wind then feeling as though I was treading on their heels while tucked in behind going into it. At 2km I was starting to feel as though this race was going on forever, the heat just seemed to sap all bounce from your legs. Then at 2.2km DrJH just stepped off the track. I couldn't believe it! How could he do that? It's almost un-Australian. Then as soon as he did it, I wanted to do it! Really struggled then as I'd lost my game plan and all these negative thoughts were running through my head. It was just like Lane Cove in November when all the boys told me 2 minutes before the race that Durante wasn't showing up! However, just dug in, got to 2.5km and thought, ok, halfway. Just count the number of metres I've run. 3km in 9:22. I got so involved in working out whether I was at 3400m or 3800m that suddenly I realised I only had 3 laps to go. Looked up and we seemed to be getting closer to a few of the runners ahead. Then at 3.8km, or was it 4.2km, don't know, Truscott suddenly seems as though he's only 30m ahead but then he too steps off the track! What's going on? I'll take that as a win I thought.

2 laps to go and people are being chewed off and spat out left right and centre. Caught 3 more over the final 2 laps, including Earl O'Brien (winner of my State 3km race in November) to finish in 15:39. Pleased with the time in the conditions. More pleased just to have completed finishing relatively strongly. Things are on track. Dad's PB remains for another day.

Great to watch the A Race. Steve put in a really gutsy performance to finish 6th in 14:20. I reckon he would have been close to 14:00 in good conditions. Amazing performance by Nipperess to outkick Jeff Hunt for the win (beating the likes of Tim Rowe and Westcott). He's really stepped up. If you look at my post on April 29, 2007, you'll see a picture of me leading Nipper half way through the Novice X-Country (he's the one in the St George red and white singlet on the right). That's how much he's improved.

Good to catch up with Timmy L, Tucks (and Nia!), Flakey and the others afterwards and thanks for the shouts. Timmy should have some splits to input tomorrow.

http://www.nswathletics.org.au/answ/live/

Just uploaded the splits. Looks like my km times went 3:05, 3:05; 3:10; 3:12; 3:07

Pre-race trot

Very easy 6km with Wildman, MC and Clyde. Hot out there. Bumped into Springer afterwards - another recruit for GCM. He's even booked flights.

HuRTS 14 x 3mins

Farm Cove is too busy so 16 of us headed over to Rushcutters to run it around the Oval. For the front group, 3 minutes is almost exactly 2 laps (at 3:20 pace). With the race in 2 days I only ran 8 and with MC at 3:30 (or a nudge under) pace. Felt comfortable. Getting nervous. Hot out there? Not enough water? Got ulcer. Perhaps a sign of peaking? God knows. Not raced in 2 months - can't be good. 3km race was off the back of a good build up. All the negative thoughts are flowing...

Dave Clarke was smashing the reps out today, with Muz and Durante next up running together looking strong.

Anonymous #1 and Anonymous #2, agree. You're right. Should just race it. But I've been through this dilemma a million times before. My problem tends to be I assume I'm going too fast when I don't have a watch and so slow down. Whereas when I wear one and check it, I realise I'm only running 75's or whatever and just dig in and get on with it. Ultimately I'm not really fussed with the time, more interested in who I can beat.

Easy Monday

Usual Monday route with Durante, MC, the Chairman, Terence and Tucks. Very easy (although there's something about running during a taper where you feel as though you just can't be arsed) running the 14.66km in 1:04:044 (4:22's).

Got my Adidas watch fixed for Thursday night (Garmin is too heavy). Getting excited now. Timmy L has agreed to do the lap counting so I think I'm all sorted. Just need to ease the pain on the heel which is slowly deteriorating.

Shortened Sunday

Couldn't get out of bed this morning after Wildman's engagement party last night so headed out at 3pm for 20km easy. Was going to run the usual 10km loops but Manly Beach was packed so headed up to North Head and then retraced my steps but back via Campbell Parade. 20.11km in 1:26:33 (4:18s). Felt really good today after yesterday's rest.

Good chatting to Ben and Tim last night (the latter obviously looking forward to the 5km on Thursday night) and met Sean Williams and his wife for the first time. Durante was batting his eyelids at Sean so I had to have a word and remind him where his loyalties lie. HuRT Squad will shortly be me and Kanser at this rate.

Easy Friday

Cremorne again with MC, Tim C, Clyde and Muz. 14kms averaging 4:44's. Felt great today but the heel was sore.

Big congrats to Kanser for his 2:41 in Dubai in not ideal conditions. A 5 minute PB plus feeling strong in the last 10km means there's plenty more to come. Hopefully he'll run Gold Coast if the missus allows.

HuRTS Pyramid session

Too darn hot. Another couple of degrees hotter than yesterday, although as I write the storm has come in and lightning is striking all around.

With it being so hot, me being pretty jaded and the heel being a bit sore, I decided not to kill myself today. Rolled around the session with Durante and Muz averaging 3:10's (compared to 3:00's last time) feeling pretty comfortable all the way. Put a bit more effort into the final two reps, running a 69 last lap (equivalent of a 62 second 400m) only to be overtaken by a charging stallion in the last 50m. The Chairman was pushing all the reps hard out front, with Dicky H, Terence and Kaley making up the remainder of the first group. Split into 3 groups today even though numbers were down with the heat.

Wednesday MLR

Out with Muz and the Saint for the usual 19km Wednesday route. 1:23:23 (4:33's). Me and Muz were trying to push it along but Ben kept on dragging us back - he really needs to work on his endurance.

Very hot today (30C+) and I was wilting in the sun by the end.

HuRTS Hickson Road

Some sessions just hurt more than others. I think I've settled into a comfortable regime with some of the HuRTS sessions recently. You can't do that with Hickson Rd. Every one of the reps hurts. Event the rests hurt - mental torture at the prospect of the next rep. I suppose it must be doing a load of good in raising the lactate threshold. Does that mean the other sessions are pointless? I guess you have to mix them all up as we'd all break down if we ran Hickson Rd twice a week every week. Great 5km training though. Just worried it may all be a bit too late and that I've not squeezed enough speed sessions in.

We split into two groups again this week - Durante, Muz, Dicky H and myself in the first group with Mike leading others including Terence, Tucks, Tim C, Pete W, Enda and Adam etc in the second. I really wanted to give the session a crack this week but first disappointment was realising that I'd left my adizeros at home so had to run in my heavy trainers. Still, set off at the front on the first rep and tried to make it quick. Groaned with disappointment at the end on looking at the time but they got better with more competition for the following reps. Durante was running strongly again pushing each of them just in front of Muz. After the first one, I tried to nudge the second half of each of the reps after tucking in for the first half. Times went as follows:

3:36; 3:33; 3:28; 3:33; 3:30

Quite a bit of wind on reps 2 and (particularly) 4 which slowed them down. It was hot too which didn't help. Exactly the same average time as for when I last ran this session at the end of October.

Nice jog back catching up with Kanser. Had a bit of a discussion on who is going to win Six Foot. He's convinced Uncle Dave will have it wrapped up but, great runner that he is, I still think it's a specialists event and that Fats will win again provided he's fit. Hope Amanda appreciates my loyalty.

Good luck to Kanser for Friday.

PM: Run home. Felt much better than last week - 59:03 but still feeling as though I was taking it very easy. I'll double up on Tuesdays from now on - Mondays are too close to the long Sunday run and doubling up on Tuesdays means the earlier speed session is more meaningful.

No double up

Usual easy Monday route with a good group including Wildman, Durante (before he headed off to tone his pecs), Tucks, Muz, Serg, Clyde, MC and Kanser towards the end. 65 something. Planned to run home but got caught in a meeting from 4.30pm until 10.30pm by which time I'd lost the inclination. Will double up later in the week.

Bobbin Head STaR

Headed over to Wahroonga for the Bobbin Head STaR. Picked up Dicky H on the way and runners in the 6.20am group included Tim C, John Binfield, Dennis and Mark F. Beautiful morning for a run and a fantastic route - plenty of bush and loads of hills. 4km straight up from Bobbin Head where Richard and I pushed ahead. Slow to start with (we were averaging 5:05's by Bobbin Head 17kms in due to the hills and bush) but we brought it down to 4:44's by the end with the customary quick finish. Felt very good from the top of the Bobbin Head hill onwards. Total of 30.81km in 2:25:49.

Picture taken yesterday just before Bec's party.

Easy Friday

Very easy run with MC, Durante, Tim C, Clyde, LF Charlie and Ray. 13.85km around Cremorne Point. 1:05:16 (4:43s). Heel sore.

Kids current favourite songs:

Bec: Hot and Cold by Katy Perry
Charlie: Poker Face ("Bubba Face") by Lady Gaga
Billy: Livin' on a Prayer by Bon Jovi

Guess which one takes after me.

PB time!

Missed HuRTS 400s today due to the world's longest meeting so ran home after work as a tempo but secretly hoping to have a crack at my PB. Put the effort in from the word go and didn't let up all the way. Bottom of Ben Boyd in 13:00, Toyota Garage in 24:30 (1:30 up from when I set my last PB) and finished in 46:21. A 2:24 PB, which was last set on 24th July, just before City to Surf. Pleased that the second half was still quicker than last time, when I was running hills well. Have got the metallic taste in my mouth now so I must have got the lungs burning pushing those hills.

Obviously hit a bit of form so looking forward to the next couple of races. I'm still convinced half of it is due to the adizero LT's. If you haven't tried them, do so.

Easy MLR

Usual 18.5km Centennial route with MC, Dicky H, Tim C, the Chairman and (wait for it) Tucks. Hot again so the pace was easy. Garmin ran out of batteries by the end but it was showing 4:28 average pace before it did so. Pretty fatigued but pleased with the way the week has gone.

HuRTS 8 x 800m

HuRTS was splintered today, with Wildman leading a group of renegades on a 3 x 2km session off 4 minutes rest. Sounded a bit easy to me so the rest of us (MC, Kanser, Durante, the Chairman, English Andy, Tim C, Terence (scarily showing great form after running 2:44 in Hobart 2 days ago), Pete W and others) set off for Rushcutters for 800s off 90 seconds rest. Reps went as follows:

2:22; 2:22; 2:21; 2:21; 2:18; 2:22; 2:22; 2:20

Was chasing Kanser on the first 6. He was flying today. Got close on reps 4 and 5 . He was only doing 6 as a taper for Dubai so by myself for the final 2. The Chairman was taking it easy doing 10 and Durante is still recovering from sunburn. Felt pretty comfortable - I find the 800s much easier than 10 x 400m (planned for Thursday).

Stinking hot such that we were searching for cover in between the reps. Very pleased with the session after the past couple of days training.

Doubling up

Lunch: Out with MC, Kanser, Wildman, Durante, LF Charlie, the Chairman, Ray and English Andy for the usual Monday route. Very easy today - 14.86km (slight detour due to erecting the outdoor cinema at Farm Cove) in 1:07:30 (4:30 p/km). Hot at around 30C although about 5C cooler than out West due to the sea breezes.

Evening: Run home. More like a slog. Very tired. 60:19. Would have been a lot slower but picked it up over the final 2km. One hour will be the benchmark for Monday nights over the coming months.

Plan is to try to double up one day a week in Jan, 2 in Feb and 3 in March in lead up to Six Foot. Will sort out the marathon schedule after that (14 weeks) as I should have a decent base by then.

Dee Why Dash

Sometimes everything just works perfectly. Headed over to Dee Why for the Striders STaR and caught up with Dicky H. The others in the 6.20am group included Peter and Jenny Truscott, John Binfield and Dennis Wylie. Very easy pace to start with but there are some monster hills to clim to get up to Belrose so was happy with the slow pace. Started to speed up a bit on the way back down and put in 5km in about 20 mins heading around Queenscliff. Was just Richard and I left at this stage and we struggled up the Griffin Road hills to round out the 29.40km in 2:13:48 (4:33 pace). Not bad considering the early pace and the size of those hills. Made me realise how much tougher it is to do the long runs with hills though as I was struggling towards the end.

Beautiful day with a gentle cooling breeze made for perfect conditions to jump into the surf at Dee Why afterwards. Headed over to Queenscliff for Nippers afterwards to see Bec win the Flags and the surf paddle. Just got to get her out on the bike more - she'll be a champion triathlete.

More easy stuff

Back to the old 10km route. Cool again but a little tired after yesterday's efforts. 42:25.

Big congratulations to Kanser for a great 10km last night. Going under 33 mins I think makes him a "very good runner" according to the official Sergio classification.

10km tempo

Caught up with Tim and ran a 10km tempo - 4 loops of a near exact 2.5km circuit not more than 200m from my house. Tim had it at 10.04km on his Garmin which is exactly what G-Maps has it at....http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2463994

He set off pretty quick going through the first km in just over 3:20. I then pushed on towards the end of the first lap, built a little gap on the second and gradually pulled ahead for the reminaining laps. Lap times went as follows:

8:28; 8:38; 8:34; 8:18.

Total time of 33:58. Tim came in at 35:11. Felt relaxed all the way through but it's never really comfortable at that pace. Very pleased with the final lap as I could see that a sub-34 was on the cards so put the effort in to get it.

Much better conditions than recently. Cool at about 23C with a bit of a breeze.

Getting bored

..of doing the same route, so did it in reverse. Went out at 2pm and it was a scorcher (the temperature, not my run) - about 32C. 40:35. Not too bad considering the conditions but didn't feel as though I was taking it easy. Seems to be the problem with running the same route everyday - you find it hard to take it easy. I can see how Dave Sweeney gets fit on his daily dose of "Roo and Lake".

24 little hours

It all got better today. Plan was to start easy and increase the pace (I was feeling better) but I was up on yesterday even without trying. 20:22 at South Steyne (5:38 for the Manly Mile) and 36:53 all up. Would have been pleased with that on the flat 10km route let alone the hilly version. Wearing the Adizero's was obviously the difference - christened them at JPMorgan and don't think I've run a bad session in them since.

Good to have Hamburglar's company for 200m around Queenscliff. Good luck for tomorrow mate.

Farewell '08. Hope you all have a great 2009.

Dodge City

Is where my stomach is at. That's the problem with kids. I don't think I had one stomach complaint between the ages of 11 and 28.

Same route as yesterday but thought I'd push it today. Managed that though feeling uncomfortable until South Steyne (21:26) but the lethargy had begun to set in which slowed me down to a jog. That quickly converted to a crawl. Had a pit stop outside Manly Waterworks and dragged myself home. Still managed 43:10 which just showed how much quicker I was over the first half than yesterday.

Not happy.

Same again

Didn't feel much better, maybe due to lack of a proper meal in the past 48 hours. Down to 62.4kg this morning - I think the hangover was also a bug as Maggie's been throwing up loads. 43:02 so a little quicker.

Hungover

Hardest 10km of the year. Reminded me of what it's like to run when you're not fit. Ran the hillier version. 44:50.

Boxing Day stuff

Headed out over lunch down to Queenscliff, around to Shelley, up to North Head to see the Sydney/Hobart start (avoided Fairfax Track as it would have been packed), back down via Little Manly beach and around to Forty Baskets where we'd left the car yesterday after drinking too much champagne. 15.99km in 1:08:37 (about 4:15s). Generally a nice run but it got hot and was crowded up on North Head.

Christmas Eve wanderings

4 hours sleep. Had to move downstairs at 1.30am - was keeping Kirst awake. Got up early. Missed Jet Cat. Caught Cab. Got to office. Dumped bag. Ran to meet Kanser. Ran together to Centennial. Ran numerous loops of Mackay Oval waiting for everyone. Nice easy run with the Tiger, Nick Cope, Caleb, Jane, Durante, the Wildman and Kanser. Ran back to Kanser's. Ran back to office. 23-24kms averaging about 4:40s. Bought prawns and sausages from David Jones. It's a madhouse in there. Back in office. Merry Christmas.

HuRTS Mona Fartlek

Felt very average this morning. Up half the night coughing and really wasn't in the mood for a session. Rocked up to a small group including Kanser, Phil W, English Andy, Pete W, John B and a couple of the new blokes. No-one was keen to take it on so ran by myself the whole way. Barely reached the statue on the way out but felt better on the way back reaching the end of the Opera House. Jogged the long way back with Kanser and English Andy, moaning to one-another about our aches and ills. Sometimes wonder why I bother.

Easy(ish) Monday and Year in Review

Out at lunch feeling pretty good which was surprising given yesterday's run. Caught up with English Andy, the Saint, MC and Kanser and ran the usual route. Out in 4:30s and back picking it up all the way so the last 3km was run in 12:00. Finished the 14.71km in 1:03:00 (4:17s). Another beautiful day but pretty breezy. The Saint was saying that Shelley and potentially Dent and Youcef will be running the State 5km in Jan which should make it a cracker of a race. Hope they have seeded races otherwise I'll be trying to avoid being lapped twice.

Year in Review:

Started with the achilles injury which was probably a blessing in disguise. Really concentrated on getting fit for the State 10km. This season I seemed to peak for races very well but run the ones in-between pretty averagely - unlike last season where I was very consistent all the way through but without any stand-out runs.

Best 3 races:

1. JPMorgan (Sydney) - probably my best race since the Northern X-Country Championships in 1989.
2. City to Surf - if only for getting the monkey off my back and being able to run well on a hilly course. I'm usually crap on hills.
3. State 10km - finally cracking 33 mins and by a fair margin.

Difficult to exclude State 3km from the top 3 given the sudden turn-around in form and the good PB, but in the end the others were more important. Also seemed to run well at each of the ANSW events. Not sure whether this is due to the atmosphere, the fact that the competition is generally stronger or that they aren't run at some ungodly hour in the morning.

Worst 3 races:

1. Minimosmarathon. Slowest 10km in 2 years. Bloody awful course (see above re: hills). And the fact that you have to run around Mosman. Still don't forget heading the wrong way at one point because the marshall was collecting her morning latte. I'd rather run the Minirootyhillmarathon.
2. Gold Coast Half. Really thought I was on for a big PB in this one. I blamed it on the wind but that didn't seem to affect Dave Sweeney.
3. Coolrunning 5km end of October (if it counts as a race), if not Lane Cove 10km a week later. Smashed by Muz on both occasions. Really need to do something about my 5km PB.

The Year ahead:

Will be dominated by the marathon in July. Everything will be viewed as a build up to that. The thing this year has taught me is to view races in the scheme of current training and stop trying to run a PB every time. Also very much looking forward to Six Foot Track. Don't want to miss the NSW Long Course and Short Course X-Country Champs this year either. Despite the hills.

My votes for HuRTS performances of the year:

1. Best performance: Tucks and his NSW Long Course X-Country race. I don't know about the marathon yet so can't assess how good his 2:29 in Canberra was. In absolute terms, Steve's 14:33 over 5km would win but you have to take into account relative ability.
2. Improver of the Year: Steve. Who else. It's enjoyable to look back over the blog and see how he used to struggle back in June.
3. Sergio award. Serg. It's no done thing for next year though. Having said that, when it comes to one-on-one competition, you wouldn't bet against him. His comeback in the North Head 10km was great as was his run in the X-Country relays.

Ones to watch for next year:

1. Muz - now he's discovered that you can run on the weekend, and that you can run for 2 hours, he's going to be dangerous. Time for the rest of us to step up training.
2. Dicky H - he improves so quickly off short blocks of high intensity training so it'll be interesting to see how far he can get off a sustained programme which he should have up to Six Foot Track.
3. Kanser - so long as he stays injury free (a big ask given his current regime) I have a feeling he'll finally crack the marathon in July if he runs it. No more running obscure marathons in far flung places, he'll be against a large number of his training partners in the event he loves most with no excuses.

Sunday 10km loops

Dicky H came over on a beautiful still morning (about 15C) and we churned out the Manly 10km loops. Started quicker than usual but didn't stop us picking up the pace on the final loop. Kms went as follows:

4:44; 4:10; 4:05; 4:02; 4:03; 4:03; 4:00; 4:07; 4:10; 4:11; 4:08; 4:04; 4:05; 4:01; 4:03; 4:03; 3:59; 4:02; 4:01; 4:07; 3:54; 3:45; 3:48; 3:44; 3:52; 3:47; 3:44; 3:44; 3:43; 3:44.

All up 30km in 1:59:55 (aimed for sub 2 when we saw the clock at 26km) which is 3:59s. Final 10km in 37:45. Definitely feeling stronger over these long runs. Dicky H was pushing all the way and is getting very strong off only 5 consecutive weeks over 2 hour Sunday runs. I reckon he should run for Mayor of Manly. He mush have high-fived every second person we ran past.

Quickish run home

Quickish run home after a day off yesterday. Pushed it from Spit Junction onwards. 27:47 at the Toyota Garage and 51:24 all up.

MLR Wednesday

18.37km Centennial route in 1:22:25 (4:29s). Ran with MC, the Saint and LF Charlie. Beautiful day but a bit warm. Nice chat, felt good until the final 2km when a bit of fatigue set in. Heel very sore this morning but eased up by a Tiger massage this afternoon. He killed my bloody shins though. I think he was just angry about a growing realisation he's going to owe me $200 in the near future...

HuRTS 14 x 3mins

The King tide was in, we spent the first 8 reps running off road to avoid it. Gradually subsided to allow for some more even paced running. Reps went as follows:

902m (3:20 per/km); 906m (3:20s); 925m (3:15s); 900m (3:21s); 911m (3:19s); 905m (3:21s); 903m (3:21s); 900m (3:21s); 933m (3:14s); 911m (3:20s); 937m (3:14s); 924m (3:15s); 978m (3:05s); 968m (3:06s)

All off 60 seconds rest.

Ran variously with Durante, Dicky H, Kanser, the Chairman, English Andy and Muz. Turned to Kanser after rep 11 and asked how many he was doing in the hope he was going to say 12 so that I could gratefully stop then too. He looked all keen and said the full 14, at which point my heart sank. I was struggling from rep 7 onwards but pleased to be able to pluck a couple of quick ones out of nowhere at the end - assisted by Muz, the Chairman and Kanser.

Buggered now.

Progressive tempo

Was supposed to be a recovery run but somehow it didn't turn out that way, and we didn't even have the Saint with us. Serg, Kanser, Wildman, Durante, the Chairman and Dicky H showed up on a lovely clear day. Legs felt pretty sluggish to start with but on the way back Durante and the Chairman had pushed on ahead so Kanser and I picked up the pace slowly, and in particular from the Park Hyatt onwards, having started to feel a little better. Km times were as follows:

4:26; 4:12; 4:11; 4:14; 3:57; 4:16; 4:10; 3:56; 4:05; 3:49; 3:41; 3:36; 3:47; 3:39

So all up 14.56km in 58:03 (3:59 p/km). Dicky H is looking stronger every week. No idea how Kanser coped with that after his weekend's efforts.

PM: Jog home but stopping at Toyota Garage. Felt good and was tempted to carry on but don't want to push the doubling up too much too soon. 31:03.

More Manly 10kms

Caught up with Tim this morning for the usual 3 x 10km loops. Very easy jog down the hill just before 6am before Tim set off like a rocket. Settled in OK and the km splits were pretty regular before picking it up over the final 10km:

4:49; 4:16; 4:10; 4:10; 4:06; 4:08; 4:04; 4:08; 4:16; 4:14; 4:12; 4:11; 4:10; 4:04; 4:06; 4:07; 4:02; 4:09; 4:12; 4:13; 4:02; 3:58; 3:57; 3:55; 3:59; 3:55; 3:53; 4:02; 4:04; 3:57

All up, 30.58km in 2:06:23 (4:08's) with final 10km in 39:42. Good to run the whole thing with Tim who was noticeably stronger than 2 weeks ago. Beautiful morning - clear as a bell and coolish. Bumped into Darren Quarrel (who was flying) and Pete Walker.

Quick run to work

Felt good this morning so pushed it a bit on the run in. 25:49 at Spit Junction (4:27 pace all the way up Parriwi Rd) and 52:52 all up.

Cool and drizzling rain so perfect conditions, although some b**tard in the T3 lane drove through the biggest puddle when I was running right beside it just after Spit Bridge and completely drenched me (to the extent I swallowed dirty puddle water). Made worse by the fact that there were hundreds of other cars queueing around at the time who must have seen it and had a good giggle.

HuRTS Pyramid session

Session was based on laps of Rushcutters Oval - 1 lap, 2 laps, 3 laps, 4 laps, 3 laps, 2 laps, 1 lap. Each lap is about 450m - probably 455m. We split into two groups - the first being the Chairman, Muz, KMK, Kaley, Dicky H and English Andy. MC took the second with the Stallion bludging in that group with another hangover. The rest was half the time it took to run the rep you had just finished. Splits went as follows:

87 (3:16 p/k), 2:50 (3:09), 4:11 (3:06), 5:27 (3:02), 4:00 (2:57), 2:37 (2:52), 71 (2:40).

So, too easy to start with but picked it up well towards the end. Was always going to be difficult feeling our way into a brand new session. The Chairman pushed on during both 3 laps and the 4 laps, but I caught him on the final 2 laps and 1 lap. Otherwise ran the rest with Muz. Felt pretty good towards the end and even found a turn of pace on the last. CT will be getting scared.

Overall it's 7230m averaging 3:00 per/km.

MC was running very strongly - managing a 74 on the last rep (equivalent of a 66s 400m).

Tim - flat 30km on Sunday sounds good, but no intention on trying to run the final 10km in 37 minutes this time. How about 6am at the Roundhouse Kindergarten?

MLR Easy Wednesday

Woke up this morning feeling as though someone had taken a hammer to my thighs during the night. However, a nice easy run at lunchtime has them feeling a lot better. Ran the long Centennial route with MC, the Chairman, Dicky H and Ben St L. 18.36km in 1:23:05 (4:32s).

I think we worked out that Truthy is the Tiger, although I'm not wholly convinced as his grammar is a bit too good for the Tiger.

HuRTS 5min reps

Crowd today was the Chairman, MC, Kanser, the Stallion, Muz, English Andy, Enda, Kaley plus others. Muz and the Stallion were tired from the past few days so took it easy. Kanser started easy then picked it up towards the end so I started by trying to stay with the Chairman but as he was running close to 3:10s, ended up running by myself. Reps went:

1.49km (3:22s), 1.51km (3:18s), 1.50km (3:20s), 1.50km (3:20s), 1.52km (3:18s), 1.50km (3:21s), 1.52km (3:18s), 1.52km (3:18s).

All off 90 seconds rest. Very pleased to keep the consistency with the session as it was hot out there with not much protection from the sun. I was tired towards the end so they required increasing effort. I reckon this session is a good guide to your race 10km time - based on your average pace for all 8. Gives me a 33:10 which is probably about right. Kanser is coming back into form - he seems to thrive off high mileage, high intensity training. Couldn't stick with him on the last one where he ran about 3:13s.

Absolutely knackered now, particularly backing up after yesterday.

St Lawrence joins HuRT Squad!

For one run, at least.

Finally able to head out again after recovering from gastro. Could probably have gone out yesterday but was up in the Blue Mountains for the weekend (getting pretty excited about running 6ft Track). Today I caught up with MC, Dicky H, Wildman, the Stallion, Auz and Ben for the usual 15km recovery run. Although it wasn't much of a recovery (Serg would have been pleased) with everyone obviously trying to show their best form with Ben around as it was a bit quicker than usual (14.88km in 1:01:38 for a 4:08p/k average). After 5 days off though, I was feeling great. Will try and head out this evening to squeeze in something resembling a long Sunday run.

PM: Very easy jog home. 32:35 at Toyota Garage then the watch lost its signal. Probably just over 60 minutes. Lower legs sore.

HuRTS Progressive Tempo

Was feeling crap in the morning but foolishly decided to go out for the session in any case. Started at the St Mary's gates and ran the 45min fartlek course as a progressive tempo - increasing the pace by 15 seconds p/km after each 10 minutes. Started at about 4:10's and it roughly worked. I got km splits as follows:

4:16; 4:06; 4:07; 4:01; 3:48; 3:47; 3:45; 3:31; 3:34; 3:17; 3:23; 3:22

Final section from Opera House gates to stone gates was 9:45. We turned after 24 minutes (at the second bridge half way through Hickson Rd) and got back in just under 21 (44:51).

Felt fine when running (although I was knackered at the end), but immediately started to feel crap again. This got worse during the day so here I am at home the next day having just got out of bed feeling sorry for myself.

Recovery Monday

Good crowd with Serg, Muz, Ray, Steve, MC, Dicky H, Durante and Enda. Ran the short route through Oxford St to Centennial, did a long loop then back through Woolhara Gates down Ocean St but cutting out Garden Island. 14.11km in 1:02:50 (4:27s). Not much of a recovery as it was above 30C and very humid. Legs very jaded from yesterday.

More Base Maintenance

Friday and Saturday off again (same reason as last week, hangover then too busy) so off out again today feeling fresh and the heel better than in a long time. Decided on the 10km loops and bumped into Tim Ashby about 5kms in who was doing the same thing so we ran together. I hadn't even realised he was running again so it was a pleasant surprise and made the run much more enjoyable. I wanted to push the final 10km like last week so left him with about 9km to go. I was feeling great at that stage and the pace picked up pretty easily. Struggled over the final 2km when the fatigue set in but a good run in perfect conditions.



Km splits were as follows:



4:36; 4:14; 4:09; 4:06; 4:10; 4:11; 4:09; 4:11; 4:13; 4:15; 4:10; 4:05; 4:03; 4:07; 4:09; 4:10; 4:01; 4:11; 4:12; 4:09; 4:04; 3:47; 3:42; 3:42; 3:45; 3:44; 3:37; 3:49; 3:55; 3:52.

All up, 30.55km in 2:04:26 (averaging 4:04s) but with the last 10km in 37:57.

HuRTS 8 x 800m

A bottle and a half of 2005 Katnook Cabernet Sauvignon in Bambini Trust last night, plus the heavy workload early this week persuaded me to take it easy today. Huge crowd which we split up into 2 groups. Front group was the Chairman, the Stallion and Muz with me following behind with Dicky H and English Andy. Ran 2:35, then 2:33, 2:32, 2:32; 2:32, 2:31 then 2:14. Felt comfortable running the 2:32's and feeling as though I'd bludged a bit so threw it all into the last one.

Easyish Wednesday

Centennial route including the extra lap but cutting out Garden Island on the way out - 17.88km in 1:18:39 (4:24s).

Late out so missed the boys setting off so ran hard for the first few km trying to catch them up. Eventually caught MC and Clyde near the top of Ocean Street. From then on it was a pleasant run. Bumped into Less Fast Charlie at the end, having just done Warrior, looking intimidating...

76km in the past 4 days is good going but I'm tired.

HuRTS 45mins Fartlek

Huge turnout today for one of the toughest sessions we do, not sure why it's so popular. I reckon it's one of my best though, always seem to do well on it. Wore my Adizeros and felt great in them. I was intending to take it easy today but just settled into a comfortable rythmn from the word go. Steve disappeared off into the distance (with Ray chasing him!) leaving Fast Charlie (didn't catch Less Fast Charlie today), Muz, Durante, the Chairman and I in a group behind. Turned at exactly the same spot as last time (just opposite the renovated old building on Hickson Rd) still feeling good. Fatigue started to creep in approaching the Opera House. Went through 10km in about 33:50 when the group I was running with started to drop. Steve caught me on the hill by the ABC Pool and tried to stick with him for as long as possible before he accelerated away by the Art Gallery. Finished 13 seconds short of the start line.

Great session.

Easy recovery

Easy recovery run - the usual route (14.84km in 1:03:03 - 4:15s). Steve, DC5 (this moniker has never really caught on, and given he shares a name with the Chairman of his bank, I think he should now be called the Chairman - that way, when Drev shows up we can have the Chairman chasing the Judge) and Serg ran ahead and Durante, Kanser, MC, Slow Charlie (as opposed to Fast Charlie, in every sense of the term), Muz, English Andy and I trailed behind. Kanser was complaining that we were going too quick for a recovery run but I figure that if we are chatting all the way then that is good enough.

More base maintenance

Couple of days off on Friday and Saturday, not intentionally but because I forgot my kit on Friday and was too busy yesterday. As a result I felt great today and the heel has not been a problem.

Decided on a new route (pictured) around Mosman, largely taking in the "Mosman Reversed" Striders STaR. Got very confused coming out of the path at the end of Cremorne which resulted in a couple of extra kilometres. Clocked the km splits and realised how much slower running through the bush and up steps is. Km splits were as follows:

4:33; 4:25; 4:25; 4:18; 4:46; 5:35; 4:17; 5:48; 4:01; 4:24; 5:33; 4:52; 4:42; 4:44; 4:50; 5:57; 4:39; 4:12; 5:05; 4:40; 4:52; 4:04; 4:01; 3:42; 3:40; 4:11; 4:19; 3:40; 3:50.

All up it was 28.67km in 2:11:09 (4:34s). Would have been a lot slower if I hadn't picked it up over the last 8kms but nice to be able to do so. Ran past Nicholas Moore (CEO of Macquarie Bank) near Taronga Zoo and he said hello cheerily so the Aussie economy can't be that bad.

HuRTS 10 x 400m

Strange weather at the moment - chucked down with rain last night, has been very cold but then for our session today the skies cleared and it was very warm. Then started raining on the way home. Anyway, that's a very English start to the post.

Nice session today. Told myself I wouldn't kill it but once the boys start running you can't help but push yourself. Stevie was leading us out in 64s, followed by KMK and me with Kanser just behind. Big crowd from Macquarie (they like the 400s, must be something about the testosterone) but also included Ray back with us for the first time in ages, Aus, Kaley, Marty and others. Set off every 2 minutes. Reps went as follows:

68, 68, 68, 68, 68, 68, 69, 70, 71, 68.

So, a bit mentally weak towards the end when KMK backed off saving himself for his usual onslaught on the last rep. But felt good today. The grass had just been mown and the ground was perfect. No pain in the heel. Would like to maintain these 400s until State 5km on Jan 22nd as I'm sure they're doing me the world of good.

Executive Health Check this afternoon. Will be interesting to compare my weight to last year and to see whether I can push down my adjusted age....

Well, I've put on 0.5kg (64.7 compared to 64.2 last year) but have lost a year (effective age of 29 compared to 30 last year). Resting pulse of 47 (not bad after 400s at lunchtime) and blood pressure of 110/64 (compared to 118/80 last year). The Doctor pissed me off by going on about my diet so celebrated with a Maccas on the way back to the office.