Easy Monday

Easy 14km around Balls Head with Kanser, Richard P, Ray and Mike Conway(?) who might be joining our Thursday group soon.

Long tired Sunday

28km over Spit Junction, North Head long route. Just churned the legs over after yesterday's race and a couple of bottles of decent red last night. Felt fine until the last 30 minutes when I really struggled. 2:06:22. Took a split over the North Head final 2km just to see what pace I take these long runs and clocked 8:35. That's on flattish road so the average pace will be slower.

Feeling knackered now. I'm off for a lie-down.

Here are a couple of photo's taken by Vat from yesterday's race. The first is in the glory moments at about 4km and the second in the home straight....

NSW Novice 10km

Fantastic event. Forgotten how much I enjoy cross-country - must be 14 years since I've done one. Especially nice fast one's with no hills.

5th in 33:21.

Ran a big loop (3km) warm up with Serg and Chris Truscott (meeting for the first time) then caught up with Superflake who had to be persuaded that we actually ran two big loops during the race and not one.

Set off with Ray and Keith and immediately found oursleves in a large group of 8 at the front. This continued for the whole of the first lap - I'd occasionally hit the front (was thinking Beaky would be proud!) but was surprised to be there given the quality of the runners I knew were there. This continued all the way through the first lap - Ray then hit the front at the start of the second and I dropped to about 6th. I realised at that stage that a few in that front group were pretty serious given they were just hovering behind whatever change of pace the leader decided to make whereas I was struggling as soon as the pace changed. Notwithstanding that, I managed to get in front and try to push the pace halfway through the second big lap. However, at the bridge on the second lap the front group of 5 plus Keith (hanging off the back) started to break away. I managed to keep in touch with Keith but the first 5 appeared gone. I was hurting at this stage - only really pushing on because I didn't want Keith to build up a gap. Towards the end of the first small loop Keith and I started to close on Adam Laughlin-Bowlby who had dropped off the leaders. Overtook him at the start of the the final small loop and from then on was trying just to hang on to 5th. Put in a big effort over the final KM as I could hear either Adam or Keith catching.

Loved the atmosphere - reminded me of North Eastern Cross Country league races as a teenager. Pleased with the result too. Keith finished 7th in 33:28 and Ray 8th in 33:43. Great to have Kirst and the kids there too - you can't underestimate the lift you get from your 4 and 5 year old kids telling you you're doing great.

It's busier at 6.15am

Easy 14km jog to work early in the morning. 28:40 at Spit Junction, 61:30 all up after meeting a Strider, Steve Urwin, in Neutral Bay and running the rest of the way with him. Turns out Allens is his biggest client so we had quite a bit to talk about.

Thursday Hills

Hills in the Domain. 3 x 5 x 185m hill. Jog downhill between each one and 1km jog between each set. About 33-34 seconds each.

Good crowd with Ray, Richard High, Bill, Serge and Durante showing up. Richard is getting stronger really pushing the final set. Intended to take it easy with Novice 10km at the weekend but as usual that was thrown out of the window with some competition about.

2km warm up and down for about 11km all up.

Anzac Day

Wednesday

12km in the late afternoon. North Head via North Steyne cutting out Shelley Beach and Fairfax track and back the same way. About 47 minutes. Brisk run with two fast patches - the final 2km of the Striders North Head route (6:32 - 3:22 for first km up the hill and 3:10 for the second) and the second from Manly SLC to North Steyne. Felt great. No doubt due to the number of days off recently.

Tuesday

Rest. Too busy at work with a last minute meeting over lunch.

Pounding the Western Plains

Monday
10km along the cycle paths of Dubbo with a couple of marathon pace stretches.

Sunday
Rest.

Saturday
Brisk 9km along the cycle paths of Dubbo.

Friday
4km running part of the way home.

Thursday variations

Met up earlier than usual with Richard P, Kanser, Durante, Chris and one of Durante's workmates for a 2 x 3km lactic threshold session around Mrs Macquaries Point. First rep was 2.85km (on the Garmin) and second 2.92km starting and finishing at the gates. 2 minute interval between the two (although it was closer to 3 mins).

Ran the first with Durante in 9:30. Second by myself chasing Chris in 9:37. Pleased that second was faster taking into account the extra distance. Felt pretty comfortable the whole way - bit of lactic at the end of the second rep trying to bring it home quickly.

1km warm up and down for 8km all up. Rushed back for a client lunch. I'll try to fit in a jog this evening to make up the kms.

Into work

14km run into work. Marathon pace stretches up Parriwi Road (always a killer), along Military Road (managed to reach Neutral Bay this time) and across the Harbour Bridge. Probably not taken as quickly as last time as I felt pretty solid throughout. Beautiful Sydney morning - crystal clear, cool and no wind.

27:25 at Spit Junction and 56:53 all up.

Pain

The usual 3.5km jog, 6km Pain then 1km warmdown for 10km all up.

I led Pain today as Scott had gone AWOL which I think was a relief for everyone. Still, he's obviously got me used to taking it out quick as we still recorded 25:37 all up so not slow. Just over 2min (I think) on the long rep - didn't get an individual split as I was timing the whole thing. Ran the long rep by myself.

Not the usual crowd but Serge and Andrew Tuckey (new Strider who ran 33:3x at Lane Cove in Feb) were there. Had a good chat with them after. Andrew's running at North Head and is keen on Novice too.

Balls Head Loop

15km around Balls Head. Longer start and finish than normal due to meeting up with Richard P, Kanser and Kanser's mate, Anthony. Nice easy run chatting all the way. 1:08:22.

Long Long Sunday

Added some today after missing yesterday's run. Basically ran the normal long Sunday run in reverse but instead of turning off at Tania Park, continued all the way to Spit Bridge then back home. About 28-29km in 2:06:10. Beautiful day for running, cool (about 20C), fresh and not a breath of wind. Took it very easily (and really enjoyable as a result) but still pretty tired over the last 30 minutes.

4min PB!

13km Balls Head Reserve loop as a tempo run. Attacked it right from the start, putting particular effort into the hills. 23:10 at Balls Head and 49:35 all up - 4 minutes faster than I've done it before although I've previously never really pushed all the way through. Pleased in that I wasn't afraid of the distance - just ran hard expecting to ease up if it got too difficult.

14km including 1km jog to and from start/finish

Back to Hickson Road

The usual 5x1.2km reps with 2 minute rests although the rests were quite generous.

Just the select crowd of Ray, Kanser, Richard Palmer and myself today. Times went:

3:42, 3:42, 3:37, 3:40, 3:41

Pretty consistent but I was struggling after a heavy night on the beers with Steve last night. Wasn't spent after the session but felt lethargic from the second rep onwards. No-one to chase in the first two reps which is why they were slower.

I think we've agreed to look into longer reps for future sessions.

Jog there and back the long way for 11km all up.

Mixing it up

13km Balls Head Reserve loop at lunchtime in glorious weather. Took it very easy but with two "marathon pace" stretches - one from the top of the hill past The Commodore until the bubbler at Balls Head (6:34), the other on the waterside stretch past Luna Park (3:10).

Pain

3km jog plus Pain plus 1km warmdown. 10km all up. Pain in 24:45. Long rep in 2:00.

Felt pretty tired after yesterday's long run. Still pushed the reps with no-one in support over the long one. Tough going for a 2:00 split. Ran the fatigue out by the end (strange the body's ability to do this). Good to catch up with Richard, Ray, Chris and Serge who (once again) is on the injury comeback trail.

Snakes while I Train

Long Manly route: 23km in 1:37:44. 46:45 at the Stone Arch and 1:02:30 at Fairlight Pool. Very heavy legged in the second half. Met the usual Manly crowd whilst out - Dave Robinson at North Head looking good and the chap who always runs intervals near Shelley Beach.

Highlight of the run was a near brush with a snake on the path to Shelley Beach (strange given all the bush I run through on this course). Saw this dog sniffing something strange on the path and I ran between it and the snake - must have missed it by about a foot. It was rearing up and curling it's body - obviously in a defensive pose for the dog. Certainly raised my pulse for a while.

Easter Sunday

Very easy 8km Manly Route late afternoon. 32:29.

Striders 10km Domain

5th in 34:11.

Very cool and wet with a blustery southerly wind. Very narrow start for a Striders race so a mad dash in the first 100m before hitting the first dragging hill up to the State Library. Set off in a group with Tim Ashby and some tall chap who was proving very useful into the wind. Tim pushed on at between 1-2km and once again I failed to go with him, sitting back more conservatively. On the second lap I heard the familiar voice of someone chatting and then heard Sparkie shout some words of encouragement which confirmed that Ray was with our group. He came past on a storming run - for a while I thought he'd be stopping at the 5km mark but he just kept on piling on the pressure. At the end of the second lap I realised from the clock that a sub-34 was going to be a push so just concentrated on trying to reel Ray in. He was still looking strong at 8km but then slowly started coming back towards me. Caught him at 9km and finished quite strongly.

I've got a real problem with 10km races at the moment. Don't seem to have the confidence to attack them all the way through. Felt tired during the race but not knackered at the end - I obviously had the fitness to up the tempo (in catching Ray) when I had something to chase but without that incentive I think I'm just too lazy. Felt as though I gave last Saturday's 5km time trial a far more honest effort when I had a simple plan of just sticking to Uncle Dave for as long as possible. Not sure how to address this.

2km warm up and down for 14km all up.

Hill Reps

Hill Reps with Ray and Peter. We've decided to start alternating Hickson Road reps with hill reps for a bit of variety. 15 x 200m up the grassy hill in the Domain. Steep first section then flatter second sectyion which I'd try to stride out on. Did 10, then a rest, then another 5. Ray did 18, Pete 13. About 35 seconds each. Didn't go flat out as I was trying to keep something in reserve for Satrurday morning. Also still had a bit of red wine in the legs from last night.

Jog there and jog around Domain afterwards for 10km all up.