More of the same

12km today up and down the beach. Tide was out so ran on the hard sand, so much quicker (50:57 with a slow first and final km beating my way through the bush behind the beach). Fantastic day, blue skies and 23C but no Ursula Andress today.

Back out again

Sydney half was a shocker. Set out feeling very good, going through 3km in 10:00 with Bleasel before my hammy started tightening up at 5km. Tried to stretch it out by lengthening my stride until it tightened up to the point of limping at 8km. So I pulled out. My first ever dnf. It stiffened up massively as soon as I stopped and I hobbled around for the next couple of days.

Had a conference up in the Gold Coast last Wed/Thurs and tried a short run on the Thurs but my hammy was still sore. Incidentally, we had a big night out on the Wed where one of the fellow attendees at Shooters was Clive Cooper, who Tucks will remember as the Sydney University runner who bolted away from us in the State 3000m in 2008 before we crawled our way back to him on the final lap. He went out similarly hard on the vodka red bulls, but this time I matched him stride for stride from the gun.

Ran to work on Tuesday before pulling up stumps at Cremorne and catching the bus with the hammy tightening slightly. Drove up to Byron Bay yesterday for a week's holiday. Ran along Broken Head beach this morning - 5km up then back. Highlight was reaching 4km to see a lady emerging from the waves in her birthday suit. I was too prudish to take a closer look but she didn't strike me as your traditional nudist (teutonic, overweight). I'll be heading out at a similar time tomorrow morning.

Finally, had Richie High over for a BBQ this evening. He's holidaying up here too. Plenty of slagging off of Young Timmy which was fun. His kid Ben is a future AFL/soccer star. Either that or my kids are very average. Mmmmm.

Even easier Saturday

6km around and about with 4 sprints. Achilles a bit sore which is a pain in the ass. Well, the heel.

Very easy Friday

Very easy jog with MC, Marty and Russell around and about in my new Mizuno Wave Elixir 6's. Ordered them for A$106 on Tuesday and they arrive this morning - how good is that! Feeling much less tired than the last couple of days so hopefully will be well rested by Sunday.

10.2km in 48:06 (4:42's). 86km for the week.

HuRTS 10 x 400m

Woke up this morning feeling knackered and dragged myself to work. Not sure why I'm feeling so tired as I'm not doing any more volume or intensity than normal. Also had a raging thirst last night and remember Kanser saying a while back that he'd read that this was a sign of over-training.

So decided just to take it easy today. Jogged over to Rushcutters with JC, Tucks, Clyde, Kaley and a few others and met Timmy there who had neatly laid out his cones, while watching J-Fen do his own thing and TB showing up late. I cruised around the first rep at the back in 80 seconds. A groundsmen then appeared telling us to get off but Hardman gave him a hard stare and TB (aka Drago) puffed out his chest which was sufficient for the groundsman to retreat back to his shed to finish his cup of tea. I'm pretty sure Timmy was last seen after the session heading over to join him.

Did all my reps in 79-80 from the back other than reps 3, 6 and 10 which I pushed hard in 65, 66 and 63. Jogged back and felt better for having got out there.

Very Easy Wed

Ran home in 58:29. Very easy, slowing myself down, which wasn't hard as the legs (particularly bottom of glutes) were tired again after yesterday's session. Also a bit tender after a Tiger massage this arvo. The Tiger has gone bearish on Young Timmy, betting me $50 he won't break 77 mins at the weekend. I jumped at that offer, particularly after Timmy himself sent me a text telling me he would smash that time. So Timmy, over to you.

HuRTS 45mins Fartlek

With the Irishmen opting for an easy session earlier this morning, only the hardcore (and Timmy) fronted up for one of the toughest sessions in the calendar. Hardman was there, rounding up the troups. The King of Trails, despite an exhausting weekend, didn't shy away. Even Timmy was there, last seen walking around Farm Cove looking pale.

I wanted to take this one out quite hard so set off with no-one following me, then at Mrs Macs Chair J-Fen appears stage left. I thought he'd settled back with the rest of the pack but just sticks to my tail, slightly behind on the fast sections (1 min on) but catching up again on the easy sections (30 seconds off). We turned well down Hickson Road, opposite the steps beside the Lend Lease building, which is as far as we've gotten before, particularly considering the detour we have to take around the Park Hyatt. J-Fen is still there. I try to push the pace around the Opera House and can see Dicky H and Macca, but still J-Fen holds on. We run past a walking Timmy and no change. Only coming up the hills at the end, when I'm pretty much at 100%, does he drop off, and then only a little, finishing 3-4 seconds behind. I got back in 45:02 which I was chuffed with given the fast start.

Total stats were 12.9km in 45:02 (3:29 pace). The Garmin 610 seems much more accurate than the 405, no funny readings around Circular Quay. And I love the shakes it gives. But story of the day was the form of J-Fen. The rest seems to have done him good.

Easy Monday

Run home in 54:37. Felt fantastic, the difference with last Monday couldn't be more marked.

Now to deal with the dead rat by the pool.

Taper Sunday

Friday was an easy 12km with 2 JB's and Kanser. 92km for the week.

Friday night was some joint birthday drinks with Richie H and Sonya which resulted in a slightly dusty Saturday so took another day off.

Today out at 6.30am on a glorious day with Paul Macca, Ben and Scott for an easy 25.4km in 1:52:59 (4:27 pace) up to Narrabeen Lake and back along the beaches.

HuRTS Yasso 800's

Small but merry band today. Young Timmy, LF Charlie, Tucks, Kanser, Jason, J-Fen, Paul Mc, King James, Christian, new girl Orla and a few others jogged over to Rushcutters for 10 x 800m off 90s rest. Wasn't feeling up to it on the jog over but felt fine as soon as we got going. Tucks was taking it easy again so I was out front alone for the most part. Reps went as follows:

2:26
2:25
2:23
2:23
2:23
2:23
2:22
2:20
2:22
2:18

Felt pretty comfortable for the first 5. J-Fen pushed one of the later reps and Tucks pushed rep 8 which helped quicken them up a bit. I reckon they are about 5 seconds short of a full 800m.

Big news of the day though was the return to form of Kanser. Our Irish friend stuck on Young Timmy's shoulder for all the reps which caused a growing look of consternation on Timmy's face as he tried to shake him. Then on the final rep Young Timmy was Kaned. Usually full of banter, our self-styled teller of tales and trash hopped straight onto his bike and refused to speak to anyone before peddling back (legs full of lactic) to Erskineville. We were gobsmacked and hardly knew what to say as we jogged back to the city.

About 13km all up.

A few links

This bloke really annoys me.

Almost as much as this bloke.

Check out the final standings in the Runnerstribe tipping comp.

Today was the 4 x 10mins HuRTS session. I had a call at 12.15pm which I took, half knowing it would make me late for the session. So rocked up at St Mary's to join in the final 3 reps. Legs still knackered. Just couldn't seem to turn them over. Anything under 3:30 pace was a real struggle. Bartles and Stuart were well ahead. Tucks and Richie H seemed to be struggling with me. Jason kept me honest on my second rep (his third). Had a chat with a few of the boys and Laura though so nice to catch up.

About 11km all up.

Slow Monday

Very easy run home. Was even slower than it felt. 59:21. Very tired, may listen to the body and take a couple of days rest. Will see in the morning.

Long Sunday

Thanks for all the comments for yesterday. Brought back down to earth today with a very tired and sore long run. Dropped Bec off at a party at Queenscliff so set off from there for a loop around Narrabeen Lake via Cromer each way, but up Pittwater Road and back via the beaches. 29.01km in 2:06:10 (4:20's). Left PF very sore all the way.

Go Mo!

Striders North Head - 1st in 32:24

Didn't think I'd ever be writing that title for a post. Woke up feeling pretty good for once. Took my new pre-race concoction of Endura Optimizer and drove up to North Head, bumping into Kanser and Timmy in the car park. Timmy was his usual self and Kanser had more excuses than you could even contemplate. Saw Truscott, the Horne and Thamal warming up, then was greeted by Robbie Neill at registration so there was a decent crowd. Bleasel and Hew were also on the start line so I knew it'd be a decent race. My plan from the start was just to stick to CT for as long as possible.

CT went straight to the front for those 2 annoying little loops of the car park then heading out on the first big lap it was a group of CT, Robbie and myself in front with Thamal just behind. Then at 2km Robbie suddenly puts in this burst of speed, CT goes with him and they gap me by about 10m. I'm thinking, WTF, is this what proper racing is all about? Then on the slight rise after the roundabout I start to catch them again. We're altogether coming back to the roundabout so put some pressure on up the hill and Robbie dropped off. It's now just a race between me and CT. Basically, CT puts in a series of surges which I gradually claw back, usually on a hill. Coming up to 9km I'm waiting for him to go again and thinking that I can't let him gap me this time. Sure enough, he does and I go with him then pass him and suddenly I've got a gap. Can't believe my luck. I was dreading the dogfight of a final sprint. Just keep the speed up for the final loop and turn the corner to the finish to see 32:18 or thereabouts on the clock and I'm ecstatic. First win since pre-injury at the age of 16 and a decent PB to boot over the distance I run most often.

No idea about the splits. I ran without a watch again because I wanted to race it. Robbie said he went through 5km in about 16:05 and we were about 10s in front.

Some great runs out there today, none more so than Timmy who clocked another big PB in running 34:27 and almost beating Richie again. Richie overtook him with 20m to go! Sounds like those 2 had a good tussle with Paul McClarnon the whole way. Eoin had a good run in the low 35's and Kanser is getting back with a 36:40 (before running another 21km back home). JC ran an inaugural 10km in 36:36. The one down point of the day was seeing Anna looking as though she suffered another attack at the 3km mark, hope she's OK.

Friday meander

Very easy 8km around and about. Bumped into MC and Mrs Tucks (not together).

100km for the week.

HuRTS Pyramid session

Lovely day. Good crowd. Over to Rushcutters. We despatched Jason to negotiate with the groundsmen who had stuck up a "Ground closed" sign, but alas to no avail. So across to the rugby field to mark out a 400m track. That basically consisted of running around the edge of the field and adding a bit on at the end. Wasn't quite a full loop so two laps was longer than 2 x 1 laps, if you know what I mean.

Bartles, Tucks, Jason, Richie H, TB, Luke, Ben, Pete W, LF Charlie all there, with a number of others, including the return of J-Fen! Turns out he's back off running for 2 weeks looking after his back. Even Big Mikey H showed up but disappeared after a couple of reps. Plainly UBS are working him too hard. He needs to move to MC's team.

Reps went as follows:

1 lap (383m): 67s
2 laps (802m): 2:21
3 laps (1.18km): 3:34
4 laps (1.57km): 4:49
3 laps: 3:33
2 laps: 2:16
1 lap: 58s

Rest was half the time of the previous rep. Richie was doing the timing. However, for the last rep I told him to cut short the rest time to blunt the impact of the burglars who save themselves for the final rep. My cunning plan worked a treat. Ran just in front of Bartles (going very well) for all reps with Tucks taking it easy following his win at W2B. Jason and TB were looking very good too.

Got a call from Bec (my eldest) this afternoon very excited about her District athletics meet up at Narrabeen track today. She came 3rd in her 800m heat running 3:03 so is through to the final tomorrow. A good placing there will see her through to Zone for the first time. We'll be talking tactics tonight.

Slow Wed

Had a massage booked with the Tiger at 9.10am so just ran to Lime Street from home. Very tired from yesterday's efforts. Set my Garmin at the start of the run and it still had yesterday's session showing. I didn't stop the watch yesterday for each rep so it just showed the total - 13.09km in 50:30 for an average pace of 3:52 p/km but that includes 10.5 minutes of rest (walking, chatting), so no wonder I was still buggered.

Just put one foot in front of the other for the first 3km. Felt a bit better from then on but more than happy to stop at Gary's. He sorted out the achilles and PF nicely.

13.29km in 57:55 (4:21's).

HuRTS 8 x 5mins

My secretary saw me about to write my blog and sent an email suggesting the following:

"Well guys, I was on fire today! My secretary would have been very proud of me running faster than Forrest Gump (my all time idol).

Back in the office I worked on churning my stomach up by mixing juice, yoghurt and chocolate - I'll keep you posted on that experiment!

I'm about to go and get coffee and forget to buy lollies for the bowl - lately I've had dementia and forgot my secretary's coffee yesterday - I felt so horrible.

Talk to y'all tomorrow,

Forrest Gump"

Wasn't quite like that. Big crowd today despite the temperature dipping back to Winter climes again, but with a few of the big guns (Tucks, new boy Stuart, J-Fen and, err, Young Timmy) missing. I tucked in behind the flying Bartles with Fast Charlie on my shoulder and Dicky H just behind. Ran the first 6 at 3:15 to 3:16 pace. Then at the end of rep 5 Rich says, "what's the further we've ever got, it's to that big rock isn't it?". Bartles indicated it was within reach and, running back on rep 6 I pass a flying Keith Bateman going the other way. That was enough to stoke my fragile ego, so set off quicker on rep 7 and pushed all the way, finishing past the big rock and at the start of the fence at the bottom of the ABC hill. Averaged 3:09 pace. Bartles was about 15 yards back. Was feeling good at this stage (apart from a dodgy stomach - cue secretary email above - which I've had for 24 hours) so ran the final rep with Bartles pushing ahead of him towards the end averaging 3:06.

Great session. Felt comfortable at 3:15's but had to push hard to go any quicker. Rodgered now.

Good to see a few familiar faces returning to sessions, MC, LF Charlie and Anna in particular.

Oh no, Mo!

Screamed at the telly last night during the 10,000m World Champs final. First due to the atrocious coverage from the Koreans (let's hope there's a Korean running the 5000m) and then the agonising final lap for anyone who follows British sport.

Set about training with renewed vigour today inspired by Mo's words in the post race press conference. Safe to say I don't think last night will dampen his enthusiasm. Having missed a long run yesterday, I went early today planning on catching up with Kanser along Barangaroo and the rest of the squad for the second half. Kanser was nowhere to be seen, bumped into Clyde instead at CQ and ran with him. Really didn't want to be running when by myself but time flew when I had someone to run with. Caught up with the rest of the squad (and Kanser) at Farm Cove and turned with them. To complete the string of accidental acquaintances, bumped into the Tiger near the Hyatt on the way back and ran with him for a bit.

Pace slowed a lot when I joined the group. PF was sore by the end, it doesn't like it when I run long and slow. More worryingly, my right knee was (and still is) sore, just on the knuckle on the inside and particularly when I lift my leg. I've been switching the ice from left foot to right knee all afternoon.

All up 28.12km in 2:02:59 (4:22's).

Not the Pub to Pub

Woke up with a red wine head and sore body. Hauled my ass back to Luna Park to pick up the car and that was my run for the day. PF pretty sore after yesterday's efforts. Having said all that, the pace wasn't too bad after putting some effort in up Parriwi Rd. I've become obsessed about working my glutes on hills. 10.78km in 45:32 (4:13's). Will go long tomorrow.

Good job I didn't bother fronting up to Pub to Pub. Vlad won it ahead of the Horne and Truscott, so even getting on the podium would have been unlikely. Ominous that the Horne was ahead of Truscott. Sounds like he's almost back. So no more easy Fun Run wins available.