State relays

4 x 1500m relay with Ray, Kanser and Andy. We smashed the field. I ran the first leg and we'd already lapped one of the teams before I handed over to Andy.

Good fun. I was called out 4:18 when I handed over to Andy but it's so inaccurate on the official handover mark that it's impossible to tell what the official time would be. Makes me think I'd love to run a proper 1500m and with a competitive field I reckon I could get close to 4:15 which would be great. Will have to look at the ANSW timetable. Today was a blind time trial. I saw the clock on the laps and ran 65, 2:15, 3:26 then a 58s last 300m.

Massive appreciation to Dave who showed up despite a last minute booking to fly to see his Dad this afternoon and losing his wallet and phone on the way. It was almost a definition in stress for him this morning yet he still showed up and performed strongly for the team.

Beers and curry with Dicky G, Richard Banks and Hamburglar this evening. Great evening. Richie B seems to know every curryhouse owner in town and Hamburglar seems to know every loose female bar owner in town. Much fun.

Easy Friday

Just an easy 15.35km in 4:33's today with MC, Big Sam, Andy, Todd and a few others. Plenty of chat about Wednesday night. Got the relays on tomorrow morning but haven't thought about it properly yet. Kirst is away so I'm flying solo with the 5 kids this weekend. Not quite sure how I'll handle that out at SOPAC.

JPMorgan CC - 4th in 17:37

I just love this race. Gary Howard summed it up best by describing it as a school sports carnival for grown ups. Basically 8,000+ weekend warriors putting it on the line for work honours. That said, it's always won by a classy runner. This year Marty Dent smoked the field, but in previous years its been won by Youcef Abdi, Pat Carroll, Benny St, Paul Arthur, Wildman etc.

Did a very nervous warm up with Enda, Todd and Tucks then made my way to the start line to be greeted by literally dozens of HuRT Squad members. We were held for ages on the start line then the hooter went and the mad dash to the hill began. I felt like I was pushing hard but was surprised to see a group of 6 ahead of me - that group being behind Marty who flew away. Crasti was in the group but I didn't recognise the others. I was running with Tucks at this stage so normal service had resumed. Stayed with Tucks until 3km (having caught one of the group of 6 - we'd get them all bar Crasti by the end) but then he did exactly what he told me he was going to do and inexorably pulled away. We were still catching the group of 6 one by one though so I figured I hadn't blown up. It also still felt fast. By 4km I was up to 6th place and catching 5th. At the Fox Studios gates I'd caught 5th but he was running strongly with me. Tucks was about 80m ahead with the 3rd placed chap. I have to admit that when I caught the 5th placed chap, my sole thoughts were on keeping that position as you get mentioned on the JPMorgan website for 5th but nothing for 6th. Shallow, yes. Narcissistic, absolutely. Motivational, you betcha. But I look across and this bloke I'm tussling with for 5th place is a kid, and all I'm thinking is that I bet he's a better sprinter than me so I'd better go early. So I start going for it at the 5km mark. The kid sticks it out for a bit and then thankfully drops off, because I couldn't maintain that pace for much longer. But then, what do you know, but the bloke in 4th who Tucks has now dropped is suddenly in striking distance, so just like 2 years ago I just carry on the sprint and catch him on the final corner. Hell, even Tucks is now just up ahead. Stoked to cross the line in 17:37 - second fastest time ever and about 20s quicker than I was expecting.

What it taught me is that you can make up heaps of time in this race over the final mile (from 4km to the finish line). If I'd held pace I'd have run 17:5x - I managed to put 13s and 16s on the blokes I was running with at the Fox Studios gates (photo below). Also taught me how good Tucks is. He gets a lot of credit for his ultra trail performances but I think a lot of people don't appreciate how good he is on the shorter stuff too.

I was expecting J-Fen to figure strongly given how well he's been going in training but he was badly affected by antibiotics he was taking. He was in a very bad shape coming down the finishing straight with his legs buckling just before the line. Fair play to him though - he gutsed it out despite everything and must have been in a world of pain.

Some great performances out there. Special mentions to Andy, JB and Barts who all finished within 3 seconds of each other a shade over 18mins. But what about Laura - what a champ. Off virtually no training she runs only a few seconds slower than her winning time of last year to finish second. She's a big occasion performer.

Central governor performance of the day to MC for running 19:05. Lots of PBs out there today, including for Enda (another who always goes well in this race), Indrajeet and the KiltedScot.

Allens finished second in the Mixed team to KPMG, but Matt ran a great 19:17 and the girls ran out of their skins to finish either side of 23mins. Next year we'll get it.

At 4.8km:

The CEO and Chairman:



Me and Tucks, the latter looking more relaxed:



This is how painful it got for J-Fen (Enda about to strike):



You thought J-Fen looked pained? Check out Big Sam realising Mikey has taken him:

Getting nervous

A very easy 8km today with a few strides. Big crowd and plenty of chat and trash talking about tomorrow's race. Tucks disclosed his game plan "there's not much magic to it Tom, I just put a bit of effort in at 4km" and Kanser was coming up with all sorts of excuses as to why he couldn't run (and risk MC claiming a rare scalp). I fear Young Timmy is in the same boat.

I'm pretty psyched for this one and will just give it a good crack. Should be a great night.

Biding time

Just an easy 10km today with MC, Big Sam, Indrajeet, KiltedScot, J-Fen, Rob, JW and others. Don't like these pre-race runs, just feel nervously lethargic.

Bec and Kirst are sick so I may be sleeping in the basement tonight and tomorrow.

Weekend at Coledale

Sat morning was 12km at 6am just rolling the legs over. Glutes working well though as I was pretty bouncy.

Then headed off to Coledale Beach for camping. Sunday was a glorious day and headed out at 7am after 9 hours solid sleep down the coast trying to find the bike path on LF Charlie's recommendation. Found it and it was running Mecca, just hugging the coast and cliff tops. 20.35km in 1:30:28 (4:27 average). Again very bouncy and glutes were sore by the end.

Easy Friday

Felt a bit tired after yesterday's session but much better after a very easy 13km. Would have done the 16km as I was enjoying the run but had to get back to work which has been a bit frantic recently.

Crowd was Ray, MC, Kanser, Emma, Big Sam, Todd and Russ. Very warm, but came out of the changing rooms and it was as if night had fallen, with a massive storm rolling through, hail stones and all. Standard Sydney Spring.

3 good sessions and 98km for the week but no long run. I rely on my long run. But feeling good nonetheless.

HuRTS 400's

Whoa! A mighty crowd for the 400's today, bigger than I've ever seen for that session with all the squad regulars present other than Timmy and Enda. Also there were my two gun females for next Wednesday, both doing a great job competing 8 reps with the squad. Alex is coming on in leaps and bounds and looks a completely natural runner, she could do great things.

I wanted to give it a go today. Did all the reps (off a rolling 2:10 given we were doing 440's) between 75 and 77s. Tucks went off hard on 3 of them with Dom and Clarky in tow and J-Fen gradually increased his pace to run alongside on the last two otherwise I was upfront with Clarky on my shoulder. Bloody hot out there and had to work hard but pleased with the final speed session and feeling more confident for next Wednesday night.

Did an extra 4km warm down with Andy and JB for 11km all up.

Sydney to Hobart

Up at 5.30am. Taxi to airport. Flew to Hobart. All day meetings. Flew back to Sydney. Back to office. Sent a couple of emails. Changed and ran home. 57:30 feeling nice and easy. Dinner in front of TV watching episode 3 of Homeland. I'm hooked. I'm knackered. Bed.

Melbourne Cup

Bloody hot and humid today but showed up with a select crowd of J-Fen, Richie, Andy, MC, John from AMP, Laura, Angus et al for 4 x 10mins. Wasn't in the mood and feeling tired from too much boozing (today won't have helped) but set off on the first rep with Richie and MC with Richie running strong to finish with me by Robbie Burns stone statue. Holy cow J-Fen was flying to get to the stone gates in 9:42. I don't think anyone has run quicker. He is certainly firming as favourite for JPMorgan.

Ran back in 9:29 then third rep a bit further running with J-Fen taking it easy (last lamppost) then ran back in 9:35.

Was cooked to finish so jumped in the harbour with Laura, Angus and J-Fen for a much needed cool-down.

Then started on the Coopers Pale Ale.

Left Verandah Bar 20mins ago with my poor secretary (Kellie) in the hands of Wildman and Durante. She's a feisty girl so hoping she's OK.

Lazy arse

Planned on doing a long run today by adding 10km to the usual Monday run but I was energy depleted at the end and craving sugar so cut short at 16km. Beat myself up about being a lazy arse but in truth it was the vodka and tequila on Sat night that was to blame. One day I'll take this running malarkey seriously. More drinks with ANZ tonight. Melbourne Cup tomorrow. The silly season has arrived too early.

Good times

Out at our 3rd consecutive weekend 40th birthday party last night which involved rollerblade disco girls, shots of tequila and vodka from an ice sculpture and 2am in the New Brighton Hotel, so an early morning run was not on the cards today. Eventually dragged myself out this afternoon for 11.81km in 50 something (4:18's).

Child of the 70's:



My beautiful wife:

Lane Cove 10km - 2nd in 34:05

The return of the old timers. Truscott first, me second and Jeremey Horne third. All three of us 39 years old.

Warmed up with CT, Eoin, Richie H and Andy. Planned to take it steady to start and then ease my way into the run. The Horne went off quick and CT and I followed behind. CT then put in a burst to catch him and then pushed on ahead. That's how it stayed until the top of the hill past the 5km turn. CT ahead by 20 odd seconds with me running with the Horne. I sensed he was struggling on the hills a bit though and when we turned I suddenly found myself running alone pushing downhill. Had a bit of a scare at 7km when my left hammy felt it was tightening but it eased and I just cruised home.

Nice to get a few good prizes for 2nd - some great Mizuno gear. Certainly beats the cap and pair of socks from 2 years ago. Andy had a good run almost catching the Horne for 4th place. Gary looked comfortable just ahead of Macca still recovering from Melbourne. Dicky H is on the comeback trail and a few will be looking for a rare scalp against him at JPMorgan.

Easy Friday

10km from work very easy solo.

83km for the week but some good sessions.

Manly 400's

Playing golf from lunchtime so jogged down to the oval next to the Boy Charlton pool and ran loops of the white line marked around the oval. Turned out to be about 440m (are all ovals 440m in circumference?). Legs weren't up for a full bore session so kept the rests short running off every 2mins to try to get the feeling of running 3min kms relatively comfortably.

Reps were all 80 or 81s with the last two at 79. Was bloody hot (over 30C) and I sweated buckets.

Golf was good. Need a new set of clubs for Christmas, if Santa is reading.

Wednesday MLR

Late out so cut short through Woolloomooloo and ran quickly trying to catch the squad. Eventually did at the entrance to Centennial where I could start to take it easy. Just MC, Clyde, JW and Anna today. Legs were weary but not sore. Twas hot but felt OK. About 17.5km I reckon, maybe a bit over.

Tiger Time Trial

Out to Homebush for a 2000m time trial. I was pretty nervous about this, mainly because I've been foxing around for the past 3 months not doing sessions at full bore or racing properly so had no idea where my form was really at. I did this TT with the Tiger and Tom Hurley in 2010 in 5:51, shortly before running JPMorgan in 17:52 and State 3000m (while slightly under the weather) in 8:59.

Gary reckons its a great session that yields most benefit 2 weeks later, so the timing was ideal and the plan was just to nail myself. He wasn't feeling 100% so agreed to pace me at 70s laps for 3 laps. There was a nasty headwind down the back straight so I was secretly hoping it would be 3.5 laps, and fair play to him, he came good. Laps went as follows:

68, 2:18, 3:39, 4:40, 5:51.2

Very happy with that. Had to dig deep on the final lap so hopefully will do some good. I'm almost keen to try it again next week...

Many thanks to the Tiger who looked super smooth and provided perfect pacing.

5km warm up/down for 7km (!) all up.

Run home

Very easy run home spent trying to work out how to run a 2000m time trial tomorrow. After an hour I settled on trying to run 70s laps for as long as possible.

Long Saturday

Another 40th Birthday Party tonight so headed over to join MC's merry crew in Centennial at 7am. Felt very average early on having enjoyed a few Bavarian Biers off the ferry last night with Macca and Charlie D.

Really good crowd with Dave Clark, Killa, Enda, Russell, Paul B, Mr Ace, Jonathan W and client Ben O'B joining MC and myself. 3 laps of the 10km circuit, but cut off the final 2km for 28km in 2:02. Final 6km were all under 4mins per km (the last 3 well under) and have to say that MC is travelling very well.

Tucks tracked down the photo below from Fitzroy Falls. Closet trail runner. I've been outed.

Easy Friday

Very easy 9km in 43mins bumping into Enda, Clyde and Ray. Tried to count how many times Clyde could swear in one minute but lost track.

107km for the week and now averaged over 100km for 5 weeks straight. Will drop down the mileage a bit next week and do some more speed work, starting with a 2000m time trial with the Tiger on Tuesday. Papping myself about that already.