HuRTS 45mins Fartlek

MC was absent so Fast Charlie changed the session to 45mins Fartlek. I'd raced to get there on time after a conference call, wasn't really in the mood, knackered after a bad night's sleep last night and generally tired from training. Legs felt like wood but the breathing was fine. I was in a group with Fast Charlie, JF and Dicky H. Kept on trying to up the pace to drop them all, kept on looking over my shoulder to see them all just sat there for almost the entire session.

Turned at the second speed bumps so not very fast but it was also warm today. Got back on 45:13 so a pretty honest session not dropping too much on the hills towards the end. I felt better nearer the end when the legs felt tired like they should in any case. Dicky H dropped off around the Opera House and we finally shook JF on the hill up to the ABC Pool. He's looking strong. Tiger - want to take a head to head on him at the Run for Fun weekend?

Pleased to have finished the session holding on to Fast Charlie but I need some rest to let the recent heavy training load sink in.

Run home

Busy at lunch so an easy run home. 57:54 after 30:57 at Toyota Garage.

Huge congratulations to my big brother, Jamie, who smashed his marathon PB yesterday in running 2:53. Next stop sub 4min kms! Full report here.

Manly Loops Sunday

Recovered well overnight and knew before I set off that it would feel comfortable today. Got into a nice stride early on and it was just enjoyable - certainly for the first 22km. Completely different to 2 weeks ago. The 10km loops went:

42:58
42:09
40:48

So 2:05:55 (4:11's). Weather broke last night and it was cold and wet. Quite a strong southerly which made it a struggle heading down Manly beach but a dream on the way back. 31km all up.

Another hardcore Saturday

Not enough sleep to join the Tiger early this morning so headed out at lunch for the Chloe Tighe session of 2weeks ago. 2km warmup, 5km fast, 8 x Suwarrow hills then 5km fast. 2.5km warmdown. 4mins rest between each.

Times went as follows:

17:22 (8:42 then 8:40)

66, 66, 65, 63, 66, 65, 63, 61

17:24 (8:47 then 8:37)

It's a monster session. Absolutely rodgered now. Really pleased with the time improvement from 2 weeks ago though. 18km all up.

Easy run in

Beautiful Sydney morning (20C, no wind) so ran to work. Nice and easy although legs a bit tired. 27:05 at Spit Junction and 57:32 all up. Bumped into Pete W at Kirribilli and had a quick chat about race plans.

Hickson Road

5 x 1.2km reps. Got a bit nervous beforehand, especially when Ray reminded me of the "Highnometer" predictor of adding up the total time of the 5 Hickson Road reps to work out your JPMorgan CC time.

Good crowd today with Tucks and me upfront, JF and Jason Ibrahim behind, JB still struggling post marathon blues and "One Rep" Kanser making a late showing. Times went as follows:

3:38 3:33 3:34 3:31 3:35

I was hoping to keep them all under 3:35. I ran the first from the front and it felt comfortable which always means it's not quick enough. You have to be in constant pain to make this session solid. I was just in front of Tucks for the first 4 but couldn't hold on to him on the last when Kanser pushed him through to a 3:32. We were also cut up by a car on the final rep which must have cost at least a second or two. Quite a bit of wind on the return reps.

So not quite the pace I was looking for (Tucks said the same thing) but not too far off.

11km all up.

Core and jog

Jogged to Spit Bridge for strength session with Carl at 6am (4km in 19:40), did session then did 13km very easy afterwards nearly all on grass around Campbell Parade. Very slow today, barely got below 4:40's but strength training sapped the life out of my legs. Nice to finish a fairly long run feeling fresh though. Now just need some sleep.

Manly 10.2km Loop

Very easy run around the Manly 10.2km loop. Tired to begin with after yesterday's session but started to feel better after stopping to chat to Thamal when I bumped into him on Manly beach. 44:34.

Very broken night's sleep last night - no more than 2 hours at any stretch.

400s

Had to pick Maggie up from Narrabeen so decided to combine it with a 10 x 400m session on Narrabeen track. Was really nervous about this all day, partly because I was a bit tired from yesterday's run and partly because I'd be running on the track where the distances would be spot on and there'd be no hiding from the times.

Reps went as follows:

68, 70, 70, 69, 69, 68, 69 69, 67, 67

Straight into a 200m jog between each rep.

So 5 seconds overall slower than the session I did with Wildman, Durante and Serg almost exactly 2 years ago. But given I ran these by myself it's not too bad. Mentally it's bloody tough. After 2 reps, I was thinking I'll stop at 5. Then at 5 it was just, "one more, try and keep it consistent".

Bit of wind down the home straight. I was thinking of Keith struggling in the 3000m on the same track at the weekend. Had an email from Sean saying that Keith ran 25:10 for 8km in Moore Park a couple of weeks ago. If that's an accurate 8km (and if it's the 2km loops it is) he's a bit out of my league at the moment.

2km warm up and down for 10k all up.

Long Manly Sunday

The usual Seaforth, Queenscliff, Shelley Beach, North Head, Balgowlah Heights route. Ran into LF Charlie along Manly Beach and stopped for a quick chat. 10km in 43:00, Stone Arch in 1:11:18 and 1:59:44 all up. Quickest time for this route and first time under 2 hours. Had to run the final km in 3:30 to achieve it though.

Beautiful day and warm but lovely cool breeze off the sea when you could see the water (quite frequently on this route).

Top of back/glutes a bit sore after some beach sprinting at Nippers this morning. They had a parents race and I couldn't resist the challenge.

Claudia Esme Highnam

Born last night, weighing in at 3.2kg and 51cm. Loads of dark hair but otherwise (thankfully) looks like her Mum. Didn't run. In fact, spent the whole day in a comfy chair watching the Commonwealth Games - the marathon, the hockey then the netball. Shelley was inspirational in the marathon.

Today, ran from home to see Kirst and Claudia in the Mater in North Sydney (10.28km). 45:44 on the way there (4:26's). 44:01 on the way back (4:16's). Very tired for the first 6km (struggled to do the first km in 4:35) but felt much better on the way back. Feel like I'm on the verge of hitting some good form. I can tell Kanser and the Tiger are scared. Unfortunately, I don't think any good form will result in any PB's for 2010 as my final 3 races of the year are over distances for which I have my strongest PBs. It will mean 2010 will be the first year in which I haven't set a PB since I started running again properly in 2004.

Wednesday MLR

Out with Kanser and RMR to Kincoppal and back. Nice warm day. 44:59 on the way out and 42:00 on the way back but we took a wrong turn down Thornton St at Darling Point so cut about 90s off the journey. 18.5km.

127km for the week - my highest ever weekly volume.

HuRTS 5min reps

The usual 90s rest. Blustery but sunny day and a great crowd. It was like old times today, with the Judge, the Chairman, Tucks, Dicky H, Johnny Fenton and myself upfront and a good crowd further back. Legs felt heavy over the first few reps but then felt better and better as the session went on. The last 3 were at 3:17 pace, the ones before averaged 3:20 - 3:22.

The Chairman was looking strong, especially running into the wind when the rest of us started flailing. Any rumour that he banged out his 2:35 marathon at Sydney on zero training are wildly untrue though. He reckons he's just been "putting the miles in running to and from work", which works out at 140km per week. He needs to work on his speed though for JPMorganCC. No doubt coach Kanser will be having a quiet word in his protege's ear.

15km all up.

Easy Monday

Usual route with quite a big crowd. Legs felt shattered after the weekend and struggled for the first 5km but then got into it and felt much better by the end. Laura was dragging all the blokes behind her, including MC, LF Charlie, Timmy C, Kanser (getting fitter) and some of the UBS boys. All up 15.8km in 69:33 (4:24's).

Manly Loops Sunday

3 x 10km Manly loops this afternoon after a morning at Nippers. Set off and knew it was going to be a struggle from the first km but decided to hold the pace steady and just hope I started to feel better later on. That never materialized. Fortunately, I bumped into Dicky H completely randomly at 17km and ran with him for the next 7km which got me through the worst bit. Then just held on for the final 7km. Bad stomach cramps at the end which were only dealt with by a carton of strawberry flavoured Oak. I remember someone telling me that stuff is as good as any sports protein drink when I was wandering around Coles a bit later.

10km loops were run in 44:17, 44:35 and 44:22 so at least the pace was consistent. 31km all up and a big weekend.

Hardcore Saturday

Decided to try a session I read about in R4YL. Chloe Tighe wrote that one of her hard sessions was a tempo, followed by 8 hills, followed by a tempo. It's designed to replicate the feeling of running the latter part of races on tired legs. Sounded good so my version of it was 5km fast, 8 x Suwarrow hills (finishing at the large drain) followed by 5km fast. Gave myself 4 mins rest in between. About half way through I realised that this was going to be a monster session. 18km all up including warm up and warm down.

Times went as follows:

17:36 (laps of 8:49 and 8:47)

67, 67, 66, 66, 66, 64, 65, 64

17:31 (laps of 8:51 and 8:40)

Really pleased with the second 5km. I was tired after the hills and just hoping to get near 9 minutes on the first lap. When I saw the time I just pushed on.

Great session.

Easy Friday

Usual 15.8km route with Laura, Kanser and chap from Ord Minnett - 70:27 (4:27s). Very easy lemon squeezy. Beautiful day, Spring has arrived and is here to stay. Good job as Nippers starts on Sunday. Poor old Sally. C'mon Benny. Good on 'ya Rebecca A. Adios.

400s

Over to Rushcutters again, this time with JB and Ray, the latter just intending on jogging around the Oval. Exactly the same session as last week. Reps went as follows:

77, 79, 79, 79, 79, 79, 78, 80, 77, 75

JB was just behind for the first 3 but was complaining of the legs just feeling dead after the marathon. He helped out on alternate reps in the second half.

Really pleased with the session (other than rep 8) as it's a big improvement on last week. Definitely helped having JB there. Was much more tired afterwards than I've been over the past two weeks when I think I was cruising.

Carl's away so did training with Russ this morning. Loads more heavy duty glute and hamstring exercises which left my legs trembling at 7am. Didn't seem to affect the 400s though.

Great to see Benny running the 5000m last night and good performance to finish 7th. Rumour has it he's also doing the 10,000m on Monday. It was a fantastic race for the win, Kipsiro and Kipchoge going toe to toe and not giving an inch over the final 400m (run in 52s - nearly as quick as my final rep today).

Run home

Started to feel confident about the way things were going over the weekend, then woke up on Monday with the flu like symptoms having come back again - headache, streaming nose, aching neck and back and dodgy stomach. Just seems to revert when I put the hammer down on the training.

Took Monday and Tuesday off but was feeling better enough to run home tonight. Was a bit tentative on the early hills worrying about triggering off the symptoms but felt more confident and strong as the run went on. Pushed it towards the end running 7:10 for the final 2km. Splits of 16:01, 29:40 and 48:28 with 55:38 all up.

Tiger massage this afternoon and, of course, another bet. He's runnning Lane Cove in November while I'll do the Run for Fun the next day. I've given him a minute headstart for $50. If I beat him by 90seconds I get $100, if it's less than 30seconds he gets $100. I'll have the advantage of knowing what I have to do with him having raced first.

Great run by Ray on the weekend to win the Penrith marathon in 2:44 (20 minutes ahead of Andy and Timmy C in 2nd and 3rd). Ray won't run 10km's because of his injury, but reckons the slower pace of the marathon is fine. He's a unique chap.

Commonwealth Games 5000m tonight. GO BENNY!!!!

$10 to anyone who can name the Sydney Olympics 5000m champion without looking it up...

Harbourside Hike STaR

Clocks went forward last night so had to get up at the equivalent of 4.40am to do this one. Unsurprisingly there was a small crowd with just JB, Pete T, Jo Cowan and Shaun A joining in the 6.20am group. Only Shaun planned to do the full distance so the others cut away after an hour. Couldn't believe how much bush running there was on a run so close to the City centre, and the severity of the hills. Made for a very slow run. Shaun cut short after 23km so did the last 7km by myself picking the pace up a bit. 30kms all up but about 2:30 on my feet.

Striders 10km Homebush 3rd in 34:28

Didn't know what to expect this morning. It was a low turnout due to the long weekend and school holidays with only Robin Whiteley of the front runners. Set off quite quickly and shortly formed a group with Tucks and another chap who seemed to be a mate of Robin's. They were pushing along so I forced myself to stick to them to get dragged through. Went through 1km in 3:13, but 2km in 6:38 so knew it wasn't going to be quick. Really don't like this course - too many twists and turns to break the rythmn and it always picks up any humidity.

Just ran with Tucks until 5km (17:03) where other chap droped out. Then Tucks started to gap me. I was a good distance ahead of 4th so just tried to keep the pace honest for the rest of the race. Funny that beforehand Kanser said on this course you can take your time at 5km, double it and add 25seconds, which is basically what happened to me. Tucks did well to negative split and run 34:00, probably closing on Robin in the process.

Another good solid run in amongst a hard block of training but truth is I have to improve by a minute in a month to be where I want to be. Most of the HuRT squad struggled today, Kanser running a high 36, MC running a high 37, Timmy struggling with injury in the 39's. Dicky H was the exception improving by a minute from last month to finish 5th in 35:21, ahead of the Tiger.

Nice to win a cap and pair of shoes. About the only Striders race in the last 5 years that 34:28 would permit that.

Easy Friday

Very easy 12km run on the usual harbourside route but cutting short at Circular Quay. Ran with Scottish chap from BT and Laura, with King James and a few others also around. Ray joined in later. 54 mins.

400s

Busy today so arranged to meet up with Kanser early doors for some 400s around Rushcutters Oval. Beautiful day, about 19C but crystal clear with a slight breeze. We ran full loops of the Oval (448m) rather than trying to work out where 400m was, did a 1 minute jog between each one and started the next loop whereever we were at the end of the minute.

Reps went as follows:

81, 82, 81, 81, 82, 81, 80, 80, 80, 79.

So between 70-73s for 400m. Didn't kill myself doing them so I think there's more to come. Listened to Dave Sweeney's advice and tried to relax while runing them.

Really nice session. Warm up and down for 10km all up.

Easy Wed

Slightly longer this week just running the Monday route by myself. Bumped into Dicky H, Sam and Andy along the way. 33:45 at the turn and 66:45 all up for the 15.8km.

HuRTS 14 x 3mins

26C today and sunny, conditions we haven't had in months. As a result, I started this toughest of sessions pretty conservatively so as not to kill myself later on. The last time I did this session was when I had a cold post City2Surf which put me out of action for 3-4 weeks. Ran with Tucks, JF and Dicky H. Smallish crowd behind us including MC (getting pretty fit), Kanser, Timmy L, LF Charlie, RMR and others.

We averaged about 3:22's (900m). Picked up on reps 11 and 12 (after Tucks and Dicky H pulled out) but had to run the last 2 by myself which went back to 3:22's. Not too shattered at the end so OK with that.

Great views around Farm Cove today. Gotta love this Summer weather. Timmy was walking with a limp at the end of the session but I don't think it had anything to do with his stress fracture.

Easy Monday

Very easy Monday route with MC, Brendan, Kanser, Timmy C, LF Charlie, Warrior Luke and others. Picked the pace up with Brendan from the Opera House home. 15.8km in 1:10:08.

Blue Mountains

Saturday was another 10km tempo. Ran from the rental house to Evans Lookout and back. Felt great on the way out. Realised why on the way back where hill upon hill appeared. Gmapped at 10.4km. 39:17 (but 18:54 at half way). Stopped at Evans Lookout just at sunset and it was magic.

Theme of hills continued today when I was out at 6am for a 2 hour run. Ran from the house straight down into Megalong Valley, turned around after 59mins then ran home. Megalong Valley is 400m closer to sea level than Blackheath, and the final 6km was straight uphill with no respite. So it took a bit longer to get back. All up 26.4km in 2:03:20.

Megalong Valley is a beautiful spot so went back afterwards for a walk along Six Foot Track, hence the picture...

Easyish Friday

Just a jog to work. Beautiful warm morning which made it a pleasure. Not such a pleasure for the residents of Balgowlah, Mosman, Neutral Bay and Kirribilli who had to face my pasty white skin for the first time in months. Highlight of the run was almost stepping on a 1.5ft long Eastern Water Dragon in Clontarf.

Tired today. 106km for the week has caught up with me. 27:10 at Spit Junction and 57:38 all up.

Not quite 400s

Took a 5km detour to jog over to Rushcutters, found the Oval closed so marked out what I thought was roughly a 400m track around the fields next door. I think it was closer to 315m-320m, but after the first rep I wasn't going to change it so decided to run 13 of them instead of 10 to keep the overall distance about the same. Reps went:

56, 57, 57, 57, 56, 56, 56, 56, 56, 56, 56, 56, 55

Strict 45s rest between each one.

Good to keep them consistent but wasn't lactic or dizzy at the end as I would be if I was pushing myself against others.

Jogged back the long way for about 13km all up.

Easy Wednesday

Tried and failed to get out at lunch so ran home. Was going to extend it to 19km but was feeling tired so decided not to push it on the first proper week back. 30:10 at Toyota Garage, 48:48 with 2km to go but then caught Lucy Chapman so jogged back with her chatting all the way. 57:56 in the end. Didn't realise she lives in the street next to ours. Will try and catch up with her and Dickyboy for some Saturday sessions.

HuRTS 45mins Fartlek

It did HuRT today. Beautiful Spring day but a small crowd due to the running festival over the weekend. Young Timmy rocked up but is becoming Kanser-like in his injury woes. MC was there with Todd, JF, Marty, King James, LF Charlie, Pete W and others but only Tucks and the Judge seemed to be taking it seriously. I tried to hang on to them but they had gapped me by Mrs Macquarie's Chair. From then on I was on my own. Turned half way down Hickson Road (between the 2nd and 3rd speed bumps) so a fair effort but struggled to get back. Tucks roared past around Circular Quay as I limped back home, only managing to reach the Art Gallery on 45mins. But to put it in context, Tucks went through 10km in 34:00 and I guess I was about a minute behind. Another session in the bag and it's been a while so I just need to harden the legs up.

Easy Monday

Just the full Monday route with Wildman (grrr) and Kanser for part of the way. 15.8km in 69:48. Nice and easy.

Long Manly Route

Hadn't done this in a while and knew I'd run too quick if I did the old flat 10km loops so planned to do this very easy. Felt great to start with and was slowing myself down. 43:27 at 10km, 1:12:05 at the stone arch and still feeling great. Only started to run out of energy coming along the Manly to Spit section (unrecognizable now they've improved the path). Finished in 2:01:12 - one of my quickest times for this route. Hopefully means I'm finally over the bloody bug.

Frustrated not to be out there racing today. Some mixed results. Sounds like Darren had a flyer, JB sounded disappointed with his 2:38 but Sydney probably isn't the course to run quick. CT ran 2:43 so I should have taken him up on the bet. JF won me $50 after toasting the Tiger. Robbie dropped out of the half at 14km.

.....just notice that Mike Race smashed through the 3hr mark with a 2:56 - fantastic result mate and well deserved.

Manly 10.2km

Haven't done this run in a while but fancied throwing in a couple of hills and only had a 45min window. Went off pretty quick and maintained the good steady pace. 15:05 at Queenscliff, 21:08 at Manly SLSC and 38:38 all up. Bumped into Dickyboy at Queenscliff. Like my Manly tempo runs.

Good luck to all running tomorrow. GO JOHNNY FENTON!! TAME THE TIGER!!!

HuRTS Hickson Road

Rocked up to a small crowd due to Sydney Marathon Festival this weekend. Just planned on rolling through the reps to see how I felt. Ray, Chris G, Todd, Marc, Darren and a new chap called Josh Rix were there. Turns out Josh is a pro-triathlete sponsored by the Giant team so was pretty handy. Reps went as follows:

4:00
3:45
3:46
3:41
3:41

Felt pretty comfortable and didn't smash myself but I'll be playing it cagey for a while.

Big race for Benny this weekend. Not least in that he's running on hallowed turf (the streets of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne) but also that he'll be up against Mottram (Aussie 5000m record holder) and Collis Birmingham (Aussie 10,000m record holder) in the first race they've all been in together in a long time. If he can beat them both he'll pretty much establish himself as the current top distance runner in Australia. Apparently not tapering for it though. Dad, make sure you're there...

Run home

Busy at lunch so an easy run home. Was quite quick though due to the amount of rest I've had recently. 30:05 at Toyota Garage and 56:50 all up. Nice clear night. Spring has arrived. Praise the Lord.

Starting new program

Felt slightly dodgy all last week. Started to feel worse on Saturday, first nauseous then started throwing up in the evening. I reckon I've had a low level gastro bug since the week after C2S. Feeling better enough today to try a 6km easy jog. Ran past the boys doing their 4 x 10mins. Not concentrating on anything other than getting well and fit enough for JPMorgan/State 3km in 8 weeks time.

Sick note

I am Darren Anderton.

Decided to take the week off. Came down sick again after Sunday. Same thing again, flu-like symptoms. Shouldn't have raced on the weekend. Need to be careful as it's been almost 4 weeks now.

Middle Harbour Picnic STaR

Small crowd at the 6.20am group of JB, CT, PT, Flakey, Steve Hume and Jo Cowan. Nearly all are running Sydney Marathon so were only doing 25km as a taper so I stuck to that too. Lovely day for it (although still a bit blowy). Struggled on the hills though, not sure whether as a result of yesterday's race or the lingering effects of the virus. Pace was very easy. Feel pretty average now with aching shoulders and a slight headache. 2 hours exactly and 25.2kms.

Striders 10km North Head 10th in 34:25

Showed up to find the unofficial HuRT Squad 10km Championships forming. Massive crowd including JB, Andy, Tucks, Darren, Timmy, Kanser, MC, TB, JF, Rob, RMR, Dicky H, Richie P and Geoffrey. The Tiger and Bleasel were also there, setting up our bet nicely. Conditions were pretty shocking - strong blustery winds and raining. I wanted to take it easy at the start as I was worried about how the effects of the illness would play out so plan was just track Tucks as he never goes off quick.

Went to plan to start with - nice sedate start then we started picking our way through the field. First km was reached in 3:18 and was feeling fine. JB, CT, Uncle Dave, Thamal and a triathlete were in a front group having gone off very quick. I started to climb the hills and immediately knew it wasn't going to be my day - the legs just felt dead. Heard the masses gathering behind me. Then started to try to pull away along the long straight over the speed bumps but it was direcly into a strong wind and all I was doing was providing a wind shield for everyone else. As soon as we turned at the Hospital the crowd (including the Tiger, Andy, Bleasel and Darren) started to pull ahead. I was now running again with Tucks who also seemed to be struggling. Stayed this way until 5km (reached in 17:10). I was considering pulling out at this stage but knew I'd never live it down so just carried on. Then Tucks and I seemed to get into a rythmn and the Tiger started coming back towards us. Soon after we picked up Brendan Davies and then Bleasel and another chap. All was well with the world again. Then I started to think about trying to beat Tucks but at 9km he seemed to put a surge in which I just couldn't be bothered to bridge. However, a bloke behind started to catch and I wasn't going to allow him to beat me so sped up to hold him off. In doing so I started to catch Tucks. A bit annoyed that I didn't put more effort in but there you go.

So mixed feelings. Managed to salvage something from what was looking like a dire situation at 5km. Almost an even split (17:10, 17:15). Affected by the recent illness so hopefully things will be better in 2 weeks at Sydney Half. Timmy was far more affected by recent flu and struggled in 38:xx so $50 from him but Gary pulled a fast finish out the bag to overtake a tiring Bleasel in the final km to take $50 from me. In fact, Bleasel must think I have a set plan in these races as I've overtaken him with 2.5km to go in our last 3 outings at North Head.

JB was a bit disappointed to be beaten by CT but has huge km in his legs so will come good after a taper for Sydney Full. Andy had performance of the day to run 34:00 in bad conditions. In fact, Steve Jackson said that the course was 20 seconds long as they put the 3km turnaround marker 50 yards too far down the road. I blame Fats. He plainly didn't want anyone PB'ing. Other great performances were Gary's 34:49 and JF finishing just in front of him. Kanser was smiling like a Cheshire Cat to beat Timmy and run low 36.

Great to catch up with everyone before and afterwards. Didn't stress so much about this race this morning and it makes the whole event much more enjoyable.

Easy Friday

Gerry took a few photos on Tuesday of our session. First (from left) is JB, Tucks, the Judge and JF. Second is Kanser and myself. Third (from left) is RMR (sunnies and cap), Christian (cap), Todd (sunnies), Kanser, Jamie, Dom and MC.

Just a slow jog after work half way home finishing at the Toyota Garage in 32:06. Still feeling slightly off with a light head but will race tomorrow and just see how I feel. It won't be pretty but I need some hard sessions in the legs before Sydney Half.

Curry Club was relatively sedate compared to previous outings but can heartily recommend Darbar on Glebe Point Road. But why does everyone insist on drinking Kingfisher when they order Indian?

HuRTS Hickson Road

Woke up this morning for the first time in 2 weeks feeling vaguely OK, so immediately decided to push today's session as a kill or cure test to see whether I run on Saturday morning at North Head.

Reps went as follows:

3:34 (3:01 pace)
3:32 (3:01 pace)
3:37 (3:04 pace)
3:34 (3:03 pace)
3:58 (3:22 pace)

Felt pretty free and easy on the reps but by rep 4 I was starting to hit the red zone and was developing a headache so decided just to run through the final rep. Had Darren on my shoulder for the first 3 reps with Andy (who went on to run 3:35 for the final rep) very close behind him. Feeling a little bit under now but not too bad so things are looking up. However, got Curry Club with the boys tonight so that could put me back to square one...

Smallish but nice crowd today - Brendan, Dom, Ray, Todd, Geoff and Bill all showing up with Anna running well too. Will be interesting to see how she goes against Laura in upcoming races.

Wednesday MLR (not)

Caught up with Kanser, Rob, RMR, Brendans (x2), Andy and others for the Centennial 19km route but was never really feeling great and with another headache pulled up short by running straight back from Centennial half way around. 12.5km in 56:30 (4:31's).

HuRTS Progressive Tempo

Still not feeling right so took it easy today. Hung around at the back but it was a bit slow so joined MC's group with RMR, Kanser, Jamie and a few others. We turned at just over 5.6km on 23.5mins (i.e. about 4:10 pace) feeling very comfortable then Kanser picked the pace up a bit. He pulled up at the Opera House gates leaving Jamie and I to finish off. Jamie was pretty strong pushing the pace around Farm Cove and we ran together back to the gates in 44:19 (i.e. about 3:42's for the return). Felt comfortable enough not to trigger off any nasty reaction from the virus. A massage this evening has stirred up all the free radicals but will drink a load of water and see how I feel tomorrow before deciding whether to do North Head on Saturday or offer to marshall.

Kanser's getting confident about staying within 20s of young Timmy whilst our Stoke City reject is playing all manner of mind games on the big Irishman.

Easy Monday

Very easy 15km with the usual crowd but joined by Kanser who I haven't seen for a while. Felt fine running but got a headache again now. Beginning to get pissed off by this...

Easy recovery

Another very easy run - 26 mins around Manly. Feeling much better than yesterday and a beautiful day. Made me wonder why I don't just do this everyday.

Recovering

Diagnosed with sinusitis on Wednesday so am on a course of antibiotics. Felt crap until this morning so ventured out this afternoon for an easy run. Lasted 15 minutes before a headache came on so cut short for 25 mins all up. Had planned to try a long run tomorrow but won't bother now. Just want to knock this illness on the head as I've had it for nearly 3 weeks now.

Jamie - I use Endura Optimiser (the powder form) although Carl is recommending I try the one with protein or whey in. Works a treat helping recovery from long or tough sessions. So you probably don't need it.

HuRTS 14 x 3mins

The usual session off 60s rest. Crowd upfront included JB, Fast Charlie, the Judge, JF and Andy with MC, King James, RMR etc behind. Laura James showed up again. She's going to improve massively if she keeps on doing sessions like this.

Felt heavy legged from the first rep today and had to break it down in sections to get through the session. Ran the first 2 reps with JB and Fast Charlie but then they were just too strong, finishing each rep about 30m ahead (i.e. about 7 or 8 secs per rep). I started to get closer to them after rep 8 then ran the last 3 reps with them. Distance and average pace were as follows (discrepancies due to stopping the watch at 3:00, 3:01 or 3:02):

912m (3:19)
916m (3:19)
917m (3:18)
915m (3:18)
916m (3:18)
908m (3:20)
921m (3:17)
918m (3:18)
912m (3:18)
919m (3:18)
933m (3:14)
925m (3:15)
953m (3:09)
947m (3:12)

Pleased to have kept them consistent on tired legs. Need to get some more Endura. I'm addicted to the stuff. It's probably got EPO or steroids mixed in it or something.

Easy Monday

Very easy Monday route with a large crowd including MC, Brendan, Rob, King James, Ray and others. Felt very tired to start with but the pace was very easy. Turned at 7.5km (last bit of Barangaroo shut off) on 34:20 and back for the 15km in 1:06:40 so it picked up a bit on the way back. Felt better as the run went on.

Long local Sunday

Just did 10km loops today. Thought I was going to struggle after yesterday but felt great just coasting along. The 10km loops were run in 42:00, 41:38 then 40:38. Started to feel it a bit from 20km and the final 5km was a struggle but I haven't done a long run for a month so not unexpected. Seem to be in a bit of a purple patch at the moment.