HuRTS 4 x 10mins

Mrs Macs loop today. Did a 3km warm up as I was meeting Kirst at 2pm and was already sweating when I met everyone.  Bloody humid and warm to boot.  One of those days when everything is a huge effort.

Struggle through the first rep with Fats and Andy in tow, reaching 15s short of the start line (5:10 at the bottom corner).  Back the opposite way (which, strangely, feels easier despite starting and finishing in the same place), catching Andy and Fats on the hill after the bottom corner but with Andy pulling ahead again in the final 800m.

3rd rep with Andy following the whole way making it back to the start line (just) - 5:03 at the bottom corner and by the 4th rep I was really struggling.  Made no inroads into Andy until he looked as though he was tiring on the hill past the bottom corner.  Caught him at the Art Gallery hill, overtake but he then starts coming back at me.  I've got visions of Barts catching me at JPMorgan so put in a sprint to hold him off.  9:54 and rogered.

Cycled home last night.  Cycled in this morning.  Guys pass me on hills like I'm standing still.

Couple of photos taken of Billy at State Gymnastics champs at Rooty Hill RSL on Sunday. Rooty Hills RSL is far more impressive than it sounds:

Easy Monday

Usual route untimed.  15.2km.

Old route Sunday

Perfect day and a big crowd of Andy, Bart, Barts, Kanser, Justin, Ray and Eoin for my old Queenscliff, North Head, Tany Park route.  Starts gentle but hilly from 10km onwards.  Easy pace though saw us finishing in 2:08:54.

Big news of the day though is the arrival of a new blog.  With more frequent updates than the Tiger's, more quality training than Kanser's, less reliance on the Garmin than the KiltedScot's and better spelling than Timmy's, it's the must read running update of the day.  Young Jack is my nephew based down in Melbourne and is posting some quality times, particularly over 1500m and 3000m.

Www.jacksrunningpage.blogspot.com.au

Curl Curl Parkrun

Busy weeken so drove there and did 7km warm up on the course.  Graced with some quality female runners today with Amy Stafford and Anna F turning up along with the Tiger.

Hip improved during my warm up so went for it from the off.  Km splits were about 3:10, 3:16, 3:20, 3:16, 3:14 for 16:16 all up (although officially timed at 16:18).  Gary ran with me for 500m then it was solo with Gary coming in 2nd, Amy 3rd and Anna 5th.

Very happy with that.  Quicker than I thought I'd go and held on well when I thought I'd be going lactic.

Interesting fact for the day:  Former wild child and current snooker World Champ Ronnie O'Sullivan is a keen runner with a 10km PB of 34:54.

Friday frolics

12km very easy around Centennial with MC.  Hip very sore (causing leg to collapse at times) from bloody glute exercises.

Took Voltaren late afternoon and evening in order to get through weekend.

HuRTS 400's

Well the plan is to do plenty of these 400's sessions, but conditions really tested everyone today.  33C, windy and bushfires raging.  A few of the old timers returned today with Durante and Big Mikey H both making a return.  MC split us into 3 groups with just me, Mikey, Dom, Kenny and Andy in the first group.  Running off a rolling 2 mins I went:

67, 68, 69, 71, 71, 71, 72, 70, 70, 69

Too quick in the conditions on the first 3 running with Big Mikey.  He then dropped off leaving me to run solo when the conditions caught up with me.  Was wearing a black T-Shirt which I had to ditch exposing my white belly to the poor ladies present.  Worswick couldn't resist but comment.

Pleased with the session despite the variation in times.  Everyone was suffering out there.  I collapsed on the grass at the end sucking in big ones.  Good honest session though.

Warmdown via Darling Pt with Jeet and Andy for 12km all up.

Just for Timmy, here's a photo from my office of Doomsday out West:

HuRTS Fartlek

Decided to give the session a push today.  First time I've done so for a Tuesday session in months, mainly because I've still been tired from the weekend.  But with shorter Sunday runs more recently, I've been feeling good by Tuesday.  Kenny, Andy and Fast Charlie (although there's talk of Fast Charlie and LF Charlie doing a name swap) came with me but Fast LF Charlie dropped out at the Park Hyatt and by the turn Andy was about 50m back with Kenny a further 50m behind him.  We'd made good ground though, reaching the 2nd speed bumps opposite the steep steps before Lend Lease - good given the tougher detour around Farm Cove.  

Had someone to chase on the way back which always helps.  Caught Andy and Kenny at CQ then pushed on from the Stone Gates home (10:30) to get back in 44:59.9.  How's that for a central governor.  12.8km averaging 3:30's.  Always seem to go Ok on the Fartlek, which I think is because I'm

soft and like a little rest after any small amount of effort.

4.5km warmdown with MC, Andy, Mr Ace and LF Fast Warrior Charlie for 18km all up.

Monday HuRTS

First run feeling good in weeks.  Very easy on the way out chatting with Ray (running even after his 2:39 yesterday!), MC, Mr Ace, Worswick and others.  Picked the pace up on the way back.  All up 15.2km averaging 4:29's.

Convinced my achilles issue is a very tight glute/top of hammie and rollered it to death last night which paid dividends.

East Side Sunday

Over to Kanser's this morning for a Centennial run.  Met Wildman in the park then did a route down to Coogee given it was yet another perfect day and followed the (very hilly and full of steps) coastal route all the way up to Bondi before heading back to Queen's Park and an internal loop of Centennial and back to Kanser's.  Pretty slow average time of 4:40's but that was mainly due to all the hills and steps. 26km in 2:01 something.

Some great results at Melbourne Marathon today with LJ running a fantastic 2:47 and Elle debuting in 3:05.  The girls are really showing the boys how it's done at the moment.  Richie Banks was the best of the blokes in 2:38:20.  Maybe we don't need to travel to Europe to run fast times.

Curl Curl Parkrun

Crawled over to Curl Curl early doors and then tried to haul my ass through the Parkrun.  Great little course.  Said hello to Ron Schwebel then we were off.  Some bloke in a triathlon top immediately sped off but was confident he was going to keep it up, especially as I was still running 3:16's.  Caught him at 2km, he tried to surge again to prevent me going to the lead then relinquished.

I hit the front then immediately went the wrong way.  He shouts to me so I rejoin 30m back again.  Probably lost about 10s.  Overtook him again at 3km then gradually pushed ahead maintaining the pace.  Finished just under 17 in 16:56 then jogged home.

13km for the morning and a great start to another beautiful day.

Mewling excuses

Just 7km in 31:20.  Beaut of a day but I had a few too many Bavarian beers last night so to get out at all was a bonus.

Think I'll try the Curl Curl Parkrun in the morning.  Magnesium is working.

Hot, hot, hot

35C today so MC cancelled the Hickson Rd reps.  I just ran around the harbour for an hour easy.  Body very sore.  Decided I need magnesium.

Wednesday MLR

Out with MC, Kanser, Mr Ace, Todd, Slapstick and half the NAB leveraged finance team for the usual Wednesday route but cut short at the Slip Inn for Kirst's appointment.  18km all up at an easy pace today.  Legs very stiff, need someone from Jackie's to sort them out.  But a beaut of a day.  Then out this evening for far too much fine wine and steak at Rockpool, not missing out on the Fat Duck inspired trifle.  Good days.

HuRTS 8 x 5 mins

Back to Art Gallery Rd for this set and it's a much harder (and better I reckon) session as a result.  Plenty of undulating hills especially on the return leg.  I was making up to 1.53km on each rep on the way out but struggling to get back other than on the last.

Solid session running up front alongside (variously) Kenny, BOB and Fats.  

4km warmdown for 17km all up.

Branxton Rodeo.  I loved it.  Bec was pants on the mechanical bull, Mags a natural.

Back home

Managed to squeeze in 7km back home from Huhter Valley before Kirst started screaming at me.  29:05.

Hunter Valley long

Solo long in Hunter Valley.  Not keen on running long without company these days but knees were fine and achilles mostly ok so the kms ticked by having found a decent circular route up Old North Rd and back down Deasy's Rd.  

26km in 1:54 (4:23's).

Hunter Valley

13km in 54:22 (4:11's) in the Hunter Valley.  Pretty crap run really.  Knees and achilles were a bit sore, nowhere to run but out and back route on main roads and didn't even see a kangaroo.

104km for week.

HuRTS 800m reps

5km early this morning picking up the car from the garage.

Spring weather for you at lunch. 30C and sunny on Tuesday, cold and wet today.  Was late to get to Rushcutters so missed first rep.  MC was leading them with LJ.  They were only taking 90s rest, grass was long, windy in final 100m, can't think of any more excuses.  I ran:

2:31

2:32

2:31

2:28

2:31

2:29

2:28

First 2:28 was chasing the second group to overtake them, much easier than running solo.  But generally nice to run fast(ish) again, been a while since I've done a Thursday session.  My knees feel better for it.

Jog back for 11km all up.

Wednesday MLR

Usual route with Jeet, Bart, JW, BelElle, Em and a couple of others.  Pace a bit quicker today (I had it at 4:23's but may have measured long - will check at home).  20.5kms all up as everyone had dropped away by CQ.

Getting more and more photos from Munich and feeling increasingly jealous.

Sunday and HuRTS

Sunday was 10km steady around 4 min kms while Kirst watched over the kids at Campbell Pde.

Today was HuRTS 45mins tempo welcoming back Tucks who took it easy on us all on his return.  I ran at the front with Ray before he dropped off a bit.  Turned about 50m in front of Ray and 100m ahead of Kenny.  Made no inroads on them until the Toaster, then finished quite well getting back in 45:01 (3:39's).  It was never comfortable out there today though, bloody hot (30C) and very windy.  Dried me up so much my lips were bleeding at the end which must have made a very pretty sight for anyone unfortunate enough to see me.

3km warmdown with Jimmy M for 16km all up.

Great to have Kirst back before she headed off to Hunter Valley.  She insisted we all try on Maggie's new hair accessory.  I think Charlie wears it best.

Long Sat with the Melbourne crew

Headed out to Centennial this morning caching up with JC, LJ, Paul B, Eoin and Slapstick (all doing Melbourne marathon in 2 weeks).  Did the usual 10km loops getting faster each lap - 46mins, 44mins then a quick 30mins for the final 8km.  JC an Eoin looking very strong.

Knackered afterwards after only 5 hours sleep post footie last night.  Here are some photos:

Good luck to all the Berlin boys tomorrow.  I know what they've been through to get there and hope it all goes right on the day.

Manly Friday

Couldn't face the same old flat run around Manly putting the same stresses on my knee and Achilles so did the hilly 13km route instead. See end to work as about two-thirds of the way in I started stretching out a bit for the first time in weeks. 56:36.

Then n to see the mighty Sea Eagles!

101km for week.

Squeezing it in

Kirst fell asleep post surgery so squeezed in a run from the Mater.  Bumped into the squad for a bit chatting to Bart, Andy and Mat K.  14km slow with my right knee a bit sore.

Surgery went well.

HuRTS 12 x 3mins

Not done a HuRT session in weeks and it showed.  Struggled with the pace today, never really feeling comfortable running with Kenny, Fast Charlie and Muz.  Managed 10 quite quick (will download stats tonight) then 2 more at 3:35 pace before I pulled the pin.  Achilles and knees fine (much better after massage this arvo) but was feeling a bit fatigued.  Not suprising after 118km in the last 7 days.

Was supposed to be flying to Berlin today so have been trying to ignore the thoughts.  But poor Charlie (on my same flight) had to turn around after 1.5 hours and fly back to Sydney due to a medical emergency.  That would have pissed me off no end.

Laura James

Well, today's post is dedicated to the first HuRT Squad member to win a major road race.  And you couldn't find a nicer person to have done so.  Humble as ever, she told me her response in crossing the line was a squeaky voiced "yay!" before politely handing the finishing tape back to the officials.  We're proud of you LJ.

Usual 15.2km today ran slow with a big crowd talking about the various Sydney Running Festival races.  Achilles fine, knees sore.

Back to the longer stuff

Last long run was 3 weeks ago and, having to go solo, I wasn't really looking forward to this. But a beautiful day (Narrabeen beach looked superb) made it a bit easier. Wouldn't fancy doing the Sydney Marathon today. Just the usual route but felt as though it took ages with no-one to talk to. Got in a good rhythm again but felt it in the final few km from Dee Why onwards. I reckon this says something about the taper - I wouldn't want to have more than 2 weeks since my last long run before running a marathon.

2:04:36 for the 30km (details here) but the Suunto measures the course about 200m shorter than the Garmin.

Grey running

Steady run over the usual 14.2km Shelley beach route. Achilles feels better by the day and just got into a nice rhythm banging out 4min kms.

Then out for a bike ride with the kids while Kirst did her run:

Friday meander

Very easy 15.8km route with a decent HuRTS crowd including MC, TKS, Big Sam, Kanser and others. A few beers in the evening to console Macca who pulled out of Berlin in the morning due to injury.

73km for the week.

Easy stuff

Wed was an easy hour with Bart up and down the coastal path from the Sheraton Mirage. Thursday was the same but solo, followed by a dip in the ocean. Idyllic weather. GC may be naff and vacuous but it's a great place to kick back.

Another update

Pulled out of Berlin yesterday. Kirsten has an op on Wed so it was a no go. Good news on Kirst though so very relieved.

To be honest, the last 3 weeks have been an emotional rollercoaster, but had a great party on Saturday with a good showing from the Squad and backed it up with a win today in the AVCAL 5km in 16:34. Check out the AFR (Street Talk section) for a write up tomorrow. I ran solo the whole way so it was a time trial and 30s slower than last year with no Jamie Palmer to push me on. But 40s quicker than my solo win in the Park Run iver the same course in April. Clive was 2nd with Jamie from McGrathNicol 3rd. Some celebratory beers were had after.

Tempered though by my left achilles now being generally sore - all the way up rather than localised. This was despite trying to warm it up beforehand by running 9km easy.

I inaugurated my Tour Singlet even though it will not be officially put to use:

Back to earth

100% gravity today running 15km very easy early doors with Sam and Ben. Achilles felt fine. Woo-hoo - rock on!

Brad Pitt Friday

Acupuncture at Sydney University, Alter-G in Kingsford, all on the bike, felt like a student again. 1 hour with 15.5km covered watching some old film called "Across the Tracks" with a young Brad Pitt who looked as though he could actually run.

Felt easier again today, despite being on 75% weight. Garage door open though so less sweaty.

Alter - Grrrreat!

Another hour on the Alter-G, courtesy of Harry Summers instead of Sean. Felt much easier today even with weight at 73% instead of 70%. Ran 15.8km in the hour. Sweated buckets again.

Interesting chat with Harry who runs the Adelaide City to Bay this weekend. Only just back from injury but won the Perth C2S two weeks ago - he puts a lot of maintenance of fitness down to the Alter-G.

Update

Headed out on Sunday for a long run but cut short at 15km with the achilles having progressively become more sore. Going back to the Elixir 7's definitely helped though.

Saw the specialist on Monday, acupuncture on Tuesday, then caught up with Sean Williams for an hour on the Alter-G anti-gravity treadmill today. Wow, it was amazing. Did a solid workout (last 30mins at 3:40's) and sweated buckets, all the while watching videos of Benny, Mo, Rudisha and (best of all) Daniel Komen. Now that bloke had real talent. I was bloody impressed with it, not a hint of aggravation of the achilles. I was on 70% weight. 15.56km in 60mins.

Oh, and I've taken to riding into work again to keep the weight off. Inauspicious start, as I stacked while leaning into a 90degree corner in Balmoral, my bare tyres just sliding out from under me. Some pretty nasty grazes to my arms and hip (see attached).

It hasn't been a good week.

Hickson Road abort

Park Hyatt 1.2km reps. Felt magic on first one. Then achilles suddenly tightened up significantly on the 2nd (fast) rep trying to hold on to BOB. 3:39, 3:29 then bust. Bloody stupid of me to try them in the first place. Walked back to the office having a good chat to Big Mikey H.

Achilles now on ice, as are weekend racing plans. I knew that SMH medal would come in handy one day.

SLR

Met up with a big crowd for the Wed run but my calf/achilles got progressively more sore so cut short for 14km in 4:36's. Then went to see Gary who prodded it, massaged it then stuck random needles in it so hopefully better in next couple of days.

At least Kirst is running well. Photo taken of her running on the beach this morning:

At home

14.2km route from home. Did 5km (Queenscliff - Shelley) targetting 3:30 pace and managed 17:25 but I went to slow on the way out with a following wind (8:56) which meant I had to work hard on the way back into the wind (8:29). All up 57:40 (4:04 pace).

Liking the Suunto Ambit S2 (looks very accurate) but need to work out how to change the display and if I can get it to spit out km splits.

Today's session

Photo of kids on Sat night at Jellyfish:

Easy Monday

Just an easy run home (in orthotics) in 59:36. Lower left calf very sore, think I may have slightly strained it.

Father Day

Out with Macca early doors for some flat stuff around Manly. I thought he wanted to take it easy but we were just hitting 4:15's the whole time. Then at 20km he made some remark about running faster over the final few km and suddenly upped the pace. The final 13km were all around the 3:45 per km mark. Macca went home separately with about 5km to go.

Felt good again, no orthotics. Left glute was tight though which put some strain on the achilles.

Congrats to Tucks on what looks like a great race at UTMB for 36th place overall.

Got home to a glut of Fathers Day cards and this present. A Suunto S2. How good is that?!

Back in the fold

Went home early from work on Tuesday with the flu. Took Wed and Thurs off feeling rotten (temperature, swollen glands, listless). Back to work yesterday but still not 100%. So today was the first day I've felt vaguely like running. Conscious not to overdo it so decided to run easy for an hour today. Felt great from the off though. Ran 14.2km route in 55:08 (3:53's) feeling comfortable the whole way. No orthotics again.

Then did 2 hours of "Yoga for Runners" with Kirst this arvo. Bloody good stretch and plenty of core work. Got cramp half way through though and a pretty intense headache (no doubt remnants of the virus), particularly when the humming started.

Monday meander

Easy Monday. Late from interviewing so only caught the rapidly disintegrating pack half way.

Summary of today was:

1. Charlie's getting quick.
2. Ellie's getting hardcore.
3. LJ's getting serious.

13.5km in 4:26's (60 mins flat).

Long and easy

Usual 35.5km route in 2:37 (4:26's) with Heydo, Binfield and Barts. Beautiful day and thank God no pace pick up. No orthotics today. Planning to race Berlin without them so want to get the body used to long runs au naturel.

Feeling good. Got the tough weekend over and done with without falling to my knees.

Long tempo

Just Barts this morning for the 19km tempo on the Shelley Beach route. Plan was to try to run 3:30's not feeling too uncomfortable. Weather was nice and cool albeit with a bit of wind.

Splits went as follows:

3:24, 3:31, 3:34, 3:24, 3:31, 3:28, 3:29, 3:29, 3:29, 3:29, 3:36, 3:32, 3:33, 3:35, 3:39, 3:42, 3:31, 3:34, 3:39

All up, 19.1km in 67:36 (3:32's). In truth, I never felt comfortable running 3:30's. Went through 10km in 34:50 trying to hold on to Barts but once again he was much stronger than me on this long tempo session. After that I was just trying to get home without dropping off too much. Briefly felt much better coming around the Golf Course (the 3:31 and 3:34 towards the end) before the gradual climb of the final km. Barts looking great once again. He's going to smash Berlin.

Makes the idea of running 3:30's in Berlin seem a long way off. Not sure why I struggle so much in these long tempos when the other training seems to be going so well. It is the equivalent of a 1:14:30 Half though so perhaps I shouldn't be so hard on myself pretending that should ever feel comfortable.

Knee was good after plenty of rolling out (and Voltaren) so that's good news. Ran in the orthotics to protect it.

2km warm up and down for 23km all up.

Aborted

Met Dicky at 7.30am to run to work but pulled the pin after a km with the right knee too sore. That's what happens when I run without orthotics.

112km for the week (including 2 rest days). Grrr, this was supposed to be a big one.

HuRTS Pyramid

7.5km very easy around Manly this morning.

At lunchtime did a slightly longer warm up down to Rushcutters for the Pyramid. The first group was just Barts, Kenny, Dom and me. Ditched the orthotics again today and ran in a new pair of Sayonaras and felt great again. I've got to run Berlin without them. Led every rep with Barts just behind. Times were:

78, 2:38, 4:01, 5:25, 4:00, 2:37, 72

So the best I've done that session but not that much quicker than I initially thought I'd done previously. 9th May when I was trying to hold on to Barts' coat-tails was my previous best. This was a bit quicker, but felt less desperate running it which was the confidence booster.

Long warmdown with Barts, MC, Jeet and Slapstick for 15km all up.

Wednesday MLR

Usual 21km route with MC, LF Charlie, Kanser, JW, MrAce, BW, Jesse and Slapstick. Easier pace today but didn't feel as good as recently.

HuRTS branded tour singlets almost ready. The boys are going to be excited.

HuRTs 8 x 5mins

Yesterday I had my problem tooth out which meant no running and much feeling sorry for myself.

Was tentative today as still in a bit of pain and my legs felt dead. Ran with Enda and Kenny doing just short of 1.5km on a new route straight down from the Stone Gates. Struggled to get back up the hills in the 5 mins. Good to see Laura showing more confidence in training and LF Charlie showing me a clean pair of heels on the final sprint. That chap is getting stronger and is one to watch.

Felt better during the final 2 reps. 2km warm up and a long warm down with an ever increasing crowd for 18.5km all up.

Easy Sunday

Full on day out to Newcastle at 6am. Got home, had 20mins lie-down then did 15km easy at 3pm. No orthotics again and more of the short stride, high cadence stuff. But legs felt magic again. If I could guarantee I wouldn't get injured I'd chuck them out in an instant.

62:59 (4:12's).

Fast finish Sat

Up early doors after a pretty poor night's sleep. Met Andy, Ray, Binfield, Big Sam and Banksy outside and we were off for the usual route.

Somehow managed to leave my orthotics at work last night so ran without them which immediately felt weird. My stride was much shorter (JB said subconsciously protecting my achilles) but cadence was higher. Funnily enough it felt easier running. Nice and easy until Narrabeen chatting the whole way. Banksy then lifted the pace a bit and coming back around Narrabeen lake we were already running 4:00 kms but felt fine doing so. Back past Warringah Mall and I wanted to get the pace down to 3:40's and Ray and Andy were following. Final 5km and I tried to get down to target marathon pace of 3:30's. Ray dropped off here and I had to work hard for it but managed the final 5km in 17:23 (passing LF Charlie and Ellie in the process which lifted the spirits). Final 10km was 36:02.

Tired at the end and just want to sleep this afternoon. Great running all round with Sam doing 30km in 4:10's (he could yet run Berlin if he continues this rate of improvement) and Andy even doing 40km in 4:13's after an earlier warm up. All up 35km for me in 2:22:04 (4:03's).

Health Assessment

Ran to work dead easy untimed on another beautiful day. I'd post a photo from my office but Timmy gets upset when I do that.

106km for the week.

Had my annual health check at 11.30am. Only really interested in an accurate weigh-in and the cholesterol levels. These were the results (comparison to last year).

Weight: 65.2kg (68.3kg)
Resting pulse: 37 (42)
BMI: 19.7 (20.6)
Blood pressure: 115/65 (118/60)
Good cholesterol: 1.9 (1.7)
Bad cholesterol: 2.5 (2.4)
Adjusted age: 27 (27)

Pleased with the resting pulse result. Almost got my Dad's PB there too. I think he got his down to about 32. Mum used to say it was like listening to someone bang slowly on a bass drum.

Looking forward to seeing Ezekiel Kemboi on the SBS highlights tonight, one of my favourite runners. Now double Olympic and triple World Champion. Beaten by the young upstart Kipruto every time they've raced this season until the big one when the wily old fella showed him how it's done. Bit like me and Barts leading up to Berlin...