Monday moaning

Out on a very warm (29C when we set off) and muggy day which wasn't conducive to feeling sprightly.  But for some reason the pace was quick - running 4:20's around the wharves.  Massive group but I was mainly chatting to Enda, Hoey, Kanser and James Lambert.  Well, I say chatting, more like grunting and complaining at the pace.  14km.

Sunday easy

Tired.  3km then yoga then 6km.  Legs very wobbly post yoga.

Saturday Parkrun and long run

Out at 6am for 11km solo before meeting Macca, Andy, Ben, Paul and Chris Yates at Curly for Parkrun.  Andy was dressed in a full length skeleton suit including mask so sole aim of the morning was not to let that joker beat me.  But general intention was to run with Macca and push him around.

Set off easy, caught Macca between 2 and 3km, would feel him slow a bit on the hills then come past me again on the down.  He pushed hard with 600m to go but just failed to get under 17mins.

Then did a warmdown with Macca and Andy before taking Charlie to cricket at Seaforth Oval and doing my final 7km from there - pretty tired at this stage.

27km all up.  Average 4:31's.  16:59 Parkrun.

Then on to Oktoberfest:

Aberdeen Asset Management

So after 600m I was writing my CV and tracking down my P45, Barts nearly got run over while Statto, MC and New Boy Tim remained diplomatically silent.  All after seeing Andy "training" with his fellow employee.  And Andy had no intention of joining us for the run and spreading the joy. Oh no.  We were brushed off summarily with a very clear indication that    he was not to be disturbed.

13km very easy with the above mentioned plus Kanser and Ronan.

113km for the week. 

Thursday early sess

Again just the hardcore of me and Emma for another early start Thursday.  Session was 3 x 2.36km for me (figure of eight Nolan's circuit) with Emma doing 3 x 2km.  I ran 7:43, 7:37 and 7:36 putting some real effort in.  Another confidence builder.

4km warm up and 4.5km warmdown for 15.5km all up.

Will be interesting to see how Emma goes at JPMorgan.  Chatting to her you realise there's a competitive mongrel in there..

Wednesday MLR

Out with Iain, Macca and Quentin this morning for a very easy 16km in 4:47's.  Hammy a bit sore. 

Hills and decreasing hard tempos

Just Emma C and me for the session this morning.  First up 6 x 30s hills beside Mackellar Girls, then 10, 5, 3, 2, 1 mins off a 2min jog.

Felt strong today and able to hold form.  10, 5 and 3 were all at 3:18-3:20 pace then 3:09 and 3:00 pace for the 2 and 1. Although feeling good while running I started to feel really tired on the long warmdown and the glutes in particular were aching.  Only issue was hammy was a bit sore at the end.  Tough session to test it out though.  Was pretty blustery out there so at times had to work very hard to maintain pace.

Emma got stronger on each hill but was complaining of lack of speed on the reps. Great to hear she's entered for JPMorgan though - another girl to add to the mix.

15.5km all up.

Monday morning

Out early for a very easy 4km with Bec (couple of faster loops of Passmore for her) then carried on for another 11km for me.  Ran past Lewis and his unmistakeable bouncing stride along Manly Beach.  Pretty tired towards the end.  These early mornings kill me.  Another tomorrow.  But also affected by an hour of yoga last night.  Yes, you read that correctly.

15km averaging 4:49's.

Sunday shock!

Poor Ben was beside himself.  It had taken him 48hours to adjust to the idea that we wouldn't be running Narrabeen Lake back via Cromer, only for Macca to head up Pittwater Rd on the usual route. Dicky was quietly seething that his planned route to Tania Park had been usurped.  The rest of us (Quentin, Rich Mullaney, Erika and myself) were just enduring the pain of low 4min kms while Macca and Dicky fought for who would be leading and therefore determining which way to go.  The problem, you see, is that Macca can't face hills, at least for the first 15km of a run.  On the other hand, Dicky doesn't like the flat.  It's all too stressful.  We'll be reverting to the usual route next week.

Another cracker of a morning.  I was a bit stiff after too many red wines last night meant I neglected the stretching.  With the hilly route on top of that I was feeling the hammy a bit towards the end.  All up 28.5km averaging 4:36's.

Cop a load of that Hoey.  Emporio's Big Breakfast.  Macca and I are in food heaven.  10/10.

Saturday fitting it in

All day outside first at cricket then at the Manly West Carnival bumping into half of the HuRT Squad including Jimmy, Darren, Erikakaka, Dicky et al.  Managed to offload Claudia onto Bec for an hour to sneak home and fit in the scheduled 40min run.  Felt good today so just got quicker throughout - as the splits show.

10km.

Friday rest day

So I did 8km very easy to Shelley and back instead.  Bit of a hangover after a full house at the Bull & Bear and an ISDA members dinner.  37:36 (4:34's).  

106km for the week.

HuRTS 8 x 800m

Small but loyal crowd.  Each one will PB at JPMorgan. The rest of youse are gooone. 

Ran with Tongey on the first then alone but with JFen dipping in and out and Timmy doing 400's so helping me on the first lap of each alternate rep.

2:30 to start with and 2:20 to end off the rolling 4 mins.  Average was 2:26.50.  2-3s per rep slower than earlier this season but very happy with that as a first speed session in 3 months.  Took the shoes off after 5 reps and made a big difference.  Take away is to buy lighter racing flats for the race.

Told JFen (who was flying on the few 800's he did after his solo 10x400m set) that my sole aim was to beat him at JPMorgan so the cat is out of the bag.

14km all up.

Wednesday MLR

Caught up with Iain early doors for the North Head loop.  Bumped into Quentin on the way to Shelley who then joined in. Beautiful morning for it.  Can't beat Manly.  Legs fairly cactus again but slow sign of improvement towards the end when I picked up the pace a bit.

16.5km in 74:36 (4:30's).  

I'm hoping at some stage things are going to click.  But it ain't happening yet.

HuRTS - Progressive Hurt

Got a chance to pop out at lunchtime for the progressive 45min tempo in the heat.  Wasn't what was scheduled but given the chance to run hard with a crowd I took that over running by myself.

Set off with World Silver Medallist Crossy, Hamish and Clydesdale Jono.  CT and Barts went off ahead.  That said, when we picked up the pace every 10 mins we started to catch them as they dawdled around, such that on the turn at 23:15 at the entrance to Barangaroo we were right behind them.

Crossy pulled out at CQ and the others had dropped off by then.  CT and Barts had gone past me even before the Harbour Bridge so it was a lonely struggle back home.  But managed it with 2 seconds spare in 44:58.  LJ should take some pacing lessons from me.

Thighs were wrecked the whole way around and my legs just felt lethargic and tired throughout.  Some nasty virus toxins still in there I reckon.  But the breathing was fine and I haven't passed out at my desk this arvo which is a plus.

4km warmdown with Charlie and Barts for 16km all up.

Run home

Ran home.  Felt shocking.  Still feel as though I've got the virus in my legs.  The Ebola virus.  Maybe due to the Tiger massage this am stirring things up.

68:49 via Burnt Bridge Creek.

Solid run by the Cap'n in Amsterdam running 2:46.  Sensational run by Milly Clark in 2:29.  She could be on the way to Rio with that.  The Cap'n went through the Half in 1:19:06 feeling great, so what is it about our marathon prep?  Too few kms?

Sunday with the boys

27km with Macca, Ben, Craig and Rich Mullaney.  We extended the latter an invite to the exclusive Northern Beaches long run/breakfast club on the basis he's English, lives NOTB and has some talent. Few have the trifecta. 

Slow (4:38's) but I was still struggling my way through it still suffering a bit from last week.

Forgot to mention that we saw the who's who of the Northern Beaches on this morning's run.  First up was Elle enjoying breakie in the cafe at North Narrabeen.  Then another talented female athlete in Melinda Gainsford-Taylor jogging around Narrabeen Lake.  All the stars are NOTB. 

Also didn't mention that Charlie's cricket team smashed Peninsula yesterday (4-117 versus 20-74) with Peninsula managed by none other than Michael Slater.  Here he is imparting advice to his outgoing batsman.  Made Charlie even happier with his 2 wickets off his final 2 balls:

Great runs by Barts, Q and JFen at Curl Curl yesterday.  Mixed performances at Melbourne.  Jess Trengove stunned with her 2:27 but Erika will be a little disappointed with her 2:57 after struggling from not taking enough water on.  A PB is a PB and it shows her strength of character to fight through but there's definitely a low 2:50 in her.

Saturday return

Avid readers of my blog will have noticed an absence of a few days.  They will both be wondering what had happened to the 16 day consecutive run.  Well, on Monday night I can down with gastro (which probably explains why I felt so average running on Sunday and Monday).  Tuesday I was bed-ridden - couldn't even crawl to the sofa to watch TV.  Back at work on Thursday but couldn't really stomach anything until Friday night.  Only plus is that I lost 2kg which I'll try to keep off until JPMorgan.

Did 10km on Saturday evening.  First 2km were a shocker (so lethargic probably from lack of food) but felt better as I got into it.

Monday moanings

Jeez I'm tired.  Like, marathon training tired.

Fronted up today with a big crowd in attendance including Enda, Kanser, Hoey, Worswick, BW, Renee, Jerome, Happy Hammer, TKS et al.  Plodded around feeling uncomfortable.  Felt a bit better after Enda and I stopped for water around Barangaroo and started running 4:00min kms to catch everyone.

Plenty of chat between Kanser and Enda.  I understood about 20% of it.  Enda pretty psyched up about beating JFen at JPMorgan.  It'll be pretty close between these two but I'll plump for Enda in that he always seems to perform well at this event and is looking lean after a 3 week break in China.  I'm just hoping to keep them both in sight and, who knows, if they fight each other hard enough I may be able to reel one in over that tough final 600m.

15.5km in 70:26 (4:32's).

Farked

Busy all day walking, at Nippers and lugging stuff around the garden.  Got out at 6pm for 40mins but was shagged.  Just couldn't get going.  Some days you just have to accept you haven't got it.

About 8km.

Saturday long

Out early doors with Barts, the Cap'n and Macca (the old team) for 27.5km up and down the beaches.  Finished with a dip in the ocean at Queenscliff and bacon and eggs at the Grumporio.  Absolutely magic.

4:34's so nice and easy.  Massive stretch of my quads last night and the hammy is better than ever.

Friday holy cow

So I was schedule a rest day.  But then Erika said she was running at lunch so decided to head out for an easy run and chat about her upcoming marathon.  Then she says she needs to run 6km at 4:00 pace so I think, OK that should not be too tricky.  Then we meet and she says that Gary has instructed her to run quicker.  So I think, well, I'll just run and see how it feels.  So we so 3km warm up before, BAM!, there goes her first km in 3:30 and BAM BAM!!, there's the second km in 3:24.  I kid you not, I could not hold on.  She has a 15m lead on me and I start thinking I can kill myself to bridge the gap or I keep running the same pace and surely she'll start to fade soon.  I catch her by the end of the third km (3:35 for me) and then into the wind around Barangaroo we run a 3:51, then a 3:48 and a 3:45 to run the 6km in 21:20 or thereabouts (3:38's).  Gary has got her into fantastic form for next week's marathon and I hope she smashes it.  I'm predicting a 2:53.

12 all up and 100km for the week.  Haven't had one of them since June.

Tiger Woods, eat your heart out

Out at 8am in Manly for 10 x 1min hills plus 10mins hard.  4km warm up to the hill at Shelly Beach. Didn't thrash myself on the hills but solid and was tired towards the end.  Then did the 3km back towards Queenscliff running 3:21, 3:20 and 3:14. Happy with that with the legs feeling comfortably numb at the end.

Then down to The Lakes for a day of corporate wanker golf.  Had a top day playing Ambrose.  I was the weak link as usual but got my 3 drives in early including my best drive ever on the 1st.  And we won!  Nice bottle of vintage bubbly to crack open next time we have something to celebrate.  So it will be very vintage bubbly when consumed.

MLR, kinda

Well, just coming home now at 9pm so my deal didn't quite sign at 10am but at least 'tis done.  Managed to get out at 2pm for 16km around the wharves and Barangaroo in 1:12 nice and easy.  Been taking Voltaren last 2 days for this troublesome glute insertion and feels much better.

Solid

In at 8.30am, out at 1.30am.  Massively busy day but somehow managed to get out to do 60% of a HuRTS session.  Session was the 3, 2, 1 fartlek x 5 but I just did x 3.  Very hot but surprised myself in running pretty well turning not far behind Barts.  But I couldn't have gone much further.  

Hoping this deal signs tomorrow so I can get some kip.  May come home early if it does.

Monday long run

Out for the Sunday run on Monday with Ben, Banksy and the Cap'n.  Up to Narrabeen Lake via Cromer, one loop then home the same way.  27.5km in 2:06:12 (4:35's).  Longest run I've done since the end of July and felt it at the end.  Hammy ok but the insertion to the glute was a bit sore (which I think has been the issue all along).

Then rode with Claudie, Mags and Charlie to the Grumporio for breaky with the Cap'n and his boy Toby.  Beaut of a morning.  Think I'll have a kip now.

Sunday scorcher

Scorchio today.  Early start heading down with Craig to the Wharf Bar to watch England humiliated at home by the Wallabies.  With the clocks going forward last night it was a super early start so had a bit of shut-eye watching Paw Patrol with Claudie over lunch.  Headed out in the early evening (when it was still in the high 20's) for 10km easy feeling pretty good.

Saturday canter

Easy 12km in the afternoon.  54mins.

Recovery Friday

Out for a very easy 11+km with Kanser around Barangaroo.  Felt pretty tired today for the first time on the comeback trail - must have been yesterday's reps after Wednesday's tempo.

80km for the week.

HuRTS 6 x 1km

Back out with the HuRTS crew.  I'd woken up in the Daintree at 4am before a 6.45am flight from Cairns so was pretty tired.  Eased my way into the session running with Macca and Bruce. Good crowd with CT leading the way, Timmy falling further back in each rep, JFen and Hoey looking controlled and our three leading ladies (Erika, Greta and Renee) all looking strong.

Times went 3:26, 3:21, 3:19, 3:16, 3:06 and 3:13.

Then did my glute stretch on the grass only to have Mikey G come over and say "you don't want to do it like that, you want to do it like this!", and then proceed to show me an eyeful of one muscle of his body which certainly wasn't his glute.

10km all up.

Tempo time

Final day here in Mossman.  Felt good after yesterday so planned a tempo today.  Did 2km warm up jog, then 10km tempo, then 2km warmdown.

Set off at a solid but relatively comfortable pace and just tried to hold it and keep consistent.  Had to work a bit between 7km and 8km in the full sun but generally pretty good.  All km splits were between 3:42 and 3:47 apart from the final one pushing on a bit to finish in 37:02.

Been a great holiday.  Haven't been as relaxed or slept as much in a long time.  Some pics of our house here:

Holiday running

Another 12km in the morning - pretty quick again (seem to do perennial tempos when in on the comeback trail) but Suunto lost batteries after 6km.  Hot and humid.  

Cairns Parkrun

I'm Up nice and early and cajoled the family out of their beds for the short hop down to the Esplanade for Cairns Parkrun.  Did a 2km warm up then listened to the bloke try to explain the course route.  He did so FNQ style, so I was none the wiser at the end of his talk.  We had a load of visitors given it was school holidays - must have been 150+. 

Decided just to sit behind whoever was in the lead.  Did so for 1km but then couldn't help myself but drift to the front. All was good until 4.5km when I was about a minute ahead of the next chap and started looking out for the turn to the finish.  At 4.8km I knew I'd missed it and saw a random volunteer packing up from the first lap who told me I had run well past it (thanks mate).  Eventually got back with 5.8km in the watch.

Chap who won was on his 100th Parkrun so nice for him to get a win.  I jogged afterwards to pick up Charlie, Bec, Kirst and Maggie and all loved the occasion.  Then out for breakie.  No pan-served breakie or brioche in FNQ.

Splits were 3:21, 3:23, 3:24, 3:28 and 3:45 (becoming frustrated).  Hammy held up well so will try 90mins tomorrow.

How we felt after:

 

Mossman

11km straight out from the property, turned around and ran back.  22km in 1:33ish (4:14's).  Felt it towards the end in the heat and humidity.  Basically ran through sugars cane fields alongside the cane railways on quiet roads.  Amazing scenery.

Having said that, doing a long(ish) run solo on holiday is one of the hardest things for me.  Need company on the long runs and when on holiday it just feels unfair.

Cairns!

Nice and hot here.  Did 10km along the Esplanade in the evening.  Move to Mossman tomorrow but not before Cairns Parkrun which starts less than 1km from where we're staying.

Bit of speed

So the toe made a bit of a recovery overnight so I ventured out with Timmy, Mikey, TKS, Renee, Ray and a host of others for a very easy run around the usual route. 

It was 3 old school HuRTS Warriors fighting back from injury who turned at 5.5km to head back in anticipation of a quick OH Gate to St Mary's Gate (2.9km).  Got a bit of help from Ray around Farm Cove then hit by hurricane force winds up the hills which had us all at a standstill.

Pleased to get 10:14 under the belt with the hammy feeling tight early on but no issues in the warmdown jog.

11km for the day.

Gammy toe

I had to type this heading 3 times because it kept on auto-correcting to "hammy", which is ironic.

Anyway, hammy fine today and was going to try my first speed work.  But I was picking my toe-nails last night and managed to yank off half my big toe nail and now it's infected and too painful to run.  Take a look:

In other news, here's me next to a monster truck earlier today:

STOP PRESS:

I've had many requests for an afternoon update on the toe which has continued to deteriorate and has prevented any running.  In fact, I can barely get my foot in my shoe.  So here goes:

Monday starter

10km out to Shelley and up the hill and back.  Went quicker this morning.  Saw Lewis on the return and exchanged the usual friendly shouts.

Have started doing a new glute stretch and it seems to be working a treat.  I'm crap at it at the moment but plenty of scope for improvement:

Sunday MLR

So, next big test.  Out at 6am with the Cap'n running 20km.  Reached the new toilet facilities at Narrabeen Lake then back again.  Noticed the hammy on the way up but had a good stretch and it was fine on the return.  Perfect morning for running - cool but clear and no wind.

Some great results from Blackmores but they are not courses to run PBs on.  I thought Angus went very well to dip under 78 as did Bruce.  Barra took top honours again with a high 71 but he wasn't impressed with his time.  Standards have been raised this year.  Jeet ran well to get under 80 and Erika was solid with a mid 83 in her marathon build up.

Also great to see Manly local Emma C back racing again.

Saturday plod

10km very easy in the late afternoon with the Cap'n but starting to feel as though I could run harder.

Friday meander

Up in BrisVegas all day Thursday so couldn't get out.  Friday was an easy 10km bumping into Jimmy and running with him for a bit.  Tried to persuade him to shave the beard off but he was having none of it.  Claims that he's growing it to help fight the ladies off.  I would have thought his conversation was sufficient but apparently not.

Another easy one

Out with Timmy for an easy 10km over lunchtime.  Joined by Andy from G&T and Kanser and Hoey for periods.  More shite was spoken in the 10 minutes that Kanser ran with us than an episode of Geordie Shore.  Poor Andy was silent and must have been regretting his decision to run with us.

Back to Black

5km walk with the missus feauturing breakie at Emporio then 7km run in 4:29's to the wharf.  In honesty, hammy was giving me a bit of jip following last night's run home.  Just need to keep up the rehab.

The Wobbly Head Cup League Table.  You can just see 'Proud Potter' Timmy in 20th. I couldn't fit Enda (in 35th place) on the one page.  That's me #1.

Turnbull, PM

It's 11pm and kookaburras are screeching outside.  What's going on there?  Maybe they are aware of something afoot in the electorate of Warringah.

Ran home (well to Manly Wharf) in the next real test.  Felt aware but fine the whole way.  Hoping a bit of muscle memory is kicking in as, although it was slow, didn't feel as though I was huffing and puffing as much as of late.

14.5km.  Did a brisk walk with the missus this morning which was nice, if a little elderly.

Sunday getting longer

Out at 7.15am to track down the early starters and join them for breakie.  Bumped into Macca, Erika, the Cap'n, Richard B and Q between Dee Why and Cromer with Ben who was a few hundred metres behind.  But the heartless bastards refused to wait for him against my protestations despite stopping for water.  The Manly Crew are ruthless.  I imagine the East Side Crew would have been only too happy for a couple of extra minutes rest.

Managed 12km all up with the hammy ok but a bit stiff starting from cold early on.  Nice breakie in Emporio with Macca and the Cap'n afterwards.  I feel no need to post the photos.  We enjoy engaging conversation rather than endless selfies.

Mad Dog and Englishman

Out for 10km with the Cap'n in the heat of the day.  Avoided the crowds and headed up the BBC Deviation to Seaforth.  Which meant hills.  Crikey, not encountered them in a while.

Nice easy pace and pain free again.

Pain free

Trying not to get too excited but today was first pain free run.  Did the same as yesterday on a beautiful Melbourne morning but a bit slower averaging 4:24's.

Hoorah!

Birthday run

In Melbourne but managed to get out at lunchtime for a bIrthday run.  Found a new route to the Tan - running along the river before cutting across to join at the bottom of the big hill.  Did a loop then back to the hotel.  

Lovely day.  Hammy gets better each day. Just over 34mins for the 8km.

AVCAL 2015

The usual 8km this morning with Erika this time chatting about all manner of stuff.

Now flying off to Melbourne to attend the AVCAL conference, which basically involves drinking large amounts with a bunch of uber-wealthy private equity types, where somehow I end up buying all the rounds.  Keen followers of the bog (both of you) will recall that it was at this event 3 years ago that I turned up expecting to breeze the "Conference 5km" only to be out sprinted by a dark horse despite running 16:05.  At least a few of the squad will be there so we can talk running.

Getting it done

Usual Shelley Beach route times today in 34:12 (4:16's).  Aware of the hammy the whole way but it's getting better.

Thoughts for the day:

1. Today over Sunrise.

2. Response to Syrian refugee crisis shows the power of a photograph.

3. Mike Baird for PM. Now.

4. Is it sexist for me to enjoy The Bachelor but have no interest in The Bachelorette?

5. Sydney in Spring is just the best.

6. How does Keith Hong manage to smile when he talks on his daily updates for his 8 week challenge? I can't smile when I talk.

7. Wales have just lost any chance of making it beyond group stage of World Cup.

Monday

8km to Shellley and back bumping into Lewis of all people!

Felt marginally better today.  Have also done a lot of stretching of adductors.  Hoping I'm on the right track.