Tuesday - a reminder that winter's tomorrow

A clear 3 degree morning at Rotary Park, with the Chatswood end of the oval almost crunchy underfoot. A bit pressed for time this morning, so got through an unenthusiastic 3.5k warm up in around 16:24. Pace felt okay, but I wasn't game to move my limbs far from my body.

Mister G turned up and after a bit of a stretch, got through 7 x 800m repeats in:

2	44
2	56
2	53
2	54
2	53
2	55
2	53

The first one really did hurt me through the rest of the session, but still, goal pace was 5km pace, and given that was set on tarmac on a slightly downhill course it was good to get close to the pace (in fact, average under it) for the session. Stride is definitely different now.

Finished off with a chatty 3.34km in 16:25 in the outside lanes as Spud turned up and worked his way through some 800 metre repeats.

It certainly ended up an interesting May - 433km in a month (my biggest by about 40km), I hit every one of my training sessions, had a cold, plus set a 12 sec half marathon PB and a 24 sec 5km PB, and lost about 3-4kg. Yeah, it went pretty well, and hopefully a big 10k PB on Saturday under 38 minutes at Lane Cove will mean the first half of 2005 won't have been a complete loss....

An hour of a Monday evening

Given the weekend's activities, I decided to sleep in and run in the evening instead.

Got out at about 6:20pm, with the smell of home fires burning quite obvious in the cool air. Set out east along Victoria Road, through Huntleys Point and up into Hunter's Hill. Felt pretty good off the bat, as I seem to in the evenings, and ran with good strength and form to knock over 12.85km in 1 hour and 2 seconds.

Pleasing hit out, with no feeling of the weekend's efforts.

The loneliness of the long distance runner

Got out particularly early this morning (5am) due to my Senior First Aid course starting at eight. Ran a modified version of the River Run course due to not wanting to tackle the Great North Walk section of the course in the dark. Worked my way through Gladesville, Boronia Park, Ryde, Marsfield, Eastwood, Denistone, West Ryde and back along Victoria Road to Gladesville. 27.7k in 2:17:38, with a reasonably good quality last 10km.

On the back of 6 hours sleep, plus celebrations of the partner's mother's 60th birthday last night, it wasn't the physically most pleasant of runs early.

Observation of the morning - approaching Eastwood, there were a lot of very thin, older Asian people out walking. They were all very cheerful and quite a number said good morning to me. I know from a Vietnamese mate I had at high school that they do take their exercise a bit more seriously. Food for thought.

CR 5k challenge

Did the early shift of the CR 5k challenge this morning. Got down early for a 5k warm up in 24:59, in cold (8 degrees), still and clear conditions. Didn't feel fantastic through the warm up.

Met up with silverfox and Easy Tiger at the Zero km marker, and after one false start we got away. Easy Tiger sat tantalisingly close through the first km, which I got through in 3:26 feeling okay, but eased away after that. silverfox sat 4-5 seconds behind through the whole run, providing motivation to break the 18 minute barrier for a 17:58!

Didn't take splits, but from memory it was:
1k - 3:26
2k - 7:03 (3:37)
4k - 14:20 (7:17)
5k - 17:58 (3:38)

Looks to have been pretty even after the 1km marker. Felt okay until about 3.5km where it got a bit scrappy.

5.13km in 27:14 as a cool down.

Always good to break through another barrier. McMillans Calc suggested the SMH Half effort was good for an 18:02 5k, and I thought "buggered if I'm going through 18 minutes of hell to miss breaking 18 by 3 seconds". And so it proved...

A fresh Friday night

Given the weekend's activties, elected to stay in bed this morning, and come lunchtime, didn't particularly feel like doing my prescribed 30 minutes either. So, breaking my usual rule of not exercising Friday nights, I headed out at about 6pm. Given the fresh wind, I decided to debut my NB tights.

Don't know if it was the 36 hour break from running, but I felt like gold, and settled into good rhythm and form straight off the bat. Felt strong on the hills and unhindered by my ongoing cold. Tights were comfortable, although a touch on the warm side - best saved for those 6 degree mornings, methinks.

Knocked over 6.49km in 30 minutes flat, at 4:37 pace. Hopefully I haven't shot my bolt for tomorrow morning!

Is it Thursday? These days are merging into one...

Pretty well the same as yesterday - 8.06km in 40:01 in cold-addled brain-in-neutral stuff over the same course, west along Victoria Road, through Huntley's Point and up onto the Hunter's Hill peninsula. Fairly slow to the 20:30 turnaround, got home in reasonable speed.

It's done, it's in the book. I wonder if this is the sort of day I would have missed but for the program? Haven't missed a single one since I started it.

The recover and cold continue

Up at 5:40am on a fairly mild morning for 40 minutes, during which I covered 8.08km. My cold has progressed into a scratchy throat. Felt like crap to start with, but seemed half reasonable at about 3.5km.

I had mentally shifted into neutral coming back southbound over the Tarban Creek bridge when it eventually registered that someone was shouting "Vat!". Stopped to chat with Professor, Aunty Karin and met new Coolrunning vict...er, member, gazelle. Always nice to meet new people.

Finished off the run, which got a little ragged at the end. Do feel better for it, though.

Since when does recovery include a cold?

I had intentions of running early this morning, but a combination of tiredness, the 'fresh' morning and the discovery that the reason I felt like complete rubbish on Monday was due to an impending cold saw me sleep through.

As such, I elected to run at lunchtime, knocking off 6.35km in the alloted 30 minutes, which consisted of a run from Fitness First at St Leonards to St Leonards Park, of which I did a couple of laps, and back again.

I had felt fairly stiff on rising, but on the trip to work jumped off the bus at Lane Cove and walked the 3km to St Leonards, which seemed to help get some blood through the legs and free them up a bit. I didn't feel fantastic through the run at lunchtime, but seemed to have good rhythm and form. I wonder how much of an effect the walk this morning had.

Felt pretty scrappy this morning at work, though. It'll be interesting to see how the cold progresses.

The Monday after...

Felt bretty beaten up this morning and took a 'mental health' day. Lingered in bed for quite a while - I was, frankly, stuffed.

Caught up on some home paperwork and wandered out at about 2:40pm for 4.06km in 20:11. A little stiff but moving along okay.

The 2005 SMH Half Marathon

From Coolrunning - you think I'm writing this stuff twice?

After the North Head 10k, and the East Met 5k CC last weekend, I knew I was starting to find some form, with my cardio top end coming back and a bit of weight off. I mentioned in the SMH thread that I would be pleased with something under 85 minutes, but I felt I was in with a genuine shot of 84 provided I didn't end do something stupid at the start like I did last year. The plan was to go through the first 2km sensible, and then adopt the Lane Cove plan of sensible uphill, solid pace on the flat, attack the downhills.

Caught up with a few of the usual suspects of the start. Gun went, and we seemed to develop a little pack of myself, 26.2 miles, silver fox, leftie and I think we picked up Aimhigh as well. I was at the front of the pack through most of the race so I wasn't quite sure what the goings-on behind me were.

We went through the first 5 in 19:46 which was probably a little faster than I had planned but felt strong and completely in control. Second 5k went past in 19:48 and I felt very composed. There was a bit of an incident at that drink table behind me that seemed to break the group up a bit, but we reformed over the next km or so.

Third 5km went past in 19:49 and I think we just started to see the group ease apart here. leftie bailed out heading out of the drink station at Mrs Macquarie's chair. I was running with a fellow named Scott (I think) who is next to sailaway in the photos, an 800/1500m runner, and we were pretty well in lockstep through the second half of the event - g'day if you're reading this!

I was okay coming out of the Domain for the last time, but got baulked at the College Street turnaround, and the little interruption to rhythm seemed to knock me around a little bit. I just had in mind "get to Macquarie Street - once you're on the flat and into Hunter Street you can open up a bit and you'll be fine for a good run to Argyle Street". And that's pretty well how it happened. On the way into the turnaround I saw onrei who I'de been gently reeling in and gave him a stir up, which I think he took on board and used to good effect over the last 1.5km - good run, mate, good to see you back to form!

I knew the Argyle Cut was going to hurt, but got a big boost from the two CR supporter groups. I ran alongside a fellow in a silvery grey top and we gave each other a bit of support up the hill (I had some stiffness in the hamstrings through here, which was a bit of a surprise), and I knew I was pretty well right from there - I always get a good kick on from Kent Street there.

Fourth 5km split was 19:52, with 4:13 over the last 1.1km. 6 second varation in 5km splits across the event with a 3:50 per km pace last 1.1km. As mentioned, two little rough patches which I was able to overcome, but I felt so good through the second 5km I think I knew a PB was on the cards. Managed to take about 16s off it, to managed 83:23.

Thanks to the fellow pack members - silver fox, leftie, 26.2miles and Aimhigh. We had a good competitive comradery going there, and I know from my perspective I felt I was able to run my own race whilst also getting the support - the best of both worlds, if you will. Nice shot of the group here.



Thanks also to the CR support group - how good were the banners and pom-poms?!?

It was a bit of an eye-opener at the pub. Last year I think there were five or six of us, this year, well, it must have been 20-30. Good stuff.

I also had a nice highlight after the run. I headed out from the Strider 'safe house' (thanks again to the hosts, who did a great job yet again!) for a little cool down jog, and thought I'd pop down and visit the supporters. They mentioned they hadn't seen Lucky Legs come through yet, so I cruised out and picked her up at the Pitt Street/Circular Quay intersection. I ran with her all the way to the finish, including a bit of a dice with Linno which saw LL put on a pretty impressive finishing burst to slip home comfortably under 2h30m. Fantastic.

Saturday systems check

Just half an hour pencilled in on the program this morning.

After a memorable evening at the Sydney Striders' Awards Night, held at Star City, I took full advantage of the sleep-in and got up around 8am. We went shopping, popped into town so I could pick up my race kit for tomorrow, and got back home around 11:40.

After unpacking the car I got out for my run at around 12:30. I felt pretty strong, and focussed on maintaining good form and rhythm. Speed seemed to come reasonably easily and I pushed through 6.47km in half an hour. Very positive for the SMH Half tomorrow.

A Friday cruise

Nothing fancy this morning, just 40 minutes. Up at about 5:40am or so (a sleep in!), hit the road around ten minutes later and just followed my local 10k course. Eased into the pace and was at around 5 minute pace at the turnaround (like to turn around 30s after the midway time-point to force myself a quicker second half of the run) and then settled into a quicker rhythm to run 8.33km in 40 minutes. Felt pretty good.

Shortened 2k repeats

In anticipation of the SMH Half, this morning's session was simply a 4-5km warm up, 2 x 2km (first at 10k pace, second at 5k pace), and a 4-5km cool down.

I was very tired last night and hit the sack early last night. It was pretty cool this morning, and it took a fair bit of leverage to get myself out of bed. Up about 5:20am and decided to go down to the Bay Run, since it'd be a good punt Rotary would be both closed and waterlogged after the rain yesterday.

Got through a fairly quickish warm-up of 4.11k in 19:48, then 2 x 2km repeats of 7:38 and 7:32. Would like to have been a touch quicker on the second 5k, looks like I had a little lapse in the second half of the first kilometre.

Finished off with a 4.22k cool down in 20:22.

Reasonable little session. I didn't start the session in the best frame of mind - cold and resentful of getting out of bed, so to run close to my targets was pleasing. Just shows that I am slow on grass tracks...

Wednesday cruise

As part of the wind down into the SMH Half on Sunday, the program called for 45 minutes this morning. Rather than run to work, I was up at 5:40am, and cruised around for a relaxed 8.9km. There was a touch of rain over the first 2-3km, but this soon went.

Felt a bit beaten up at the start, but as is usually the case, came reasonably good after about 4-5km.

Starting to feel toey about Sunday, which is often a good sign...

Intervals "nice and relaxed"

Got up around 5:10 to the sound of rain and a distinct feeling that another hour of sleep wouldn't have gone astray. It's probably fair to say that if I didn't have the program I wouldn't have run this morning...

The rain was down to a fine drizzle by the time I got to Rotary Park. It wasn't as wet underfoot as you'd expect - the surface only had a light dusting of rain on it, rather than the fairly heavy due we've been getting of late. There was the usual damp section at the south end of the course, though.

The program suggested "nice and easy this week" for intervals and I elected to focus instead on form rather than outright speed. After a 4.13km warm up in 20:21, it went:
800m - 2:57
800m - 3:00
400m - 1:30
400m - 1:27
400m - 1:29
400m - 1:28
400m - 1:28
400m - 1:24
400m - 1:27
400m - 1:25

Finished off with a 4.38km cool down in 21:54.

Session was about 17s slower in total than last week, and I wasn't pushing superhard, so given how disinterested I was at the start I guess the session was okay.

Well, it's done, that's the main thing.

Take the easy days easy...

Bit of an effort to get up this morning, but eventually forced myself out of bed at around 5:45am, and got out the door about 10 minutes later.

Very slow and shuffly first twenty minutes, but loosened up in the last half hour and managed a recovery paced 11.85km in 1 hour and 31 seconds through the east of Gladesville, Huntley's Point and up the spine of the Hunter's Hill peninsula.

Seemed to be a few more runners around this morning. Guys, if you haven't done your training for the SMH Half on Sunday, it's already way too late...

Weekly Wrap

Knew I'd forgotten something.

Ended up at 101k for the week. Got some good quality speedwork in, and despite being in a bit of a hole Wednesday and Friday had a pretty solid weekend. I feel pretty good right now, certainly better than this time last Sunday where the STaR kicked the hell out of me.

Upcoming week is pretty similar to last week, although we wind down on Wednesday with 45 mins rather than the usual 1h 30m and 2x2km on Thursday so the back half of the eases in the SMH Half on Sunday

Short North Head STaR and the Balmoral Burn

Up at 5 or so for the North Head STaR. Program called for 1h45m. Breakfast was two bits of toast with honey and a strong cup of coffee.

Felt pretty ordinary through the first 15k as silver fox and I fell off the back of the 6:20 group, which featured some unusual faces - suspect the usual suspects were either at the SMC finale or previewing the SMH course - and really didn't feel much chop until a toilet stop at 15k or so.

Felt okay after that, and after fixing each others running and training issues, silver fox and I took the short cut and pushed on towards the finish. I left him at 23k as the course headed downhill and banged out the last km or so, finished 24.05km in 1:53:57, giving 4:44 per km pace for the distance. Good solid hitout, without finishing too smashed up - cheers for the excellent company silver fox!

After grabbing some Coke and enough banana pieces to make up a whole banana (plus the compulsory catch up, which is really the reason I go to STaRs) wandered over to Balmoral for the Balmoral Burn, for which I'd recruited a team as per a request from our Marketing Director.

There were only two people who ran regularly in the squad - myself and Ben, plus an ex-sprinter who hasn't run for some years and smokes, plus another guy who doesn't do much and also smokes. In the interests of Ben and my entertainment, they went first and, to be fair, put up creditable performances - they certainly tried as hard as they could, they were still trying to get their breath back 15 minutes later!

This put us well back in the field by the time my leg (I was third) came up. I deliberately went out easily, employing the short step, high turnover shuffle, with drive coming from the glutes and hammies. About four or fives guys went out when I did and they all immediately went out to 20-30 yards in front of me, and it was with much satisfaction I mowed them down, plus some other guys who had gone out well before me for a 2:15.

Star of the day was our anchorman, Ben, though, who ran a 1:55 (ah, the power of fresh legs) and also picked up a heap of places. Be interesting to see the splits - Ben's wife suggested we finished 12th out of a field of big field of teams that might have been close to 50. I'll put up final results when I get them.

Didn't kill me as much as last year, and I reckon I was a lot faster, using much better hill technique. The last 200 metres was pure gold, as I got everyone single one of the guys who'd gone out so hard at the start plus a heap on top, with my 'poke in the eye' yellow t-shirt and ugly but efficient steep hill shuffle. I tell you, there aren't too many better feelings than mowing everyone down like that.

Saturday - May 15: East Met

Enjoyed a rare sleep in on Saturday morning. After dealing with shopping, had an early lunch and got ready.

After battling horrendous Sydney traffic, arrived at Sydney Park, Alexandria to run in the Randwick-Botany Harriers East Met 5k Cross Country. Bit shocked to see Sean Williams (well, maybe not Sean), Paul Arthur and Chris Truscott. Got through a quick 2k warm up and some stretches/strides.

The course was 90% grass, consisting of two loops of the park, including assaults on three pretty serious hills.

The fairly smallish field (guessing 25 starters, some were doing the 2.5k) took and I settled into a nervous solid pace. The first, and worst, hill sorted a fair bit of the pack out and I took up station around 20 yards or so behind Jenny Truscott and another young fellow who ended up running the 2.5 only.

Felt stressed aerobically but 'in control' as much as you can be over a sub 20 minute blat. The downhills were pretty steep and it was an opportunity to 'open' the stride up, particularly with pushing the foot out in front, and I found I was able to make ground up. There was also an interesting little kink to the right where the surface went from grass to tarmac to gravel, all combined in an off-camber steepish downhill right corner. Trail running has some benefits - I was a lot quicker through here than a lot of people.

Got through the first lap and was hurting, but maintained station behind Jenny. The drag back up the first hill showed she was hurting as well, and I managed to draw even down the hill. She slipped back in front between the downhill and the second hill, and I again drew level down this hill. I was able to put a gap in between us up the third hill, and having seen the lie of the nasty little gravel kink, flew through there to finish fairly strongly for an 18:41 and seventh place.

Ran a 4.5km cool down with Mister G that proved eventful, but it is not my place to report on these incidents.

Suspect the course was short (Garmin said 4.73km, I would think around 4.8) but with the hills was very happy with the consistency of the run - I can certainly pick my improved cardio, and technique is getting there. Nice not to embarrass myself in front of my coach!

Friday - easy day

Up at 6, a sleep in! Shuffled through a slow 5.8km in 30:32, which makes it an ideal recovery run. Pretty much the whole point, I guess.

Interval Pace - Arse About

Up at some ungodly hour this morning (well, 5:15am) to do 2 x 2km @ 10k pace (say 7:40), 1 x 2km @ 5k pace (say 7:20) and 1 x 1km @ 5k pace (say 3:40). Got through the warm-up whilst still half asleep but felt okay at the end (4.4km in 21:56), did some stretches and promptly forgot to do my strides. Oops.

Anyway, put away a half decent first rep and things went backwards from there:

1st 2km - 7:36. Very quick opening lap and was just slightly throttling back to ensure I didn't something stupid
2nd 2km - 7:42. Again, quick through the opening lap, and then fell asleep during laps three and four. Put in a hard last lap to get within 2 seconds of target, and it was apparent I was starting to struggle.
3rd 2km - 7:53. A horrible, formless thrashfest. Ugly to run, and most likely ugly to watch. Awful.
Last 1km - 3:45. Again, a horrible formless thrashfest, but managed to at least get within sight of target pace.

Finished off with a 4.3k cool down in 22:40.

Disappointing, but still a good improvement on last week where 7:50 was a huge struggle. I couldn't hold on to the form changes from Tuesday for more than a couple of laps, so I guess I need to develop the strength in the hips to hold that form - which I guess is the point of these sessions.

I also guess I suck at running on a grass track.

Sometimes it's good, other times...

...it's not so good.

Got up around 6am and felt okay. Scratched around at home for a bit before heading out west on Victoria Road around 6:30am.

Felt immediately scratchy and shuffly. I realised within a couple of minutes that I had forgotten to have my two bits of toast with dinner on Tuesday evening, so was most likely a bit low on fuel.

It was pretty grindy until I got to Darling Street and stopped to use the toilet. I seemed to speed up from there (the down hill helped) and I was able to push average pace down to around 4:51 per km.

I hit the bridge and North Sydney, and from there the pace dribbled to 5:00 per km, leaving me at 17.97km for 90 minutes.

Guess it was just an ugly run. 'Character building', if you will. Oh well, it's done.

Tuesday's short blasts

A cool, clearish morning at Rotary Park for our first really serious sample of SW's shorter intervals.

Session went:
4.5km warm up in 20:36, stretch, 4 x 100m strides, and then:

800m	2m	54s
800m	2m	56s
400m	1m	28s
400m	1m	26s
400m	1m	26s
400m	1m	26s
400m	1m	27s
400m	1m	24s
400m	1m	25s
400m	1m	26s

Finished with a 4.5km cool down in 22:13.

Took a minute break between the 800s (should have been 90 seconds) and 50s between the 400s. Stride changed from high turnover short stride to longer strider on the sixth 400 rep. Felt I belted out the last three reps and leg fatigue was setting in, and was really gasping for breath after the last two.

Really good, hard, fast session and I really felt like I was putting in place some building blocks. I mean, if it's tough, it's got to be good for me, right? Right?

Early recovery

An early start this morning (hit the road around 5:20am or so) due to a 6:45am appointment with Martin Horne. Conditions were cool, still and misty when I headed out, and the fog just past the half way point of my run. Followed my usual 1 hour of less route along the spine of the Hunter's Hill peninsula.

12.27km in 1 hour and 24 seconds. Bit quick for a recovery run, but I was very comfortable and really just maintaining form.

Buffalo Creek - STaR

A convenient STaR for Mother's Day, kicking off from Buffalo Creek Reserve, literally 5 minutes from home. I rolled up just after 6 on a clear, cool morning. SW had set out two hours for me this morning, so I planned on doing the shorter version of this STaR. I was a bit bleary eyed on waking, but there was never a question of not getting up.

We departed at 6:20am and as often seems to be the case with this group now we went out pretty hard, and despite the climb after turning off Pittwater Road we were soon rolling along at 4:45 per km pace. The course wound its way through the back of Ryde, past the hospital and golf course.

I went straight on over Epping Road rather than turning left for Epping, and went through the MTG. I held 4:45 per km pace until partway through Lane Cove National Park, before catching truckie and Aunty Karin, and eased back to a more conversational pace (I'd had a bit of a period by myself since splitting from the main 6:20 group). We hooked into the Great North Walk, which back the pace off significantly, and I arrived at Buffalo Creek Reserve a touch after two hours, covering 24.18km for the morning.

I certainly felt like I was working covering the pace through the sealed section of the run, but at the same time never really had the impression I couldn't manage it. Technique seems to be changing a bit, too, becoming a bit more efficient. 108km for the week, and actually feeling pretty fresh!

Striders 10k North Head

From Coolrunning:

Bit of a feel of old times this morning as I returned to the trusted old routine of getting up at 4, grabbing some brekkie (two bits of toast with honey with no butter and a strong cup of coffee), getting back to bed for an hour or so, then getting back up and getting ready.

This went further with picking up Johnny Dark, 26.2 miles and Mister G on the way over - fair to say a bit of a 'road trip' feel to it as we made our way over to Manly.

We arrived at 6:30 after not getting lost around North Head and it quickly became apparent parking was a BIG problem - it transpired later that Little Elf arrived on time, but couldn't find a park and missed the start. We ended up about 500 metres away, so I counted that as part of the warm up.

I wasn't sure what to expect after Thursday's odd 2 x 2k session (blog comment soon) but figured if I was in the vicinity of 39 minutes I'd be reasonably content.

Grabbed a quick 10 minute warm up and scuttled back to the start line with a couple of minutes to spare.

Felt pretty good from the get-go and settled in behind Blue Dog, with Superflake and MPHaz for company. Got through the first km in around 3:50 and dropped these guys over the next couple of km to go through the 5k mark in around 19:30 or so (didn't take splits). I'd been tracking 26.2 miles for a while to here and slipped past when he took a water bag.

Something a bit weird mentally happened at around the 6km mark and I somehow got the impression I was a chance to break 38 minutes. After deliberately taking it a little easier on the uphill 'out'section after the turnaround, I was bouyed by this impression (which I yelled to a few people!) and pushed hard from 6 1/2km.

At 9km it was apparent I'd misread the watch as the time ticked over 35 minutes. I elected to push on anyway, since I was feeling pretty strong. At about 9.5km (not long after the roundabout) the legs mentioned that we'd been pushing for a while and wondered if we were contemplating back off a bit. I'd seen KT26 Dave and thought I might have sniff.

I didn't though, and got home in 38:40. Okay, it's 18 seconds outside my PB, but I certainly feel like I'm coming back into form. I felt strong the whole way after a strong start, and think I ran a 15-20 second negative split. I wasn't struggling aerobically, and found some speed over the last couple of km.

Fantastic to catch up with a BIG group of CRs and Striders for pancakes after the finish, and I think we made a big impression on our US vistor from the UK, Siri. Congrats to the PBers today, particularly Lonewolf who quietly slipped under the magic 40 minute mark, also to Mister G who edges closer to the same mark, Aunty Karin and Spud (plus anyone I missed - there were a few), and good to see gnscon and Belinda make their returns.

Cheers to 26.2 miles for the company on the 4.5km jog, although we missed out on the food.

Oooh, I'm looking forward to Lane Cove. That promises to be very interesting...

Friday night cruise

We had friends who were in the process of moving to Brisbane stay Wednesday and Thursday nights, and as a result we had a few beers and wines on Thursday night (plus some nice Thai) as a bit of a farewell dinner.

As a result, I didn't run Friday morning (I did, however, sleep in, and I slept like the dead, too, feeling very refreshed on waking), but instead packed the bag to run my required 30 minutes at lunch. Except...

...I neglected to pack any runners. Yeah, yeah, I got a track record on this stuff. Shut up.

Anyway, slipped from work at 5, whipped home and got changed into my running kit, dropped the car at the Gladesville Wharf so EliseS could pick it up when she got off the ferry, and run to the Hunter's Hill Private Hospital via Huntley's Point and back, then home via the pedestrian bridge over Victoria Road for a touch over 6km in 30 minutes. Much as I prefer to head straight home and relax on Friday night, it was actually a really nice night for a run, clear and cool, although I felt a bit junked up after having the legs under a desk all day.

Although my running schedule required me to run 30 minutes I would have most likely run anyway, with the Striders 10k on the Saturday. I always find I'm a bit junked up if I miss the day before a race.

2000 and Huh?: A Pace Oddity

Thursday May 5 saw me arise at 5:20am to meet Mister G over at Rotary Park for a 2 x 2km session. Felt a bit weary and sore from efforts earlier in the week.

Got over there and got through the 4.15km warm up. The warm-ups have been interesting - I felt particularly 'junked up' when I started, but about 3km in the blood started to run through my legs and I felt 'loosened' up. Finished the warm-up in about 21:22, with more pace coming in the last few laps.

I paced out the 9 stride gap between the finish line and the start of the 400 metres (I was in the second lane) and put a marker cone at each nine paces for each of the five laps I'd do. Did some stretches and 5 x 100 metre strides, and no sign of Mister G (it later transpired he'd texted me overnight advising as such).

This is where it gets odd. You might call last week I got through 3 x 2km in 7:38, 7:37 and 7:30. Well, today the aim was to run the first 2k in 10k pace (say, 3:50 per km, based on a 38:18 10k PB) and the second 2k in 5k pace (say, 3:40km per km, based on a 18:22 5km PB).

Well, I ran 7:56 and 7:46. I was very happy with both reps, in fact, I thought I'd flogged the second one. So, either:
- I have no idea about pacing
- I'm slow around a grass athletics track, or (most likely)
- I buggered the distance up.

I'll get down there on the weekend and slowly walk the 2km with the GPS. The GPS read 2.12 and 2.21km for both reps there, but is notoriously poor around that track.

Needless to say this left me a bit puzzled, and it was in this frame of mind I headed home to hand the car over to EliseS (she needed to get to work early) and run a slightly disconsolate 4.69km cool down in in 25m9s.

Mid-week hour and a half

Well, 1h 31m 35.41s, anyway, for 18.71km (4:53 per km pace). Added in the extra to make up for walking (briskly!) up the stairs from Hickon Road and the stairs up from the Rocks to the Harbour Bridge.

Beautiful clear cool morning in Sydney. I was up at 6:00am (a sleep-in nowadays) and after pottering around the house getting ready for 20 minutes, rolled out the door to head to work.

Headed west along Victoria Road, did a loop through Huntley's Point, over the Gladesville Bridge, through Drummoyne, over the Iron Cove Bridge, through Rozelle, over the Anzac Bridge, through Pyrmont into the city, along Hickson Road, up the staircase into The Rocks, up on to and over the Harbour Bridge, through North Sydney and up the Pacific Highway to St Leonards, with a little loop down Christie Street and back along the railway line to put in an extra couple of minutes.

Settled into a rhythm pretty quickly and once through Drummoyne felt warmed up and fairly strong through the rest of the run. The new diet is certainly paying dividends in the mornings, and I feel that I'm certainly getting better value out of my sessions (as predicted by my dietician, funnily enough), not to mention losing weight and body fat.

Ran in 1090s with my orthotics this morning and had no issues with my right foot. Left knee was bit grumbly for a while but seemed to clear up fairly quickly.

Tuesday - it must be intervals

Up just after 5:20 to head down to Rotary Park for 10 x 600s (with 1 min jog recovery). It was dark and cool, about 13 at home and 12 at the track

Got through a 4.15km warm up in 20:28. Mister G turned up about half way through this, and had the pleasure of watching me do my 100 metre strides and some stretches. During this, he reminded me again that it was my fault he was there.

Times were as follows:

600m @ 2:19, 1:03 jog for 174m
600m @ 2:24, 56s jog for 178m
600m @ 2:20, 55s jog for 161m
600m @ 2:24, 56sjog for 158m
600m @ 2:20, 56s jog for 164m
600m @ 2:20, 59s jog for 165m
600m @ 2:18, 59s jog for 162m
600m @ 2:17, 59s jog for 152m
600m @ 2:18, 1:01 jog for 141m
600m @ 2:13

Rounded the session off with 4.15k in 19:32.

That gives a 3:52 per km average for the intervals, which is a bit slower than I thought and on a little reflection a bit disappointing - those two 2:24s were bad. Still, I felt pretty good through session (though, looking at the times, no wonder) and was able to find a bit more speed towards the end as I got a feel for the speed. I was sub 3:50 per km pace for the last five, and I should definitely be under that for the session, closer to 5km pace.

Another interesting aspect of the session was that it was aerobic until about rep 6 or 7. Mister G and I had a bit of a chat about that - I guess the idea is that you start to feel more comfortable at your 5k (or thereabouts) pace.

Oh well, it's done.

Monday, and another hour ten

Considering how much yesterday knocked me around, actually got up in reasonable shape and not particularly sore - just what on earth is in that Endura Optimizer?

I'll need to clarify with Sean Williams the deal with the warm and cool-down jogs is. It would have meant a two hour effort today, and I don't have time for that sort of training during weekdays, unless I'm running to work.

Got away pretty sluggishly on a cool, grey morning with a touch of drizzle, and shuffled through the first four km pretty slowly, heading east along Victoria Rd, through Huntley's Point and on the Hunter's Hill peninsula, around 5:20 per km pace or so. Stopped for a stretch and my pace picked up pretty promptly after that. I settled into around 5:02 - 5:03 per km pace and ended up running 13.87km for my 1 hour 10.

Ran in my 1090s with orthotics. The right foot wasn't so bad this morning and seems a little happier after the run.

Postscript: Clarified with Sean this morning that the 4-5k warm-up and cool down apply only to Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday runs, not the timed runs. That's a relief!

Starting the Program

Man, I hate running in the afternoon.

My program, which kicked off today, called for 2 hours 15 minutes, plus warm up and cool down runs of 4-5ks and 5 x 100 metre striding and a stretch before starting my long run. I jogged pretty slowly over to the Bay Run (4.4k in 25:26) at about 1:30pm, did some strides, stretched and set off. Tried to keep pace around 4:50 per k and felt pretty good for the first hour and a half, basically running the dog park extension of the Bay Run up to Balmain Shores and doing a u-turn there.

Started to battle a bit mentally after an hour and a half, but was able to stay within pace. I was running with water only (see previous comments), and started to wilt over the last eight km or so, really just wanting to get the run over and done with. My pace actually picked up a little bit in the last four km, presumably that sniff of finishing, but not enough to drive it under 4:50 per km.

Still, 2:15:01 for 27.81km, giving an average pace of 4:51 was a pretty decent hit out. Whilst the temperate was in the low twenties, the sun was quite strong and humidity was low (welcome to dry mouth syndrome), so I was certainly conscious of being warm during the run.

Of some concern was the recurrence of my sore right foot. I ran without the orthotics through all of the weekend, so suspect that may have had something to with it.

I have to run for an hour ten tomorrow morning - suspect that will be pretty slow...