June Wrap Up

409k for the month, probably let down a bit by the missed days with a migraine on June 21 and 22 otherwise it would have been over 430k. From a training point of view doing speed work in a group setting is starting to return dividends in terms of both fitness and technique. Weight and fat loss are continuing, although could be a little quicker.

Highlight would be the 37:08 10k, but I thought I had solid runs at the RBH XC the week after and the Nowra CC. Woodford to Glenbrook was good fun, too.

Roll on July...

Wind and Rain

I remember a great story I heard about Stirling Moss, and why he abstained from sex the night before a grand prix. He reckoned he went to the starting grid the following morning with the thought in his mind that he deserved to win more than the other blokes because he'd gone without sex.

Following that line of logic, I battled through the weather-inflicted chaos of Sydney public transport and got myself to Centennial Park. I figure I can line up on Saturday chasing a sub 36:30 and C2S Preferred Start thinking that since I did that bloody session in such awful conditions, I deserved to run my goal time.

With the conditions SW changed the session somewhat to go up and down the paths along Federation Way, an 820 metre loop return. I got through a fairly unenthusiastic 2k warm up in 10 minutes, did some stretches and some sprint throughs and lined up.

SW told myself and Keith to take it reasonably easy, with the first 4km (well, 4.1k, with 5 laps of the loop) somewhere between 10k and HM pace, knowing we both had the Strider 10k race on Saturday. Got through in 16:12, which was a little slower than I was hoping for, but the ends were very slippery and SW was keen to see people take it easy through there. I had a nice rhythm going and it seemed a shame to stop.

Quick recovery jog for a couple of minutes and then to the 820m (most others did 3.2k) - it would normally be 1k, but given the circumstances. I was told to relax and take it at a good, relaxed pace. Got through in 2:56 and was quick without pushing.

It rained solidly through both runs, and the wind just whipped into your face. I had a cap which helped a fair bit, but jeez, it's close to the worst I've run in. The worst would be that run in October with the really strong easterly where it bucketed down the whole way, and running across the Tarban Creek Bridge was like someone standing 4 yards away and letting you have the full pressure of a garden hose in your face.

Jogged with Mohammed for a 3.2k cooldown around the normal grass course which actually proved itself to be in reasonable condition, but with a little bit of standing water.

So, no nagging guilt on Saturday morning about missing that session. Oooh yeah.

A sluggish Wednesday - I had it coming

Took a while to get up this morning. SW gave me instructions to take it easy today, and it became apparent when I hit Victoria Road this morning that taking it easily wasn't actually optional, with my legs feeling heavy and stiff.

Shuffled east through Huntley's Point, Drummoyne and into Rozelle. Started to finally come half good past Darling Street, and got an encouraging word from the boys doing Transit Lane duty near the Goodyear outlet.

Finally got my pace down to 5:00min/k pace when I hit the city. Saw a couple of Striders and Coolrunners through Pyrmont and Milsons Point which helped at bit. Battled up through North Sydney and up into Crows Nest, heading into St Leonards. I had to do a little loop here to make up time, ending up at a few seconds over 1h30m for 18.10km.

Pretty stuffed at the finish of it. I made a point of bringing some Endura Optimizer with me, as I find I recover more quickly when I take it. Oh well, 36 hours until my next hit out.

...and it didn't rain!

Tuesay night - 12 x 400

Bit of a battle to get to Kensington tonight - conference call went over time, train was in no hurry to get to Central, just missed the bus I need and it was a fair old wait for the next one, so I was only able to get a 2k 10 min warm up.

Legs were quite stiff after last night's little effort and I was dreading tonight's session. We lined up after some half-hearted drills, Sean placing emphasis on short recoveries with decent paced jogs....yeah, right...

Down to business:

1	18
1	25
1	21
1	20
1	19
1	20
1	21
1	21
1	22
1	23
1	24
1	23

The humidity seemed to climb through the session and I slipped the top off for the last three reps. Just like Monday night, the increase in humidity was a precursor to rain, which started halfway around the last rep.

Blow out on the second rep was after I missed the restart - Sean wasn't mucking around with the quick turnarounds! I was in dreadful trouble after the eight rep and if I'd been by myself I would have stopped. Good to get through, and only blow out a little bit - interesting looking through to the last time I did a purely 400 session back in March. Ave time tonight was 1:21.4 across 12 reps on damp ground, versus 1:23.8 across 8 on dry ground, so I've made some progress.

Had an interesting little chat with Sean and another guy who was running around me in the first 7 reps (on his way back from injury) about technique, and he made the comment that my stride length was about right, although I could do with leaning forward a touch more to bring the hamstrings into play. I certainly feel it has changed quite a lot in the last two month, so it was nice to get some feedback.

Finished off with 2k, again in 10 minutes. The rain had pretty well finished up by this stage. Would have preferred the reps to have been closer together in time, and faster at the end, but I was just glad to get through and get a benchmark set. Positive session.

Five wet ones in a row...

Since missing two days last week, the running gods have seen fit to test the strength of my faith with five straight runs with rain in a row. Oh well, so be it...

I was pretty tired this morning and decided to go with the sleep-in. With Tuesday's session being in the evening I'm really not fussed about running Monday mornings, although as I've mentioned before I'd really prefer to get on my backside when I get home. I was scheduled for an hour ten today.

Anyway, parked the bus at the Gladesville ferry stop for EliseS to retreive on her way home, and ran from there, over the Gladesville Bridge and through the streets immediately to the north of the shops on that side of Victoria Road and plugged into the Bay Run under the west end of the Iron Cove Bridge.

Felt a bit junky early with some of yesterday lingering in the quads, but seemed to come really good past the Rowers there, and had a golden 15 minutes there where I had a really nice long relaxed stride going and felt like a million bucks - you know those periods you get every now and then that you wish you could bottle and give to non-runners to show them why you run. It was a surprisingly balmy night, to the point that I actually slipped the shirt off for a couple of km. Of course, a sudden ramp up in humidity in Sydney is often a portent for.....

....rain. And it was that good soaking rain, too. It was a bit inconvenient running into it, as I'd gone out without a cap, but once I turned off Lilyfield Road and past the reception centre, it wasn't in my eyes and I started to really enjoy it, and shared some comic banter with other runners out there. I must be losing my mind...

Got to the oval where the Run Club meets and saw freerunner's Landie sitting there with it's headlights dimmed - had a quick chat before heading off to cross the Iron Cove Bridge, and through Drummoyne to make my way home, banging out 15.33km in 1:11:55. Good easy flowing pace, with a bit of stiffness in the quads that really didn't impede me. It might have rained, but I'd chalk this up as one of those training runs that, for some unknown reason, I really enjoyed.

Woodford to Glenbrook

With my new July program coming from SW on Friday, I basically had to choose between belting the Strider 10k at Homebush next week or belting this, and given the outside chance of a preferred start at C2S riding on the back of next Saturday I had to elect to cruise it today. So the approach was to treat it as a big STaR.

Accordingly, I was a little looser with the planning for this run and after some research on Saturday night decided the plan was to drive to Glenbrook in time for the 8:34am outbound train, alight at Woodford at 9:04, do the race, get a lift out of the park, and reunite with the car at Glenbrook.

Arrived at Glenbrook about 45 mins before the train (wasn't expecting the drive to take less than an hour), so had a read of the paper and relaxed. A few CRs and Striders turned up, and I caught up with Fats and twopennys which made for a very pleasant half hour train journey.

There was a very large collection of bikes up at Woodford. After catching up with a few of the usual crowd, including Sarge and his Japanese guests, I went for a bit of a jog to get a feel for the opening 600 metres, and have a look around. Watched a couple of the bike divisions start, stripped my excess kit off (and was wondering about the wisdom of the long sleeve top), handed the bag in, and formed up for the start.

After the rolling start through Woodford, the course basically drops straight downhill (619m to 500m by the GPS) for the first 4.4k, then rollercoasters back to just over 540 metres at the 12.5-13km mark where it proceeds to drop to about 120-130 metres by the finish at 25km. The downhill sections are quite tricky here and were quite slippery, with broken rock surfaces, and in the wake of recent rains, quite a bit of standing water.

I ran with Colin for a good chunk of the first 6-7km, and was pretty well ignoring the watch and just running on form and perceived effort. We had a good downpour through here, and whilst at the start I was cursing running with a long sleeve top rather than a singlet, I think I got it pretty well right - a t-shirt might have been ideal. We would periodically catch and be repassed by bikes - the highlight of which was passing a larger oriental gentleman who was a pedalling a very low gear up a gentle slope, holding an umbrella! Didn't see him again until the 20km mark.

The bikes were very polite, though, advising where they were passing, and providing quite a bit of entertainment. Highlights for them were 'Suicide Corner' - I asked the marshals here what they did with the guys who overshot the corner, to which they replied they left them until morning - and the tantalisingly named but ultimately disappointing 'Crash Corner'.

There were really only two or three steep sections up until the halfway mark. I worked on maintaining effort levels through these, and passed a number of runners. We hit the downhill section which, as Sarge predicted, was in great condition, but after warnings from Mister G during the week about killing my quads, elected not to bash it through here, even though so many others did. Colin caught up to me at, at a guess, around 14-15km, and we rolled along and chatted until Sarge rudely interrupted our 'knitting circle' at around the 21km - I thought we were being run down by Darth Vader!.

Colin and I put the pace on at this point, and with the slope quite gentle I decided to just open the stride up a bit at 22km and let gravity do the work. Came home in 1:46:38, which was fine - I was figuring something between 1:45 and 1:50 would be decent. Quads are a touch stiff, but no more so than after a H4 STaR, so the call not to bash it in the last 12k was a good one, although it took a lot of discipline not to chase people - mind you, with 12 x 400 in front of SW on Tuesday there wouldn't be anywhere to hide if I did! I doubt I would want to have been much faster to the 13km mark than I was if I had been racing it, though, and to fully capitalise on the final downhill I think you would need to do some specific work.

Good fun hitout, and probably not a bad introduction to trailrunning for those of you thinking of trying it. A Google Earth map of the course is given below:


Organisation seemed a touch 'vague' - all of the right things, like bag collection and the start seemed to happen - but information provided wasn't particularly clear, and I think there's probably a bit of room to improve on that for next year, although going on comments from previous years was a huge improvement. Finish area was a bit light on in the food stakes, too, although it was a great atmosphere there.

In a final bizarre twist, that was my 25km PB, a near 2 minute improvement on my effort at the SMC in February. 29th for my efforts today, and 7th in my category. Definite chance of a sub 100 minute effort here in the future. Definitely recommend it.

CR 5k Challenge

Well, challenge to run 20 minutes - and I ran 19:59, so that was pleasing.

Dropped EliseS at the Rowers before taking the car down to Timbrell, and running the 2.87km back in 13:47 as a warm-up. Felt like junk. It was cold, with rain threatening, with a touch of breeze.

Caught up with the usual suspects, with Blue Dog marshalling the starters. I ran with the 20 minute crowd, which included Redback, gnscon, Miss Skarmel (who started with the 21 min group, but forgot to start her watch) and Professor.

Got through the first km in 3:50, and the guys were pretty well already gone. I stayed with Miss S through to about 3.5km where she was starting to drop back (we were 6 seconds behind schedule at 3km). 16:10 through 4 meant a little hustle through the last kilometre and I pushed Li'l Elf home in the last 100 metres or so to pretty well nail my target at 19:59.

Felt very comfortable at 4 min/k pace and was not aerobically challenged.

Jogged 2.28km back to the car in 13:40. Sadly, we had to miss out on pancakes as our schedule was rather tight - apologies to Tiger Angel, who I was with mid-conversation with when I diverted off.

...and a wet arse for my trouble.

Slept in this morning, so made the call of running home from work, as it would be more efficient, saving me a bus fare, and, yeah, to be honest, on a Friday night I really hate getting home and then going out to run - I'd rather be on my backside relaxing.

So, on a damp Friday night, just after 5, I headed home via the Pacific Highway, Epping Road, and worked my way south through Lane Cove West, in the residential section between the industrial area and Centennial Avenue/Burns Bay Road. It started to rain there, and from there, to be frank, it started to suck. Dunno if it was the weight of the backpack or lingering effects from earlier in the week, but the legs were heavy and I just wanted to get home. Urgh. And I felt really acidy in the stomach.

Managed 11.93km in 59:58. Stupid sport.

Oh yeah, and 75.2kg two days in a row, so screw it, I'm having a glass of wine.

Back on track - and a good night to prove your faith, too

Lost Wednesday with the remnants of the aforementioned migraine - I was just washed out and still very 'headachey' - so neither ran nor went into work.

Felt better this morning, although the mooted 5km system check in the morning withered in the face of a particularly cold morning and a need to sleep. I had the car, but noted the evening's activities as provisional, depending on how I felt during the day.

I did improve over the course of the day (a rare thing at work), and made my mind up around lunchtime to attend the evening session.

Arrived at Centennial Park a little before 6pm to a temperature of around 10-11 degrees and a bit of a breeze. Got through an initially cautious 4.1 km in 19:29, feeling better as I went along. We went through the usual strides and warm up before starting.

Again I was through the first lap too hard, repeating my 3:35 from the second session. I was at least able to keep the session under 19 mins for the 5k (18:57), but it's bit frustrating to fall into the same damn trap again. Laps went 3:35, 3:45, 3:48, 3:53 and 3:56, suffering particularly down the long 'fast' section along Robertson Road where I always seem to battle. Thinking on it, I need to do the first three at 3:45 (which the times suggest wouldn't be a problem) and then see how I'm placed for the last two. Still, picked up 17 seconds on the last time I did this session, and I'm no longer really banging out the 'rest' sections so it would suggest the pace on the fast sections is improved.

Cruised a 4.02k in 20:55 to finish, chatting with Mohammed. It of course proceeded to bucket down in the last lap and a half. Gotta love outdoor sports...

The streak is over...

Awoke this morning with a bit of a headache, and an odd thing happened - on entering the bathroom and putting the heating element on in the light (we have one of those combined light/heat/fan things in the ceiling) I must have been looking directly at it, because I had the image in the dead centre of my vision for a while, and it took forever to clear.

I packed up for work, including gear for tonight's speed session, and drove to St Leonards.

In the bright environment of the office, my headache worsened, and my vision deteriorated further, to the point that I lost the centre of my field of vision in my right eye. A migraine!

I do get them from time to time, but it's usually in my left eye, and I usually get a couple of days lead-in. Odd.

I got back to the car - vision was much better with sunglasses - and returned home. Went to bed (may as well sleep, I can't do anything else) and eventually got up around 4:30. Vision's pretty well 100% now, just the headache. Should be fine for tomorrow, but I'm a bit peeved at losing the speed session.

Life goes on...

Monday's hour

Elected to sleep in, so slipped out into a warmer than expected Sydney Monday evening.

Managed 12.5k in 1 hour flat. Good at the start, pretty ordinary middle half hour, and a good finish.

Weight appears to be stuck at the moment, and to be honest haven't been particularly strict with the diet. So, no alcohol until I see under 75kg, and keep to the letter of the diet, especially on weekends.

Sunday's shortened STarR - Harbourside Hike

Just an hour and a half on the menu today. Got up at 5:30, and to be frank, spending a couple of hours playing Railroad Tycoon Deluxe looked a lot more enticing than running, the sound of rain and the cold not helping.

Managed to get lost getting over to Waverton and missed the 6:20 group, heading out solo as the new 6:25 group. I was alone though North Sydney, Cammeray, Crows Nest and St Leonards, with the 6:30 group catching me through the trail to River Road.

It was here I picked up Highwayman and a couple of other guys (including Andrew, a guy looking to join Striders who'd done a couple of Ironmans) who were also doing the short option, and we worked our way through the lower North Shore through Greenwich and Balls Head. Ended up doing 18.38km in 1h 33m flat in what felt a stronger effort than the watch suggested. Oh well, it's done.

90km for the week, 281km for the month so far. Supposedly an easy week, but feel I got some good quality in, with some decent speed session and a good hard fast hitout yesterday.

Saturday - NSW CC's

Left Sydney with EliseS and Amjan for the drive to Nowra a bit before eleven. Once out of town, a fairly troule free run saw us arrive at the course Willandra at about 1:30 - basically, this is a CC course on a dairy farm, with the owner having built and maintaining the facilities. Brilliant set-up, well worth a look.

The women were away at about 2:15, so I took the opportunity to cheer on and check out the course, getting through a gentle 3.1k in 15:49. Basically, the course starts with a wide, downhill section before turning right and down, looping around the back of the carpark, before working its way left and doubling back on itself again with a couple of steep descents, double back again and then left on to bridge. After that is the first of the climbs, a short one out to the back of the course, then a straightish narrow road on the side of the hill before turning right on to the big hill, a 45m climb in 800 metres. The course then snakes back down the hill, with a sharp descent and a little straight before hitting the bridge again, this time going the other way, and then two nasty little climbs through the last section, with a quick descent before the gentle rise to the finish.

The women put in a strong effort, with KT managing to finish in front of Vespa.

After a bit of a stretch it was time for the mens' event. A good size field gathered, and after a bit of pfaffing around, we were away. It was a pretty frenetic start, with a few clipped heels and elbows exchanged, but the field had pretty well sorted itself out after about 500 meters. I slotted in about 30 metres behind Sportsman, a position with which I would become particularly familiar with during the run. I had a couple 1 3/4 lap battle with a fellow from Nowra who I finally put away just as I saw Sportsman slow momentarily. I drew right up with him, but had to back off after the effort put my heart rate right off - which of course was when he pulled away. That's pretty well how the last lap played out, with me putting in efforts to get close, and when I had to ease off, he would draw away again. He seemed quite strong on the intermediate hills, where you had to make the call about remaining in stride or 'changing' gears.

I came home in 48:22 for 43rd place. I was pretty happy with my overall effort, although the watch confirmed that the first lap was a bit silly, with laps of 15:28, 16:21 and 16:33. Chatting to coach SW after the event, he seemed genuinely pleased with my time, so I guess that was encouraging - it's difficult to draw conclusions without precedent. I was a little disappointed I didn't get Sportsman (he won his age category, though - a great run) and would have like to have broken 48. We managed to snag 2nd place in the teams, though, so a good result there.

Stopped for beers at Berry and fish & chips at Wollongong, and arrived back in the big smoke around eightish. Long day, but well worth it. I'd have no hesitation in getting down there again.

Easy Friday Night

Couldn't get up, and work's busy, so run Friday night it was. Wheeled out just after 6 for an easy 6.23km in 30:01. Pretty comfortable cruise, a little of last night in there, but bodes well for tomorrow.

Cool night though - long sleeve top and tights were the order of the night.

A cool Thursday night for shorter Fartlek

Usual battle with public transport and I arrived at Centennial Park a touch before 6pm. Got changed and worked my way through a 4k warm up in 19:47.

Stretches and strides were done, and while going through sprint warm-ups and yacking with Lyn, we accidentally bumped and she fell quite heavily, giving her head a bit of a knock. Strange thing, I really only felt a light brush and didn't think much of it until I realised she'd fallen. I guess when you start to speed up balance is crucial and a slight miscalculation can see you on the ground in a flash! All this after I mentioned either here or at Coolrunning that she was a RB Harrier, when she's quite proudly a Woodstocker! You should see what I do to people I don't like! Sorry, Lyn, hope you're okay!

That done, we got down to business. It was only three laps tonight, which I knocked off in 3:33, 3:39 and 3:44. Bit disappointed with the last lap, suspect that with the pack of younger blokes who did two laps peeling off leaving me to myself I dozed off on the 'off' sections of the final kilometre, although I thought I pounded out the surge sections well. Oh well, 10:57 for my trouble. Legs feel pretty good as I sit here right now, so it was probably the perfect workout in the lead-up to the 12k at Nowra on Saturday.

Rolled through a gentle 3.08km in 15:19 to finish the evening's work. Just a gentle half hour in the morning, and then to the weekend. Looking forward to Nowra - the road trip aspect will be pretty cool, and my first run as part of a team will be added motivation. Given that four of the team members finished in the top 15 at Lane Cove, the worst of them 1:52 than my big PB, there will be a big battle between MPHaz and myself to avoid being last home.

Wednesday - 4:50 per k is the new 5:00 per k

Wednesday, and only an hour called for today. Took full opportunity to sleep in and got up around 6:30.

After stumbling around for about half an hour (I really should pack the night before) I was out the door at about 7. Headed east along Victoria Road, little loop through Huntley's Point and then up Burns Bay Road to Lane Cove, along the Pacific Highway and a little loop around the back of St Leonards to make 12.52km in 1 hour on the dot.

Felt a bit sluggish initially, but once up onto the flat (about 300-400 metres into the run when I take this direction) started to move along okay and was soon wobbling along at around 4:50 per km pace. Pace ended up at 4:47 per km after a bit of a surge along the Pacific Highway section.

Interesting that my base 'plod along' pace has come along - it used to be 5:00 - 5:05 per km, now it's typically under 4:50. Funny how the speed starts to seep through all aspects of your running...

Tuesday morning becomes Tuesday evening

I'd been muttering for a couple of weeks about getting to Sean Williams' interval session over at Kensington on Tuesday nights, and after being totally unable to get out of bed this morning I guess today was the day. I sent an SMS to Mister G to apologise for not joining him but discovered he'd not fronted either, continuing to battle the bug he's had for a week or so.

To be frank, felt a bit flat during the day and wasn't overly looking forward to the session. I'm at that point now that I realise I'm not going to speed up by missing these sessions, so at 5pm it was out of the office, onto a train to Central and the 393 bus from Central, and this young man from the west end of the lower North Shore was cast into the wilds of Kensington on a balmy June night...

The 6 o'clock group was just getting started when I fronted. Basically the set up there is a largish oval that the runners share with a rugby league training session, with a 400 metre circuit marked out by cones - explaining Sean's apparent obsession with 400 and 800 metre repeats.

Got through a 4.03k warm up in 18:17, rolling along pretty comfortably whilst chatting. Did a few stretches, and then down to business. Reps went:

2	44
2	43
2	47
2	47
2	49
2	49
2	51

I was pretty well finished at the end, taking a bit of time to get my breath back! Ambled through a 2.34k cool down in 11:14.

Disappointed I got the repeats arse about again, starting quick and then dying. Still, quicker than I managed at Rotary Park, which I put down to:
- gentler turns in the loop
- running in the evening, so the legs are warmer
- training in a group of faster runners
- getting fitter (gasp)

I was very breathless at the finish, so feel I had pushed harder than I would have by myself. Sean was philosophical at the finish, commenting that I'd pushed hard and that I had a target for next week, which I guess is true.

Well worth the effort of getting down there, though. Surface is nowhere near the standard of Rotary Park, but then its not an athletics venue, it's a rugby league field, so it's to be expected. Means I also avoid another desperately early start, although the evening's sacrificed.

Sorry, Mister G, looks like a permanent addition...

A civilised hour on a Monday morning

Took advantage of the public holiday and slept in until just after 8. We got up, pottered around a bit, and hit the Bay Run just after half past eight. We parked at Timbrell Park, and while EliseS went and did some 1k repeats, I headed towards the dog run.

Felt pretty stiff initially, but as the first couple of km clicked by the legs warmed up a bit and the pace came a bit more naturally. Headed up to Balmain Shores, turned around back down to the dog run, and returned to Timbrell. Pace had improved on the return leg so I put a lap of Timbrell in to make up the hour, clocking up 13.54km in 1:00:01.

Didn't feel fantastic any point, but I guess that's the difference with flat ground, you can get buy on turnover alone.

Sunday STaR - Bobbin Head Revisted - Shortened? Bah!

Up at 5am for another of the Strider upper North Shore STaRs. I tell ya, at 5:30 on a Sunday morning Gladesville really is 20 minutes from everywhere.

Kicked off from Wahroonga Park intending to do two hours. Rather than take the 24k course short cut early, we decided to do the full length course up until the turnaround at the boathouse. Mmmm, this resulted in 29.81km in 2:23:56, the climb back from Bobbin Head taking longer than expected. Still, I had the great company of Vespa and Superflake and it really didn't seem that long as we chatted and solved the problems of the world. Well, our problems, and we didn't really solve them...

After smashing myself up last week, I made a point of taking it bit easier this week, although ironically it wasn't that much slower! Maybe I'm getting fitter, although the terrain in the middle of the run was a bit easier than last week.

106km for the week, much of which seemed to be flavoured with the recovery from last Sunday's effort. Still, a decent race yesterday with some positive comment from my coach, and an enjoyable STaR this morning saw the week end on an upbeat note.

Just an hour tomorrow, and a sleep in! Yay! Happy birthday, Liz, even if it was in April...

East Met CC

Felt pretty scratchy throughout Saturday - difficult week at work catching up I guess - and wasn't feeling particularly enthused about much at all, although the morning's acheivement (shared with the better half) was installing a wireless router and a wireless card into my battered old laptop, so there's one less cable about the place.

Turned up at Sydney Park in humid light rain at around 2 for the Randwick Botany 2.5/5/7.5km cross country event - regular readers may recall me running this event back in mid May. There was a 7.5km option, which is what I was in for.

Reasonable crowd of CRs around, although the fleet of kids from last month wasn't quite in evidence - I seem to recall some school athletics event on Friday.

After a gentle 2.47km warm up and some stretches, we lined up at the start. Got a positive note right off the bat when I managed to knock off the meat tray in the raffle.

We started, and I got through the first lap in 8:56, which was simply too fast. Hills started to hurt through the second lap, and I was still carrying some of the recovery into the flat, which is an issue at Sydney Park. Managed to back the pace up to run the second and third laps in a more sensible 9:22 and 9:23, but really felt it on the climbs on the last lap. Still, to put it in context, I ran 18:41 for the 5k last month, so to be at better pace over the longer distance is a good sign of progress. Had Vespa about 20-30 seconds up the road but wasn't able to make an impression, but she was only doing 5k, and I managed to hold off Richard, a fellow who introduced himself as the guy I'd dragged up the Argyle Cut late in the SMH Half - funny, I remembered it the other way around!

Jogged through a gentle 2.3k with Superflake to round off the afternoon's activities.

Had a chat to Sean Williams after the race - he was pretty happy with my time, noting I'd beaten Cindy Williams, a 38 minute 10k runner who is handy on hilly courses, by about 40 seconds, so it was good to get some positive feedback even though I felt I'd compromised my race on the first lap.

Also debuted my flourescent green Asics Magic Racers today, which I picked up on sale last week. They went pretty well.

Ended up a positive day, even though I wasn't in the best frame of mind before the event. Guess you can't be keyed up for every event.

Another Friday morning

Managed to get up at about 5:45am, after another decent night's sleep, and set out just before 6 for an easy half hour. Little bit sluggish to begin with, but worked down to under 5m per k average within a couple of km and brought it home with solid form to knock over 6.27km in 30:01. Solid hitout, but noticeable that when I do these runs in the evening I'm looser straight off the bat.

Still, when I get home tonight, I don't have to go back out and run - just ease into the long weekend...

A warm winter's night at Centennial Park

Sydney's temperature inversion continued unabated as I sampled the delights of Sydney public transport to get myself to Centennial Park for a 5km fartlek with Sean Williams's squad.

Got through a reasonable 3k warm up before we went through our drills and run throughs.

I was a little smarter with the fartlek, not belting the 'easy' sections quite as hard, but focussing on good quality fast sections. Pace was a bit more even, but I must admit there is still a touch of Sunday lingering in the system, particularly in the upper legs and hips which are still a bit flat. Got through in 19:14, about 19s slower than last week, but still a good hit out.

Ran a solid 4k warm down before calling it a night.

Met a few more people tonight so am gradually settling into the session.

The usual Wednesday run to work

Had a night out at the Norths Rugby Club at St Leonards on Tuesday night with my work team as part of a sales conference. Had my share of beers and G&Ts that left me with a slight headache after what was actually a pretty decent night's sleep.

Up at about 6:15am and followed the usual route along Victoria Road from Gladesville into town, with little diversions through Huntley's Point and Drummoyne to add some distance in. Still felt a bit beaten up in the quads, although this seemed to come good after quick pit stop at The Rocks, and I finished strongly up the hill of the Pacific Highway to St Leonards, knocking off 19.21km in 1h30m53s.

Nice, if somewhat murky morning, and a solid hit out.

Tuesday intervals

Still feeling Sunday's efforts, up particularly early for a session of 8 x 800 with 1:45 jog recoveries.

Got through a 4.4km warm up in 20:56, not feeling okay until the last lap or two. Lack of spring from the hips and upper legs was noticeable. Stretched and did some strides, and then down to business:

2	59
3	0
2	59
3	0
2	59
3	1
3	4
3	4

Simply could not find any leg speed, and form was a little wanting over the last three reps. Mister G was battling as well, and bailed about half way through.

Oh well, given the weekend's activities, guess it was going to be a battle to come good. Should be right for Thursday, though.

An hour of a Monday evening

With sleep deprivation a distinct theme over the weekend, I elected to sleep in and do my prescribed hour in the evening. I was fairly sore in the legs and still quite tired from Sunday's efforts, although my walk from Lane Cove to St Leonards and back seemed to help.

Wheeled out into a mild evening about 6:15pm, and took a while to get going. I seemed to be stuck in 5:00 per k pace until about 35 minutes in, and gradually worked the pace up from there as I loosened up.

Rolled through 12.28km in 1 hour flat. Tomorrow, 8 x 800m with 1:45 jog rests. Ouch.

Sunday STaR - Davidson Recreation

After heading out to the Flying Fish Cafe in Pyrmont last night, and getting to bed a bit afer midnight, I arose at about 5:20 with 5 hours sleep and a touch of a red-wine stomach. A piece of toast with some olive oil and honey, along with half a cup of coffee settled that down, and I was on my way to pick up Mister G at Chatswood and over to Lindfield for the STaR.

Set off at 6:20 in a fairly small group and the pace was fairly quicky down to a bit under 5:00 per k. The course shares sections with the Cherrybrook STaR and the landscape rolls a fair bit. I pulled up pretty well after the 10k yesterday and was holding with Sue Kelly pretty well. The course worked its way over to Castle Cove and finished with the quite technical trail from the Roseville bridge making up about the last 4-5km. Sue and I were the last of the runners of our little group and we were setting a strong pace through this section, finishing 31.22km in 2:29:36. 15 minutes longer than I was scheduled for, but a pretty good hit out. Again, no gu taken during the run, mind you I was pretty hungry for the last half hour.

Should also be noted we did an extra 1.2km or so after making a navigational error at the south west end of the course, missing a turnoff. Oh well, more miles = more strength, right?

Felt pretty strong through the run and the last 5km were quite pleasing - I was able to maintain pace despite fatigue. Certainly noticing the weight loss and extra training.

111km covered for the week, with some pretty good quality miles and a 10k PB. I was a bit sore with the inside right upper leg yesterday after the 10k but it's fine this morning. No other injury issues at the moment. Stride is feeling different and much more efficient.

Next week looks pretty similar to last week, with highlights being an 8 x 800 session on Tuesday, and an East Met 7.5km cc event on Saturday - 3 laps of the 2.5km course we ran last month.

Maybe McMillans is on to something....

As mentioned in previous submissions, I have returned to my old race day routine of arising 3 hours before the start of an event, eating two bits of toast with honey and having a strong cup of coffee - yes, instant, I'm not prepared to risk scalding at 4am.

Got up for real at 5:20 to a cool (around 8-9), still and very foggy morning. Picked up Johnny Dark at Drummoyne at 5:50 and hit Lane Cove National Park a touch after 6. Here, it was dark and foggy, which made getting entered interesting.

Light gradually came good and I got out for a little 4km warm up - I felt okay, although not fantastic - did some stretches, some strides, and headed to the start.

Rounded splits for the 10k were as follows (as per the km markers, the GPS always battles normally at Lane Cove, let along with fog and damp tree cover):
3:38
3:45
3:49
3:47
4:01
3:38
3:43
3:38
3:38
3:24

Note due to rounding the splits add up to 37:01, not 37:06 as the watch indicated at the end.

Thought the first km was a bit hot and got out of the throttle a bit before the climb to Sribblys. Was solid on the climb up - has anyone noticed that Scribblys is actually two hills, with a bit of a flat section in the middle? - and made a point of really attacking the downhills. Carried that to the start of the climb and was sensible through there, although I was feeling it a bit towards the top. Brain mentioned that since that was the last significant climb that maybe that was a good thing. Made a point of shifting from the hammies and glutes to the quads just before the turnaround, and was able to really hammer from there.

I got sucked into a battle over much of the last half of the race with Coaster and I think this dragged a lot more speed out of me. He finally yielded with about 400 to go and I set my sights on Andrew T, who we'd been edging closer to since about the 7km mark. I drew alongside him on the right (which on reflection was a mistake - I should have gone up the left and suprised him) just before the left turn to the weir, and he took the inside line and was able to hold me off.

5k splits were 19:00 and 18:01, with the last 3km covered in 10:40.

I was confident during the week that I could comfortably slip under 38, and with the McMillan Calc suggesting 37:02 based on the 5k challenge time from last week (which I thought was optimistic, I thought 37:30 would be a good result. I picked MPHaz's 37:37 as a mark, just as he was around this ballpark when he did his 5 and 10k PBs, and it seemed a good target. Guess McMillans was right.

The ol' easy Friday

Rolled out of bed at about 5:40am and hit the road about 10 minutes later for Friday's easy 30 minutes. Took a little time to find a rhythm, feeling last night's effort a bit in the upper legs and hips.

Pretty fresh morning - I need more long sleeve tops.

Felt pretty good after the turnaround a bit past 3km and rolled home for 6.33k in 30:21. Legs were a bit dead climbing hills, but otherwise solid.

Something new for Thursday

Emjoyed a glorious 8 hour sleep - having made the decision to train at Centennial Park with Sean William's group, we made the call to set the alarm for 6:20aam. Ahhh.

Did feel a bit odd having not trained in the morning, though. Funny how habits form.

Got to Centennial Park ) at about 5:30 - wasn't expecting the drive from St Leonards to take less than 20 minutes - got changed and pottered around trying to pick where the group was going to meet. For the record, they meet on the little hill at the back of the netball courts.

There were a few Striders there - Keith Bateman, Mohammed and Martin Matthews. Went for a 4km warm-up in around 20 mins whilst the course was set up (basically a 1km loop around the park between Robertson Rd and the busway) and chatted to a very pleasant fellow named Ali. He was eastern European, and ran a 2:18 back in the early '80s. Looking at him, I had no reason to doubt this.

We did some stride drills, which were deeply humiliating. If you've ever battled with the dance bit of aerobics, I guarantee you'll hate this bit. Still, I'm sure it's doing good - I've never actually done any specific technique training, and Sean was helpful without poking fun. We then did some hard sprints, 4 or 5, and then down to business.

Basically, it was more of a formal fartlek session. From the start point, it was basically 5 laps of a 1k loop which started out easy at the netball courts as described above, turned right, and then left for the short hard section near Anzac Parade (probably 250-300 metres), left near the change rooms there for a short easy section, then left again parallel to Robertson Road for the long hard section of probably 400-450 metres to the softball diamond, and left for the easy section, and left again to the finish. It's all on grass.

Sean's comment was that the easy section should be floating, 'a little easier than your 5k pace'. I got sucked in and ran the first loop at 3:29, and it near killed me. I took the easy sections fairly easily (but still reasonably firmly) while belting the hard sections, but it was pretty well hanging on from about the 2km mark onwards. Good hard hit out - I reckon it's good to do the odd session where you're clinging on for dear life, just to reinforce how much it sucks to blow pacing. Managed 18:55 for the session, and it felt like 5k.

Jogged a 4k cool down with Lyn who I seem to run into at race meetings around the place - last saw her at the Australia Day races. We chatted about SW's training regimes and generally caught up.

A good session. I'll definitely be out there again. Good way to build more high speed gears, and it's always better to train with other people, especially the shorter distance runners at that session.

The mid-week long run returns

Easy week over, it's back to pounding the pavement to get to work on Wednesdays. Got out at 6:10am and took the usual route east along Victoria Road, over the Gladesville Bridge, through Drummoyne (hi Aunty Karin, and was that gazelle with you?) and Rozelle, over the Anzac Bridge in Pyrmont and the city, over the Harbour Bridge and up through North Sydney and the Pacific Highway to St Leonards. Had to loop around for 4 minutes or so to make up the time. It was a little milder this morning, and I could have probably gotten away with running in a T-Shirt rather than a long sleeve top.

Felt a little stiff in the quads initially but speed seemed to come fairly easily after two km and I knocked over 18.7km in 1h30m02s. Lost some pace in the climb from North Sydney to Crows Nest, but overall a pretty solid run.