X Country, Cakes and Crap Running best summed up the day for me as i ventured out to Rydlmere for the 7.5k Athletics meet running as part of the Striders team. Rolled up to find the #1 (Tom ) gone down with sickness so it was left to Tucks to gather the team. With Tucks, Tongue, Fats and Macca in attendance i knew early on that i pretty much wasn't needed but still thought i would give it a good hit out. Course was basically 3 x 2.5k loops that doubled back on itself 74 times and plenty of hills.On the first lap i just sat in with Macca (still recovering from his Marathon effort), I felt as if my legs were chopped off on the start of the 2nd loop as i knew Macca was struggling big time but i still could not go past him. I did even think i couldn't go on for the 3rd loop but hung in there as i dragged my sorry ar$e over the line in 28.43 (3.50 Pace) even had the misfortune of getting out kicked on the final 100mtres.... wouldn't mind so much but the guy in question must have been about 68 years old.
Felt terrible at the end, but the misery was soon over when i went over to speak to Mrs Tucks (Meinir) who filled me in with all her National Anthem Duties for the Welsh recently. Then things were about to get a whole lot better when Fats surprised us all when he brought out his best baking recipe with some superb cakes for us to woof down. Now i knew Tony liked to do some home brewing in his spare time, but now he tells me that Baking is another one of his favorite hobbies he has.
Well done Tony , very nice and much appreciated.
I was all set to jump in the car when i heard my name mentioned, and that despite some ordinary running i scooped up 2nd place in the age group, and even better the boys (Tucks, Tongue, Fats and Macca) won Gold in the over 35s.... Lovely Jubbly :)
Sunday, BRAT Duathlon 61.34 ..... 2nd AGAIN
After a quiet night in on Saturday evening i rolled up for the 3rd BRAT Duathlon for the Winter series feeling surprisingly fresh, and with no sign of Robbie Neil around i thought maybe today was the day i went one better then the 2nd places over the past 3 months. That was until "Team Sparks" brought his BIG GUN in .....POD (Paul O'Doherty) Ireland #1 Traithlon to ruin things. After seeing off his other lightweights in Krone, Samsy and Stankard previously, Shrink Sparks even came down with his boy today in search of victory, I knew he meant business when he had a new state of the art hat on and the sat in the middle of the track for 15 minutes meditating and sitting cross legged in silence.
Also there was Irishman Tony Cusack who is a good runner but offers little on the bike
Set off for the first 5ks and sat just in behind Tony with POD not far behind, came in off the first 5ks in 16.56** (3.32 pace) happy with that , but it wasn't long before POD cruised by and was last seen in the distance ahead. Very very windy on the bike today made for tough conditions and slower times and i was happy to jump off the bike in around 35 mins. With no one around me i tried to still keep the last 2.5ks honest and did a 8.39 (3.32 pace) last lap to stop the clock overall in 61.34 for 2nd YET again, with POD taking out first place breaking the hour.
Congrats to POD , good solid hit out from him and boy can this lad ride a bike, and his running is on the money as well and it will be an interesting battle between us come City to Surf time in 4 weeks.
Also had a good chat to Shrink Sparks (the team coach) - he's a good bloke, although he does have this terrible twitch every time i mentioned Enda's name, and tells me he's only just back at work after been forced to take two months off after having Enda on his books prior to the Melbourne Ironman recently.
Not sure if i am training tomorrow or taking a rest day, will see how i pull up in the morning, but will be out for the dreaded HuRTS 45 minute tempo on the Tuesday
** The 16.56 on the 5ks was because the course was short...The Irish stuffed it up again with POD going out and putting the cone some 40 odd metres short on the turnaround, meaning the 2.5 ks was 80 metres short and the 5ks some 160...... YET another Irish Balls up, he must have thought he was in a triathlon or that Dave Kane was in town and looking at running a PB :).
Cheers
No comments:
Post a Comment