Back at the Prince Alfred Pool (PAP)

Right on cue as the A.B.C Pool closes for the winter break, and we headed to the Prince Alfred Pool for the next 3 months it pours with rain. Heavy winds and a top of only 17 degrees made it a tough decision to make it and in turn there was only a small team out with the likes of Walker, Crossy , Champ and Liam from the team.

A mix of 400, 300, 200 and 100s was the go and I just tried to sit on Crossy Lads feet for as long as I could.  Saw a 4.48 on one of the 300s and 3.05 & 3.08 for the 200s that was as good as it got although was still happy to finish with some strong 100s for the day.

Tougher pool to swim in then the A.B.C with less buoyancy.

So tomorrow is the State 10k – not in bad shape and once again I’ve done the required training (even put some tempo’s in over the last 4 weeks)  so hopefully I can put a half decent time on the board. Will be disappointed if I can’t break 37 mins and secretly looking at 36.40. If I can run that it will mean Chairman Tommy H has to break 32 to take the $$$$$$$.

As the fair blokes we are, I’ve agreed to cancel that bet with Tom re; beating Laura, as its only fair as she is on official pacing duties so we will hold that one over till next month.

All other bets to stand, Taffy has pulled a heart muscle and will NOT front (tell he’s moved to the N.O.T.B) , and rumor has it that Old Stankard has a COLD and may also be a NON starter.

Big weekend of the footy front – Stoke travel to Sheep Country and take on Swansea, tough game with nothing really for the two teams to play for.

Timmy’s tip Swansea 1 v Stoke 1

Have a great weekend

Train Well and stay safe.

Cheers

Good luck to all running in the morning at Homebush and best of luck to all the HuRTS team up at Port Macquarie for the full Ironman on Sunday.

HuRTS 8 x 5 min efforts (90 sec rec)

Huge turnout once again and all the top guys were back on show including Tucks who it seems is getting back to some regular training with us (he must want that #1 crown back?) Even better though to see Mikey back with us after a forced layoff with injury over the past 2-3 months, and it didn’t take him long before he was giving out to poor Fats about delaying the start then 6 minutes later when Charlie was causing problems with the recovery times – calling only 60 seconds instead of the 90.

The biggest concern of the day was the NO SHOW once more from the Chairman Tommy H, Not sure if the sessions are getting too hard for him whilst on his new training regime but the top guys are well happy he’s taking the easy option on his training and will be keen to make him question his decision come Saturday at Homebush.

Front group of about 8 were well ahead on the first rep but I found myself in good company alongside the likes of Angus, Todd, Asian Dave, Russell ‘Chopstick’ with Jeet just behind as I got close to Mrs. Macs Chair for 1.4ks averaging 1.36 per/k. Held on the tougher return to get back with about 5 seconds up my sleeve.

3^rd rep was slightly further , although I wasn’t keen to go much further down the hill as I didn’t want to start the next one coming back up. Once again managed to hit the Stone Gates with about 2 seconds remaining.

5^th and 6^th reps were a carbon copy, with the returns starting to get more and more difficult, especially on trying to pass the team running on the road with the busy  traffic also trying to come by.

Seem to lose a lot of the team after 6 reps , with many calling it a day, but I was determined to see the session out and just hung on to the back of Todd for the 7^th and had enough to get back right on the 5 minutes for the last of the day.

Worked hard and happy to get that one out the way, averaged around the 3.36 per/k for all – and I’ll be stoked if I can get anywhere near that come Saturdays run at Homebush. Angus is running well and I managed to stay close to him and talking to Jeet after and he says he wants to run 36.00 on Saturday, so I will try to keep him within sight.

A few of the HuRTS girls must have taken my comments on board last week as #1 Renee was back , as was Sonya, Corky and even saw Lisa doing her own session flying around the Domain

Today’s session.

1.       1.4k  average 3.36s  Ave H/R 127 Max 157

2.       1.4k                                 Ave H/R 154 Max 170

3.       1.4k                                 Ave H/R 139 Max 167

4.       1.4k                                 Ave H/R 153 Max 162

5.       1.4k                                 Ave H/R 160 Max 165

6.       1.36k                               Ave H/R 1.37 Max 146

7.       1.4k                                Ave H/R 160 Max 170

8.       1.4ks                              Ave H/R 173 Max 176

Confirmed bets for this week are:

Tom Highnam $20 with me getting a 4min.40 handicap start

Tom Highnam $20 he’s backed Laura off scratch

Dave Kane $20 with me getting a 35 seconds handicap start

Leech $20 with me getting 90 seconds handicap start

Still TBC – Taffy James – happy to give him 35 seconds (there wasn’t much in it at Canberra ?)

NO BET – Enda Stankard – Was willing to drop the ban and offered him at first 1.55, then I reluctantly suggested  a 1.40 start but he still “Dilly Dallied’ around so the offer was withdrawn – Can’t believe he didn’t snap my hand off at 1.40 ????

Will rest up and go easy for the remainder of the week and hope we can finally go sub 37 come Saturday

Cheers

Golden Duck April Swim T/T - 17.05

Final swim T/T of the season down at the A.B .C Pool before it closes for the winter and on a glorious autumns day there were all sort of shenanigans going on.

A small but elite team on offer with the likes of Coach Walker, the talented Travis and the fastest HurTS swimmer Smolley all lining up to take out the little Yellow Duck.  Liam was first to start the clock and I was to go at the same time as Champ……. Well, what was to follow took some beating, Not since Enda sat on my shoulder doing bugger all for 18ks in the Half Marathon 3 years back or Enda’s performance at the Curl Curl Park run (with Tom) has there been such blatant unsportsmanlike,  & ‘Not in the Spirit’ behavior  been seen in HuRTS history.

Basically just sat on my feet for 900m making me do all the work,  shocking performance , and he should be embarrassed with himself, in fact I’m embarrassed for him

Worked well for the first 500m checking my time around 8.25, meaning if I could hold it would bring me home in a respectable 16.50, Saw Crossy Lad and The Leech each time making ground up with every 100m but figured I still had them covered, although had no idea where the faster guys were in comparison?

With 100m left I was turning at the same time as the ‘Cossack Dancer Smolley himself and knew it was all over, as Pete and Travis were doing the same. With tired arms I touched out in a time of 17.05, slower than normal but I think everyone was down a little today apart from the eventual winner himself Smolley who smoked it with a stunning 12.35 (approx 1.15 for each 100m)

Congrats to Smolley , and good to see him actually putting in a bit of effort in a session as he normally just cruises everyone I’ve ever seen him do.

Times for the day were .

	March	April
	Result	Target Time 1000m	Start time	1000m TT Result
Liam		20:00	0:00	19:40
Sonya		19:58	0:02
Laura		19:41	0:18
Norman		19:20	0:40
Craig		18:40	1:20
Dan		18:30	1:30	18:00
Mike G		18:20	1:40
Mike D		17:53	2:06
Kirk		17:30	2:30
Paul	17:22	17:20	2:39
Mike R		17:19	2:40
Brendan	17:05	17:07	2:53	16:16
James M		17:01	2:58	18:38
Tim L	16:51	16:56	3:04	17:05
Champ	17:14	16:55	3:04	17:01
Christian	16:51	16:53	3:06
Mike C	16:59	16:52	3:07
Karim		16:52	3:08
Alejandro	16:39	16:22	3:38
Eoin	15:55	15:58	4:01	16:30
Angus	15:20	15:58	4:02	15.42
Kevin		15:46	4:14
Andrew C	15:48	15:42	4:17
Sam		15:38	4:22
Charlie	15:34	15:34	4:26
Todd	15:29	15:21	4:38
James E		14:54	5:05
Derek		14:45	5:15
Peter	14:38	14:26	5:34	14:28
Travis		14:15	5:45	14:23
J.C		14:11	5:49
Dave C		13:45	6:15
Emma I		13:40	6:20
Elan		13:08	6:51
Smolly	12:55	12:55	7:05	12:35

A big weekend coming up – Anzac Day tomorrow so will be out to honor the Old Diggers with a bit of Two Up, always a good day and I suspect it will be a long day so I won’t be running on Sunday this week

Also Sunday evening is the running of the London Marathon where we have good friends Slim Sammy Agnew and Dave ‘Kanser’ Kane both running. A HuRTs night has been planned so that could turn into another big social event.

In the footy, Stoke play at home for a second straight week, this time against the Maccams of Sunderland, they are pretty ordinary at the moment so all 3 points should be in the bag with this one.

Timmy’s Tip – Stoke 2 vs. Sunderland 0

Smolley after taking out the April 'Golden Duck' Swim time trial handicap - in a time of 12.35

with Mr 'MC Hammer' himself Andy 'Crossy Lad' Cross who i managed t to take $20 from thanks to a mere 2 seconds at Kurnell last Sunday,  A more honest bloke you wont find :)


Have a great weekend
Train well , stay safe
Cheers