Sunday.
Extra early start as I made my way to Enda’s house to drop
the car off before the uphill 5.5k slog to get back to the park to meet the team
for the 6.30am time. Smaller team than normal
to begin but the major talking point was that Kanser was already there and telling us to
hurry up. The first 6k loop now seemed even easier as I’d already knocked a few
ks out and I wasn’t about to miss letting the Irish boys (and girls) know of the
Six Nations Rugby overnight result against the French.( they lost 10-9)
Picked up a large crew back at the cafe at 7am that included
C.T, Jeet, and Jerome but no sign of regulars Hoey, Leech, or The Sweaty Sock
as we headed out for our 10k loop, Pace was
honest as wannabe SOTB girl Elle was back (looking more than happy ) leading
pretty much from the front as I chatted to Renaud for the 2nd
successive week back with us.
Kanser is never short on telling it how it is, and when talk
turned to my Striders run last week he was straight in with the abuse, Told him
it’s easy from the sidelines and his M.I.A didn’t carry much weight. On the front foot our Dublin kid went and came
out with the headline of the day “Plenty more Striders races this season to smash
you Timmy” and even got more confident by offering me a healthy 2 mins start
for the Canberra Half in April that I gratefully accepted .
Back into the park and up Woollahra Hill before leaving the
gang and departing back to Bondi with 20ks already ticked over, The last 5k is mainly
downhill but I was starting to feel tired and therefore happy to get back to
Enda’s house with just shy of 25ks done for the morning in 1hr58mins – pace wasn’t
that hot at 4.45s but it was perfect for what I needed.
Once back at the House of Stankards, Enda played the perfect
host (fair play to him) as he dished up some top notch rhubarb and vanilla jam,,
sadly the bread (toast) he left out for the birds for the past 5 days didn’t do
it justice, not helped by the fact he burnt the bloody thing. Just glad Hoey wasn’t in attendance. Redeemed
himself on the tea front with a top cuppa x2 and once full I was all set for
part 2 of the day – The Bondi 2k Swim.
A gentle walk down to
the beach on a stunner of a day and the swimming Gods were looking down on me
with perfect flat conditions, clear, warm and no sign of bluebottles. I stood on the beach thinking that the buoys
looked very far out and did wonder if I could actually make it, especially after
the 25k run earlier. Caught up with Kroney and Champ before the gun went as we made our way to the start line. Never in
my plan to swim hard but wanted to feel comfortable and try to enjoy it (something
I don’t normally do in these ocean races), hit the first 400 buoy feeling great
and turned for the long stretch to the furthest point. Still good at the next although I still don’t
like the Sh1tfight that goes on as you get around the cans. Just start to feel the arms tighten up
towards the end as I reach the sand and boy that last 30 metres up the sand
nearly killed me.
Happy to cross over in 35.46 that averaged out the equivalent
of swimming 1.46 per/100m
HuRTS boy Kroney took the gold with an impressive 31 minute
effort (aided by his Speed suit) and Champ took silver beating me by nearly a
minute with a 34.xx – well done to both.
Very tired once done, but felt I’d more than earned my Sunday
arvo beers and so it was an enjoyable afternoon/evening spent in Newtown,
knowing I’d be paying for it once the 5am alarm went off to begin another week.
Monday.
Certainly didn’t bounce out of bed as easy as I did last
Monday but I was determined to get that run done even it was to kill me. Knew
it was going to be hard so got the trusty iPod out again and found one of my favourite
American bands from the early 90s to help me out for the next 45 minutes or so.
Third Eye Blind was the band of choice as I made my way around the outer park
for a standard 10k.
Sweat was oozing out of me as early as the 3rd K
, but was managing a steady pace that I was more than happy with.
10.2ks done in 45.07 average pace 4.25s
Splits were: 4.36, 4.24, 4.26, 4.31, 4.19, 4.23, 4.21, 4.24,
4.25, 4.20, 4.24 (200m)
Caught up with The Mermaid Emma just as I was done and
enjoyed a chat with HuRTS fastest swimmer as she told me her great news about
baby #2 on the way.
Will be back out tomorrow for the tough HuRTS 8 x 5 minute
set
Cheers
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