400s and Tempo as NEW Nominations step forward.

Morning.

To the pool and after a decent warm up and plenty of drills (breathing) I’d done 1400m, In days gone by I’d be getting ready to jump out but I was called on for the set that included another 4 x 500m efforts trying to simulate my given race pace for Sunday.

Felt OK to start with but towards the end I was barely making it that meant little or  no recovery.

Ended with 3.4ks but couldn’t resist another 100m to round it up to 3.5 for the morning for what must be my longest swim ever.

The coffee and toasted banana bread tasted good after especially when the Stoke vs. Newcastle result came through. A nice double over the woeful Villa and Toon in the space of 4 days puts us up to the lofty position of 7^th in the premier table – happy days.

 

 

Lunch.

The grass cut and the smell of newly mown hay awaited the team for the lunchtime set but unfortunately Rushcutters Oval #1 was OUT for today and we were forced to nearby #2 for the double header of 7x 400 and 3k tempo set.

Big show on a hot day and nice to have the Chairman back, and was joined by ‘Special Q’, Little Tom, girls Eastside Elle & Jac, and heaven help us even Enda Stankard paid us a visit.

I was only ever going to do the 400s due to racing on the weekend so went out hard enough and pretty much sat with Tommy H (who was taking it easy) as I came through in 73 and was pretty consistent after that (as one would expect for a shorter session)

Coming on 73-74s but there was still a healthy 8 or so ahead of me for each rep.

Times were; 73, 73, 74, 74, 74, 74, 73 – approx 3.05 pace

 

Sat out and watched the boys go around for the second half, Tommy H was kicking down sub 3.15s and many of the others also run well.

Two early nominations for this year’s Awards (one self proclaimed) , The first goes to the original ‘Hardman’ (J.C) who was on all fours on completion of the 3k tempo hurling up and gets the ‘Gives it Everything’ selection.

Stankard meanwhile was already claiming the ‘ Big One’ – Performer of the Year for the mere fact that he completed the set after his recent career ending injuries (Glass Back). Now, if he could just promote himself to run in the first group with the faster guys it may someday carry some kudos – unbelievable.

Excellent session once again.

 

Easy day tomorrow, will head to the pool for a few easy laps to turn the arms over.

Cheers