Tuesday 8 x 5 minute efforts (90 secs rec)

8 x 5 minute efforts was the go and after a change of start location to the Stone Pillars we were all set to go with another massive crowd out for the first run back after the Easter break.

Only Barts leading from the top guys although I noticed Fats was putting in some effort today and was looking strong and young Hoey was good for a rep or two before he was spotted floating around for the remainder. I pretty much tucked in with Enda, Macca, Jeet and Frenchman Jerome for the first rep and was happy to cover 1.4ks averaging 3.36s for the 5 minutes. On the return its always harder and once that headwind hit you it seemed twice as hard and wasn’t helped when Warrior Charlie thought it a good idea upon coming over the expressway to tug my shirt for about 50 metres. Wasn’t happy as I was doing it tough without that and made my disappointment known (apologies if it did sound over the top).

Made it back with about 2 seconds to spare but was blowing hard. Reps 3, 4, 5 and 6 were very similar and was reaching the same point for each with Richie Large, Super Kev, Asian Dave and Hamish all keeping me company throughout.

Could have happily pulled the pin after 6 but headed out again for the 7^th and despite feeling every beer, 5 kilo of chocolate and about 100 Hot Cross Buns consumed over the past 4 days managed to hold the 3.37 pace that I was happy enough with.  Decided that would do me for the day and with Jerome just cruised the 8^th leg back to the starting point.

The two girls #1 Renee and Eastside Elle were looking strong – especially on the final rep, Good to see Taffy Lad back with us, Jeet continues to impress (and will most certainly clean me up next weekend), Not sure exactly what Kanser was doing ?  Seemed to be poncing around up and down easy but will need to put more effort in if he’s to cover those 2 minutes come Canberra.

Over 11ks done for the session and with a warm up & cool down 13 for the day.

 

Very busy in and around the Domain today, never seen so many Chinese tourists around, even Renaud was posing for photos in between sets at one stage and will be the talking point for many a dinner party once they return home. Meanwhile one group almost fell to the ground in fits of laughter as Crossy Lad flew by near the A.B.C Pool.

 

Cheers

Easter Sunday Long Run and a Day Trip to Manly

Big team out for the Easter Sunday run and I’ve said it before but it seems all the Irish lads are back with Enda, Super Kev, Leech and ‘Big Jim’ (who I’ve been calling Phil for about 4 weeks). Good to have Birchy & Renaud back and we even had a guest appearance from Kansers mate ‘Superflake’ Paul Brunning as we did an easy 6k to kick things off. Picked up Laura at 7am from the cafe as she also returned and then made the call to head out the park and sample some of the states finest beaches on a cracker of a morning.

First over to Coogee then around to Cloey through the cemetery and over to Bronte. It’s a long drag up the hill from Bronte but tucked in with Jeet and Enda and the 2ks passed in not time. The pace then quickens coming down past Queens Park before returning into the park and heading up the Woollahra hill. It’s a 14k loop once back at the cafe that brought the morning to 20 so decided to add another flat loop around the park as I picked the pace up running around the 4.10mark to end with 23.7ks in 1hr:50mins averaging 4.40s

Really enjoyable run with the team and good to get out the park for a change, tough run with plenty of hills and stairs that made it more challenging and also brought the average pace down a bit.  Made even more enjoyable with the post run coffee kindly supplied by Laura as we also dived into some kids chocolate eggs.

Post run coffee with Laura, Neil, Birchy, Jerome, Jim, Renaud, The Flake Timmy and Damo.

Guess Who, Think this lad needs some new runners. Clue
Very Talented, although maybe his National side not so in the Union, and I have promised him a new pair if he lines up for the English team in the Churchill Cup in May.

A planned trip over the ‘Dark Side’ NOTB in the afternoon with a good team that included the likes of Leech, Jeet, Birchy, Taffy, Neil and the ‘Love Doctors Vic’s & Craig as we settled in the Manly Wharf Bar for the day. Unfortunately we were all let down badly by certain people who were NO SHOWS despite actually organising it and getting us all over there in the first place. Very poor form I say, still it didn’t ruin our entertainment as the banter flew over a thousand beers in a packed out pub due to some famous English DJ spinning his decks,  as even more bets were taken. Jeet is confident and has given me 4 minutes for Canberra and Craig hit me up and I’ve got to give him the same in his favour.

 

And Jeet is getting more confident after taking out his 3rd win at Park Run in as many weeks, Then tries to fit in with the NOTB snobs over beers.

Sadly the same can not be said about Gleeso who was a NO SHOW.

And finally a sad week with the passing of one of the greatest footy players to grace the game in Johan Cruyff. Probably the best EVER European player the Dutchman was all class.
RIP Johan.

Rest day today but will be back into it tomorrow for the HuRTS 8 x 5 minute efforts in the City..

Happy Easter
Cheers

3 x 2ks Reps & Ironman Swim

‘I Am an Ironman’... Well I swum the equivalent of the swim leg anyway this morning. Bloody nearly killed me though and how anyone then gets out and rides 180 ks is beyond me and all I wanted to do was go the coffee house and then have a sleep.

Easy 1.5ks solo with warm up and drills even getting as far as banding the legs these days, No idea why but felt I was going the drown the whole time, what a nightmare that turned out to be. Then a 6 x 300m set was called that I broke down the best way I could, before some very easy 100s to make up the 3.8ks for the morning.

 

Temps very warm as I went into town as I snaked my way down  to the Passenger Terminal for 2ks to meet a big group out for one of the toughest sets – 3 x 2k reps.  Tough sets calls for the tough men so hardly surprising Macca was there leading from the front along with top 6ft man Mike Lichtwark. I was feeling very tired even before the off today and remarked ‘why don’t we just head to the pub and  be done with’ but finally got the show under way and went out hard for the first rep.  Wasn’t far behind the front guys in truth come the 2k marker as I crossed out in 6.49 (3.25 pace). The 2 minute recovery flew , and the front guys were certainly a lot further ahead for the return but I managed to tuck in alongside Razor Wareham and didn’t lose much time wise even if I was about to keel over.

For the last rep the front guys went off their own 2 mins, that then meant I was running solo, (with a few others just behind), Was struggling from the start and under the bridge at the 500m mark I pretty much exploded. ...... Kaput, absolutely buggered, and it took the famous Stoke Heart to even get to up to the finish line. Saw the watch tick over 7.41 but I really didn’t care by this point of time.  Looking around at the end it was evident that I wasn’t the only one in the ‘hurt box’ and once everyone had recovered we made our way back for an easy 2k.

Times. 6.49, 6.52, 7.41

Enjoyed a further few ks cool down with Enda as we headed back through the city as he told me about another of his China trips he has coming up, and then had a brief chat with Warrior Charlie and Jono who were returning from a trip to ‘ Pink Leaf’ (swimming)

15k all up and I was rooted once back at the car, One hell of a tough day all round. Will enjoy a rest day tomorrow now.

 

Big long weekend coming up , will try to get out for a few runs along the way. No Premiership games this week that will delight old mate Sammy Agnew and Tommy H. Internationals on and England have a trip to old foes Germany for a friendly.

Timmy’s Tip – Take the draw, Germany 1 v England 1

 

Have a great Easter.

Train well and stay safe

Cheers

 

 

Swim with Crossy Lad and Angus.

Easy 8ks with clients this morning was about as much as I could muster before putting out a call to Crossy Lad and Angus for a lunchtime swim seeing we will be missing Good Friday and Easter Monday.

Over to PAP and after a good warm up the boys called for 10 x 200m set that had me worried especially with the way they are both swimming. After coming home on the first one in 3.05 and still miles behind I knew that there was no way I could manage another 9 like that so decided to do every 2^nd 200m and in between do a steady 100m to get that much needed longer recovery.

Worked well as I then managed to hold the remaining 200s under 3 mins that is as fast as I’ve ever done although I did have help with my floaty pants and hand paddles to achieve it.

Fair play to the boys who were holding 2.54s (Crossy) and 2.58s (Angus) for the 10

2ks done in total

 

Will be back out tomorrow for the tough 3 x 2ks HuRTS lunchtime set, as well as the early morning swim set.

 

Cheers

 

45 mins Fartlek (3,2,1 efforts) x 5 (60 secs rec)

Big team again and despite rocking up on time Mikey was all set to bark out the orders and looked a little disappointed when I arrived. Noticed the full team of Irish boys back as we gear up for yet another year in competition for the Churchill Cup. Leech, Kanser, Super Kev, Macca, Enda and wannabe Jerome ‘Paddy’ Dupoy all starting to look sharp for the May showdown.

Session today was 3,2,1 minute efforts (with 60 second break after each) x 5 = 45 minutes

Set off pretty well for the first couple of reps (18 minutes ) despite running solo the whole way before Enda and The Leech caught me around the Quay area, tapped onto them for the 3^rd 9 minute set that took us past the Passenger Terminal and up Hickson Road and got as far as I have in a long time at the entrance to Barangaroo before the turn around point averaging a healthy 3.45 pace.

Sat on the two boys for the 4^th 3 minute effort but the band soon snapped around the Quay and once that happened I was gonski as the clock ticked over the 30 minute mark. With no one around I cut short across the Opera forecourt and once back into the Domain was keen just to see the last 10 minutes out.

Pace dropped loads for the return down to over 4 min/ks (4.03) as a strong looking Jeet finished off well and I crossed the line in 45.08 and that was even cutting short.

11.3ks all up, still work to be done. Happy to get to 30 minutes before the fade came so slowly getting there

Would like to get a few ks under the belt tomorrow, but feeling tired now so will see how I feel in the morning before deciding

 

 

Cheers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Going Down, Going Down, Going Down.....

A big change in the weather as it pelted down all morning. Seeing as I was already wet I thought I’d just stay and get the run out the way

Easy 10ks in total in 43.14 average pace 4.19s

Felt good

 

Will give myself the rest of the day off today, Might catch up on the Stoke victory, Palace loss, Villa defeat and Newcastle drawn games. The relegation 3 is starting to come to fruition, Ohhhhh Please make it so J

 

Cheers

Sunday Long as England Grand Slam.

Three straight social days meant that I was not really looking forward to the Sunday long run this morning but with missing the past two weeks I knew I had to get back with Canberra only 3 weeks away and with Kanser still gunning for me.

Big crowd out and great to have The Shire’s #1 Lady Laura back running with us, although her smile soon disappeared when she saw Enda running down the hill to join us. The pace for the first 6k loop was perhaps the slowest it’s been for a long time but that suited me as English lad Richie Large and I got stuck into our Irish compatriots over the 6 Nations Rugby.

The start of the 10k loop was pretty much the same until about half way when Rich, Enda and Jerome and I upped the pace that was quiet noticeable all the way back to the cafe.  16k down and Kanser agreed to knock out another of our 5k loops that brought up 21 for the morning that I was more than happy with considering the week I’ve had.

Just over 95 minutes all up averaging 4.37s

Splits were: 5.05, 4.47, 4.46, 4.47, 4.45, 4.47, 4.53, 4.44, 4.40, 4.45, 4.28, 4.27, 4.30, 4.19, 4.20, 4.29, 4.32, 4.27, 4.30, 4.29, 4.30

 

A good catch up with the gang after with coffee and didn’t miss the opportunity to check the England v France score that resulted in England winning the Grand Slam and in turn offer poor Jerome plenty of good banter.

The bets were starting to fire up with Canberra only a few weeks away, Already got a friendly $20 with Jeet where I’ve got 3.5 minutes handicap start (I’ll need 5 at least to stand a chance). Kanser is getting more confident each run and agreed to cover the 2 minutes on me for the same amount. Whilst C.T was trying to shaft me offering only + 7  minutes. Told him I’ll take 10 that saw him go very quiet.

 

Will try to get out for a run tomorrow and may head into town for the lunchtime easy session.

 

Cheers