More Miles and Bending Over Backwards

Out with clients for the first 8ks this morning on there tempo session in the pouring rain that saw me running anywhere between 4.15ks through to 5.20s before going on for a further 8ks at a more even pace to record 16ks for the day. Nothing special but was keen to back up after last nights time trial so was pleased to get that out the way on a shocker of a  morning.
It was then back to the 90 minute yoga session that really stuffs me, there are a one or two moves that are nearly impossible and in fact make me go all light headed and in need of the lateral horizontal position for a good 5 minutes – its pathetic really but I’m sure its doing me good.
After I did my core workout on the Monday I was struggling even to walk yesterday as my abs were so sore,

Will be back out tomorrow with the boys for the best and original session that is the 1.2k reps although Mikey has once again changed the starting position so that it’s now even HARDER, with a nasty hill on the final 200 metres of the 1^st, 3^rd and 5^th rep.

Cheers

Enda on his way to last nights 5k time trial

E.S. Marks 5k time Trial - 18.23

Down to E.S. Marks Oval for the 3^rd time trial that coach Angry Boy Clyde has been putting on and is slowly growing that saw HuRTS boys Bartles, C.T, Kroney, and the Sweaty Sock (Craig) also join Enda, Tom and I on a perfect night for running.

A good warm up before we were all set, was feeling pretty good after a solid 3 weeks training and was looking to run sub 18 minutes for the 12.5 laps. Tucked in behind Enda for the first couple of laps with the front 3 already off in the distance, settled what I thought was a good pace and just tried to keep it as even as I could.  Heard Clyde call out 7.04 as I completed 2ks and thought if I could hold that pace I was on for sure to break the 18 minute barrier that I had set myself.

Never felt as if the pace dropped off any like it did for the 2^nd time trial a month ago but was more then surprised when I crossed the line to look and see a time of 18.23 on the watch – Pretty disappointing to be honest, not so much in the run but the fact I was relying TOO much on the GPS. On the previous T/Ts I’ve checked my watch for every lap but for this one I was just working on every k and apart from the 4^th it was showing I was running sub 3.30s (that meant a 17.30 would have been run?)

Anyway my point is that as much as I like the Garmin’s you should never rely on them 100% (especially on the track), I should have known better and been more experienced but we live and learn. My Kay splits what were showing were; 3.16, 3.28, 3.27, 3.36, 3.27

Note to Mikey – never trust the Garmin as mine was showing I run 5.32k for last night and I’m pretty sure I never ventured out of lane 1 at any stage L

Some great runs by the front runners, with Bart’s keeping his fine form up leading Tom and C.T home, Enda like he does at training struggles to count past 10 once he runs out of fingers, (stopping on the finish line with Tom on 11.5)  but still finished with a time of 17 minutes.

Talking Enda – I am hereby announcing that I will NO longer be offering any more bets to our little Irish friend after I offered him more then a fair bet before the off last night that he would not accept. With me looking to break 18 minutes and Enda to run under 17 I thought 60 seconds would be close to the mark. Unfortunately he didn’t have the b@ll$ or the confidence in his own ability and in the end it cost him as he smashed me by over 83 seconds.

So as it stands I only have 2 bets running “Live’ and that is with J-Fen (12 minutes) and C.T whilst we are in Berlin.  Need to have a have a word with the Chairman as we normally get pretty close on our wages with either one of us taking out the winnings by the smallest of margins.

Results from last nights time trial - pretty sure i never got out of lane 1 at any time.
Mikey- can you give Steve 'Action' Jackson a call to get down there to re measure the track? :)

Cheers

Sunday Long - 30ks on City to Surf Course

A repeat run from 4 weeks back that i did with the Chairman Tommy H and Dicky Green that was a 6k loop around the park before heading down Ocean Street onto the City to Surf course up to the top of Dover Heights and back.
Had lined up Enda and Kanser for this one and was surprised when "Allo Allo" Man and Berlin partner Reno joined us from the start. Pretty much on from the start between the two Irish lads as poor Reno and i couldn't get a word in edge ways as they just bagged each other out for about 27 minutes.  Kanser then decided he wanted to stay in the park citing he couldn't (and wasn't strong enough)  to do the hills, but we had a late replacement when Hardman J.C joined us.
First loop (6ks) done at 27.44 in 4.36 pace, then held the next 10.2ks up Heartbreak and Watson's Bay at similar pace in 46.54. A quick drinks recovery at the top before the easier return saw the average pace come down slightly but i had my tough 5 minutes once i reached back at Edgecliff and really laboured back up Ocean St to re enter the park. This brought up about 26.2ks for the day and i thought 2 more ks would see me right but once i got back on the flat loop i felt fine so continued to do the full loop at 4.28 pace to bring up the first 30k run i have managed to knock out for a long time.
30ks done in 2.17 average 4.34
Happy with that and apart from the 5 minute slump i felt pretty good so hopefully the fitness and strength in the legs is starting to pay off.
Apologies must go to poor Reno who had to be subjected to 2 hours of pain from Enda, so much so that despite saying nothing all morning - could not hold back any longer whilst coming down Heartbreak when he came out with the classic " Enda, I've done many a long run with you but today you have hit a NEW all time low with excuses and whining, and was lower then a snakes belly"
I think that may be the last we see of Reno until Berlin at least,
Even old mate J.C went home post run and searched the website to donate for Enda as he felt so sorry for him after listening to his sob stories.
Good week of training again for the 3rd week running now, with 45ks over the weekend and i tipped over 100ks for the week since Tuesday's hill session. Need another 5-6 of these and hopefully i will be on the right road and in the process stay within those 8 minutes Enda agreed on once more today.

Once finished i jumped in the motor all keen for my cuppa and bit of smoko around the 'House of Kane's' but was disappointed when i received a text  to say "No Breaky Today' as it was family time out at Homebush..... Charming, I'll have to have word with the 'Good Wife' on that one :)

The Sunday arvo beers went down a treat though and i felt i earned every one of them after the week of hard work.

Monday. No swim today as spent the morning with Ant my strength and conditioning guy over at Bondi, bloody torture in truth and can't believe how hard some of those exercisers are.
Will be back out tomorrow although wont be training with the HuRTS boys as its Angry Boy's 5k time trial that i have been invited to for the 3rd time. 18.19 last month and 18.53 the previous one so will be been to hit as close to 18 minutes for this months.

Cheers

Pleasant Meander

Joined in with Saturday crew that was going long this morning after work and caught up with C.T & Greta, Laura (minus the Scones promised), Pommie Paul, Sweaty Craig, Mikey and a few others around Centennial Park.
Rather pleasant meander around the 10k loop chatting away as it felt oh so easy knocking out the first loop in 44.37 for the 10k, Started the second loop with the guys but broke off at the 3k mark as they left the park as i ever only intended doing another 5ks for 15 all up . Rolled around for the extra 5ks in 21.25 (4.17s) to finish up with 66.03 for the morning at 4.25 average.

Will be back out in the morning where i am going to try to hit between 28 -30ks, Have lined up Tweedledee and Tweedledum (Kanser & Stankard) to run with so at least the banter will be on to help pass the time away. Going to do the session i took the Chairman and Dicky Green out on a few weeks back on the City to Surf course when it was p!$$ing down so will be interesting to see how much better (if at all) i can get through it?

Cheers

Champ takes out the 'Golden Duck' ...Well Red Duck

Easy trot from the park this morning down to Bronte Beach and back up that included a few hills thrown in for good measure to round out 10ks to start the day.
Back to play 'Mr Bendy Man' for the 3rd session of the week at Yoga, still no easier and have to laugh when I'm asked to get my big left toe behind my right ear...Yeah right! Still i find am an expert when it comes to the relax position in between poses.
Down the the pool at lunch for the monthly 1k time trial (handicap)  that Pete has us all doing, With Angus taking out the first one last month he was very reluctant to hand back the prestigious 'Golden Duck' so Pete had to pull out the reserve 'Red Duck' to keep the competitors happy. The Big Gun and peoples favorite 'Mermaid' (Emma) was back to carve up the pool as was MrAce( but probably less carving and more in survival mode) after his 7 week holiday (mostly spent sitting on a plane).
With Enda still choosing to stay away it was Champ to start the clock and he was quick out the blocks, I had to start with Cialis and was happy to sit on his feet for the first 500. Thought he was a little slow but there was no way i could go around him and when i saw Champagne at the end of 700 in the next lane i switched and jumped on his feet for a lift home for the final 300 metres to stop the clock in 17.07 ( 8 seconds over my given handicap of 16.59)
Champ took out the Red Duck on handicap with a solid time of 17.50 overall, but the Mermaid had the fastest swim of the day with a blistering 13.45 and even smashed Pete Walker by nearly a minute :)
Overall Times for the Day were
Mermaid    13.45
Pete           14.40
Angus        15.43
Champagne 16.03
Todd         16.20
Timmy       17.07
"Capper"   17.15
Cialis        17.21
Champ     17.50
MrAce     19.47

Will be back out for a run in the morning before getting out for another long run on the Sunday.

Have a good weekend.
Cheers

Rushcutters 8 x 800s

Had to move from the regular Reg Bartley Oval at Rushcutters due to a kids carnival on, so moved to the other side of the park for the 8 x 800 session. Good crowd and good to have Enda and birthday boy C.T in attendance for the day and even better to see the return of Slim Sammy Agnew.
Got my collar felt by Mikey after the first rep and told to stay with him to form a group 2 whilst Tom, Barts, C.T, Kenny, Enda and few others were away in the faster first group. Felt pretty good for the first two leading the way around with sub 2.40 times but seemed to go backwards for a few reps after that - although in truth Mikey and the other lad picked the pace up to be running 2.36-2.37s. Had Lady Laura and Slim Sammy breathing down my neck all the way for reps 5,6 and 7 despite me managing to hold my times.
That Slim Sammy Agnew is unbelievable - even with no running for over 4 months he still has some good pace and it showed on the final rep where he went past me to finish with a 2.37 with me a second or two behind.
Mikey was back running strong as well, bar the first 2 reps was always 10 metres ahead of me for the remaining 6.
Great session this is (although i wasn't saying that half way through) - and was happy to hold 3.20 pace or under for the whole 8 and we all measured it slightly long (820m?). Times went:
2.39, 2.37, 2.40, 2.40, 2.40, 2.41, 2.40, 2.38
Had to feel sorry for the chairman at the end of the session as he had to contend with Enda's drivel  for the 8 reps and come the end was already coming out with excuses like, the grass was too long, too wet, too soft, it was too hot, windy, the dog run in his way and the coffee smell was putting him off from going faster.

Rest day tomorrow although swim mentor Walker has us down for the 1k time trial on handicap down at the pool for the 'Golden Duck' trophy that is up for grabs. Looks like I've been shafted once again on the handicap but I'll go along and give it my best shot.

Cheers

Woollahra Hill Reps & Med/Long Run.

Tuesday. With City to Surf less then 20 days away i thought it best to start my prep with some hill training so sought out the Woollarha Hill (700 metres) within Centennial for some repeats to try to gain some strength in the old legs.
Forgot how tough theses kind of sessions are and was blowing hard even after the first one, easy cruise down before trying to hold the 4 minute kay pace for the next. Saw C.T on the 3rd rep on his bike cycling away like Miss Daisy going up so tried to push past him. Managed to hold the last few despite feeling very heavy legged especially on the final 200m of each rep.
Times were:
2.50, 2.48, 2.45, 2.49, 2.50, 2.47
A warm up 3k flat loop and the same for a cool down for 15ks for the day.

Wednesday. Backed up with my Med/Long midweek run consisting of 2 x 10k loops in and around the park. Pretty quiet and saw nobody around as i settled for the first loop. Was moving OK working at 4.30 pace coming in on 44.59
Picked it up for the second even kicking it down further to 4.17s to finish off with 42.55
20ks done for the morning in 87.55 - ave pace 4.23s
Things are finally starting to look up and i have thankfully managed to get out of 1st gear at long last...... Berlin he we come :)
From the park it was back for more torture at the Yoga place, Gawd... i struggled again. 90 minutes of pain, Its nearly on a par with spending 90 minutes locked in an empty room listing to Kanser's injury woes.  Got that bad this morning i had to have a sit down on my mat for a minute of two as i went all faint a one point :), (think i was a little dehydrated after the 20k run first up)
Once more laboured my way through the class, but must say it does have its advantages as i peruse around the room to check out every ones form to see if i am doing it right.

Back out tomorrow for my new favorite training ground down at Rushcutters for the 8 x 800s with the boys.

Big news out of the Old Dart last night was the new arrival of our future KING, yes, a new heir to the British throne was born. I see some of our HuRTS boys have been less then complimentary about the arrival? Still, hardly surprising when any mention of the word Queen and they go running around singing 'Fat Bottomed Girls'... talk about culture!
Anyway the worlds press and paparazzi have been camped outside the hospital for 3 weeks waiting for THAT first photo, BUT we at the TRASH have trumped them all as we have the exclusive that the fans demand.
Check it Out -

The TRASH delivers first - William & Kate showing the new born off.
No Rumour that he will be named after HuRTS finest and Berlin Bound - Thomas Samuel Charles ( Highnam, Agnew and Dalziell)  :)

English Wannabe  Eoin 'The Leech' celebrates the new arrival whilst on his tour of London.

Cheers