Weekend Wrap Up

Saturday – 2 x 6k Woollahra Hill Loops.

Hit the park and decided on my regular 6k loops and wanted to push the pace a little today and worked on how I was feeling instead of looking constantly at the watch. Felt OK and was surprised when I came through the first one in 25.44 at 4.17s. Then tried to lift on the 2^nd loop but this time kept an eye on the clock, started to feel the pace around 9ks and struggled going up the hill around 10.5 but came over the top to finish off strong to register 24.54 at 4.08 per/k

All up 12ks =  50.38 average pace 4.12s – Happy with that

Afternoon it was down to Miranda for the State 4k relays , but really who gave two hoots about that . this was more about ‘Scone Day’ care of Lady Laura’s mother Lynn who kindly baked up a batch of the finest to go around.  Top notch I must say and they went down a treat and I’ve not seen a bigger bunch of Vultures hanging around in order to sample. Tommy H must have been good for 5 and even the normally mild and placid Tony ‘Fats’ Fattorini was like a man possessed as he wolfed down a further half dozen.

Highlights were,

 1. Getting Tom Highnam’s kids all lined up scoffing scones whilst he was struggling running up the uphill section and ‘young Charlie’ shouting out’ C’mon Dad, no scones left by the time you are finished

2. Tommy on his 5^th and forgetting that he even had his kids and seeing one old bloke carrying his youngest and asking if she was his child seen roaming all over the oval?

3. Toms kids all agreeing that Phil’ The Sculpture’ Dove looked YOUNGER then Tom , and then eldest daughter seen asking again ‘’Is that man REALLY older then you daddy?  

**** Phil Dove is 47 by the way ***  - Honest

Sunday – Long Run 24ks total.

Good turnout to start at 6.15am with Lady Laura bringing Olympic Royalty to join us in the likes of Eloise Wellings before she jets off for the Comm. Games in Scotland in July, Joined by Laura, Barts, Razor, Corky O’Conner, Enda, Birchy, Elle, Jeet, Brendan and Renee for the first 6ks done in 27.28. Then set about the first 10k loop that was kept pretty honest as well coming in on the 45 minute mark (4.30s)  A quick regroup and check what everyone was going to do for the next 10k pace wise and we are off again – With Enda and Razor setting the pace at 3.45s I settled into roughly 3.55 pace , knew I’d be doing well to hold that but thought I’d give it a go all the same. Got to the 5k turnaround point before the GPS packed up for the day and it wasn’t too long that I was to follow suit, pretty much held on for a further 2ks (7k mark ) and when It came to re-entering the park for the final 3ks I was gonski and cut short returning to the café to make it a 8k loop instead of the planned 10k

Not what I had intended in truth but perhaps I went too hard on yesterdays set ? Still a good 24ks done for the day with 16 at roughly 4.30 pace and another 7ks at 4 min/ks

A good solid session all around mind and the girls and guys all seem to be finding a bit of form , great news with the upcoming Tassie and Gold Coast trips not too far away.

Saw PLOD go by at one point – I gave out some encouragement but didn’t get any answer and he looked like he was in the ‘Hurt Box’ , think he needs to find something if he is to take out my PB in the Gold Coast over the Half in 5 weeks time.

Managed to get ONE bet on from this morning’s run – got $20 with Irishman Evan on the Half in the G.C – I have 90 second start . Will have to run well as he run a 82 dead at Sydney two weeks back…..could be a good bet this one ;)

Also bad news from yesterday on the bikes with both Renee taking a fall as well as Paulie ‘Cement’ Hanley, Paulie broke his collar bone I’ve heard, BUT it will take more than that to stop Renee from joining us for the Sunday run this morning. Someone best tell Hanley to toughen up ?

Take it easy out there guys – especially when it’s been raining.

Rest day tomorrow (from running ) and will head out for a swim at lunch

Time for Sunday arvo beers 

Tom with Kids and the 'Younger' looking Phil The Sculpture' Dove in the background.

Fats coming back for 2nds..... or was it 3rds? or even a 4th helping ???

Oh Yes, there was some running going on - Tom battles the hill section of the course.

Whilst Laura looked liked she was enjoying far too much.

...and after missing out last year, Fats was determined to get home faster this time around

Well done guys

Cheers

P.A.P 1k Swim Time Trial - 17.29

Sledging, Banter, Shenanigans and getting beat up ....... no it’s not a continuation of the Churchill /Sands Cup but what has become the norm for the monthly swim time trial at the pool.
Smaller crew today with only 9 on the starting blocks that included Coach Walker, Angus, Cialis, QLDer Dave, Todd, Brendan, The Champ, MrAce and myself.
The Champ was first away and I was forced to give him 11 seconds start after my win last month at the A.B.C Pool, Worked hard to catch him within the first 300m and then overtook and tried to sit with what I thought was Todd's feet - didn't get anywhere near as it was Coach Walker who flew past (and wasn't to be the first time) Then had to contend with MrAce and Brendan sitting on my feet for the next 400m as I did all the work. I knew I was battling to hang on as any resemblance of form went out the window BUT still no one had come past me so maybe the 'DREAM' of another Duck was on the cards. Just about to turn at the 900m mark and then.....BANG, lights out, got a kick in the bonce from Pete Walker as he was in full tumble turn mode that left me seeing stars and no idea where I was. Still battled on for the final 100m (as you'd expect) but I knew my day was over.
A good finish was on the cards though all the same as Pete Walker went toe to toe with dual duck winner Angus and on this occasion the Coach got over the line by the merest of margins .....1 Second
*** An official protest was lodged immediately for rough tactics………..But was dismissed (By Walker himself) ***
Congrats to Pete Walker and great to see him get on the honours board
Times were .
Pete   14.20
Angus  15.51
Todd     16.29
Cialis   17.18
MrAce 17.25
Timmy  17.29
Brendan 17.37
QLDer Dave 17.40
The Champ   18.00


Next T/T is on the Friday 27th June


tomorrow I will be out in the morning for an easy 12ks , then heading down to the Shire to watch the State relays over 4ks .........or more importantly to go and eat the BEST scones in the business, care of Laura's mother. that is if she is still talking to us after The Chairman's foul mouth rant. It’s outrageous and I think I may need to take some soap down with me to wash his 'Potty Mouth' out ..........Shameful

May Duck Winner - Pete 'Coach' Walker - happy to finally get a win after 12 months of trying
Congrats Pete, well deserved

Cheers

HuRTS 8 x 800s at Rushcutters

With a kids carnival happening on Rushcutters Oval I had to mark out a double 400m metre course for the guys nearby for the 8 x 800s that was on the cards for a Thursday.

Decent size with C.T, Tom, Crossy, Angus, Mikey, girls Laura & Renee and good to see former #1 Barts and birthday boy (AND current #1) Tucks back in the fold. We split into 2 groups again today and I managed to sneak into the faster 1^st group with Tom. C.T , Dom and the huffing and puffing Barts leading from the front. It’s a bloody tough session this one and I went out way to hard (then spent the rest of the set regretting it) to come home in 2.34 Held onto the back of Dom for the next two with the times drifting slightly. Really struggled on reps 4,5 & 6 as too was Barts who I thought was going to have a heart attack at one point as he sounded like hard working Macca with his breathing.

Didn’t think I was actually going to complete the session at one stage, and on the 5^th rep I thought about doing only a 400, on the 6^th I even contemplated on it being my final one. But in the end I dropped back a group to join Mikey, Angus and Laura and somehow found a lift that got me over the line and saw me do all 8.

Times were. 2.34, 2.37, 2.38, 2.40, 2.40, 2.42, 2.39, 2.38

Stuffed at the end and happy to get through that one, the front runners were moving well – Tom in particular was doing them in around 2.20s (?), with C.T not far behind, Barts has some work to do if he’s to get close to C.T in the Gold Coast, whilst Tucks was just cruising and even helped me out on the last rep. Mikey and Laura were consistent coming in on each around 2.40s

Rest day today (Friday) although I do have the Golden Duck 1k Swim time trial to defend, which could be a tough ask.

Will be back in the park for an easy 12ks tomorrow morning.

Photo of course courtesy of Angus Boyd - Tough course coming back to the start line each lap with a slight climb.
Mikey reckons it would add on about 3 seconds to the normal oval times???

Ok, Its not exactly international standard - but its not a bad makeshift course for the HuRTS 800s
Thanks to Angus for the download.

Cheers

Easy Midweek Session

Pretty easy 12.6ks in total after bumping into C.T at the start for good chat whilst we covered the first 5ks, before running into Hardman J.C and Enda. It was then a 10 minute stand around whilst the boys dished up their normal TRASH  talk whilst everyone tried to jump on the bandwagon and shaft poor C.T in bets for the Gold Coast.

Detoured out from the park at this stage and joined the two boys run into the City before upping the pace coming back past the SCG and Footy stadium to return to the park

12.6 all up average pace 4.29s

Four bets were made this morning ; for the record

1.       C.T at the Gold Coast with 9 minute buffer for drinks during the afternoon in the Surf Club.

2.        With Paul ‘Cement’ Hanley $20 he says England WON’T get out the group stages in the World Cup from Brazil

3.       Enda $20 – Head to Head in the World Cup Tipping Contest starting in a fortnight

4.       Hardman J.C  Double/Nothing on $20  – Head to Head in the next 10k Race (I took the first one in the Half )

In all the excitement from last week’s Half I forget to mention Enda’s latest victory whilst out at the Charity night last Friday week. I think he has found his calling in life when he took out the Big Heads/Tails contest. Again there was talk of rorting the system and rumour going around that a double sided Tail’ coin was used with his good mate Kanser also in the loop. The lengths he will go to ……..Shameful.

Stand by for some exciting NEWS re a HuRTS competition set up specifically for the City to Surf – without giving too much away it will be based on a TEAM event that everyone has a chance of winning.

Enda claiming his first major win in 37 years - taking out the big Heads/Tails contest over Chairman Tommy H and Irishman Conor


Rushcutters 8 x 800s tomorrow

Cheers

May 5k Time Trial Centennial Park

Decided once more to stay in the park early today and caught up with Sharonne and Vlad the Destroyer who was also in town for our May 5k time trial. Still wasn’t feeling 100% after the weekends efforts but knew I had to get it done so prepared myself for a tough 18+ minutes of pain that lay ahead.

A 4k warm up and I was into it, As always  pretty fast first k as I went through in 3.26, and then saw 7.01 for the 2ks. Started to struggle coming into 3ks up the hill as the pace dropped and was just keen to try to hold and limit the damage to see out the 5ks. Still not great as I lost up to 15 seconds per/k over the second half and it’s something that really needs to be sorted (and that’s only over 5ks)

Time was 18.15 average pace 3.39

4ks warm down to bring up 13 for the day

Although not fantastic, still think I could go sub 18 if I was in a race – might try out that Curl Curl one the boys get out to one Saturday morning ?

Will go longer in the morning and back up for the HuRTS 800s on Thursday down at Rushcutters

Cheers

Monday Swim

Yet another beautiful day to start another week , and I wasn’t the best after a heavy weekend celebrating Ronan’s 40^th and then backing up yesterday for the ‘Wobbly Head Premier league footy tipping presentation. So I figured that a swim would at least be good to help clear the head.

Small crew today with only , Walker, Super Kev, Angus, Kenny, The Champ and I to start, just sat in last for the first 400m before pushing myself up to sit on Super Kev’s feet for the first of 5 x 200s, Came home in a quick fire(for me anyway) 3.10 and decided to have a long break for the 2^nd rep, repeated the same on the 3^rd & 5^th once more sitting the even one out.

Mr. Ace and Eloquent Julia made late appearances and then we paired up for the final 400m relay with each person doing a 200m hit out, After his lackluster effort last week I dumped ‘Kenny’ in favour of Super Kev thinking that it may have been strong enough to get over Coach Walker and Julia? Unfortunately Kevs Irish heart came out to play and failed miserably as Julia actually beat him over the first 100mtrs

Relay results

1^st Walker /Julia

2^nd Mr. Ace / Kenny

3^rd Lindop / Not so Super Kev

4^th Angus / The Champ

Buggered at the end but felt loads better then when I at least jumped in the pool some 40 minutes earlier.

I posted a photo of a young HuRTS member the other day……..Had NO takers on who it could have been, although I did have one person come up to me at Ronan’s on Saturday evening and asked me if it was ‘Wee Jimmy Krankie’ ? (you may need to be English to know that one) J

Speed work in the morning and I think it’s the tough 5ks T/T  - Ouch

Cheers

Grecian 2000

Easy morning but only managed to knock out just over 10ks and run with Sharonne and Neil Pearson who is back after running 3 marathons in 13 days recently

Nothing too exciting although it was a glorious morning around the park, hard to think that we are only a week away from winter.

Out tonight for a few scoops to celebrate Ronan turning the Big 4 Zero – so no running in the morning and will have to try to get out Monday, having said that I am hosting a football presentation on Sunday so that may be in the balance as well.

Ronan all set to celebrate his 40th Birthday Bash tonight after a special trip to visit his hairdresser.

Also , Just in to the TRASH latest 'Who Am I ' photo - from younger years. Free schooner to the first correct answer?

Guess Who ?? I think we are looking at the guy on the left (in the lovely Xmas sweater)..... tough one this.

Cheers