Resuming Regular Service!!

A while since my last post and both a lot and not much happening....

Thursday

A solid run to/from the weir in humid conditions, legs felt reasonable after the Summer Series bashing the night before.

Saturday - Striders 10km Lane Cove

No real expectations but again a humid morning, noticeable during my easy warm up where I immediately started sweating. A huge turnout of over 300 and we set off. I had decided to go out hard (as usual) and held around 4 min/km pace really until the hill. Pressed pretty hard going up to try and keep pace but when I turned for the downhill I think the lungs/cardio had hit their limits. A struggle to keep the faster pace coming home with semi stitches occuring. Right in the last km both Professor and seagull went past as the legs were willing but I just could not go faster!

10km time of 41:55 (avg HR of 181!!)
Splits
1km 3:59 3:59
2km 3:59 7:58
3km 4:00 11:58
4km 4:12 16:10
5km 4:31 20:41
6km 4:10 24:51
7km 4:17 29:08
8km 4:21 33:29
9km 4:22 37:51
10km 4:04 41:55

Legs felt quite fresh afterwards so after the longer races I think there is a good base for speedwork to sharpen.

Sunday - Bobbin Head STaR

With 6 ft and Canberra looming another huge group at both 6am and 6:10! I reckon there would have been 20+ people at 6:10. A nice steady pace through the streets of Wahroonga to St Ives with a couple of nasty little pinches as we headed towards North Turramurra. The group was very much intact at the top of Bobbin Head and a nice cruise down the hill, the 6:20 guys catching us just near the bottom.

A quick regroup and then it was on up the hill. I was pretty happy with my form/strength up the hill, another quick regroup at the top. We had slimmed down the group a bit now, being about 8 now and stepped up the pace! For the next few km we were going sub 5 min/km and even hit one or 2 km at 4:30 pace. A bit fast but after 20km already I think it is ok to open up the legs/lungs as required. As we entered the sole piece of bush near Asquith I started to feel the pinch a little and the group fragmented at around the same time. Ground out the last couple of km and ran back to the start with Tim Austin

Stats
Distance 30.8km
Time 2:25:31
Avg pace 5:03 min/km
Avg HR 162

A very pleasing run in hindsight, about 8 minutes faster than the same course in the middle of last year in much cooler conditions but only at the start of my Sydney prep.

Monday/Tuesday

Another real early trip to Melbourne and lots of meetings pretty much kyboshed any running plans.

Wednesday - Summer Series Riverview

Not a good run... Started off ok on a clearly obvious route to the west first. But came unstuck in a big way in the first bush section losing several minutes looking for one control and then quite a few more trying to make a short cut through a lantana patch (ouch!). Ran home strongly but the damage had been done. This sees seagull zoom past me in the overall points table, relegating me to third :(

Thursday/Friday
Really struggled at the back half of the week, feeling very tired and not at all motivated. Got up early Fruday morning intending to run but just did not feel like it and went back to bed. Not a good week at all.

Saturday
No run in the morning, still feeling very tired/fatigued. Got a call just after lunch, the organiser for Sunday's run (Equaliser) had apparently encountered some "problems" and was unable to mark the course and/or advise as to the status of who was doing what!

So I took the 2 girls out to the course to see what he had managed to do. I decided to check the eastern side of the course and it was a good thing as he had started, already made 1 mistake and there was a lot to do. The girls were great as I walked them all the way down to the creek, marking out the trail at various intersections. To their delight we saw up close a goanna poking it's head into an termite mound looking for ants to eat! Climbing back out was a bit tough and I alternated piggy backs for them but they were real troopers so I rewarded them with an icecream on the drive home.

Also then chased up various volunteers to make sure things were somewhat on track for the race.