Holiday fun

As alluded to in the last post had some time out with the family and we headed up to Hawks Nest, a nice little sleepy village that sits nicely between Port Stephens and the Pacific Ocean.

Thursday - Sorted out last minute work stuff and then packed the family in for the drive. By the time we got there and had unpacked and done grocery shopping etc etc left no time for a run

Friday - First run since Canberra with a nice out and back style run past the golf course along the road between the lake and the sea. A few little niggles but a good hit out at a decent pace
Distance 8.1km
Time 39:19
Avg pace 4:51 min/km
Avg HR 169

Saturday - A more composed "recovery" run which I really enjoyed. My eldest daughter decided to ride her bike with me while I ran and we meandered around the various streets and tracks of Hawks Nest. She was a little slow and cautious to begin but as we headed for home she really picked up the pace which stretched me out a little. A great way to spend some time with her!

Distance 6.26km
Time 38:00
Avg Pace 6:04

Sunday - The other adults in our group had been walking every morning while I looked after the kids and walked up to the top of Yaccaba Headland, a decent sized hill which is the northern gateway to Port Stephens and offers magnificent views. This afternoon I decided to do a hard run to the top and back. This involved running to the beach and then about a km and half of beach running, switching to about a km of trail before a real steep climb to the top. I thought I could do it in about 50 minutes and was close but missed a trail on the way back and so ran a little extra. Interesting the uneven surface running created some hot spots on the arches of my feet and the rhs developed a blister :(

Distance 8.1km
Time 52:20
Avg Pace 6:27
Avg HR 167
Climb 200m

Monday - Over dinner on Sunday night it was resolved to convene the inaugural Yaccaba challenge. Based upon times it had taken various people to get up and back handicaps were drawn up (I know, I just can't help myself :) ). We would start on the beach and I would give the out marker 40 min head start! Tough going trying to run faster on the sand but good pace all the way to the steep bit, seeing the others coming back down at various points. A quick stop at the top to collect the initialed shells placed at the top as evidence of making it to the top and then back down. In trying to push faster I aggravated the blister and created a matching one on the LHS as well! About halfway back along the beech I caught one of the others but the leaders were too far away. Finished off with a refreshing sip in the ocean with a good sized surf.

Distance 5.65km
Time 41:39
Avg Pace 7:22 (no flat road running to boost the average!)

Here is a Google earth shot of the route

and here is an actual photo of the headland from the other side


From there the rest of the week went downhill training wise, the blisters were actually pretty severe and so I decided to do a ride or 2 but the weather (and laziness) conspired against me so instead I sat around sleeping, eating and drinking (including developing a taste for Dark and Stormies, a mixture of Bundy rum and Ginger beer!). Eventually all good things end and time to come home :(

Sunday - North Head Star
While a number of people headed to scenic Smithfield I opted for the North Head STaR since I have not run it before. A smaller group for 6:10 and a nasty hill right up out of Clontarf to keep you honest. The pace was on but I could not be bothered to try and drag them back, preferring to run at a more sensible pace with Amjan. The run is quite scenic, incorporating parts of the Spit to Manly walk and then out to the end of North Head. It was quite busy out there with some sort of duathlon/triathlon on and so there were striders, cyclists and runners spread out along the road. Back down through Fairy Bower to Manly and along the beach to Queenscliff. This was about 15km and I started to feel the efforts from Canberra 2 weeks ago as the legs started to deaden. Luckily Amanda turned off soon after for the 30km option while I struggled back along the short cut, stopping off at a service station for a *ahem* urgent pit stop. By the end I had really had enough and the body was complaining, at least I have a good idea as to how much I have recovered so far....

Distance 23km
Time 1:59:25
Avg Pace 5:11
Avg HR 162

Monday - a day of rest/recovery and trying to catch up on a quieter day at work on the large swathe of emails awaiting me!

A good indication as to my pre and post Canberra running efforts is tipping the scales this morning at 76.9 a few kg back on from where I was end of January!