Week ending 4/3

In the interests of keeping the blog going I am going to cut the posts down to 1 or 2 a week as I don't have the time to post every night. Will attempt to keep it interesting but minimise the 'fluff'.

26/3 - Recovery run Henson Park and return. 7kms 32 mins - it chucked down. Henson Park is a fairly large oval(circa 460 metres) and has a nice flat and well grassed surface. Would be good for intervals I reckon, and its an odd distance - effectively avoiding superfluous comparisons (which we runners are notorious for) . 10 laps in just over 20 mins - pretty cruisy with a couple of efforts as the legs felt okay.

27/3 - Tempo run 16kms - 68mins. Ran from home to the Bay via Norton St, then 28.50 from the bottom of Lilyfield Rd to the 7km 3 dots on the path just beyond cr4km. (runners - noddys?...no!). Very humid night. Pretty spent after that and struggled home.

28/3 - Twin Peaks run 8.8km - Home to Sydney Park - anticlockwise around the perimeter from the stacks with 2 laps of Alan Davo Oval (interestingly a real hero of mine growing up - both of us were left arm swing bowlers who played junior cricket for the mighty Lisarow Ourimbah CC - then one of us went on to play test cricket for Australia!). Finish off with the climb over the 2 hills in Sydney park(hence the name) Again very humid, pretty ordinary effort - 38 minutes for a run I try and keep at flat 4s (circa 36 minutes). This is a great run if you can get a rhythm however can be a slog if you are off your game which I was tonight.

1/3 - 6 * 1.075 repeats. Ran over to Sydney Park to do some 1km intervals tonight. The idea was to be solid on all 6 and as always not skive the recoveries. The course was 2 laps of the bitumen path around AD Oval starting in front of the grandstand then around the side of the g.s. finishing at the top of a short and sharp rise at the back of the g.s. Wasn't sure of the distance but in true running noddy style I came home and promptly measured to discover it was 1.075kms. The recoveries were all 90 seconds or under and the intervals were 3.48 3.50 3.51 3.48 3.48. Great confidence booster for saturday, however the concern is that I have done this session too close to sat morning. No dramas though - will take it easy tmrw.

2/3 - Had been in training all week and it was either run after work or takes the day off, I chose a day off!

3/3 - ss 10km Homebush 37.57. As 26 and I headed west though Concord all the playing fields had a head high mist blanketing them. It was going to be a steamy run today. A bumper crowd again (circa 350) and it was pretty interesting going around the carpark but I was keen to not get caught up in traffic early on so I scrambled as best I could to get well positioned heading out onto the footpath after the bollards. I managed to slot into a good spot just behind Ross s and Steve H and reached 1km in about 3.34. From there I latched onto Steve and we ran pretty much together for the next 7 kms changing places a couple of times. We maintained the 3.35 pace to 3kms but from there it was pretty ugly.

From 4km to 6km I thought the wheels were falling off being passed by Andrew Taylor, Sean Atcho & the 2nd Female. However I consolidated and managed to get past Sean again (an extremely tough little bugger) and finally Steve at about 8kms.

Anyrate, it was pleasing to have a solid result in such awful conditions and I know I am very much better off for the run. I am hoping at some point to break 37 minutes for 10kms this year and while this felt like a good hitout it is a long way off what is required. Will keep chipping away.

4/3 - Balmain Bungle Star -31kms of sweat drenching stifling humidity. A fairly reasonable clip early on without being ridiculous. Only a handful going the full monty including Gerry and Paul Jack - both bloody strong runners. Out along the Cooks River the pace averaged about 4.0s. We ran the last 5kms in 21.10 adding an extra km by going back via the western side of the Bay. 31kms in 2.25. These 2 had me well and truelly covered with both adding extra kms on. Not a chance for me! Gerry looks in really great shape and look set to run low 2.40s in Canberra I reckon - so I didnt feel too bad when he disappeared in the blink with about 4kms to go(and then he added on extra...). Very much a leveller this running caper! Good to catch up with all this morning including Flakey backing up after his big pb yesterday.