Wednesday 31 October 2012

Hard Rest

16km-75:00 (4:41kms) With Copey The Bay

7hrs non stop massaging then straight out for an 'easy' run, 34 degrees, not so easy.

Tuesday 30 October 2012

1400m, 3x150m

Monday

7km-33:20 (4:46kms) With Action and Cam The Bay

Not feeling the best, both boys sick. Perched on the edge, took a rest day, no risks now.


Tuesday

1400m-4:04.0, 3x150m (rolling starts/250m walk) 18.9, 17.7, 17.5

Had planned on doing a 2km TT with Tom but not feeling the best, nothing good was going to happen if I did a max effort today. I didn't want to let Tom down so decided on running with him for 1200m as it was pretty windy as usual. I felt comfortable so carried on an extra 200m into the wind to 1400m. Tom ran well only dropping 1sec in the last 600m for 5:51, a touch quicker than 2 years ago in worse conditions.

Pleased with how it felt, suspect I'm close to 1500m pb shape not that I have any intention of racing one. More surprising were the 150s, felt great, a little unco on the 2nd rep but learnt fast as the 3rd rep was faster with less effort.

Sunday 28 October 2012

Paddington Hills

2x Paddington Hills (8min walk back including a brief chat with Tucks) 91.3, 87.8

2sec faster than February and more relevant a whopping 18sec faster than the 2 hills in December last year, so way ahead of last season. Finally this blog has a purpose, all I had in my head was the 83.8 just before the final race of last season. My initial reaction this morning was a little disappointment but looking back at the sessions in December and February last season I'm stoked.

118 km for the week, much easier than last week out of necessity.

Saturday 27 October 2012

Park Run 5km

3rd-17:42 (3:32kms) With Megsy, Meegs, Steve and a bunch of Halloween Costumed runners

Simple enough format and a great alternative to the flat option on The Bay. Good to have Steve back post Berlin with a solid 19:36, Meegs bouncing back well after Melbourne in 3rd 20:28 but Megsy stole the show kicking home for the win and a 6sec course record 18:47.

Villain of the day was Fats who 'forgot' my brownies thoughtfully baked by my favourite non bumble bee Park Runner, grrrrr! Tough hilly course, think I managed to get out a decent workout without expending too much energy. Feeling great for tomorrow, some long hill sprints and a fartlek. It's been a relatively easy winter, but only 2 weeks to the opener and 8 weeks to the Pre Xmas peak it's time to get cracking.

Friday 26 October 2012

10x150m, 3x300

AM
Strength

PM
10x150m (walk back) fastest 18.8, 3x300 (10) 41.4, 41.0, 40.6 Solo at Joeys

3x300m is normally the hardest session on the planet but the hammy is still not 100% so I was aiming conservatively for 41.5, 41.0, 40.5. I'd give myself a pat on the back for my pacing except I spent most of my reps staring at my watch.

Doing a 5km tomorrow, same as last week, as hard as I can go without compromising Sunday.

Thursday 25 October 2012

6x1km

AM
7km-32:05 (4:40kms) Almost Solo The Bay

Cameo from Action, I wish he'd run the same direction every morning so it'd be easier to hide. About 1km with him, just long enough to make me tired before he turned and started chasing Bleasel.

PM
6x1km (5min cycle) With Copey The Bay

3:29, 3:22, 3:27, 3:20, 3:24, 3:17 (avg 3:23)

Hot and windy, odd reps were into the wind. Hammy ready to try something fast tomorrow.

Wednesday 24 October 2012

Recovery

Tuesday

AM
7.5km-31:15 (4:10kms) With Action The Bay

Too fast for an easy run, need to hide next time I see him coming.

PM
16km-71:28 (4:28kms) Solo The Bay

Left hammy still screaming from Sunday's standing starts, contemplated a fartlek but think it's better to fully recover rather than a half arsed session with only 18 days to the season opener.


Wednesday

AM
7km-34:50 (4:59kms) Solo The Bay

PM
16km-67:44 (4:14kms) With Copey and Stokesy The Bay

Stokesy's 10km Pram WR 34:19 went down recently to a Kiwi bloke, knew there must've been a reason for him returning to training. As usual, add someone a little fresh and these runs get a bit quick, finished with several sub 4min kms.

Freshened up nicely, hammy a bit tender but heaps better, shoved countless needles into the offending muscle and it worked a treat. Will join Copey for longer intervals tomorrow and save the fast running for Friday and Sunday.

Monday 22 October 2012

Baby Steps

AM
7km-31:50 (4:33kms) Solo The Bay

PM
18km-83:42 (4:39kms) With Copey and James The Bay

Koji started walking yesterday, in front of a big crowd including 7 cousins and 15 other family members, great debut under immense pressure :-)

Sunday 21 October 2012

2x10x200m

2x10x200m (200m jog/11min) - Avg 28.95 With Jared Narrabeen

Standing Starts

Set 1 (avg 29.2)
29.4, 29.8, 29.3, 28.8, 29.2, 28.7, 29.6, 29.4, 29.0, 28.9

Set 2 (avg 28.7)
28.8, 29.7, 28.7, 28.1, 28.7, 29.0, 29.0, 29.4, 28.1, 27.9

With standing starts I figured 30.0 would be a tough goal, pleasantly surprised to have averaged under 29. Very easy running with Jared, jogging pace for him, blew me away on the last rep.

5.5km at faster than 800m race for the week, I'm chuffed and stuffed.

101km, toughest week I've ever done.

Saturday 20 October 2012

6km Tempo

6km-21:08 (3:31kms) With Megsy, Meegs and Steve The Bay

Beautiful morning, to top it off we all went well.

Friday 19 October 2012

Longish Run

Friday

21km-87:36 (4:10kms) Solo The Bay

Have been experimenting with 5:30am starts with Akira now sleeping later, much nicer. My first client is at 6:50am so out the door at 4:15am this morning, getting consistently better at the morning runs.

I've sacrificed alot of endurance for speed gains lately, doing a 6km tempo tomorrow, will be interesting. I'll guess 21:30ish. As hard as I can go without compromising Sunday's session, been a very pleasing week so far but it'll count for little if I bomb on Sunday.

Thursday 18 October 2012

4x150m, 300m

Wednesday

7km-34:39 (4:57kms) Solo The Bay


Thursday

4x150m (walk back) comfy - fastest 19.4, 5min rest, 300m-38.8. Solo Campbell Park

Had planned this session for Homebush but the track was in use this afternoon. Had set myself an indicator target of 37.5 for a 300m TT by Xmas, suspect I'm close.

Tuesday 16 October 2012

3x4x200m

AM
7km-33:02 (4:47kms) Solo The Bay

PM
3x4x200m (30sec/3min) Solo Mason Park

34.1, 34.1, 33.2, 31.8/ 31.0, 30.2, 30.5, 29.9/ 27.8, 28.1, 28.4, 27.9

Time poor this arvo, fortunately it was 34 degrees when I started and 36 when I finished so didn't need much of a warm up. Went straight into the 1st set off zero jogging, just 3x100m strides. Stoked with that last set, suspect I could've averaged 29 low for the entire session if I had more time to warm up.

The rest day Friday was a big contributor to the strong finish, will add more rest days before key sessions in the future. Big freshen up now, aiming for a fast and hard session on Sunday.


Monday 15 October 2012

6x1km Hills

AM
7km-31:42 (4:32kms) With Action and Mark Mc The Bay

Slept in and was rewarded with company, what a blessing.

PM
16km including 6x1km Hills (4:00 avg) 69:18 (4:20kms) Solo The Bay/Callan Park

+ Drills


Sunday 14 October 2012

Bay Run Half

84:20-8th The Beautiful Bay

Too good a chance to pass up some company on my beloved Bay Run with a half marathon organised by the Sri Chinmoy people. The plan was to run as fast as I could without compromising my session on Tuesday. I suspected this would be somewhere between 78-80min but I was not even close, I was already struggling to hold 3:50km pace at 5km and just glad I got through to the finish without doing any damage. Nice to see the boys and Millie taking breaks from the playground to give me a cheer each time I completed the 7km lap, getting soft in my old age.

Caught up with Long Arms in Centennial for Craig D's farewell, he told me I looked chunky and asked if i'm still running, ouch! Thankfully he's always been honest with me, admittedly I am a few kgs over, will stay out of the gym for a while.

Heaps of clients racing Melbourne and Hawaii, a bit unfair to single any out as every one of them nailed their respective races. Congrats especially to squadlet Meg2 on a massive PB in the half cracking 90min, Fats 2:33 in the full after bullshitting me about splitting 78min and probably have to mention the mighty Parky getting 4th in her AG at Hawaii after also bullshitting me about a top 20 goal.

Sometimes I take it for granted how impressive the people around me are, it's only when I hear normal people talking I realise how privileged I am to be surrounded by so many driven squadlets, clients and training partners. I really am getting soft, please don't tell anyone.

123km for the week

Saturday 13 October 2012

6x300m Hills, 2km, 6x300m Flat

6x300m Iron Cove Hills (walk back), 2km Hard, 6x300m (3min cycle) Solo The Bay

Went to King George's to do a much needed session but couldn't get on the track due to relay for life. Not enough time before work to change location so modified my session, in hindsight I should've done broken 800m hills but it came to me too late.

Did the hills comfortably, all between 59.7 and 60.1, as hard as I could for the 2km-5:49, then the 300m flats very easy all between 47.9 and 48.5.

That'll do for today, pooped! 

Thursday 11 October 2012

8x200m

Wednesday

AM
7km-33:27 (4:47kms) Solo The Bay

+ Strength

Not sure why I'm suddenly able to run at faster than walking pace first thing in the morning, probably due to the lack of intensity in the sessions. Big one tomorrow arvo, so Friday morning will be interesting.

PM
16km-69:47 (4:22kms) With Copey The Bay


Thursday

AM
33:47 (4:52kms) Solo The Bay

PM
8x200m (2) Solo King George's

36, 34, 32, 31, 30.1, 29.7, 29.0, 28.0

Have a tough time on this track, it's bumpy, kikyuyu and tight bends. Good enough session though and felt like I was moving quite well on the last rep. After the 5th rep I was wishing I was a Garminite, each rep was measuring 217+ metres, it would've been nice to think I was running fast although quite devastating on race day.

Tuesday 9 October 2012

12x100m + 2x300, 2x200m Hills + 6km Fartlek

Monday

AM
8km-42:40 (5:20kms) Solo Five Dock Bay

Ouch, big struggle.

PM
16km-79:44 (4:59kms) Solo Centennial

+ Strength


Tuesday

AM
7km-33:20 (4:46kms) Solo The Bay

Dry needling my glutes last night worked a treat, couldn't even stand in the shower last night and woke up feeling great this morning.

PM
12x100m Flat Grass, 2x300m, 2x200m (walk back) Iron Cove Hills (7) 6km Fartlek 22:21 (3:43kms) Solo The Bay

100m's and first 3 hills were comfy 55, 55, 33 and a fastish 200m to finish 31.6. Plan was to stay relaxed and push the last one as quick as possible without touching lactic. 7min break then off for the fartlek - 6km of 2min solid with 45sec floats. It all felt good so I'll aim for a hard session on Thursday, back on track.

Sunday 7 October 2012

10x500m

AM

10x500 (1) avg 91 Solo Nield Park

Comfy 94, 94, 92, 92, 92, 89, 90, 89, 88, 85

PM

10km-46:07 (4:37kms) Solo The Bay

91km, crap week, no more mistakes.

Saturday 6 October 2012

Surthriving

Monday

Strength

Slight strain in left quad during the 300s, will rest until 100%


Tuesday

Strength


Wednesday

AM
Strength

PM
Warm Up at Centennial Park

Had someone take my wallet and phone from my car which I'd left unlocked whilst finishing my warm up. Fortunately I thought he looked a bit suspicious so checked my car and saw him running up Paddington Hill. I took off up the hill and gently managed to coerce him into returning the phone and wallet. He threatened to come back with his mates so thought it best I relocate and ice my hand which was sore from the coercion process. Not to worry, another day to let the quad recover is a bonus.


Thursday

AM
9km-44:42 (4:58kms) Solo The Bay
+ Strength

PM
10km including 7km-26:57 (3:51kms) WIth Copey The Bay

33 degrees and very windy, tough!


Friday

AM
9km-44:40 (4:58kms) Solo The Bay
+ Strength

PM
7km-28:14 (4:02kms) + 6x100m Strides Solo The Bay


Saturday

AM
20km-90:01 (4:30kms) With Meg2 The Bay

Last 7km at 3:47kms

PM
10km-49:20 (4:56kms) With James Barnwell Park

Just in case i'd forgotten how much I suck at running, James weighing in at 95kg and running twice per week did our final 500m in 79sec in heavy trainers on grass. Nice to have talent :-)

Big sporting week, but the highlight for me was Steve K's cracking Berlin Marathon. 2:58.51 for the longest continual surthriving member of Team Tiger. We'd been paddling for the last couple of years and decided to get a bit radical and turned his training upside down. Same energy systems, different stimulus, different periodisation, better result, absolutely stoked for Steve!