Lady Carrington

AM
20km-95:35 (4:47kms) With Tom, Hambo and LJ at Lady Carrington

Beautiful run!

PM
10km-46:04 (4:37kms) Solo The Bay

4x200m

AM
4x200m (4) 28.02, 27.38, 26.35, 24.28 Solo at Joeys

Standing start, suddenly remembered how to run midway through the final rep, great feeling. I should be nice and sore tomorrow.

PM
9km-42:00 (4:40kms) With James The Bay

+ Strength

"Of course I'll be running (on Christmas Day)! I'm going to run twice, because my rivals will probably only run once, so I'll have done more than anyone else."

Mo Farah

7x800m Hilly Loop

AM
7x800m (4:30 cycle) With Sean's Squad Centennial

2:41, 2:37, 2:37, 2:37, 2:37, 2:33, 2:30

Tiger squad is spread all over the world at the moment, Iceland, Italy, France, Argentina and ummm Canberra so our usual Bronte Xmas session didn't eventuate sadly. A big thanks to Sean letting me join 50ish dedicated runners out bright and early on a wet morning. I was impressed with the turnout in the rain and asked Sean if he was proud, he said 'I'm pissed off, don't know where the rest of them are'. That's why he is having great success as a coach, hard man to please.

Quite a contrast to have so many fit and healthy runners next to a homeless man huddled under a tree trying to keep dry at the start/finish line.

I was just behind Morgan Mc 17 year old with a recent 3km-8:17 and the improving Nathan D for the first 6 reps, they blew me away on the last rep. I felt comfortable but a little heavy in the legs.

Also saw Bleasel and a few other large groups Woodstock/Bay Runners bouncing/shuffling around The Bay. The real highlight was James getting through his Xmas Day run bright and early, I see a glimmer of hope for Wonder Boy. Awesome way to start a hectic day.

PM
13km-64:45 (4:59kms) With Ben St and Hambo at Faulconbridge Point

Raining and cold, we were all in tracksuits, quite a contrast to the 34 degrees yesterday. Loved it, my favourite run every year, can't believe it's come around so quickly.

30x200m

AM
30x200m (30) Solo McKay Oval

All between 37.8 and 38.2 very easy.

+ 9km-40:57 (4:33kms) With Hambo, JJ and Ben St

PM
7km-32:26 (4:38kms) Solo The Bay

+ 6x100m Strides

James pussied out when the temperature hit 34 degrees

Phew

20km-1:38.20 (4:55kms) With Milly and Ben St in Centennial

Lasted about 1min with Kanser and 2 of his mates, there was no chance we could keep up and watched them disappear into the distance.

97km and dozens of Xmas catch ups, only just survived.

800m-1:59.02

Friday

Rest, Massage, Ice Bath


Saturday

AM
3km-15:28 (5:10kms) Solo Abbotsford

PM
800m-1st 1:59.02 Heat 3 SOPAC

+ 10km-44:40 (4:28kms) Solo Barnwell Park

The 800m is a revolving door with a whole new batch of fresh faces to race each season. Of the 11 in my heat I only recognised Drew from Syd Uni, smooth mover Robbie Neill and Earl O'Brien.

Tucked in behind Robbie in mid pack until the 400m-60.5ish then ran around the pack hitting the lead at 550m going through 600m bang on 90.0. The World's loudest fan club were roaring for Robbie as I entered the home straight which was a little disconcerting. I couldn't feel anyone with me and thanks to all the 200m repeats finished 2.3sec clear of another 35+ Stephen Archer from Hills.

Nice to win, my fastest opener and faster than my 2011/12 season best in less than ideal conditions, 28 degrees and windy.

68.0kg, couldn't keep the weight off this week and didn't really bother trying. I just ate and ran whatever and whenever I wanted. Even had a pasta bolognese and a large beetroot juice for lunch today, would never normally eat something heavy on race day but I was starving.

Looking forward to a really hard block of training for the next few weeks, lots of improvement to come. Stoked for Jared snaring a win and new PB 1:49.39, will try and do more sessions with him in early January.

3x300m

AM
5km-23:05 (4:37kms) Solo Timbrell Park

PM
3x300m (7) 42.9, 41.2, 39.3 Solo SOPAC

Started the session at the scheduled race time for Saturday - 3:30pm, 29 degrees and very windy. Tough conditions but at least I'll be ready.

8x150m

AM
8x150m Solo at Nield Park Goat Track

5x150m
2x Broken 150m (50 sprint, 50m float, 50m sprint)
1x150m - 18.70

+ Strength

PM
9km-41:36 (4:37kms) With Lucy at Shore

3x1km

Monday

AM
7km-33:20 (4:46kms) Solo Timbrell Park

PM
Strength/Drills/Strides Henry Lawson Park


Tuesday

AM
5km-24:30 (4:55kms) Solo Timbrell Park

PM
3x1km (5) 2:55, 2:56, 2:52 Solo McKay Oval

Was meant to be 2:45s off 10min recovery at SOPAC but didn't have time to drive to the track, didn't have time to warm up nor cool down and definitely didn't have time for 10min recovery. Felt effective, solid but comfortable.

1070m by the garmin, I do an extra 15m per bend, 4 and a 1/2ish bends on McKay (410ish metre laps) if anyone cares.

1xPaddington Hill / 20min Fartlek

AM
Paddington Hill 84.05, Solo Centennial

A bit flat from yesterday but felt strong.

PM
20min Fartlek (2min30sec solid/1min floats) 5.46kms (3:40kms) Solo The Bay

31 degrees, loved it!

122km, good week.

26x200m

SOPAC

20x200m (200m jog) avg 31.5

+ 6x200m (walk across) 29.8, 29.8, 30.0, 29.8, 29.8, 27.3

First 20 reps solo and kept them aerobic, then jumped in with Crem's group for an extra 6 reps. Coincidentally and reassuringly they were doing 20x200m also working aerobically, albeit much quicker than me 30.0s, I did alternate reps with 2min walk recovery.

31.2 seemed to be my aerobic line, each rep quicker was followed with a 31 high. Hope that line moves as I progress through the season.

Feeling great, I'll attempt something fast tomorrow.

6x150m

6x150m (walk back) Fastest 19.5, Solo at Nield Goat Track

20x200m / 3km + 4x500m

AM
20x200m (30) Solo Timbrell Park

Very easy, 37-39sec

PM
3km effort - 10:18 (3:26kms), 10min rest, 4x500m (1) easy 1:45, solid 82.1, easy 1:45, solid 77.0

Feeling good.

Hippopotamus for Christmas

Wednesday

AM
5km-20:20 (4:04kms) Solo Timbrell Park

Felt great, self needled and massaged last night, good as new.

PM
16km-76:50 (4:47kms) With James The Bay

Trotted around while James did a fartlek session attacking every hill he could find, great to see him finding form again, born to run. Beautiful afternoon on The Bay!

Akira asked for a hippopotamus for Xmas but promised to say 'thank you very much' if he got something else. This is the first Xmas he has expectations of gifts and I'm a bit nervous about how he will respond to the ridiculous multitude of gifts coming his way. I told him that Obachan and Poppy gave me orange juice for Xmas because that's all they could afford, he said he 'loves orange juice' :-)

It will break my fragile little heart if he turns into an ungrateful ravenous pig. Does anyone have any tips on how we can prepare him?

300m, 500m, 300m

Monday

AM
7km-33:40 (4:49kms) Solo Nield Park

So sore from the 200s yesterday, good pain I hope.

PM
14km-66:30 (4:45kms) With James Nield/Timbrell/The Bay

Every muscle in my legs is screaming at me.


Tuesday

AM
5km-25:57 (5:12kms) Solo Nield Park

+ Strength

PM
300m (7) 500m (7) 300m Solo SOPAC

43.13, 74.28, 41.65

Very windy!

No clue how I got through this session let alone made it effective, just shut my eyes and grit my teeth. Can't believe I've done a 64.7 500m off the gun before, seems a lifetime ago now. Hit race weight 66.4kg with 11 days to spare, interesting to see if I can hold it as the volume drops. Bloody sore, need a massage!!!

2x200m Hills + 20km

2x200m Paddington Hills 30.0, 31.1 + 20km-1:36.11 (4:49kms) Solo Centennial

Was meant to be 1x200m but I took off too fast and split 12.0/18.0. Thought I could improve on that so tried to run more evenly on a 2nd rep but the tank was empty. The 20km was a battle, I spent most of the run measuring training venues for the squad which killed alot of time but kept the pace over 5mins until 12km, after that I locked into a better rhythm.

Caught up with 30:20 man Knoxy with the Copes, RogeDodge, Rob and families. Amazing how quick everything has changed, it felt like yesterday we were all footloose and fancy free in Adelaide for the Knoxy wedding, today there were 5 kids running amok in the backyard. I sniff a comeback, somebody has been paying way too much attention to minor fun run results, stay tuned.

83km, good week

6x300m

AM
6x300m (3) avg 44.75 Solo SOPAC

45.5, 44.3, 44.2, 45.2, 45.4, 43.9

Never really recovered after the 2nd rep, satisfying and much needed session. I hope that's an indication of my current 800m form 1:59.5ish, if I open with a sub 2min I'll be a happy vegemite.

PM
Strength
+
9km-44:15 (4:55kms) With James Timbrell Park

31 degrees but in comparison to last Saturday it felt like sitting next to a pool sipping cocktails, 11km less and 2 degrees cooler.

6x100m Dalgety Hills

AM

7km-32:39 (4:40kms) Solo Timbrell Park

+ Strength

6x100m Hills Solo Dalgety Rd

20, 17, 16, 16, 12.6, 14.5

The plan was to build towards race target pace - 14.5, but I was lucky enough to have a pack of cyclists come past just as I was about to start the 5th rep. The 12.6 was fun, for mine, nothing can compete with the sheer thrill of sprinting. Previous fastest was 14.9 Feb 7th, so way quicker and 2 months ahead of last season :-)

Pretty crazy start to the day, up at 4:15am to squeeze in the 7km, quick dash home to feed Akira brekky, in to the city to join a client for a strength session at 6am, massage the mighty Fats just back from 2nd at Kepler, 2nd client cancelled so took the chance to get my sprints finished to give me extra recovery time for tomorrow's brutal session. 3 sessions done by 8:50am, happy days.

2x800m Broken Hills

Wednesday

AM
Strength

PM
7km-33:51 (4:50kms) Solo Timbrell Park

Needled the bejeezus out of my left trap and got the rib back in place, woohoo! Was freaking killing and made it hard to breathe, looking forward to some sleep tonight.


Thursday

2x800m Broken Hills, SOLO Callan Park

(200m hard, 100m jog, 200m hard, 100m jog, 200m hard with walk back recovery)

2:45, 2:39

Equalled my fastest ever time on the 1st rep then smashed it on the 2nd, happy! Great to be able to breathe again, some short sprints tomorrow then hit the track again Saturday.

3x (300m,200m,100m)

Monday

Strength.

Felt good but had today planned as a rest day for the last few months, tried to enjoy it but felt like a lazy bastard.


Tuesday

3x 300m (1) 200m (30) 100m (3) Solo at SOPAC

46.1, 29.9, 14.2
45.6, 30.0, 15.3
46.7, 30.6, 16.3

Bloody windy and 33 degrees, I was expecting 43.5, 28.0 and 13.5. Flat and very slow today, but effective nonetheless. Very pleased to get the job done, another session in the bank.

Balmain Fun Run

5km-18:40ish (3:44kms)

Way back in the field, too many in front to count. Realistically I think it would've been 18ish but I spent the last 100m racing Akira who wasn't as enthusiastic about our 'bonding' moment as his dad. Rib still out, didn't sleep a wink, might have to see a chiro tomorrow to get it sorted. Apart from the pain it caused a little trouble breathing but the legs were the problem, very heavy.

Well done to Megsy who ran like a champ to take her first race victory 18:45ish on a tough course.

That'll do for the week, I'll take the arvo off and get myself fresh and ready for a feast of 200-400m reps for the next few weeks.

129km and some decent quality for the week

600m TT

AM
600m-87.2 + 600m-1:45 With Megsy at SOPAC

Felt good apart from the 1st rib on the left hand side I popped out during the warm up and couldn't get back in place. Was and still is agony but didn't slow me down. I kept the splits dead even, had Megsy take me through the middle 200m which was ummm 'helpful' but couldn't keep form in the last 50m. Speed ok, but still heaps of room for improvement. Endurance is fine. Speed endurance is lacking as expected, adding depth to the sessions for the next 3 weeks as planned will sort that out. 69.0kgs, still 2.5kg too heavy but much better than 72.5kg 2 weeks ago.

Made a feeble attempt to pace Megsy in her hard 1km, I was paddling the whole way and pulled the pin at 600m. She fell asleep Zzz Zzz for the next 300m then finished hard for an impressive 3:05 track debut. She's starting to find form again and most impressively managed a few 13.0 100m strides in the warm up which had heads turning at the track, not an easy feat. Somebody slap my forehead, why am I wasting this thoroughbred's talent in fun runs???


PM
20km-1:34.52 (4:45kms) Solo The Bay

Had 2 late cancellations so took the chance to get my long run over and done with so I could enjoy the afternoon with the boys and watch the mighty Punter bat. Not ideal at 32 degrees, but big whoop I'm solar powered.

Well done to Fats who managed 2nd place, 4min behind the winner and about 6min faster than his previous best at Kepler. He is flying, the hills within his long run 2 weeks ago were brilliant, I suspect he has plenty of room for improvement too.