Friday with the Irish

3 by 12 mins with a 5 min slow jog in between each rep.

Easy jog in from home [7.5km] and then met up with Enda, POD, Eoin, Chalks & token Irishman Adam Conquest.

• Rep 1: 3.29 avg pace with Enda and POD for company, in saying that Enda fell off the back towards the end of the rep. Think he was surprised with POD's improvement over the course of the week
• Rep 2: 3.32 avg pace again with boys just behind me. We ran into the domain and the pace slowed slightly with the 3 hill climbs. Felt relatively strong on the hills as Enda fell off the back after the first hill :)
• Rep 3: 3.25 avg pace with the boys again but Conquest joined in again repeating last weeks performance. POD went to the front and to be honest, I was starting to struggle but held on. With 4 mins to go, Enda  put in a surge and went to the front but fell off within 2 mins :) Conquest then took over and pushed it in the last 2 mins and gapped me by 10-15 mins but in the last minute I managed to pull him back.

Another quality session, calves a little tight after the session. 20.8k total for the day.

Long Run 2hrs

Out with Laura, Chalks and Eoin for long run. Beautiful morning for runnning. Kept the pace nice and easy 4.38 avg. Tired in the latter quarter of the run. Will rest the legs today as we have a tough tempo session planned for Friday (3 by 12 mins)

10 weeks left to the Gold Coast

Sat: No chance for a run as we moved house...pretty shattered after that and I didn’t even lift a box :)

Sun: Ran from the new place in Kensington to centennial for 3 laps of the 8k loop. Tim was a no show but had the pleasure of the company of Chalks and Eoin.

• Lap 1: 4.50 km/m
• Lap 2: 4.22 km/m
• Lap 3: 4.03 km/m (Chalks only ran 2-3 km of this one but I was pretty impressed that he hung on for so long. Eoin was pretty strong on the last rep.

Ran back to Kensington for a big breaky with the boys...even test out the pool, the water was nice and cold. 30k all up for the day

Mon:

• 40 mins easy at lunch
• Ran home in the evening, a little longer than Surry Hills, it’s just short of 8k according to the garmin.

Tues: Hills
It was a very long warm up from Kensington to the bottom of Bellevue hill in Double Bay (about 8km). Auld Timmy spotted me on my way to meet the boys. Met up with the Irish boys (POD, Enda & Clyde) for a hill session (5 by 3 mins on Bellevue Hill). I was thinking only 5 reps! But after 3 reps I was very happy we were only doing 5! Enda led out each rep, I was just behind him with Clyde and POD a few meters back. It stayed like that for the remainder of the session apart from the last one where I finished line ball with Enda. Tough session, obviously I need to do more work on them hills. I was shattered by the end of the session. All up 21km for the morning.
10 weeks left to the Gold Coast, pretty happy with my training to date...just need to keep it consistent!

HuRTs.ie

Thurs: Rest day, just went to the gym for a spin on the bike and did some strength & stretching work.

Fri: Out with the Irish crew (POD, Enda, Elvis, Eamo, Eoin) with a few non Irish in attendance (JC & Adam Conquest). I ran from home down to Shelley Street for a 6.30 start.
20 min warm up
3 by 10 mins with 5 min recovery jog
15 min warm down
Ran home
1st rep: I ran with Enda for 1st rep avging 3.27 pace with POD just behind. Which got us from Hickson to the Opera house.
2nd rep: Again with Enda who fell off the back on the hills on the back half of the domain. Avg pace was 3.29 which was definitely helped by a very quick first km.
3rd rep: More of the say with Enda and Adam Conquest for company, Enda called out there was 2 mins left and then I push the pace with AC following me for a 3.26 avg split. Ran back with the boys to Shelley Street and then ran home.
24k for the day
Best of luck to Big Sam and Beermatt on Sunday in London. Both guys have been training very well. If Sam gets carried along I expect him to run between 2.45-2.47. He's a strong finisher so he should use that to his advantage. Beermatt has pulled together a very good 12 weeks and is racing very well. His confidence will be high and I expect him to nudge under 2.30. The weather is looking good, it may rain but conditions are looking quite favourably. Also all the best to Tucks and mountain goat Fats as they tackle Mt Solitary on Sunday..

Hey Jane

Sun: Well I ended up running Canberra Half with a solid run of 79.40, more importantly I stayed ahead of auld Timmy, who tells me he stalked me the whole race. In saying that, there is no record of him running the race...check the results...where is Timmy's name?

Mon:Nice easy jog into work [4] and 10k at 4.20 pace with the HuRTs

Tues
Ran into work [4]

10 by 3 mins off 1 min
15 min warm up

3.32, 3.21, 3.23, 3.18, 3.20, 3.15, 3.21, 3.13, 3.26, 3.19

15 min warm down
Calves were tight but felt good throughout. Got a massage in evening at Jackie's, first time I've used Amanda and she sorted by calves out.
[14]

Wed:
Pissing down rain this morning and met up with the Irish crew [POD & Enda] who will defeat the English crew in the Sydney half in May! Ended up running a tad over 1 hr 40 mins at 4.23 pace for 23k. The MLR is a lot easier when running in a group. Actually enjoyed running in the rain this morning. Will take a rest from running tomorrow...and get ready for a tempo session with the Irish boys on Friday morning.

Picked up the new Spiritualized album and really like the new single 'Hey Jane'. Had a look for the youtube clip but after an initial look, I won't post it on the blog. It's something your likely to find on Auld Lindop's blog. Found a recording from the 'Royal Albert hall that will give you an indication...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ6c28kbeSM&feature=related

Master Sweeney, how do you embed your youtube clips..

Sickbag

Wed: MLR of 90 mins at 4.32 pace, on my own again. Really need to get some company for these MLR...anyone interested in meeting at 6am on Wed mornings?

Thurs: Ran into work and felt pretty average all day so decided not to run. There has been a stomach bug going around and sure enough it hit me on Thurs evening.

Fri: I had some pretty important meetings Friday morning, so went to work. I was pale as a ghost all day and went to bed at 7pm and didnt rise until 7am...can't remember the last time i've slept for 12 hours.

I am feeling better today, Timmy will be over shortly for our trip to Canberra. Not sure if I will run the half in the morning. I will see how I feel later today..

Pyramid

Mon: 43 mins at 4.21 pace, went at lunchtime and ran over to centennial. Feeling good at the moment, typically I would find it difficult to get going on a Monday but found it relatively easy.
[10]

Tues Fartlek (Pyramid)

There was a bit of wind out there today but still managed to keep the pace pretty consistent. Easier session than last week as you know once to get to the 5 min rep its downhill from there.

o 15 min w/up
o 1min (3.12) with 30sec rec
o 2min (3.12)with 1min rec
o 3min (3.19) with 90sec rec
o 4min (3.26) with 2min rec
o 5min (3.26)with 2.5min rec
o 4min (3.23)with 2min rec
o 3min (3.21) with 90 sec rec
o 2min (3.16) with 1min rec
o 1min (3.10) with 30sec
o 10min jog down

[15]

Sunny Queensland

Thurs: Up in Brizzy with work, didn't get a chance to get out and run

Fri:
The plan was as follows:
20 mins warm up (4.40 pace)
15 mins at marathon pace, (3.42 pace) 5 min recovery
15 mins at marathon pace (3.41 pace)
20 min warm down (4.35 pace)

The session was a lot easier than I expected, I was staying in the middle of broadbeach so ran for 20 mins down towards Miami beach. Basically got back to broadbeach. The roads are very flat and it's pretty easy to run on the cycle lanes..

[17.5]

Sat The plan was for a 30 mins aerobic run at 4.20 pace, After a 5 mins warm up got straight into it! Basically stuck to 4.06 pace from the start to finish. Finished up with some strides (10 by 100m). It was pretty warm around 27c but very little humidity so felt very comfortable throughout.

[10]

Sun:I got out early around 6.30am and was surprised how warm it was. Ran for 1hr in one direction and basically turned back. The wind picked up on the return leg but I still managed to keep the pace at 4.25k

[27]

Happy with the week of training. 104k for the week and 12 weeks left to the Gold Coast.

Getting down to Business

Monday: 45 min aerobic run with Berger. Berger is currently training for Canberra and was keen to keep the pace at 4.20 km/m. Beautiful sunny day for running…
[10k]

Tues:

Ran into work [4k]

Farklek, I haven’t pushed the pace in while so I was keen to see if there was any speed in the legs.

o 20min w/up
o 3x3min with 90sec rec at 5k pace(3.22, 3.21, 3.20)
o 4x30sec fast with 1min rec ( 3.15, 3.12, 3.10, 3.12)
o 3x5min with 2.5min rec at 10km pace (3.26, 3.28, 3.31)
o 4x1min fast 30 sec rec (3.10, 3.12, 3. 15, 3.08)
o 10min jog down

Tough session and disappointed I struggled to keep the pace on the 3 by 5 mins. The recovery running in between was pretty slow around 6m/k pace

[16]

Wed:
Up early for 90 min MLR, struggled to getting going and was a little tired towards to the end. Still managed to keep 4.30 pace for the whole session. I am thinking I need company going forward on this run..
[20k]

Another recovery week....now it's down to business

Mon: Easy 10k
Tues: 10k tempo (3.45 pace), struggled to keep the pace...but got there in the end
Wed: Rest
Thurs: 5k run in, 6 by 3 mins with Berger with a 1 min float, just ran with Berger. The pace was about 3.35 km/m with a fast last rep
Fri: 12k easy with Tom, Tucks & Timmy
Sat: 12k easy with 12 by 150m strides to finish off
Sun: 2hr 08 mins with Tim, lost the garmin signal but the pace was pretty easy. We actually left the park today and ventured down to the beaches which involved a few hills. Picked up the pace for a quick last lap in centennial avg'ing 4.05.
After the run, ventured over to Ella's 3rd birthday for about 30 cups of tea with Tim, Jono Fenton & families in tow.
I'm feeling good at the moment so looking forward to ramping up for the Gold Coast marathon in July. 13 weeks to go..!