The short road to rotterdam

With work commitments, I failed to get out for a run on Monday. On Tuesday, I squeezed in an 800 session with Tim. After a quick warm-up run to rushcutters we got straight into the session. The reps went as follows

2.37
2.37 (2 min recovery)
2.37 (1.55 recovery)
2.37 (1.50 recovery)
2.38 (1.45 recovery)
2.37 (1.40 recovery)
2.36 (1.35 recovery)
2.28 (1.30 recovery)

We changed the session slightly to reduced the recovery time. Given the marathon was 10 days ago I was happy to get through the session unscathed.

On Wednesday, got out for an easy 9.3k run with Durante. We met Springer in the domain and we chatted lots - who will win the sixfoot?, 10k race on Saturday, Durante's bro's performance in the league final and the feasibility of Kanser running Rotterdam on the 14th of April. We'll see...

Equaliser

Got out for a few 40 min recovery runs during the week and was pleased that the legs were recovering well. Got out the door at 5.30am on Sunday and hooked up with Tim and the Tancred's for the Striders 14k equaliser on the North Shore. Opted to take it easy over the hilly terrain and finished the run in 1.12. The ankle didn't like the downhill portion as it was difficult to maintain control. I suppose the orthotics inserts since the surgery don't really help on that terrain. Might make a trip to the podiatrist to see if I can run without them. Some great runs out there today, Tim Lindop, Ray Wareham and the winner Uncle Dave. The Unc will be pretty confident going into the sixfoot after pipping Fats today.
Watched the football final and it was great to see Durante's bro win the man of the match award.
Will pick up the training this week and hopefully I will be able to give the striders 10k in north head a good auld crack next week. Still no name change to the blog, current titles i'm considering 'second coming', 'bringing it all back home' and the 'the road to rotterdam'....watch this space!

Recovering well

On Mon & Tues, the quads were a little stiff but other than that the legs seem to be fine. Did plenty of walking (well shopping) through Tokyo. Instead of drinking the copious amounts japanese beer we downed lots of pints of the black stuff, yeah they seemed to have guinness in every bar we entered. As an Irishman I didn't complain.
Got out for an easy 7k today and the legs felt pretty good. Need to sit down and target some races. Looking forward to catching up with the Tues/Thurs crew again. Will do my best to get out for every session, I'm sure keeping up with the like of Tom, Mike Conway, Tucks, Serg, Durante, Springer, Anthony and Tim will keep me honest.
The goal now will be to target a 10k pb but might venture up to the blue mountains and run the 6 foot track again as a long training run. Check out the site. www.sixfoot.com.
Here is a link to the Tokyo marathon website with a video of Dave Kane crossing the finish line. You can see (NOT) that I am really pushing it towards the finish.

http://www.ntv.co.jp/tokyomarathon/goalmovie/

Number 24091 is my "bib number." Enter this number into the box that says "search." Then hit play on the right side of the screen. I'm in a black top, blackshorts and white compression socks. You might laugh but I purchased the compression socks after a calf niggle i picked up a while back. Of note, I'd no calf stiffness at all after the race. Enter in bib number 2 and you'll see Rothlin storming to a 2.07 finish. He might go all the way in Beijing..mmmm need to change the title of blog!

2.52

Stoked with the result today. It took a while to get going as I was seeded in the b group so didn't get to 10k until well over 40 mins (40.40 approx), I suppose the leak at 8k didn't help. Focussed on maintaining 4k/m until around 34k and then started to slow. At 40k I knew I was on course for around 2.52 so just held steady until the end without pushing the pace.
Big bear stormed home in 3.13 for a massive pb(25 mins quicker than Canberra last yr). Super effort by the Bear and deserves it with all his hard work. Great support out on the course (my wife Liv, sis in law Gillo and Jen and Katlyn). The Japanese really love the marathon, the crowds lined the course from start to finish (approx 1.7m cheering 25,000 marathon runners throu' the streets of Tokyo.
I will use the Tokyo marathon as a springboard to my racing exploits in 2008. Delighted with my effort when you consider I only started running again in Oct (weighing a chunky 87kg - lost 9kg in the process). Already looking forward to the next one but for now I will head out on the town with Big Bear and the crew tonight....

Tuning in Tokyo...

I took it very easy on Monday, just a 20 min stroll in the domain. I ran the last 10 mins with Serg and Anthony Murrell. I noticed on Superflake's blog that Serg ran Sunday's 30k Star. He confirmed his attendance (you can't do much in Sydney with all the blogs floating around) and felt the going tough in the last few kms keeping up with Fats and Truscott. He's looking at running the Gold Coast marathon in July. He's got five months and with his half time 68.58 he should have no problem running 2.35 for his first one.
Went for a massage in Jackie's after work and spent the rest of the evening working on my core and doing some stretches after a hot bath.
The Tuesday session was 3 by 10 mins with 3 min recovery. I opted for a very easy session. One 3k rep at 3.45 pace, then 1 min on (3.30 pace) by 5, 1 min off (slow jog). Large crowd in attendance, Mike Harrison pushed the pace at the front (he was surprisingly caught in the last rep by a new guy who looked very comfortable pushing 3.15 pace). Tim Craddock, Springer & Anthony looked very strong for all the reps. Tucks as he does every week was close to front and ran at his own pace (bang on his lactate threshold pace of around 3.24). Ray who keeps his best running for key races held back again today. I wonder if Tom was surprised with Ray's sub 33 on Friday night?
Flying out in the morning and I'm planning on doing very little in the lead up to the race (5 - 8k easy). I've run six 6 marathons and 2 ultra's (sixfoot is classed as an ultra), each time I've ran a tad quicker (Gold Coast '04 - 3.20, Honolulu '05 - 3.19, Canberra - 3.18, Melbourne - 2.55, Canberra - 2.47 & Auckland - 2.46). I only got back running in October after surgery in August so I really didn't think I'd have any chance of running quicker than Auckland but with last week's 35.19 I'm in with a very slim chance. The plan is to ease into it in Tokyo, run 4m/k for 25k and see how I go. If I can the hold pace I'll finish in 2.48.48. If I run a tad quicker in the second half I might have a chance of a pb. Either way, I'm happy with the progress over the last few months and the base I've built will serve me well for the racing calendar of '08. My brother in law Chris (Big Bear) will definitely run a pb...

Easy Sunday run

Ran 2k to Centennial and met up with Durante 7.30am. We ran for about 1hr before we bumped into Tim Lindop. We ran for another 30 mins. Not sure of the distance as I forgot to switch the garmin on. Probably 20k all up. Chatted to Damien Tancred at the end of the run, he was heading out for a 16k tempo run. He is tossing up the idea of running the Ironman in WA in Nov. Less than a week left....

35.19

Had a little calf niggle so I took Thurs off and tested the calf out on Friday with an easy 3km in the domain with Tim Lindop. The calf was a little tight but fine to run so headed to the track in Homebush. I was pretty excited to be toeing the line with Lee Troop (who has run a 2.09 marathon and already qualified for the Olympics). Discussed times with my lap scorer Chris (Big Bear) and felt I should go for 35 mins flat.
I felt pretty comfortable at the start and focussed on trying to run even 400s but it was very difficult to keep track of my splits. I was running solo for most of the way as Tucks was looking at running close as possible to 32 mins and Ray was looking at running a sub 33 min. I went through 5k in 17.29 and then started to lose around 2secs per lap. Chris gave me plenty of encouragement from the sidelines as did Serg and his father which was great. Happy with 35.19 which is 50 secs quicker than Lane cove last week.
Fantastic run by Ray 32.54 and Tucks 31.54. Chris Truscott who also ran Lane cove last week ran 31.43 which was 50 odd secs quicker than last week. It's also his quickest run in 10 years. Troopy won in 29.19 and I had a great chat with him at the end. He's already qualifed for the Olympics and will run the Lake Biwa (Japan) marathon in 3 weeks time. It will also give him the opportunity to get over to Beijing to review the Olympic course. Fellow strider Guzzo is also looking very good (29.57) at the moment as he prepares for Lake Biwa.

http://www.nswathletics.org.au/answ/live_state/080208F160.htm

http://www.nswathletics.org.au/

Taper

Easy run with Durante and Tom. We ran the 6k Corporate Cup course in the domain. Very odd weather for Feb. It was hot and humid at lunch and raining when I ran home. Left calf was little tight, will need to monitor it prior to Friday night's race.

6*3 mins with 1 min recovery

A big crowd out there today, to be honest I don't know half of them. The guys that I do know were Serg, Tucks, Anthony, Mike Conway, Ray, Charlie, Mike Harrison, Tim C, Tim Lindop, Enda, Tom, Eoin and lots of other guys. I was a little late for the session I was planning on doing eight but when Ray stopped at six I took note. Tucks was also holding back. Given the three of us are racing on Friday it was probably a good idea to take it easy. The pace was pretty quick for the session averaging 3.15 per rep. It was very humid out there today, Tom looked very comfortable and Serg is beginning to look very strong at the front of the pack.
Will take it very easy for the next few days and rest up for the 10k race on Friday evening. Looking forward to now..

Run Fatboy run....

I haven't run to Balls head in a while and headed off with Serg, Mike and Ray today. It was bucketing down rain throughout the run so much so as we crossed the bridge Serg was complaining that he couldn't see. Ray gave us the low down on his 5k track run in Homebush (16.09 in humid conditions) and we discussed tactics for the race on Friday evening. We covered approx 14k in 64 mins.
I was suppose to go and see "Run Fatboy Run" in the Open Air Cinema tonight. Given the weather I don't think it's going to happen. Pity really as I was really looking forward to watching a comedy about running. Dylan Moran of "black books" and "shaun of the dead" also features in the movie.

http://www.runfatboyrunmovie.com/

The last long one before Tokyo

Headed out for a 26k run. Ran 2k to the park at 7am and hooked up with Mike Conway, Tim Lindop and Terance. Tim suggested we run the 3 * 6k loops around centennial. The loop is relatively flat but has one nasty 700m climb up to Woolahra gates. We kept the pace relatively steady at 4.45 for 18k. We increased pace for the final 6k, 5k at 4.25 pace and 1k at 3.57 pace. It was very humid out there this morning. So much so I lost 3 kilos on the run this morning (weighted myself before and after the run). We chatted about yesterday's striders race and we are all confident we will improve our times in the coming months.
Maybe it's the weather but I've been listening to Nick Drake again, I love the jazzy-pop sound on Bryter Layter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Drake

10K Lane Cove

After last week's 5km Bay run I wasn't sure how I'd run today. I was chatting to Tom earlier in the week and told him I'd like to run around 36.10. I plugged my Bay 5km time in Macmillian's calc and http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm out came 36.44. To be honest, I preferred the time I mentioned to Tom.
Anyhow got to Lane Cove early and got a decent warm-up in with Mike Conway and Durante. Bumped into Uncle Dave http://davidcriniti.blogspot.com/ and we chatted about his plans for the year. Got off to a decent start and after 1.5km realised I would not be able to keep with Durante and Mike (I was beginning to think Macmillian was bang on the money). After about 2k Tim Cradock came by and I decided to settle into my own pace. I actually felt good on the hills and pulled a few people back on scribbly and later on after the 5km mark. Got to 5km in 18.16 and hand a bit of a tussle with Peter Walker on hill climb up to the 5.36 turnaround. After the turn I don't think anyone passed me. I passed a few runners on the way back to finish. I was surprised to pass Mike at the 8km marker. I caught sight of Durante and tried to reel him in but to no avail. I put a decent last km of 3.18 but I think Durante ran a tad quicker. Finished up with 36.09. Happy with the time and with a little bit of a taper hopefully I will run a bit quicker at the state 10k in Homebush.
There were some great runs out there today, Tim Cradock and Durante both nudged under the 36 min mark. Uncle Dave ran a stellar sub 33 mins. Eoin Reville ran 37.3X which is a great effort considering his training for the Ironman in Port Macquarie. Big Bear just keeps getting better notching up another pb running 41.30. Fats also ran very well 35.2x which sets him up nicely for the sixfoot.
Got out for a 7km run afternoon and worked on some strength training. Looking forward to the last long run the morning. 2 week left to Tokyo...apparently it was snowing in Tokyo yesterday a far cry from the conditions we are experiencing in Sydney.

Easy Friday

I was suppose to run the state 5km on the track on thursday night but it was cancelled last minute because of the storms in Sydney. I was really looking forward to a track race so I was pretty disappointed when the officals called it off. I wouldn't mind I dragged Tom all the way to Homebush with me to lap score the race. Thanks Tom.
On Friday I got out for an easy 10k with Kate, Tucks, Springer and Ray and we debated which race to run on Saturday. The Striders 10k or the state 5k. I'm opting for the striders run....

Progressive tempo (MP - Threshold)

It was very hot and humid out there again today.
Started out with a 2km warm up

2km at 3.55 pace (30 sec recovery jog),
2km at 3.49 pace (30 sec recovery jog), (Thanks for spotting that Tom ;)
2km at 3.45 pace

Followed by 2km cool down.

Even in the heat the session felt comfortable but I was very thirsty at the end.

400s reducing recovery time

The Tuesday crew were planning 45 min fartleg (1 min on, 30 sec off) but I had a 400s session in my diary (I'm in the sharpening phase of my marathon pgm). Headed off to Rushcutters on my own and the legs were a little heavy so I was a little apprehensive about the session. It was pretty warm and humid out there but I think the heat helps for short interval sessions.

The reps went as follows. Recovery time is in brackets

Rep 1 73 (60)
Rep 2 72 (57)
Rep 3 72 (54)
Rep 4 69 (51)
Rep 5 70 (49)
Rep 6 72 (45)
Rep 7 71 (46)
Rep 8 67

I felt strong during the session and a little tried on the way back to the city. Speed is definitely not an issue. I also think my endurance is pretty good. After reviewing my program, if it's lacking anything it's the "long tempo run Ryan Hall style" which helps with increasing lactate threshold. I'm hoping the races in the run up to Tokyo will sort that out.....

Recovery day

Went out on Sunday afternoon for an easy recovery jog (4.57 pace) with Big Bear. Covered 6.2k and felt pretty good. Don't think the long run in the morning had a chance to settle into my system. Watched the Tennis final in the evening and sank a good few pints of guinness in the process.
On Monday morning, went out for an easy 5k with the girls (Liv, Ger & Gill) in centennial, Big Bear came flying by in the opposite direction (he was in the middle of a tempo run), I ran with him for another 5.2k at 4.19 pace. He is getting very strong and will definitely pb Tokyo in 3 weeks time...
Great run by Mottram in Boston on Saturday night.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/beijing2008/mottram-busts-hailes-record/2008/01/27/1201368946175.html

Long run 36k

Got out on the road early and left the house and ran 2k to Centennial (4.50k pace), hit my favourite 3.6k loop in centennial. The plan was to stick to 4.40 pace and that's how it more or less panned out. After 3 laps I was joined by Tim Lindop. We kept the pace steady and for the last 10k increased the pace down to approx 4.30 without really intending too. Tim and I chatted most of the way which made the 2hr 47mins fly by. Tim is really looking forward to London marathon, imagine toeing the line with Lel, Baldini, Hall, Wanjiru, Tergat, Limo etc

http://www.london-marathon.co.uk/site/

The reps in centenntial went as follows 4.42, 4.40, 4.38, 4.40, 4.39, 4.38, 4.36, 4.35, 4.32, in order to cover an additional 2k to hit 36k, we ran from the kiosk down the middle of the park and back. We covered it in 9.29 (4.29 pace). 3 weeks left and looking forward to Tokyo....

http://www.tokyo42195.org/index_en.html

5km Bay Run

Frank Shorter the great US marathon runner of the 70s could tell "in the first 1/4 mile of a race whether or not [he would] have a good day." This feeling he described as "either being there, or [not]. He also said, "I 've learned that I can't talk myself into this feeling". Well that explains it, this morning I'd nothing in the legs and I knew after 400m. Went through 1km in 3.30 (which is the fastest km on the course) and figured I'd try to maintain the pace until the end. Ray Wareham who started with the 16.30 crew flew by at 4k and I kept the pace relatively steady to finish up in 17.41. Ray ran around 17.09. Both of us are running on the track in Homebush next Thurs and hopefully we can improve our times. Ran back with Blue Dog and Scott at a relatively quick pace. Scott was definitely on the mission to get back to the start.
Looking forward to a nice long run in the morning....

Easy Friday

Easy 48mins stroll in the domain with Kate, Ray and Springer. Legs were a little tired from yesterday's effort. Will run the 5km coolrunning challenge in the morning. It looks like Ray and Springer will make an appearance. I ran 17.33 last month so it will be interesting to see if there is any improvement. I sent Durante to Jackie's massage and apparently he cried like a baby ;)

800s * 8 (2 min standing recovery)

Headed down to Rushcutters Oval for an 800 session. I ran from the front today, Mike was keen to keep the pace at 2.40 but with a 2 min recovery it felt a little easy. The reps went like 2.35, 2:37, 2:36, 2:37, 2:35, 2:36, 234, 2.23. Also we ran a little more than 800 more like 810m. In the middle Ray ran two very quick laps (early 2.30s). The session felt easy. Durante went ahead with 400 left on the last rep and I decided to let him go but when Mike came by with about 200m left, I decided to chase him down. Both of us passed Durante and finished more or less together but if there was a photo finish he would of got it. Durante for sure was holding back. I ran the last lap in 68 sec which was pleasing. Most of the guys stuck to 2.40. Durante didn't feel good for the first 4 but got faster with each rep. Ray looked in top shape. He obviously ran a lot on his holidays. I will run the 5km race on Saturday and that should give me an indication of how I'm travelling. Good to see Tim Lindop making an appearance. He's ramping up for the London marathon at the end of April.

Music in the city...

On the running front, got out for an easy 8k run with Durante and followed up with an easy 7k run in evening. Finished off with 10*100m strides.

January has been a special month in Sydney on the music front, on Tuesday evening I had the pleasure of spending some time with the National. The city recital hall is usually reserved for orchestral music. So it was no surprise that the sound was fantastic. The 'Boxer' featured heavily in the set but it was great that the boys banged out some tunes from Alligator.

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23095513-5010940,00.html

Baby, We'll be Fine
All night I lay on my pillow and pray
For my boss to stop me in the hallway
Lay my head on his shoulder and saySon,
I've been hearing good things

I wake up without warning and go flying around the house
In my sauvignon fierce, freaking out
Take a forty-five minute shower and kiss the mirror
And say, look at meBaby, we'll be fine
All we gotta do is be brave and be kind
I put on an argyle sweater and put on a smile
I don't know how to do this
I'm so sorry for everything

For some more lyrics from the national's Alligator check out.

http://www.americanmary.com/music/#110503

I had no trouble giving up my Bjork ticket when I heard Arcade Fire would be playing the same night in the Enmore. Suffice to say I made no mistake, Arcade Fire were special, very special indeed.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/music/to-breaking-point-and-beyond/2008/01/23/1201024990713.html

The National are calling...

Struggled to get out of the office on time to meet up with Mike's crew (sorry Tom's crew ah I suppose it doesn't make a difference). Anyhow they were planning a 45 min Fartleg session with 1 min on and 30 sec off. So I decided to try and find them in the domain. I decided to keep to 4m/k pace and couldn't find them. After 4.6k as I descended down hill near the Boy Charlton pool I saw the crew stopping. They changed the session to 6*5mins with a 90 sec recovery. I decided to run the next 3 reps with the guys and felt strong on the reps. For the 3 reps the pace was 3.18, 3.18 and 3.12. Large crew out there again. Jogged back with Durante and pleased with the session overall. Great to see Tom at the front of the pack again. Heading off to see my favourite band now...bring on THE NATIONAL.....

http://www.myspace.com/thenational

Easy 10k

I couldn't get out early at lunch with Mike and the crew, so went out a little later with Tom for an easy 10k. We covered the first 5km in 22.3x and return at an even pace on 44.51. Good to see Tom back running. Legs felt fine after yesterday's half.

Smithfield woes

The plan was to run 3.50 pace which would see me come home in 80.52. I started out with Tim Lindop and Springer. Not sure what the issue was but i was struggling to keep with the guys after 800m, I tried my best to draft off the guys but I was breathing too heavy and decided to drop back and try to stick to 4m/k. Got to 5km in 19.45 and 10km in around 39.59. I passed Tim on the long climb from 10km to 11.5km and kept the pace relatively steady. I felt a little better at the 15k mark and pushed for home and tried keep the pace at 3.47km until the 20k. I looked behind and was surprised to see a female athlete chasing me down. I pushed the pace and ran the last km in 3.35 for an 83.15. Disappointed with the time but I do realise I went in with no taper and of course Tokyo is the target. Even in the hot humid conditions there were some get runs today most notably Springer who ran 79.30 and Big Bear with a pb 92.5X.
Went out for an easy 7km later in evening to loosen up the legs...4 weeks left

Wet Friday

am - headed out to Centennial Oval with Durante for a 400s session. Same as last week 8 reps with a 60 sec recovery. With the half on the weekend, I felt there was no point in modifying the session as suggested last week. I ran the reps a little quicker than last week - 72, 71, 69, 72, 71, 69, 72, 70 but I didn't feel as comfortable as last week, I think the mid-week long run took a little out of me. Speed is definitely Durante's forte and he ran each rep very controlled and left me for dust with a 61 last rep. We discussed his plans for the Sydney half in May and he realises he needs to focus on longer tempo efforts. This will require him to run more controlled for the Tuesday sessions and not worry about keeping pace with the guys at the front.

lunch - nice easy 8k with Joe Barker and John Havranek. It was nice to run in the rain again. Will make this a recurring appointment. Joe is keen to get back to his former glory. Don't think he will have a crack at the 6 foot this year but there's more of chance he will consider running the half in May. Don't think John will take much convincing to run the half. I'll just keep telling him that Joe thinks he's a better runner than him.

The plan was to run the 10k in Centennial this evening but I think I will give it a miss....

Hurricane's

Missed the Mona Fartlek with the boys yesterday and ended up running an easy 8k on my own. From what I heard, Mike and Tucks pushed the pace again and there was a large crew in attendance. Mike organised dinner in Hurricane's in Bondi Beach and it was good to catch up with the running crew (Durante, Eamonn, Eoin, Terence, Craig, Enda and Mike). Guess what we talked about for most of the evening as we chomped on steak and ribs...

Juno and a long run

Ran home from work last night, got home relatively early at 6.20pm. It gave me a chance to do some much needed strength/stretch work (incorporating some light weights and core work)

I then headed off with Liv, Gill, Jen and Chris (big bear) to see "Juno' in the outdoor cinema in the domain. An excellent comedy with a great performance from the lead character Juno. A great soundtrack supports the movie and it's nice to see an old favourite of mine "Belle and Sebastian" sprinkled throughout.

I got up pretty early at 5am and went for a long run in Centennial. It was dark at the start and didn't brighten up until just before 6am. I was joined by Kate Coburn for two laps and the pace increased slightly, I actually had to tell Kate to slow down a bit. In the end I covered 28.4k in 2.19. Not a bad effort for a mid-week long run.

Tempo Tuesday ??

The plan for was 3*3k with a 2 min recovery between each rep. I was late for the session and waited for the group to return from their first rep. Mike quickly informed me that they were running 10 mins by 3 with a 3 min recovery. My planned pace was 3.42 per rep (thus using the session as a tempo session). Given the recovery was extended, I decided to opt for 3.35 pace. Rep 1 = 3.34, Rep 2 = 3.35, Rep 3.38. Disappointed not to hold the pace in the last rep. I suppose I did run the rep on my own and I really wanted to to run "comfortably hard" and not to overly exert myself. I didn't go lactic and felt comfortable until the last km of the last rep. Briefly chatted to Mike re: the purpose of the session and he saw the session as a "10k race simulation" and not a tempo session. Which was obvious given how quickly himself, Charlie and Tucks were running. If Mike continues this form he will definitely run sub 35 in Lane Cove in Feb.

Easy Monday

Lunch - went for a run to Balls head with Durante, Mike Conway and Springer. Plenty of hills incorporated into a nice easy run in wet conditions. All up around 13k in just over 60 mins.

pm - ran home from work (3k) and went for an additional 6k run. Decided to push the pace slightly when I got out to the park and kept the pace at 4m/k.

Bumped into Joe Barker on the way to work this morning, I tried to coax him into running the 6 foot track again. I've still got a little work to do but i'm sure I'll convince him. Will try to get him out for an easy run on Friday.

Easy Sunday

Went for an easy run, all up 35 mins, no garmin so no clue of the pace but it was relatively easy, looking forward to a big week of running....

Long run

Another hot day in Sydney, got out relatively early at 6.40am and left from Mike Conway's house with Durante and Terrance (who is training for the 6 foot in March). We left bondi beach and went out to Bronte and then took took a hilly route to Queen's Park. We took it relatively easy on the hills (5.30 pace) and when we got into centennial we increased the pace (ranging from 440-450), we left the park after 1hr 20 and we could really feel the sun on our backs. We went back to Bronte and then onto Bondi (2 hrs) covering approx 24.8k. Durante and Mike went for a dip in the beach. Terrance and I decided to run on a little more and we took in a series of hills (Ben Bruck 1.5km loops twice), Terrance was very strong on the hills section and I wasn't really feeling great on the hills. Glad to get to Terrance's house in the end to refuel. All up 30km in 2.23. I suppose with 5 weeks left I should be covering more but with the heat I was happy the effort, I might go a little longer Wed for my MLR. Terrance gave me some Leppin gel after the run, I really need to start practising my carb in-take on my long runs. Need to make a call re: Smithfield half next week. I'm beginning to question the value of half 4 weeks out on a tough course with likely oppresive weather conditions. Another long run might be of more value. Good to see Tom31 back running.
Spent the rest of the afternoon on harbour cruise with friends and then went to see the magical Sufjan Stevens in state theatre.....36 days left..