Monday Hurts

Apologies for the delay in getting yesterday's run update done - think it was just a combination of laziness and forgetfulness. Not a bad turnout yesterday given the weather conditions - cold,wet and windy. Mike and James among the crowd at the start and wepicked up Laura and Rob at the Art Gallery. Was only doing half the set so started off out front and wanted to hold a steady pace round to Shelly Street. Kept a pretty steady 4.30/35 average pace for the first 3/4 kms around Farm Cove and the Opera House. Picked up the pace a bit down Hickson Road and into Barangaroo where the wind and rain unleashed on us- rain was almost horizantal and wind was straight into the face. Very glad I was just doing another km in those conditions. James put on burst of speed over the last km which was completely unnecessary and resulted in a quicker last 100mtrs than I anticipated. Run stats are at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/88912488.
Adam still in Perth with work, so should be back for a the Friday run. Aiming to get out for the long run tomorrow - will aim for 12/13kms.

Ride with the Girls

Good to get out for a ride on a chilly Sydney morning with Niki, Julie and Belinda after a wee bit too much ice cream cake and lemon slice at my nephew's birthday dinner last night. Forecast was for rain and big south-easterly this morning, but it hasn't transpired. Been a while since I was out on the bike on a cold morning, so grateful for the head warmer, long pants and fleecy jacket not to mention the winter gloves. Headed out through Double Bay and up Heartbreak Hill which wasn't the gentlest of starts given I hadn't been on the bike since the BRW tri in early April. Dropped down into Watson's Bay and climbed up past the Gap and down to Bondi via the back end fo the City to Surf route - covered that a bit quicker than I will run it. Bondi looked gorgeous this morning with a few surfers out but looking a bit black and stormy out to sea. Up Campbell Parade, Bondi Road and Birrell Street back to Centennial Park for a cool down lap followed by a coffee (or so I thought). Julie and Niki decided that 4 laps were in order (Belinda headed off on the 2nd) and first two felt fine but my under carriage waved a flag of surrender on the third. Popped out at the York Road gates and came home via Birrell Street and Craig's Cheese Shop for a skinny latte and home for a nice warm shower. Ride stats from the Garmin are at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/88599778.
No hip pain at all on ride which should be a good sign.

Fast Friday

After missing the corp cup on Wed, it was good to get out today for a Hurts session today. Only five of us at the start including James and Indrajit. Just decided to do the Hickson Road route today so started out at around 4.40min kms and came down to about 4.30's around the 4/5km mark. Hip pain started again around the 5.5kms so decided just to half the course and pick up the pace to Shelly Street. Very happy to have brought the pace down to just around 4.05's and felt ok cardio and leg wise. Chiro appointment is booked in for Thursday morning so will hopefully get something sorted out for the hip after that.
Run stats are at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/88250320
Melbourne Marathon entries opened yesterday and very disappointed that for this year only it won't finish with a lap of the MCG due to AFL season extension. Whole reason for doing it was to run inside the G - will still sign up, but not happy.
May well do a ride on Sunday morning, weather permitting.

Monday - working off a bad morning

Glad to get out at lunch today after a less than happy start to the working week! Anyway a good session with Hurts clears the head. No Mike or Tom today, but Laura, James and Wildman among a crowd of about 12. Wildman and a couple of others headed off at a cracking pace so no way I was keeping up with them. Laura and I hit the front of the second group and managed to hold a 4.25 average pace for the first couple of kms .Held that pace and brought it down for the last couple to about 4.10's. Run stats are at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/87458508 and very happy that heart rate averaging 160 odd for that session and never really felt any cardio issues all the way round. Hip hadn't been feeling that great over the weekend but no issues running today - just weird.
Anyway, lunch on tomorrow and hoping to get out for Corp Cup on Wednesday although a vendor lunch may prevent that.

Friday

A very frustrating day at work helped by getting out with Hurts at lunchtime. Decent size group today including Mike,Brendan, James and Laura. Hip still not too good, so just did half the run. Over the bridge today and four of us turned at the bottom of Neutral Bay and back to the State Library. Run out was very easy but came back about 30 secs per km quicker on a hilly course. Very happy with pace on the way back, cardio and legs felt good but hip pain kicked in at the 6km mark- got to get to the chiro or physio next week.
Run stats are at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/86781233
Not sure I'll get out this weekend - charity ball on Saturday will be a late one so will put paid to an early morning run.

Wednesday

Happy that I got out today and tried the lift in my left shoe and while it didn't prevent the hip pain, it wasn't as bad for my longest run in about 5 weeks. Adam and I headed out with Hurts for their long run around Centennial Park. We headed off half way round the park and came back via Anzac Parade - stats are at
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/86400037. Happy with a 4.47 average pace as the first half is pretty hilly and felt strong getting into the park. Adam won't be too happy, but maybe this will motivate him  - last 4 kms pretty slow as I had to wait for him.
So hip pain doesn't appear to be from the shoes, so physio/chiro visit in order to find out what is causing the trouble.Will miss the speed set tomorrow and aim for the Hurts Friday run.

Monday

Adam and I managed to get out for a run with Hurts yesterday. Some great results from the Hurts folks in the SMH Half on Sunday.
Good crowd out for the normal Monday run and a nice and easy pace to start the week. Put a gel pad in the left runner to see if that makes any difference to the hip and it felt ok with a couple of twinges around the 6/7km mark. Importantly no pain today and so will aim to get out for part of the long run tomorrow and try out the heel lift. Run stats are at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/86188988.

Corp Cup and Out of Half

Well no run stats today as watch battery ran out before I got to the start! Probably just as well as another poor CC run today- estimate doing around the 25 minute mark so not where I want to be and felt like I had nothing in the last couple of kms. Will have to wait for the official results to find out the exact time. Adam managed a 25.58so he was happier with that start to this series.
Have withdrawn from the half as hip still starting to give pain around the 5km mark although not as bad as I ran in the old shoes. Right heel however didn't feel great after the run - guess it is another trip to the physio and chiropractor to see what options I have. So a bit despondent but would rather miss Sunday and be able to run later races. Have someone to take my Half spot who will do a better time than I would, so every cloud etc!

Half in Doubt

Well blog is finally working again so chance to update yesterday's run commentary.
Headed out with Hurts - big group yesterday due to the Half on Sunday, so we decided to do part of the Half course. First few kms were at 4.30 pace and after about 4kms the main group started to pull away and lost sight of them at the 6km mark. Managed to get 10.5kms in, and run stats are at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/84461557  however not looking good for the half on Sunday as left hip is starting to hurt about 5kms in and don't fancy trying to run another 16kms and do some damage. Think is related to the new runners, ironically enough the right foot is feeling great, so will run corp cup in old runners tomorrow and see how the hip feels before making a final decision tomorrow. Pretty disappointed but would rather miss this and get in the C2S, Blackmores Half and Melbourne Marathon than injure myself and not be able to anything for a few months.

Lonesome Friday

Out on my own tyoday due a 12-12.30 meeting. Headed out around Pyrmont and ended up doing just over 8kms. Not sure the garmin was checking in with the satellites that accurately as it said my first km was a 4.05 which was just wrong. Hip and legs felt good to start with, after yesterday's set, but hip wasn't feeling great by the time finished - bit concerend for the half so will see how I go through next week.
Run stats are here http://connect.garmin.com/activity/83749267.
Not sure if I will get out tomorrow as I have a few housey things to do, given we bought a new house today and have to get ours on the market, and with mother's day on Sunday I won't be getting away for anything!

Thursday Fartlek

Well I've done my first Hurts Mona Fartlek after about 12 months of running with the group and to be honest I don't really care if I never do one again! The set is only 20 minutes long but you get through close to 5 kms, which when half the set is a float, gives some indication of the pace and pain. Set is basically 4 x 90 secs, 8 x 60 secs and 8 x 30 secs. Starting on a hard run you alternate between hard and easy for the set and turn at 10 minutes. The route is around Farm Cove and Mrs Macquaries, so not exactly flat either. Anyway, decent crowd out today including, Ray,Tom, Brendan and Wildman. Stats are at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/83554839. Decided to run back via the Rocks and Hickson Road with Brendan who wanted to do the last km at half marathon pace of around 4.15 - just what I needed so you can view the stats for that run at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/83554830.
So all up about 9 kms today and hoping to get 10kms in tomorrow on part of the half route just to get a feel for the course.
New Brooks Glycerin 8 are doing well - right heel is feeling good but getting some pain in my left hip and ankle which I suspect is just the body settling in to running in neutral shoes after 5/6 years in shoes designed for over-pronation.

Wednesday

Was hoping to get to the long hurts run today but work transpired against me, so headed out for the Corp Cup presentation to provide a cheer squad for Anthony Donnelly who notched up 200 runs last series. Anthony, Derek, Adam and I headed out for a wee run to the Domain and managed just on 7 1/2 kms in 34.50. Adam left us at the opera house - bless him - as he had already done 3 kms into the office from home. Pace picked up inthe the last couple of kms and while not getting any long runs in prior to the half, still feeling comfortable running 7kms in 32-33 minutes, so hope to be able to manage that on race day and bring the pace down as the race wears on. Run stats for yesterday are at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/83370698.

Mona Fartlek is Hurts session today, so aiming to get out for that.

Hurts hurt

Well hallelujah I managed a run although this one was nothing to write home about. Adam and I headed out for the Monday hurts session and within 2kms most of the grouo knew we hadn't been around for a few weeks! When we noticed the first couple of kms were at 4.25-4.30 pace we knew it was going to be a hard slog. Chest was still feeling a bit iffy from the head cold last week so by the time we got to the harbour bridge we had both decided it was a half course effort. Must admit that seeing some of the models for fashion week at circular quay was some temptation to come back but we may have embarrased ourselves by that stage.
Not a bad turn out today - about 10 of us including Mike, Ray and Wildman.
Run stats are at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/82936286 and this was the first hit out for the Brooks Glycerin runners and happy to say no adverse effects on the feet or legs. Working from home tomorrow so no session and will aim for the long hurts run on Wednesday.