Final 2011 Festive Update

Merry Christmas etc to you all - possibly the last blog post for 2011 and time to reflect on the goals and results this year. Very happy with PB's in all my goal races this year with the definite highlight being Melbourne Marathon which was not only a personal goal but more importantly a great way to fundraise for Touched By Olivia and happy to have managed to get around $3000 for a very good cause. the other main results were the C2S in 57.48 (1.02 off the previous best time) and the JPM in 21.38 (30 secs off the pb from 2 years ago). Not quite so impressive but still a pb was my 10km time at the Sri Chinmoy Dolls Point of 41.42 (58 secs off). So the obvious goal for 2012 is to get the 10km under 40mins before I turn 40 in October and I might just need to try it early in the new year, if all is well, as my short stuff seems to be ok at the moment and can certainly hold 3.50's for 6kms. I'll also be looking to get at least one Kurnell in (hopefully February if I can convince the wife) and maybe a couple of other sprint and an olympic but I'm not getting too carried away about the tri's again just yet. Been great being part of the Hurts squad, which is the only reason why I have had my best year so far - cracking bunch, hard sessions and most of all an enjoyable way to run.
I've managed to get a couple of swim sessions in over the last week, one run/swim and a ride today. Will hopefully get another run and a couple of swims before getting back to work on Tuesday and the first Hurts session of 2012. So here are the stats for the last few days http://connect.garmin.com/activity/137105423 (run followed by 500m swim) and 26km ride http://connect.garmin.com/activity/137390607.

Tuesday Hurts

It certainly did with a 4 x 10 minute session with 2 mins rest however it was the perfect antidote to a very frustrating morning. A really big turnout today given the time of year - I reckon 40 people including, Mike, Tom, James, Rob, Laura, Emma and Tucks. Legs felt pretty ordinary for the first set which starts at the Opera House gates and you go around Farm Cove, over Mrs Macs and usually to somewhere close to the Art Gallery depending on how good you are feeling over the hills. Pretty happy with sets 1,2 and 4 but didn't get close to where I finished the first one. Pace alright for those three with 4.08, 3.58 and 4.03 but a little disappointed with the 4.18 and stats are at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/135489065. Although I did have yesterdays 15kms in the legs, so maybe I shouldn't be too hard on myself and I did do about 9.5 kms in 39 minutes so getting close to a sub 40 10km time. Will hopefully get out tomorrow as Thurs and Fri are write offs with lunches.

Decent session required

A bit of a damp day in Sydney made it very pleasant for the Hurts lunch run. Not a bad turn out for the time of year and I was desperately in need to some decent kms to get rid of 3 xmas parties in 4 days. Normal Monday route saw Laura and I sitting on the front at a easy 4.40-ish pace until Laura dropped off at Shelley Street. Joined on the front by Dave Kane and a couple of others and the pace dropped down to about 4.30's from the 8kms mark. Felt really good and technique felt really easy and effortless today so kept going and managed to oush out a few 4.20's coming back around Farm Cove and finishing on 3.50 pace for the last 500mtrs or so. A good long run at a decent pace and all up about 16.5kms with the run up and back so not a bad start to the week and blew out a few cobwebs. Run stats are at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/135318678 and not sure if I will get out for the short stuff tomorrow

Very Tardy

Seems to be quite difficult to consistently blog at this time of year - must be the social engagements but rest assured I am still running. Been my biggest week for a while this one doing the Hurts sessions on Wed, Thurs and today. Even got out for a 500m swim this morning which helped after a late ish night at the annual Hurts Xmas party last night. But I get ahead of myself.
Wednesday saw a very small turnout for the long run, so we decided to go north and do Lavender Bay for a change. Was a nice easy-ish pace for the first 6kms until Rob Castella and English John decided to up the pace from the top of the steps onto the bridge and then it was on for young and old. Our stats tell the story with a 5.11 up on to the bridge closely followed by a 3.48. Caused some collateral damage for a few of us. Stats for run at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/134531181
Thursday saw my very first Rushcutters pyramid set and boy did that hurt. The set itself is bad enough - a circuit at roughly 400m done as 1,2,3,4,3,2,1 laps with a rest time between the laps of half the time it takes to complete, the 2kms of hills and steps to and from just don't help. Stats for that session are at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/134750886 and very happy with a faster last lap than first, pretty even pace at around 3.45m/km and very chuffed with a 3.14 pace for the last one. Heart rate recovery not looking too bad either.
As mentioned did about 500m at Clovelly this morning and got out for the Hurts run today - one of only 3 people who turned up and two of us were at the soiree last night. Some of those Hurts guys are pretty
soft. So just an easy 10kms today and stats at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/134750878 and and average of 4.40m/km. All up about 37kms this week so not a bad effort prior to Xmas.
Well done to all the Hurts winners last night.

Big backlog

Apologies for the delay in posting - had a couple of evening engagements last week and never seemed to get around to updating the site on the weekend. Not too big a week last week - got the Thursday 4 x 2km sprint session in and felt like the hardest set I had done for a while but happy with consistent 3.45-ish pace (stats here http://connect.garmin.com/activity/134133203) followed by a short Friday run with a small crowd including Tom and Ray, finishing at Hickson Rd  (stats here http://connect.garmin.com/activity/134133192 ).
No swimming last week and Nick up branding cattle in Qld so no bike partner either. Feeling the weight piling on after an easy ish week so decided to attempt the whole set today. The group split up quite early and I didn't want to get caught in no-mans land, so stuck to the front guys until we went under the bridge. hey put about 100m on me going down barangaroo so I turned at the 7.5km mark and came home on my own for a 14.5km run all up and 15.5 in total by the time I got to and from the start/finish. Pretty happy with a 4.34 average pace and great conditions for running with the rain staying off for the whole session and it being nice and cool. So a good start to the week and stats for today here http://connect.garmin.com/activity/134133184. Aiming for the Wednesday and Thursday sessions this week.

Monday

A cold, wet start to the day meant Nick and I didn't go out for a La Per ride this morning. Got out for the Hurts run at lunchtime though and felt really bad for the first 4/5km to the extent that I almost peeled off at CQ on the way round. Very few of the regulars today - only MC, Martin and Indrajit in the group that I knew by name although recognised a few faces. Kept going and made it back to CQ for 10kms all up and felt pretty ok for the last 3/4kms and happy with a 4.33 average pace as it didn't feel that fast at all. Stats for today at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/132802931 and hoping to get to the speed session tomorrow or Thursday.

Saturday Swim

Got down to Clovelly for a lunchtime swim yesterday and managed 6 laps in about 22 mins, so all up around 1.2 - 1.3kms I would estimate. Beach was pretty deserted depsite the very pleasant weather so swimming was uninterrupted. Forecast for this week in not looking great so cycling could be out the window but hope to get at least 3 hurts sessions under my belt.

ABC Biathlon and Friday Run

Did my first biathlon in about 6 years at the Boy Charlton pool last night with Wayne and really enjoyed it. Will be good to get a few of us up there for a bit of a challenge in the new year. Knew Wayne is a strong swimmer so wanted to get 2 minutes on him in the run and managed that with a 15.34 for the 4kms and came out of the pool with a 21.14 overall. Wayne was just 30 secs 40 secs behind me around 21.55 which is a great swim after a 17.40 run.
Also got out for the Hurts session and due to a 1.30 meeting I was only going to be able to do about 40 minutes. Conveniently the 5 of us who turned up - Laura, Martin, John and James - all wanted to do the same thing. We decided to just head out on the Monday route and turn at 20 mins and the pace going out was nice at easy at 4.45s - forgot the garmin today so had to rely on James for all stats. John picked the pace up a wee bit on the way back and from the Boy Charlton back I reckon we were down around 4.20s before Martin caught John and I at the entrance to Art Gallery road and it was pretty quick all the way back to the start. All up almost a fartlek session with a out in 20 and back in 19.12 and  distance of 8.5kms. So a decent week of mixed training and really happy with my short speed stuff at the moment - body feeling good so maybe the marathon training has done some good! Not sure if I'll get out at all this weekend but will try and sneak in a swim or bike ride somewhere.