Jim at Hurts

Jim's second attendance at Hurts and he did exceptionally well. Monday run is supposed to be at 4.40 pace and we were going around 4.30 to Shelley Street. Jim was fine and a great hit out - he will be back. I turned at Shelley and came back to the Opera House - pace quickened after the turnaround and then Aiden took off coming under the bridge and ramped it up again at CQ with the result that the last few kms were 4.15, 4.06 and 3.44! Off to Canberra for the rest of the week with the kids, so will hopefully get out there for a couple of runs. Stats for yesterday are at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/333014559

Thurs, Fri and Sat

Killer of a session on Thursday at Rushcutters doing 8x800 all below 3.40 pace with the last 3 around 3.30 and really felt the Wednesday run in the legs but still happy to maintain that speed. Decent size crowd with Laura, Russell and Jit among the regulars. Stats for that session at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/330541002 and about 12kms all up.
Got out on Friday for a nice easy run with Adam and great to see him back on the med and getting some consistency back after 6 months of injury. Needs to take it slow to ensure he gets back to pre-injury levels. Stats for that run at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/331275601 and another 8kms in the legs.
Got by far the best part of the today this morning and about 7 of us in Centennial for the 7am start including Renee, Ray and Ben. Was pretty chilly and the rain clouds seemed to be every where except over the park. Pace was sedate at 4.40 for the first lap, although I had to miss the hill due to requiring a Costello break and picked the group up on the hill up to the Oxford Street gates. Headed off on the second lap and we were straight down to 4.30 average and saw a couple of 4.25's on the Garmin. Pace picked up in my last km and the heavens opened with about 300m to go. Not a bad run this morning and 16kms all up with stats at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/331275587. A big week for me at just over 50kms I think.
Jim is making an appearance at Hurts on Monday and then we are off to Canberra for a few days so I'll take the gear and maybe be enticed enough to do a Canberra half one day.

Monday and Wednesday

Managed to have a solid start to the week with two decent runs. A big crowd on Monday and with no MC to keep things tight the pace was on from the outset - probably because everyone wanted to impress Tom. It was great to see Adam making his first Hurts run in 6 months due to injury and he probably didn't need the sub 4.30 pace from the get go and dropped off at the Opera House. It got faster after the turnaround and all up just over 10kms. Stats for Monday are at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/330113087.
Headed out today for the new Wednesday route and only 6 of us at the start but we picked up J-Fen for a bit at the Opera House. Felt sorry for Tom today as it looks like he might have to carry his own drinks/gels etc for the Berlin marathon - what a hardship that must be. The other highlight of todays run was trying to come up with a new Hurts TV series now that Game of Thrones is finished for 9 months. Suggestions welcome. Anyway about 14.kms today (Garmin didn't pick up satellite link until a 1km in) and feeling ok. Speed set tomorrow, work permitting and stats for today are at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/330113068

Update for the Week

Been a consistent week this week with four days on the trot, although I forgot the Garmin f or two of them. Out on Wednesday for a miserable and wet corp cup and just couldn't get going so another poor result at 24.30 and still slower than half marathon pace. Stats for that are at  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/327838380. Managed to get out on Thursday but really didn't fancy or have time for the Rushcutters pyramid session so did 10kms easy with Mike and couple of his pals, at roughly 4.30 pace. Friday was City Mile Dash, and a great team win for Tom and the boys, and a only four of us (John, Russell and Ray) out for the Hurts session. Nobody fancied a long or hard one so we did a very sedate loop of Lavender Bay at 4.30 pace again and about 9kms all up.
MC is off on his hols now, so Laura organised Saturday's run and boy was that a lesson - first 10kms was at 4.30 average pace and just managed to hold on to her and Chris Truscott. Another couple of folk running including Glenn and Timmy joined us for the second loop. I just did a 4km lap of the park as the first lap took it out of me for 14kms at, you guessed it 4.30 pace. Stats are at  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/327838376 and probably the biggest week for a while.

Tassie Runs

A fantastic long weekend down in Tassie with my brother, his wife and the family and even managed to get out for a couple of short runs. Did a loop of Stanley harbour, up the Nut and around the top on Saturday for about 6kms all up and a 6.5km loop around Greenhills on Monday morning. The Nut is a killer of a climb - about a 200m rise in 430m - and I had to do it in three stages but once you get up the top it is a stunning view and a nice 2km loop. Stats for both runs are at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/326263319 and http://connect.garmin.com/activity/326263309

Long Wednesday

New route for a Wednesday and seemed to daw a bigger crowd than normal and my first one in a while due to sickness and corp cup duties. Was a nice 15km run around the usual Monday route with the addition of the wharves and then out to Pyrmont and I cut back early for a meeting. Decent group of JW, Tom (lucky to get away with a scraped hand after being knocked over by a chick under the harbour bridge), Mike Race, and Aidan and a good pace at 4.33 average. Nice to have a couple of runs this week although couldn't get out today for the 2km sprints. Off to Tassie early doors tomorrow to see my brother for the long weekend, so will sneak in the running gear and hopefully get out for a few kms around Stanley. Stats for yesterday are at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/323678483

Big Backlog

Been very slack on the blog for the last few weeks, so will try and get some consistency back into things this week.
Got sick after the half, so didn't run from the Monday through until Corp Cup last Wednesday - only good thing was the legs felt fresh for that although I didn't do a great time again, so a bit disappointing. Stats for that session are at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/322256719. Headed out on the Thursday for the 10x400 at Rushcutters and had an all right session
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/322256688  but started to get some real pain down the outside of the right knee on the way home. Didn't run Friday and did some rolling of the ITB on tennis ball on Saturday and had no pain today. Will give it another go tonight.
A huge crowd out today - biggest Monday I have seen - with some old faces including Tom, Laura and the Macquarie girls back from a great 4th place at the JPM in New York, Charlie, Aidan and Jonathan. Pace was on right from the get go, easy to see MC is still out injured, and averaged 4.23 for a recovery run over 10.5kms. No km splits I forgot to change my watch back from Thursday's setting. Stats from today are at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/322256672.
Anyway, very happy that knee is feeling all right and hoping to get in a good week before we head off to Tassie for the long weekend.