Hill Ride

After having 4 days of no exercise, I hauled myself out of bed at 6.15 on a Sunday to meet up with Nick and Chris for a ride. It felt like we did every hill in the eastern suburbs this morning culminating in a ride up Arden Street from Coogee. Ride stats at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/143548091 and very concerned to see my heart rate hitting 244 3 minutes in as we went up St Thomas street near Waverely Cemetery but doesn't seem to have done any harm for the rest of the session and probably cleared out a few cobwebs! Avoided the rain that appeared to be around the east this morning and enjoyed some splendid views of angry seas as we headed out through Bronte, Tama and Bondi to Watson's Bay. Chris is a new mate of Nick's who has just arrived from Adelaide two weeks ago and appears to be a pretty decent cyclist - well the legs are shaved so that's a bit of a giveaway. He was flying up the hills like they didn't exist but the cruelest of blows was when we were 100 meters from our usual cafe finish on Clovelly Road he announced that we were going to climb Arden Street. I've survived 11 years in Sydney with a fair amount of riding around the east and avoided Arden St but not today and to be honest, if I wait another 11 years before I do it again, it might be too soon. I honestly thought I was going so slowly that I would come off the bike. The bus coming up my backside helped with the motivation.
So bit of a slack week dut to the hols and back into it again next week. We are fully into camping now, although not quite ready for a site without running water or warm showers!

Tuesday

Out for the 8 x 5 mins today and legs were feeling pretty tight - I suspect from the new shoes. Was aiming for consistent 4 min/km pace for the set today and managed to do that and also get further on each rep. Looking at the stats I even managed to get faster as the set went on and finished on a 3.46 min/km pace so very happy. Stats are at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/142428205. A huge crowd today - I reckon about 45-50 people all up which is just great to see.
No hurts for the rest of the week as I am on leave and will hope to gte out for maybe a swim tomorrow morning, try and sneak in a ride and run between no and Monday if all is well.

Monday

Nice run out yesterday with a big group including MC, Tom, James, Tucks etc. Took it nice and easy back to Circular Quay for 11kms all up at an average pace of 4.33. didn't get out on Friday as the wife was sick so had to stay home looking after the kids, so legs were probably well rested as I only managed a 1.5km swim at Clovelly on Saturday. Will get out for the 8 x 5mins today and then on leave for the rest of the week,  so might be some coastal runs.

2011 Stats

Out today for the 4 x 2km or 4 x 7mins session with Hurts and another huge group - 30-40 again today. Had a bad night with Hamy vomitting and legs were still feeling pretty tight and tired after Tuesday so wasn't sure I would get all 4 done but struggled through with with pretty respectable pace splits of 3.59, 3.48, 3.57 and 3.50 although there wasn't much left at the end. Todays stats are at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/141003942 Also managed a 1.5km swim yesterday morning.

One of the features of the garmin site is a couple of reports, so I thought I'd check out the 2011 stats and turns out I ran 1360kms which took 158 hours and I used up 111,725 calories. My recorded cycling activity was somewhat less and I managed 277kms, in 15 hour using up 14935 calories. Not too bad for a fat scotsman!! Hope to see what the 2012 stats look like!

Happy and disappointed

Got out for the new tempo session today and a big turnout - seems the resolution thing is in full swing. Must have been about 40 people which made for aquite an impressive sight as we headed off around the Domain. So 45 minutes in total at 15 secs slower than 10km race pace - 22.5 mins out and turn and come back to start point if you have done the set properly. I set the watch to do 4.30 pace reckingin on a 4.15 pace for 10kms but big Charlie wasn't happy and said so as he passed me, so aimed for 4.15 pace and managed to hold that as an average for the set. Very happy that I managed 10.6kms in 45 minutes and that I got back to the start on 45.02. Disappointed that I started off too fast and didn't manage to keep a consistent pace all the way. Stats are at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/140493699. On the other hand, a sub 40 min 10 km is achievable on a flat course. Not sure if I'll do the ong run tomorrow or head out for an early morning swim.

Monday

Probably need to make a resolution to be a bit more timely with my blog in 2012. Anyway a couple of entries from last week and today's session to get me back on track.
Last Tuesday I managed a 10.5km run to North Bondi and back (http://connect.garmin.com/activity/140247891) followed by a 500m swim at Clovelly and got out for roughly the same distance on Wednesday lunchtime with Hurts (http://connect.garmin.com/activity/140247888) which really did hurt for the first proper run back of the new year. Only 5 of us out including Emma, Laura and MC.
Headed out today for the session and good to see a bigger crowd with a few worried looking faces at the prospect of working off the Christmas excesses. James, MC, Laura among the regulars. Wasn't that hard a run at 4.36 average pace but it felt pretty tough and the heat wasn't helping. Stats at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/140247883.
Not sure If I'll do the tempo run tomorrow or the 4 x 2km speed set on Thursday.

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.