Hickson Road Taper

Big crowd out today for the Hickson Road 1.2km sprints but Adam and I planned to take it as an easy-ish taper for Saturday's 10km and given yesterday's exertions. After taking 2 years to break 23.25 Adam is not talking about sub 23 for the Corp Cup - good to have goals, but I'm not getting any younger!
Any way, happy with today's set and with the first at 4.11 pace and the last four all about the 3.55 pace. Not sure what I did to the watch but the stats are all stuffed up and are available at discounted price today at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/183959831.
Rest day tomorrow and hoping to report two pb's in the one week after Saturday's race.

Two Corp Cup PB's

Stop Press - having taken a couple of years to go sub 24 minutes for the Corp Cup, I've taken 40 secs off in the last three runs! Even better was that Adam took 15 secs off his previous PB today, which is at least 18 months old as well. So our new pbs for the corp cup are 23.20 (me) and 23.10 (Adam). We went out hard today and managed to hold on as can be seen from the stats from the run at
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/183652095. Just couldn't catch him in the end and the 10 secs is pretty much his ability to go down stairs a lot quicker than me. I compared the two runs where I broke 24 and the results make interesting reading - my 23.39 was done over a course 100m longer and I was slower today on some of the km splits - so maybe some more room for improvement. Comparison stats are at the following link
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/comparison?activityId=183652095&activityId2=162350071. So a great result for both of us and the competitive spirit is alive and well!
Really looking forward to Saturday's striders run as that will be another head to head and hopefully some new pb's there as well.

Gentle Monday

Out for a gentle start to a week of racing with the Hurts group today. All up about 11kms at 4.37 average pace and a good turn out with MC, Laura, Emma, Adam and Dave among the group. A beautiful day for a run although a bit of a nasty headwind at Barangaroo. Stats for today at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/182909001.

Backlog

Bit of a posting backlog due to a hectic social calendar! Git out for the Hurts hill sprint session on Thursday and due to a 1.30 meeting could only get 6 repeats in, for which I was quite grateful and one more than I have ever managed for that set. Adam appeared for my second and pushed the pace a bit so didn't feel good at all. Stats at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/181968178. Also got out this morning for a ride and missed the group due to an overturned car alomst right outside Waverely police station - good place to have an accident and quite a bit of excitement for that time on a Sunday morning. Anyway, just did 25kms taking in Heartbreak Hill, Watsons Bay and Bondi and it was freezing. Stats for that ride at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/182361553 so a pleasant finish to the week. Striders 10km on Saturday and Corp Cup on Wednesday so taking it for the secon half of this week.

Easy Wednesday

Legs feeling shattered today so headed out for a run with Jim, Adam and Simmo and did the Glebe loop. Beautiful day for it and it was good to catch up with the lads and be able to talk during the run for a change. Jim getting back into it after nearly 12 months off with an achilles injury and may be able to make the Striders 10k at North Head. Simmo is talking about the Sydney Marathon in September following his run on Sunday so will be good to keep track of his progress towards that goal. Stats from today at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/181205576. Have been to the movies with the wife tonight hence the late posting but have a confirmed entry for the C2S thanks to a special 24 hour early bird window for 2011 entrants. Better start getting in some hill training - Hurts 10 x 550m hill session tomorrow could be just the ticket!

Heavy Legs

After a rest day yesterday, legs were still feeling quite heavy and calves a bit tight but headed out for the Hurts 4 x 10min speed session today. Huge crowd and King James's last formal Hurts run before he heads off travelling for 12 months. I reckon there were about 50 people out today including Tom, MC, Mike Race, Laura, Dave. Russell, Charlie and Adam. Took it very easy at the back with a few other half marathon recoveree's and still managed a respectable 4.16 average pace although the last 500m brought back some painful memories of Sunday's course. Rep pace went 4.16, 4.14, 4.09 and 3.52 as I was determined not to get passed by James and Adam on the last one. Stats for today are at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/180848976.
Have committed to the Striders 10k at North Head in 2 weeks so will be my first head to head against Adam over 10kms since 2005 -  should be fun. Checked past results for that race and I did a 43.09, Jim did a 43.43 and Adam managed a 45.06 - could be a slight difference in times for this race and might have to see if Jim can make it for old times sake.

SMH Half PB

Woke up to the surprising sound of rain at 5.30 this morning - unbelievable given that Sydney was on for it's driest ever start to May had it been dry today - first 19 days of May have seen no rain! Anyway, was only a slight drizzle as I headed up to Bondi Junction and was thankful for the cloud cover as it stopped the temperature being quite so cold. Decent crowd for this event of 13,500 and it has grown a bit since my last run in 2001. Saw Supercoach at the start but none of the other Hurts crowd so headed off on my own and felt pretty good for the first 6/7kms - tried not to get too excited with the fast start and keep to 4.12 pace. Got through 10kms in 43 minutes after a couple of nasty little inclines around Pyrmont and came through 14kms in pretty much bang on 60 minutes (good boost for the city to surf at this stage of the year). Knew the last 5kms were going to be tough with the hills up Macquarie Street and around Art Gallery road and I was right. . Looking back at my stats on the Garmin, certainly did it quicker than it felt and managed a decent effort for the last 300/400 meters. All up I reckon I have done a 88.33 as i didn't stop my watch quickly enough at the end for some reason - so I'm taking 10 secs off the watch time. Given I haven't done more than 15/16kms in one go for about 3/4 months I am pretty stoked with the time. Garmin stats are at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/179935976 Not sure what is going on with the official results which are saying a net time of 89.39 but very happy to see that I negative split the second 10kms by about a minute, especially on that course. So a bit of a break from the pb targets now until the C2S but I think a sub 88 is achievable for the Blackmores. Saw a few HUrts folks after the race and some great results all round - Laura doing an 80.40 and breaking 81 for the first time is probably a highlight. MC and Mike Race paced a couple of guys inclduing Indrajit who managed a 85.10. I doubt I will be out for hurts tomorrow but may hit the speed set on Tuesday.