Apologies for the long wait but the internet has been really poor recently so haven't been able to post. Had a great weekend in Warburton though and I'll get some pictures up soon.
So arrived on the Friday night, freezing cold and muddy before getting in some dinner, bit of a chat with everyone and heading off to bed. Plan was 8:30 run on the Saturday morning and that's what happened.
Met everyone on the porch before jogging to the Aqueduct, but jogging probably wasn't fairly put. Had only just woken up so still a bit dazed about a km of warm up later we hit a hill that seemed to never end. All up it was a k long and definitely got the blood pumping and took it out of the legs. Waited for everyone at the top before running along the aqueduct to the starting line of a 3km time trial that we were running for the Saturday session.
Did a few strides then Trev shouted go and so we all went. Really quick start as per usual with these guys. Head wasn't in the right place though so dropped off after around 1km, great little track to run on albeit very wet and muddy. About a car widths wide, it stretches for miles through the forested hills and its pretty perfect for training. Hit the turn around cone and must've lost 5 seconds trying to navigate my way around it. Jb, Beau and Sam continued widening the gap while another jack stuck on my tail. Kept hammering but I was struggling with a km left. Did my best to finish strong and managed to hold off Jack behind me. Ended up with 9:42 on a muddy path so a solid start.
Then did an 8km cool down through the woods which I enjoyed for 14k all up for that first run. Had some breaky of 9 vitabrits , not a bad effort to be fair and played some basketball and a bit of soccer in the afternoon. Then at 4:30 got the skins on as the temperature dropped drastically and got out for a jog. Just 6k in around 30 mins but got that 20km mark for Saturday which was great to see.
Dinner then we had talks from Sonia o' Sullivan who runs for Glenhuntly as well. She came second in the 5k at the 2000 Sydney Olympics in 14:41 so she definitely knew what she was talking about. Also apparently has a pb of 8:21 for 3k so fairly mental. Great to listen to her and really inspired me to attempt to break the 9 minute barrier on the track next season. Then Stacy talked about injury prevention which was interesting and she just sent me through some exercises that'll hopefully keep me in action.
A bit of poorly played pool before bed but definitely saw some improvement there over the 3 days. Same time start again for long run day. Started off with almost everyone but groups split off and went separate ways. Pretty chilly again so I had on a light jumper which was great up until 8km when we hit another hill. 2km long and an ambiguous ending made me pretty unsure about how hard to run early. Ended up stopping halfway to take the jumper off and tying it around my waist made me feel like a Tarahumara with a cape.
Hit the aqueduct trail once more and at 10.5km, Sam and I turned around to head back along the forest path to home. Fantastic running through the forest, the air is so much nicer than my normal long runs next to a road and definitely motivated me to try and get back up to Ferny while I'm in Melbourne. Picked up the pace along the flats and we were rolling along at around 4:10's for the last 8 or 9 km. Felt great to be running like that.
Ended up with 20.5km on the watch so longest I've ever run continuously in 1 hour 33. Didn't do a second run because didn't want to overdo it either. Although Jb, Jack and Beau did 2 hours which to be fair I thought was a bit much considering their age. Went to a pub in the afternoon where Trevor, at 77 years of age, got on the beers and got some photo's with some bikies.
Monday morning was fartlek day along the aqueduct once more. It was mono's which are new to me but apparently named after Steve Monoghetti so they've got to be alright. 2 x 90s, 4 x 60s, 4 x 30s, 4 x 15s with the same amount of recovery as work. Started off strong but as always with these guys they murder the recovery so I just can't keep up. Lead the first rep and hit 90s, I slow to a reasonable recovery pace and they all genuinely fly past me like we're still in the fast bit. I went with them to start and they were running 3:50's recovery pace. It's just a bit silly but they are pretty fit so maybe I'm in the wrong. Anyway ended up dropping off during the 1 minute efforts and never got back in touch, done in by the end. Did a cool down with Trev which was good to see. He finished the cool down with a 100m kick and he could definitely still move.
13.7km all up for Monday and 53.7 in 3 days so pretty happy to have done that. I'm going to now go and do some exercises so I don't get injured.
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