2km TT

Got down to the Run Monash training tonight held by the one and only Trev. Warmed up with Sammy and Jack Powell for about 2km.

Then did the TT. Went out fast, and died. But that was the plan so all good. Ended up running 6:24. Expecting around about there. I'll look for the sub 6:20 next time.

It was run on a football field, basically a grass 500m loop marked out by cones. Sharp turns and slower people forcing wider lines to be taken, but a good little event. Did an extra 30 minutes afterwards too. 10.5km all together. 

Last minute

Found out today that there's a 2km time trial tomorrow night at my university so though I should give that a ping. 

So just did 10 X 1 minute tonight at training. Bit of a last minute decision too as I ended up feeling pretty average throughout. Didn't have my bix this morning so I reckon that did it. Sultana Bran doesn't quite cut the mustard if you ask me. Nothing like a hefty quantity of bix to get you through the day. 

Not particularly quick tonight either. Hung just ahead of Cas. 12km all up, looking forward to tomorrow. 

Squad

We got a bit of a long run squad going these days. Myself, JB, Cass, Bec and Will if he's there. 19.3km in 1:36:44, so pretty slow. Felt really good on the hills. Didn't kill myself, just got it done. Made myself practice running off the hills, as I struggle to keep the cadence up coming off steep sections on race day. 

76.3km for the week. But tight in the left hip flexor, I'll stretch and roll tonight and tomorrow. 

Coldest morning

Really chilly this morning, had to get the ice scraper out for the drive up. Picked up Will on the way through while the heating got going. 

Regulars were there plus Tom and minus JB as he had coaching. Warmed up well although the hands were pretty frozen. Got out insanely quick, but I didn't even feel it. Had to look at my watch 3 times after the first rep to check it was correct. 

My best hills session by far. Hung onto Tom for the first 6, before he got 10 seconds on me by the end of the 8th. So didn't let the gap stretch too far. Incredible morning, but became rainy again this arvo. 

Times went: 1:03, 1:09, 1:09, 1:08, 1:09, 1:09, 1:15 (phwoar hurting here), 1:12

22:02 for the session all up. 30 seconds faster than I've ever done it before. Over the moon. 12.1km all up. 

More of the same

Cycled to DMK in the pouring rain for the third time this week. Thankfully it stopped just as I arrived and held off for the run although it was damn cold. 

10.2km with Sam and JB. Strength built a lot on last week, much heavier deadlifts, more core and calf raises. 

God what happened to the weath

Despondent outside once again at training tonight. The regulars were there though. I'm actually so thankful for the long warm up, I always feel so good afterwards. 

Session was a bit of a weird one. 6 X 400m with 1 minute passive recovery, followed by 6 X 200m with 200m jog. Stuck to the outside with Will, again staying off the track. 

Will pretty much just got me on all the reps. I realised I've got the legs, but not the lungs so I'll work on them. Real windy and rainy throughout the whole session so sideways faces on the cool down. 

First and fourth reps were all up hills, so that's why they struggled. 

Times went: 1:14, 1:08, 1:07, 1:16, 1:08, 1:07, all the 200s were either 31 or 32 which was pretty sporty considering we were on the outside. 

2 laps slow cool down for 10.8km all up. 

Easy run squad

Myself, Dale, Liam, Beau and Sam around Caulfield racecourse this evening. Attempted to start early, but it gets dark so fast these days. Pretty chilly and some ominous forecastings for the weather for tomorrow's session. No wind though which was good. 10.7km in 49:01. 

Cold

Coldest it's been in a long time last night, but our warmup is so long these days that it doesn't matter too much. 10 minutes worth of core, 3.6km jog and 5 strides had me feeling good for an acceleration session. 

I trained with Cass mainly, I pulled away on all the reps, but her insane recovery pace caught me when we were jogging.

The 5 400s were all between 74 and 76, up a hill on the outside, this wasn't too bad. The 200s were all 33 or 34. Not a bad session. Then did 6 x 100m on, 100m jog for some speed. 

2 laps cool down in a massive raincoat in the rain, found such a good rhythm in that. 13.2km all up. 

Ferny creek

Pretty flat after yesterday. Did 16.5km in 1:22, not as far as usual, but I was tired as. 73.7km for the week. Less breaks than usual which was good, I rate that continuous effort. Here's a photo from yesterday. I'll really focus on relaxing those shoulders next week. 

Cruden Farm 2016

Another new course added this year. 6km for my build, really scenic to be honest, rolling hills, small gravel tracks, river crossings, sharp turns and a distinct lack of fence jumps, which was ideal.

Probably my favourite course that I've ever run on, despite having another average race due to a lack of a taper. 

Start looked hectic, but it wasn't too bad in the end. Bit of a bottleneck affect through a gate, but I got through unharmed. Bit of a loop before hitting a gravel track and a muddy section, just fighting for position here. 

Then kind of died a bit after 3km. Hit the more prominent hills and really struggled. Kept letting people go past me which pissed me off as I just couldn't stay with them. By the time I hit the river I pretty much dove in. Didn't even consider picking a line. Got overtaken by the leading girl and finished 13 seconds behind her. 

My time was 21:00, and the course was a bit short. Good news was I finished 20th so 1 place better than Wandin. Has anyone got any tips for racing? Maybe I should go out a touch slower? Unsurprised, but frustrating all the same. Sam and Denyan killed it like normal. I've definitely got to get some mental game happening, I feel like I take it too easy sometimes and that's why I'm disappointed, but I crossed the line today and the marshal called for medical assistance because they though I was gonna pass out, so maybe I am working hard enough. 

Ah well, I'm definitely overthinking it again. Next race is Bundoora which I'll taper for so we'll see if I can make a top 20 happen. I just want to be running really fast so badly. 12km all up, please comment if you think you can help. 

Carbs are not the real enemy

Easy run with Sammy and JB in a bit of rain, Sam held back and ran with us this time which was good. 10.2km in 48 or so.

Strength afterwards was uncharacteristically easy. It's the start of another 4 week cycle so we have to learn all the new exercises. We learnt how to deadlift which wasn't too bad, although we started doing calf raises of a higher platform which made it a lot tougher.

I love carbs.

8 x 1, 6 x 30

Meant to be an easy session last night due to the race on Saturday, but it ended up being pretty tough. 

8 x 1 min, 6 x 30s with the same jog recovery. I covered 5.9km for the session. Managed to get ahead of Jasper early on, but he managed to get back on board in the very last rep so props to him that's a tough grind. Felt like I trained pretty well though. First time I've done the 3rd lap in the cool down for a long time after a cross country session like that. So 13.2km all up. Easy run and strength tonight. 

It's so hard to tell how fit I am, because I haven't been doing anything on the track.      Really keen to have a go at 9 minutes next season though. 

Cauf

Sam, Dale and myself up at Caulfield racecourse this evening. 10.7 in 47 something plus some strides in the dark. Looking forward to dinner. 

Sticks and Stones

Monas tonight, off time instead of distance. Unbelievably windy, like insane. Hung with Jasper for the most part, although I eventually pulled away, but he reeled me back in on the last rep. 

90s and 60s went well. 30s struggled and 15s were gross. With about 400m to go in the session, coming around the bottom corner, tree branch fell 2m in front of me. Gave me a bit of a surprise, all focus and rhythm gone for the final push. I was pretty lucky though, it would've left a hefty cut across my face at the very least if I had been a bit quicker. 

11.1km all up. Crueden Farm is the race on Saturday, just going I train through it like the last ones. The big ones that I'll taper for will be Bundoora which doubles as state champs, and Albert Park 10km because I like 10km PB's. I think Crueden is 6km though so should be good. Not sure how hilly it is, but hopefully it's more than a few steps down from Wandin. 

Long run

Went for a long run solo yesterday putting the Saturday effort down to a lack of sleep, I got 10 hours Saturday night and felt solid the next day. 

18.8km in 1:26:41. Low 4:30s towards the end. 70km exactly for the week. Looking forward to training tonight.

Skimping

Up at 6am this morning to try and get a session in before this field trip to the You Yangs. Felt despondent, sore throat and just really tired so ended up only doing 6km really slowly. 

Might try and sleep in tomorrow because of tired. Need to catch up on sleep. First one skipping training in a while so I'm not too guilty.

Dark

Gets dark so early these days. Had to have the lights on cycling to the run for the first time. 

10.2km with mainly JB. Sam and Denyan went a bit quicker. I finished in 46:30 or so. Felt good. Strength afterwards was characteristically tough. 1 legged bridges haven't become any easier unfortunately. 

Realised that I'm going to have to miss hills this week for some field trip and that means a real early start Saturday morning to get a run in. Goddddd I'm keen for a sleep in. 

And just a strong 4 to finish guys

Miserable weather. 3rd day in a row it's been rainy, windy and cold, but to be honest I prefer this than 40 degrees. 

Rocked up to training questioning how I was going to get through it, but the warm up got me feeling strong again so good news. Jasper, Rossi and myself on the outside while JB, Denyan and Will were on the track. 

Session was 6 x 400, 2 x 200, 1 x 400 and the last 4 had to be faster than our second one in the first set. Jog recovery was the same distance as the rep. Managed to get away from Jasp, not sure how. But then Rossi dragged me round on the last few reps and I just managed to out kick him on the final 4. The kick is real. The first and fourth reps were up hills that why they're struggling a touch.

Times went: 1:16, 1:12, 1:12, 1:17, 1:09, 1:05, 31, 32, 1:08

Really stoked with how it went. Cooled down with Denyan is the sideways rain for 12km all up. Cycle home was pretty chilly. Realised that raincoats are the greatest inventions of all time, I should've worn them more when I was younger. 

Smooth as

Met up with Sam at Caulfield racecourse at 5 and felt great from the get go. 11km in 46:20 odd through the long grass feeling so fast. Hit 4:06 for one of the kms and all except the first were under 4:20. Haven't run that fast for an easy run in a long time, just felt awesome. 

Happy Birthday to Soph. 

Accelerashe

Strength yesterday arvo had my core aching all day. Then got rained on after class today and took the bus home genuinely drenched. That was classic though, like you can't write that stuff. 

Arrived at training for the 10 minute core sesh so more planks got me hurting even more. Felt strong on the warm up, not fit, just really strong.

Acceleration session is a 400m rep followed by 400m of easier pace slowly building up to race pace followed by 200m of all out effort before jogging the last 200m home and starting over again. A bit of a family favourite down at our squad. Did 5 laps and ran really hard and pretty well. 

Pushed the recoveries along nicely and hit 3:25s on the build up sections feeling really comfortable. 

2 laps cool down out the front with Denyan and Sam for 12km all up. Big day out tomorrow and hopefully Caulfield racecourse in the arvo. Game of Thrones is just so good and OpTic just won ESWC. 

Wet weather

Gave Will a lift up to Ferny this morning. Really rainy so wasn't expecting much of a turnout, but ended up running with JB and Will which was good.

Felt great today after a quick toilet stop at Grant's picnic ground. Felt strong on the last few hills and did an extra loop for 19.2km in 1:34:12. 74.5km for the week. Soaked through from the rain when we got back to the car, the mud of Ferny is becoming engrained in my legs once again. 

Wandin Park 2016

Good god, Intel about the new course couldn't have been more wrong. Trev was adamant that it was a cruisy 4km for the U20s. 

Arrived early, checked my chip was working and got out for a 2km warm up with the fellas where we saw what we had to do. Fence jumps, log jumps, 3 major hills, potholed grass and most worryingly, a section on the map labelled "Valley of Death" through which we had to navigate. 

Really hot yesterday as well, which wasn't ideal, but there you go. Start was mental like normal and I never felt comfortable. 

Jasper got away within a km as did Will and Sam. Hit the first obstacle about 1k in, a grass mound. About a 1.5m wall of dirt which we had to scale before launching ourselves off a similar height on the other side, just before encountering a log jump, over which I just managed to  poorly execute a steeplechase effort. 

Came to the valley of death which was the easiest part of the course, before hitting "heartbreak hill", undoubtedly plagiarised from Sydney's famous City to Surf. That murdered me. Felt myself clawing my way back to Jasper, but he escaped me on the downhill where I just couldn't get the cadence up. 

Hit the last hill, lost a lot of concentration, heard shouts for the lead female behind me and so I stepped up my game. Came across the line in 15:33. Slowest time for that distance in many, many years but by far the most difficult course I have ever seen in my entire life. You should've seen it. I took ages to recover as well, it was just sapping. Great scenery though. 

Bad news is I have to do two laps next year. 10.5km all up. Motivated to run a bit better next race, wasn't stoked with my 21st place. Hopefully top 15 next time. 

Recovery run

Dreading the easy pace on sore feet after walking all day, but it stretched my legs right out which was great. 9.6km in 47:30 so real easy before Wandin tomorrow. 

Didn't go to strength, I was too tired, but I'll definitely be back on Sunday after Ferny. Feeling good today.

10 x 1, 6 x 30, 4 x 15

Struggled last night. Pretty chilly too. Ran into Chris Hibbert from Cheyne's old squad so did the warm up with him. He's rocking long hair, an aggressive first tat and some large goals heading into next year's track season.

Felt great at the start of the session before impressively managing to blow up. The 1 minutes were really tough and just grinded out the remaining efforts. Managed 7.2km for the session and 13.2km all up. 

Tired after a long Wednesday and stil have a run and strength to go. 

Cool Caufield

10.8km with Sammy after it poured all day. Wind was meant to be 110km an hour all day, but it lightened right up for us and the sun came out. Great run. 

Threshold

Got some test tonight for university so couldn't go to training, went solo this morning instead. 

Ran up to DMK and a bit extra for a warm up, did some strides and got into it. It felt good doing something that wasn't really hard. There's been a lot of tough sessions recently so good to find some middle ground. 

5km in 18:59. Ran in Tom McFarlane on my way around. Finished off with 5 quick strides to keep some speed and ran home for the cool down. 11.2km all together. 

Second ep tonight. Elite.