Arrived Friday night and found out that I was sharing a room with Eamonn, Jasper, Sammy and JB so genuinely ideal. Couldn't have been a better set up. Arrived too late to run and Friday was my rest day anyway so too easy. Quality hit out at Balderdash, I was in tears by the end of it, it was pretty funny.
Warm up started at 8:40, not sure if you remember from last year, but the warm up is just over 3km with a monster hill in it so you're very warm by the end of it. Freezing in the morning so I actually rated the hill, it warms you up properly for sure and if you take it easy, you're feeling good at the top. Then a light jog along the aqueduct to the start of the 3km time trial.
Really learned that quick starts are a weak point of mine, I really have to start thinking before I rush off blindly. First km was a bit fast and died a touch after that, however the conditions were pretty harsh. Raining, muddy and windy so not conducive to fast times.
I ran 10:04, so not happy at all with that but that's alright. Also rumours the course was longer than last year? I'm hoping so. I think our group wanted me to record their times to remember from last year so here we go. Sammy - 9:07, JB - 9:33, Jasper - 10:17, Eamonn - ??.
Then did 4 X 1 minute with 1 minute jog to get the session up to roughly 20 minutes. First one was the longest minute of my life. Then jogged back to the house for weetbix for 12.2km all up.
Chilled, played some B-Ball, and cards for the rest of the day, as we all foolishly forgot the consoles this year. Won't happen again I'm sure.
Then a strength session with Anna, a bit easier that normal as we did an un-overloaded session for the new starters. Still plenty tough though. Only a few did the second run, excluding myself as I became injured shortly after Warby last year, probably because of the large mileage that I wasn't used to, over a short period of time, so kept it to 1 per day.
JB was encouraged often to do so, but didn't rate the idea himself.
Lots of dinner that night which was great, everyone puts in to create a hefty buffet.
The following morning was the long run. Started out with JB, Jasper and Eamonn and ended up with Cassy, David (new guy) and JB. Started from the house and made our way down to the town and along the river. Then back up the single massive hill to the Aqueduct.
Started out slowly up the hill and ended up smashing it, felt great. That's where the group split up. Final 11km was spent cruising not along the aqueduct, genuinely fantastic chatting with our little group, admiring the views and getting in the clean air which is so phresh in the forest. Hitting 4:35s for that last bit. 21km exactly in 1:38:44. One of the best runs of the year I'd say.
80.8km for the week! Biggest in a long time, will taper down for the race next Saturday.
This morning felt early after hoyting some exploding airbags in the room next door, bit of revenge after their antics the previous night. Genuinely classic as 6 of the 7 went off.
Bit of a chat with TV and Lesley on Sunday night too. Was told to keep doing what I'm doing and so I shall. They seemed confident that goals will be reached if I keep this consistency. They also told me just to focus on my running instead of comparing myself to others al of the time. That should give me some confidence.
Anyway, Monday morning was Monas, back up the warm up hill to the Aqueduct. Felt very strong despite the chilly weather, ran with JB, he got away on the reps, but he slowed so we could recover together. Rossi and Harlem (?) caught us but we stayed with them, before jasper hauled us in with his speed on the 30s and 15s and I just managed to stay in touch. Great run. 13.5km all up after an extended cool down.
All in all, absolutely loved the trip, had a ripper time and got me pumped for falls creek again at the end of the year. Here are some photos, some more might get posted tonight so I'll get them in tomorrow's blog. OG just won Anaheim, good news to come home to.
Myself in the 3k.
Cooling down in the rain, from back to front, Sam, Jasper, Eamonn and me.
Bix.
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