Heating up

Pretty warm this morning and I was still sore from yesterday, lay in for a bit before doing 10km in 44:17. Training is rough as tomorrow.

 Cricket wasn't exciting enough, the best game was New Zealand v South Africa by far.

Bob's Beat

Long run this morning. The phone playing my music stopped working 3kms in which was a pain in the neck because I had to run with earphones with no sound coming out. Luckily ran into Dad at 12k and gave the mess of wires to him. Time was 1:19:01 for the 18km. Last 4km were all under 4:15 pace as well with lap 18 coming in at 4:04. Sore now though. Cricket World cup final today, and the theme song is the most inspirational thing the world has ever seen but the name "Bob's beat" doesn't really incite much. Get around it.

Big Big Night

Late home last night so ran early afternoon with Chris. Felt good but tired so I tried to get the session done okay. Started off with a 4km threshold in 14:09. Not too bad and felt good after that, recovered fairly fast. Never felt like I was maxing out or giving it everything which as a good sign, but also that's what a threshold is meant to be. Then some 400's on the track in 75s, 72s, 69s before Chris dropped out wretching. Probably deserved it for partying too hard, but my last 400 was really nothing special in 73s. 10.4 all together. Lots of km's this holidays, build a base before cross.

Vic Twilight Classic

Yesterday was probably the most amazing conditions for running I've ever seen. Not a breath of wind, a nice temperature hovering around 19 degrees all day and a bit cooler in the early evening. However that was my rest day and so thunderstorms were forecasted for race day. At the track, it was the back straight during which we were running against the wind. I was put in the 3000m B race and Chris was running the 5000m with Eloise Wellings going for the World Championships Qualifier of 15:20. My race was first, fast start, the starting 200m in 34s. Didn't feel it though. Jumped on board of the 2 lead runners and stayed with them. First lap was 73s, perfect as far as I was concerned. Stayed with the 2 leaders, through 1km in 3:02 and I felt the second guy dying. On the fourth lap, I went by while the wind was behind me, planning to push the pace or to just latch onto the leader. Managed to latch on and went through 2km in 6:09 as the leader was starting to gap me. Kept on hammering as I hard as I could, just to attempt a strong finish. Alone, however the wind took its toll and the gap grew. Last lap I just went as fast as I could run and ended up running 9:23. Really happy as that's a 13s PB in rough conditions. Really stoked to able to run this. Chris ended up running 16:01 after going out in 6:04 through 2km after staying with Wellings. Great run from him, a PB and Wellings managed to hit her qualifier, running 15:17 I think with a fairly aggressive coach getting loud with 200 left to travel. Stoked with my result though, I've been trying to go under 9:30 for years now it seems. Looking forward to continuing to race.

Not planned

So yesterday was told by Coach Cheyne to enter the Vic running network twilight classic 3000m on Thursday, so running club tonight was lower intensity taper. Chris and I were on the track doing 1200m, 800m, 600m, 400m, 200m. It was pouring with rain the whole time, windy as well which is just unbelievably frustrating as I get nervous as to what form I'm in. So cold today that I was wearing trackies and a hoodie while warming up and doing drills. Winter is setting in. The 1200m was okay, I led the second lap into the brutal wind. Time was 3:49, but I was tensing up to much, trying too hard to take it easy. When someone says easy taper, I think I shouldn't be trying so then I stress when it's harder than I reckon. Combined with the abhorrent conditions, it wasn't great mentally. In this race, I'm going to understand that it's going to be rough and then I think I'll relax. The next rep was the 800m and I led it out way too fast in 68s. We ended up running 2:21, not too shabby at all. Then the 600m which was 1:50 and solid. During the 400m, the wind picked up and made the last 100m brutal and we only ran 72s. Keeping in mind, this was not at all maxing out. The 200m was 31s and it felt easy which was good. 8km all together.

Ironman

Long run with Chris this evening. Really wasn't feeling it and felt sick the whole way round. Tired after big night last night which didn't help at all. The Ironman was on as we ran along the beach which was good to watch. They were around 36km into the marathon so they were hurting but trotting along at around about 7 minute k's or so. At the turn around I stopped my watch and forgot to start it which just shows I wasn't on my game. In the past I've tripped, fallen and while floating in the air, hit the stop button. One of my finest accomplishments . It meant I didn't get an accurate time but I would've said around 1 hour 23 for the 18km. Just didn't have anything left in the last km's like usual which was disappointing because I genuinely enjoy trying to run faster on long runs. Anyway here are some photo's of Mum and I yesterday doing the hill session. 63.7km for the week. I might take it easier this week so I can hammer out training during the school holidays.

Mountains

Did a hill session yesterday at Jells which was so tough as usual. I went with mum and there was about 30 people doing the session. Chris came along too, but Beau made the start really fast. This is the trouble with the session, no one understands jog recovery so the recovery is no longer recovery but pretty much a threshold. It's unbelievably frustrating when trying to form a pack because it seems that no one wants to train properly. I slowed down more on the recovery but I was still moving at 4:30's or so. Anyway really happy with yesterday as I kept the times consistent which is unheard of with this session. 360m hill, they went: 65s, 69s, 71s, 72s,  71s, 71s, 71s, 67s. Went out the same speed as usual so I reckon I've become fitter. Or maybe the recovery down the hill is the actual rep and I've got it all wrong. 12.5 all together.