Woke to find a completely new set of legs than yesterday. Plan B (swim) changed to Plan A and I met the 6:20am Striders group at Willoughby Park for the 'Willoughby Winder'. Three others formed the 6:20am group including HuRTS regular Bruce Lambert (Lambo), Jess (3:13 at GC) and pommy  Mike (2:58 Melb).

We set out into the rolling hills of Castle Cove and quickly understood the warning at the start 'this course is hilly'. It's scenic as you track the waterline southwards from Castle Cove towards Northbridge. There's a good mix of really hilly roads, semi-technical trails and yes, hills. Course map ends resembles a lobster... 

The other three are in good shape and kept a solid 4:40 pace on the flats. Hills and trails were a lot slower. New discovery was 15km into the run . 'The Tor Walk' in Castlecrag is a serious heart-health hazard. Strava segment shown below. I'd like to return with fresh legs and take the CR.

Tor Walk Ascent - 18 degrees over 400m

Lambo and I left the other two at Northbridge to return early (he looked pretty comfortable the whole way). I was intent on a 34km and added 7km on the return home. I picked-up to marathon pace in the last 2kms - splits were sub-4 min/km. With the heat really picking up, I ended up motionless in the backyard pool.

Run summary - 34km at 5 min/km pace. 720m elevation gain.

Wiloughby 'lobster' Winder - avoid if you hate hills

As per last week, I joined Lorie for a 3km recovery in the evening finishing with a 3min plank. 6:30min/km pace has never felt so hard.

Quick aside - she bought me a RoadID band shown below. If you become roadkill, think of it as a 'dog tag for runners' - name, contact details (of owner/emergency contact). Must be something wrong with the camera - where is the rest of  my arm bulk?

Road ID - 'call this # if your find this Asian guy on the ground'

Weekly summary - 160km, 1 quality work-out, 1 swim and almost no cycling. Glad to finish off another heavy week. It's never easy holding 100km+ and last weeks have been tough.

Weekly summary - 100 miles!

Time for a few weeks rest. Striders 10km and JP Morgan 5.6km is upcoming. I'll look to shake the niggles and turn up fresh.