Magpie 1, Hoey 0

Decided to roll the dice and ride to work in pretty damp roads. No longer than 5 min in I was deeply regretting this.

There I was, riding innocently past Artarmon Oval, when I heard a piercing sound from the skies. Looked up just as a huge magpie came swooping down. Lucky I reacted fast, else I would have lost an eye. 

The magnificent creature hitched a ride on my head for 400m. Attack after attack after attack...I was completely petrified...

This feeling plus humid/windy conditions was basically the recipe of a pretty tough (ie miserable) session with HuRTS. Spent each of the 4 reps stranded between the front and mid groups. Watch is broken so was doing these ones naked. Actual pace mid 3:30s, but it felt like 2:30s (in a bad way that is). 

We start at the Stone Pillars and it's a double out-and-back. Both times I made it about 40m before opera gates (2.75km one way). Found some company on reps 1 and 3 with JFen, Bruce and Macca. Reps 2 and 4, I was solo and unsuccessfully tried to follow Tom as he passed everyone with ease and surged the hills. 

The key is a strong reps 2 and 4, into the headwinds and up the hills. This is where I focused my efforts and I was happy to finish 3rd and 2nd out of a pretty big crowd.

Session summary - 11km covered in 39:45. Works out to be mid 3:30s but felt A LOT harder. Add another 2km for warmup and warmdown.

Rode home very closely and avoided invading the personal space of anything with wings.

Daily summary - 21km running and legs feel rubbish to be honest.