Race, Brunch, Repeat

Morning - I figure why wait till 2016 to reinvigorate the training. On the flip side, I'll never do speed alone so the best compromise was an early cycle down to CP to join Greta T and her Rejoov group at 6:10am. Lucky I have an alarm clock in Trinity. My first time with this squad (15-odd), more casual than HuRTS and mainly...

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Another easy day and I’m sure the body will thank me for it in days to come. I know few that are working so all the company I had was RW (again). Started at Hickson Wharves, down to Barangaroo then back again waterside all the way to OH. What a disastrous decision to circle the OH and Farm Cove – a zoo of...

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Monday - Lorie's Return The dear wife, a very casual runner by background with a 55 min 10k PB, has been off for 10 months. Unconfirmed, but I suspect child birth has a minor part to play. After Sunday's mingling with HuRTS at Tommy H's BBQ, Lorie decides to strap on the old New Balance marking her return to the running scene. A...

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Being wedged between a LR and Speedwork, Monday is best reserved as an easy day. Ventured down South and in the interests of (in)sanity, added push-ups every km and with that, started scouting chicken shops in Petersham. Trusted sources tell me outside of Portugal itself, it's the place to go for Portuguese chicken. Sadly, I passed six and none were open (6:30am on...

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Local Tym Blackwell promised a Sunday LR involving uninterrupted bike tracks, two bridges, water views, century old mansions, dirt trails and get this ... horses. Couldn't resist this offer and thus my usual CP loop with HuRTS is for next week. Morning kicked off 6am King Georges, straight up the main road across Gladesville Bridge then the water-side bike track along Putney. Very...

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Euphemistically speaking, a dog walk this AM and a long one at that. Fueled by honey glazed ham, Molly and I intended to do 14km in the Drummoyne area. Legs felt OK (body felt heavy) and once I got the the Chiswick area, we were salivating over some nice waterfront properties. Catching my breath after a small hill (yes I am that unfit...

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Way too much Xmas food - I've forgotten the feeling of hunger. The culprit is a sequence of feasting sponsored by a proliferating family tree (kids, marriages left right and centre). Visited the In-Laws meant I was out West in the AM. Struggled to back up from 2am present opening but remained committed to exploring the cultural wasteland better known as The Hills....

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AM: an easy 8km into the city detouring through the grounds of USYD and later, Chinatown. PM: Tough call choosing between early AM 8x800s with JFen, 1km reps with HuRTS or a Redleaf Santa run with Smolly and his cohort. More a roll of the dice saw me prancing on the soft grass of Rushcutters at 12:45pm. Tom and Barts had already completed...

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"Great brunch, please bring the car around" was my departing remark to the missus. To get 7+ in my books, I want to see creativity and be left satisfied. There is great debate where Obi Wan continually disappears to between the multiple Star Wars Episodes. Turns out, he mans a Moroccon kitchen in Balmain. Kasbah and OW are both institutionally old-school, stubbornly resisting a...

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Heavy and tired and not sure why because sleep has been decent and running load not 'abnormal'. Last three weeks maybe 110-130k pw? Took the bike (35 min easy spin) then at lunch, met Champ, Smolly, Tym and a few unknowns at Stone Pillars. Quickly dropped the pack despite a low 5 min/km pace and only had Tym in tow. Circled around Farm...

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Just the 'real' troops happy keep the training kicking over this close to Xmas. Initially I thought my legs would be OK, but within 400m it was clear the quads were protesting at sub 3:30s. Immediately, I backed it off allowing Tom, JFen, Nick and DT lead whilst I scrapped around for company some 5-10s/km slower. A bit of a mix up around...

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The key to recovery is sleep and come 3am (after a 30km LR), I had banked zero thanks to the sticky temps.Well, after dressing two bags of frozen peas (home brand) in a tea towel and then spooning it in bed I can boast 3 hours sleep. Makeshift cold water battle - wife may be jealous of the affection I showed some frozen...

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For once I made the 6:30am Kiosk start. Idea was get the kms in before the heat then retire with a good breakfast, joined by Lorie, Champ and Lissy. Set out at 6am feeling pretty rubbish, but you never know how the body responds once warm. Well I wasn't disappointed. 8km down Cleveland and I'm already 1kg lighter from perspiration. Today's company included...

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Like a scavenger I scrapped together some decent mileage on a day which would ordinarily involve an ABC swim with the crew. Much disappointment missing out on a chance to better my 18:30s odd 1km PB. Anyway, the quads feel good but some funny niggles in my shin and left foot. AM - involved 8km recovery down the main street of Newtown (from...

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Piling on the mileage with a serious case of DOMS. Wednesday - CP  OK what is with the weather. Tornado down in Kurnell, pitch black at 11am. Conway bails on a midday run (weak reason given), leaving me to call out Champ for an easy jog. We took a gamble heading out for a CP loop and it paid off. Very sticky, but...

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12 hours separation between croissants for breakfast and doughnuts for dessert - this is the norm. Brewtown Newtown disrupts conventional meal plans through a clever cross-breed of the two. The Cronut. Despairing competition return fire with bruffins (brioche + muffin) and even doughnut milkshakes. BN is one-step ahead and now we have the cruffin (croissant + muffin). A beautiful abomination. Well, it's a calorie bloodbath and liposuction...

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Got the scare of my life this AM and not because I almost got run over by a car on my jog into work. Loaded the HuRTS website and saw '14 x 3 min' with 60s rest. O dear. Maybe 30 turned up in sticky conditions but all that was left was 8. The toughest survive. Some seriously compromised quads meant I had...

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Last day up north and I stayed close to base. Early on, this involved a 2km segment stepping on slippery rocks near the water, before venturing back to the street. Looped around the local suburb, progressively increasing the efforts from 5:15s, to 4:30s. The real value was dragging myself up multiple hills of say 40-50m elevation; 10 in total. Added 8x100m strides at...

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Saturday PM - Copacabana Jog from Hardy's Bay to Copacabana Beach. Google Maps says there are some nice trails bypassing the main road. Much promise. The reality check was running alongside cars coasting at 80km/hr on a windy, hilly traverse through a forest. Eventually, I stumbled onto Copacabana Beach, south side. Made my way up the sand to meet Lorie (by car) and...

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Friday: ABC Off work from lunch so I had to change up the routine. Ducked out at 5:45am. 8km run to ABC from home and 1.5km in the pool. Pretty crowded with some random squads hogging 60% of the lanes. Nevertheless, zero regrets because today was a real stinker. 2 days consecutive at the pool. 29 min flat for 1.5km. Nothing to get...

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Initially scared the mid 20s temps would compromise the enjoyment of a swim down at ABC, the humidity stepped in to save the day. Jogged towards the Art Gallery with Frenchman and Andy (en route to Rushcutters), before branching off to the pool. Certainly no guilt skipping 7x400s with 3km tempo! Swim was pretty uneventful. 500m solo in 9:40, then another 500m drafting...

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Toyed with the idea of a swim-only day, then a Redleaf dip offer came through via email. Linked up with Smolly, Liam and later Taffy and Charlie L starting from the Stone Pillars. Luckily, Smolly was still in recovery-mode from some brutal session on Tuesday so I was able to enjoy the 4.5km jog (rather than race the hills). Of course, Loftus St...

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Well I looked at the 4x10 min lunch set and figured, how bad can it be? After all, I'm 3 weeks without speed. Come 12:30pm, Timmy was kind enough to set 30 of us off. I sub'ed the 2 min rest for a fast float, hence 48 min tempo for me. Set out 'easy' in a chasing group behind the leaders (CT, Barts,...

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Convinced the pensioners group to mix it up with a run-swim-run combo to Cremorne Point. In sticky temps, this was a compelling sell. Five others took the bait including MC, Sammy J, Frenchman, James and another. Forgot how hilly it is in the 5km to the pool. Imagine our disenchantment seeing the pool closed! Frenchman was adamant it was open just last week....

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Can never say NO to a social long-run with the team in Centennial. However, my run yesterday meant a tall ask for the legs to back up for 2. On my warm-up to the Kiosk (7am start), I glimpsed the 6:30am group shooting south past the Moore Park Golf Course. Tagged on here for 2km before the 'start'. Well, I think the crew...

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Cafe Shekin shares the same excellent brunch genetics of its Enmore-based mother; Middle-Eastern tilt, massive serves. Honestly, the main difference is amusement over the local clientele. Erskinville is weird. I observe marauding zombies sucking disposable cups whilst dragging squealing beasts on chains. False alarm - it's just a young demographic of coffee-addicts where ownership of a designer dog is mandatory. Menu is the same as...

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