Race, Brunch, Repeat

Out with the crew around Farm Cove today for the 14x3 min intervals. The turnout was huge but a broad mix of those per usual Tuesday runs and maybe 10-15 doing Gold Coast (full, half or 10km). Tom organised some strange 7,5,3 to which I had little idea nor any interest to try.

Consulted with the likes of CT, Birchy, Sonya and Maca and landed on 4 reps being the 'right' number. Held the pace at a somewhat clinic 3:35 for each rep on 3 min cycles. After #4 I felt I had only just started. O well.

Watch says 3.4km in 12:40 at 3:45 min/ave average.

With the 1.5km warm-up and 1.5km warm-down, total session was 6km.

1 day into the taper and I already hate it! The commute via bike rather than running during the morning is outright horrible.

Per my plan, just 30 min recovery today with no strides. Found some good company with Richard W. We started at CQ, headed around Farm Cove and back past the Art Gallery.

Run took 35 min with the man-traffic disruptions. Legs feel flat!

Something for Jess. An alluring chalkboard menu with seasonal produce and highly regarded by bloggers. Christine, Nick and baby Linc are back from a cameo brunch down in Bondi. The risk is if this under delivers, a chubby baby is my second course.

Massive menu descriptions highlighting local sourcing; owner gives no sympathy to the poor slave that updates the board by hand when pumpkin price rises above $1/kg (today).


2015 trend of Sydney Inner West ... pay $15 for a garden-bed-on-toast best suited to veterans of sustained cabbage-soup dieting.

'Forboding' is defined as walking in to see three petite waitresses and equally skinny diners eating muesli. We have a carbon copy of Cornersmith. The non-toast, non-muesli option is mine to try.

Roasted pumpkin, quinoa salad with pesto dressing and a poached egg - $15 + $3

3 nuts, 3 pieces of pumpkin and 8 forkfuls before the plate is snatched away. An assault on a customer's physiological need to consume enough calories to walk back to the car.



I had the foresight to add a poached egg. The sole enjoyment of my meal.

'Chorizo' ... the lonesome word in my expectant lady's vocabulary.

Housemade chorizo baked eggs on baguette - $16.50

'Disappointment' is defined as a baked eggs in a mug resulting in the need to fill up on bread.



'Catastrophe' is defined as a mild-flavoured watery base with no chunkiness. Too thin for the bread to absorb, no spoon offered to scoop the broth up. This was an egg and sausage broth. Similar to a Korean hotpot without the spice and 1/10th the value. I miss proper baked eggs in a tomato base.

Dish #3 and #4 were the jumble-on-toast style offers.

Smoked silverside wagyu bruschetta - $17

The most impressive looking dish goes to Nick. Menu name is as incredible as the asking price. Dish translation? Processed meat and garden salad on a slither of toast. Feedback was OK, but the guy had to indulge in a muffin on the sidewalk just 5 minutes later...

Raspberry muffin - $4

Now comes the rainbow trout to the benefit of Christine.



Pretty similar to the beef in composition and construction. The protein was under-represented and the smokiness too understated. My mind was depicting more epic visuals of a 'rainbow' fish.

OK to show my face as I won't return. Can't speak for the others.

Score summary:

- Food - 6/10 - hit and miss with over reliance on veggie munching to deliver flavour.
- Value - 5/10 - tiny servings, mid teens pricing and particularly stingy on any proteins.
- Other - 6/10 - quaint set-up, good service, order to first bite 20 minutes.
- Overall - 5.5/10 - I can't excuse post-meal hunger and a watery baked eggs.

At a minimum the 'sourcing' concept differentiates from Subway and the offer is OK for a healthy snack. If you want a hearty winter brunch, avoid. My fingers have gnaw marks from the trip home.

Will I be returning?
No

Produce of the week - aka whose garden can the chef's  raid

Had a great meal at Surry Hills last night with Lewis but no Sunday long run to run off all that food!

Conscious of just accumulating junk pace. My usual Saturday am Bay Run was a little different. Toyed with a few ideas but landed on some type of light speed. So here is how it went:

- 2km warm-up to start 
- 8km of fartlek - 500m at 3:30s, 500m at 4:30s
- 2km warm-down

Frankly my legs felt flat. A little concerning that the 3:30s today felt like 2:45 pace sprints. Suppose the key will be to rest up over 7 days.

 12km all up. A nice symmetric looking pace chart.

Friday - Wharves
I toyed with the concept of a genuine passive rest day. This unwound pretty quickly upon seeing the sunshine. Caught up with Sam J at lunch for a planned 11km recovery starting at Macquarie Street.

Turned into a dad-advice type of run - SJ being a dad with a 3 month old little girl.

All sorts of fascinating topics covered including pram choice, car seat choice and the merits of happy-wife-happy life. The pace of 5:30s allowed fluid conversation and no deterioration  to my legs.

11km up around Hickson wharves, cutting the run short at CQ on the return. Leg's wise, despite the easy preceding few days, I feel flat and heavy.

'When the sun goes down, so does the value' . This is why I have a brunch only mandate. With Perth running friend Suz in town and only free mid-week, I'm forced out of my comfort zone.
Shenkin is a winning brunch joint. 9.5/10 score is almost uncontested. Dinner has just four choices with baked eggs a repeat offender. Being visit #4 in 6 months, I'm putting the owner's kids through high school.

Char-grilled skewers do not appeal because across the road is a suspiciously dirty kebab store conceivably selling a greasier version for half the price.



The other three are Eggplant, Salmon and Shakshuka.

Baked Eggplant with Roast Vegetables and Tahini Sauce - $22

Shakshuka with poached egg, beans and chili - $19

Baked Salmon with roasted potatos - $27

The preceding mains were too healthy for the wife. She had a sweet craving and is not afraid to fix this with a $5.50 investment. No doubt the unborn is also now sugar-addicted.

Chocolate wagon wheel - $5.50

The naughtiest possible wheel. Chocolate drizzle job is reminiscent of a Max Brenner chocolate waffle. Tried and tested presentation. Held shape, yummy hazelnuts and one bite left me running in circles on a sugar high.

We paid our dues and landed on a 8/10:
- Positives are satiety, flavour
- Negatives are non-distinct salmon offer and even the eggplant is not worth the 8 hour wait

My stubborn recommendation? Stick with the brunch.

$80 for 3 won't send us into slavery. Good value for a dinner, and any cheaper I'd be sitting on a curb in Chinatown.

However brunch has a bigger range and is better value.

All easy again. Bang on 10km with Richard W on the usual Hickson Wharves the Pyrmont course. The pace was 5:30s.

It is hard restricting myself to single runs per day but at least the legs are losing the flatness I've had since Sunday.

Out to Centennial at lunch with Renee at 5:30s. Planned 10km but realised all too late the loop around the picket fence would be well north of this distance. 

If you google ‘2 week taper’ one source says don’t over-taper then the next one says there’s nothing you can do to improve fitness. Just freshen-up. Even heading into my 5th 42.2km, have no idea what I should do.

Anyway, I figure a 10k/day this week with a bit of speed, then 5k/day next week with some strides seems fair.

Short Bay Ride in ice-block conditions enabled some quality photography below.


At lunch, I missed the start of the 4x10 min due to a slow 4km warm-up with Wooey. Caught the crew at Mrs Mac chair then latched onto Timmy Lindop at 3:35s for rep 1.

I moved progressively faster on rep 2 (3:25s) and rep 3 (3:20s). I basically say on the heels of Tom and Enda for the last 10 min.

Watch ran continuous but over 6-10km inclusive, splits were 3:37, 3:28, 3:32, 3:17, 3:24.

Called it a day after a measly 25 min of speed, as planned. Short 2km warm-down to make 11km all up.

The day was absolutely cracking and it is criminal not to head out for some sunshine. Saying that, a much shorter recovery run today. Easy one joined by Wooey starting at CQ, around M Chair and down past Wooloomooloo to Garden Island.

Knocked out a tidy 25 push-ups before heading back the same route. 10km all up at 5:30 min/km.

Legs still a little flat from Sunday. Expect they'll be right by tomorrow.

With Gold Coast just 2 weeks out, I loosely planned a 21km training run to gauge fitness.



Brought up the old running calendar and penciled the SMC half marathon in Smithfield. Employed the cheer squad in Lorie and Molly.

No regrets considering a $25 race fee, a lead bike to chase, free BBQ and $50 prize money!

Course is 2x10km with a little 1.1km out and back. Mostly bike track, rolling hills and a notable 400m incline at the 2k/12k mark. I really just wanted to spend time at 3:40 pace today.

Of note at the line was the Jenkins twins (from Striders) and local hero Tim Molesworth. I figured my legs would tire early with the hangover of Tues and Thurs speed work.

Turns out it was a remarkably pleasant day at the office. Ran my own pace, focused on technique and broadly kept my breathing under control. I dropped one of the twins at 3km and was on my own.

First 10km felt much harder than the 36 min suggests. Ran by feel but did not get the dividends from the effort I exerted. Perhaps I'm fatigued?

Found good rhythm in the 2nd half, naturally being a 2nd half runner. Surged the hills, and steadied the heart rate on the flats holding low 3:30s. Stomach was playing up in the last 3km. Hit 20km in 71:55 leaving a tidy 3:20s type pace for the last 1.1km.



Splits below
- First 10km in 36:05
- Second 10km in 35:20
- Last 1.1km 3:48

Today did hurt and doubt I could repeat this 2x. 42km pace might be 3:40s on a good day.


After the race with Rob....


Then I decided to make a chocolate coconut quinoa porridge upon getting home...

I gave myself two options today - rest or recovery. With a pending brunch planned, I chose the hunger-inducing Bay Run circuit. Was disallowed from bringing the dog today - she would have tracked mud back into the house. Lucky the weather really turned for the positive.

Was pleased to have company during lunch in my planned 10km recovery. Matt volunteered himself this time, despite the imminent threat of rain.

Pace was an easy 5:10s, starting at Hickson and over into Pyrmont wharves. Legs felt a little flat today. We extended the run a little to finish at 11.2km in 56 min.

Decided I'll probably use the SMC 21km as a training run on Sunday.

I'm looking forward to a double brunch this weekend.

A make-shift speed session today where I came away feeling strong.

Started bang on noon at Maccas CQ with Wongy, providing a good 6km warm-up around Farm Cove and Potts Point down to Rushcutters. A good crowd turned up to the oval for some 8x800m intervals.

Broadly split into 3 groups with a planned 2 min rest. Up front was Thurston, Quentin, JFen, Crossy and a few others running sub-3 min pace. I ran on their cycle but persisted with a slower 3:20s, moving to 3:10s by the 6th rep. Wanted to train closer to half mara or mara pace rather than lactic. This meant I was on my own each double lap.

Called it a day at rep 6 before any signs of fatigue kicked in. Sensible I'd say.

The km splits were 3:20, 3:18, 3:16, 3:11 and 3:10 with 3:15 min/km ave. pace.

After a 3km jog back with M Race, I actually felt fresher.

Nice an easy today. Missed the start of the HuRTS group and instead dragged Matt out for a recovery run around the Opera House. Intersected with 5 of the HuRTS runners at Farm Cove, prompting a 180. The 4:30s pace frustrated us so we dropped back to 4:45s.

Tracked back to Hickson Wharves as the kms ticked over. Finished up with 11.5km at 5 min/km pace. Felt better post the run.

Always a tough session but a good chance to work on a strong finish at 3:30 type pace. Very large front group for 3km to the Opera House before this fractured into maybe 6 and 6. Could have easily been up front, but decided to hang back with Macca, Mike L, Enda, Steve and Jerome till the turnaround (under the Hickson bridge).

First 10min at 4:00s, second at 3:50s and third onwards I lost structure and reverted to running by feel. Pleased I finished strong, felt OK and held the pace on the hills. Outsprinted only by Barts in the last 10m. Now I know how Tommy feels.

First 3kms - 3:59, 4:03, 4:02 ....
Next 3km - 3:49, 3:50, 3:58 (turnaround) ...
Then mara pace - 3:32, 3:33, 3:29, 3:32, 3:28, 3:30 (700m)

11.7km in 43:48, 3:45 min/km ave. pace

Looking to cut the junk out next few weeks.

Gave the legs a rest today, at least on a relative basis. Strange how 'not-flat' they feel after such a heavy weekend load. 7km into work at yes, 6 min/km pace turned into a great loosener.

Had a dentist appointment with my old school mate J Kahn in North Sydney. It was a pleasantly excruciating catch up but glad to walk out with some very white teeth and no holes. Call it an exercise in pain management. Importantly I lumped 4km to the chair and 3km return to add another 7km for the day.

Looking forward to perhaps some speed with HuRTS tomorrow.

On the food front, I'm pretty sold on Ethiopian cuisine. Teff-based bread (gluten free, high in iron), lots of veggies, simple, good spices and not oily.

Photos below from Aaboll Cafe in Merrylands with Lorie and Lewis.

The two shared plates cost $44 all up. Ridiculous. The first (mixed combination) is about 45cm diameter, the second (vegetable plate) maybe 35cm. The bread alone could double as a sleeping bag.

Initial aspirations trying the newly opened Kepos & Co turned south when I learned it's a $28/person set menu. No doubt you can already see two issues ... (i) price, (ii) being told what to eat.


No blackboard specials! I'm OK with a lack of rotation policy for the Aussie cricket team, but not so when a fleet of high-achieving chefs have such good access to seasonal produce.

Stomach real estate is highly prized. Mine deserves a low cost, high yielding ethnic tenant. Faith in male waiters takes a tumble when this one can barely make a recommendation. I embrace the 'dad' role with my selection.

Dad's Breakfast - falafel, hummus, labnet, egg and tomato salad - $17

This is all about falafel triplets. So crunchy you need to get inside to enjoy the nutty, pesto-tasting mixture. I do find deep-frying a turnoff and wanted more inside, less outside. Tastier than a Bankstown kebab store, not as good as Shenkin Kitchen.



I can translate the salad to be an oil-based soup with leaves, tomato and seeds. Because I hate over-dressed salads, I left them to drown.

Next up is a repeat offender on my palate. Cauliflower and turkey an unorthodox but great match.

Cauliflower fritters, chickpeas, cumin, smoked turkey breast and poached egg - $18

Borderline too expensive but hard to hate. I can never go back to a standard corn fritters again. These little gems emit a warmth and cheesiness than no wife nor husband can hope to replicate on a cold Sunday. Maybe KSK loves turkeys too much, because there was not enough in my pan.

Popping the yolk is again my weekly cleanse.



Pretty solid coffee too, love the mug.



These meals are incredibly dense and left me not-hungry for almost 2 hours! No easy feat for a humble guy in marathon training. The score downgrade is because the love-at-first-bite was lacking.

- Food - 8/10 - predictably solid delivery of flavour in a Middle-Eastern vehicle.
- Value - 6/10 - overweight portions but obsese high teens pricing.
- Other - 7/10 - nil value-add from the staff today, good meal turnaround.
- Overall - 7.5/10 - similar to my first visit, I left happy enough.

Key issue after two visits is little motivation to return for the hat-trick. KSK needs a menu rework or blackboard choices. Saying that, still remains a must-try for first timers.

Had a huge Ethiopian type feast with Lewis and Lorie out at Marylands last night. Felt the part and equally being 3 weeks out from GC, today in theory should be the key long run.

Centennial again for a 7am kick off. 11km banked before I joined a dozen HuRTS runners including Enda, Bruce, CT, JFen, Steve.

Tough work today. Straight away 4:30s for the first 10km lap. Caught up with CT who has now dropped his 2:30s marathon aspirations at GC. Shame.

Once we finished lap one, JF, Bruce, Steve and I kicked on harder. I felt OK considering this is now four 140km plus weeks in a row. Plan was to finish with a flurry, so I progressed slowly towards 3:35 min/km circling the picket fence 2.5 times. Welcomed the company in JFen and Lambert for half of this.

32km came round and I called it a day. By then all I could think about was eggs. Hence it was a slow 5km jog to Kepos Street Kitchen in Redfern to meet Lorie for brunch. What a great reward.

8km segment splits (25-32km) - 4:03, 3:58, 3:52, 3:52, 3:44, 3:44, 3:41, 3:37

Run summary - 37km in 2:46, or 4:26 min/km average pace. 

Happy to add some speed in today's LR. My legs did NOT enjoy the final 3:40s split. If I race GC properly, I'll need to rethink my GC pacing strategy.

My 3 year old cavoodle Molly continues to impress. Last weekend she survived a double - 40km split over Saturday and Monday.

Being so desperately energetic during the week, she seems to love the energy release of a Saturday am run. She seemed unusually keen at 6am, so off we went down to the Bay Run.

Tracked NW towards Abbosford and circled the Peninsula around Chiswick and Drummoyne. Pace started at 5:40s, my legs loosened up and by say 15km I noticed we were clocking 5 min/km. Took her off the leash, put in a few hill surges and she stayed close. Amazing. Lorie's pretty confirmed I'm pushing the dog too hard, but Molly seemed non-fussed.

Got back bang on 2 hours, covering 22.3km at 5:22 min/km ave. pace. A new PB for Molly.