Always a tough back half in the 45 min tempo, made worse by pretty hot conditions. The set has us 60s on, 30s off with a 22.5 min turnaround.

Encouraging to see Richard Woo and Matt Ingram now regulars with HuRTS. No doubt, the impressive team performance at JPM has played a part.

Run saw us set out from the stone pillars. Glad Timmy was around to call the set, else I would've had to do it.

Still feeling rubbish from Sunday, meaning this was suppose to be easy. Enthusiasm plus JFen / Ray up front saw this plan quickly derail. Felt obliged to lead the front pack, which is what I did. Ran to feel the whole run.

No watch, but it felt conversational tempo (3:20s / 3:50s). I reckon I did 60% of the front group pacing, JFen the balance. Got to 300m after the entry to Barangaroo gates. A good future benchmark.

Coming back hurt more. I pushed it much harder and left no survivors. Passed the bulk of the runners by the time we hit the hills past A.B.C. Wooey and Matt looked like they were hurting. In time, they will learn to pace this better.

Final two to chase on the long 800m home straight was Birchy and Pete Walker. Pretty spent by this stage but dug deep and managed to scalp Birchy.

An impressive 70s to space (thanks Birchy). No watch but JFen was kind enough to give me details:

12.5km in 43:50 at 3:30 min/km ave. pace.

 - way out - 3:36 ave pace
- way back - 3:25 av pace

A good negative split in hot conditions, fighting elevation gain. Ave pace in line with my marathon pace. It felt a lot harder than that!

Next few days will see soaring temperatures. A pool session or two is in order.