Metrosexual inside

6.15 am, 5km hill circuit, Centennial Park

I had a pretty weird sleep last night without World Cup football on the TV to watch. Lots of excitement at training with the Gold Coast marathon runners and Kit doing their last sessions before the G.C. weekend. A big crowd at training.

I was a bit tired in the legs and ran around the hill circuit in a controlled fashion. Sean's marked-out course was slightly longer which is my excuse for a slow time of 17.55. I had a new niggle on the outside of the left ankle, but it was user-friendly.

Ali remarked how I was only wearing a t-shirt this morning. Manageable due to having thick skin, but nevertheless being sensitive underneath. Jenny was saying how her house-mate spends an inordinate amount of time in the bathroom getting ready to go out: the full metrosexual. So am I. I use soap in the shower.

Commitment seems to be the hardest word to say

7.00 am, 90 minutes, Moore & Centennial Park

A nice run in the cool sun. I had no less than four aches and niggles in the feet; all in different spots and firing up at different and overlapping times. I actually ran quite well except for having only one pair of feet to run on.

Consequently, and as lots of women will tell you, I'm not showing much commitment at the moment. I'm taking it one day at a time.

Bushby's Pond

8.30 am, 3 km, 2.8 km + 1.4 km, Bushby's Pond, Centennial Park

The socceroos' late finish at just before 3 am this morning caused me to turn off the alarm for 5.30 am. One alarm a night is enough. I did wake up around 6am and didn't fancy the fog and fresh antarctic breeze while I was feeling so fowl.

A glorious trot to the park in the morning sun was much better. The lake behind McKay Oval at Centennial Park has a new sign "Bushby's Pond" - "no swimming, fishing or drinking" either, but 'interval sessions at the high end of the aerobic threshold' are OK. So instead of laps of the oval I did laps of the lake. The path between the lake and oval has also been rolled smooth.
A good session in my other new slippers, new balance 825.

Matinee session

3.00pm, 1 hour easy, Centennial Park

I woke up this morning with an acute dose of world-cup-itis. Overnight I saw the second half of England v Ecuador, and last part of Portugal v The Netherlands.

I got out the door after forgetting to have a small lunch and felt bloated and terrible.

At the park I saw lots of people walking their dogs and pushing prams. I only have to find a Nicole Kidman or wealthy heiress to support my afternoon running habit.

Retail Therapy

7.30am, 1 hour 50 min, Centennial Park

A lazy stroll around the park flashing around in my new ASIC Noosa tri runners. The runners are very comfortable, but more importantly they are very bright and flashy in the morning sun, and I look faster. I still haven't found simple instructions on adding a photo to my blog comments, so no photos on the bright shoes.

I felt like a triathlete but plodded along more like a swimmer this morning. Looking forward though to few races where I'll be adding a bit of razzle dazzle.

Kiss Chasey

6.15am, 7 * 1 km fartlek circuit, Centennial Park

Being close to the shortest day of the year I could hardly see anything at the beginning of training.

This was a new morning fartlek session borrowed from afternoon squad training. There were two surges and two floats in a 1 km circuit. Simple but hard. On the first lap Liz and Jenny ran like they stole something, and I was followed by Rocket Rod who's still feeling his way back after a lay-off. Rocket dropped off after the first lap of 3.47 and I had another 6 laps to attempt a fruitless pursuit of the women by myself. I didn't catch them. I lapped a few people though.

The whole session was run at close to race pace, and I was wishing I'd got more sleep, less world cup football, and hadn't had red wine & lentils last night. I was reeking of garlic and onion as well which explained why most women ran for their lives when I approached them from behind. Finished in 27.01.

Slow and pregnant

7.00am, 90 minutes, Moore & Centennial Parks

I was feeling slow and pregnant this morning on the mid-week long run.
I'm not sure what, or who, to blame for my condition. I understand that it's quite natural to be feeling f*cked after the mileage creeps up on the training program.

I did warm up after an hour and forced myself to get into second gear for the last half hour when I ran into some hills. Strangely I felt better doing a few hills than on the flat. Might be a hormonal thing.

I was pretty hungry at breakfast too.

Itchy and scratchy

6.15 am, 4 * 1600m, Centennial Park

This is not a full report on my current venereal disease; that'll be next month.

After Saturday's Nowra cross country I was feeling a bit scratchy until this morning. I was then reminded that 1600 m is a long interval which I needed to break up after the first repetition when Big Andrew dashed out the front.

So I got itchy feet on the second rep and decided it was my turn to dash out the front like a show pony at the beginning of the last 3 reps. It was kind of fun for 400m before I started to fade. I really got Jenny going on the third rep when she came with me and we went through 400m in 1.22 and Sean told us to slow down. I filled Ewan in on the game and he patiently sat back waiting for me to cark it.

It was a pretty weird way to have fun, but I got my rocks off, and it was with consenting adults.

Sentenced to hard labour

8.00am, 40 minutes, Centennial Park

I am still recovering from the weekend running, and the World Cup football being played in a European time zone.

I felt pretty sluggish this morning and the legs took a while to warm up. This run was pretty much another hard labour session. I'm hoping I'll be moving freely due to good behaviour soon. It is another solid week on the training program from now, but no more whining this week.

Maybe I need to do some community service for good karma. I missed out on the Queen's birthday honours again. this year.

Blinded by The Bling and Sowing the seeds of love.

7.30am, 2 hours, Centennial Park

My vision is severly impaired this morning, not by the Tollana chunder-Bin cabernet sauvignon I drank last night, but by the morning sun reflecting off the ANSW gold medal sitting on the desk. Never one to let such a tremendous success go to my head, I headed off with heavy legs to 2 hours of hard labour with Sean's squad.

There was a good crowd of yesterday's Nowra runners including Mohammed with a spring in his step. My gait was more akin to stepping on egg-shells. I eventually warmed up but it was hard work all session.

I finished with a spurt (of speed) after one of Sean's younger female runners blasted past me with breathtaking pace. I think I fell in love with her acceleration.

Team Gold at Nowra 12km cross country - Blue Dog saves the day

3.00pm, ANSW 12 km long cross country, Nowra

Firstly thanks to the supporters who helped keep me going on a tough hilly course, and for the after-race pastries and sweets that were the best I've had all year. Kit and Elise produced some very tasty savouries.

The 12km course consisted of 3 * 4km circuits on a manicured grass course.
The striders mens teams were missing a few of their regulars and stars. The mens 45+ team secured the services of Blue Dog on his comeback from injury as the final and fourth runner of the all-conquering team. In short, we won first place in the teams event thanks to Blue Dog on a count-back from Kembla Joggers or some other team of jokers: nobody remembers second place-getters anyhow, it's a cruel world.

I went out hard and battled with Dennis from Striders for the first 2km. There seemed to be more downhills than inclines but the legs told me the opposite. It was a hard course which constantly changed direction and height. I was saving myself on the hills although I was pretty tired most of the way around.

Unknown to me, Mohammed was about 20 m behind me most of the race until the big hill on the third circuit. He passed me at the drinks station as I grabbed a drink. I then went up a gear, and cruised downhill to pass him quickly again in cruel fashion after he'd been lining me up for several kms.

I finished strongly and the glutes held up well. Time was 49.49.

Not so Big Bertha

6.15am, 3 km hill circuit, Centennial Park

Since I am running at the ANSW long cross country race on Saturday at Nowra, I got to do a truncated (guess who's been reading statistics lately) Big Bertha hills circuit at a 'steady' pace.

There was a good crowd out there at training with Sean, with a few notable absentees from those also likely to be running at Nowra. I heard Kit handing out running advice described by Kerry as advice from a seasoned professional. I added that she'd run a marathon now, which prompted a laugh and sounded a bit nasty in retrospect: I'm supposed to be a sensitive guy now but it seems a leopard can't change its spots when I go for the quick and cheap laughs. I might have to go for the really goofy jokes now at training ;-).

Dimitri and Liz took off up front and I followed Jenny, who is also running Nowra and supposed to be taking it easy, until she blew me away on the second lap. We went through the first lap at close to my PB pace so I eased off and wound my way around 5 more laps which felt pretty good.

A long warm down and another chat to Dean who's back after an 8 month absence.

Mid week sensitive and easy

8.00am, 1 hour easy, Centennial Park

Instead of the usual quick middle of the night drink of water, I just happened in-transit to switch on the TV and catch a quick World Cup score and half hour of football: France v Switzerland and Brazil v Croatia. I wonder why I keep needing a sleep-in at the moment.

A beautiful sleep in and then a pleasant run in the sunshine after 8 am; this beats getting up at 6 am any day. I bumped into Liz Miller at the park, and coasted home while the homemakers ( sensitive PC language from a senstive guy), students and self-employed are out and about in the park and on the streets.

Windsprints on auto-pilot

6.15am, 4.8 km fartlek, Centennial Park

The alarm seemed to go off horribly early after a late night and early morning watching the World Cup football. The miracles didn't stop with Australia's comeback victory against Japan, while watching the game I didn't even have a glass of red and stayed sober last night.

The weather was quite fresh but once I got going, I stayed warm enough in a t-shirt. We had 12 laps of McKay oval, run at roughly 5 km pace. The first 4 laps seemed the hardest, and the rest was history.

Finished in 18.26 which is not bad since I had a touch left in reserve. The back and glutes were good which was the most pleasing aspect of the run, so I'm also on the comeback trail for the winter season.

Fever

8.00am, 50 minutes easy, Moore Park

I woke slightly earlier than usual at 5.30 am, never seriously considered going for a run at that hour on a public holiday, and consequently tuned into the World Cup football to monitor my condition. I thought I had world cup fever but went back to bed before the end of the Portugal v Angola game - so it is only a mild dose so far. I slept in for another hour, and delayed the run even further.

The weather was very fresh out there this morning even in the sunshine, and it took me a while to warm up too. The body was tired from yesterday. The glutes seem to be recovering and behaving themselves nevertheless.

I still have a civic duty to watch the socceroos tonight, and expect the condition to worsen. Training tomorrow morning could be tough.

Cool for cats

7.00 am, 2 hours, Centennial Park

A long session after yesterday's sluggish 7.5 km Sydney Park East Met Cross Country run. Yesterday at Sydney Park I warmed up with Kit who had emerged from under her doona. I'll be setting up a fund raiser for Kit's central-heating installation at home.

Legs and glutes were tired today but I managed to hang in with the group. Sean ran slowly, and I ran with Royworlds most of the morning while watching Dimitri dashing around up front. I got a second wind on the last inner fence when I tried to run with Vespa for 20 metres, but then I only got out of first gear and lagged behind.

On the last kilometre I ran into Deanne, Alison and Kulinda, and then Ellie all running strongly, and maybe all getting ready for the Gold Coast marathon. Entries are still open. I didn't see Kit. She must be sleeping in again. Yeh, it was a bit cool out there too.

The lentils strike back. ** contains filth references** parental guidance recommended

6.15 am, 6 * 700m hill circuit Wild Wally, Centennial Park

I got to bed early by 9pm, up at 5.30pm, and mentally refreshed for a training session. I'll have to get used to irregular sleeping hours if I'm to watch much world cup football action live.

Physically I'm still battling some glute and back stiffness, which seemed to get better today, and I battled the lentils I had for dinner last night.

The first 3 repetitions were scratchy and not particularly exhilarating, if hill work ever reaches those dizzy heights. Then it was lentil time. I had to have an extra pit stop after the 3rd repetition at the nearby toilet block. As a result I got a late 30 second start for the 4th rep, and as I dashed back to the start of the hill circuit I watched the group take off. I was tired by the time I got back to the start, and I then started chasing the whole field. Psychologically I was gone and did the slowest rep (adjusted for a late start) for about 6 months in my new brown running shorts.

I went and bought some ocean trout for dinner tonight.

The world is a stage

6.15am, 2.4 km * 1, 1.6 km * 2, Centennial Park

The rain had stopped when I took off to Centennial Park so I was happier not having to start running in the rain and the dark, both of which I'm scared of. We're about a fortnight from the shortest day of the year, which is good.

Back and glutes were stiff this morning on the warm up drills, and I had to work hard to hang in there on the track. It was a bit of a grind. I was not far behind Jenny on the shorter reps and just behind Ewan on the first rep. Shakespearian Steve in black tights got toey on the second rep and took off ahead of Jenny and I going for gold, but he only lasted 400 m before getting stage-fright and faded fast. Steve might have been play-acting. It looked like Lazhar Hamadi joined us on the second repetition and he's a serious thespian.

I think I'll get used to these long repetitions eventually.

Long recovery

7.00am, 1 hour easy, Moore Park

This morning I was pretty keen for a solid recovery run along the NOSH course. Alas the thundering rain gave me an offer to good to refuse: a run on the soft Moore Park golf course without any golfers to dodge. The rain eased off, I was out the door, and as expected, the body was pretty stiff and sore. I bet I'm not the only one feeling tired this morning.

I had the golf course to myself in the rain. I battled around holes 2-8, 13-16 in a sub-par performance, and headed home just before the hour. I was almost sinking in the moore park quagmire when the rain started belting down; just in case I hadn't worked hard enough on the weekend and needed a workout. I would've been cleaned up by a few drivers not giving way on pedestrian crossings, but that's Sydney. Nice to get warm again.

The Great Nosh and Gold, Gold, Gold: the ANSW relay Gold Rush

10.00am, 15 km Nosh run, Lindfield to Seaford

Good to catch up with a lot of CRs at the start of the NOSH: Owl, Jen , Go Girl, Ellie, MPHaZ or HazChem, Steve from Japan, Wildthing, and Mr Wildthing.

I also bumped into Dennis, our ANSW relay 3rd leg runner, who confirmed that we'd come first place in yesterday's 4km relay. Chris hung around for the presentation and collected the gold. The rest of the team must be getting pretty blaise about pulling in the medals, since we all went home early.

The Nosh was one tough run, especially the middle section. I ran and, much to my horror, walked up the steepest hills I've been up in a race. This is a run worthy of its own special preparation rather than a substitute long sunday run. I won't be taking it lightly again. I got a great start although near the front the race is literally run at breakneck speed given the rocky surface and undulations. I found myself looking forward to road races after a while. I found the combination of pace and rough surface more challenging than six foot track in several parts.

I faded in the middle section when the strength just wasn't there in tired glutes and legs to pick up the pace up the top of the hills.
I finished in 70.01, 4th in the age category and 36 overall. No disgrace but quite humbling ( a sensation that won't last long believe me ;-)).

ANSW cross-country 4km relays

3.00pm, 4km relay, Scarborough Park Ramsgate

First a big thanks to my supporters who came out to Scarborough Park: Kerry, Kit, Ray, Deanne, Horrie & Belinda, Blue Dog, Bernie G and Cindy. I also got a few cheers and jeers from former training partner Michael from Bankstown. It was good of them to support a few other runners as well.

For me it was a new experience being in a relay team beyond 100 metres. The open, 35+ age, 45+ age category 4km relays were all run together.

I found the relay adds a bit more responsibility since no wants to let down the team, and I'm already a social outcast without unnecessarily wanting to add a sporting dimension. I've only played team sports for about 30 years so I handled this event pretty well without calling for the sports psychologist before the run. Striders is also blessed with plenty of talent in the 45+ age category to be going for gold in any team event.

I ran the second leg. Brigtshoes got our team off to a flying start and I think we were ahead of quite a few open and 35+ teams by the time I got the vitual relay baton. There wasn't much rocket science to running my leg of the 4 km, go out hard and hold it. I was lifted by the crowd and support on the 2 laps. I could feel a bit of tightness in the glutes on the run, but there was no malfunction. There was however a wardrobe malfunction a-la Janet Jackson: one of my shoe laces came undone which I'd specifically relaced before the run. The DS trainers are so tight around the foot that they don't move anyway so I got away with a loose lace without having to stop. Double knot lacing next time or bare-feet like Sean Williams.

By the second lap at the early hair-pin turn I saw Fats steaming along behind me so I had a bit of extra pacing 'help' to see how long I could hold him off. It was longer than I thought but Fats swept past me like I was the luckless coyote on the road-runner cartoon. At the finish I found our third leg runner Dennis and we effected a seamless interchange. Chris finished off the race and thinks we got gold, first place in the category, but we'll have to wait a few days to see the results.

I finished in around 14.20 which I was happy with. Off shortly to do the NOSH run.

ANSW cross-country 4 km relays - Hosing down expectations

7.00am, 30 minutes easy, Woolloomooloo - Mrs Macquarie's Chair - Opera House

An easy jaunt in the bright and cool conditions. On the way past the botanical gardens, I had a quick hose on the NSW Governors' gardens, admittedly showing scant regard for Her Majesty's representative in NSW. You wouldn't expect anything better from a Republican and a lawyer though.

I'll be showing somewhat higher regard to the other runners in tomorrow's ANSW CC relays. Sydney striders have 4 mens teams, and I'm the second leg runner in the 45+ team. I just realised I'm potentially running with Vat, Fats and Guzzo, the other 2nd leg runners. Naturally Guzzo will be expecting me to pace him through the first 3km to set him up. He hasn't said anything to me yet. There will be people everywhere by the end of the first leg.

It should be chaos and fun.

Big Bertha

6.15 am, 4.5km hill circuit, Centennial Park

Sean stated that if you're racing on Saturday take it out easy and pick it up after 5 laps. I pushed it out solidly for the first 5 laps with Liz Miller and Jenny and then followed just behind Liz the final 5 laps.

Fats ran a blinder in his new stream-lined hip-hugging racing shorts. He also seems to have picked up a few fashion tips lately.

Glutes and pelvis were a bit creaky and I didn't want to run myself into the ground so I was engaged in an internal debate about how hard to push the final laps. The time was 17.31, 10 seconds off the pb so not lagging too far off the pace.