Return of the King

8.00am, 1 hour, Centennial Park

A late start for the continued comeback after watching Lord of the Rings: Return of the King last night on the tube.

Most of yesterday's stiffness had gone this morning so I was able to do a reasonable session for a recovery run. With these late starts, I'm starting to share Centennial Park with the pram-pushers and retirees in the sunshine. No plans to join either crowd at the moment; it's been a while since I was asked to do a DNA test.

Don Juan fails Drugs Test

7.30 am, 2 hours, Centennial Park

Everyone seems to be failing drug tests. I do walk past the Kings Cross heroin injecting room most days of the week, and I'm the only one who fails to get inside. Most of the visitors are average looking citizens. Apparently I stick out as a bit of a weirdo.

Off to Centennial Park this morning to give the foot and budgies a test run. Foot complained after 60 minutes then settled down. Overall, the body held up well. Caught up with Vat, Mohammed, Royworlds and later Lulu and WineTrailRunner.

Banged out a solid finish and edging closer to running city to surf. Everything tested positive this morning.

The Aviary

7.30 am, 6 km tempo, Queen's Park

Woke early and did the early stretches in front of Thunderbirds, are GO.

Felt much better than yesterday's soft performance, and thoroughly warmed up through Centennial Park for 25 minutes. Then ran 3 * 2km laps of Queen's Park with a mixed group of Sean's squad members.

Belzy the R4YL covergirl was way out in front and Big Andy was there to sit right behind me for the first 4km until I started fading badly, then he blew me away in the last lap. I finished in 23.01.

I was in town first for yum cha, food shopping, CDs, and then bought the new swimwear at Paul's warehouse: baggy black swim shorts with an aviary of space in the front for the giant budgies.

Bought albums by Youth Group, Something for Kate, and David Bowie Best of album including 'Heroes'. Should be buying John Paul Young: 'Yesterday's Hero'.

I am more tired from shopping than running. Now completely wrecked and a blithering mess.

Insider's guide to love

8.00 am, 35 minutes easy, Botanical Gardens - Mrs Macquarie's Chair - Woolloomooloo

Confident of a run this morning, I souped-up on lentils last night Floyd Landis style.

Running felt quite weird after a few days off. Legs were soft with no tiredness, stiffness or early niggles. The route as usual was very pleasant in the early morning sun with impressive seascapes across the harbour, and a real blast of flower power in the gardens.

I felt my first niggle after 30 minutes and eased off just before getting home. Running still is a day to day prospect, all love and no commitment.

I have tried on some speedos at the shop, and I had to go up from an initial size 18 to 20-22: obviously had a lot of trouble squeezing-in the big arse and giant budgies. I think I'll go the G-string with the front pouch.

Kryptonite

Injury update

I've been dining out with Lulu, WTR, Ellie, Jen-runs, Owl, Trivia Dave, and Portrunr, and sleeping-in this week: it feels good. I've also been resting a swollen left foot which has plagued me for 6 weeks.

The doctor said '3 weeks rest'. He thought a piece of Kryptonite fell into my left running shoe. Centennial Park is full of the stuff. A graveyard of could-of-been superhero athletes. I'm just balancing the risk of coming back too early against running in city to surf in half-reasonable shape.

I've started looking for swimwear, my old speedos lasted 10 years and fell apart a couple of years ago. I only swim when I can't run. I can't decide if those swim-shorts are groovy, or for fat old men. I'll have to go back to the beach with my binoculars again and take a look.

Feel free to offer fashion advice please.

Goldilocks goes on the long run

6.30 am, 2 hours 45 minutes, Moore & Centennial Park

I got out just after first light. It was fairly quiet around Darlinghurst apart from the usual coffee drinkers and street criminals, then I ran into unexpected traffic at Moore Park golf course: two other runners on the 16th fairway in the distant fog. First time this year I've seen any other runners on my course. Natuarlly I gave chase in hot pursuit to catch these intruders. I had to pick up the speed with siren wailing to close the gap. They ran around the perimeter of the course, and when I did catch them, I didn't know them from a bar of soap.

At Centennial Park I ran into Mohammed and Sparkie, and lifted the pace again. I was tiring by the time the main group started at 8am. I stuggled after that, and it was a battling effort. Probably better than last week, but just.

I'll be back on patrol tomorrow morning.

Queens Park Virgin

7.30 am, 6 km, Queens Park

I jogged down to Queens Park for my first Saturday morning session. I was looking for the runners not doing Sutherland to Surf, and found Mohammed by himself. He said he'd been stood up by Vat and a number of others. I'm a big fan of Mohammed, but look what happens when you're a strider and register with ANSW as a Randwick Botany harrier. No mates. Although it was very wet and muddy out there at Queens Park, and I'm also a big fan of Vat, but we did get a lot of mud on ourselves, and it was hard to look pretty out there this morning.

Mohammed did 4 km and I hung in there with him, then I went on for one more lap for 6 km. I was struggling over the last 2 km, very muddy, and not all that photogenic by the finish.

During the last 2 km lap I saw Kit and Kerry heading off to the big park to stretch out their legs. I struggled home, and looked for Kit on the way at Centennial Park, but she was too fast.

City to Surf reconnaissance

8.00am, 30 minutes easy, Rushcutters Bay-Rose Bay

A slightly different course for the end of week easy run so I could saunter over the early section of the City to Surf course along New South Head Road. I live 2 minutes away from the course. I was short of breath within 5 minutes jogging up the long Edgecliff hill so no danger of pre-race complacency setting in.

I almost got run over by 2 black mercedes sports cars, one of them reversing unpredictably at Double Bay traffic lights. I forgot that different road laws apply to mercedes sports drivers. I'm hoping that road closures apply to Double Bay drivers on race day too.

It was an easy run and I moved OK. I've got a bit of work to do in the next few weeks if I'm going to get past the portaloos at Rushcutters Bay. The portaloos might be a good starting spot. I bet nobody has thought of that before.

Radioactive

6.15 am, 4 * 3 * 450 m hill circuit, Centennial Park

A sluggish effort after a solid week to date. I ran in a loose group of 4 behind Liz, Jenny and Mick, a newcomber to the group, but not new to running. We were allowed to float the downhill section so we could hit the uphills which almost made my legs burn. By the top of hill I was approaching nuclear meltdown more than being on fire. I am a radioactive kind of guy.

The legs were a bit heavy, but it was a good session. Talking of radioactive, I forgot the sunglasses since Blue Dog had stripped down to this loud flouro psychedelic singlet at training. I thought he had just come from an all-nighter 70's party to training.

Not another run report, no, tagged!

I did do 1 hour 45 minutes in the rain this morning, but I have been tagged by Vat, so finally...

4 jobs I have had:

Butcher’s assistant

Primary school holiday program leader

Movie extra in “Sherlock Holmes and the Incident at Victoria Falls”, Zimbabwe

Aboriginal Land Council solicitor

4 movies I could watch over and over:

Anna Karenina

To Kill a Mockingbird

Frankenstein

Psycho

4 places I have lived:
Beijing

Hong Kong

Alice Springs

London

4 TV shows I love to watch:

The Chaser’s War on Everything

Kath and Kim

Planet Earth

Newshour with Jim Lehrer

4 places I have been on vacation:
Kashmir

Tibet

Democratic Republic of Congo

Zanzibar

4 websites I visit each day:
coolrunning
BBC news

International Herald Tribune

Reuters News

4 favorite foods:

Lentils

Ocean trout

Bananas

Liquified red grapes

4 places I would rather be right now:

running in the mountains

skiing

in a plane

on a boat

4 favorite bands/singers:

REM

Peter Gabriel

Hilltop Hoods

Guy Sebastian

New Order

4 Bloggers I am tagging:
Kit

Lulu

Superflake

2Ps

Tease

6.15 am, 2 * 3.73 km circuit, Centennial Park

I was in bed by 9 pm last night and after 3 attempts during the night to blow my nose off, I finally woke up at 4.30 am to the sounds of rain and wind.

The rain wasn't that bad, just the wind blowing it right through me. There was a surprisingly good crowd at Sean's training. I was drenched by the time I got to McKay Oval. We were to do 2 laps of the inner fence (sealed walking path) at Centennial Park.

It wasn't a great warm up in the dark, but I started the first repetition well. Then I remembered the hamstring lesson of Saturday, so eased off a touch into a nice steady pace through the various water hazards. As is becoming custom at training, I have Acceleration Andy sitting behind me during the repetitions: he either doesn't trust his pace judgment, or doesn't want to catch my pubic lice. I could hear him splashing behind me with a km to go and closing the gap. I kept the same pace as he quickly cruised past with about 500 m to go. I finished 10 seconds behind Andrew in 14.17 as he was doubled over gasping for breath.

The second lap I started a bit slower concentrating on not aggravating any niggles. Andrew never appeared. I finished in 14.18, now that's pace judgment. Andy accelerated through the finish 50 seconds later, and he seemed to be scratching the front of his running shorts afterwards.

City to Surf is looking good if I can run like that over the next month and stay injury free. Sean's got us doing plenty of long reps at training over the next few weeks, so I'll have a bit of fun with Acceleration Andy mixing up the pace of the repetitions. I'm such a tease in metrosexual's clothing.

Matinee session

4.30 pm, 30 minutes easy, Rushcutters Bay Park

I was glad the program had a short easy run. The left foot pulled up a bit stiff after yesterday's session, but that was not surprising after a 2 1/2 hour run on Sunday. I did some core exercises after the run and I was a bit of a wreck physically.

For the first time in a few years I have a runny nose, and also a cold, but I don't expect to miss a training run because of that. Only conditions I don't have at the moment are cerebral malaria and pubic lice.

Phoenix *** explicit language warning***

6.40 am, 2 hours 40 minutes, Moore & Centennial Parks

After yesterday's metrosexual outburst, I commenced dragging my running career out of the smouldering ashes.

It was a good run which was surprisingly fluid, albeit with tired legs. I had good chats to Vat, Mohammad, Royworlds and Vespa which helped pass the time. Some filth-bag, me, even mentioned anal penetration during the run. I thought it was a common topic while shooting the breeze and chewing the fat, but it successfully distracted attention from tiring muscles and tearing ligaments.

Royworlds and Vespa kept me honest on the last inner-fence lap, and we saw Easy Tiger blow past. We also saw Lulu in bright runners and pacer WineTrailRunner running effortlessly on a secret training run.

Finished up pretty tired in all anatomical areas.

ANSW 8km short-course Mud-Bath Massacre

2.10 pm, 8km, The Crest Bankstown

First the good news, the dodgy ankle that gave me 5 days off last week and last weekend held up well and retirement is officially called off. Catching up on the missed training this week, there was no taper for the 8km today and the race was a good workout as planned.

Secondly, however, this was a tough way to do a workout. I don't own spikes, there had been a lot of rain, and everyone was saying wear spikes. It looked to me like the race-officials had been watering the course as well. The course was muddy and slippery, especially up and down the hills, and a lot of energy was spent trying not to fall over, run off the path into trees, run into other runners, and pick a course along the path offering some traction. The legs felt heavy and dead, and a hamstring twinge I picked up on Tuesday came on again after 400 metres. I eased off a touch and thought about a DNF, but it was good enough to plug away at the time.
This was the longest ultra-8km I've done. I must have slid around another 1 km. It was painful but a good race to put down to experience.

After the race I was feeling tired, sorry for myself, and walking around in runners, shorts and long-sleeve top around the empty windswept Bankstown Plaza looking for a place to buy a drink. Then this skinny old man in a bright red windcheater came up to me with a contorted face and said in an aggro manner "Hey,.........you're odd". The perceptive readers of this blog will know how true this is, but I just ignored him as a likely Bulldog's supporter.

Thunderbirds

8.00 am, 1 hour easy, Moore Park

A good run this morning after the early rain; foot niggles have just about evaporated.

There were more greenkeepers than golfers out on the golf course. I haven't been warned off running on a golf course for a few years, and I ran head on into a couple of groundsmen in a buggy but they said nothing.

For tomorrow' s short course ANSW race at Bankstown, thunderbirds are GO.

Nappy rash - Warning: contains running content

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

A rare blog post containing something about running.

Last night I had an early 9.00 pm night and lentils for dinner. If I have lentils again for dinner it might be easier if I wear a nappy to morning training since those red lentils don't sit still for one second. No less than 3 visits to the toilet before the fartlek session started. I used to use vaseline for chafing, not any more.

This fartlek course has 2 strides and 2 floats per 1 km lap. It is a tough but enjoyable session where there's a small degree of freedom to adjust the float and stride speed in the 4 sections of the fartlek. I'm still paying the price for a lazy break last week, but the legs were getting back to normal. Finished in 27.30, 30 seconds slower than last month.

A very entertaining chat to Blue Dog and Horrie after training about tickers. Hamstrings were stronger this morning, but I could fell a bit of twinge on the heartstrings during the last lap.

Reptile

7.30am, 1 hour, Moore & Centennial Park

A slow run with tired legs. At least I got out there. Tiredness is affecting more than my legs, I can barely write English at the moment.

I think I am reptilian: my brain functions according to warmth and exposure to sunlight. I did get some funny looks this morning lying on a rock in the front garden soaking up the sun.

Paranoia

6.15 am, 5 * 1200 m, Centennial Park

My first decent work out since the trip to New Zealand and, I'm not paranoid but, a combination of events are conspiring to put me into overdue retirement: captivated by airline and conference food, rotating foot and leg niggles, and World Cup Football sleep deprivation.

At least a few others are on the way up in the running cycle. Good to see Horrie and Blue Dog running spritely this morning. Fats was a touch reserved after the Gold Coast Half, only running an Olympic B qualifier.

I belted myself out there on the track this morning and noticed the effects of a week off.

Times were 4.14, 4.21, 4.21, 4.21 and 4.14. I hobbled home, and had I been moving any slower the park-rangers would've successfully put up the screens around me and shot me.

Big Rain in Wellington

7.30am, 1 hour 45 minutes, Wellington - Island Bay - Mt Cook - Botanical Gardens

The rain stopped just before run time and it was a totally different overcast and wet atmostphere in Wellington.

No wrong turns down to the deserted beach with dual warnings of undercurrents and sewerage discharge. Lucky I didn't bring the bathers. This morning I did the City to Sea walk in reverse.

There were lots of panoramic views from the western hills of Wellington. Lots of climbing and a pretty slow slog in parts. The legs were pretty tired, and I certainly wasn't as fast and flashy as yesterday in the Wellington bog. After 60 minutes I got a second wind (without lentils) as I reached suburbia and the inner city. The rain held off all the way. The track was harder to follow and tested the orienteering skills, but it was fun to get lost in a strange city: I knew the general lay-out of the town, and had a crude map.

Tomorrow's forecast is cold and windy with more showers.

Ambassador Don Juan does Wellington

7.30 am, 1 hour 30 minutes, Wellington - Houghton Bay - Mt Albert - Mt Victoria

Air New Zealand did me a favour yesterday by cancelling my flight to Wellington, and re-directing me via Auckland, which meant I didn't run and rested the foot.

Got out just after sunrise for a great run around the hills of Wellington. Amazing what a change of scenery does for my running. Ran around in a t-shirt, striders singlet and asics noosa tri flouro runners playing the loud tourist. I was loaded up with running maps and took a wrong turn early but quickly worked out where I was on the way to the bay. After 30 minutes got to the beach.

I then followed the 'south - walk' track back to town via the above mountains, they were big hills actually, but when in Rome... or Wellington, I call them massuve soaring peaks. Culturally sensitive guy that I am. As part of the route I ran around the zoo, and deftly evaded the zoo-keepers. Had I been caught, I was carrying my passport which could've been used for easy indentificaton.

From the peaks and ridges, there were impressive views across to the South Island and over a very short airport runway I landed on last night. The locals I bumped into were pretty friendly and most said hello. I generally replied 'gudday mate' which I never say in Australia: I'm such an ambassador. I didn't see a single other runner. I did see a sign 'Lord of the Rings filming location', but ran on.

I had to check the maps a few times but didn't lose steam and finished in glorious sunshine dropping down from Mt Victoria into the city. Barely any traffic out there. A good place for six foot track training.

Lord of the Rings

8.00 am, 2 hours 20 minutes, Moore, Centennial & Queens Parks

Woke up at 5am and quickly calculated that getting out of bed to get ready for striders 10km at Homebush would mean feeling foul the whole day. I then went back to sleep; very soft.

I had another 2 back up excuses for not racing on a hard surface: the niggling left foot and I can't do tomorrow's long run which should be done today on grass. So the grass it was .

It was a long session with all my mates, solo. The left foot was niggling along but the rest of me was moving well. I've only got to get injury free and then the planets will be moving into alignment for some serious running. No more mucking around then.

Tomorrow morning I fly to Wellington NZ for 3 days. A secret training camp in the Lord of the Rings country, and a conference to go to. I'm already moving like Gollum, precious.