Thurs 8x800m

Got down to Rushcutters for a speed session with the HuRTS crew. A good turnout today with some of the faster runners, including Chris Truscott, joining us. Even Timmy made an appearance, showing a few extra inches around the midriff following his Christmas lay off. Gives me confidence that I can beat him in another 10k.
Ran a steady pace of around 3:24 per km for each rep, finishing around 2:46 each time. Pushed hard on rep 5 to shake off John Bowe and show him that I'm still faster, then reverted back to the previous pace, holding steady with Laura. Pushed hard on the last rep at 3:18 per km to finish. A good tough speed session that gave me confidence that I didn't lose too much pace over the Christmas. 12kms all up including the run to and from Rushcutters.

Wednesday HuRTS

Joined up with Tom, Mike C, Laura, Emma, Craig, Jonathan, Big Sam, Andy, Ben and a few others for 19kms at lunch. Ran at a relatively easy pace, finishing at a 4:45 per km average but felt very average towards the end. Probably due to the CrossFit session from this morning and being awake with Charlie since 4.30am. Poor little fella cannot hack the heat since we have come back. Hopefully tonight will be better since the temps have dropped. Good to have a decent chat with Big Sam about football on the run today. I miss talking to people about how crap Liverpool are doing. Should get more of it once we're back home.

WSER flights booked

So I'm now well and truly committed to running 'the big dance' (Western States 100) now. Elaine and I booked our flights today. Going with BA to San Fran on 26 June and back on 12 July so will be in the States for the fourth of July and will get a nice holiday in California.

Monday run - back in Sydney

We flew back to Sydney last night. Not sure if it was the jetlag or the lack of acclimatisation, but I struggled with the heat today. The forecast said it was 27 degrees but it felt like a sauna running around the city. I ran with the HuRTS boys and I think there were a few other suffering so it wasn't just me. Finished with Tom, Mike, Kev, Ben and big Sam at 4:33 per km pace. Felt like I dropped a few kgs from all the sweating afterward. 18kms all up with the run to and from the office.

Christmas running and a 5k PB

Well, I'm just back from our two week break in Ireland for Christmas and New Years. We had a very enjoyable time and it was great to be with family for Charlie's first Christmas. He was thoroughly spoiled. I managed to keep my training up over the period although there weren't too many speed sessions. Mainly 10k to 15k tempo runs near my home in Drogheda and Elaine's in Dublin. I also managed to squeeze in one long run last Friday and a 5k race on New Year's Day. My target for that was to break 18 minutes and I squeezed over the line in just under, 17:59. My Garmin said that I ran 5.1kms so I may not have run the fastest line. Very happy with my time and a nice was to kick off 2013, especially considering I had a few drinks the night before and a big breakfast that morning.