Fresh Meat!

Pat's this morning was 500m reps, with a one minute standing recovery. Instead of the usual West End venue for these we headed towards New Farm. Though we do lots of speed work in this stretch is was a pleasant change of venue for this particular session.

Scotty said his aim was to do the lot under 2 mins, and that sounded like a good goal so I tried to stick with him on each one. The first four were 1:55 to 1:57 but the fifth was right on 2 mins, so the sixth I pushed hard at the end to clock 1:58. Finished it feeling stuffed but happy and looking forward to an easy warm down when I saw people lining up for another one. What?!?! I was too busy concentrating on Pat's ex-wife jokes at the start of the session and didn't hear him say we had to do seven (or nine for the fast guys), I though it was six :-(

The final 200m or so of the last one I felt like I was running backwards but still managed to do it in 2 mins flat. I was happy with that especially considering the ones we ran in that direction (every second one) finished on a slight rise. Looking back my rep times are comparable with what I've been doing all year, so maybe I'm close to totally recovered from Sydney.

The plan for the morning was to keep Jan in my sights, but she seemed to be backing off a little. As it turned out I didn't need her. Not only did I have Scotty to chase, but Darryl, who is usually behind me, was flying, and we were running the reps together. He said for the first time he tried having a gel before the class and it seemed to work wonders. I saw him heading off afterwards with a handful of them he'd bought from Pat! Allyson was right on our tails too, she's just getting faster and faster every week. Talk about keeping me honest, if it wasn't for these two I reckon I would've slacked off a little.

So Clairie if you are reading this, it looks like we have some new competiton to contend with!

A Slow Start

Monday morning I didn't set the alarm to get out and run with the Regatta mob at 6am, but about an hour or so after that got up and donned the running gear. But then hunger struck and I knew I'd be cutting the run short to come home and eat if I ignored it so decided to have brekky and do my run mid-morning. About 10.30am applied the Bodyglide and loaded the iPod. Figured I'd catch up on some emailing while I was at the PC. Midday the sunscreen went on and half an hour later the shoes and I was finally out the door!

The plan was to do around 7 or 8k. I was listening to the covers volume of 'Discovered Covered - The Late Great Daniel Johnston' - this double CD has to be one of the best finds of the year. I was about to turn around head home again when I bumped into Pat McCormack. He hasn't been along to our runs for months so ran with him and chatted for a while. This meant upping the pace a bit for me, probably just as well, I was travelling pretty slowly before that. Then when I did turn Pat said he'd stick with me for a while, so there was no slacking off on my part. I ended up doing just over 10k in total.

Hit the gym afterwards and thought about another Pump class but was a little early so I just a 30 minute weights session instead, listening to the originals volume of the same CD I'd run with. I think I'll forget about the Pump classes and continue doing my own thing weights wise - no timetables, no being told what to do, no crowds, no crappy music, no pressure to lift too much, and best of all no squats or lunges unless I want to do them (which is unlikely). Far less painful.

Slackish Sunday

Didn't set the alarm so had a sleep in of sorts. Headed out the door just after 7.30am with my iPod to keep me amused, shuffling through the Brittish mix I loaded a couple of days ago - The Streets funny/sad tales make me laugh every time. I'd had a couple of offers of company for a run, but after Saturday I just wanted to do my own thing and go as far and as (not) fast as I felt.

Spotted lots of others enjoying the morning on the road. As well as a host of Intraining people fellow Pat Carroller's Slash (training for Rottnest Island Mara) and Peter H (New York Mara) flew by and then I bumped into Langy (Melbourne Half). He offered to run with me for a while but I not so subtley dropped the hint that I was going way to slow for him.

Ended up doing a very comfortable 12k in just under 6 minute pace. It was off to the gym after that for a Pump class. After suffering with sore muscles last week from gym work I was very cautious and grabbed just the two lightest possible weights to stick on the bar. Maybe they were too light, I didn't feel like I was exerting much effort for most of the tracks while those around me were grimmacing. For me the only real pain came from listening to the terrible music the instructor played.

Saturday Slog

Clairie told me she wanted to do a slow 2 hours Saturday - sounded like a good idea to me. So at 6am we set off from The Regatta and ran to the Ship Inn to meet up with the Brisbane Running Buddies who were starting there at 6.30am. A 5k trip we just needed to sit on 6 minute pace to get there in time but were way faster than that, doing it in 26mins. Of course we were both blaming eachother for setting the pace :-)

From there it was out to the West End ferry and back, a 10.5k round trip. Those leading the way seemed to be in a hurry and the pace was only a little slower than our 'warm up'. Most of the gang then continued on to do a Story Bridge loop (6.5k) but the pace and the heat had got to me. I wanted to keep running but slower and somewhere cool. Clairie, Lizzle and I formed a little breakaway group and headed into the Botanical Gardens to ran around in the shade for a while - really slowly. Felt like naughty little girls :-)

Like A Good Wine

Had to be at work by 7am yesterday so that meant cutting Pat's a little short. I also meant an extra 2k warm-up as I parked in town and ran to South Bank from there for the start of the session. On the pgm was two lots of 2 1/2 minute out and back efforts, with not much recovery in between, I think it was supposed to be a minute, but then Pat's idea of a minute is much less than everybody else's. Following that was hill reps.

After a big day of exercising Wednesday I felt surprisingly good on the first one, and was able to push myself to keep up with Jan and just a few meters behind Tori. Lizzle was ahead, and as for Scary Clairie, she was running like a demon and way out of sight! I managed to keep up the same pace on the way back but for the second effort found myself struggling a bit.

After this everyone headed off to do some hill reps on the Goodwill Bridge, but time wasn't on my side so I sprinted up the steep grassy slope in the Gardens then went off to work. On days where I have to cut Pat's short I might incorporate fartlek into my run to South Bank to meet the group, at least that way I'll feel like I've put in a more worthwhile effort.

Thinking about it I'm so grateful to have the girls I mentioned and others in the group to try to keep up with, chase, or, on one of my rare good days, try to stay in front of. We really do push eachother in a friendly competitive way. For maybe a year and a half I was the oldest female at Pat's. Then Jan, who is three years older, joined in. A top triathlete, she was pretty fit when she started with us but keeps on improving and does a PB just about every time she races.

So it is possible to get better with age, well for a while anyway. There goes my excuse ;-)

Big Wednesday

It was a pretty active Wednesday for me. Started off with a run in the morning, planning to do 10k or so. Had a CD each from Brits Billy Bragg, Oasis and The Streets on the iPod and set it to shuffle mode - its kinda fun guessing what'll come up next. Loading and using the iPod is so easy, especially compared to the old minidisk player, that I fear its making me a little anti-social, preferring to run on my own for my mid-week runs so I get the chance to listen to some music.

Ended up running 12k and got back home just in time to head to Fitness First for a 'Basic Training' class which I hoped was like an intro to everything, perfect for someone like me. Got there and spoke to a lady before it started. She told me how she'd just been for a run and went on about running and what fartlek was, and how great the bike path was to run on, yada yada yada, as if I was a non-runner. Pretty funny considering I was wearing my 2005 Sydney Marathon t-shirt at the time :-) And I didn't have the heart to tell her that my place is actually right on the bike path.

Anyway, when the instructor arrived he explained the class was actually circuit training, where we spent about a minute at each station doing weights, sit-ups, push-ups, sprints across the room, or boxing. It was great, the constant variety made it interesting and time went fast.

Wednesday evening was the Intraining Beginners group. Co-coach Clairie was unable to make it due to work so I had to play the role of 'bad cop' ;-) One of they guys brought his young fit-looking Aussie Rules playing son along, and so I upped the anti a little to let the lad know just how hard his dad works. We started with a pyramid session, fast 100m, 200m, 300m, 200m, 100m, each with a 100m jog recovery. Followed this up with a 1k Indian run, where you run in a line and the back person has to sprint and fall in front of the first one. As soon as they get there the new back person sprints up to lead the group and so on. We still had a little spare time so did 5 minutes up and down the ramp to the train station to finish up.

Every Wednesday arvo I wish I hadn't committed to this, its such a drag going there at what is usually relaxation time for me. Funny, but by the end of the session I'm so glad I did, I'm on such a high. Its great to see the improvements they are all making, but better still is seeing them develop a love of running and an increasing obsession with it. Can't blame 'em :-)

Fitness First - at last!

It was back to Pat's this morning, my first session since running Sydney. Venue was the Botanical Gardens where we did six lots of 2 minutes fast, with a 30 second recovery in between. I don't plan to give it 100% again for at least another week so was holding back a little. The legs felt pretty good really, it wasn't until maybe the fifth rep that I could feel some slight after-effects of the marathon.

My new gym had its 'grand opening' on the weekend and I dropped in then and had a quick look. They signed me up in June, so its been a long wait. Yesterday afternoon I headed back there ready for a workout. With my membership package I get total use of the gym and classes but not a program, so really I had no idea what I was going to do when I got there.

I headed for the safety of the treadmill and ran 6kms before mustering the courage to do something else. Found the little girly weights and did several upper body exercises and then some sit-ups. Finished off with a 2k treadmill warmdown. I was contemplating paying for a few PT sessions just to get a program organised. But there were a couple of them there putting their clients through some painful looking stuff so that put me off the idea. I go through enough pain twice a week at Pat's!

Sunday Shuffle

Class reunion (gulp - 30 years!) last night so it was another late one. I got told a couple of times that I look like a runner, so I'm taking that as a compliment :-) Only one of my ex class mates, who just happens to be ultra running CR Hermie's neighbour, has done a marathon. The rest of them reckon they couldn't run around the block, guess they just haven't tried. Anyway, after a bit of pooling my car ended up having a sleepover at Fairfield.

It worked out well as it meant I could run to get the car via South Bank and that way I'd be able to cheer for Clairie running what I knew was going to be a great PB in the 10k River Run. I loaded the iPod last night when I got home, but being late I couldn't bother putting a lot of effort into it. Knowing I'd be in the mood for some fun stuff I grabbed two or three numbers from a few different artists (including The Mountain Goats, White Stripes, Jens Lekman, Smog).

Left home just after 7am, both the iPod and I were in shuffle mode :-) Arrived at South Bank as the 5k-ers were coming in. Chelle and Finbar ran that and I got to see them finish, both are recovering from injuries so were taking it relatively easy. The three of us then joined Puntermatt and MJ and found a great vantage point to watch the 10k-ers, about 100m from the finish. Saw the frontrunners come in, including Regatta/Intraining Chris in 5th place. Langy (Rith) was on fire as he flew past us for a PB. The clock was 44 something when Clairie came hurtling towards us. A PB for sure but would she get that sub 45 she really really wanted so badly. I raced back up to the line to check. Woohoo - 44:50!

I had a morning tea to go to (more class reunion stuff) so had to get moving. Went via the old Boggo Rd jail and the Dutton Park cemetary to Fairfield. It was a little scary, here I was in well know magpie territory. And all alone! Only spotted one, and he was just hanging out on the ground. Still, I reckon he was eyeing off my CR cap.

I wasn't sure how far the run was, think maybe about 8 1/2k or so. Not as far as I thought it would be and I finished feeling like I could have continued for another half hour or more, except for the magpie factor ;-)

I really wished I could've hung around and helped Clairie celebrate her fantastic run, this one has been on the cards all year but her ITB injury got in the way. Oh well, you only have one 30 year reunion, Clairie's gonna have a stack more PBs!

Blown Away

After maybe three hours sleep I rocked up for the usual Saturday morning run. There were a few of us who'd partied the night before so I knew I'd have some company on what was going to be a slooooow run.

Most headed off toward the city but some breakaways decided they'd do the 15k Mt Coot-tha loop. Hmmm, interestingly none of them were out the night before. It was great to have Hannah along for her first Buddies run, the first of many I hope! Schultzy was there too. He was full of all sorts of stories from last weekend at Glasshouse - people battling through the pain of blistered feet, the demons that got in their heads at 3 in the morning, the throwing up etc etc. Then he tried to convince me to skip Sydney Marathon next year for the GH 100. Ha ha ha.

It seemed a perfect morning for running until we crossed the Goodwill Bridge ... and almost got blown off it. I can't recall running in conditions like that in Brisbane for a long time, if ever. It made the wind in Sydney last Sunday seem like the slightest of breezes. The Vic Bridge was even worse, I was running beside Lizzle and we had trouble going in a straight line!

My new gym finally opened this weekend. Its just 500 meters up the road so I'll be scratching my head for excuses not to go. I haven't lifted a weight or even done a situp since November. I slipped in there in the afternoon thinking I'll do something. The something I did was a 3 minute look around. Gotta ease back into these things :-)

BRING BACK THE BIFF

A few shots from the Regatta Runners 'R' Party ......



Some of the gang




Glenno and Finbar



Tara, Tesso, Lizzle



Rent Boy and Tesso

Cruisin' with k.d.

Friday morning I skipped the 6am start with the Regatta Runners and hit the road around 8.30am. It was pretty warm but I figure I need to get used to running in the heat as my next serious goal is sub 2 hours at December's Kurrawa to Pt Danger relay. Well, that was my excuse for a bit of a sleep in :-)

The quads were still a tad tight from Sunday and I wasn't sure how far I'd run. A bit ambitious I suppose but I'd put three of my k.d. lang CDs onto the iPod just in case. Felt good once I got going and ended up doing the Goodwill Bridge loop from home, a round trip of just over 10k.

One thing I like about marathon recovery is that for the next week or so you can run without worrying about how times and I was probably close to 6 minute pace. Got to listen to all of "Absolute Torch And Twang" - luv Big Boned Gal :-) Also heard half of "Angel With A Lariat". The quad tightness was all but gone by the time I finished.

Friday night was the Regatta Runners 'R' party - you had to go as something starting with the letter 'R' (anything but a runner or a rider). What a ball! Only downer of the night was Clairie couldn't come, so she'll have to make up for it a the Christmas bash.

You can see all the endurance training comes in handy, most of us were in our part of the pub until that part closed (2am). The bar upstairs was still going and they told us we could go up there and drink. Dressed the way we were, errr, I don't think so ....

Something Blue

After doing a few kms with the Intraining group last night my legs felt way better so I knew exactly what I needed to do this afternoon to shake out the rest of that muscle tightness.

Seeing though it was going to be an easy run I wanted music to match, so loaded the iPod with something I hadn't listened to in a while, my Desperate Man Blues (http://www.desperatemanblues.com.au/) soundtrack, and headed off around 5.30pm for a liesurely 6k. Hmmm, must learn how to put tidier links into the blog.

Gave a wave to fellow Sydney marathoner and CR Beagle running in the other direction but he seemed to be deep in conversation and didn't see me. He sure looks to have recovered well. Then just after the turnaround there was a familiar blue and yellow cap heading towards me - CR Dom. It wasn't until after he sailed by grinning that I remembered he'd run the 50k at Glasshouse and he too looked surprisingly sprightly.

I'm usually a morning runner but it was nice to be out there at that time of day. The moon was almost full. The river was calm, the tide was in and the water a beautiful silvery blue colour. And the music was cruisey. Very pleasant indeed :-)

Easy for some ... well, me :-)

Wednesday night was the Intraining Beginners (aka School Of Pain) and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity for a nice easy trot.

Clairie and I took them up to Suncorp Stadium, our usual haunt, where we had them doing what would have been a circuit of around 500 meters. It included two hills, so they ran hard up the up, steady on the 100m flat across to the next ramp, and then slow on the down before pushing hard on the up. They did this continually for 15 mintues.

I basicially just did the warmup with them, a couple of the hills and a few of the flat stetches, the quads didn't really want to do too much more. For me, it was probably just 3k or so and the legs felt better for it. But for them it was pretty tough, they rarely do a session where they don't have some sort of standing recovery. They were all totally spent at the end of the 15 mins!

Its really satisfying to see the improvement in this group, not just in their running but also in their attitude. Many are starting to set goals and look pretty determined to achieve them. Hopefully Clairie and I can help them along the way.

Sydney Marathon - The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

September 11 was Sydney Marathon day. The run was long, but I'll try to keep the report short.

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THE BAD

The hills, the heat, the hills, the wind, the hills, the very dodgey km markers, and the hills. That's about it. To be honest I'd forgotten about all of the bad things, especially the hills.

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THE UGLY

The guy mooning us as we ran up toward Centenial Park.

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THE GOOD

Saturday evening when Ray and his lovely wife Helen put on fantastic dinner for Aunty Karin, Truckie, JD and I. We had lots of food and lots of laughs and I left feeling a little more relaxed about the next morning.

Getting to Milson's Point well before the Half started and getting to chat to so many CRs.

It wasn't at all chilly, unlike last year. I know, I whinged about the heat in THE BAD, but at this point in time I appreciated not being cold.

All the out and back bits where you can do some serious CR spotting, especially of those close by including Queen Bee, Flashduck, CJ, and The Professor.

Seeing the wonderful Plu on the road out to Leichhardt. At that point if I had half the enthusiasm for running as he had for supporting us I'd have sprinted home to a PB!

The CR Cheersquad on the Cahill Expressway. I can't put into words just how fantastic it was to see them.

The other CR cheersquad just before the finish line. Awesome!

Crossing the line in 3:44, a time I had said all along I'd be very happy with. And achieving that after a pretty crappy second half.

Relaxing and chatting in the recovery area, and relaxing and chatting even more over a couple of beers and a giant beefburger at the Orient Hotel at The Rocks.

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MAGIC MUSICAL MOMENTS

Starting the race listening to Ben Lee's "We're In In This Together" on my iPod.

Running over the Harbour Bridge while "My City Of Sydney" was playing.

Running down Oxford St, seeing the party boys and drag queens, listening to "You Think You're A Man But You're Only A Boy" which I'd copied from my 'Queer As Folk' soundtrack. Made me laugh.

High 5-ing (well, low 5-ing really) JD on the out and back to Leichhardt while the Darren Hanlon song "Hiccups" was playing. We had been talking about that very song the previous day.

Listening to "Born To Be Alive" as I ran that final few hundred meters before crossing the line. Embarrassing to admit, but hey it was a great song to finish on!

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SUMMARY

I'm happy with the time I ran, but not happy with how I ran. I went though halfway in 1:44, three minutes slower than GC and Canberra so didn't go out too fast. The second half took me 2 hours. I hit the wall mentally well before I did physically. Gotta work on that aspect. Will be seeking advice from those mulitudes out there tougher than myself.

Will I do it again, that same course with all those nasty nasty nasty hills? Sadly the answer is probably yes. Damn, I want revenge!

Accentuate The Positive

Today was the last speed session before the big M. Well, for me it was not quite speed.

On the warm up I had a bit of a chat to Michael and Campbell, the only other two from Pat's who are running Sydney. The three of us have roughly similar goals, which bothers me a little as they are both way faster than me over the shorter stuff. Its Campbell's first marathon, gotta be excited for him. Michael was just six minutes behind me at the Gold Coast, but has improved so much since then I reckon he'll be at least that far in front of me come Sunday.

One nice thing about there just being three of us is we got a round of applause from the group when Pat let them all know, and there were endless good luck wishes and hugs.

On the pgm was six 2 minute efforts. I was probably running at around 80%, just enough to get the legs rolling over fastish but not enough to cause any pain. Clairie, who turns out to be human after all, was finally feeling the effects of her fantastic 26k race on Sunday and her 'almost a PB' time trial two days later. She too was backing it off a little so it was fun to run together on the reps.

The usual 'no watch 1k' followed. I nominated 4:45 but was just a little fast and came home in 4:41. Close :-) It felt quite comfy. Considering I intend to go out around 4:45 to 4:50 pace on Sunday I guess that's a good sign.

Spent the morning packing and, more importantly, loading the iPod, which always gets me a bit excited about races. There was so much music I wanted to put on there, I ended up with five hours. Rather than tempting fate I'll culled it to just four, so I really hope I don't hear the same song twice. My first waiting-for-the-gun-to-go song is Darren Hanlon's cool cover of the Fleetwood Mac song "Don't Stop", though maybe I should've put it on toward the end :-) Next is "We're All In This Together" by Ben Lee. Too true.

All that's left to do now is to keep on loading up on carbs, Endura, water, and positive thoughts. And unloading all the negative ones.

Trialling Marathon Pace

I arrived at Pat's this morning with the decision made, I'd run the 3k TT at marathon pace, though just quietly I changed my mind at least four or five times on the ten minute drive there.

But being surrounded by the group, all anxious and fired up, the buzz got to me and I wanted to run it fast. The ever thoughtful Clairie, obviously more concerned for my well being than I am, yelled to Pat and told him to tell me to take it easy today. Still, I was tempted to go just quick enough to notch up my fourth consecutive faster time and earn the coveted bling bling. But then there were three little words "don't do it" from Glenda (CR Casper), who told me she learnt the hard way, and common sense prevailed.

So the goal became running 3k at 4:45 pace, faster than what I'll end averaging on Sunday, but the pace I'm contemplating going out in as that's what I did at both Canberra and the Gold Coast . Anyway, a few strides to warm up the legs and we were off.

I ran the first km in 4:40 and so slowed down for the second, but a little too much I'm afraid. It was 4:57. I finished off with a 4:47. Funny thing is that first km, even though it was the fastest, felt the most comfortable.

There were some great runs from the group, and five or six PBs - all to girls! Pat didn't want to record my overall time for posting on his website but I insisted he did. Just myself and Jonesy have made it to every time trial this year and I didn't want it to look like I've ruined my perfect record :-)

Decisions decisions .....

It was a day off work for me today. Its been a weekend of late nights and early mornings, and with the annual Regattafest going on all around my place there was way to much noise during the day to even think about a nanna nap.

So rather than head out at 6am with the Regatta Runners I took the opportunity for a bit of a sleep in and hit the road around 8.30. Last night I loaded the iPod with my new Smog CD "A River Ain't Too Much To Love" in preparation for the solo jaunt. It was just an easy 6k, although I felt like running further as the music was so good. Smog's Bill Callanan has been described by one reviewer as a campfire-friendly Leonard Cohen :-)

Tomorrow morning is our monthly TT at Pat's. Two of my wonderful training partners and fellow CRs Jonesy and Puntermatt have offered to pace me to a PB (11:53) as both are recovering from flus. I'm not sure, however, whether a 'fast' 3k would hamper my Sydney marathon effort. Then again, I doubt if I'll be getting close to a PB on Sunday, and tomorrow morning may just have a chance of something a little special. By the same token I have the opportunity to run 3k every month, though not always with the guys to assist.

A sensible alternative is to run the 3k at my marathon race pace, and in the process maybe assist someone else in the group to a PB of their own.

But wait, there's more. I believe all I have to do is run under 12:09 and I get a nice shiny medal as it would be a fourth consecutive faster time when my PB is over three months ago. Ha ha, I think that's the case if I understand the 'rules'.

So I don't know what to do. Really I should just ask Pat, but I'm not going to because whatever his answer is I reckon I won't like it.

Last Longish Run

Would've like to have slept in after CR drinks last night but at least this Saturday the long run was from across the road at The Regatta, so no excuse to miss it. I wasn't too shabby but gotta say that I feel this way on September 11th it'll be a looooong 42k. I was tossing up with the idea of just doing a shorter run and then heading out on Sunday arvo for something a bit longer. But then I had another biggish night planned, and an very early Sunday morning on duty at BRRC so I knew I'd probably feel even less like it then.

About the third of the pack headed for a run over Mt Coot-tha, and it sure was tempting to join them as I knew it would shake out the cobwebs. But its a bit too close to the mara for such a tough run so opted to do the flat run along the bikeway. Up until the Goodwill Bridge the pace was easy, but then half the mob turned back for home and I seemed to be left with a bunch of fasties who were ready to go up a gear - yikes! There was a newish lady, Margaret, along who wanted to run a little further. She told me not to wait for her because she was slow. Yay, just what I wanted to hear! But if she's slow then so am I, we ran the exact pace I was hoping to (around 5:30s or so).

We did the Story Bridge loop. Not 100% sure of the distance, there seems to be some contention of late whether its 16k or 17k. I had figured it was a perfect opportunity to settle it once and for all with the trusty Garmin, but kept forgetting to turn it on and off at water stops. Maybe I was just a little shabby.

Had the usual brekky and chat afterwards and then caught up with some of the gang again in the afternoon for a spot of tennis followed by a barby and a few drinks. Gotta say as tennis players we all make fantastic runners :-)

The Best Laid Plans

The way my shifts work it only happens once every three weeks that I have to cut the Pat session a bit short and be at work at 7am. Usually its a pain but today I was kinda grateful as the quads are still a bit sore, like the feeling you get for a couple of days after a hard race. Not sure why.

Normally on this day I drive to work, run to the Ship Inn, do what I can of the session, and then bolt back to work. Last night I had a brainwave - park the car where we do our reps at West End, and run to the Ship Inn to join the group. An extra long warm up and no warm down at all. But I figured driving back to work would be quicker than running.

I set the virtual runner on the trusty Garmin up to help me do my reps in 3:57 but thought there was no way I could do that pace the way the legs were so just used the stopwatch function instead. Ha, my first two reps were 3:54 and 3:55 :-) The third was 4:02, though on it I had to turn around at the 500m mark losing a bit of momentum, while everyone else kept on going. It was weird having nobody to chase on the way back. So that's how Matty feels when he's on fire!

Jumped straight into the car after the third rep. Had 15 minutes to get to work, maybe 2 1/2k max. Hit a squllion red lights on the way. Then got to the car park and there was a courier van blocking the entrance for what seemed like an eternity. Ended up getting to the desk a minute or so late. I could've run there faster.