Upcoming Races

Sydney Striders 10km - North Head

Been a member of Sydney Striders for almost a year and have yet to run an event with them. Very poor show. I've either been working or their early starts have been prohibitive given I don't have a car in Australia and weekend public transport to some of the far flung locations is a literal no-go. I do have a hat, though, and I wear it with pride.

That will change this Saturday as we plan to attend one of their 10k series at North Head, Manly. Public transport? I think Transport NSW recommends seven buses, two ferries, and a hot air balloon (now taking Opal Card). Fortunately our new friend and running coach, Timmy Lindop, has offered us a ride. Victoria has been attempting to rort him by claiming her 10km time will be 47 minutes, but he's seen right through that.

My goal? I'm going to give myself a little taper, hydrate well and hit the peanut butter hard and see if I can manage another sub-40 10km. I'm not optimistic though (potentially a boozy night for birthday celebrations on the Friday), and I'll take a sub-42 quite happily. It's nice to have achieved the sub-40 10km already as the pressure is off. Provided I run sub-90 at the half marathon, next year will be the time for trying to better PBs. I may switch the "goal" from time to financial and try and rort young Timmy.


Sydney Running Festival - Half Marathon

This will see my return to the site of my most epic running implosion. Last year's full marathon was not kind. Going well at 21.1km with the 4hr pacers led to an arrogance that was to prove my downfall. Decided to show them my heels and break away. Didn't last long. Shouts from the crowd of "Go the fours!" soon became "Go the fives", as my breakage began at 28km and was complete at 32km. I somehow managed to walk/crawl around the final 10km and finish in 4:08:01, but it was a humbling experience.

This year I'll leave the full marathon for others more foolish and concentrate on the half. What are the chances of going sub-90? Well it's a tough course, with plenty of hills, and the mornings are certainly starting to heat up. With that said, I am intimately acquainted with the route and the benefits that that brings cannot be overstated. It's also a cracking course, going over the Harbour Bridge and finishing at the Opera House.

I won't make the mistakes of Blacktown (read: I won't get smashed beforehand) and I'll give it a good go. I expect a new PB at least.


Melbourne Half Marathon

Excited about Melbourne. Finishing at the MCG will be amazing and would be great to break the sub-90 in that great sporting venue. I'm sure it will be full to the rafters with my blog readers.

The course appears a lot flatter than Sydney, but I'm not as familiar with it. St Kilda's road looks long and boring, but running the Formula 1 race track at Albert Park will be fun.

It'd be nice to have the sub-90 monkey off my back beforehand, and just enjoy the race, but I fear it's going to come down to the wire.

Regardless, I'll be straight off to Chin Chin afterwards to gorge on crispy Barramundi and down the Thai ale. Drinking from 10am? There's a marathon I like the sound of.

Training Preparation

We're getting to the business end of the year. By my reckoning there are only two more races definitely in the pipeline to achieve the sub-90 half marathon; Sydney and Melbourne. There's also a West Sydney half marathon, but I'm working so it's just a maybe.

Before thinking about the races still to come (in addition to the above there's at least one 10km and probably a few park runs) I wanted to mention training.

It's pretty obvious that you need to prepare for racing. We're all aware of tapers, carbohydrate loading, and rehydration and it makes complete sense. I've had it hammered home this year by performing significantly worse when under-prepared compared with when preparation has been tip-top. But what about preparation for training?

It's also obvious that to race well you need to train well. In order to train well you need to be in good condition, particularly for your quality sessions. Go out too hard on a "rest" or "recovery" day and you won't get anything like as much benefit from the quality session. This is analagous to the taper. You need to think about being suitably hydrated and well nourished. Big nights on the beer will harm your performance the next day.

Not performing to your best on one or two training sessions is unlikely to cause a huge problem, but get it wrong too often and you'll be in Struggle City, performing your mayoral duties.

All Hail the Hill...City2Surf 2015

City2Surf 2014, was an unmitigated disaster. No qualifying time meant a blue group dodgefest, stupidly long bag-drop queue meant I had to run with my rucksack, and two litres of diet coke and four bananas pre-race meant I visited the majority of portaloos around the course. The end result? 78 minutes.

Hopefully 2015 would be better, but I was targeting a tougher time of sub 60 minutes (4:17min/km).

Cracking atmosphere at the start. Red group line up on Park Street, looking east towards the sunrise and the first hill up William Street to the tunnel. Some very weak jumper throwing by a few competitors resulted in new headwear for a number of guys around us. Much to their displeasure.

Gun sounds and we're away. Still a dodgefest, but at least there was no parting of the ways this year to reveal fat Betty walking down the middle of the course at 400m and an unavoidable collision. Difficult to settle into a rhythm and the watch registered 4:15 for the first kilometre. Had to pick it up to get a time-cushion for Heartbreak Hill and did so. The official results reckon I was at 4:01 per kilometre until Heartbreak, which was a bit faster than I'd intended, but did fill my time bag.

I hadn't been up the hill since last year and it caught me out again with how steep and long it is. 1.5km and 80m gain. It's just a case of gritting the teeth and holding on...in this case to the eight year old child just in front who seemed to be gliding effortlessly up it. Bastard. 4:29 per kilometre was a good effort in my eyes and set me up to beat my target time.

There are a few hills post Heartbreak that I find more heartbreaking. They're small in comparison, but they just feel unfair. 4:17 per kilometre average pace through Vaucluse and down into Bondi. Amazing views on the way down and starting to feel confident about finishing sub-60.

The end of the race is really well supported and it was nice to ease up a little and take it in. Crossed the line in 58:42 (chip time). Tres pleased.

Now the real work of the day started...the afterparty. Much less seedy than last year (changing in the toilets of the Beach Hotel and rocking up to dinner with tinnies in hand) with a great party put on by a boss from work. Her place overlooks Bondi Beach and the fridge was well stocked with champers. We'd popped home to get changed prior and it took almost twice as long to get back to Bondi than by running.

Time to hear the tales of the rest of the runners:

Kit Edwards: Cracking time of 51:22. He'd been aiming for sub-52 and nailed it. No show at the party though, so incurs a twenty minute time penalty. Them's the rules.

Ant Brown: Shame about Brown. He's settled down now, with girlfriend, and is fat. Sad to see a once great athlete drag himself round in only 58:08.

Oliver Barrett: 1:05:55. Was worried Ollie (not Hollie) might be a dark-horse, needn't have been.

Victoria Arthur: Smashed the PB with a super time of 1:07:58. Very pleased about this, my bowels cost her a sub-70 last year by one second and I haven't heard the end of it. Probably still haven't, but I at least can hope.

Amit Pancholi: Run of the day after rolling his ankle within the first few hundred metres (must have hit fat Betty) and getting round in 1:35:47. Also pleased to report he didn't stick his bag sticker to his back and wore much more conservative earphones.

Close between the girls, Katie Grooby just edging Teresa Pancholi (1:45:37 and 1:46:12 respectively). This battle is getting fierce, with Teresa coming out on top in the Sydney Harbour 10km. I hope they manage to keep their duel civil, but I detect tension simmering and this could explode. Watch this space.

Matt and Howard Brewvier: On the no less important booze run. First to the afterparty and showed us the latest Bondi hipster drink...a lump of cheese in a glass of champagne. Delicious.

Rocked up at Mr Wong in the city for last food orders where it all got a bit much for Pancholi: