Long weekend ahead...

As usual it’s been a while.

City to Surf

It was so long ago now but I did make a couple of notes. Whilst I felt ok over the first half of the run, the heat combined with my lack of fitness/preparation saw me feeling very average over the back end. I made it to half way in 35 minutes and felt pretty good on my way up Heartbreak Hill, but I really faded through the ups and downs of 9-11km and ended up finishing in 72:50 for the 14km.

That’s a pretty shocking back half given that most people negative split on this course. Still, that was to be expected and I’m happy to have met my goal of retaining a red bib for next year, when I hope to be better prepared. Great day though.

In the fortnight immediately following C2S I only did one run and ended up covering just 67km in August. That’s my lowest monthly total since the August to October period last year when my calf was playing up. At least back then I made up for the lack of running by substituting cycling and swimming. I don’t feel too bad though...it’s a good break to freshen up before I get back into it all. I’m happy to relax and get out for 3-4 easy runs a week with nothing over 15km until the middle of October before picking things up a bit prior to the Central Coast Half, which should then lead into training for Six Foot Track.

Whilst on the subject, I have started my preparation for the track. I picked up a pair of (yellow!) Salomon XA Pro’s a few weeks ago, and have taken them out for the last couple of weekends.

First up I ventured from Bonny Hills along a 4WD track / fire trail to a local creek. All up it was a 10km return trip. Last weekend I followed some fire trails down to the Queens Lake Picnic Area for a 14km round trip.

Both runs were very enjoyable, and a nice change to the normal road scene that I run closer to home. At one stage I may have had to jump a gate to get where I was headed...sshhh, don’t tell.
I’m planning on getting out for a trail run once a week, starting off by exploring some more of the trails around the Queens Lake area before moving further afield.

Apart from that, life is very busy. Jodie had her mid semester exams the other week and starts some casual work from next weekend. I’m in the middle of an additional project I’ve taken on as overtime that should last a couple of months. It’s using new development tools that we’re using more for future projects so it’s a good learning experience. The extra money is coming at a useful time, but all I have time for at the moment is work, spending some time with the kids, a few chores and sleep. There should be some respite come December when my overtime is finished and Jodie has completed her end of year exams followed by her couple of weeks placement at a nursing home.