The rainy season

So up to Duncan this morning for a threshold and a good old cardio sesh as a reminisce on the old days.

Lugged my build through 4km in 15:27, really nothing special. Then absolutely died in the cardio sesh. Everyone walked all over me. Fairly embarrassing but not everyday is a good day. 

Ferny tomorrow, feeling good now. Congrats to the Devils out at shield today. Despite the wet track, Sam lay down a 4:05 1500m, the man is only 17, JB 4:06 and Will a 4:16. No wucken forries. 

Settling down

Took Wednesday off because I was feeling the week of training. English exam went well though, I think, but who knows.

Jogged yesterday 8.4km in 38 something and did some strides. Psych and bio both down now. We're nearly there. 

Here we go

Last night was the same session as the other week. 2 x 600m, 4 x 400m, 4 x 200m and 4 x 100m, but it was on the outside loop instead of on the track. Jog recovery was the same distance as the reps, however only 400m for the 600m reps.

I was running with Matt Wynne, pretty tired after Ferny but I trained well enough.  600's were just under 2 mins, 400's varied between 75 and 80 while the 2's resided around 36 seconds and I didn't time the 1's. 

Exhausted afterwards, but got 2 laps cool down done. 13.6km all up. Feeling fit, but a bit nervous I'm losing some speed with all these jog recoveries. I'll swap out a hills session for some 300's or something similar, one week. 

Tonight, stomach was lurking on a jog with Mahoney, so only did 7.2km. English tomorrow, feeling slightly nauseous. 

Combinaish

Ferny this morning, it was really tough after hills yesterday. Some great runs yesterday, JB ran 2 flat for 800m, Tom 1:58, Sam ran 9:00 in tough conditions but I feel like he'll get the qualifier by the end of November. 

19.4km in 1:33, a bit faster than the usual. I missing competition a fair amount but I will race on the 14th, nothing too serious though. 

Schoolies is set up, a few of us are off to Sorento so should be good. 3 days till Englsih. 

Last days

Had Valedictory Monday night so I couldn't train, did an easy run of around 9.6km with Mahoney who has joined the squad which is good to hear. 

So Monday night was another large one, so took Tuesday morning off. 

Wednesday was training, and I trained well. Definitely felt like I was hitting old form. The session was 200, 220, 240, 260, 280, 300 with a progressively decreasing jog recovery to take us back to the 400 start. That was 1 set and we did two sets. 

Feeling great throughout the whole thing, even had something left for a quality last 300m so things are going swimmingly. Then Thursday was an easy run of 8km and Friday was an easy run of 9km to make up for Tuesday. 

This morning was hills but because of the Shield meet today, it wasn't a large turnout. Again, felt magic, didn't go out too hard because there's nothing worse than blowing up on hills. First 4 went by really quick and I was just behind Tarli Bird, who loves marathons. 

Even the recoveries were looking strong. Times went like this: 

1:11, 1:13, 1:13, 1:13, 1:12, 1:12, 1:12, 1:10

Stoked, but it's the Ferny killer and hill killer combination tomorrow so hopefully I make it home alive. Good luck to Sammy Toll who I believe is attempting to break that 8:50 barrier to qualify for the Zatopek 3km. Here's some photos of the last week.

More reminiscing

Right so again, another mental week. Had my French oral exam on Wednesday and that went well so I'm happy. Did an easy run I the Tuesday after the beep test. 8km, felt good.

The following night was Lesley's training. It was one of the toughest things I've done and I'd give you the full rundown but I have forgotten most of it. It was 2 x 600m, 4 x 400m, 4 x 200m, 4 x 100m and the heat was draining. 

Stoked with how I went though, considering Sam lapped me twice over 8 km which was fairly aggressive. Then last day of school on Thursday forever which was a bit surreal. Did another easy run in the evening after pooling for a few hours. 

Then Friday was the year 12 assembly which was such a good time. 6:30 wake up to get to Pre's in the morning, before a loud journey up to school and getting up and about for the assembly. Videos were ripper. Our one was called "Squares : The Mckinnon Edition" and I think it's on you tube and it goes in depth on the greatest and most loved sport the world has ever seen. Look for squares at Rio 2016.

So the big night started at 12 noon and the idea was to put in a 12 hour stint of beers and bangers. I lasted until 3 before it caught up with me. Shot home, grabbed a shower and changed, got some of a practice exam done and headed back out for 7. Rolled back to Falcon's for one of the greatest. Must've been close to 200 people there. Mental. Realised as I was falling asleep that hills would not be a great call in the morning due that current state. 

Went for a jog in the evening instead and reminisced on high school's finest moments. 

Got down to Ferny this morning though for a solid 19.4km in 1:36. Feeling great  now. 11 days till English. Here's some photos of Friday and the last few days of school.

More updates

Apologies once more, time is short for the final weeks before exams so updating will be back to normal shortly. Stretching back to last Tuesday, did an easy 8km along the beach.

Had training the next day, in which we did 10 x 200m on, 200m off. Really tough, probably averaged around 33s for each one.

Then easy run on Thursday, but both arches in the feet really started hurting. Rested up all day Friday to train on Saturday morning. Did the hill session with times of:

1:11, 1:16, 1:16, 1:17, 1:22, 1:17, 1:21, 1:16

So times definitely came down from last week which was good, although my overall time was 24:50 for the session which wasn't as great. Both feet really sore for the rest of Saturday which didn't bode well for a ferny long run. Dad reckoned it was my shoes as I only have one pair and they were getting really old. This seemed fair so we went out to get 2 pairs so I could rotate, making both pairs last longer and getting a bit of variety for the muscles.

Didn't risk the long run on Sunday and went to a spin class instead. That was genuinely one of the toughest things I've ever done. Went in there expecting it to be easy, but as soon as the instructor introduced himself, saying his name was "Randal" I realised it had to be aggressive if a person involved had that kind of name.

That was 45 mins of high intensity. Seemed like some really quality corss training though, so I'll keep that consistent after year 12.

Today in school had the beep test challenge, but my heart wasn't in it. Ran 14.8 I think, so a bit disappointed but the feet have stopped hurting off the new shoes. Won't train tonight as I've got work to do and the beep test was today so I'll go for an easy run tomorrow.

16 days till English.

Pretty happy

Well after the hammie problems on Wednesday, it came good luckily. Went to hills Saturday morning for the first session in more than 2 weeks. Summer is coming as well so it was really warm. Tops off training after the first rep. Probably the hardest session I've ever done. Hills are killer. Times dipped after the break which is fair enough, the big night on the Friday wasn't ideal however, house parties won't last long.

Times went: 1:14, 1:14, 1:17, 1:21, 1:21, 1:22, 1:26, 1:22

Definitely struggled. Quick warm down as well, while Sam rolled only nicely, I let him do the talking while focused on sucking in oxygen.

Done in for the rest of the day. Went for a longer run on Sunday morning to the beach. 16km in 1:12 or so. I'll slowly build up the km's again for Sunday runs.

Tonight was training. Ridiculously warm again. I'm going to have to get used to the aggressive temperature. Tops off again, we did Mono Fartlek which is 2 x 90s, 4 x 60s, 4 x 30s, 4 x 15s with equal recoveries. Real tough, I got dropped off after the 90s, and did my best to keep a solid pace. Finished with 4.8 km on the watch and happy enough. 11km for the session.

Update

This week has been fairly stressful with practice exams for the last few days. Did 8.5km runs on both Monday and Tuesday. But then on Wednesday, I was planning to train properly however I woke up with a sore hamstring.

Did the warm up feeling alright but 2 400's into the session called it a day because the hammie was slowly becoming tighter. Had a chat to lesley about it and she reckons it's the study which is fair enough. So in a month or so, once it's all over, hopefully the hammie stuff will settle down.

Went for a run yesterday though with dad, as it was okay to run easy on. 8km in 36 minutes I think.