The training picks up.....

Wed - 90 mins - 18k's @ 4:55 mins/km
Thurs - 50 mins - 10k's @ 5:00 mins/km
Fri - 5/4/4 min with 45 SR, 8 hill repeats
Sun - 120 mins, 24k's @ about 5:00 mins/km
Tues 8 x 1min, 30 JR

Its been a pretty solid week of training and the detox has been going well. With the Gold Coast looming, my life is becoming even more discplined and the detox has helped kick start that.
Wednesday was a cruisey 90 min run by myself along Kedron Brook. Nice to slip under 5 min pace again after the ITB and then health issues over the last month. I followed that up with an easy session on the tready on Thursday. Friday's speedwork session was tough. I had hoped to emulate my strong performance from Tuesday, but after leading the group through the first rep, I bonked with a lack of energy and could only battle honestly for the rest of the session without ever reaching top sped. David and Mike R in particular turned in sensational sessions! Sunday's long run dropped back to two hours as I went into taper mode for the Brissy Half. Its funny to be starting a two hour run and thinking to yourself - 'this won't take too long.' I got through the run nicely enough. Bumped into Scotty Brittain towards the end and we ran together for a few k's at about 4:15's and had a chat. Its always an inspiration to run with an athlete who is an Australian rep and see how comfortably they do it.

Today, I was pretty determined going to speedwork and had tried to eat as much as I can yesterday so I would have the energy to sustain myself throughout the session. I started off strongly and led the Group through each of the first three outbound reps on two ocassions being comfortably clear of James, Glenda and Chris. On those three return reps, I tried to catch up to the pack and was rapt to catch up to most of them on each ocassion. That was as good as it gets and represents one of the best training sessions I've done in the last few months. Unfortunately, the fuel light came on after that and I could only battle on with the pack for the last two reps and Pat's surprise(not!) extra rep. A two minute jog at the end of the session enabled me to recover before I charged up Gold Coast Hill twice, really maxing myself out on the second effort and nearly doing a Farne Sang. I was so gutted, my body was like jelly and I could only walk back down the hill and followed that with a slow jog back to the Ship Inn as opposed to my normal brisk warm down. That was a top session and I'm very pleased - there's no doubt in my mind that I could have maintained top speed throughout had I had my usual GU kick beforehand. All in all, a great session - Glenda did not miss a beat after returning from Hobart with three Masters gold medals, James showed his usual turn of foot after returning from a break, Chris was speedy and David and Mike R were also outstanding.