Thursday - 15km

Well, I was truly in survival mode today from the onset. Way too hot and humid today to do anything fast! Intensity wise it was normal, just didn’t have the pace. But as usual, just put my head down and ground it out. Up to North Head this morning, really feeling like my legs were concrete on the way up. Just made it through the construction workers at Volley Fest on the way up, they were literally blocking off the beachfront path as I was running through (unbelievable that they are still packing it all away)! That meant the usual detour on the way home. Got back in a slower than usual 55:40 (3:43’s). Nothing special by any means, just happy to get through it and survive what has been a very tough week in terms of weather!

Wednesday - 15km

The humidity is getting worse and worse. I really suffered from it this morning. I had to dig deep just to get out there this morning, having been in a very deep sleep when my alarm woke me up this morning. Another stunning morning, despite the stickiness in the air. Had to detour around the remains of Volley Fest - it looks like they are almost done (I’ll be surprised if they are still there tomorrow). Ran into and with Tom for a bit, great to see he is making a comeback after a year of Achilles issues. Sorry for not being very social! Wednesday means the flatter but more crowded Shelly-Fairlight loop. I backed the pace off a bit today, just wanting to get it done. Thinking I was running slower than usual, I readjusted my expectations for a high-55, low-56. This appeared more apparent as I had to a large detour onto the grass at Queenscliff to make way for the White Ribbon March! A huge turn out of people led by police on horses blocked the beachfront on my return between North Steyne and Queenscliff SLSC. They were followed by four policemen on cycles. So, after a bloody humid morning where I didn’t feel like getting out of bed, and then some cross country thrown in the middle, I was happy to get back home in 54:50 (3:39’s), pretty much identical times for the past three days. Faster than I thought, and as I keep saying, there is no need to be any faster than 54’s at this time of year - especially in that sort of humidity. Even made it back in time for a swim, although it looks like I saw the best part of the day. It’s raining now!

Tuesday - 15km

The conditions just keep getting tougher (to run in, that is, they are otherwise beautiful). Another stunning morning, but with the humidity reaching 99% according to the iPhone when my alarm went off, today was yet again another day of simply grinding through it. That I did. Up to North Head once again, dodging the packing up of the Volley Fest. To make matters worse, the council have decided to lay some new turf down immediately south of Volley Fest, meaning that you have to detour to the bike lane when running south bound before sharply turning left to get off the bike lane. Great timing by the council, although no real surprises there. The pace felt slowish today, so I was quite happy to get back in 54:48 (3:39’s). It really felt like mid 55’s, so that is a bonus. Back into the ocean now as I’m already saturated!

Monday - 15km

Testing conditions this morning coupled with heavy legs following yesterday’s run meant today was simply an exercise in survival. Very humid as well, adding further to the list of excuses. And another - I got caught out both ways with the deconstruction of the Volley Fest infrastructure, hopefully they take it down quicker than it took them to put it up! Monday means the Shelly-Fairlight loop, which was quite crowded today (a bit of people dodging going on at he B&B - I take back what I said last week)! But I pushed on and got through it (although I had to really convince myself to get out there this morning, and to not stop a few tempting times). Got back in 54:48 (3:39’s), which isn’t too bad given my state of fatigue and the humidity. Certainly more than I had anticipated, so all is good. No swim in the ocean today.

Sunday - 30km

That would have had to have been one of the toughest long runs I have ever done! Felt fine (at the start, at least), but I really suffered as the run progressed with the heat and humidity. So much so that I had to dig deep just to finish. I felt as if I had really just dropped the pace and switched to survival mode, simply just ticking the legs over to get home in the end. So I loved the irony of getting back to Harris Farm in 1:53:59 (3:48’s), the fastest time I have done for this long run. No wonder it was tough! The conditions simply exacerbated it! But the funny thing is that I actually did back it off to what felt like a plod over the last 10km or so. Oh well, I can’t complain about that, although I’ll probably pay for it next week (the forecast is looking similarly hot and humid, at least 15km of running in it is more manageable than 30km, some of which is out west in Cromer)! Other highlights included seeing quite a few B-Line buses (which officially launched today), along with even more 199’s (never heard of the 199). Most of the former looked pretty empty given it is a Sunday morning, but each had the first rows upstairs occupied. I wonder how long until that novelty wears off? One positive observation was that both Dee Why and Brookvale main’s were relatively empty rather than their usual congested selves (yes, congested even on a Sunday mornings). The first real test will be tomorrow. Time to jump into the ocean again, clearly not learning my lesson from yesterday!

Saturday - Manly to Spit & return

Up and out for my usual Saturday morning Manly to Spit run on an absolutely stunning morning, although a tad too warm and humid to be considered ‘world record conditions.’ Nevertheless, I felt good - unusual for a Saturday morning. I had some more power and spring in my stride, allowing me to push the pace fractionally more than usual without any increase in perceived effort. It surprisingly wasn’t too crowded out there, with a few more geckos making guest appearances along the way. No stray walkers or high tides to contend with today either, making it a dream run. Got back home in 84:54 (4:14’s), only the second time under 85 minutes. Very happy with that, especially as I didn’t push the pace any harder in the final few kilometers (which I generally have a habit of doing). Perhaps time to jump into the ocean - it’s almost December after all, so I’m running out of excuses! Update: that was a stupid idea - the water is freezing!

Thursday - 15km

I was always going to suffer to some degree this morning following in from yesterday’s run. And from that perspective, I didn’t disappoint. Although it wasn’t as bad as I had anticipated. An absolutely stunning morning, not a cloud in the sky, barely a breath of air, warm but quite humid. So it wasn’t surprising to see the beachfront packed with people (& dogs). I must say that the B&B crowd have really improved recently with regards to leaving a path for the walkers and runners - someone must have given them the ultimatum! Up to North Head today, my preferred route despite the hill climbs. Just tried to keep the pace controlled and below the red line at all times. Felt strong-ish (in relative terms). Got back home in 54:48 (3:39’s), the Garmin only cutting me 5 seconds short this morning. Quite happy with that time considering yesterday’s run. As I always say, I don’t need to be running any faster than 54 minutes for any of these runs at the moment.