Easter & beyond

You just don't realise how fast life travels until you start writing a blog. Suddenly it has been almost two weeks since my last post. Don't know how Tom and others manage to update theirs daily. Since my last post, I have continued to recover quite well from 6ft track. That first week was the hardest. Couldn't walk for a lot of it, then started jogging very slowly and finally a weekend run that involved a little more speed.

The next week Mon 21st - Sun 27th March leading up to Easter was a lot better. I ran everyday and even managed 2 mid week sessions and a Sat park run.

Mon 21st: 14km easy Centennial Park
Tue 22nd: HuRTs 3/2/1 fartlek x 4 sets. Felt good for the first 3 sets running with Darren Moyle. Averaging 3:28 throughout and passing the 10km mark in 34:40 before finishing at the 36min mark. Total 16km
Wed 23rd: Easy 14km in 1hr
Thur 24th: Rejoov session with the squad. 8 x 400's chasing Johnny Mac most of them followed by 4 x 200's chasing everyone. Legs cracking under the extra pace but held together at least for the 400's. Total 12km. Thurs o/night in Mengangle at a mate's place. Great spot (once you're there)
Fri 25th:  7km easy Coogee coastline
Sat: 26th: Headed up to Dad's for the night so a lot of the Truscott family descended on the Mt Penang Park Run where we bumped into none other than Taffy James just out for a cruise after a solid run the day before.

The Mt Penang park run (just off the freeway at the Gosford exit) is a mix bag of cross country, gravel, road and footpath and is surprisingly faster than you would think looking at the course. My previous times of 16:11 and 16:10 would be hard to beat so soon post 6ft but turning at halfway in 7:52 provided an opportunity for a PB. Alas that 3-4km bear climbed onto my back again and I slowed but still managed a 16:20. Total for the morning 12km



2nd place went to my brother Pete in 19mins, followed by Greta in 4th with Jenny and Melanie not far behind for a definite Truscott team win. Taffy right on the 20min knocker. Brekkie and coffee on site at the botanical gardens café always so easy and hitting the spot.

Sun 27th: Jaden's birthday and Easter bunny morning but that didn't stop me heading out. James came down from his tent at Long Jetty to get his 18km done with Pete and myself around Ettalong, Umina and Woy Woy. All of us were feeling quite seedy from our separate campsite bbq / pissups the night before (yep we had to pitch a tent at Dad's as Pete and Melanie booked the spare room 16yrs ago - or thereabouts). The run was again followed by breakfast at a nice café in Ettalong after a swim rounding out a great start to Easter Sunday.



Mon 28th Mar: Greta and I had a few Rejoov runners that were scheduled to turn up and do the Sri Chinmoy Half / 7km this morning. Greta wanted to go so I decided at about 9pm the night before to also have a run. The babysitter only fell into place then also. The plan was to cruise around and maybe increase the tempo in the last of 3 x 7km laps.

However on the start line I spotted Darren Moyle sneakily lingering a few rows back. Always a very tough competitor and with a marathon PB of 2:28, never to be discounted. After a minute's silence of which I still need to look up what for, we headed off on the first lap. To my right I had Phil Benay and if you don't know who he is, look for the guy who runs everything in Jesus sandals and a fishing bucket hat. Don't laugh because the guy can run and well. He ran the CP 100km in those sandals and at a pretty good pace but when he was cruising along next to me in the first km, I started thinking "if I come around past the start/finish and Marty sees me being beaten by a guy wearing sandals, I'll never hear the end of it" so I stepped it up a little and managed to earn some space between us. Meanwhile Darren was floating along not too far back - maybe 20secs. This became approx. 30secs and at the 4km mark, he decided to go off course and check out the menu of the CP café or something because when I snuck a look at 5km, he was no where to be seen and the gap to Phil had also extended. My first lap was 24:30 and I was 1:45 ahead of Phil.

The next two laps saw me become more fatigued and slower as I dropped to 25:30 for lap 2 and having a good lead, dialled it back to 27mins for the final lap to finish in 77:40. Legs pretty sore after Sat's park run and the week before but not enough to put me out of action.

Greta came in for her 3/4 pace tempo run in around 90mins and picked up 2nd for her efforts. A great turnout from the Rejoov runners and a great start to Easter Monday.

Tue 29th: Recovery run - 11km slow
Wed 30th: Another easy 12km run around the park / PM: 5km coast run
Thur 31st: HuRTs 10x400m at Rushcutters - 66-69secs for the set. Tough but felt ok. Total 12km
Fri 1st April:  Day off - hip hurts a little so the rest will help.
Sat 2nd: Wow these rest days actually can help - Rejoov Runners 6km tempo over a grassed 1km loop with a hill in 19:27 (average 3:14's). Felt good to start and wondered if I would fade after a few laps but held pace even up the hill and finished strong. Total 13km.
Sun 3rd: Pre empting this but to make 100km for the week I need 23km so that's the mark. Looking forward to all the post Lane Cove 10km banter with the HuRTs and Rejoov guys in the morning.

A special shout out to Elle Goldrick (online HuRTs athlete) who broke 40mins again at the Lane Cove 10km after a long comeback post having baby Harry. Nice work Elle - bring on the Sydney 10.