This week looks like a pretty low mileage week at a time when it might be expected, ordinarily, that peak mileage would be being hit.
However, what doesn't show up in training logs is all the additional time on feet accumulated just from walking about exploring. Some of this was quite testing too such as the hike up Mount Lofty near Adelaide on Tuesday, which clearly worked muscles not used in a while going by the achiness afterwards.
We travelled to Sydney on Friday and experienced the first bout of poor weather in the 3 weeks down under as a torrential downpour continued for more than 24 hours. It perked up nicely by Sunday though.
From a running point of view, it was mainly the steady stuff this week plus a visit to Mosman parkrun on Saturday. There were no events in Sydney on Sunday, so Sunday's effort consisted of a run taking in Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney Opera House and Bondi Beach.
This week's blog, therefore, will pretty much be just a pictorial log of the various run venues involved.
Next week there will, hopefully, be some racing to talk about ........
Week 9 of 12 (Mon 30/3 - Sun 5/4)
Mon 30/3 : 6.21 miles @ 8:00/mile (Victor Harbor, Sth Australia)
Mon 30/3 : 3.1 miles @ 8:50/mile (Christies Beach, Sth Australia)
Tues 31/3 : 8.0 @ 8:50/mile (Glenelg Beach, Sth Australia)
Weds 1/4 : 6.21 @ 9:12/mile (Torrens River, Adelaide)
Thurs 2/4 : 10.13 miles @ 8:53/mile (Sturt Linear Park, Wittunga Botanic Gdns)
Fri 3/4 : 2.0 miles @ 9:00/mile (Sydney Harbour)
Sat 4/4 : 10.0 miles incl Mosman parkrun (3.1 miles @ 6:00/mile)
Sun 5/4 : 6.21 miles @ 9:10/mile (Sydney Harbour to Bondi Beach)
Total Mileage - 51.8 miles
Mon 31st March - Victor Harbour, Sth Australia
This is the start of the very, very picturesque parkrun course at Victor Harbour:
...... and this is the turnaround point where the resident Pelicans keep an eye on proceedings:
Mon 31st March - Christies Beach, Sth Australia
For the second run of the day 5k along the coast road at Christie's Beach was pretty scenic too:
Weds 1st April - Torrens River, Adelaide
Another day, another parkrun course to explore! The pictures below are the two ends of the Torrens parkrun course, firstly the turnaround point and then the start, which appears to have been chalked out in bands for likely finishing times:
Saturday 4th April - Mosman parkrun (18:37)
Mosman is a very wealthy suburb in North Sydney. In fact it is so wealthy that it is officially the richest postcode in Australia and, despite being compact, has a higher annual income than many African nations apparently http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/australias-richest-suburb-theyre-swimming-in-it-20140103-309o8.html .
We caught a bus up to Mosman arriving at 6:20am, yes you read that correctly, 6:20am! This is one of the rare parkruns that has a start time of 7am, although we were starting to have doubts as to whether this could actually be true when it was still pitch black at 6:50.
Enough light did actually appear though just in time for a parkrun to get under way at 7am for the 16 hardy souls who had refused to be put off by the downpours. There was also an impressive bunch of happy volunteers considering the time and conditions.
The run itself is a straightforward (ish) 3 lap course with a testing little hill up to a turnaround point on each lap. Nothing too dramatic as far as hills go but my legs were not really feeling too bouncy and 18:37 was the result. 6:00/mile on achey legs at 7am is not too bad though. Hannah was closing quickly on the final lap and recorded 19:01.
The core team parked their yachts alongside the start/finish area ;)
........... and then they took us for breakfast pre 8am. Thanks to Simon Mackley and the team for a memorable morning:
Sun 5th April - Sydney to Bondi Beach
The sights taken in on Sunday's run are probably as well known as any in the world.
Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House:
Sydney's Central Business District:
Bondi Beach:
9 weeks gone and just 3 weeks to go before turning up at Blackheath.
But, coincidentally, the next visit to Blackheath will actually be tomorrow as there is a place by that very name up in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, which is apparently well known for some exceptional fish and chips.
Later in the week we will be going down to Woolongong and then onto Australia's capital, Canberra, for next weekend's activities.
Marathon Building Blocks:
15th Feb: 18.6 miles @ 6:16/mile
22nd Feb: 10.0 miles @ 6:04/mile
28th Feb: 3.1 miles @ 5:48/mile
28th Feb: 3.1 miles @ 5:50/mile
1st March: 13.1 miles @ 6:24/mile
8th March: 26.21 miles @ 6:23/mile
14th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:46/mile
14th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:36/mile
15th March: 20.0 miles @ 6:25/mile
21st March: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile
22nd March: 9.65 miles @ 6:18/mile
28th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile
29th March: 11.2 miles @ 6:08/mile)
4th April: 3.1 miles @ 6:00/mile
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