Thursday 20 July: At Parliament House I ran part of the session and also participating were Jen, Isaac, Brownie, Susan and Jennie. We did {800/400j} x 4 then {200/200j} x 2.
On Sunday 23 July the distance group (Dave) reports: Welcome to this week’s edition of Speedygeese long run, co-authored by Ewen and Dave live from sunny Kiama. Disclaimer – all names used in this epic tale are real people. We’ll try our best to keep this short (but can’t promise anything).
While Narelle slugged it out in the Sri Chinmoy duathlon (with a flat tyre not helping) and Giles, Jacob, Thach, Shiree, Sandeep and Susan did a 20k+ run at Mount Ainslie/Mount Majura (and apparently were separated at the 7k mark – no need to say any more), Jen, Mhairi, Bronwyn, Ewen and Dave did the Kiama Coastal Classic 14k, which is the focus of today’s report. Dave and Ewen had an uneventful trip, arriving to a beautiful surfside sunset in a balmy 15 degrees. After a brief strategy session the two tackled the tent head on and thought they had it mastered in under 15 minutes. Big mistake!
Having failed at spending two hours trying to set up Dave’s huge “Taj Mahal” tent at Bowral in two hours, they thought a mid-sized tent would be a better option. The lesson learnt is that the size of the tent is not necessarily indirectly proportional to the erection time (at least not for dumb and dumber). 20 minutes saw a 1 metre high half tent that was deemed a failure and pulled down, much to the delight of a couple of onlookers. 40 minutes into the project, with a few more onlookers, half of the tent was up. After another solid 30 minutes it was decided that the other half of the tent wasn’t needed anyway, so it was off to meet Jen, Richard and Mr D for dinner at Trivium (which had great ocean views – too bad it was pitch black). The herbivores had a yummy ravioli while the carnivores dug into a slow cooked lamb shank, and Mr D (little Daniel) knocked down a huge plate of fish and chips followed by icecream. Much of the discussion revolved around the digestive process and the potential effects of a lamb and chocolate brownie and icecream mixture the following morning.
Then it was time for the next problem solving session. Since Dave had forgotten the air mattress pump (he is getting old, after all), Ewen and Dave had a mattress blowing up competition, which Ewen won (apparently he has bigger lungs). It was decided that the tent should be tackled again in the dark, so they brought in a specialist (Richard), who’s first suggestion was to put in some pegs. This proved to be a great suggestion, when a gale picked up at 3am, but 4 pegs was apparently not enough. Shortly after liftoff, Dave awoke and raced out to see the top sheet making moves down the road – now we know why it’s called the “fly”. Ewen kept snoring.
And now for the run report….The run was an entirely different kettle of fish. With a strong line up, the atmosphere was tense and the heat was on. Jen was true to form, being the last to pick up her number while everyone waited at the start line for the 10 minute delay (some say the lead cyclist was late, but we know better 😜). Jen refreshingly broadcast that she was just going to have some fun, enjoy the views and spend time with friends. Dave suspected she was up to something, however, when she upset the applecart, rudely passing him at the 1k mark, and never looking back.
The course was tough, being hillier than City to Surf and with surfaces including grass, dirt, concrete and beach sand. Temperatures more than 20 degrees higher than at yesterday’s Tuggeranong parkrun didn’t help. Thankfully, due to a lack of recent rain, there was no running through the water this year. Also, no-one got lost, although Dave did a slight detour through a caravan park (with a few unsuspecting followers).
The results were breathtaking – Jen Bright 2nd female overall in 1:07:36, Mhairi Craig 1st female 50-59 in 1:13:28, Dave Clarke 2nd male 50-59 in 1:09:24 and Ewen Thomson 2nd male 60-69 in 1:22:34. Bronwyn put in a commendable effort with 1:24:22. The major upset was Jen beating Dave by almost two minutes – clearly a result of Dave’s nocturnal activities the night before (blowing up the mattress as well as chasing down the tent ). Tim walked the course twice and took some great pics while Richard entertained Mr D.
Post event festivities included modelling for ocean backdrop pics (was going to mention Mhairi’s striptease but apparently it’s a regular occurrence so too boring for this review) and lunch at the same place as last year (whatever it’s called). It was also good to see long lost speedygeese Charlie McCormack and Tori Hennig at the finish.
Thanks everyone – it was a great weekend with some great results.
Monday 24 July at Parliament House: I ran early then supervised: running 15 x harder 100m hills on 80 seconds then doing some quick-leg work for 5 minutes were Bron, Bronwyn, Giles, Isaac, Jen, Jennie, Pieta, Ruth and Warrick.
And so it goes. Two more July training sessions at Parliament House to go, then we are into August and a new set of training will have been prepared. For recent non-attendees, and there are many, spring is not too far away and it is never too late to rejoin us.
We train in the cold
On Sunday 23 July the distance group (Dave) reports: Welcome to this week’s edition of Speedygeese long run, co-authored by Ewen and Dave live from sunny Kiama. Disclaimer – all names used in this epic tale are real people. We’ll try our best to keep this short (but can’t promise anything).
While Narelle slugged it out in the Sri Chinmoy duathlon (with a flat tyre not helping) and Giles, Jacob, Thach, Shiree, Sandeep and Susan did a 20k+ run at Mount Ainslie/Mount Majura (and apparently were separated at the 7k mark – no need to say any more), Jen, Mhairi, Bronwyn, Ewen and Dave did the Kiama Coastal Classic 14k, which is the focus of today’s report. Dave and Ewen had an uneventful trip, arriving to a beautiful surfside sunset in a balmy 15 degrees. After a brief strategy session the two tackled the tent head on and thought they had it mastered in under 15 minutes. Big mistake!
Having failed at spending two hours trying to set up Dave’s huge “Taj Mahal” tent at Bowral in two hours, they thought a mid-sized tent would be a better option. The lesson learnt is that the size of the tent is not necessarily indirectly proportional to the erection time (at least not for dumb and dumber). 20 minutes saw a 1 metre high half tent that was deemed a failure and pulled down, much to the delight of a couple of onlookers. 40 minutes into the project, with a few more onlookers, half of the tent was up. After another solid 30 minutes it was decided that the other half of the tent wasn’t needed anyway, so it was off to meet Jen, Richard and Mr D for dinner at Trivium (which had great ocean views – too bad it was pitch black). The herbivores had a yummy ravioli while the carnivores dug into a slow cooked lamb shank, and Mr D (little Daniel) knocked down a huge plate of fish and chips followed by icecream. Much of the discussion revolved around the digestive process and the potential effects of a lamb and chocolate brownie and icecream mixture the following morning.
Then it was time for the next problem solving session. Since Dave had forgotten the air mattress pump (he is getting old, after all), Ewen and Dave had a mattress blowing up competition, which Ewen won (apparently he has bigger lungs). It was decided that the tent should be tackled again in the dark, so they brought in a specialist (Richard), who’s first suggestion was to put in some pegs. This proved to be a great suggestion, when a gale picked up at 3am, but 4 pegs was apparently not enough. Shortly after liftoff, Dave awoke and raced out to see the top sheet making moves down the road – now we know why it’s called the “fly”. Ewen kept snoring.
And now for the run report….The run was an entirely different kettle of fish. With a strong line up, the atmosphere was tense and the heat was on. Jen was true to form, being the last to pick up her number while everyone waited at the start line for the 10 minute delay (some say the lead cyclist was late, but we know better 😜). Jen refreshingly broadcast that she was just going to have some fun, enjoy the views and spend time with friends. Dave suspected she was up to something, however, when she upset the applecart, rudely passing him at the 1k mark, and never looking back.
The course was tough, being hillier than City to Surf and with surfaces including grass, dirt, concrete and beach sand. Temperatures more than 20 degrees higher than at yesterday’s Tuggeranong parkrun didn’t help. Thankfully, due to a lack of recent rain, there was no running through the water this year. Also, no-one got lost, although Dave did a slight detour through a caravan park (with a few unsuspecting followers).
The results were breathtaking – Jen Bright 2nd female overall in 1:07:36, Mhairi Craig 1st female 50-59 in 1:13:28, Dave Clarke 2nd male 50-59 in 1:09:24 and Ewen Thomson 2nd male 60-69 in 1:22:34. Bronwyn put in a commendable effort with 1:24:22. The major upset was Jen beating Dave by almost two minutes – clearly a result of Dave’s nocturnal activities the night before (blowing up the mattress as well as chasing down the tent ). Tim walked the course twice and took some great pics while Richard entertained Mr D.
Post event festivities included modelling for ocean backdrop pics (was going to mention Mhairi’s striptease but apparently it’s a regular occurrence so too boring for this review) and lunch at the same place as last year (whatever it’s called). It was also good to see long lost speedygeese Charlie McCormack and Tori Hennig at the finish.
Thanks everyone – it was a great weekend with some great results.
Monday 24 July at Parliament House: I ran early then supervised: running 15 x harder 100m hills on 80 seconds then doing some quick-leg work for 5 minutes were Bron, Bronwyn, Giles, Isaac, Jen, Jennie, Pieta, Ruth and Warrick.
And so it goes. Two more July training sessions at Parliament House to go, then we are into August and a new set of training will have been prepared. For recent non-attendees, and there are many, spring is not too far away and it is never too late to rejoin us.
We train in the cold
