Building up...

On another cold spring morning, I met up with Tim, Roly and Tim's mate Rich for our weekly trip up the beaches.

Headed up the normal route we reached the bottom West Head turn off in 56 minutes, 5 minutes quicker than last week, although that was probably more to do with the traffic lights than anything else. From there we headed up to the West Head road before descending into Akuna Bay. From there we climbed back up to Terrey Hills (man, that hill was long and hard) and from there we continued back along Forest Way and the Wakehurst Parkway.

Nutritionally, I had decided to eat one of my Power Bars, eating half after an hour and the other half with 2 hours on the clock. The plan seemed to work and I felt strong throughout the ride.

Getting back to Manly with only 60km on the Garmin and will a spare 15 mins, we decided to loop back along Pittwater Road to the mall before 'U' turning back into Queenscliff, ending up back at the flat with 2.33 on the clock and 67 km under our belts. Quicker than last week, probably due to Rich and Roly pushing the pace line more than Tim and I have done.

After another slow T1, during which I chowed down a yucky Powerbar gel, we headed out on the run, deciding to follow the Sydney Road loop.

From the start, the pace felt quicker than last week with Tim in particular pushing us along Kenneth Road and to the Sydney Road hill.

From the top, I then tried to keep the pace feeling strong with the gel taking effect, reaching Manly with 8km gone, at an average of 4.44's. Pretty quick! From there we backed off, running out to South Steyne before turning and finishing off along the front to the QLSC, or nearly, for 10.3km all up in 49.28. Overall average of 4.47's.

Overall a great session. Harder than the last two weeks, but probably what we needed...and a great way to start my first fathers day!