Action shot from a recent Parkrun.

Action shot from a recent Parkrun.

- Tony via Tumblr http://bit.ly/2HMVuSw

Cross Country and Other Updates for the Start of Winter.

With winter officially starting today (June 1), and the track season long over, focus has shifted to cross country and general base fitness.  Most of my training has been longer and slower work, combined with time in the gym for strength conditioning.  The remainder of my training has been some speed work, more focused on technique, some hill sprints and a lot of drills.
Competition wise, I have been doing a mix of things.  I started my cross country with a 6km leg of the XCR relays at Jells Park in Melbourne.  I’ve then been mixing things up, running either a 3km cross country, or combining the Saturday morning Parkrun (5km) with a faster 1km cross country in the afternoon.
Today, my club (Eaglehawk Athletics Club) joined forces with the Bendigo Harriers for the annual combined cross country relays.  I ran a leg of approximately 3km of the longer relay.
This ended up being my best longer run of the season so far, running 3.32km at an average of 4:40/km pace.  My first km was the fastest at 4:28.  This allowed me to overcompensate for the headwind encountered along the dam wall at this stage of the race.
Overall, I was very happy with my run, and this bodes well for the rest of cross country season and my general fitness for the coming season, which is still 4 months away.

- Tony via Tumblr http://bit.ly/2Mwyrjc