Bret

Late night return from Gainesville, then church this morning followed by a soccer game for Delaney - was lucky to get this 5 miler in around 9:30 pm - just to avoid a DNR.  The next 10 days will be tough for my training as I have to travel extensively on business.

PM - nice 7.5 mile run around the Mall in our Nation's Capital after a long day at work and travel.  Pleasant evening with lots of runners and walkers out and about, made for a good evening.

AM -  Hotel in DC gave me a free pass to a Bally's Fitness club as they did not have their own fitness room - and because it was raining, I decided to use it for my workout this morning.  Had a surprisingly excellent workout - love when that happens unexpectedly.  2 mile warm up and cool down - with 4 x 10 mins at 6:24 pace (1% grade on theTM) with 2 min rest between each.  I would have to say this is the first time in this build-up that I was well in control and not overly stressed at this pace.  Felt very good, and could have easily punched up the pace a bit or gone longer for each of the workbouts.  Quite pleased with how I felt - especially since I have have been having a number of workouts where I have not felt very fit or strong.  Maybe the base training is finally starting to pay off.

AM - In Sydney Australia - lost Wednesday to time zone/air travel - arrived at the hotel on Thursday morning around 9 am and went out for a quick shake out run of about 3 miles around the North Sydney Oval - where they play cricket.  Very pleasant weather in the 60's and sunny.  Heading off for work meetings and hopefully catch up on a few hours of lost sleept this evening.

AM - Got a good night's sleep and was up at sunrise for a spectacular run from North Sydneay across the Harbor and around the Sydney Opera House and around a park and back - covering about 10.5 miles at a pretty good pace - with some short stops for photo ops.  Off to work meetings and hopefully a little down time tomorrow to see some sights.

AM - was not feeling all that great this morning and it appears that a rainy day is in store for Sydney so I decided to do a treadmill workout.  2 mile warm up then 4 x 1 mile at MRP then 2 mile cool down.  Felt kinda crappy. This workout was not in the original plan - but I think it is a good workout nonetheless given all of the travel etc.  Will try do a second run later in the day.

PM - after a little sightseeing and a visit to the Olympic Park I came back to the hotel and did another appx 8.5 on the treadmill (14k as they have them all metric here) as it was rainy and cold outside.  Had a reasonably relaxed run, then went out for dinner after watching World Cup Rugby (French v. NZ) at a nice restaurant / bistro called Felix.