I had my first failure to run twice a week last week, so I’m making up for it by running around the TAN 3 times this week! On Monday I recorded a PB by running it in 17 minutes and 9 seconds. Hopefully soon I can break the 17 minute barrier.

I’ve played two rounds of the Table Tennis Victoria pennant and both have been disappointing in terms of results. On the first night my team (St Kilda) lost 5-4. In the 4 all match, it was 2 sets a piece and my team mate was leading 9-6 before losing 5 points in a row to lose the match and the night. So close but so far! I won 2 of my 3 matches losing to Ravi Ganapathy. Ravi is an excellent player originally from India however I have beaten him in the last few matches between us so I was still unhappy with the result. In the second round I managed to win all 3 of my matches but the team went down 6-3 with my team mates unable to produce a win. Tonight is another round which I am sitting out of as I am in a 4 man team and Brian Berry is now back from coaching at the paralympics and will make his first appearance for the season.

I’ve been using the Butterfly Tenergy 05 rubbers and I am still not completely comfortable with them. I really need a few practice sessions rather than just relying on playing pennant. The sponge is very hard which I am not used to and I am finding it difficult to control my short pushes. In fact in my first game against Ravi I must have pushed 5 returns into the net which really doesn’t help you to win a game. With regards to blocking, I feel pretty comfortable with the rubbers and there is quite a bit of control. When looping off topspin the rubber is very effective and I don’t really notice much difference to my glued up Sriver. Looping off backspin is bit different in that I am trying to spin the ball too much and with the harder sponge I should be looking to hit through the ball a bit more, it will take me a little while to adjust. I’m also finding counterspinning an opponents loop a little different - again I feel I need to hit through the ball a little more. Overall I’m pretty happy with the rubbers and as I’ve said before I’m really happy with the ban on glue as it is a real time saver and with these high tension rubbers I don’t think it will make any difference once the players adjust.