FRANK APLIN ONE HOUR RACEWALK

This was another race held in Christchurch. The third in a row for me.

This time I was so pleased that my hubby could come. He has been to all of the One Hour Track walks and is my lap scorer. We also decided to make a trip of it and so I said that he could plan something fun for Sunday after the race.

We headed off for Christchurch on Saturday afternoon and arrived later that night. Found our motel and then headed off to get food. Decided on Robbies (after waiting for ever for service and then the same per meal, I wont be going to another)

Woke up Sunday morning and had some weetbix for breakfast and then we headed off to the track. Kate was starting early as she was going to try and qualify for the commonwealth games and needed to walk 20km in under 1hour 39min. I wanted to be there for the start of her race and also to watch as she has the most amazing graceful style. We were to all start an hour after to her and with us on the track it was to help her pick up the pace towards the end when she would be getting tired.

There were 8 walkers competing in the one hour walk and we lined up for the start. We were told that they would blast the horn 1 min before the hour and then again at the hour mark. We were then to stop and a runner would come and put a disk down so we could then move on and warm down. The gun goes off and we are racing off in a flurry of feet. I had my race plan of sticking to 2min 20 laps but my first lap was 2.13 then 2.17 and then I settled into 2.19 for the first 5km. I slowly caught up to the walker just a head of me and as I passed her she picked up and sat on my heel which helped to keep me on my pace as I had slowed to 2.21. It was about then that I saw Kate pull out. I felt so badly for her as I know how hard she had been pushing but with stomach cramps and dropping pace it was just not worth finishing and she made the right call to drop out.

I passed the water station and new I needed to drink but didnt want to give up my spot to the walker behind me, so I pushed on but I could feel an odd pain high on my right side (mid rib cage) slowly coming on. By the 8km mark I made the call to grab a drink.....Wrong Decision.....the cup was FULL to brim and ended up going up my nose, I threw the cup to my left on to the inside grass and promptly covered the young girl following with water and got a red card for bent knee. GREAT!! then within 100mt the pain hit. I felt like I had been stabbed, I couldn't breath and I couldn't stand up straight. I knew I had to keep going but all I could think to do was slow right down and keep legal. It took me a full lap to regain control of my breathing and slowly righten myself. 2.38 was that lap, then 2.28 then 2.24 as I was nearing the end of the race, I thought..come on get it together and did try to pick up the pace but as soon as I powered on the pain came back. So my only choice was to sit at 2.24 and finish.

I walked 10.187km and it earned me a Silver. I was so pleased to have still managed to walk that distance. The gold distance for my age group was 10.7 km and that will be my goal for next year and also by doing that distance it will automatically gain me the 10km track walk NZ Record for my age group. So that's my long term goal.

Here are the results :-
CANTERBURY RACEWALKERS ASSOCIATION
FRANK APLIN ONE HOUR RACEWALK
Results
1st Rozie Robinson 11.6km Frank Aplin Trophy Gold
2nd Courtney Ruske 10.2km Gold
3rd Nyle Sunderland 10.1km Silver
4th Ben Meikle 9.4km
5th Rowena Meikle 8.4km
6th Jenny Meikle 8.3km
7th Ann Henderson 7.9km Silver

Kate Newitt DNF
Daniel Lord DNF
Phillip Meikle DNF

20 Minute Walk
1st Jonathan Lord 3.3km Henderson Trophy
2nd Sarah Meikle 2.8km
3rd Charlotte Coard 2.6km DQ’d

Our Sunday post race fun day was spent at Hamner Springs Hot Pools. We went and had a yummy lunch then played mini golf (yes shane bet me...by LOTS..) and then we went and soaked in the hot pools for a couple of hours. It was so nice and relaxing that neither of us wanted to leave.

NZ Masters Champs 2010 - 10km Road Walk

Sunday morning....Daylight savings too.....We turned our clocks back an hour before going to bed. Which I did on my cell phone and then set my alarm for 6.30am...what I didn't know was that Telecom (my service provider) also puts your time back... so my alarm went off and I woke everyone up and we all got up and went to get food when someone mentioned that by their watch it was only 5.30am.....hmmmmmm well its lucky I am blonde ............ my name was mud by all and YES well headed back to bed grumbling as we went.

When we woke up at the right time, it was drizzling and rather cold. I was not happy about this as I don't race well in the cold. In fact I race badly in the cold, my feet go numb and I cant get warm. We packed up all our stuff and headed off to the road walk (same course as the 20km from the week before) I was feeling ok and hoping to do better than 59:19 (which was my 10km split from the 20km walk)

I stripped off my tracksuit and went out to warm up. It was getting colder and colder and I was not sure that I would stay warm enough to race in a tank top. With 5mins to spare I made the call to quickly put on a long sleeve top. The only one I had brought was a Lycra Heat Weave (used for hot days NOT cold and one I had never raced in before) I just hoped the long sleeves would protect me from the cold.



We all lined up for the start (all shivering) and we were off. I took lead for the first km and then Eric (in the yellow to my right) slowly pulled away from me. I did try to follow but its not a pace that I can keep up for long distance...YET....my coach (in white between me and eric) stayed behind and each lap I passed him would tell me to catch Eric, keep my head up, push hard, keep going......yep racing with your coach behind you is...PRESSURE!! lol... but I did need the push and yes it did help me.

My two worst legs were km 6 & 8.....by now my mind was giving up. My body hurt and I was feeling race weary!! I couldn't focus on the now and kept thinking of my next race in two weeks. Its funny how your mind wanders during a race and how long it takes you to realise that it has. On the 8th km it was as I turned for my last two km loop that I snapped out of it and gave my self a swift kick and telling off.

I gave chase to Eric and did gain some ground on him...not enough to bet him but enough to gain my self some pride. As I rounded the cone that marked my 9th km....I knew it was only going to hurt for 5 more mins...the rain was starting and it was time to bring it home. I dug in and pushed hard and managed a new personal best for 10km of 58:42



Split Time
1 0:05:45
2 0:05:50
3 0:05:47
4 0:05:53
5 0:05:53
6 0:05:57
7 0:05:55
8 0:06:00
9 0:05:51
10 0:05:46
Summary 0:58:42

So again I was first female, 2nd overall and 1st in my age group. Plus NO MARKS on the board and NO WARNINGS!!! yaya

Once my coach had finished we zipped back to the park to collect our Gold Medals. Showered and then hit the road for the long drive home.



All in all, it has been my best season yet. I have made huge gains in time and distance. I have one year to focus on Sacramento now and I am sure I will improve by the same margins again.

NZ Masters Champs 2010 - 3000 m

2nd weekend in a row - NZ Masters Championships 2010

My coach and I traveled down to Christchurch on Friday morning. It was a 5 hour drive and very uneventful. Easter traffic was out with vengeance and we opted for the get there in one piece speed.

We arrived into Christchurch at 2pm and went direct to the camping ground we were staying at. Got our cabin and unpacked. Our first race was at 4.30pm so we zipped off to the track with 40mins to warm up. I was feeling a little nervous as I really wanted to post a good time again and prove that the weekend before track time was not a fluke. Plus my coach had said to me to not be disappointed if my times were down but to remember that I had just done a hard 20km only 4 days ago...

We all lined up at the start (for masters events they put both men and women out together in all the age groups) The gun went off and I was thrilled to see a male walker zip off out to the front, so I sat in behind him. He slowly pulled away from me so I settled into my pace and tried to stay consistent per lap. As I rounded the 7th lap I calculated that I was a little off pace so I picked it up for the last 200 meters. I finished in a time of 16:34 only 2 seconds off last weeks time. I was thrilled. My body had felt so tired and heavy and I was sure I was way off my time. I was first female, 2nd overall and first in my age group winning me the Gold for this race.

The cool thing was to finish and then watch my coach finish and win a gold also for being first in his age group.