10km Waimea Estates - Race two

Today was Race 2 of the 10km Series - Waimea Estates (and is known for its hilly sections. Today was freezing, we are expecting a storm to pass through tomorrow and the temp was showing that. It was over cast and had a real chill in the air at a guess about 8 degs

I have decided to use this Series as training walks..there is just no point to me trying to push to get race pace when I am unfit and recovering from an injury. So I thought I would just go out and enjoy them, push when I felt like it but basically just stick to my training pace.

This course would have to be one of the most confusing ones I have raced on. It sorted of doubled back on itself and to see it here written down made it even more confusing. But to see it on my Garmin print out it was easy...go figure.

THE COURSE

The course has been measured with a wheel so is accurate as we can possibly make it. Start in Bateup Rd (near Collins Rd) left into Wensley, right into Chelsea, left into Squire Way, becomes Middlebank Drive, left into Blair, right into D'Urville.left into Washbourne, right into Farnham, left into Hunter, right into Queen, right into Hill, right into Hart, right into Wensley, right into Chelsea, left into Squire which becomes Middlebank Drive, left into Blair, right into D'Urville, right into Washbourne, right into Hill, right into Brenda Lawson through walkway into Wilkinson, left into Chelsea, left into Wensley, right into Otia, left into St. James. The finish is just @100 meters before Bateups Rd. You go past the Richmond Cemetery 3 times Sounds a little complicated on paper, a course map will be available at the start and as long as the front runner knows where they are going you should be fine.

So we all walked down to the start line and chatted away happily to each other..each of us trying no to focus on the course at this point. The set us on our way....as to be expected Wendy went out like a rocket and remained in that mode for the whole 10km. The first km is a very subtle uphill grade and I felt great. No calf pain yay!! Rounded into Chelsea and again climbed but still subtle, but enough to feel it now, next corner (2km) and its up and round, down and up (short sharp uphill and down hill) these were No goes for racewalking and it was a power walk up...Along Hill street (aptly named) it is a long straight almost 1.5km and has 3 rolls in it...again short and sharp but by now I was down to a slow power walk up but zipped along happily on the downs... :0) the course continues like this and I was pressing my lap at each Km marker rather than letting my watch do it automatically......interesting to see the difference as this was a measured course so it is correct. I was pleased to pop through the 5km in 30:40 but I knew the next 3 km were part of the steepest and so would slow my time down.

The very last two km were the best, pretty much a gentle gradient down hill, so you could stretch out and catch your breath. I was so pleased to turn down were I knew the finsh was and saw Wendy having a drink.....yes the finish line must be near!!! So I finished in 62:33 and I was happy with that. Wendy smoked it in 58:16 wow is all I can say!!!

10km Waimea Estates Series by kyisis at Garmin Connect - Details

So now my training starts!!! I have 2 months to get super fit and finally post a sub 2 hour for 20km!!!! I can do this.

Testing ones fitness

Today I decided I would get a gauge on where my fitness is. I have had a long lay off that has lengthened due to a nagging injury in my calf. It has frustrated me no end and has hindered my usually positive attitude add that with gaining 4kgs and you get a very unhappy camper!!! So after jogging around the cross country course, which was also near the track....I decided it was time to head down and see what damaged has been done. I have never like pyramid training (400, 800, 1200, 800, 400) so I thought I would give fartlaks ago.....I dont really know how they should be done but figured if I go fairly hard out for 400m and then gently for the next etc....It would give me a base idea of where my fitness is. I also thought that my training twice daily on the treadmill will have helped me but I have not budged the weight nor my fitness.....odd.

So I started out doing a few laps to warm up, some drills and some stretches and I felt I was ready for it. I was also thank full I was the only one at the tract too.

My first 400 was in 2:05 (my lungs were burning so badly I barly made the 400m)
so it was then a really slow 400m to recover 2:41
My second 400 was in 2:10 (didnt feel as bad as the first one...ok 5secs slower but didnt hurt as much)
then another slow one but I forgot to hit lap on my watch when I started on the fast but I know from looking at the split
My third 400 was in 2:06 (My breathing started getting really hard around the 300m mark and I was really pushing hard to keep it up to cross the 400m)
once more I slowed it down to try and recover....I dont think I had recovered from the first one...
My fourth 400 was in 2:13 and it hurt!!! I was had it and really breathing hard and new I didnt have it in me to try another so I slowed it down for a recovery lap and then decided to restart my watch and walk for 2km at training pace to recover 12:12 and managed stay fairly consistent in my laps.

Some where over in the corner of the track are my lungs...probably still making whimpering noises....BUT the good thing to come out of this is I know have data to compare to each month. I have 2.5 months to get back up to speed to race in the 20km long distance champs and I WILL BREAK MY 2 HOURS THIS TIME!!!! I have alot of hard work ahead of me but I will do it!!!!!

heres my data for the fartlaks
400m fartlaks by kyisis at Garmin Connect - Details

and for my 2km cool down
2km cooldown by kyisis at Garmin Connect - Details

Club and Tasman Centre Cross Country Champs

Last year I opted to run beside my husband when he entered the Cross Country Champs. As he was a senior man he had to run 8km so I entered the Senior woman's grade so that I could run with him. Unfortunately he only made one lap and pulled out due to an injury leaving me to run the way by myself. Any how that run won me the Club cup as NO women from our club had entered that grade. So it was a big joke that me the walker had won a running cup.

So when I saw the event come up again I thought I would run it again only this time stick to Vet Masters which is 6km. There was a walk section but seriously.....race walking is for flat smooth surface courses...not off road, mud and banks. So again I opted to run/jog this one.

Today was perfect for any kind of race. No cloud, sun and no breeze...about 15degs so long shirts were off and it was actually just right. The laps were 2km - so I only had to go round 3 times. I was not sure how well I would do as a runner I am not and with my calf being touch and go most days...but we set off. I stayed at the back and ticked along slowly with a few others that were taking it easy. By the second lap there were only 3 of us jogging merrily along watching the others way ahead of us. The course was a mix of flat and rises with a bit of mud about. As it had not rained the night before it was not too slippery and the little banks had no water in them. By lap 3 my legs were feeling heavy and my calf was starting to hurt. I had toyed with the idea of doing the senior distance but when I saw the finish line I was just pleased to run into the shoot and end it. Final time for the 6km run was 31:31 not to bad for an overweight walker. Infact I cant wait until I can walk 6km in that time!!!

I am not sure yet what time the walkers finished in. They too did 6km on the same course. I know Pete finished in 38 mins and that Wendy was a good half lap ahead of him. She was fair flying.

But a it was a fun race to do...its not often I get to run and its nice to not have all the rules to be mindful of.

Easy 10km Training

Today's training started out as a shambles. My Coach and I were to head out at 10am, but after a fun night out at a fellow walkers 60th Surprise birthday party.....well needless to say my coach was still asleep at 10am!!

So when he finally arose and said you go....I headed out at 2pm. By this time I really didn't have the heart for it so decided it would be a gentle walk for some fun and enjoyment. Plus I wanted to take it easy on my calf and test it over the 10km distance. So today I decided to drive down to Anzac Park and head out along Rocks Road. This is a really pretty walk as you follow the sea the whole way, the only down fall is the heavy traffic and the much tooting and cat calling.

The day was beautiful, hardly any cloud or wind...in fact it was actually quite hot, so hot that when I made it to KFC at Tahuna (the turn around point) I stopped for a drink at the fountain and took my long sleeve top off (something I never do as I feel the cold terribly) So with my head phones blaring rock music, sea gulls calling and the waves splashing against the walls I was walking on...I happily walked back to my car....making a small detour down Atkinson street to help make up the distance. The funnest site on my walk was a lady that was much more happier than I was to be out.....she was dancing along Rocks Road....and I mean DANCING....high kicks and hip shacking and arms rocking.....was the funniest site!!

So I was very pleased to finish up in 1:02:47
Rocks Road 10km by kyisis at Garmin Connect - Details

I thought I would include some photos - I have not taken these, I have borrowed them from others. :0)

This shows the Haulashore Island and the edge of Rocks Road - this section has a bad camber but you dont mind slowing down along here and looking into the rock pools or just watching the sea.



This is a view along Rocks Road showing a popular Cafe called the "boathouse" the houses here are mostly historical and are protected. This is one of the most expensive areas of nelson...even though the houses are old the view is worth every penny.



This is our famous "Fifeshire Rock" It used to have a small tree on top but a drunk youth on a dare rowed out one night and cut it down....it caused such an outrage!!

Dovedale Hill Climb 11.1km

It was the perfect day for this race. It was not like last year....where it was torrential rain. Instead, it was a frosty but nice sunny day.

I drove out to Wakefield, which is about a half hour drive and met up with everyone at the car park. I have not done this race before and I honestly thought it was an up and back race. I was curious when I saw groups of people disappearing in their cars but all returning in just one car. It was about now I was told that it was a one way race and that most were either running back or catching a lift. So I quickly found myself a seat in a van for the return journey. I was not sure if my calf would hold up and to be honest I had not even thought about the uphill part and how much that would put pressure on it.

The walkers headed over to the start line. Walkers always start 30mins a head of the runners. We started off at 2pm and I zipped away from the start line too quickly so after 500m I had to reign myself in and make sure I had some gas in the tank for the up hill grind. The course was well marked with Km markers and I was finding my GPS was beeping 20mt after the markers. (I have found out that the markers were perfect, so my km splits are out) I was pretty much sticking to 6min kms for the first 6km as this was fairly flat with a gentle roll over country roads. At about the 3km mark I noticed that Wendy didnt seem to be pulling away from me like the other weekend. I was sure she was just cruising too but I did start noting her time as she passed each km marker and I was only 1 min behind her. We stayed like this until the 9km marker.

As we went from tarmac to gravel it was at the base of the hill. The frost was heavy on the ground and the road frozen. My feet were skidding and slipping so badly that I had to walk in the deep gravel to get traction. My main problem was the camber of the road. As we were walking on the right hand side so we walked into the traffic the cambers on the dirt/gravel road falls sharply to the right....it is my right calf that is hurting. So as you can imagine by the time I made it to the 9km mark..my calf was burning. It was too steep to really racewalk so I was doing a mix of power walk and racewalk. From the 6 km mark we climbed from 150m to 340m .. it was pretty hard going and my lungs knew it.

I was very pleased to see all my km splits under 7km but I have learnt now to use the manual splits on these races and not trust the gps so much. The actual distance of this race was 11.1km not the 11.03 that my watch has said. But 71:21 is a fine time and I am very happy with it. Wendy pulled away after the 9km marker and bet me in a time of 69.36 (click the title to go to the Waimea Site for results)

So it was head for home and curl up with an ice bag for the night. Which did help but its time to get this looked at. So I am off to my coach's partner for her to work her magic on it. She does massage therapy etc...

BellGrove Hill 11 km by kyisis at Garmin Connect - Details

This is a photo I have found of the road leading up to the Dovedale Hill. It is really lovely country side. The road rolls along like this then dips down for the start of the hill.

Swan Trophy by kyisis at Garmin Connect - Details

The Swan Trophy is a race held yearly but the local Athletics Club. It is 10kms and caters for runners and walkers. Today they even put on a 5km for the newbies.

As per the Club rules, walkers start 30mins before the runners. So we were to all line up at 2.30pm. There was only a small group of us today, about 15 I think (results are not up yet) with about 5 race-walkers in that group. The day was a cool calm day. Bit of wind here and there and when the sun went down behind the hill it got very cold very quickly. I opted to keep my long sleeve top on and wished I hadn't. lol

So we started off. I was not here to race, it was a training walk for me and to see how my calf/Achilles held up. Wendy and her father bolted from the start and Pete and I ambled off after them. I was feeling really good and was testing out the new style and was very surprised to pass the first km in 5:51 as I had not intended on being that fast. I said to Pete that he could head off as I was going to reign it in a little as I had not walked 10km in a few months and didn't want to shatter myself to fast. Plus its up hill the whole way up. (69 metre gain over the 5kms) I was happily ticking along at just under 6km pace and I caught up with Wendy's dad, Roger. We stayed together for about a km and then I decided to pass him. It was a little hard climb and my time had dropped a little (4km mark) but it was just here that I smacked my toe on a rock that was sticking out of the tarmac. I thought I had broken it and I nearly fell. Lucky for me I righted myself as Roger would have walked clean over the top of me haha, but he did get past me again. So that slowed me down pretty quickly dropping to 6.30 for the next Km. The turn always looks so good as you know on this course that its pretty much down hill from here. I had a pretty good walk back down but had run out of gas and honestly felt like I was flogging my self the whole way. I stumbled again on the uneven ground which set my toe off and it throbbed the whole way back. I passed Roger again and stayed in front to the finish. I was pleased with my time as I was quicker than my training pace set for that day and on the whole my fittness was not too bad. I was not breathing too hard at anytime. My coach still feels I am dehydrated and that is why I run out of gas half way through a race.....he is probably right as I know I don't drink enough water at the best of times.

I cant believe that two years ago I did a 58:20 on that same course....but it was just after I got back from the Oceania Masters so was still on my peak. So being only a couple of minutes of my best time during my lay off is not too bad.

I am not sure of the finishing times of the others. Wendy's time was 57:?? and Pete I think 58 or 59

For those interested here are is my data from my GPS...on an interesting note....this would be the first race my watch actually got the km marks as marked and the distance perfect. So I must have walked on the line they mapped out.


Swan Trophy by kyisis at Garmin Connect - Details