Monday, January 31, 2011

10km kickdown - atawhai b

POX ON THE WIND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With wind warnings in force for the top of the South Island - people being told to not ride motor bikes or push bikes -here am I out there trying to do a kick down. Did that drip of enough irony?

Exert from The Stuff Site - News

"SEVERE WIND WARNING"

Drivers and cyclists were asked to take extreme care today. Ferocious winds felled trees, ripped off roof iron, tore apart a hangar and cut power in the top of the South Island this morning as a severe wind warning was issued for much of the country.


In hindsight - I should have parked my car out at Atawhai and done the first 5km back into town....but wouldn't that have been cheating????

No, I start at my usual sport and head out towards Atawahi with a huge tail wind that just whisked me a long. I am not putting much effort into the walk as I am meant to start out moderate and go a little faster each 2.5km.... HA! that was not going to happen today. My first km was on the right time target but after that I was out into the wind and was doing 6min/km with little effort.....oh crap...how was I going to beat that when I turned at the 5km point.

I did try to pick up my pace on the way back. It doesnt show that in the pace but at least my heart rate went up so it can be seen that I was trying. I was breathing pretty hard and pushing hard into the wind, but many times it felt like I was moving but not going any where.....it was so strong. The last 2km were the worst, as I rounded the bend I knew that I would be directly head on to it. I went through a small sheltered area and my pace picked up and then I walked out from the trees and WHAM!!! I have to admit that there was some colourful language muttered at this stage that will not be repeated on here and I am thankful that there was no one around to hear it.....

So sadly my kickdown was done in reverse and my time was not that flash...I was hoping to do it in 60mins today......instead it was 62:18

Oh well there is always tomorrow - hmmmm more wind I bet!

10km kickdown - atawhai

Saturday, January 29, 2011

20km port - monaco loop

well thats my last 20km for a wee while!! thank goodness.

Only todays walk felt like I had wasted mine and my coaches time. We had gusty winds today - on the stuff site when I got home it said 40km/hr wind.....I would agree with that. What sucked the most was that I had it head on for 90% of my walk. I spent more time pushing into the wind and trying to walk a straight line than I did trying to keep to any sort of pace. Many times the wind knocked me off the path onto the road and then it knocked a cyclist off her bike right in front of me......I near walked right over the top of her. She was unhurt just very embarrassed. As I came round the port about 6km and started towards the beach, my face started stinging and as I got closer so did my legs and arms.....then I noticed my mouth was getting gritty. The wind was so strong it was blowing the sand from Tahuna Beach up along the road and foot path.....I was getting a pretty good sandblasting. By the 10km mark the wind was just doing my head in.....I can handle walking in rain, in heat, in some cold but I HATE wind. The next section of path way is totally un protected and is open to the sea and bay, the wind here was the worst and it was all I could do to racewalk....more like power walk by this stage. I turned and came down through the centre on the railway reserve thinking now the wind would be at my back.......it would have been but the walkway is sheltered by big trees and so they absorbed most of the wind except for little puffs here and there.

At the 17km mark I stopped at a local business and made use of their outside tap and had a much needed drink. The next 3km is the up hill section and the wind had turned again giving me another head wind...ugh.....off I went again. The only section in my whole walk were I got a good strong tail wind was the last km going up Beaston Road which is the steepest part of the whole walk......... I had images of me angrily shaking my fist at the wind and muttering obscenity's to my self.

Often when I do long distance the tips of my toes get very sore from impacting in the toe box of my shoe. It doesnt happen all the time but once they start hurting it takes a couple of days to settle them. So my last 5km was so painful as it felt like my toes had been hit by hammers. When I got home the nails had been bleeding and I was limping abit.

So in a very slow 2:13 the 20km has been done. I am sure my coach is as disappointed with my time as I am, but he said that it was more important that I do the distance.

20km port - monaco loop

Friday, January 28, 2011

hard track session - but worth it

Today I had a really tough session on the track.

I was to do 3 x 2km with 3min rest in between, 1 x 1km with 2mins rest and then 2 x 500m

Today was another stinking hot day and I had to do this after work which meant I was at the track at 2.30pm.  I had filled up my water bottle but left it in the car for the day....so by the time I got to the track it was hot water!!! yuck yuck yuck...but it was all I had.

I started out and remembered that my coach told me to take it easy on the first one as I had to conserve my energy for the whole workout.  So I eased back a little and got into my stride.....by the 4th lap I was breathing hard and had to keep telling my self...just once more round.  This repeated for the next 2km set but by the last 2km set ... I was had it so I decided not to look at my watch for the last 2km and just pressed lap as I went round....I was really surprised to get home and see it was the same time for my second 2km.....hmmmmm

Now I had the 1km to do... I had hoped to push out and get a good time but my energy was lacking and I was soooo thirsty.

But I did give it my all on the last sets .... 2 x 500m  I really stretched out and pushed hard and funnily enough they too ended up being the same time....

Here are the links to my data
1st 2km lap    - 11:22
2nd 2km lap   - 11:42
3rd 2km lap   -  11:42
1km lap          -  5:43
1st 500m lap   - 2:42
2nd 500m lap  - 2:42

Thursday, January 27, 2011

10km out and back - railway reserve

I was to do 10km today. I had decided that I would do it later today as Shane and I planned to watch movies for a lazy day together. By 2pm our digital thermometer was reading outside temp as 29.5deg and by 4pm it was 32 deg. By now I realised that my decision to wait was not my best choice. I waited until 6pm and it had dropped to 26deg and some cloud had built up so that helped keep the sun at bay.

I kept to a fairly steady pace and just enjoyed my time out. I have a hard track session tomorrow that will have to be done at 2pm regardless of how hot it is. I finish work at 1pm but there is a track event on tomorrow from 4pm..... not much choice left for me.

My time out on this one was slow but I enjoyed it. 1:03

10km out and back - railway reserve

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

5km series - St James

My legs were still feeling a little stiff and sore from my walk up the hills but I was looking forward to doing the 5km tonight. It was meant to be the stairs course and I was going to just cruise.

I had my first day of work at my new job today and it was really fun. It will be a very easy job to do and I will soon be seeking further employment to boost my income.

It was such a nice warm day today and I had finished work early so I was ready to have a nice walk. I got out to richmond and found out that it was St James....this is actaully a fairly flat course with just a small sharp rise at the end. I have only done this course once before so was not really sure where I was going. Wendy and Pete were not there tonight so I had no one to follow or call back to if I got lost.

We started out and with in 500m my legs were feeling really good and I was comfortably ticking along feeling good. I didnt feel like I was going all that quick and my breathing was steady. I had forgotten to change my watch from 500m laps so it was bleeping every 500m so I didnt bother checking it until about 3km and was really surprised to see it was under 18min......at around the 4km mark I slowed down a little as I was unsure of what direction to head and had to look out for where the cones were placed up the street. I new we went up and through the church grounds but was not sure of which way around the church we went so I picked my way and eventually saw the cone and headed off towards it. Once back out on the street again I quickly got my bearings and then the runners started going past so I was able to pick up and follow after them.

I was really surprised to cross the line in 29:14

so it was another great walk............those fartleks must really set your muscles up for a great time.

5km series - St James

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Bush Walk & 6km fartlek - Atawahi

Sunday - It was an awesome day and rather than sit around the house I suggested to Shane that we go out and doing something together. It was a day off for me from training so I thought why not go for a nice stroll. I remembered we mountain biked up to the Maitai Caves once and it was such a lovely spot I suggested we walk it.





It was a great day - it took 3 hours to walk up and back and we stopped lots at different streams and played around on the rocks like kids. What I couldnt believe was how sore I was when we got home. My knees were aching and the backs of my legs were just throbbing!!! Poor Shane was just as bad...he found it very amusing that the big walker was so sore for a stroll. hahaha

Monday - I was meant to do a 10km fartlek. I woke up with very stiff and sore legs and thought this is going to be a bit of a strugle. So I had a good breakfast and waited for a couple of hours and headed out to Atawahi were the the walkway is relatively flat and smooth. I started out ok and moved into my stride slowly. By the first 500m fast I was feeling good and thought that this one might actually go under 60mins for 10km. As I started on the second 500m I rounded the bend and saw signs up say track closed- there were road works and pot holes. Bugger...so I tried to pick my way through it all but by the time I got to the 3km mark I turned back as there was no way past. So I picked my way back through the muck and started up again. My fast 500m's were ok but still felt pretty tough. I could feel my legs getting stiffer and stiffer and by now they were starting to hurt a little. I did 5km in 30:04 and I was pleased with that. I had one last 500m to go and I picked up the pace for it, half way into it and I could feel my knee starting to hurt more, I eased up a little and it went away. 150m to go so I pushed again but my knee hurt more......in the last few strides I had sharp pains coming from the side of my left knee so I am pleased I got turned back as it would have been a long way to walk back with a sore knee.

All in all though my coach was pleased with my splits - stating that my fast 500m's were good. So I am icing and looking after my knee today and will see how it is tomorrow for the 5km series.

so 6km done in 36:07

6km fartlek - Atawahi

Sunday, January 23, 2011

15km Around the Port

A nice recovery walk. It is an overcast day today and a little gusty at times. I decided that I would walk around the Port today. The footpaths are not the greatest and the camber is abit off but seeing as I was not to stick to any pace - just enjoy. I picked this as it has nice views over the sea.

My legs felt abit sore and sluggish...which is to be expected, but I ticked along happily at 6:20 - 6:30 pace which suited me just fine. I am still buzzing from my time yesterday, that totally took me by surprise and now proves to me that I can do it.

By going out this way it puts you in the public eye alot more as you are visible around the main roads, so it means alot more tooting and name calling....laughing and pointing, but I am learning to ignore that now. The only time today I felt odd was walking along the atawahi walkway and a drunk guy started waving, laughing and then abusing me, I had to walk past him and then turn back and come back past him....when I came back past him he got up off the bank he was sitting on and came running/staggering towards me hurling abuse at me........so I ran for the next 300m till I got within other people.

So I am pleased to be home and to have a rest day tomorrow. Time for this nice slow wander was 1:37:42

15km Around the Port

Saturday, January 22, 2011

10km Wakefield Race

A PB!!!!

10km in 58:41

I cant believe that after such a terrible walk yesterday, I could do so well today. Perhaps having someone to chase was the incentive.

The Wakefield race is always known as Death Valley race.....you go up 88 Valley Road and its always HOT and DRY. They had a drink station at the 4km mark and the guy manning it even crossed over the road with water for us on the way back. Which I was so pleased he did because it felt like a heat wave came over me and my face went so hot that I thought I was going to faint.......but the water set me right again. I noticed that I was slowly gaining on the lead walker not enough to catch but just gaining.

It is always good when you reach the turn point in an out and back race.....you always seem to come back much faster as you know that every step gets you closer to the finish. I reached the 5km turn in 29:55 so I picked it up on the way back. I was so rapt when I crossed the line and stopped my watch to see that I had beaten my fastest road race time.

So the training is working, the new coach is a legend!!!

Here is the data for the race, its in 500m laps as I had forgotten to reset it back to 1km laps. Doh!!!

10km Wakefield Race

Friday, January 21, 2011

10km fartlek - Atawahi

This is an example of how NOT to do a fartlek.

For the record it was very windy with some good gusts that knocked me around alot. I think the website showed wind to be 25km/h

My heart and mind was not into this today and it showed and it felt it. With nearly quiting at 2.5km ... I pretty much forced myself to complete the 10km.  Done in 1:03

To my Coach - Sorry!

10km fartlek - Atawahi

Thursday, January 20, 2011

10km out and back - railway reserve

Now this is more like it!!! 10km for 60:51

I woke up at 3am. My stomach was in knots and my mind was racing. Tonight at 6.30pm my daughter flys out to head off for a new life in Cairns and I dont know how long it will be before I see her again. Dont get me wrong, I am really happy for her and thrilled that she has taken the risk and is going. She has already got a job and an apartment plus her boyfriend is about a 30min drive away too. I am upset for my own selfish reasons - I will miss her. At 4am the local hedgehog was out sniffing around outside our window and so I ended up waking up Shane while I was hanging out the bedroom window with a torch trying to scare the thing off....not sure how got more of a fright.....Shane or the hedgehog! So we sat up and talked until 5.30am ..... I figured that seeing as I am awake I should have some breakfast so I can go for my walk in the morning. So I made a bowl of cereal and then went back to bed for a couple of hours sleep.

I got up and decided to head out along the reserve for this 10km as it gives me the hill to plow back up. I was not really planning on it being to quick as I had pushed a little faster than planned in the 5km last night. I was surprised to see I did 6:30 for my first km up the track as its got a good incline on it so I picked up the pace going down Beatson's Road and evened out my pace by doing 2km in 12:06.....so I figured....lets see what I can do for 5km as I was feeling ok....not amazing but ok. Well I pushed on up the railway reserve and again surprised myself by staying fairly consistent along here as it is slightly up hill. Just as I was about to make 5km I flicked a stone up into my shoe so the last 100m til I clicked 5km was a little painful. So I stopped my watch (but hit lap instead doh...then hit stop) hmmmm 29:41 thats not too bad considering its alittle up hill for a part of it. I flicked the stone out and started back. I knew I had 3km of uphill and that I would loose the time I had gained but I was still going to try and get my 10km done in 60 ish mins.....I figured that would be a good test for me as Buller is undulating and similar incline to what this walk way is like.

10km out and back - railway reserve

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

5km Series - Washbourn Drive

Wow, its amazing what some food and water can do.

I was not sure if I was going to do this 5km tonight. I did not have the best 15km walk this morning and after talking to my coach I can now see why. NO food, Tired and NO water - no energy stores to drive from. So I figured I would just go out tonight and tick along with the walkers and have some fun.

Well it did start out that way. The first km was nice and easy as it was up hill but then we came out onto some nice long down hill sections and I just couldn't help myself and stretched out picking up the pace quite a bit.....which surprised me as I thought I would be dead on my feet. So I decided to just tick along at a pace that felt easy to me and was most surprised to finish the 5km race in 29:57

So I have now learnt that eating and drinking water before working out is very important and that you should not jump out of bed and head straight out for a walk.

5km Series - Washbourn Drive

15km out and back - railway reserve

I mixed up my training program this week. For some stupid reason I thought yesterday was a x-train day and so spent the day watching movies with my son and my grand-daughter. I had every intention to do a gym work out for my x-training, but when checking my face-book my coach very kindly reminded me that I was meant to have done 15km. So I had to do it this morning to get back on track again.

The morning didn't start out well....I slept in. When I woke up at 9.30am, I shot out of bed - got changed - had a quick drink of water and was out the door. I was still half asleep and the body was still waking up too. First thing I noticed was the wind. No rain....but strong gusty wind. So I kicked my self again for not going out yesterday as I would rather walk in the rain than in wind. My first 7.5km was all into a gusty head wind and then when I turned to come home the wind turned a little so I had a side wind the way home. (which did not help my mood any either) I was also meant to do 2 bursts of race pace - I did try but my legs were empty today. The 10km and the 12km were my bursts...very short lived. I am guessing that no breakfast, not waking up properly all factored into this being a crappy walk. My heart rate was low and my breathing was fine, I just had NO energy and the further I walked the more grumpy I became at my self. I am sure I had a wee storm cloud above my head zapping lightening bolts everywhere by the time I got home. So my slow 15km time was 1:36:58..................I better get it together as I only have three more weeks.

15km out and back - railway reserve

Monday, January 17, 2011

3km, 2km, 2km, 1km, 500m & 500m at the track

Today I had to do a really tough track session.  I was not looking forward to this one as it was 9km in total and today was meant to be one of our hottest days.  At 9am it was already 23deg .... I got to the track at 10am and the huge sprinklers were going in the middle of the track...oh they were inviting.  I have no idea of what the temp was at the track but the air was so hot it was hard to breath and the bottoms of my feet got so hot.

I did a couple of laps to warm up and then quickly ran through the sprinklers.  I stood at the start line for about 30secs......just mentally trying to get into the mode and to will myself to do this.  I hit start and off I went, I was not pushing too hard this time as I new I had alot more reps to do this week and didnt want to bomb out after the first 3km.  But the time I came round to finish my 3km I was starting to struggle.  My head was throbbing, my legs had nothing in them and I was getting camp in my calfs and thighs.  I figured I was getting dehydrated so when I finished the last lap.  I went and stood in the big sprinklers and had a good drink from my water bottle that I actually remembered to bring.
3km track 1st rep  - 17:13 is an ok time....nothing to flash.

Now for then next set...2km..... I had my 4min recovery and went back out.  I bombed.....I was going slower and slower per lap and really struggled to keep pushing.  I was very aware that I still had another 2km to go so didn't try too hard to push for a good time.
2km track 2nd rep   - 12:01 not so flash.....only just 6min/km

Now for my 2nd 2km set....this was getting ugly.
I was really struggling to keep my legs going....it was hot, really hot and the sprinklers had just been turned off so I now didnt have the light relief of getting a small shower from them as I walked past.  At one point I almost stopped as my head was hurting really bad and I went really light headed at one point and felt a bit faint.  When I finish the last lap I stopped and took a longer drink and found a small patch of shade to stand in which helped.
2km track 3rd rep  - 12:06  .... oh dear, getting slower.

This lap was the 1km lap.  I started out and tried so hard to push for a faster lap, but I was pretty much spent.  My first 400m was a little quicker which did help give me a faster 1km time but I couldnt have held that pace for much longer.
1km track 4th rep

It was getting hotter and hotter and I still had two more reps left to do.....only small ones but still it was hard to get back out on the track and leave the shade.
500m - I did try a little hard to push through for this one but there really was nothing left.
500m 5th rep

LAST ONE............oh thank goodness
My last 500m rep and it was so hard to get my legs going.  But I pushed through and figured that if this was a race you cant just stop and take a break, you have to push through it and keep going.
500m 6th rep - 2:49


So in total I did 9km in 52:46..................hmmmm thats actually not too bad!! 

Saturday, January 15, 2011

20km out and back - monaco-richmond

What a week I have had. My poor legs feel like lead bricks.

I did go out and do 10km yesterday, I just didn't blog about it as it was rather slow and uneventful - 1:07 for 10km.....sad really.

I got up this morning and really didn't feel like going out and doing 20km. I was tired and weary. I was trying to figure out which way I would go and in the end opted for the Monaco loop. Going this way gives me some different scenery to look at and so passes the time. The walk way is not too bad to walk on with a slight up hill gradient. Plus by diverting a little at the end I get to tackle the last hill with a slightly better gradient which is more like how Buller is.

So I started out up along the walk way and was really surprised to see my first km at 6:27 (normally its 6:50) so I thought to myself..."maybe this wont be such a bad walk"

I went through 5km in 30:35.....hmmmm if I can keep this pace up my coach will be really pleased with me. But then I slowed a little to go through 10km in 1:02 so I started working out in my head how long it was going to take me to get back as I had the 3km of up hill a head of me at the end. I sort of figured if I can get 20km done in under 2:08 I would be happy with that as it was still quicker than last week. It was starting to get tough now and I was starting to work hard to keep my form up and speed. I looked up ahead of me and gritted my teeth and pushed up the hills finally making it to the crest at the top of the track near home. Yes, its down hill for the last km and so I pushed myself to pick up the pace and raced towards home. I was so pleased to hear my watch chirp to say 20km.....I hit stop and looked at my time.........OMG....2:06:01 thats 3mins faster than last week.......Yay.....I was so thrilled. I finally feel my training has come together and that I have a good shot at Buller now.


20km out and back - monaco-richmond

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Last Walk with Stephen

Today was the last time I would train with Stephen. He moves back to Dunedin tomorrow.

Last night we arranged to met up at Stephens house and do a 14km walk together. Peter joined us and it was like the old crew back together again. We just ambled along and chatted the whole way, none of us in any hurry to finish.

I owe a lot to Stephen. He moved up from Dunedin about 4 years ago and made his way out to one of our Richmond walks. We had all heard about a new walker and were keen to see what he was like. None of us expected him to be as fast as he was or as good. He soon became the focus of our racewalking in Nelson and it didnt take long before a race walk team was formed and we all started training for Edkin relay in Wellington and Harry Kerr 50,000m in Auckland.

Here we are for Harry Kerr - We even had track suits made - Team Tasman!!

 Stephen, Yvonne, Nyle, Sharon & Pete


But he took me under his wing and turned me from a recreational walker into a racewalker. With me picking up his militant style. As I became faster I became more competitive and started searching out events to travel to. This took me to Australia for the Oceania Masters in Townsville and then the following year to Sydney for the World Masters Games. For these events I asked him to be my coach which he took just as much delight in as I did. He was a hard task master and he certainly pushed me hard but it all paid off. Each competition I would make gains and better myself.

We all have some amazing memories for the last 4 years - training at night on the grass track with me wearing the only headlight, training in the pouring rain especially when it was me that was training he just came along for the fun, the road trips to our events - driving down to Mosgiel and back poor pete will never be the same again!, the drive back from Tauranga to Auckland where I was the driver and Stephen and Pete sat in the back and did wine trails the whole way back, the Auckland trial when we were late to the race as we got lost.

It wont be the same around here for some time...Stephen will leave a huge hole in racewalking for Nelson.

The last time Stephen and I went away to compete - chch 1 hour walk


So here is our data for the walk today - 1:33:09

14km out and back - Atawhai

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

5km series - Hart Road

Sadly it was our last 5km walk with Stephen. He leaves on Friday to move back to Dunedin. He will leave a huge hole in our race-walking group. He has been my coach, my mentor and my friend and he will be missed.

Our 5km tonight was Hart Road, this is a hilly start and then evens out for a nice down hill and then back to the start again. I walked with Pete and Stephen but as per normal ... we started at the back of the group and slowly weaved out way through everyone with the guise of "we are taking it easy tonight" ... we never do. First 2km was done in 14mins.....7min kms - yep thats nice and easy. But at the 2.5km mark Stephen had moved off a head of Pete and I and had caught up to another walker ahead of us..... Pete looked at me, raised an eyebrow and next thing we had picked up the pace and was flat out after them....it took about 1km to catch them. When we caught up to them Stephen powered off and Pete and I took chase. Dropping the pace down to 5.40/km I felt great....my legs responded and I took off after Stephen leaving Pete behind me. I didn't catch Stephen and crossed the 5km in 31:01 which is still very slow but considering our 2km mark was at 14mins...we had picked it up lots!

After the race we all meet and chat, work out our next meeting at the track etc. With Buller only 4 weeks away everyone is asking who is doing it. For the life of me I don't understand why people wont say that they are doing a race. It is obvious that they are...why would they be doing all the long distance training, so whats with the lies? When asked out right you get "oh I don't know...still haven't decided....not sure.....thinking about it...."................. come on....they know full well if they are doing it or not. Even those that know them join in with the same game when even they know full well that they will be racing. I am over it to be honest.

I am entering Buller!


5km series - Hart Road

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

3km, 2km & 1km reps at the track

I was not looking forward to todays walk.  I remembered how tough this was last week and this week I was going to do it by myself.  I find that I often have better work outs when there is no one to talk to or worry about.  So I figured that with this walk being pretty tough it will be a good guide for me to how I am doing and if I am able to still push myself.

I was to do 3km - rest/recover for 4mins - 2km - rest/recover for 3mins - 1km

I had decided to not look at my watch except to press lap each time I did 400m - that way it is me gauging my pace not the watch.  I started out and felt really good.  I felt light on my feet and was not breathing too hard.  By the 5th lap I was starting to feel tired and had to tell me self its only two more keep going......I pressed stop as I crossed the 3km mark and I didn't want to look.....I was sure it was slower than last week....OMG 16:50

I had 4 mins rest/recovery and then started out on my 2km.  My legs felt tired but again I settled into what felt like the same pace as before.  I checked my time split on lap 2 and again it showed I was doing 2:15 per lap....that felt great....I kept going and pressed stop as I crossed the 2km mark.......again I was really surprised 11:18

Then I had 3mins rest/recovery before starting out on my last 1km.  I was still feeling great, legs were tired but I didn't feel exhausted like last week and I didn't feel like I was struggling.  I pushed hard for the last 200m and finished my last km in 5:34

I felt like doing a little happy dance in the middle of the track.  I felt great, had a fantastic workout with bettering my times from last week all round.  Although this does put a little more pressure on for next weeks on.....but we shall see ....

3km data - 16:50
3km track 1st leg
2km data -11:18
2km track 2nd leg
1km data- 5:34
1km track 3rd leg

Sunday, January 09, 2011

20km out and back - richmond

Today I was to do 20km at a steady pace and keep my heart rate between 135 - 145 b/m

It all sounded pretty easy.......it wasnt. My legs were tired from the 10km yesterday and so I was struggling to get a good pace going. Its not that easy to find a good "walking" 20km from where I live. No matter which way I go there will be a hill somewhere or a slow steady up hill gradient. Unless I want to go out to Atawahi and walk along the edge of the main road.....which is not that much fun nor is it very safe.

So I opted to head out to Richmond and turn back at 10km....only as I was to discover...its only 8km out there so I had to walk through and up along Hill Street (aptly named) until I had covered enough distance. It was a hot day again but I wore sunscreen today and now remember why I dont like to wear it.......IT STINGS WHEN YOU SWEAT AND IT GOES IN YOUR EYES!!!! but enough of my moaning. I didnt enjoy todays walk but it was quicker than last weeks... I slogged out 20km in 2:09:55 and avg heart rate was 141b/m so I think I got that part right.

20km out and back - richmond

Saturday, January 08, 2011

10km out and back - atawhai

Well after such a disaster walk yesterday I was not really expecting anything to flash from the 10km this morning.

I had decided to get up early and do this at 8am but thanks to my darling daughter sitting up until 2am chatting to her boyfriend in Cairns on Skype, Cell & land phone....."sighs"..... I didnt get much sleep and so dragged myself out of bed at 9am. I figured that with no breakfast or much to drink it would just be a nice wander and I would be happy if I got the same times Stephen and I have been getting.

Something that arrived yesterday in the post was a pre xmas gift from Shane. He had brought me a power band - the ones with the hologram and you wear on your wrist. He had heard me talking about them and so he looked into them. He also saw that many people called them a sham etc but some people found benefit in wearing them. So I was still keen to try one and he found one on Ebay for a good price. So I started wearing it yesterday.

So I got up and drove down to the Atawhai walkway, tucked my key into my laces and started out. I was feeling pretty good surprisingly and just sat on a pace I felt comfortable at. I am trying hard to not look at my GPS watch all the time and to learn to feel what pace I am doing. So I decided I wouldnt look at my watch until I turned at the 5km mark. The nice thing about doing this walkway in the morning is for 3 & 4 km the sun has not come up over the hill so its nice and shaded, so I was feeling pretty good, not too breathless. I was not pushing hard but was just walking at a good pace. I was most surprised when I looked at the 5km mark 30:17.......YES!!! I was rapt. I turned and started back, by now my shade was gone and it was full sun the whole way back. Plus lots of cars out now with people heading to town and the market so I had to slow for all the road crossings.....I was hoping to finish my walk in under 61mins.....I would have been super pleased with that. I heard my watch churp for the 9km and thought why not push for the last km. I was tired now but just picked it up a little bit. I finished my 10km walk in 60:35.............WICKED!!!!

and now as I type this my sneezing has started again.....lol....and my nose has started to pour...............grrrrrr

10km out and back - atawhai

Friday, January 07, 2011

3km farlek at track

If ever there was a day I should have just stayed at home.....today was it.

I was down for a 8km fartlek and had arranged to do it out on the Atawhai Walkway at 4pm as I had family coming over from Blenheim that morning.

Well the temperature just kept climbing .... at 2pm it was already 30 degs in the City and 35degs out on our deck. Stephen sent me a text to say he was not walking....too hot and he had other things to do. So I decided the sensible thing to do was wait myself until later in the day for it too cool down. By 4pm the wind was picking up and by 5pm it was really blowing but still very very hot. So Shane suggested going down to the track and doing it there as he thought it would help with distance etc and that it might be more sheltered out there.

We got to the track and I had forgotten my key so we had to climb the fence. The wind was still there but no were as bad as out at Atawhai. I warmed up for doing a couple of quiet laps and then I started sneezing. The wind was blowing from Rabbit Island direction and you could smell the pollen on the wind. My eyes started to water and my sneezing got worse. I was not overly happy to be at the track but as Shane wanted to help felt I should give it a try. I started out and got the 1st km done in 5:35 and then started the 500m reps.....as I came round on my 2nd km I noticed people had started arriving. One of them called out that the Collgate Kids had booked the track and would be needing lane 1......I said I would finish up in 2 more laps....So in total I did 3km at the track. We jumped in the car and drove home, where by now I was sneezing and my nose was running flat out. I jumped on the treadmill and did 500m on 9.5km/hour and then 500m on 10.5km/hour.....but after 3km with my nose running flat out and my sneezing I had to stop.

I have now noticed that just being out in the sun for the 20mins I was I am blistered up my arms and across my shoulders. I have hayfever now - runny nose and red eyes.

So it will be up early tomorrow morning to do 10km. Thats got to go better than todays walk.

3km farlek at track

Thursday, January 06, 2011

12km out and back - atawhai

I didn't do the 5km......in fact I didn't do any training.....instead I had decided to take my beautiful cat Gizmo to the vet.

It dawned on me Tuesday night that I had not seen him all day and actually couldn't remember if he had come in and even had his dinner the night before. So at 5pm Shakara and I went out side to call him and see if we could find him. We did, he was curled up in the corner of the garden and didn't look too good. I actually thought he had fallen off the fence and was a bit winded. I picked him up and brought him inside, he didn't want to eat anything and was having trouble walking. I picked him up and put him on our bed. Gizmo is not an inside cat nor is he a hugger. ... unless its on his terms, but he stayed on the bed ALL night and ALL day.....by 1pm I was getting worried as he had not drunk or eaten. I got a straw and fed him some water but it wasn't really enough to do much. I did another search on line and it all pointed to him eating poison....so I rang the vet and they suggested I bring him in but she did warn me that it didn't sound too good. Sadly, it wasn't good news. Poor Gizmo had kidney stones and she showed me straight away that he had a blocked penis and that his kidneys had shut down. She said he had probably been unwell for a while but just didn't show it. The only thing I could do for Gizmo was put him to sleep as the vet said he was in a lot of pain and that there was little they could do. It was so hard coming home with out him....there were tears....lots....and a few wines.....NO training.

Gizmo sitting on the square post of the fence watching me cooking tea. He would sit there for hours just watching us.  


So this morning I got up and headed out with Stephen at 9am.....into the wind and rain for 12km. Was slow going out as we had the head wind but about 5km it all calmed down and so we picked up the pace and came home a bit quicker than going out. 1:17:30 for an avg of 6:27 pace.

12km out and back - atawhai

Tuesday, January 04, 2011

3, 2, 1km reps

I have never done a work out like this before and was very nervous. I had no idea of what pace I should or could do.

It was certainly not my fastest ever 3km but I was happy with it never the less. Plus I was so pleased to have got that one out of the way, I was silly to think...yay its only going to get easier now.

The 2km things started to get a little ugly, my first km I was struggling to get my legs to work and my last km I was very disappointed to see how much I had slowed. It had helped me that Stephen was doing 1km reps and so at times was right behind me but on the two km as he came up behind me even he said...you are slowing down....and walked past me and pulled away. I couldn't sit behind him for that last part of the 2km.

So now it was my last one km. I started out and got to the first 100m mark and felt dead....my legs were like jelly and I thought that I was not going to be able to keep the pace up for 2 more laps. My saving grace was the fact that Stephen had timed one of his 1km reps to match my last rep so he was right behind me and pushed me to keep going. I didnt look at my watch this round and just pushed through the 400m, then the 800m. Stephen encouraged me to keep pushing and at the last 50m pulled out beside me and really made me push hard for the finish. I was so shocked to look at my watch and see my last km time. Wow......... now I need to learn how to push myself like that!!

so here are my splits

3km - 17:12
2Km - 11:32
1km - 5:36

total data for my work out is here. I did the km splits as I went.
3, 2, 1km reps by kyisis

Sunday, January 02, 2011

20km Out and Back - Atawhai

Todays walk was UGLY!!!!

I tossed and turned all night - with neighbors dogs barking for hours and two very amorous hedgehogs getting jiggy with it out side - I got very little sleep. I did get up at 4am and make some weetbix so I at least had some food for energy.

I had made plans to meet up with Stephen and Pete but Pete had injured him self on the 10km and also other plans for the day. So Stephen joined me to keep me company. We agreed that I would set the pace and he would tick along beside me. I dont really know what time I thought I would do. In past months I had gone out and done 20km in 2hours 7min.....so I was aiming for 2:10 at least. The great thing about doing it at 8am was there was high cloud so we didnt get sun until the last 30mins....Yay.

By 2km I knew that was not going to happen. I was tired, really tired. My tips of my second toe were already hurting and there was 18km to go. UGH!!! Having Stephen there was a great distraction as I am sure I would have stopped at 10km and just thrown it in. So I was pretty consistent pace wise....it was just very slow. I really should not have done the 10km walk the day before.

So............a positive.............I did it.   In a very slow 2:13:41

Came home - showered and then headed to the Port Races (Motorbikes - Formular 1, Super motard and classics) after standing for 5 hours and sniffing in my fill of avgas, we headed for home and to the aircon as it is now stinking hot. Now I am resting with ice on my feet. Thank goodness tomorrow is a rest day.

20km Out and Back - Atawhai

Saturday, January 01, 2011

New Years Day Shoe Clinic 10km - 2011

Today was my rest day, but I wanted to walk in the New Years Day Shoe Clinic 10km.  As I have to do 20km in the morning the deal was that I could walk it as a training walk.  Sweet!!!

Hind sight is a fabulous thing - I probably should have just helped out rather than walk it.  Everything went wrong leading up to this walk.  My daughter wanted to have something nice and different for New Years breakfast and want McDonalds Breakfast Bagel.  So after much debate and searching for what would be the better things for us to eat.  I settled on the hotcakes but no butter.  So by weight watcher standards - thats 8 points!!!  almost half of my daily allowance.....peachy!!!

After that Shane and I went out and mowed the lawns - takes a good 2 hours today.  Then we decided to get all the house work done in one hit....so another hour and that was all dusted over.  We thought how bout getting the groceries now....so off we went.  Funny how when you decide to eat healthy it doubles your grocery bill???? whats up with that!!!  So while we went through the check out I looked at my watch, oh its 3pm - shane asks when is your race??  oh 3.45pm start....so when we got home he unpacked the car and I raced inside to change.  I then checked the site to get the start time to find it was at 3.30.......and it was 3.15....EEEKKKKKKK so I grabbed my keys and flew out the door....half way to the race I realised I had left my bag, my wallet, my license and my GPS watch all at home.  GREAT...does it get any better. 

I made it to the start with 4mins to spare..phew.....So I had not eaten since 9am or drunk any water all day....oh dear this was going to be ugly, thank goodness I was not to race it.

The race starts and Wendy bolted off to the lead and Pete, Stephen and myself ticked along - passing 2km in 12:30 (I think thats what Stephen said)  Then the guys got competitive and started to pick up the pace so I dropped off to let them go.  To be honest I was struggling to keep up anyway.  I was tired!!  To me - my pace slowed and slowed till I felt like I was only just race walking and almost rec walking.  But I kept going having no idea of my time or my pace...it was really weird not having my watch on.  Funny how you come to rely on it so much.  I have started to try and work out how fast I thought I was going, the guys were ahead of me, Stephen had pulled a head of Pete....(wow I thought...sly ol fox)  I figured if they were hoping to do 62mins...and pete was a good 2 mins a head of me and stephen was another 2mins.....so I was thinking I was doing about 68mins...if I was lucky.  It just felt sooooo slow.

When I rounded the last part of the race and saw the finish I was rapt....I was tired and sore and my knee was starting to hurt.  I called out as I went across the line - whats my time???  1:02 was the response.  I thought he was kidding...............Wendy did 58 and Stephen also did 58 and nearly caught her.  wow, for someone who has only just started walking again after being injured and ill, thats bloody awesome!!

So I guess thats my first time for the year and its actually not too bad for a training walk of 10km.