12km out an back monaco

Absolutely gorgeous day!! perfect day to go out for a nice relaxing 12km walk. Its 19degs still and nice hot sun shine, arrrhhhh spring weather finally.

Now had I not been suffering from GI cramps all day, I would have really enjoyed this walk. For the last week I have been having GI issues!!! BADLY in fact so badly that for the first two days I thought I had picked up stomach bug. The cramps just buckle your knees and there is little you can do for a moment. Today the guys at work admitted that they too have been suffering from an odd Stomach up set...with just really bad cramps too. So there must be something going around.

What I discovered to day is that when you are suffereing GI Cramps, and your whole lower abdomen feels like there is an acid pit in it......YOU CANT engage your core and so you have ZERO power/speed. I felt like I had two flat tyres out there.

So in the end I just had to go with it and tick along at what every my body was going to let me do.

12km - 1:16:28

12km out an back monaco

3km, 2km and 3 x 1km

Off to the track I go. Armed with new found confidence!

Coach wanted me to do 85% but once I started out it felt more like 95% and I just couldn't slow it down once I started. So I went with it. It was MEGA windy at the track. Nelson forecast said winds of 35km but some of the gusts really knocked me around on the track.

I felt slow but I was expecting that so just put that behind me and pushed on. I know it wont take long to get the natural roll off my foot again and my times will pick up. Plus if there had been no wind i would have been a good 5 - 8 secs faster per lap.

today it was 3km, 2km and 3 x 1km

5:39

5:42

5:39 = 17:00 for 3km

5:42

5:49 = 11:31 for 2km

5:41

5:42

5:37

its a good starting point again.

3km, 2km and 3 x 1km

Finally back on track

It has been a tough couple of weeks.  Mentally it would have to be the hardest I have faced in all my racewalking.

It all starts with that first little tweak you make to your style and slowly each day you add a tweak and before you know it - your style is no longer right and in fact so far to the wrong side that you sit there totally bamboozled as to how it happened and how you didn't realize.

The eye opener for me was the video from the Relay and the knowledge that that the race-walkers probably would have all been DQ'd (bent knees and lifting) while the rec and learner race-walkers were all fine.

So for two weeks I have pulled my style to pieces, tried to understand my coach, tried to follow advise.....and each video to be told...NOPE....do it again.....NOPE....do it again.

But today ................ yay for today................. What I had been calling my old double support and militant style.............was exactly what my coach had been wanting me to do.  All this time, it was right there and I just had NO idea.

I went to the Intermediate School today and just walked - back and forth - like you do with drills...but I just walked.  Doing what I thought was a very slow and chunky style and expecting to be told NOPE do it again.........but instead the most amazing thing happened......................I got told by my coach that what he saw in the video was PERFECT!! in fact even better than I looked in the STATEs....OMG.....I nearly did back flips.  So I am now back on track, full steam ahead and ready to start getting some speed again...properly!!!

8km out and back monaco

Lovely spring day. The cold front that was expected never eventuated but there is a stiff breeze out there with a slight chill on it. Sun shining, ducks chasing each other over the estuary .... its doesn't get much better than that.

I only had 8 km for today. I sort of wish I had the quiet week last week when I was struggling so much. But I am slowly pulling my self out of the pity well that I have dug myself.

All racewalkers that read my blog will understand that racewalking is really technical. Its not just about walking or rules. There is a whole raft of technical tweaks that can make you a more effective faster walker or on the flip side of that a faster non legal walker that gets totally into a tangle of bad habits. Well I went the latter and its taken some work and struggling to slowly untangle me back to where we first started tweaking.

I thought I had it yesterday at the track and my coach agreed that it was much better but just had to take it back one more step. Other comments conflicted that advice and it was a tough night for me while I mentally went through each and every step and movement. But I am happy to say that today's walk felt good, slow, but GOOD.

I felt my hips dropping with each step, I drove my knee down low and forward and forced my knees back using my glute to drive the leg back. My next step is to get my roll over my foot back and the push through.........NOT UP!! as I had been doing.

so 8km for 47:33

8km out and back monaco

21km out and back

This was meant to be 24km..............by 5km I knew I was in trouble. I had NOTHING in my legs. I was getting more and more confused and more and more frustrated.

Every time I felt something was not quite right I would stop and start again. I took a camel pack with me today and made sure that I took a drink. I would start again and feel nice and fluid and then after a km or two would start doubting myself.

I got out to the Main Road and decided to turn back. I honestly didnt feel I could complete 24km. As was on my return home I was still stop and starting. I think for about a km or two I felt ok...the rest ... well I just dont know. By 18km both toes were throbbing. I had planned on carring on past home to get in another couple of km but when I hit 21km out side the house...I was done. I was totally knackered!!! My glutes were totally fatigued and I was getting mentally tided in knots. So I figured that I felt good for that last km so I would end my walk on a good note. But today thats pretty much the only positive I could take out this walk. I am pretty disheartened that I couldnt even get 20km non stop out.

total time for 21 = 2:08:16

21km out and back

5km waimea - vanguard st

I was meant to do 11km today. I went out this morning with a friend but only managed to get 6km done. My toe was just excruciating.

So I came home and put some thought in to this wee problem. I have to do 24km tomorrow and I have to find away to get this done. I have lost SO much fitness and speed at the moment that I just cant afford to miss any workouts.

So I dragged out our lawn mower, threw on my old shoes and mowed our massive lawn. I found that in my old runners, my toe was not as sore. So I went and dug out my old training shoes. They are a heavier shoe but I used to train in them awhile ago. My toe was till tender but no where near as sore as this morning.

Right I am 4km short for my total of the day but the closest loop to home is my old 5km route (I didn't want to go up or down Beatson's Road) So Coach said go out and get back into your style and have some trust you will get it right. The first thing I noticed was how light on my feet I felt again and how smooth and fast it felt. This is an undulating course and not an easy one to figure out styles on as there really is no "flat" section in it. The 2km back home is just slightly up hill and its slightly enough to make it difficult to keep speed up. It was in this section that I could feel myself getting tired and it was a constant battle to keep my style going nice an smoothly. The good news was that I could tell immediately if any thing changed and correct it then and there. So thats progress.

total time for the 6km was 37:07

total time for the 5km was 28:39

5km waimea - vanguard st

12km fartlek

Wow, this breaking a habit by going back to an old habit is hard work....cause now I have to try to forget the old habit just restarted and get back to what I had in the States.

How did it all go so wrong so fast? Because I am an overachiever - give me a goal and I have to do better. So I pushed myself too hard and took advice to literal and bam! All I did was lean alittle to far forward and bingo, there goes everything. I never knew that there was such a FINE line between right and wrong with race walking. There are so many variations of racewalking that are all - right..............but one little tweak and they quickly become WRONG

Right...12km Fartlek...........one of my longest and I was apprehensive enough with all the other stuff in my head. I also wanted to be careful with pace as 12km was a far way to go.

First km and I felt very robotic. Stiff and chunky and upright. I could see in my shadow that the "racewalker" hips were back, so that means I am dipping but also to much side ways movement. My time was acceptable 5:24 but that was the only fast km. From there on in the wheels fell off so to speak. I was still suffering from a very sore toe. The toe was swollen at the tip and the nail stopped it swelling further. But if you touch the toenail it felt like you did so with a hammer. By 6km, I could see a red stain in the toe box so I stopped briefly to take some water and adjust my sock. I carried on and tried so hard to push and get my rhythm back but I just had no ooommmmppphhhh in me. I could not roll off my foot and push with my toe due to pain. I was pleased this was finally over...more so due to pain in my foot, but also I was really beating myself up again for doing this to myself.

Total Time 1:10:49

My Avg fast 500m was 2:47

My Avg Recovery 500m was 3:10

12km fartlek

15km out and back

Well .. sometimes to move forward, you have to go backwards.

So today my coach had me go out and walk 15km in my old style, standing straight up and putting my weight onto my back foot not my front. It felt weird. But the first interesting thing was I noticed in my shadow that my old racewalk wiggle came back. The next thing I noticed was the pull of my hips and I had to dip further, this also made me aware of lowering my knee and landing and keep my knee locked. There was not a bounce to be seen. But it did feel like stepping out of a turbo sports car into a beat up old Mini with no top gear!!

So it was a nice and steady 15km done in 1:33:58

15km out and back using old style

Style Tweaking at the track

Well after a discouraging week and weekend.  I have returned to the track to attack the basics.

It was really hard to break a bad habit.  Especially when you cant 'see' what it is you are doing or doing wrong.  So after 2km around the track and trying so many different ways to slow down, my calfs had pumped up and started cramping.  I had to stop!

So I got my camera out and started videoing.  I did a 400m catching me at the start and the end.  Then I could see what I was doing wrong.  So I tried to do another 2km but only got 400m out.

So I had a little stamp foot moment on the side of the track.....then tried it again.  This time I did get 2km out but much slower, but style wise felt better...but sort of chunky.

So I got the camera out and went back and forwards .... the harder i tried the worse I got......then finally I think I got it again.

So now to wait for the coach to view it and give me feed back.

But for the first time, I threw in the towel and came home.

track - style tweaking

Queen Charlotte Relay - Leg 3

The Princess Warriors all turned up at 8am...decked out in PINK!!! we loaded into my car and headed across the hill to Picton. I had hoped to catch up with my Mum but her services were unexpectedly needed else where, but she kindly let us use the house and even left out chocky biscuits - all the girls say Yummo and TA heaps!!! We decked our faces with swirls and dots while we waited til it was time to head down to the race start.

Race start was 11.30 -

Lap 1: Picton to Wedge Point. 5,100 metres (Undulating, then steady climb)

Maree was first up. Maree would like to dispute this description!!!! she always thought undulating meant there was some down hill!!! She powered up that hill and really kept the pressure on Ross from the other Nelson Walking team. While we were all waiting at the top of the hill for her and ross, we were standing by hives of bees...and sure enough someone got stung. Poor Sue (Ross's Wife) got stung in the temple, it was lucky that her team mate Wendy had an ice pack on hand. Ross popped up first and then about 4mins behind him up pops Maree in 37:26  - below is Maree 3km into her leg

Lap 2: Wedge Point to Momorangi Bay. 8,600 metres (Downhill, then undulating)

Andrea was up for this leg. After watching Wendy change over from Pete and power off down the hill like a cut cat, Andrea knew the chase was on! and boy what a chase she gave. Each time we drove past we would cheer and clap and call out encouragement. I think our team would have won the prize for the best supporters as we seemed to be the only ones calling and cheering the others on, whether they were in front of us or behind us. Other cars just drove past us in silence??? this was a fun event so we just got right into it. Andrea was really putting the pace on coming down the hills but sadly couldnt gain any ground on Wendy. At the next change over point we watched Pete lining up and take the batten from Wendy. So I had Pete to chase! Andrea was not too far behind about 10mins she came roaring down that hill to finish her leg in 51:47

below is Andrea about 6km into her leg.

Lap 3: Momorangi Bay to Linkwater. 8,100 metres (Fast and Flat)

This was my leg. I grabbed the batten hit my watch and was off. Fast and flat my arse!!!! first up for me was a hill, I had 20m of flat and then round a corner and up!!! I hate UP!! I knew I was being watched like a hawk by the other team and so made sure that everything was perfect. 1km into it and the hill leveled and came down again, then it did level out on to the flat and reminded me why I really dont like this leg much. Long LONG boring straights. I heard my car coming up behind me and everyone tooted and called out. Man it was nice to hear the encouragement as I was not feeling that energetic today. I knew that fast 10km yesterday had been at the cost of a really fast time today. But so be it. The camber of the road made it a little awkward to get your legs perfect each and every step and there was a sharp drop off to the right for most of the leg. I couldnt believe it when a car supporting a running team drove past, stopped and backed up to me...just to say "you look like you are running!" Nope I called out and they went on their merry way again. The girls had pulled over again and were filming me and cheering out as I past them again. On the last straight I looked up and I could see Pete ahead of me. Wow he has to be less than a km away. So I knew I had gained some time back. I came up to the batten exhange with Sharon on the ready. She took the batten and was off after Sue. I finished my leg in 43;11  Below is me in the middle of my leg

Lap 4: Linkwater to Moenui. 6,200 metres (Undulating, then a steady climb)

yep Sharon would agree with this description but would say it was steeper than a steady climb. We all knew she would catch Sue, it was just where and when. How far up the hill would it be. We were all getting so excited as this race had taken quite the turn. When we found out the others had formed a team, we pretty much said...yeah they have got it in the bag. But, we tactically placed our walkers to their best suited gait...not speed or pace. We would pass sharon and call out, take photos and video and then head to the next pullin. We continued this for as far as we were able. The last stop we made Sharon was about 20m behind Sue and had 2km to go. We drove up to the top at the last hand over point. Raylene was feeling so nervous, the pressure was starting to pull at her. We all had said right from the start...this is a FUN event and so long as we have FUN who cares where we place. But I think everyone was thinking that we had a chance to actually win this. But could Raylene hold off Roger (Wendys father) Sure enough Sharon popped up at the top first doing her leg in 45:04 Passing the batten to Raylene who headed off down the hill to the finish. Sure enough Sue popped up but we only had a 2 min lead on them.
Below is Sharon blasting through her leg.

Lap 5: Moenui to Havelock 6,650 metres (Steady rise, then sharp downhill and then undulating)

Raylene was off. Pushing hard to try and make some ground over Roger while she had the advantage of the downhill while she was still fresh. We went past her and cheered her along, stopping as often as we could. Her style has improved so much and it was so awesome to watch her really stretching out. The other team pulled in behind us and Pete was taking photos. I think the photo he got of Raylene was the shot of the day. The perfect photo that all racewalkers like to get - point to point and perfect arms. But Roger was right behind her and there was 3km to go. Roger managed to get past Raylene on the long down hill section just before you cross the bridge and head up to the Main Road and turn into Havelock. We drove on and went to the finish line and waited for Raylene to finish. Roger rounded the corner and crossed the line (team time of 3:37:??) About a minute of two later up pops Raylene. Wahooooo she pushes up the last little hill to cross the line. Her time for the last leg was 42:13 giving us a team time of 3:39:43
below is Raylene bringing it home on her leg.

We were all thrilled. We had all had so much fun and had laughed and chatted the whole way over and the whole way home. For as much as I said I wouldnt do it again........a few hours later and wine in hand......................why not...... hell yes I will do it again with the girls!!!

The Warrior Princess's

Queen Charlotte Relay - Leg 3

10km out and back NEW PB!!

This is what happens when you get EVERYTHING right!

Last night I made a huge Steak Casserole for dinner. It was soooo good that I ended up having 3 huge helpings, infact I finished it off. What a big piggy wiggy I felt. Then having a good nights sleep and getting in some food before my walk.

All this week I have been feeling out of sorts, not concentrating on my walking and letting negative thoughts invade my mind. Which was reflected in my training and became a vicious circle.

I knew I had to do 10km today and I had woken with a better attitude. First thing to life my mood was a phone call from Al Columbus from Fresh Fm to interview me about my nomination with Next magazine and no sooner had I hung up the phone went again with Mainland TV wanting to talk to me. So I went up and had 20min interview with them about my walking and also Next magazine. They were so taken with my race walking and up coming events that they are keen to do more on me. Who knows...I may end up working in Television yet!!! So this all set me up in a FANTASTIC mood and I found my AWESOME again.

now back to the walk. The rain had just stopped and the sun popped out...but it was windy again (sheltered where I started but fierce out at the 4km - 5km mark) I started up along the track and was concentrating on pushing hard from behind and using my glutes and actually did the fastest km split for up along the track. I continued to push hard as I went down Beatson Road and out over the over pass. I crossed the main road with out needing to stop and pushed hard out towards Monaco. It was this 1.5km section that I hit the fierce head wind. It was very hard pushing into it and keeping my pace up. I was still feeling great and strong. I was breathing hard and pushing hard. I turned at 5km in 27:08 (I lost time punching into the hard wind)

Now on the homeward bound and I decided to really start to push. Making sure I was using good style. I could feel my glutes working hard and I concentrated hard on leaving my foot behind me longer and pushing hard off the toes. It felt very fluid and smooth today and very fast. I pushed hard up over the overpass again - forcing myself to push and keep going. The last 3km are the hardest in this course. the 7th km is a long slow up hill (a gain of 31m) but it always feels harder than going up Beatsons which is a 40m gain. Out on the top of Beatson's and it is a 1km down hill to home. I really pushed hard down here getting my fastest ever km split out .... it is down hill so it should be very fast.

I hit the stop on my watch and just stared at it. Jumped up and gave a little wahoooo!!! I have just redeemed my self to my self and to my coach.

I know I was at my top end for pace - pretty much race pace for most of this walk - so in a race I would expect to get this time or a tad under it.

So time for my 10km is 54:24 for an avg pace of 5:26 and avg heart rate of 152

10km out and back

12km with 2 x 8mins race pace

My mood had picked up a little today but the weather was really testing me. It started raining about an hour before I left to go for my walk. I had the choice of 10km or 12km ...as I have a race on Saturday I opted to do the further distance today, but I am not used of walking the day after a 20km and it hurt.

During my 20km walk I had caught my foot on a large drain cover that goes over the walk way near the motorway. I very nearly face planted the pavement, lucky I got my hands out and my finger tips skimmed the ground and after a couple of large lunges I righted myself. I gave my self the once over for a minute as I continued to walk and nothing hurt at the time so continued on. Today I woke with pain in my left hamstring. I figured this was an off shot of the lunging I did to stay up right. So I was conscious of this during this walk and also another reason why I picked the longer walk today and then will do 10km tomorrow (personally I would prefer not to walk so far before a race....but I trust my coach)

I felt ok while I headed out. I put my long Dunlops on today as I thought it would rain. It didnt and I started over heating by 5km and by 8km realised that Dunlops are not for long walks....I was chaffing and not feeling comfortable at all.

Kms 3 & 4 were my two fast segments and again at km 7 & 8 but I was feeling pretty flat by the time I reached the base of Beatson Road. After a 20km and then this my glutes were fatigued and my legs were like lead. So I just plodded up Beatsons, I had figured I had gotten to 5km in 28:26 and 10km in 58:01 I was doin ok. Once again I had to remind myself that I am training....not racing my last 12km time. That the whole point of today was to do two burst of speed and to get any speed out directly after a 20km I was doing ok.

So I choose not to beat myself up about my time an just walk back up Beatsons.

total time for 12km 1:11:09 avg pace 5:56 avg heart 149

12km with 2 x 8mins race pace

20km out and back

Guess what........................its WINDY!!! in fact it is more so than yesterday........AARRRGHHHHHH Mother nature is really out to get me and make me crack!!!

I was going to meet up with a good friend and have her jog with me for some of the walk, but she was feeling unwell and opted to pass on it for today....boy did she make the right call.

I had a really strong head wind for the whole 10km out, it was getting tough with leaning slightly forward to punch into the wind. Twice I thought to turn around and swap Fridays walk for this one.

But when I turned back it was sooo good to have the tail wind. I was feeling very tired from the hard slog out and so I just wanted to get home. Nothing mush to tell in this walk other than thank goodness it is over. Now I need to focus on getting my awesome back and my happy hppy mood again.

Total time for 20km is 1:56:46

20km out and back

3km, 2km, 1km & 2 x 500m

I was really not feeling it today! I have gone back to my poor sleeping again and so have been bone tired during the day. I decided to grab a muffin at morning tea so that I would have some sort of fuel to use for this walk. I got to the track and it was really windy. Oh no, this was not good news. I walked around and unlocked all the barrier arms only to have them blow back across the track by the time I cam round again. A number of times I had to give them a good shove while I was doing the walk.

Today's Forecast

A few showers later. Cold gusty south westerlies. (gusts of 24km) It was about 10 degs but at first I was really cold and so my feet went like concrete blocks and I could feel hard lumps under my toes and in the balls of my feet....ouch....took till nearly 3km til I could use and feel my feet.

I felt awful through this whole workout. I felt like I was flogging a dead horse. The wind was punching across the track so it was a hard grind to come around and up to the start/finish line. Surprisingly my times dont seem to reflex how bad I was feeling. By the 2km segment I was nearly about to throw the whole walk in. I just couldn't get into it at all, I had to keep pushing the barrier arms back and on the corners the wind would push by feet out from under me. But I figured that I wont get faster or better if I quit...so I made myself keep going. Just as I finished my last 500m it started spitting....oh that would have just topped my day off if it had started raining while I was out there.

I cant even say that I am pleased the walk is over. I felt so ugh doing it that even when I got home I was still feeling Ugh. I guess the thought of going out to work in two hours is not really helping my mood much either. So I figured that I have not been taking my iron tablets in a while, so I will start them up again. I also want to get some more black currant powder as I did find that had good results for me.

So my splits are:-

3km = 5:12, 5:16 & 5:15 = 15:43

4 min rest

2km = 5:19 & 5:18 = 10:37

3 min rest

1km = 5:16

2 min rest

500m = 2:32

1 min rest

500m = 2:34

3km, 2km, 1km & 2 x 500m

25km out and back monaco

I was nervous about today's walk. It is the furthest I have ever walked and I was on day two of a migraine. I got up and had a big drink plus took a Maxalt, then I waited for about 20mins for the medicine to work. I also figured I would need to take some water with me, but unfortunatly the last time I used the waist camel pack it had not been stored properly and I just couldnt clean the bladder out. It was like the rubber had perished inside it. So I found a small bottle and just put that inside the waist bag and also tucked my cell phone in aswell.......just in case my body gave out I could call home.

Its about 10degs and over cast out....in truth, the best weather possible as I wont get too hot. I headed out and felt really good. I hit 5km in just over 28mins. From here I veered off and went around Monaco but it was only 4km extra...not 5km as I had hoped. So I knew I had to go further at either the next 5km leg or carry on past home at the end. I stopped briefly at 8km to get a short drink and then carried on. I went through 10km in 58:02 and did wonder if I was going way too fast, but the pace felt easy and I still felt strong. I figured that I could carry on past the 15km mark and turn after 500m but I ran out of walkway and had to turn back sooner. At about 18km I was starting to feel alittle sore and tired, so I had a little pep talk to myself to keep going. I made another small detor just before the 20km point so that it would give me my normal 5km to home. I was surprised to see my 20km time was the same as last weekend when I walked in Blenheim 1:55:10 but I knew that the next 5km would be harder and slower as it was up hill for 2.5km of the 5km home.

Going up Beatson's Road was hard. My legs were dead and my back was hurting. I had slowed to a power walk and by the time I was at the top of Beatson's, I was just normal walking. 1 km to go....it was hard to get my legs moving again but I must admit home never looked so good.

25km total time 2:25:47 avg pace of 5:49per km

As I walked the last 100m to home I pondered how on earth Tammy does this on a regular basis and it also gave me a better understanding of what I was asking Andrea to do when I increased her distance's up to 25km.................its hard work!!!!

25km out and back monaco

5km farltek

Well this was meant to be a 10km Fartlek, but due to me entering a radio promotion and pulling my hamstring....it got shorten to 5km.

I woke today and was really not feeling it. I had a headache and a runny nose again. I am thinking it is hayfever based as its been like this on and off this week and the pollen levels around here and at the track are huge!! But even though I was not feeling the greatest I knew I could push out a 5km as its all over in under 30mins!! just had to suck it up and get on with it.

It had been raining this morning but thankfully it cleared by the time I had finished with appointments in town. I got to the track at 11am and it was warming up nicely. Infact after I had warmed up I decided to take my long sleeve off as I knew I would heat up pretty quick. I think it was about 15degs....just nice. There were more construction guys today.....they are in a hurry to finish the big pavilion so that it is ready for the South Island Masters Games in about 6 weeks. I would say they are over 3/4 of the way there and its looking great. So today I had extra shovel leaner's to watch me as I came round in front of the Pavilion.

I hit out and felt that I was being conservative in my effort. Even though its only 5km I do tend to go all gun hoe on the first km. So finishing the first one in 5:05 I was a bit worried that I had done just the latter again. It did amuse me as I rounded the 2nd lap on of the shovel leaner's called out.....are you sure you're not running? I gave him the thumbs up and I was surprised to come round on my recovery lap to hear one of the regular workers explaining to him the basics of racewalking.....hmmm so do they take notice then .. lol

I pushed hard for the next fast 500m, my hamstring was feeling better and by now was feeling like a bruised muscle. I was breathing pretty hard and knew I was at the top end of how fast I could go. I was concentrating hard on leaving my back foot behind me and rolling off the toes plus using my glutes to push through. My head was starting to hurt and the lack of breakfast was starting to have its effect on my muscles. I was starting to fatigue quite quickly.

On the last 500m fast session I pushed extra hard and really worked my glutes through the last 100m. I was relieved it was over, I was tired and my legs were feeling dead. I am very glad it was not a 10km fartlek today.

1km = 5:04

2km = 2:53 + 2:26 = 5:19

3km = 2:56 + 2:25 = 5:21

4km = 3:01 + 2:25 = 5:26

5km = 3:01 + 2:24 = 5:25

Total time = 26:40

5km farltek

3 x 2km track

I felt tired today. I had a busy morning at work, had missed smoko (morning coffee) and was feeling the effects of not having my coffee.

I really didnt feel like doing this workout. I was just thankful it was only 6km in total. I warmed up by doing 3 laps, chatting to Sharon on the last couple of laps. She was going to a short speed workout and so I would have her to catch and pass - which helps alot.

I started out and decided to take it easy, not to push too hard for the first km and just ease into it. Which worked and I progressively got faster and faster for each km after that. I know that the 3mins rest between each split felt GREAT!!! My body held together well today and I felt smooth and strong for the whole workout.

5:09 + 5:02 = 10:11

5:06 + 5:02 = 10:08

5:02 + 4:59 = 10:01

I think my coach will be pleased with those times. 36:27 for 6km plus includes 2 x 3min rest breaks...is pretty good in my book.

3 x 2km track

21km around blenheim

I didnt have to work this weekend and so I picked to head over to Blenheim and catch up with family. Plus they had not seen me since I had returned from USA and were very keen to see my medals. I stopped in at my Grandma's first and she instantly took be down to meet all her friends in the dining hall to show me off with my medals. Mum and Erle arrived later and then we headed out to the Marlborough Club for a drink and some dinner.

I finally made it to my best friend/sisters place at 7pm....first and most important the wine was poured, then kids put to bed and the evening started. We sat up and chatted until 1am - it has been too long since we have done this and something that I must do more often.

I got up at 8am and headed out the door. I was to do 20km today and I thought I would do it along the walk way beside the Taylor River. It was a magical morning, no cloud, sun and no wind. Gorgeous day indeed. I had thought I could walk the complete length but it ended up only being 7km, so I turned back and decided to head back to the big bridge and then turn back and do one more loop around the river. Everything was going well....body was holding together (my back had gone out again due to the drive but it didnt bug me while I was race walking) The walkway starts out as a gravel walk for about 1km and then it is a lovely smooth paved/concrete path - this is the same path used in the Marlborough Marathon. I was really enjoying the walk, there were lots of people about and I even say another fellow walker but he was too far away and across the river to call out to. My legs were feeling good and I was amazed I didnt have a headache but by 11km I had developed a major problem!!! I needed the toilet URGENTLY and there was none to be found anywhere near me on the river bank. I remembered that Brayshaw Park was 1km ahead of me and as it is a tourist spot I hoped they had toilets...and ones that were unlocked. In a rather distressed state I made my way across the road and sure enough......ahead of me was a toilet block. Once that wee crisis was over I was able to head back out and continue my walk.

I headed back up the walkway. I was trying to work out how far I needed to walk before turning and and doing one last loop...knowing I had 1km from the bridge back to Rach's home. I continued back until my watch chirped 16km and then turned back...but it was when I was almost back to the bridge that I realised I had made an error and would still have the km to Rachs house. So I decided to just walk the extra km as a bonus for my coach.

I was totally stunned when I saw my time and I would imagine that the 4 min stop at the 12km mark probably helped towards the fast time as it really was as a rest.

20km was 1:55:22

total time for the 21km is 2:01:03

21km around blenheim

10km kick down

My first kick-down for the new training program. I really wanted to do this well. I now how important these are to my long term goal.

I had thought I would really like to get 4 good kicks eg 5:50, 5:40, 5:30 & 5:20

I picked the flat course out and back around Monaco, the only problem with this course is that it can get windy and wouldn't you guess it. I had a full on head wind for the first 5km out. Had I have known I probably would have traveled out to the other end of the walk way and done this in reverse, because it did make it much easier to pick up the pace on the way back with the wind behind me.

My first 2.5km felt very easy and I was finding pushing into the wind and keeping the steady pace was comfortable. I could feel my glutes working and my hamstring was feeling good. No pain at all through the walk. The next 2.5km was not so easy, as I came about to be beside the sea the breeze had picked up and was buffeting me around quite a bit and it was much harder to keep the pace. I turned at 5km and instantly felt the push of the wind. So I had to try hard not to go too fast so that I could still drop for that last kick.

I pushed hard on the last 2.5km and my glutes were starting to fatigue and argue with me. I could feel the pace increase as I tucked and pushed ......but I was still really surprised to see that I finished my 10km kick down in 56:00 that's 1 sec faster than my walk for NZ Road Champs.

so my acutal kicks are as follows:-

2.5 = 14:43 - avg pace = 5:53

2.5 = 14:26 - avg pace = 5:46

2.5 = 13:43 - avg pace = 5:29

2.5 = 13:04 - avg pace = 5:13

so I was not too far off what I had hoped to achieve for this walk.

10km kick down