20km Long Distance Walking Champs & 10km NZ Road Champs

This is the event I have been waiting for. It would be my first time entering plus I get to met back up with my good friend David Smyth from Australia as he has come over for it and is rooming with me at the motel. Along the way we also picked up an extra roomy, with Rosie from Dunedin joining us too. We all arrived into Hastings on Saturday afternoon and spent our first night chatting about all things walking and also the next days event. Lights out by 10pm and it didnt take rosie or david long to be happily sound as sleep........ME on the other had lay there wide away like a wee possum until 2am then I fell asleep for about an hour as I woke at 3am and lay there again till 4ish waking again at the alarm at 6am!!! Peachy I thought....I really needed a good nights sleep and was reluctant to take a sleeping pill the night before.....(hindsight is a great thing I now know what I should have done) So we all got up, dressed quietly...each with our own minds on the days events. Taxi arrived and away we went. Rosie was set on winning the 15km Open Womens, David set on getting his first NZ Road Title and also completing the 20km event and Me on winning my first NZ 10km Road Title and also winning the Masters 20km.

We arrived at the location. It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky nor a breath of wind. It was going to be a hot one!!! Just as we arrived we got to watch the start of the 50km Championship walk - all men today. (cripes I would not want to be doing 50km in this heat) We grabbed our race packs and laced up the transponders. With Athletic NZ putting the Road Champs on as well it meant many more walkers entered so I think we had the largest met of walkers seen in a few years. With a 1km loop course it meant you could always see what was going on and you always had someone just in front or just behind you...It was great!!!

So its 8am and we line up. I had been told to settle into my race pace as quickly as I could so when the gun went off thats pretty much what I tried to do. I let all the quick ones head off early as most of them were also only walking 10km so I didnt want to go at their pace. But it wasnt long before I slowly started picking them off one by one....before long I was leader of the 20km walkers, I had Sue Hoskins hot on my heels with her only being 20mt behind me at the 8km mark. At about 8.5km my knee gave out.....I have no idea of what happened but it felt like something had peiced me behind my knee. It hurt to bend or straighten it, I was guttered. I slowed up my pace a little which helped but that also meant Sue got past me. I struggled through the 9km loop and contimplated pulling out at the 10km but as I came through to cross for the 10km my knee was no longer hurting and I was able to carry on. (again I have no idea what happened and it has done this too me during my training walks of late too) So I saw that Sue was about 40mt ahead of me so I picked up the pace and caught her up but then she also picked up the pace so I sat on her heel for a couple of laps as I didnt feel I had it in me to hold that pace for the next 8km....so I pulled back and let her go again....giving her a 15m lead on me. At around 14km I slowly gained on her again as she had slowed down but rather than go then I chose to sit right on her heel and see what she would do. But over the next 3 km she was slowing down so much that I figured it was time to make a break. I had already worked out that I was off my pace so I was now trying to pick a good time to make the break so that I could hold my pace. I picked 17.5k mark.....I stepped to the right of her and just pushed hard. When I crossed the 18km she was a good 40mt behind me and the gap grew to about 100m or so very quickly. So I tried to push hard and pick up my pace. All I wanted to do was finish in a time faster than any of my training times. So when I crossed the line in 2.05 I was thrilled. It was not my fastest time but it was not my slowest time either. Besides it was sooo hot out there. The heat off the tarmac and between the huge storage sheds was so intense. I have no idea of what the temp was but it felt like a good 30degs.

So I won two golds for those races. But sadly due to an admin error they didnt have the medals for the 40 - 44 age group for the Road Champs, so myself and Katie T didnt recieve a medal (they will be posted to us soon)

I will up load my data from my GPS when I am home but the splits were all wrong, by 3 km mark they were off by 50mt and it just got worse, but I do have my " offical " splits.
1 - 5.55
2 - 6.05
3 - 6.06
4 - 6.05
5 - 6.02
6 - 6.08
7 - 6.09
8 - 6.13
9 - 6.25 (this is the lap my knee went)
10- 6.16
11- 6.16
12- 6.11
13- 6.21
14- 6.27
15- 6.31 (sitting on sues heels)
16- 6.25
17- 6.31
18- 6.23
19- 6.18
20- 6.16

So all in all a great day and a great race!!!!

Today (Monday) I am not feeling too bad but my left knee is very sore, so I do think I have tweaked it a little and will go and get it checked out tomorrow.

5km Series - Fartlek

Tonight was the Wensley Road course. It is an out and back up over the switch backs. (Two sharp hills) So trying to do a fartlek was a little tough as the first km where I was to go fast was partly up hill and I also struck the same when I reached the switch backs. The start and stop of my fast and slow was either side of each rise so it is very hard to see that I speed up or slowed down.

I was really thrilled to have gone under 30mins for this course and with that type of training. Total time was 29:52 I felt awesome. No niggles or tweeks anywhere. So I am feeling very confident about my upcoming race on Sunday. I am not going to post a time as I dont want to post to high or too low. I am just going to give it my all and be very happy with that.

The weekend after is the Waimea Half Marathon and I have entered to walk the Half and also be part of a team. So I start out and wear two numbers and then Maree starts out at the 10km mark. Our team name is "Pink Panthers" and we will be decked out in Pink tops, shorts and pink bob wigs......I will make sure we take some photos.

Here is my garmin data for anyone interested.

5km Series - Wensley Road - Fartlek by kyisis at Garmin Connect - Details

10km Kickdown

Well today was to be a great day all round! First - I got the job I had been hoping for at Contour Roofing and Second I had an awesome training session.

I decided to go out and walk on the Atawhai Walkway as that was one of the flatter areas. I was going to be doing a 10km kickdown (4 x 2.5km) So I decided that if follow these paces it will work out just fine. 6.30, 6.20, 6.10 and then 6.00

Now my watch is set up to auto lap each 1km so its a little hard to see the actual pace marks but my first km was too quick and my second km too slow as I tried to slow down and settle into it. 4 & 5 km were a little better and I had picked up the pace a little by then but when I turned at the 5km I felt great and headed for home with gutso. To see my pace for kms 8,9 & 10 ... I was rapt!!! I was tired and my legs were sore from my 15km but all in all I felt awesome and thrilled to be out. My hubby had come along on his mountain bike to keep me company, as we got to the walk way it started to rain (he was not as thrilled to be there then lol) but once we got going it passed over and ended up a nice hot day. He brought the video camera and filmed me. I will up load that to YouTube and link it to here too. My style is still very stiff and heavy looking but I am getting faster again and when I slow the video to frame by frame I am legal for knees!! that was my biggest fear. I dont think I will ever have a style that has me lifting or looking light on my feet so I concede to work with what I got.

and here is the youtube site for my video


My Garmin details are here.

10km Kickdown training by kyisis at Garmin Connect - Details

15km Training Walk

 I went out for a short 8km training walk on Thursday and it felt awful.  I had no energy and my legs were so heavy, later that night I felt my aura in my left eye and knew I was in for a migraine.  So that was the end of my training for the last 3 days.  I woke this morning and still felt foggy headed.  The pain was nearly all gone but I knew I would be ok to walk with it.  The weather decided to really test my dedication though, it was very windy and raining but at least it wasn't cold....its about 13deg which was actually quite mild.

I decided to head out on the same course that I had used on Thursday but to carry on for 7km  then turn and make up the extra on the return stretch.  I was feeling pretty good which surprised me, the wind was behind me and so it felt nice and easy.  I thought I would get 7km out before I turned but it instead ended up being 6.5km........and it was then that I felt the wind.  It didnt feel like much of a tail wind but when you turn and walk into it....well it felt pretty strong to me ..hahaha.. plus the rain was stinging my face so I just put my head down and gritted my teeth and punched into it.  So my pace dropped for the return kms.  When I got back up on to the walk way by my home I knew it was only going to make the walk 13km so I decided to carry on past and walk out and around the school and come back to home on the road.  So I used the last 2km as a mini kickdown and pushed hard to finish them with a good solid pace. 

It was an ok time, not as fast as my 16km pace the week before but then it wasnt windy or raining either.  So I guess that evens it out.  So 1:35:36 for my 15km with an avg pace of 6:22/km

 Heres my Garmin data if anyone is curious.
15km training walk by kyisis at Garmin Connect - Details

5km series Olympus Way - fartlek

Tonights 5km was meant to be Churchill Ave....it was going to be challenging enough to try and do a fartlek on that course but when I got to the event and found out it was the Olympus Way course, well lets just say it was going to be a whole lot more challenging. Olympus Way is the stair case course. The first 1km is a slow climb to reach the stairs and then its 96 steps straight up. The course then winds around the back streets of Richmond climbing gently as we go. At the 1.5km it starts the downhill section.....(right where I was to slow and take it easy for 500m) then it continues flat for another 1km before climbing sharply up and winding back up the streets. My last 500m slow walk timed in perfect with the steepest part and I was able to slow power walk up this one. Then the last 1km was and up and down to the finish.

I tried really hard to push for this one but the first km was steeper than I anticipated and so it doesn't show how hard I was walking.

So for anyone who is curious to check my lap splits , they are set for 500m laps.

I was to do 1500 fast, 500 slow, 1500 fast, 500 slow and 1000 fast. (so laps 1,2 & 3 are the first fast section, lap 4 my slow etc......) Lap 2 & 3 were the stairs which I tried taking 3 at a time.....that got the heart rate up quick lol...But my last lap was a nice fast one so I was pleased to finish this course tonight in 30:50

5km series Olympus Way - fartlek by kyisis at Garmin Connect - Details

El Taverna 10 miler (16km)

I got up at 5am this morning and made myself some breakfast (a weetbix and milk) and then went back to bed until 7am.  At 7am I got up got dressed and then race walked down to the start as my warm up.  The start was about 3km away from where we live.   It was quite nippy this morning and when I got to the start I still had 15mins mucking around and quickly cooled again.

After chatting to the other walkers for a little bit and jittering about to keep warm we were finally taken down to the start.  7.45 am for the walkers and 8.30am for the runners.  With little formality we were given the count down and we were off.

Heading up onto the railway reserve, as I knew it has such a climb I held back a little as I figured there was no point using up all my energy on the first 3km and that I could easily pick up the time on the down hill section.  As we headed from the road onto the track my watch beeped......"bugger I thought, it was still set on 500m auto record" so I fiddled around with my watch and set it to 1km....thinking it would auto correct.  No it didn't, it started the lap scoring from that point but my watch would bleep at me in between saying true to its original settings.  Oh well I was not going to bother to much about it as it would still give me my distance and time, the splits were here nor there for this race and it was handy when I got a little message telling me what my last 1km split was.

I was feeling great and when we reached the down hill I decided to let fly and use it to my advantage.  The course uses part of the Half Marathon course and some extras thrown in too.  I went through 5km at 30:44 The section that takes us out to Monarco is probably the worst part.  The road has a bad camber and is very pitted, but it is the same for all of us.  As we loop out of Monarco we hit the 10km mark, I went through at 1:01:25 .... its my fastest 10km time in a wee while.  My body was feeling good, no aches and pains, breathing was under control...all in all I was feeling strong.  I looked a head and saw that Wendy was about 500m in front of me and figured that she has slowed as I was pretty sure she was at least 800m earlier.  So I picked up the pace (so it felt) and put chase.

Pushing hard as we hit the main road in Richmond, 1km to the finish and tried hard to pick up the pace.  I wanted to beat my time from two years ago.  I had finished in 1:48 and I felt confident that I would finish around the 1:40 mark.  Lucky for me the traffic lights changed in my favour just as I came to them and I didnt have to waste time waiting for a safe time to cross, I pushed hard for the last 100m to finish in 1:39:28......a much need confidence boost as that is an avg of 6:09 per km.

This is a little video taken by my hubby as I passed by our house.  Its taken from our camera so its not the best quality.

Here are my lap splits - a little confusing as I mixed up the first 500m.
Eltravena 10miler by kyisis at Garmin Connect - Details

4km along railway reserve

After coming down sick yesterday I felt sure that my 16km (10miler) race was out. But thankfully it went as fast as it came on. Triple dose of vit C, fluids and sleep sure helped. So tonight I went for a very short walk along the railway reserve behind our house. I took it very easy as I wanted to see how I felt plus this was going to be the start of the race tomorrow and I was very curious to actually measure it out on my GPS and see the elevation as I already knew it was steeper than I first thought.

On the data below the best way to figure it out is to take it from the 1k through to the 3k......as we start from home which is approx 1km from the end. But I worked out that from the very start of the track it is 28 meters and then by the first km along the track it has risen to 54 meters and by the time you make it to the end of the track (another km as the track is 2km in length) it is 84 meters. Thats huge....no wonder I am pushing hard feeling like I am crawling in speed. Thats a total gain of 56 meters in 2km.......yeah quite a climb.....and I have that to look forward to again tomorrow.......

again.....blonde moment.....I have still not changed the settings on my watch and it was reading each 500m....the first two km I had hubby jogging beside me and then I carried on by myself.
4km along railway reserve by kyisis at Garmin Connect - Details

A walk up the Grampian Hills behind our house.

Well tonight was a x-train so Hubby and I grabbed the dogs and chose to walk up the Grampians behind us.  We used to do this every night last summer and both of us got very fit very quickly.  Its not a huge climb but when unfit its a good 35 minute walk but when fit we would blast it out in 20 minutes.  Tonight it was a 35min walk as we and our dogs are not so fit anymore and surprisingly it was me who felt the effects of walking up hill....by 3/4 up the hill my calf's were really hurting and when we walked down I had to stop twice to stretch them out as they kept cramping......"old age is what my hubby muttered a couple of times"..... hes such a funny man!! lol

The path up is just a dirt path amongst ferns and high trees with a bubbling brook running by the path, something our dogs loved lots.  When we got to the top I wandering to the look out and took some photos but sadly as the weather was just starting to turn it was sort of foggy so its not Nelson at its best. 

I have put little comments on each of the photos.....I have zoomed in for these as it seemed to make the photo clearer.  The port shot shows the 1km loop I used for my 20km walk and my 10km kick back.  Nelson's port is one of the busiest in New Zealand.  Then we look straight down and can see our house and the walk way that I start and finish most of my walks on.  (This will be the start of the 16km on Sunday.....straight up the 45m gradiant...ugh) Also had to put one photo in of our dogs....dont have any kids at home any more so we spoil these guys rotten in stead.

A close up of the Port and Marina....also shows where I have been doing my 1km loops.

 Looking down on our house and Railway Reserve

 Looking out over the Port.. and part of residential Nelson

 Hubby and our dogs at the top.....letting the dogs get their breathe back - trixie was sniffing for rabbits....

 this is a section of the track (I stole it from the mountain bike site....shhhhh)

5km Series - Hart Road

Tonight was a nice and easy 5km with the club. Every season from October through to end of March the Waimea Club holds its 5km series, there are 9 courses that we usually end up doing 3 times. They are varied in difficulty - meaning hilly......not so bad for the runners but not always that suited to any walker. But still its very social and alot of fun. There is always a time keeper so its up to the individual to make it what they want....they can either race themselves or others.

I can see by my splits that I had not changed the settings on my watch from my fartlek so it recorded in 500m segments...lol

I was told to take it easy tonight and so I did. When we were told to start I just headed off at my own pace not really worrying about who was in front or behind. We headed up Queen Street and turned into Hill Street (aptly named for its 3 large curves) then we turn down into Hart Road and then back towards the finish. I look at my splits and chuckle to myself....I sort of did my own sort of kickback as I got faster per km .... lol....so reverse splits is a good thing. I really enjoyed this walk but my legs were very tired and I dont think I could have pushed much faster if I had wanted too.

Tomorrow night I have decided is a rest night so I will grab hubby and the dogs and walk up the grampian hills behind up to the TV tower. I will make sure I take a camera and post some pics of the views over Nelson.

Here are my splits for the race
5km Series - Hart Road by kyisis at Garmin Connect - Details

10km fartlek - Fail -

After a very very gentle 30min race walk on my tread mil for Mondays workout I was all set for the 10km fartlek......

I was really amped to do this work out. I felt it was going to be a great challenge and I was so up to it......yeah right!!!

I did my usual....and bolted for the first km doing it in 5:35, my lungs were burning and I was struggling to recover. I completed the next km and was having trouble with my breathing for the fast 500m, when I turned to come back and do the 3rd km, I knew I was in trouble. I just couldnt get my breathing to settle and when I had to pick it up for the 500m I was really struggling. But me being me decided to punch on through it and force myself....big mistake there!! as my watch beep for the 3km I managed to hit the stop button just as everything started to spin and I had to stop.....I was gasping by no air was getting in...it felt like an asthma attack...I had to concentrate on slowing my breathing down and getting it under control. It took about a minute to gather myself and then I started out again, but I did pull back the pace and never really regained it. I had hoped to do a sub 30 for 5km and hit the 60min for 10km.........but obviously my fitness is just not there yet...its getting better........plus my legs were still feeling the 20km walk too. My poor toe nail is black and blue now, I am sure I will lose it soon.

I hit 5km in 30:35 and then total time for 10km ended up being 1:02:27 I am a little disappointed about this but I guess these work outs are very new to me and they take a bit of getting used to....it was only my second time and it was over 10km.............ok enough excuses!!! roll on the next work out. There is the start of our clubs 5km series tomorrow so I might go and stroll around that.

here are my splits for anyone that is keen to peek
10km fartlek by kyisis at Garmin Connect - Details

20km - 1km laps

Today I was to try out my new shoes and do 20kms. It is tricky to find a good course as no matter which way I head from our house, it is always up hill back home. So I thought I would find a nice 1km flat section of road and do 1km loops.........the race I have coming up is over 1km loops so may as well get used to it now.

It was a wonderful day. Not a cloud in the sky, not a breath of wind and 22 degs C (72F) defiantly a shorts and tee shirt day!! I picked Atkinson Street down the port as it is not a busy street and it has been built on reclaimed land so and flat as I can find. Plus nice views of all the boats and birds as I walk back and forth.

I started out a little too quick. I found that my head just went into "race mode" and really had to fight with my self to pull back...so doing 5km in 30.40 was not the plan but its what ended up happening. The idea was also to push for 2km 3x during the walk. I made my first attempt at the 7km mark but as soon as I pushed my knee would tweak....so I eased up. I stopped briefly at the 8km as I needed a drink and I put some anti flame on my knee (which made a helped lots) I also found one of my Power Gels and sucked on that quickly as I had not had breakfast and was feeling the effect of no gas in the tank. So I started out and tried to keep to a fairly steady pace, I did try to push again and managed to made a small dent in my pace time but the tank was empty. I passed many people out walking their dogs and by the 15km mark had my very own cheer leading squad calling out from the boats in the Marina. There are a large number of live a boards in our marina and so I caught their eye. My cheer leaders had brought deck chairs out on the deck of their boats and were sizzling steak on a bbq and having a quiet drink. Smelt so good too.

My shoes were awesome. No complaints there at all. I did however get a lot of chaffing under one arm and had put Vaseline on before going too. I just didnt expect it to be so hot.

As I turned for my last 2km I felt such a releif that I had actually completed it again and the body had held together. I pushed hard for the last km and had hoped for a much faster time than a week ago. I was a little disappointed that it was not as fast as I had hoped but still it was a little quicker than last. I finished in 2:06:41 about 1 min faster. So I will take that.

This was my view heading back to the start of my one km.  Great walkway - smooth and flat.

Heading up off the walkway onto the road for about 200m then I would turn and head back again.

The live a board boats in our Marina - My cheer leaders are on the first boat on the left side of picture. You can see them posing as they thought I was taking their picture.

Here are my laps for anyone who would like to view.
20km - 1km laps by kyisis at Garmin Connect - Details

Shoes!!!

Yesterday I went out and did an 11km kickback. One thing I didn't mention in my quick post was the sad demise of my favorite training shoes. During my walk I noticed that my big toe on the left foot was feeling hot??? odd I thought. I carried on but for the last three km it was actually really hot and just starting to hurt, by now I had thought I must have a stone in my shoe. When I got home and took my shoes off I was shocked to see the I had "walked" out of my shoe. There was a hole right through and I had worn a hole in my sock plus I had a lovely looking blister. Cant say I don't push off now!! lol But this brought me a new problem. Do I use my racing shoes to train in or dig around in the wardrobe for an old pair that still had some life left in them.

Here are my retired Saucony Type A2 shoes that have done 893km (that I have at least recorded in them, probably a whole lot more)

My wonderful husband came to the rescue and marched me off to the Shoe Clinic (Nelson major training shoe store) to get some new shoes. There was not much to pick from as racing flats are not that popular so I got some Nike Zoom Speed Lite x2. I will use these for a few days to break them in and then they will be come my race shoes and my race shoes at present will swap to be my training shoes. But we have found the same shoe for sale on Ebay and will probably buy another pair in a month or so.

NEW SHOES!!!!!!  

So needless to say I didn't train today as my foot was very sore and also when I woke this morning I was very sore on the inside of my Thigh/knee?...just very tight when straightening the leg (the down hill section I may have stretched out too much) so I opted to ice my foot and my knee and they feel so much better now. So will head out in the new shoes for a 20km walk tomorrow....unless I am told other wise by my stand in coach/friend who is helping me out.

11km kickdown

Tonight I was to do a 12km kickdown .... altering my pace at each 3km segment...going from slow to med to fast.

I choose to go around our big block and for some reason I thought it was 12km but turns out it was only 11km. Oh and on that note......I should have thought more about this course as the beginning has a slight down hill gradient (which I made sure I was slow on) but the last 3 km is slightly up hill. Not overly noticeable to the eye but you can sure feel it when you walk it. So sadly, even thought I was pushing hard, my splits for the last 3km dont look like it. Trust me on this though, I was sure breathing hard and for the last km I went all out and my poor lungs sure felt it.

Here are my splits for those that are curious.
11km kick down by kyisis at Garmin Connect - Details

Ugh....Insomnia....

Warning..........This post is written by a sleep deprived rambling blonde!!! read on at your own risk....

For years I have had sleep issues......for some time every one thought I suffered from sleep apnia, but after taking the plunge and going to a sleep clinic I now am told by a specialist that...and I quote "Nyle is a highly intelligent women with an over active brain".......ok there's a surprise!!! he can offer me no reasons other than I suffer insomnia there is little can be done. I have good spells where I will sleep all night for about a week, then I will have weeks were I wake three or four times a night.......but then I have the really bad weeks where I will either lay awake for hours or worse, wake at 1am and stay awake until my alarm goes off. Yes I can take sleeping pills but I would rather not......I have tried many relaxing techniques.....Rescue Remedy is one that I am yet to try.

The last 3 days have been one of the really bad weeks. With the stress of the loss of my job, not being able to get interviews to even try to gain a new job, to training daily, study nightly for two huge legal exams in two weeks, Long Distance walking champs in 3 weeks .... plus putting up with a stressed out manager who has only just realised that in three weeks he will have NO staff and there is lots still to be done for many months to come. But I am afraid I am way over caring.

But enough said......My training has taken a big nose dive.......I tried to do 10km on Weds but I never made it home until 7pm from work and only lasted 3km on the treadmill....I started feeling faint and it dawned on me I had not eaten since lunch time. So I gave up.....

Tonight, tired as I was I fully intended to walk the 10 to 15km but Nelson had a huge storm last night and most of the roads are flooded and closed so I only ended up getting 5km in before succumbing to the rain and cold.

So below is my rather sad 5km for the night. Heres hoping I get a good sleep and can attempt my 12km kickdown....its a tough one...but I will sure try it.


5km loop waimea then vanguard by kyisis at Garmin Connect - Details

My first 8km fartlak

Today I was to do my first 8km fartlak; This was to be done in 500m segments.
I am not sure that I completely understood the concept and I feel I may have done something wrong. I think I was too slow in my recovery 500m's and perhaps too fast in my fast segments.

BUT....mental note to self.........DON'T GO AND DO A 10KM RUN ON YOUR X TRAINING DAY!!! I woke this morning with very sore muscles and thought to my self...oh oh....this is going to be a painful 8km.

The weather was against me tonight - not that I am offering excuses...but it does explain why the fast segments going out were not as "fast" as the home stretch ones, as I had a tail wind on the way home. I found that this workout went really fast. By watching for the 500m to chirp on my watch my work out went by extremely fast. I did however bugger up my watch again at the 3km mark as I stopped briefly to put something in my daughters letter box.....another note to self...when stopping .. PRESS the STOP button, not the lap button, I think I had a moment of delirium again and completely forgot what button to press, but I got it sorted and carried on.

Sore legs and all I actually felt really strong tonight and surprised myself with my fasts 500m....will be great when I can carry on that pace for further than 500m. Dont get me wrong, I certainly felt it when pushing but my lungs weren't bursting as bad as a week ago so I do feel fitter and that adds to my confidence alot.

Total time for my 8km was 49:20 avg was 6:10/km

Tomorrow is an easy walk and then Friday is another kickdown of 12km

My Garmin Data with lap splits
8km fartlak at atawhai by kyisis at Garmin Connect - Details

15km Kick down

Well after a lengthy chat with a very knowledgeable australian coach....I woke today feeling ampted to try a new kind of workout.

I was to try my first kick-down. It was our daylights saving night last night so when I went to bed I put all the clocks forward one hour. Meaning I get one less hours sleep, so I woke today feeling tired and very sore from my 10km yesterday. I must admit that I didnt want to go out and do 15km at all and was wondering how I would go with this new walk.

But, I put on my music and headed out the door. I was to take it easy for the first 5km....warm up the body and get in the swing of things. Then after that every 2km pick up the pace for two km then ease back for two km. Well actually it was meant to be 15mins but I found it easier to follow doing it by kms....sorry sir..... now this all went to plan until I stopped at 8.66km to grab a drink from the fountain. I paused my watch.................then started off again and about 600m down the road I realised I had not started it again.

I can now see from the km splits that it did effect how my watch read the data. I added on the extra distance by going past home unitl my watch beeped at 15km....but my watch also would pop up a split time when it would have been the km marker.....................so alll my effort for the last half of this walk if all mixed up. But I know I did stick to the plan and I must admit that I am really pleased I did it.

I am sore and tired but I can see how this workout will defiantly help me. Tomorrow is a x train day so I may just go for a nice 10km jog.

So if you do look at my splits you can see the pace drop for the 6 & 7 kms.......but after that its hard to see as they have become in twined with the half a slow and one fast. But 15km for 1:38 is ok.....


15km Kick down by kyisis at Garmin Connect - Details

Last of the 10km Series

Well it has been a hell of a week.

First up - My coach is admitted to hospital and then diagnosed with phenomena and a cracked rib. (He has cracked a rib in his back from coughing) Poor guy is so misrible and sick.

Second up - Myself and 1 other staff member were given 4 weeks notice on the day that the other two staff were already leaving.

My dream job very quickly turned into a nightmare. Not only has it put a large dent in my aspirations to be a Legal Clerk (I will still complete this course...just take a little longer now) but it has caused so much damage to my sport. My times have dropped dramatically. With not being able to train with the group due to irregular hours my boss demanded from me, from his smoking around me either at work or in a work vehicle and from stress placed on me by his unrealistic demands. I am a very reactive person and if I am in the company of a negative person it rubs off on me and I too become very negative. It has been a struggle to pull myself out of this rut and say...."on wards and up wards, its a new day with new challenges and opportunities!!!"

So today was the last of the 10km series and I have said all along that I would not race in these, that they were for training only. So I went out to do just that. To enjoy this walk and not focus on my time or pace. (easier said than done)

As per normal....I took off like a cut cat when the gun went off but soon ran out of steam at the 2km mark, it even took till the 4km mark for Pete to catch me up. I have been struggling with my breathing and today was no different, so Pete pulled up beside me and said .... hey I'm walking with you and I am shattered, shall we meander.. so we did just that. Turned at the 5km cone in 31.20 but then chatted the whole way back and finished in a relaxing 63.42 giving me a 6min 20 avg per km.

Tomorrow I am to do 15km at 92.5% pace so I am going to enjoy that.

Heres my garmin splits
10km Sprig & Fern 10km series by kyisis at Garmin Connect - Details

A great 20km .....finally!!

Today was one of those....I want to stay in bed days!! I knew that I had to do 20km today and my body just didn't want to. With the NZ Long Distance Champs only 4 weeks away I really needed to know now if I could do 20km and what sort of time I could be aiming to achieve. I have not walked 20km since April this year....in fact I have not walked much further than 10km. So with only 4 weeks to go I needed to know for my own sake of mind that I could at least make the distance.

It was a gorgeous day, actually perfect for training. Its our spring, so it is not too cold and can drizzle at times during the day too. It was 10deg c when I started out at 9.50am and it was sunny, so I wore my shorts :0) My aim was to head out to Richmond and back as I had guessed it would give me 20km BUT when I made it out to richmond it was only 8km so I turned and made a few detours on the way home to make up some of the extra km's needed. At 10km it started to rain a little which was great as I was just starting to get hot...lol.. I made it to 10km in 63 mins so was feeling pretty good pace wise. I was not pushing too hard today...I really just wanted to find a pace I was happy with and get the distance done. I passed through 15km in 1:35 and was thinking...hey its going to be an ok time!! then I realized I had to go back up the hill to home .. hmmm that slowed things up a little. The next 3 km slowed up pace wise as it was uphill and I was getting really tired. My legs were feeling very heavy and my shoulder was starting to ache. I was actually surprised that I didn't hurt anywhere else. My hips felt great, my knees felt great and best of all my calf didnt hurt at all.

As I walked along the track above my house the distance was 18.5km and it was so hard to push past the path down....but I convinced my self that I had to know my 20km time. By now my shoulder was really sore??? I am not sure why this is but it was hurting ALOT.......I knew it was not injury pain...just muscles not used to such work but only on one side was driving me nuts. I was so pleased to hear my watch beep at the 20km marker and even more pleased when I looked down and saw my time of 2:07:28 I chuckled to myself and thought "well I still qualified for the NZ team" hehe

I rang my coach and told him the task had been completed and when I told him my time he was just thrilled as he had me down for 2:15 or longer, I am so glad I can still throw him a curve ball from time to time.

Here is my garmin details for anyone interested.
20km Walk to richmond by kyisis at Garmin Connect - Details

Race wobbles???

I have been bombing out in my workouts and I dont know why? There really seems no rhyme or reason for it. I know that the earth quake in Christchurch rattled me, but that was almost two weeks ago. I just cant break past the 10km mark.

I have 5 weeks left until I fly up for the NZ Long Distance Walk Champs and I am so not ready. In fact I should not even be considering this event but I had pre booked my flights when they were cheaper. I hate entering competitions and not beating my previous times or at least coming in extremely close to them. I was so hoping to beat my 2 hour time but I know that I would be kidding myself to hold on to that goal.

I feel like I am getting slower and slower. I am trying so hard to change my style that I almost feel like I have gone back to the beginning...grrr...and its so frustrating.

My new dream job has turned into a nightmare and I am guessing that this is my main problem and the reason why I cant get my head into my sport at present. We have been given two choices - 4 weeks notice or take a reduced salary with less hours. So I am job hunting as fast as I can. Hopefully if I can find a stable work environment it will settle my head and I will get past this "mood".

On Sunday I had intended to do 15km on the track. I prefer to do long distance on the track as it is easier to get pace judgment and its flat! But unfortunately when I went down there are a pair of nesting Spur Winged Plovers that other ideas. After many close calls from the diving bombing pair I decided it was impossible to racewalk while constantly watching out for 2 birds that would attack from behind and the side. Plus it was also pouring with rain...but that is character building so my coach tells me. I packed up and went out to the Atawhai Walkway, were it cleared up and I set out to do 10km. I was hoping for 61mins instead I ended up with 63.21....its not bad but I felt that I was flogging myself the whole way....not one part of it was easy. So it was a quick trip to my coachs for a motivational pep talk and then home to ponder.

My Garmin data of my 10km Walk
10km Atawahi drive by kyisis at Garmin Connect - Details

PS....as a side note to myself - by Sunday night I had the start of my migraine which at day 2 is still throbbing and has robbed me of a training night, so this may have had a big impact on my training Sunday morning.

Christchurch Earthquake and NZ Road Champs

What a drama to get to this event. I really wanted to enter the NZ Road Champs so that I could get in front of judges and have my style checked. To start with the plan was for me to fly down on Friday night and my coach was to pick me up from the air port and then we would share accommodation, race and then drive home after the race. However....his wee girl had been sick for the last week and his wife was not so keen on him going away, so on Thursday he rang to say he was unable to go. A moment of panic and I was on line booking a flight home, changing my accommodation and finding transport from the airport to the cabin.

Friday comes and I fly down to Christchurch. It had been sleeting and was freezing cold. I was told that as I was coming in after hours the motor camp would leave the key and a map out for me so my hubby made sure I took a wee torch with me so I could find my way around. When I did get to the camping ground the lady had waited for me and while I was checking in she mentioned that 3 other walkers were across from me. So the first thing I did was throw my bag into my wee cabin and then rock over to see who it was. Turns out it was Terry and her husband and another walker, john. So I stayed and chatted to them until 10pm and then headed to bed for a good nights sleep. Or so I thought.

4.35am and I am awoken as I am thrown from my bed. I hit the floor wrapped up in my sleeping bag...everything around me was shaking and rolling. I tried to stand up and get to the door way but it knocked me over again and so I crawled to the toilet door way. The doors were swinging back and forth and slamming against the wall. There was a huge crack and smashing sound (ended up being the toilet cracking) The noise was deafening...the jolting suddenly got faster and harder, so I clung to the door frame. Finally it stopped. It was a 7.1 earth quake. It felt like it went on for a good minute maybe two. I instantly flicked the lights on and they didn't work. Then I remembered my wee torch so I felt around and found it. I grabbed my cell phone but the camping ground is in a dead zone and had zero coverage so I couldn't call anyone. I opened up the slider door and stood semi outside and semi inside. Not really knowing what to do.....I could hear people calling out for help and dogs were barking manically. Car alarms were going off and people were slowly surfacing. About 10 mins passed and then another shake and with that I up and raced out the door and over to the unit with my friends. So we all sat like frightened possums until day break. There were many many after shocks...many were 4.5 and 5.1 on the reciter scale. We had a little radio and we listened to reports coming in off collapsed buildings all through the city and roads ripped up and huge holes appearing. It all seemed surreal to us.

We got dressed and decided to head to the race (not realizing it was canceled) as we left the camp ground we came face to face with the damage. The road had huge ripples in it (some pointed up half a metre) There was no way the event could be run as you couldnt drive to it nor could you walk or run on it.

We talked to many people and learned of their experiences and then at 11am with no water or power we decided to try and find some food and drink. All of Christchurch had no power or water. Water mains had burst all through the city and sewage pipes had also burst so people were asked to not flush toilets etc. We heard on the radio that the air port was still closed and that power had been restored to New Brighton. We drove carefully to New Brighton and found a cafe that was making coffee with what little water they had left. Much needed food and coffee. Just about every house we passed had damage in some shape or form...either flooded, filled with silt or cracks. Most chimneys had fallen in or off houses. The city was shut and locked down so we ended up heading to the air port where we were able to finally enter and sort out our flights.

The event was canceled and yes I am hugely disappointed about that, but I am unhurt and when I look at the photos on line I can hardly believe that I was a part of it and came out ok.
here are my photos - taken from my cell phone 1) this was the walk course

2) this was a small part of damage to the road

3)This is looking over the running course to where the walk would have turned.