Training Log Archive: T - runner

Run with RWHB - 5 of us this time, including two from last night. Same run as last week round the estuary and across the stopbank, then up through the hills and back to Park Island. Felt much harder than last week, probably because of last night. Got home to the only downside of flat cooking, and tried to eat pumpkin soup for a while giving up and making toast...

First of the Napier Harriers Tuesday night runs - had to cut it short because I was filling in for netball, but the first ~5km was at a pretty quick pace. Last ~2km was much slower because when I cut short someone else decided to come with me and then slowed down heaps, so in the end I was still late... Flat run around the bottom of the hill from Print Solutions anticlockwise and including the Ahuriri waterfront - a bit too much concrete, but a good group to run with - 13 of us today.

Ended up being late because of running, then went straight on as centre, which was fun. Moved to goal shoot for the last quarter, which I am not so good at, but we were already getting wasted 52-22, so it didn't matter much!

Not very exciting really - after work down to the end of the road at Clifton and back past the flat to the other road end. Good to get out there and watch the waves but had to make myself not do too much because I'm still trying to get rid of this cold.

I really should have predicted this one! One month of training, with one week of sickness leading up to today does not make for a good run... Had a fairly rubbish start with a poor route choice to 2, then was just slow/tired/coughing heaps for the rest of the course. Had a few different songs in my head and daydreamed a bit as well, so generally wasn't in the zone. Or even close to the zone. Biggest real mistake was at 9, where I drifted too far left going into the stream, then made a parallel error and lost about 6 minutes. 13/14 were generally awful for everyone I think, with the gorse and the onga onga. Cool course, just not for me today.

C • daydreaming 3

The sickness continues, and the boredom increases exponentially...to the point where I went for a little walk on the beach in my gumboots in the rain just to escape the house...

Felt like a good idea in view of the coughing and the inability to breathe...

At Te Mata Peak with Rita - it was supposed to be a run, but Rita left her gear at home, so we went for a walk instead - probably a good thing as my cold doesn't appear to be going away...

RWHB run with Diana, Lance and Mark. From Park Island round the estuary towards the airport, then through Poraiti and back into the back of Park Island. Nice run with quite a lot of off roadish stuff and a few hills (from the way the others were talking I thought they would be huge, but it turned out it was really one hill with two little dips in it, totalling less than half the height of Kaukau I think - still better than nothing though, especially since I need to get my hilly legs back! Cold still there but improving. 12.17km according to Lance's GPS.

Slightly worse than last time, which was disappointing, but not particularly surprising - I've still got a cold. Still think I could/should have gone faster - I got lulled into a pace that was too slow in the first 2km by pacing myself off a guy who was going well at the start but slowed down more than I realised. Second half was pretty good, but I couldn't get the time back!

Along the road/beach towards Te Awanga and back - short run after a busy day, but at least 10 minutes were on the loose gravel beach, so fairly hard work - could feel it in my calf stabilisers. Nice rainy day for it too!

This was really pathetically slow for this course - it was open fast farmland, pretty easy control placement, nothing too challenging, other than the cows! I was really tired, plus had a cold, so that didn't help, but the main time loss was on the 7, 8, 9 loop when a herd of about 30 really agitated cows were running at me. They seemed quite aggressive for cows (who wouldn't be with a whole lot of strangers running through your paddock...), and two of them jumped a fence right in front of me, so I spent quite a bit of time walking and talking to them, which felt incredibly stupid! Every time I started to run they went nuts and ran at me/the fence, so that didn't seem like a brilliant idea...then on the way to 11 I went via the yards and the road, which meant more walking near the yards as there were a whole lot of sheep in there, and they were running into the fences as well - not a good day for the livestock on that farm, so probably not promising for future events there...

Out and back along Tukituki Rd - 40 mins to the bridge at the Waimarama road, 42mins back, 3 cars the whole way! Nice late afternoon/early evening ride.

Bike out to Te Awanga and back to the other end of Haumoana and back - lazy ride but I was tired and I had to fit it in before we went out for drinks anyway...

C • which is more important? 12

Same run as last week with RWHB, but there were more of us. Opposite way around the pond this time - nice run, nice time of day, still a bit tired from the weekend, but toe not sore at all, which is good!

Felt as though I should give my toe a little break, plus I was still tired, so just went to the end of Clifton (by the camping ground thats being eroded) and then back and to the other end of Haumoana and back.

Was going to be a rest day anyway, but I don't think this really counted - at the hospital from 8am-8pm...

Katoa Po, Puketapu Downs. Started at 1-something am, didn't plan ahead and saw our long leg (the length of the map 3-4) at number 3 - biggest mistake on 4 and 8, otherwise just slower than I should have been, but it was dark and I was hungry and tired, so that wasn't overly surprising. Leap-frogged with Nic for most of the course. Big toe joint feeling pretty sore by the end - don't know whats going on there but its been a problem in the past, so hopefully it won't get any worse! Cold pizza has never tasted so good.

Katoa Po post-event, Whakaipo Bay. I wish these events had been the other way around - this was the longest 3.9km I've run in a while, but maybe that was just the three hours sleep, sore big toe, and gravel in shoes for the entire course after the water/beach leg to and from 3.

Katoa Po pre-event at Whakaipo Bay - easy little course, should have warmed up better first, as I felt horrendously slow... No big mistakes.

First adventure up Te Mata Peak - there are lots of maps around up there, but none of them have contours and there are way too many extra tracks, so I somehow jumped from the "nature walk" onto the "Te Mata walk" and then onto some other track. Nice slow run just checking out the tracks, found the young redwoods and the giant redwoods, which was cool. Looking forward to going there again, hopefully with Rita so she can show me where she usually runs:)

C • maps 3

I think this counts - it was a hand mower and the lawn hadn't been mowed for at least a month...

Run with Diana, Lance, and Carl from Run/Walk Hawkes Bay, starting at the clubrooms at Park Island and heading out and around Pandora Pond and back. Cool run, but hard work after yesterday, and a was marginally slower than the other three, but way too fast for the next group, so I suppose that was good for me.

Napier Waterfront 5km. Not my slowest ever, so I suppose thats a promising sign. Probably didn't go hard enough at the start, but I didn't know the course (nearly got lost on the way back anyway), and died a bit towards the end anyway. Much nicer course than the Wellington one - a lot more grass and a few little hills.

After work, bike to the hospital and back to see how long it takes me. Answer: 41mins there, 38mins back - I think this was something to do with the zigzag way I have to go to get there - I had a headwind on the zigs on the way there and the zags on the way home, but obviously the zags were slightly longer, or maybe it was the rain on the way there... Also, trucks+narrow bridges=badness. Not sure if I'm enthused enough yet to battle even more trucks before 7am, but we shall see.

Twilight event, Horseshoe bend. It was still pretty light when I went, and I made a couple of small but amateur mistakes, which was a bit dumb, but it was a cool course - I definitely need to get fitter!

From the flat along Tukituki Rd to the bridge by Te Mata Peak (39 mins), then back along the far side of the river. A bit longer than I thought the loop would take, but then I didn't really know where I was going, it was hillier than I thought on the way out, and it was my first ride in months, so probably will get faster!

Cup of tea with Val while picking up Amber's bike pump so I can actually go for a ride...

The last of the HB summer series at Tukituki, which was not too far from my new flat. Made a mistake on 7 (should have checked my compass more carefully), but other than that was just a bit slow. Winner took 16.53 first girl 19.57, so I wasn't actually too unhappy considering how little I've been able to do over the last few months. A much better course than I was expecting for a summer series, so that was cool.

Straight, flat run from my flat in Haumoana out to the creek just before Clifton and back, but via the Te Awanga motor camp, which I thought I'd be able to run through, but it turned out I couldn't and had to scramble under a giant locked gate to get out, so I won't be doing that again...