A long run

Summer has really hit Auckland this weekend. Lovely weather.

Before it warmed up too much I went for a long run (started at 8:15am) - I planned to run a Half Marathon distance at a "comfortably hard" training pace and as an excuse to take in some areas of Auckland I hadn't run to before. Aiming for endurance rather than speed.

I called this run "Waterfront Expedition" - because it was a trip to part of Auckland's harbour. Here is an lovely photo from Chris Gin of the Westhaven Marina (around 8.5km into the run).

Did the 21.14km in 1:39:46 for a 4:43min/km pace. It was harder than I thought toward the end - tough work with no aid stations although I did chance upon a water fountain near the viaduct harbour (America's cup base when it was hosted in Auckland). Did I mention it was warm?



Marked a few points on interest on the elevation map:



Some highlights for future reference

- At 3.6km crossed the North Western motorway on a foot bridge off Haslett Street.
- At 4.8km went through Western Park off the Eastern side of Ponsonby Road.- hadn't been through here before - quite nice under the trees.
- At 6-7km went through cafe and restaurant strip of Ponsonby. No time for latte today though.
- 7-8km was a long downhill towards Westhaven Marina and the start of the Auckland Harbour Bridge. Running alongside the water was nice (and different). Most of my routes are in suburban streets. Stunning views.
- 8-10km. Went under the bridge and along Westhaven drive. Dead flat and lots of boats to look at.
- 10-12km went along the Western Reclamation better known as the "Tank Farm". Something a bit different with the industrial setting.
- The intersection of Gaunt Street and Hasley street brought back memories. This was the start line of the Auckland Quarter Marathon which I did in 2007.
Felt quite thirsty about that point and lucked out with a drinking fountain down the road! I'll have to remember that for the future!
- The run then started to head uphill proving that what comes down must go up again. Started up Albert street and passed my work building on the right.
- 15km hit the bottom of Myers park and the stairs alluded to in my last post. After the stairs the rest of the run my pace dropped quite a bit - could feel it.
- 16 through to 21km was fairly familiar territory up past Mt Eden and back towards home. The up hill section was pretty tough but a second wind of sorts on the downhills.

Felt good afterwards and pretty pleased to clock a sub 1:40 for the training run. Have to admit I was pushing hard towards home to come in under 100 mins.

Rest day tomorrow! ADRA half in 2 weeks so am going to wind back the running distances a bit (i.e. taper)