A Long Run through the Sunrise

I'll start this off by reporting on my Saturday run which was more moderate length. Decent Saturday morning run around 9am. Pretty close to PMP on rolling terrain.

13.68km / 1:07:33 / 4:55min/km.

13 odd km on its own isn't too bad. Backing that up the next day with a longer, albeit slower, run is tougher. I think thats part of the plan.

This morning I was out the door at 5:30am on a there and back to Kohimarara beach of all places. 14km each way. The middle 12km from the strand to Kohi and back is a flat part of the Auckland marathon route.



28.03km / 2:33:37 / 5:28min/km

Split time at the Kohi Road turnaround was 1:18:32. So suprisingly did the second half a little quicker. Didn't really feel like it but positive in that the pace was a negative split (second half faster than first).

Mentally I had split this into 4 sections. 8km to the waterfront, 6km to Kohi, 6km back, 8km from the waterfront home.

The first section was running in the dark sort of stuff and then the sun started to come up. Running along the waterfront with the sunrise is pleasant :)

Lots of cyclists around and one or two runners.

The last 8km were tougher I was starting to feel the effects of the weekend's running catching up on me. The run up Grafton road was a bit of a grind to be honest and just plodded along. I suppose it was good for mental training if nothing else. Past Mt Eden Village started to get it together again. The bottoms of my feet starting to get a bit sore towards the end but calves were OK. Feel OK now though.

That's week 8 done. Week 9 is an easier "step-back" week which is well overdue.

Now for some questions:

Mike: Wouldn't really say I have this training sorted. It's more like I have my head above water at the moment and my body is keeping up with it. It's getting harder though as the weeks progress!

I'm learning a lot on the program as well as well as getting in pretty good shape. Close to 70km this week.In terms of times I think I might be capable of 5min/km's which would get me something close to 3:30. I've never raced this distance before so not confident of that at present. Not too worried about the first half its the second that will be tough :). I do have 10 more weeks of training to help me along though! That all said my main aim is to get to the finish in one piece and not looking like something the cat dragged in.

Bruce: The early starts seem bad initially but once you get going its actually very pleasant. Hardly any traffic, very quiet etc. Helps now that we are getting more sunshine hours.