Absolutely Stuffed

Stuffed after my long run yesterday! Was intending to leave early but didn't get my act together until about 3pm. I did finish it but was starting to feel fatigue on the return leg. The effect of yesterday's 16km on the return leg?

31.72km / 2:46:39 / 5:15min/km.

The plan did say to pick up the pace a little on this second long run (~60s per mile slower which equals 38s/km). I pushed too much in the easy first half (1:21:23 split) before starting to fade on the return. Marathon day I'm going to need to need some self control and start off easy.

Still I'm happy of getting through a big chunk of weekend running. Feel a bit stuffed - thankfully this week is a step back week with reduced distance.

At the turnaround point stopped for a couple of obligatory photos.


End of the line. Rather the end of Tamaki Drive and close to the turn-around point for the homeward stretch on the marathon course.


The best thing about where the turnaround point is the view of the city (and therefore the end of the course) is in front of you. You can just see the sky tower beckoning...

The hardest part of the run? Coping an elbow in the ribs from the wife after falling asleep on the couch in the evening ;)

Meditation is a 16km Pace Run in the Rain

Great training run this morning - had been a little niggly earlier in the week but this was good. Some light rain but a good chance to think through some work related stuff that have been a challenge recently. The sound of your own foot strikes on the ground is a bit self hypnotic but in a good way.

16.43km / 1:18:24 / 4:46min/km. Running it faster than planned or should have. I'm sure I'll pay for it as tomorrow morning I'm backing up with the second longest (~32km) run of three planned. Should be interesting.

This week in Auckland has been pretty grey and dismal. Although saying that it is a fine now so go figure.

Here are a few photos from my midweek runs in Week 13.

Auckland Harbour Bridge. Looking forward to this part of the marathon course. Only time you get to run over the thing.

Western Park, Ponsonby. Nice inner city park.

Discovering a boardwalk along Westhaven, just east of the bridge. A little statue of a bear and a sailing boat looks out to the harbour.


Recapping the midweek runs:
7.81km / 38:25 / 4:55min/km
12.00km / 1:00:02 / 5:00min/km (plan said 16km but I ran out of time in the morning and cut it short)
7.97km / 42:22 / 5:19min/km

Week 12 Photos

Some photos from my running this weekend. Spring in New Zealand with nice weather.


Centennial Park running home from work Tuesday.


Westhaven Marina running to work Wednesday.


Twin Oak Drive, Sunday long run.

Week 12 was a step-back week in terms of kms. Made the mistake of running too fast with the reduced distance - Tuesday was OK though.

Tuesday: 7.39km / 39:07 / 5:16min/km
Wednesday: 12km / 59:56 / 4:58min/km
Thursday: 7.81km / 38:34 / 4:55min/km
Saturday: 9.99km / 46:28 / 4:39min/km (too quick!)
Sunday: 18.8km / 1:36:31 / 5:07min/km

Week 13 is a larger block of distance with the 2nd go at 32k. The mere thought of that distance is going to make me slow down on the midweek stuff.

Better

Taking some lessons from last week's long run failure did the same course again but this time with a small bottle of orange soft drink. The sugar made all the difference and managed to feel OK through the entire thing. Felt pretty slow but running this sort of distance is all about discipline and control. Well thats what I'm telling myself.

Also started at 6am this time which is more realistic in terms of what will happen on race day.

31.74km / 2:53:06 / 5:27min/km. Second half slightly faster than the first.

Great for a much needed confidence boost. Two more runs to go at the 32km type distance. I'll probably repeat the same course again as it has a decent section of the marathon course in it.

I missed Saturdays run due to hosting a five year old's party at home (a good reason to have orange soft drink!). While I'm a little dissappointed in myself for missing this run family does come first. It was a neat little party too and much fun had by all.

The other midweek runs were all slightly over 5min/km - a good thing when you are supposed to train mostly slower than PMP.

7.97km / 40:42 / 5:05min/km
18.01km / 1:33:56 / 5:13min/km
7.19km / 36:49 / 5:06min/km

Not a great long run

Did a long run on Sunday morning and overall it was less than ace. I should quantify though the first half was pretty good. Ran through Mt Eden to the Strand and out to the bottom of Cliff Road in St Heliers. This is just past the turn-around point at the back-end of the actual marathon course. Bumped into Andrew at around Kohi and said hi. He was just finishing his run and had got the timing right as it was starting to heat up.

Got to the turn-around point, 15.87k, in 1:23 and change. Too quick it seems reflecting on what happened on the second half.



Second half was still ok till around 27km and then I just ran out of steam suprisingly quickly. Felt like no energy at all(!) and ended up alternatively walk and very slow jogging the last 4 or so km. If that was the wall I don't want to go anywhere near it again, a bit scary really.

I think I did ended up doing whole thing in around 3 hours.

Since training is all about learning something here are some things I am going to remember.

- first time I've tackled something over 30km, its a different kettle of fish
- make sure I'm adequately fueled up to handle the long run
- start earlier than 8:30am to limit dehydration
- water alone just doesn't cut it over 21km
- improve the mental game

On the positive side the weather was glorious and lots of runners around along the waterfront. Quite a nice atmosphere almost like a race.

The other "positive" is I'm trying to shake a spring cold, running without one should be easier.

This Sunday I'm going to tackle this course again but will be starting earlier. We'll see whose boss this time. It's a bit like a Rocky sequel ;)

Today, though, I'm doing a "short" 8km home. Nice day for it.

Half Way Point - On Location in Matarangi

Week 9/18 of marathon training is done. This week was a bit disrupted because the family and I had been invited to the Whitiangi Scallop festival over the weekend. As part of this we were staying with friends at their bach in Matarangi. Of course I brought my running shoes for the off chance of getting my long run in. I did get to go running but was a little constrained by time pressures.

The scallop festival was quite good - typical food and wine thing with a scallopy theme.
My 5 year old son was getting bored by around 1pm so we headed to Matarangi early. In the afternoon I had convinced my wife I was only going to go running for "about an hour" and went for the following run. Put together the route by looking at one of the local tourist brochures.



A couple of moderate climbs in the middle to keep it interesting.

15.37km / 1:20:05 / 5:13min/km

Should have taken my camera the scenery was absolute magic. Pretty rural along the gravel/dirt Bluff road. Not exactly the planned 19k slow run but I didn't get in too much trouble by taking longer a little bit more than an hour. All about compromises ;)

Probably just as well I was a bit short on the distance - a few days running in a row is pushing things quite a bit so had Sunday and Monday as rest days.

Normal programming resumes this week.

We went for a walk on the beach later that afternoon. As you can see it was absolutely deserted. Bluff road follows the coast at the end of the beach.



Great to get out of Auckland for a weekend. Matarangi is a nice place too and a little off the beaten track compared to some of the more popular places in the Coromandel.