The Next Level

Been upping the training this week and plan to continue next week before my next 10km (Race 3 of Run Auckland).

That and I need to start building up to the half marathon distance for Race 6. This is about 10 weeks away!

A 7.5km "tempo" on Friday (ANZAC day)
A 8.5km on Saturday with some hills.

Taking it to the next level.

Saturday's run was quite interesting. Part of it took in Burnley Terrace. This has plenty of old Edwardian style villas and there are restrictions in place about renovations and the style of housing.



I have recently moved to Mt. Eden and the history of the area is quite fascinating. This site http://www.epna.org.nz/c_history.html has some great photos. 120 years ago I'd be dodging horses on my training run...

Run Auckland Race 2

Pretty cold for the run this morning - but it was an improved result from Race 1.

49:07 placing 29th out of 81 for my group (30-39 Men).

It was quite a nice course in terms of scenery. Click here for a course map:



The atmosphere was good too lots of people getting out and giving it a go.

Quite a lot of congestion at the start and a couple of the foot bridges. Might try and start a bit closer to the front for the next one. That and run faster of course.

Unfortunately the marshaling and course layout was woeful. Some of the 5km runners even headed up the wrong way part way along the course. Hopefully the next race in just over 2 weeks time is a little better.

Run Auckland Race 1

2 laps of this course. Quite hilly especially in the second half.

Time of 53:32 which was a bit average. It is close to 10.5km so pace was a touch over 5min/km.
Although having just moved house the Friday before the race (which was on Sunday) and training was a bit lacking.

Placed 112th out of 569 entries in the 10km.

Next race is in a couple of days time. The course is quite a bit flatter and I've done some hill training...so lets see. Bring it :)

Volcanoes : Mt. Mangere (15.84km)

A sunny afternoon, big hill climb up the mountain and wall around the 13km mark.

Time was 1:27:32 (slow pace of 5:31 min/km).

Hit a bit of a wall around 12km mark and everything slowed down. Hadn't had much to eat the day before so perhaps that was it. Crap.

Here is a photo from one of the trig points looking back the way I had come - along the The Old Managere Bridge to the left.
Lots of people fishing from the bridge. The mountain itself has only a rough track up to two different trig points. Its a bit rough and the footing unstable so took care up there.

Next week will see me start on a proper training program for the Run Auckland Series.



Here is the route:

Start the day with a fast 5km?

Well more like a tempo run of 5.41km in 23:02. (4:15 min/km)

Reward was a banana when I got back :)

Run Auckland 2008

Yesterday I entered the Run Auckland series for 2008.



The early bird rate is $75 NZ for five 10km races and entry into the North Shore City Half Marathon.

Something to train for.

Race 1: 30th March 2008
Waiatarua Reserve, Grand Drive, Remuera

Race 2: 20th April 2008
Te Atatu Peninsula, Te Atatu

Race 3: 11th May 2008
Eastern Beach, The Esplanade, Pakuranga

Race 4: 25th May 2008
Milford Reserve, Craig Road, Milford

Race 5: 22nd June 2008
Western Springs Park, Stadium Road, Western Springs

Race 6: 13th July 2008
Takapuna Beach, The Strand, Takapuna

My sister T is doing these as well but choosing 5km for the first 3 and 10km for the last 3.

Should be good!

2008 Running Goals and Races

- Run Auckland Series . March through July. Five 10km races on different courses, 6th race is a half marathon

- Auckland Marathon. 2 November 2008. Either the half or the full. I'm leaning towards the full. It's a number of months away so enough time to build up to this. We'll see though.

In terms of times you have to have put a mark in the sand, so here goes:

5km - 22:00
10km - 45:00
half - 1:45:00
marathon - 3:50:00

The only gauge I have as a starting point is my 1/4 time of 46:14 last year. Lets see if at the end of the year these are achieved. :)

Also would like to drop 2-3 kgs in the course of training.