Colour Experiment

Same course as yesterday but a different running top.

A full 1 min 20s slower. Either red is quicker or not used getting back to mid week running. Next run will go for early morning for a change, haven't done that for a while.

Conditions were not as hot as yesterday and there was some breeze.


Me in my 2007 Auckland Quarter Marathon top. First running race I entered and basically just ran flat out and struggled at the end. That strategy worked (placed in top 10% of my category) but was lucky not to injure myself...

Yep Andrew have noticed the typo on the back of the 2009 edition. Wonder if someone got in trouble for it ;)

Also a while back I went to the go by bike breakfast that the Auckland City Council put on the 15th Feb. This was quite good with free muesli and espresso.

Domain Lunchtime Run

Out for a run at lunchtime today, along the forest walks and two loops of the Sri Chimnoy Peace mile. 35mins at approx 5min/km pace.

Still fairly hot but it is cooling down a little in Auckland now we are heading into March.


On the way back to work. The forest part of this run was nice and cool.


Sporting a 2009 Auckland Marathon top. I still keep thinking I have more hair until I see photos of myself...

Overall a good run to break up the day. Felt great to get in a mid week run.

A Bike Ride and some Pushups

Great day on Sunday and had some time to myself so went for an easy bike ride.

Headed along the North Western Cycleway out to Te Atatu and then the extension to Massey and then back again. All up 30.7km (at a slow average speed on 21.7km/hr). Great day for it. Having a faster road bike would be fun though but I would probably break it commuting.

Then did Week 2 / Day 2 of the one hundred push up challenge. Maxed out at 25 on the last set (16/17/14/14/25). This is the third time I've attempted this (it gets tough in week 4)....

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 ;)

Back in the Asics

Went for a couple of gentle runs this weekend. Everything felt pretty good, some tightness so didn't push things. Felt really good to be out and about again. Glad I didn't aggrevate the calf and look like I'll be fine for Run Auckland 3 - its a dead flat course.

Lots of stretching afterward my run today, also took the opportunity of being stuck at traffic lights to stretch. I think this helped.

Saturday - mostly flat : 5.51km / 27:04 / 4:55 min/km
Sunday - slight hill but mostly flat : 6.98km / 33:32 / 4:47 min/km

Took some more kiwi music on my run today. This is quite a nice song called Symmetry. Great to chill out to. Maybe I'm mellowing but I'm putting more or this type of stuff on my running playlist as opposed to the trance. Getting old? ;)

Small world I used to work with his brother here in Auckland a few years ago.



Rest, or rather stretch day, tomorrow.

Hope training is going well for everyone!

Passive Motivation

Set the course map for Auckland as the desktop for my PC. Can't hurt can it? The run is not till 1 Nov but having the big goal has really remotivated my training.



Ran home after work Wednesday but went a different route - this one along Mt Eden road. Slightly longer way home that normal but an easier pace. 7.39km / 35:23 / 4:46 min/km. Run Auckland 2, 10km, tomorrow. should be good.

P.S. My little sister T has also entered the marathon which I think is great. Will keep me honest!

Fighting the Hedge

Hit 26 degrees in Auckland today. Not as bad as Melbourne, Australia where it was over 46 but still warm all the same.

My wife has been on my case to trim our hedge. We moved in March 2008 and well its grown out of control.

I spent a good couple of hours in the sun - with my trusty hedge clippers - attacking the monster. Here's a photo:



You can see the height on the neighbours side - its a good indication on the before. The after-height is still over 3m! A different sort of cross-training indeed!

Went for a short run at 5pm before washing up. Still very warm - 25 degrees. 5.5km / 24:30 / 4:25 min/km. The banana smoothee I had on returning hit the spot.

It's Been A While

Well with resting my sore foot had to find something else to do.

Took a leave day today it was good to as I had worked through the Christmas holidays. Took the family to Kohimarara Beach far a paddle in the water - great fun for a four year old.

In the afternoon we went to Onehunga War Memorial Pool for a swim. Well I went lane swimming on the indoor 25m while my wife and son went to the kids area. On the way into the pools bought a pair of goggles for around $18 - and they worked just fine.



I think probably a good 20 years since I've done lane swimming. Could tell it had been a while with the stroke all over the place. Didn't attempt a tumble-turn this outing could have ended in tears (or laughter)

Did 26 lengths although not all at once. Out of curiosity timed one length of freestyle on my trusty 200m water resistant Casio G-Shock (I think it *may* be ok for swimming) and clocked at 22s. Not that shabby and got the heart rate up but don't think I could swim very far at present.

The swimming might be a good challenge to build up distance and endurance much like I did when I started running. Expect a few more swim posts in the future!

In terms of location Tepid Baths - indoor 25m - is closest to work (just a block away) but I really like the look of the Parnell Baths. It's got a 60m outdoor saltwater pool which sounds a bit different.

Andrew asked whether my foot hurts feels stiff first thing in the morning. It does a little bit but not always. It hurts if I push down on the back of my arch towards the heel. No pain pushing directly on the underside of the heel though. It could indeed be a plantar arch strain but the symptoms sound like PF. In the past I have got tight calves while running and that can also be a factor. Not much pain today so the swelling is certainly going down. Been some stretching and thats helping. Looks like I'll play it be ear.

Race Photos (and some answers)

Race photos from the half of two weeks ago.



First photo was at around the 13km mark or something. Quite possibly the worst sprint finish ever - not smiling at the end - it was more HTFU to get over the line.

Haven't run much since the race. 4 shorter runs in December so far total of 27.44km - the knee is OK but I think it might be time to retire my current shoes soon. My normal running pace is averaging on 4:30min/km at the moment. I think I might need to start doing some intervals to improve. My next race is the 10km for Run Auckland - 29 March 09 - although Round the Bays might be something to do this year (a very crowded 8km fun run) on 15 March 09.

Christmas function season but the damage hasn't been too bad - weighed in this morning at 85.9kg. But I think its time to start logging daily again on physicsdiet.

Some answers to comments of past posts:

- The Tiger Beer, that is good after a training, is definitely the one from Singapore. We do have some good beers in New Zealand.
- I work for MRP as an engineer. I was quite often down in Kawerau earlier this year for the new power station there. Got in some good runs after work in nearby Whakatane. The current project is near Taupo so we'll see if I can get some lakeside training in.

Morningside For Life!

Today the sun was out so I went for a run in a new route! This one went through the Auckland suburb of Morningside. Nothing special in that but it is the setting for New Zealand's first adult-targeted animated series - bro'Town. Apparently our answer to the Simpson's but with polynesians. Likely if you live outside of Auckland you won't understand the references but pretty funny if a bit crass. The below shows a few good clips in the guise of an episode of mastermind :)



Anyhow the run itself was OK - 13.7km in 1:03:22 (4:37min/km). The route details here. A couple a hills in this including the one from Run Auckland Race 5. Good it wasn't raining today remember the race earlier in the year it was bucketing down.



Did it pretty hard towards the end but all in all a good weekend's running.

A slightly speedier long run

A gorgeous sunny day today in Auckland. A good morning for tackling the 18.8km Long Run to the Domain from last week.

A bit speedier today...pleased with the progress.

Today: 18.80km in 1:29:39 for a average pace of 4:46min/km.
(Last week I did the same course in 1:33:18).

The effort level was a touch higher today but tried to keep the pace consistent over the whole distance.

I didn't see any rubber ducks although at around the 6km mark the path passes by a small lake with a few friendly geese...


Photo by Velvet Android.

Felt great afterwards!

Exhausted

This morning did the Hundred Pushups Week 2 Exhaustion Test. This time I managed to do 40 - at the start of the program I could do 34 - so some improvement here. I think the challenge gets tougher this week so it should really push me along.

Today (Sunday) had a spot of sunshine in the afternoon so I thought I would go out running again. It was tough - really tough. I think its because I went for a hard run yesterday and at times it really felt like I was just plodding along.

Did this route:



In 01:06:30 (4:51 min/km). The pace was certainly better at the start but was shuffling a bit near the end with a couple of waiting-for-the-lights stops at traffic intersections. To be honest I had to really was exhausted by the end - well my legs were - that and I didn't want to get run over.

The rain came for the last couple of km's which was nice and refreshing.

That makes 103.3km for the month of June.

Needless to say I will be taking a rest day tomorrow and am sure will be sleeping quite well tonight.

Goodnight to all and to all a good night :)

Even Rocky Had a Montage

Now for something completely different. Here is a montage from hapkido senior class. Its a self defence class I train in - aka angry white pyjamas. I'm in there somewhere :)

It looks violent but we know what we are doing. Well most of the time.
Lots of this is anaerobic fitness and quite different to running. Good to have the balance.

Week 2/Day 1 of the madness that is the 100 pushup challenge. Today called for sets of 12, 12, 9, 7, max(at least 10) with 60 seconds rest in between. Not too bad - managed 26 on the max set today before I tapped out. Keeping ahead of the program at this stage. Week 2 should be OK but looking ahead it starts to get tough.

The Taper Caper

The last time I heard the word "caper" used tastefully it was probably during the Italian Job remake. A great word which just happens to go quite well with taper.

Anyway tapering in running is when you run less before a race to allow your body to recover and have fresh legs. John Ackland in his book says its to:

- physically recover
- mentally recover
- wake up the body

Since you also get capers on pizza - must be an aquired taste - I will illustrate the concept of tapering as follows:



Simple eh? Note the pizza is not to scale - there is more building than tapering going on - but I'm sure it was delicious. :) You can take the distance/run axis more accurately as "training volume".

Basically since Run Auckland 5 (10km) is coming up on Sunday I'm going to take it a bit easy this week.

Monday it bucketed down so I gave it a miss. Also getting quite dark before and after work. Mid winter in New Zealand with the shortest day on the 22 June.

Sounds like excuses?

I'll go for a shortish run tomorrow and then a very gentle jog on Friday with some decent stretching afterwards. My weekday runs I don't really stretch enough. Mainly all I do is calf stretching which is pretty lazy to be honest. Need to try and improve here as my flexibility isn't great.

Today also Week 1/Day 2 of the 100 Pushup Challenge. There were more pushups now but 90 seconds rest in between each set. The program was 12/12/10/10/max* (with max at least 10). More pushups but the longer rest between sets means the effort is probably similar to day 1. My max today was 23.

Note: The original pizza image is by "iirraa" and available from flickr. Enough with the silly posts - hungry now...

Pushups Week 1/Day 1

Week 1 of the One Hundred Pushups challenge involves 5 sets of pushups with 60 seconds of rest in between each set.

The sets were 10/10/8/6/max*. The max set had to be at least 7.

Pretty easy with the rest period in between. Did 26 in my max set before the jelly arms arrived and everything went to custard. That's enough dessert metaphors.

I have to confess to a small amount of conditioning on this excercise. At hapkido class, which I do twice a week, we have a set of 20 pushups as part of the warmup. Hapkido is a martial art originating in South Korea.

The challenge will get harder I'm sure - the next one is on Wednesday - but so far so good. Quite fun he says while the going is easy.

Push The Limits

Half the fun of blogging is giving titles to the posts - this one is from a song by the group Enigma.

Relaxed run today on a new route along Mt. Eden Road and back Dominion. I call it "Mt. Eden City Fringe Loop". The terrain was rolling and took in the top section of the North Western Cycleway.

Run was good - 9.5km in 43:42. This is 4:35 min/km pace which was a bit suprising as I "felt" the pace was quite relaxed. Maybe I went quick on the downhills.

Noticed the traffic was starting to build up near Eden Park with the All Blacks game against England tonight. Dominion Road is always congested when there is a game there.

Over on the excellent "Andrew is Getting Fit" blog I noticed that Andrew had posted about the Hundred Pushup challenge. Apparently

If you're serious about increasing your strength, follow this six week training program and you'll soon be on your way to completing 100 consecutive push ups!

Cross training is a good thing so I'm going to give it a go starting Monday. Did the initial test and managed 34 good form push ups which was pretty good but a ways to go to eek out 100. Lets see if I can get there in 6 weeks.