LUCKY LEGS...

I have been meaning to read Lucky Legs by Steve Gurney for some time now. Usually when I am in the bookstore and see it I don't have the spare $ to buy it. But this weekend by chance while browsing on amazon (kindle) I found the book - and because it was a kindle version it was at least 1/2 the price of the paper back...so I snapped it up. It has been a great way to pass the time of a quiet long weekend. I knew some of Steve's story...the multiple wins of the coast to coast, the near death situation after contracting a bug overseas, the dancing with the stars appearance...but there is SO much more to his story. It is an honest look at his weaknesses, his 'failures' and successes and all of the lessons learned along the way. I would really recommend it to anyone who is interested in sport, even if multisport isn't your thing. But beyond that it is the kind of book that would encourage anyone who is wanting to get more out of life but isn't necessarily sure how. For me one of the best bits has been reading the bits to do with the C2C and his training and race day experiences. It has been quite timely in terms of giving me a telling off :) You see before I heard the weather report for the weekend I had great plans to do a big run on Saturday, a touch of kayaking AND a bike ride. What better way to spend a long weekend right? Well the weather has been pretty crap and instead of doing all those things I've read his book, done housework and watched a lot of telly....until today. You see this morning as I was reading in the comfort of my bed I read about how he talked about training in the harder conditions so that on race day if its sunny well that's a bonus but if you only train when its nice if the day turns out to be crappy then you are in the crapper (so to speak). I realised that I have wasted opportunities this weekend to train in the crap in order to be in the prime position for race day. So I decided that I would jump on the bike and instead of just biking on the wind trainer I would try again to bike out along the bike track to west auckland. It was great to be out on the bike. Every part of my body was working way harder out on the road than on the trainer in my lounge...even my mind! It was also of interest to read that its about the quality of training not the quantity. Gosh if I start listing all the bits that were of particular interest I would probably quote over 1/2 the book. Let's just say I have lots of food for thought and a lot of work to do to be race day ready.

drills

Another Adirun tonight but with a bit of a twist. They had the 7km option...or speed drills. I wasn't sure about running the 7km and getting back to the shop in a reasonable time so I went for the speed drills session. We ran for a little over a km and then in the courtyard of a beautiful old church we ran some drills. I was able to do some of the drills bt others I knew were going to put strain on my achilles and knew that Simone my physio probably wouldn't be too thrilled. The heel is feeling heaps better than it has been but I know that its not quite there and would HATE to undo all the repair work over the last few weeks. When it came to the hill sprints I did the opposite to everyone else. I walked uphill and ran down. Then we did 30/30 which was basically running between two points as often as possible in 30 secs, then you get 30 sec rest and then go again. We did it a total of 6 times and then ran back to the store. It was a great workout. The heel is a little tender now but I have a few more activities in my tool belt to help with the fitness etc.

On another note, the info came through today for the Taupo based Kayak weekends...exciting :)

Kayak Grade 2 Training

Today is a good day. I have just booked my place in the Grade 2 River Racing Training course that Canoe & Kayak North Shore run. It consists of 3 weekends, one here in Auckland and then 2 in Taupo on the river. I'm pretty excited. It is the Kayak component of the race that gives me the most anxiety. I am hoping I have given myself enough time to get race ready.

The first weekend is happening in 3 weekends time and then 3 weekends after that is the first river weekend in Taupo. Then I will have 3 months before the final weekend and the test for the grade two certificate. I wanted to give myself as much time as possible between the 2nd weekend and the test.

It is a bit of a financial stretch - moments like these I wish someone wanted to sponsor a no name tryhard like me! lol....but it is definitely worth it and really the only way I could even consider getting myself race ready.

So here's to learning to Kayak grade 2 rivers and hopefully having some fun while doing it

Post Race run...

This is the aftermath of my 1/2 marathon on Sunday. That will teach me for wearing cheap socks! Yesterday I was feeling pretty good, although a little tight in places, so rather than head out for a run I jumped on the bike for just a quick cycle on the wind trainer. Then I treated myself to a bath with muscle soak - bliss!

Today, being Tuesday was adirun. I wasn't too sure how I would go. Would the blister get in the way too much? Would my muscles be too sore? Or would it be my mind that would pack a sad after working so hard on Sunday to keep pushing through the pain.

I'm still on restrictions (walking the uphills) and the adirun tonight is about 1/2 uphill so it was a case of power walking the hill as much as I could. I enjoyed the flat and downhill run and when I got back to the Adidas shop I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I had shaved 3 mins off my time from last week.

I learnt something on Sunday that I put into practice today and it worked. I think I have generally begun runs at a slow pace because I don't want to "run out of juice" - but I think what it means is that I finish runs with juice still in the tank. On Sunday I ran at a faster pace than I would normally for a 1/2 - and it paid off...a personal best. Tonight's adirun I started out faster than I normally do, and was able to use the uphill walk to recover so that I could make the most of the downhills and flats.

Its all a huge learning curve for me as I figure out what I am actually capable of. It's encouraging to have moments where I out do myself.

The blister is still there but those blister healing band aids are fantastic for protecting the blister and reducing the pain.

And I'm one week closer to my free tee-shirt too :)

Huntly Half

I came away from physio on Thursday with strict instructions - NO running uphill. This confirmed that the Huntly Half was not going to be about my original goal of aiming for under 2 hours but was instead going to simply be as good a training run as I could make it. My previous best time for a 1/2 marathon was 2:27 (a kinda slow time but considering the training I had put in it was a fair time).

It was a foggy start to the day but by the time 10am came round the fog had cleared and it was a good looking day. I lined myself up somewhere ahead of the 2:30 sign (my previous 1/2 was a dismal 2:37 so was definitely keen to do better than that. It became a rather frustrating experience having to walk each uphill but my achilles was keen to remind me why this was necessary, feeling pretty tight for most of the run. I was running at a pace much faster than what I would normally run these races but I was keen to make the most of the flat and downhill as I could.

There was a little old lady (who honestly looked like she was in her 80's) who would pass me each time we came to a hill, and then I would overtake her again on the downhill. As we were heading up a hill just past 1/2 way she was like "c'mon you can do it, you're over half way now." I hope I am still running when I am her age.

The 13km mark saw my heel pack a bit of a sad and I had to stop and try and stretch it out. I was secretly grateful for the chances to catch my breath in the uphill.

As I turned the last corner into the grass home stretch I thought I would kick into full throttle and sped my way to the end, overtaking a few along the way. I think I was running too fast for the photographer as there's not the standard finishing run pic :p

My time was 2 hrs 19 mins and 6 sec. Very happy with that - 20 mins faster than my last race and 8 mins faster than my previous personal best. Considering that I walked the uphill bits I am stoked! I wonder how well I would have done had I been able to keep up my hill training and run the hills on the day.

Well I guess the Huntly Half 2012 will show me...

The Coast to Coast Movie - A personal challenge

Tonight I went to the screening of the Coast to Coast movie - a personal challenge. It was filmed at last years race. Its about 50mins long and give you a great understanding of just what the race is all about. It was incredibly inspiring and funny and most definitely scary in places (the kayak for sure!).

I bought a copy of the film and I think I will be watching it on a regular basis to remind myself what its about. It was great to hear the chatter of people talking about their own race experiences and even better to hear that some like me are tackling it for the first time.

I had a kayak lesson this morning and while by the end of it my arms were tired I felt much more confident on the water than last time. I have decided I will look to do a kayak package of training weekends. So now it is about saving all my spare cash or finding someone to sponsor me!

I"m excited and more determined than ever to give this my best shot. And I can't wait to see Robyn again next year when he hands me a ginger beer as I cross the finish line!

whiteboards are not good for training..

I was shopping for whiteboards at a certain store that will remain nameless. I took the first board off the shelf with no problems. When I went to get the second board the box hadn't been taped shut and it slid out of the box and landed on my big toe. Now you might never have had a whiteboard fall from a height and land on your toe. Let me tell you that it hurts! It hurts to the extent that I had to control myself from yelling (for a good 4 or 5 mins).

I struggled to walk to the counter to purchase my goods. I struggled to drive my car back to work. I feared the worst - that the toe was broken. I have previously broken it by kicking the weighted end of a boxing bag. When I got back to the office I found an icepack, took of my shoe & sock and discovered that my toenail was already turning a lovely bluey purple colour....great!

Its been sore all afternoon but I was eager to go for a run and test my toe. It felt ok....so I'm really hoping its not broken, just bruised (although its kinda throbbing now). My achilles was causing me more trouble than the toe....but I have physio on that again tomorrow.

So as long as I can keep clear of whiteboards and other dangerous office stationary I will hopefully be all go for the huntly half next weekend.