Monday 27 February 2012

No photos. Only links

Abebe Bikila won the Olympic marathon in 1960; he ran this race bare foot in a time of 2:15:16.2. Four years on he matched this feat by winning in Tokyo 2:12:11:2, 2 minutes under the world record albeit with shoes on. A couple of interesting things about these historic events are he was the first Sub Saharan African to win an Olympic Gold medal really opening the door for so many to follow and dominate the sport. The other point I want to mention is that when he finished the Tokyo marathon he continued onto the grass and carried out a series of warm down exercises, which really are quite classic. Here’s a link so you can have a look (it starts around 5 minutes, lasting for only 30 seconds)


Back in present day I also want to plug Nick Willis and his achievements around the country this summer. As such a small country on the global scale we are extremely fortunate to have Nick Willis as a representative. And for the small community of runners having someone like him as an ambassador for our sport is just amazing.
Check out this little interview with him and you get an indication of his quality


As for me I’ve got my first race on the 10th of March down in Wanaka, the Motatapu Off Raod Marathon. I don’t know much about the course at the moment but as the week progresses I’ll spend some time becoming familiar with it through their website. Without knowing much about the environment it’s too early to predict a time and it has been a while since I’ve charged through rivers and continued on running (heard that there are several crossings). That part of the race I can’t wait for! I know that currently I’m in good condition and have certainly put the miles in during the first two months of the year. The challenge for me now is to target specific skills and techniques that will get me in the best shape for Rotorua. It’s still a long way away and much more work needs to be completed before best shape is produced!

So some stats for the week:

Count:12 Activities
Distance:205.12 km
Time:16:23:28 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:2,892 m
AvgHR:140 bpm
Calories:9,824 C
Max HR:209 bpm
Avg Elevation Gain:241 m
Max Time:3:00:48 h:m:s   

After a week like this I was bound to feel flat on my Monday morning run and boy was it the case!!

Some events around the Canterbury area this week:

Wednesday
Ellesmere Road Runners: Leeston
Surf and Turf Series: Corsair Bay

Thursday
The Rock Race: Rolleston
No website but register at Rolleston Community Centre at 94 Rolleston Drive, 6.30pm start

Might see you out there!

Monday 20 February 2012

3 weeks until a race

Last Friday I made some wholemeal pizza bases, the taste wasn’t overly flattering and certainly didn’t match the experience. Now making bread from scratch is a very time consuming process. Whilst living in the Seychelles we would spend a large percentage of our Saturday kneading, rising, kneading, rising and finally some more kneading, rising and then baking and cooling. With not much to do, apart from relax on the beach for which we would do in between kneads and rises, it was a good way to pass time and was better than purchasing the sorry excuse for bread sold in shops, well shop! So making these bases was great and brought back from memories. The work is always worth it as is the satisfaction of knowing what goes into your product! Unfortunately I didn’t capture any snaps of these bases but this really isn’t a cooking/home baking blog. Very similar to running really, it can be a grind, but the rewards, whatever you are aiming for, make it all the worthwhile.
Another windy, misty run



This is Christchurch
Week was mainly spent on the flat due to our place being painted, having said that I made sure I used the opportunity to get plenty of work on my leg turnover (cadence). The results were positive and I’m very pleased with the numbers too.  Plenty of laps around Hagley Park, which is always great to run around, I feel that as I’ve grown so has my appreciation for such places. Sadly no famous runners spotted this week, unlike a couple of weekends ago when my bro got to run with Nick Willis, Kim Smith, Adrian Blincoe and some other big names in NZ Athletics. How sweet is that? It was great to get some sunshine on my runs towards the end of the week, definitely longed for it after so much in Wanaka. 

Open

Bowenvale Valley

Looking towards harbour

Dry and windy....Christchurch!



So here are the stats for this week:
Avg Distance:12.96 kmAvg
Time:55:14 h:m:s
Count:13 Activities
Distance:162.46 kmTime:12:23:12 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:1,535 m
Avg HR:142 bpm
Calories:9,208 C
Max HR:190 bpm
Avg Elevation Gain:110 m
Max Time:2:00:49 h:m:s

Plenty of things to keep you amused this week again:
Tuesday:
North Hagley Park 5km Series (last one)
Wednesday:
Ellesmere Road Runners, Leeston
Surf and Turf Series, Corsair Bay
Saturday:
Bedrock 50 Ultra-Marathon: Meant to be an amazing run, tough. Perhaps not one to just turn up and try, pencil it in for next year and train hard!

Work and play hard!

Tuesday 14 February 2012

Wanaka, Wedding and wee bit of running


Another couple of weeks manage to pass by and really pleased to get through them, albeit down on millage and well and truly up in other units!

Classy Northburn Pinot Noir


Ready now to put into action plans for mini peaks and full peaks in March and April, with the main goal of Rotorua. However plenty of work to get done before then especially as there’s just over 3 weeks until the Motatapu, so another trip down to Wanaka on the cards.
 
Had an absolute blast down there for Rowan and Nicole’s wedding, 9 nights just went so quickly! Few cool runs with some of the lads which was wicked and managed to get up Roy’s Peak, unfortunately the summit was covered with a thick mist so I couldn’t see anything (as you can see in the snaps). 


Battling on the last stop of the wine tour


First stop on wine tour, Tarras Wines in the vines, amazing spot.










Wanaka early doors

Trail out to Glendu Bay


Top of Roy

Top of Roy

Old misty

Next few weeks I’m aiming for some of the biggest millage of the year and I expect, and hope, to make the start line for my first couple of races feeling heavy and sluggish. If I can get myself into that position then the last month of training can be very race specific as per the type of race and course.


Super pleased to say that I’ve been provided with some new Adidas kit; Supernova Sequence for most of my training and adizero Adios for races. The adizero range is awesome with the shoes and clothing being so lightweight, pretty fast! Big thanks to Glenn and Matt! Check out the full Adidas range at http://www.adidas.com/nz/running/


Here are some stats from the Garmin for the past couple of weeks:
Count:7 Activities
Distance:91.33 km
Time:8:28:26 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:1,894 m
Avg Speed:10.8 km/h
Avg HR:132 bpm
Calories:4,688 C
Avg Elevation Gain:316 m
Max HR:169 bpm
Max Time:3:18:58 h:m:s

Count:9 Activities
Distance:122.68 km
Time:9:47:29 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:1,092 m
Avg Speed:12.5 km/h
Avg HR:138 bpm
Calories:6,253 C
Avg Elevation Gain:121 m
Max HR:189 bpm
Max Time:1:48:34 h:m:s

Few things around Christchurch this week:
Tuesday: Canterbury Athletics 5km at Hagley Park

Wednesday: Surf and Turf Corsair Bay

Saturday: Avalanche Peak Mountain Run, Arthur’s Pass, no doubt best and hardest Mountain Run in Canterbury!

Sunday: Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team 10km at Sumner