The plan was to start out reasonably early in the day so that we would have most of the afternoon to do other things. We didn't get up until around 9:00 am so it was 10:30 before we finally got out the door and immediately we had to stop and put our raincoats on.
We live on a hill so there is a downhill at the start then undulations before we get to the big downhill to the Hutt Road. I had expected to get off to a slow start but to pick up speed once we got to the downhill. That didn't happen unfortunately.
As we were getting close to the city along the Hutt Road we saw a race walker coming towards us. We rarely come across other race walkers out training and were pleased to say 'Hello' to Alana Barber as she sped past us looking fresh and strong. By then the rain had stopped and I was able to put my coat in my backpack. I don't like training with a backpack on but I needed to carry water and a change of clothes in case we got drenched since we planned to catch a bus back home after the walk.
This was the first time I had walked from home to town wearing my GPS watch and I was surprised to find that the distance to my office was only around 7 km - I had previously estimated it to be 1 km further than that which means my speed had been less than I imagined when walking in over the years.
My legs felt stiff and heavy and I was struggling to get them moving. It was a good thing that Philip was with me because I felt tempted to cut the session short today. I needed to complete the 20 km to prove to myself that I can hold my core strong for all that time but I could not get any speed on this session. My heart rate remained very low throughout even though it was taking a huge effort for me to keep walking. Philip picked me up on my technique with about 3 km to go, showing I wasn't able to hold my shape as well as I intended. We finished the walk at the Maranui Surf Club which has a cafe with great food and a wonderful outlook over the sea. After a tasty lunch we walked a few km to Newtown from where we could catch our bus back to Khandallah.
The 20 km took 2:43 but I did do 4 races including 2 pb times in the previous 8 days so I guess I can be excused. I have 20 km to do each week for a while so I'm hoping that all the rest will be considerably better than this one.
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