Happy New Year

I did not manage to get much of my training programme done over the holiday period but I am keen to settle back in to working hard. I'm in a new age group now so there are lots of goals to work towards. It's been very windy in the last month or so which has made it difficult to motivate myself to get out the door for training.

15 km Training Walk with 2 x 5 min at 20 km pace

It was a sunny day with strong winds.  I struggled to get up speed but did manage 3 fast sessions of 5 minutes when the wind was behind me. My glutamis medius muscles are fatigued so I'm hoping that is a sign of correct technique.

15 km Training Walk

Tuesday 8 January - 10 km Fartlek

I was reluctant to choose this workout because I have done little speed work in the past few months but there was no point in putting it off. Despite being slowed by the strong wind I was reasonably happy with my   average pace of 6:38 min/km

10 km Fartlek

Sunday 6 January - 21 km Training Walk

We stopped for lunch 2/3 of the way through this walk. I was unable to go at a speed I was happy with, averaging only 7:50 with HR 127 bpm. It is good to be getting some distance under my belt. Clearly my lack of training over the holiday period is having a serious impact.

21.4 km Training Walk

Sunday 23 December - Scottish Night of Miles

With the athletics track out of action, this event was held on the grass track at Lower Hutt. Bob gave me great competition in the one mile walk, forcing me to work hard to finish at the front of the small field. My time was 9:29 for an average pace of 5:48. This is not too bad for a grass track. My average HR was 162 bpm.

One Mile Walk

The Spiral Race handicap event followed immediately after the walk. This is an 8 lap event starting in lane 8 and moving in a lane after each lap for a total distance of 3.4 km. I had planned to walk it until I found I was starting with my sister who is a runner. After a lap or two I was passed by a runner in his 70s who set a very comfortable pace. I increased my speed in the final lap, passing him but was not quite able to catch the next runner. My average pace was 5:19. I was not wearing my heart rate strap.

3.4 km Spiral Race