Paekakariki Fun Walk

The forecast was for rain this morning but it has passed before the race started. The conditions were perfect - fine with no wind. The course was a bit up and down with some places where race walking was too difficult for me. I had a creeper on my shoulder for the whole event who thought he was walking. That made me put in more effort than I might have so I thanked him in the end. I managed to out-sprint him at the finish for a time 1 second ahead of him.

10.6 km 1:09:34. Average pace 6.33 min/km, average HR 159 bpm.

Paekakariki Fun Walk

Saturday 19 January - 3 km Road Race

I was running late so most walkers had already completed 1 km when I started this race. I went straight into it without a warm up and surprised myself with the speed I achieved given my effort in the 15 km walk the previous evening.

I am convinced that Geoff had the cones in a different spot to last week since my Garmin measured the total distance at 3.06 km and David's 3.08.  The Garmin says I did 3 km in 17:53 but the official time is 18:15. Average pace 5:57, HR 164.

This was meant to be a 10 km kickdown but I chose to go and have a coffee with the other walkers rather than stay for a longer session. I decided to do the 10.8 km race the next day instead of an 8 km training walk so that makes up some of the effort.  With the Capital Classic race next Friday I don't want to overdo things.

3 km Road Race

Friday 18 January - 15 km Training Walk with 2 x 5 min @ 20 km pace

The weather hadn't been great this week so it was nice to have some sunshine and not too much wind for this walk. The wind was a southerly which meant I would largely have it behind me on the return leg. I did try to do a fast session at the 2.5 km mark but didn't achieve my 20 km pace. It did lift my heart rate and settle me into a better pace so it was a good thing to do. My fast sessions were at the 9.5 km mark and again at 11 km. I tried to do another one at 12.5 km but I had turned into some wind by then.

Average pace 6:51, HR 152

15 km with 2 x 5 min @ 20 km pace

Wednesday 16 January - 2 x 2 km + 4 x 500 m with 2 min rests

I'm never sure when I go out for a sprint session if I will get anything near the 6 min/km pace that I want. My worse-case scenario is that I only manage 6:30 but luckily I have never been anywhere near that bad. This day there was a moderate wind but it could have been much worse and I kept most of my walk in a sheltered area. I was happy with my results:
12:21, 12:22, 3:02, 2:58, 3:12, 3:02

6 km in 36:58. Average pace 6:09, HR 159

2 x 2 km and 4 x 500 (2 min rests)