10 km Training Walk

I was keen to get out walking today and it was great weather for walking despite the moderate southerly breeze that slowed me down a bit. My aim for today was to be relaxed and to concentrate on rolling off my toes. I found that it required a fair bit of concentration to do the latter. If I didn't think about it then there wasn't as much push off as there could be. It goes to show I need to put more effort in with this. I was a bit surprised with how slow I was at the start but I did manage to improve my pace a bit when I wasn't going directly into the wind. I stopped at the 1.5 km mark to turn the auto-lap function on which I had turned off for the track races. I was able to get my pace to 7:04 min / km which is pretty pathetic but all I could manage with a reasonable effort. My average HR was 142 bpm.

10 km Training Walk

Oceania Championships

This was a disappointing championship for me with DQ's in the 5000 m and 3000 m track walks and three penalties in the 10 km road walk with only two being counted since they all came from NZ judges. I will put up some video footage of me taken during the races and let you decide if you can see the bent knees I was penalised for. These clips are from the 5000 m. I will add some from the 300o m another time.

Monday 6th February - 10 km Road Walk

I finished 3rd in this event and 2nd in my age group. They delayed the medal ceremony for two and a half hours after the end of the race so I decided not to attend since I had made arrangements to spend the rest of the day with family in Auckland. Unbeknown to me, there was a team award in this event and I was part of a team of three NZ walkers who received a gold medal for the best aggregate time in our age range (we were 2nd, 3rd and 4th).

Oceania Champs - 10 km Road Walk