8 km Training Walk

Tuesday 26 September

It was a fine day with a bit of wind. I did about a 1 km warm-up while waiting for my Garmin to pick up the satellites. I started slowly but managed a reasonable pace after a km. I was pleased to average 6:35 min/km with a focus on good technique.

8 km Training Walk

10 km with 2 x 6 min @ 20 km pace

It was another beautiful sunny day. I tried to get my son to run with me this morning but he didn't wake up until well after I finished. The streets were busy with people out enjoying the day.  I started out slowly but after 2 km decided to try a faster lap. I was pleased to manage that in 6:09 and did the next after turning with the wind behind me at 5 km. That was a 6:06 km. I suspect that speed is quicker than my 20 km pace. My overall pace was 6:54 and average HR 138 bpm. I was pleased with this workout after such a good effort the previous day.

10 km with 2 x 6 min @ 20 km pace

Saturday 22 September - 8 km Handicap Race

Another Personal Best

I turned up to this race an hour early so went to have a coffee and read the paper - probably not the ideal preparation for an event. My handicap had me starting last - more than 18 minutes after 86 year old Peter Tearle.  It's a big ask to catch up that sort of lead and I resigned myself to finishing at the back of the field. It was great to see 500 m times of under 3 mins coming up and before the first turn around I passed John who started a minute ahead of me. I could see Kevin and Bob in the distance and passed both of them by the 4 km mark.

Once I rounded the corner I could see Jeff, Rachel and Peter in the distance and managed to pass these three before the second turn around. Daphne and Andrea had a good lead on me and with only 1.5 km to go  it seemed unlikely I could catch them.  I passed Andrea about 500 m from the end and could see Daphne closing on the finish. I was walking well but not able make up that distance before Daphne finished.  I didn't win the cup but did win a bottle of wine for the fastest time of the day of 47.28, an average pace of 5:56.  My average HR was 168 bpm.

My programme had me walking 6 x 1 km today. I figure my times were almost as good as I would have done even with the rest intervals:
5:41, 5:40, 6:00, 5:58, 6:12, 6:04, 6:12, 5:41.

8 km Handicap Race

Thursday 20 September - 12 km Training Walk

I was meant to do 15 km kickdown today but my legs were feeling pretty tight and I wasn't confident of getting up much speed. In the morning I dropped Philip at the airport and then parked the car at the end or Oriental Parade, about a 3.5 km walk to work. I had a busy day at work so decided to do my training after work, carrying my backpack as far as the car and then carrying on. I tried to keep increasing my pace and managed quite well with the help of a tail wind on the return.

3 km average paces were: 7:29, 6:58, 6:43, 6:38. Overall pace 6:53 and average HR 138.

12 km Training Walk

Tuesday 18 September - 20 km Training Walk

I was driving back from Hamilton on Sunday when I would normally have done this walk so when Tuesday was such a beautiful day I decided to head out for a very long lunch break.

My pace wasn't as good as I wanted since my legs were feeling pretty stiff but I felt pretty comfortable and concentrated on a good technique. My average pace was 7:14 and average HR 123 bpm.

20 km Training Walk

Two walks from last week

Friday 14 September - 8 km Training Walk

I played a social game of squash in the early afternoon against a reserve for another team.

I felt I would not do a good job of the sprints on my programme and I wanted to explore the river in the opposite direction.

I tried to keep a steady pace even though it was quite slow. I walked 8.64 km in 1:02:42 for an average pace of 7:16 and an average HR of 129 bpm.

8 km Training Walk

Thursday 13 September - 15 km  Kickdown

When I later checked my programme I found that it was only meant to be a 10 km kickdown this week and 15 km next week. I was in Hamilton supporting my team at a squash tournament. We had a team of 7 for 5 places and I am the weakest player so it would take a major injury or illness for me to be put on the court. That meant I could put a good effort into my training.

The Waikato river runs right through the city and has a walkway along the side. I was able to walk 7 km down the river enjoying the lovely gardens of the riverside homes. The path was largely flat but some of the slower times reflect the steeper sections. I was slower than I had planned but I did manage a series of increases in pace. Towards the end the path became steep and my legs tied up so I decided to treat the last 2 km as a warm down.

My average pace each 3 km were 7:25, 7:02, 6:48, 6:38 with 6:38 for the 13th km. My average heart rate was 140 bpm.

15 km Kickdown

12 km with 2 x 6 min @ 20 km pace

I got changed just after midday but needed to complete some work before going out. The lovely sunny day faded by the time I went out at 2:30 pm. I was glad that I ditched my sunglasses and left my long sleeved top on.

There was a strong southerly wind blowing which both hindered and helped my pace. I started out at an easy pace and left my fast stints until I turned to have the wind at my back. The weather was closing in fast so there was a strong incentive for me to keep up a good pace.

At one point hail stones started to fall but thankfully they stopped before I had to endure any pain.  I was pleased with my time of 1:19:09 for an average pace of 6:35. I couldn't find my heart rate monitor strap this morning. It is probably still in the car from Sunday's walk.

My two fast legs gave me kms of 6:10 and 5:56 (wind assisted), somewhat faster than 20 km pace.

12 km with 2 x 6 min @ 20 km pace

20 km Training Walk

I was tired from my efforts in the race yesterday and knew that my pace today would be limited. It was a fine day but with very strong north westerly winds.

The plan was for me to walk from home into town and around the bays to finish at Island Bay. That route keep the wind at my back at much as possible. Jim had encouraged me to use the hills for training so I didn't drive down to the flat before starting out.

As expected, I struggled today and only managed an average of 8:00/km with average HR 111 bpm. I was pleased when I got to the cafe at Island Bay to meet with Philip and enjoyed the soak in the spa that we called in for on our way home.

20 km Training Walk

Saturday 8 September  - Marton - Whanganui Relay Race

I was allocated the 9th lap. This is the one that support cars are not allowed to follow so I was curious to find what it was like.  After around 500m there was a long downhill that allowed me to get up a great pace.  I completed my 8.5 km with an average pace of 5:58/km, assisted greatly by the considerable downhill element.

I went on to attempt to complete the 15 km on my programme but had to get Philip to pick me up for a bathroom stop then later cut my walk short when steady rain set in.

Marton - Whanganui relay

Thursday 6 September - 3 x 2 km + 2 x 1 km with 2 min rests

Once again I was feeling tight when I went out but was pleasantly surprised with what I managed to achieve. The first two legs were in to a moderate wind so not surprisingly my pace was better coming back. I had a longer break before the last km for a bathroom stop.

My splits were: 12:11, 11:58, 11:55, 6:02, 6:00

3 x 2 km 2 x 1 km with 2 min rests

10 km Kickdown

This is my first training session after the road champs and the beginning of my training for the Long Distance champs at Labour weekend. I asked Jim for more of these sessions after my drop off in speed during the race on Saturday. My aim today was to average 7:20, 7:00, 6:40 and 6:20.

At the start I found it hard to achieve 7:20 pace so I expected to struggle to increase pace as planned. Fortunately I did warm up and was able to get the increases even with head winds on the return.

My 2.5 km splits were: 17:52, 17:22, 16:16, 15:21 or average paces of 7:09, 6:57, 6:30, 6:09. My overall time was 1:06:57, average pace 6:41 and average HR 137 bpm.

I could probably aim to start a bit faster for a better average overall but I felt really good after this workout so the slower start seems to suit me.

10 km Kickdown

Saturday 1 September - NZ 10 km Road Championship

The race was scheduled to start at 2:50 so I had a good breakfast and another meal at 11:00 am even though I wasn't hungry.  We took Jim to Mt Victoria to get a good view around the city and harbour then headed to the venue before 1:00 pm.

I made sure I got everything organised and had a good warm up before the race. The wind was getting up which pretty much ruled out getting a PB so my main concern was to get past the judges. Despite that I made a good start, averaging better than 6 min/km for the first 3 km. I had a few warnings early on and one card by 5 km.  Two laps later another card appeared. Jim kept reminding me to stand up straight and tuck my butt under. I was grateful to get to the end without being pulled off and very pleased when no late cards arrived. My time of 1:02:07 is probably my best at a national road champs though well over my PB. Average pace 6:13 min/km and average HR 157 bpm. The Garmin did not cope well on this course. My splits from the timekeeper were:
5:50, 6:00, 6:06, 6:12, 6:12, 6:18, 6:18, 6:26, 6:26, 6:19

10 km NZ Road Championship

Thursday 30 August - 3 km Fartlek

This was a chance for Jim to give me some feedback on my technique.  We found a spot near a favourite cafe where I could do some small laps. I  warmed up for a short time then went into the workout. I had to avoid walkers, runners, dogs, pushchairs and bikes so it was hard to maintain an even pace. The amount of instructions I heard whilst walking made me think my technique was as bad as ever but afterwards Jim assured me I was much better and he was just tweaking. Overall time 19:16, average pace 6:25, average HR 161 bpm.

My splits were:
6:12
3:31 + 3:01 = 6:32
3:28 + 3:05 = 6:33

Not great speed but I didn't want to go flat out two days before a big race.

3 km Fartlek