10 x 500 m with 2 min rests

I struggled to get to the track all week so I headed there around midday today. Alas, Day 2 of the Wellington Junior Champs was in full swing with events scheduled until 6 pm. There was nothing for it but to find a good spot to do 500 m sprints instead. I didn't do a proper warm up and that showed in my slow first sprint. After that all the sprints were between 2:53 and 2:57 which is not too bad. (I like to see 2:53 as the top end and maybe that's not too far away)

10 x 500 m with 2 min rests


Saturday 22 March - 7.5 km Walk

I swapped my Sunday walk to Saturday so I could walk with my daughter.  She is not a race walker so I couldn't quite describe it as a training walk but I did make an effort to use correct race walking technique rather than ambling along.

Walk down the Otaki River with Hannah

3 km Fartlek and 4 x 500 m

Not a brilliant result but I am getting faster.

3 km Fartlek (4 min rest) 4 x 500 m (2 min rests)

Wednesday 19 March - 10 km Training Walk

This started out very slowly as I was stiff from a training session the previous day. I was pleased with the improvement I made for an an average pace of 6:56 min/km. The fast efforts were during the 4th and 5th km legs. A toilet stop on the way back accounts for the drop in heart rate.

10 km Training Walk with 3 x 90 sec @ 5 km pace

This Weekend's Walks

15 km Training Walk - Sunday 16 March

I was keen to get this walk over as early as possible today since the weather is meant to deteriorate considerably later in the day. My aim on the longer walks is to average 7 - 7:30 per km but I knew that would be unlikely less than a day after the 1 hour race. I concentrated hard and was satisfied with my time of 1:56:20 for an average of 7:45 per km.

15 km Training Walk


1 Hour Track Race - Saturday 15 March

I found this event much harder than I expected. I have been doing a lot of longer walks but due to my cast they had been at a pedestrian pace. I would normally expect to comfortably complete over 9.6 km in an hour but only managed 9.097 despite the ideal weather conditions.  At just 2 months since breaking my wrist I have to think that's not a bad effort. It is a lesson not too expect too much in the 20 km in two week's time. I will aim to walk at 6:30 pace and resist the urge to go faster than that in the early laps.

1 Hour Track Race

Sprint Session at the Track

I have never done this workout before and I found it pretty hard - probably because I'm just getting back into speed work. I was a bit surprised to feel my quads fatiguing - I'm not usually aware of them.

5 x 800/200

Wellington Champs 3000m Track Walk

3000 m Track Walk - Wellington Champs - Sunday 9 March - First woman once again

15 km Training Walk - Sunday 9 March

2 x 2 km with 2 min rest - Friday 7 March

Back into Training Mode

I broke my wrist in January - 5 days before the Capital Classic which I had entered but could not compete in. After 6 weeks in a cast my arm was freed last Tuesday, enabling me to get back into some speed training. I kept walking all the way through but, apart from two 3 km races on the track, I only worked on distance and endurance.

I have got a lot of catching up to do to prepare for nationals in just over three weeks.

Thursday 6 March         8 x 400 m with 2 min rests Video clips to come.

Wednesday 5 March     10 km Training Walk

Monday 3 March           4 x 1 km with 2 min rests

Sunday 2 March            20 km Training Walk

Thursday 27 February    3 km Fartlek

Thursday 27 February    8 km Training Walk

New Garmin, New Laptop

I lost my old Garmin after the Ekiden Relay in May and managed by using my watch and the waterfront distance markers for the past six months. I have done pretty well at maintaining a steady pace through my events without the aid of constant reporting but wanted the extra help for the Long Distance Champs next weekend.

I was pleased to go under 2:10 for the 20 km Wellington Champs with little interest from the judges and I'm looking for a similar result on Saturday.  The past four years I have been DQ'd in the Long Distance Champs so let's hope all my hard work will pay off with a positive result this year.

Previously I had to write my blog on Philip's PC which was a cause of some issues. We recently replaced my old PC with a laptop which I can now use for updating this blog. I don't intend to write the blog after every training but will try to update things once or twice a week.

Today I walked into town. 8 km was training but I continued for another 1.5 km to get to Rebel Sport to buy some new compression tights.

8 km Training Walk