Record month
Just a short post today.
I couldn’t help but notice on my running log that so far in September I’ve run 251.8 km in 25 hours 48 minutes 36 seconds. I’ve still got a run to do today so that will extend it even more. That’s the most I’ve run in a month ever!
20 miles and liquids gone wrong
My marathon training plan had the 1st of it’s two 20 milers this past week and I’m pleased to report that I completed it without collapsing. As a matter of fact I felt pretty good muscular wise, but I did have a few issues during the run.
The first problem was that I was not particularly well rested. Daylight saving kicked in this weekend so when my alarm went off at the new 5AM it was actually the old 4AM. And to compound this my daughter had a rather restless night and called for me many a time so it was a rather bleary eyed dad that went for his run.
The second issue is that I had a few internal rumblings and had to visit quite a few of the bathrooms along my route. I suspect it is caused by the energy type drink I used this week. I’ve found that these drinks don’t work well for me and for my next long run I’ll stick to a gel or two as they don’t seem to cause me any grief.
Other than that the run was great. My wife did the first 12.5 km with me and that is always nice.
We saw this family at Mission Bay enjoying an early morning out:
I followed a route that took in most of the second half of the marathon course. During the actual marathon we’ll be running across the harbour bridge:
It is always nice running through the Viaduct area as you get to see all the expensive toys of the rich and famous. I was hoping to grab a picture of a super yacht as there are normally one or two but there were none in the harbour:
I saw these suspicious looking characters as well:
Speaking of suspicious looking characters, I saw a guy get arrested by the police which was a bit of fun. I think he’d been trying to break into a house as the police were wrestling him to the ground and putting handcuffs on. That was a bit unusual to say the least!
I felt pretty good after the run. I thought I would be wiped out but it wasn’t too bad.
I did 32 km in 3:19:12 which was just what my training plan called for. A nice gentle 32km run.
This coming week is now a rest week so the mileage is dramatically reduced. Next week I’ll have another 20 miler and then we’re into the taper! Not long now. 
A rest week
I’ve just completed week 12 of my marathon training program. This is a rest week in that the mileage is stepped back to give your body a bit of time to adapt to the extra stresses of the longer runs. As such I’ve only done 60 km this week and I think I’ve been glad of the rest.
I ran a half marathon distance for my long run today. I find it very amusing that my rest run is a half marathon nowadays. I really love the longer distance running just because of things like this sometimes!
I had a beautiful run this morning. Auckland turned on the fine weather and you can really tell that it is spring here. This row of Cherry trees is in the Auckland Domain and I had to snap a quick picture as I ran past:
My comfortable pace is definitely improving as I’m now running at an average of 10 kph and still managing to keep my heart rate low. For quite a long time I’ve had to run a bit slower than that if I wanted to keep my heart rate under my target of 145 (180 – age for men; 185 – age for women).
Today I did 21.31km in 2:07:26 and I felt good. I could quite easily have lifted my pace (I think) but just wanted an easy run. It’s funny how some days it is easy and other days it is all you can do to put one foot in front of the other.
Here’s today’s map:
Overall a very enjoyable run. It was especially nice to see so many people out running with their Auckland marathon shirts on. There’s always that nod or friendly smile when you see a fellow runner out training.
This coming week is the big one. My first 20 miler of this training cycle. You can tell the marathon is getting close! I’ve got a 20 miler this week, then a 12 miler, then another 20 miler and then the taper down to the race proper starts. 6 weeks to go!
Sri Chinmoy Race and a loooong run
My parents came to Auckland for the weekend to visit their favourite (and only) grandchild and it has become a bit of a tradition that my dad and I find a race to run when he visits. My mum and wife have also become keen on running over the last year or so, so we thought we’d find an event where everyone could do something.
The Sri Chinmoy folks have a quarterly event in the Auckland Domain and my wife, dad and myself entered the 10K and my mum entered the 5K.
Unfortunately it turned out that our babysitter (aka the other grandma) had to go to a religious service so I ended up supervising my monkey instead of running. It was fun having her cheer for her mother as she ran past us but she didn’t quite get the hang of it as her cheer was “Mummy! No run away – come back!”
It was a smallish event but one of the things I liked was the little signs with sayings of Sri Chinmoy. I liked this one for some reason:
My wife did the 10K race and set a new and inaugral PR of 57:29 and in so doing she also smashed her 5K PR – unfortunately she can’t quite remember the exact seconds but she saw the clock was saying 28 minutes something when she went by at the 5K mark and her previous 5K mark was 29 something.
Here she is on her final lap:
My mum and dad had good races as well and once they were all done I handed off my daughter and ran home (the long way).
I normally do my long runs on Sunday but because of the racing and other events on yesterday I only did my long run this morning. I took the day off from work as my parents were still here. I snuck out of the house at about 6:00 am and did a loop around the city.
The first half was along the coast and was pretty spectacular. The weather was perfect and it was just great. The second half was through the city and suburbia and while it was pretty good I hit rush hour and kept having to wait at traffic lights which was a trifle annoying.
I think I forgot to restart my watch after one of the lights as when I mapped out my route it said that I should be doing about 30.4 km but my GPS watch said I only did 29km which is a bit of a discrepancy. Anyway, 30km in 3:08:09.
That’s week 11 of my marathon training program done now. I did 73.8 km over the last 7 days which is not to be sneezed at. I’ve done 278 kilometres over the last 30 days. Marathon training sure does help the mileage climb!
After I got home from my run I took the family out to Wenderholm national park for a picnic lunch and a bit of a hike.
Unfortunately my monkey refused to walk so I ended up carrying her on the hike. The route we took went up a rather steep hill:
We started off from the car park next to the river so you can see we climbed a fair distance! I think I earned the ice cream I had on the way home!
Week 12 of my marathon training program is a step back week so mileage on all the runs is much reduced and I only have to run a half marathon distance this coming Sunday.
Who stole the bridge?
Today’s schedule called for a 5 mile run but I decided that I was feeling good and decided to do my harbour loop run which is about 11km. Conditions were perfect at the start. It’s one of those glorious spring days here in Auckland today. However, by the time I got down to the harbour area I was running into a huge fog bank. The bridge had all but disappeared:
By the time I got to the CBD the fog had burnt off and could only be seen in the distance:
It was quite a cool experience (figuratively and literally!) and I really enjoyed it.
The run itself was fantastic. I just felt good the whole way and it’s probably the fastest run I’ve done since my last race.
Overall 11.04 km in 1:01:28 which I’m quite happy with. So far in September I’ve averaged 10K a day. Gotta love the marathon training.
A glorious spring morning run
My little girl slept through for 5 nights this week which is a personal best. Unfortunately a spider crawled across her ceiling and needless to say we’ve been woken up every hour or two to do a spider check. As such, my wife and I were both cursing when my alarm went off at 5am this morning. However, once we got out the door the conditions were so beautiful that the night time troubles were easily forgotten.
My training plan called for 17 miles (27.3 km) and hers called for 18 km (11 miles).
We started off by running inland towards One Tree Hill. It was rather bracing as there was still frost on the ground. There were many sheep with lambs about and it was a rather nice scene. I took this photo earlier in the week. The photos I took this morning didn’t come out that well as there wasn’t enough light.
We then headed down to the coast where my wife planned on peeling off and heading home while I continued on. However, she was feeling really good so decided to stick with me for a bit and do an extra two kilometers. This is her running ahead of me this morning:
Today was her record distance as she did 20 km in just over 2:10 minutes. I’m very proud of her and it’s been great being able to run with her.
I pushed on and continued running down to just past Kohimarama. I bumped into Aaron who was out doing his run and looking rather fighting fit. You can tell marathon season is approaching in Auckland as there were a great many runners out and about. It’s quite nice seeing everyone out running to be honest. I always sense a great air of cameraderie although it may all be in my imagination!
Here is today’s map:
I ended up doing 28 km in 2:59:52 which is rather slow but it was very enjoyable and at the end of the day that is what it is all about. My average heart rate was 135 which goes to show that I could have pushed the pace a bit more. 
I’ve been having a real good streak with my running lately. I’ve just been enjoying the runs and its been no trouble getting out the door. The weather in Auckland has been cooperating as well as the conditions have been absolutely stunning.
That’s the end of week 10 of training. I did 70.2 km this week whichi is close to 44 miles. I think I’ll be doing even more next week!
Spring has arrived
It is the 1st day of Spring here in the Southern Hemisphere and the weather today was beautiful. I ran into work today and it was a crisp day with blue skies. Perfect running weather. I forgot my cellphone at home so unfortunately I have no pictures of my run. It’s always the case that when you forget the camera you see plenty of photo worthy sights! I saw some folks putting these huge articficial flowers up on the beach – don’t ask me why – and it would have been a great photo. Never mind!
I did 223km in August which is not bad at all and it looks like September will be the month I do my record mileage.
I completed my rest week last week and this week the mileage steps up a bit. I think I’m supposed to do about 44 miles this week. My long run this week will be 17 miles which is a rather long way just quietly.
I hit a small milestone on Sunday when I cracked 2500 km since I first started running last year. The last month or so I’ve felt really good about my running. I haven’t been running fast at all but I have been enjoying most of my runs. Getting out of the door has been easy even if the runs themselves haven’t always been that great. I’m really looking forward to doing the marathon which is pleasing as I was a bit worried that I’d lose my motivation after finishing my first one.
I’m halfway through my training program now so 9 more weeks to go.
Daily Mile
-
RoadID
