Christchurch Marathon week

The week out from a marathon is one of the best for any runner. 99% of hard sessions are banked so the running is quite minimal. Rest and relaxation are major priorities and of course eating gets taken to another level. This doesn’t mean it’s a free for all with whatever you like, being selective I feel is still important. Staying clear of ‘adapted or processed’ foods is very important but sometimes the ‘ideal’ is not practical for a modern lifestyle. As we teach young kiwi’s at school a balance is the best approach. I heard a simple and clever analogy about this the other day. Your body is like a car and it needs to get the right petrol to go. 

   

For my race day fuel I’ve chopped, changed and trialled various things but have had good success with ‘snakes’ recently. Just the packet you can get from the supermarket, I forget the brand but they come in a white packet. I always train with things to make sure I don’t have issues with my stomach. The snakes work wonders too as they can be chopped into little segments, wrapped up in cling film and shoved into my little key pocket inside my shorts. I’ve raced with dried apricots (not anymore but still take on long runs), jet planes (too such of a mouthful in the heat of the moment). I haven’t bought into the concept of gels yet and believe that you can get what your body needs from other avenues, for how can I say….much less $$$$. However, we are all very different and the main thing is to simulate what you’ll have on race day…several times (whatever it may be). I tend to simulate the whole day, from weeks out. What time I’ll get up in the morning, what I’ll eat, strength of coffee to brew and what stretching to do. 

We all have our little routines and rituals so I’m confidently putting these out there full well knowing that some people have some very abnormal routines. Many of these begin the evening before and run through until the queue for the portaloos. Sport produces many of these rituals and cricket springs to mind as being a classic. I recall hearing that Alec Stewart (former English wicket keeper/batsman) would always put the left side of his clothing/protection on first; left shoes, sock, pad, glove etc. Being a budding wicket keeper myself I thought this was a great idea and began doing so. Safe to say he had much more success than I did. 

So come Sunday morning when you wake and begin your routine or whatever it may be? Remember that you will not be the only one, embrace the fact that we are all running or walking and we all start the day of a run together. No matter how fast or slow we finish or the distance we travel, we need to cross the start line and the finish line. Could it be simpler than that?

Anyone who has read this and is running or walking any of the distances on Sunday, good luck and enjoy!

Out and about this week and weekend:

Wednesday:

Leeston Wednesday Night Road Runners, Leeston, Canterbury.
http://www.ellesmereroadrunners.co.nz/index.php?page=wednesday-handicap

Sunday:

Christchurch Marathon (full, half, 10km and walking options)

http://www.christchurchmarathon.co.nz/

Mid season

I’m in need of a half decent camera! I can’t recall the last photo that I posted on this blog and I don’t believe that these words fill the void left by the lack of imagery. It would just be nice to have taken some stills of the sun rises I’ve recently seen (this is no plug for a camera to be at my doorstep, although I did go on Ryan Sandes blog recently and saw he was thanking a camera company, and sunglass. He did, over the weekend dart his way to the top of the podium in the North Face 100, so give that man three cameras to be fair)! I’ll invest at some point.

On that note, Kiwi Ultra stars Vajin Armstrong and Grant Guise showed them how it’s done over there too; Vajin 2^nd and Grant 6^th. It was great tracking the results over the internet last weekend! How about this then, Vajin, Grant and Marty Lukes (NZ 100km champ 7 hours) all Canterbury based Ultra runners really doing us proud. Has to confirm that our region is one of the best for training and racing? This could be argued but I’ll mention this as my point of view.

Another Canterbury based institution, the Christchurch Marathon, is Sunday week. Now I’ve read that they are expecting 5000+ for this event. That would be amazing if we can muster up that amount of people. I’ve been over parts of the course a couple of times now and have to say it’ll be quick. Some of the stretches are quite weather dependent, due to the overall straightness of them, but if it’s going to be a rough one on the day nowhere in Christchurch is safe. All we can do is hope for the best.

For my own prep I couldn’t be happier with how it has all gone post Rotorua. The last few weeks before a marathon, or any testing distance race, doubts always creep into the back of your head and we deal with them in different ways. Something we need to keep in mind is what you’ve done over the past couple of months is far more important that the final 10-14 days. In this time you aren’t going to make the biggest gains or advancements in your form. I believe it’s important to trust what you have done and feel confident and positive about it. Rest, eat wholesome solid food and mentally prepare for the task that’s in front of you. We are all different though and what may work for me might not work for someone else. As with the Fruitarian, only eats fruit, nuts and seeds (http://www.thefruitarian.com/). If you check out race history some of the results are pretty nuts. For example  he did the 2010 Leadville in 22 hours and 3 days later racked up a 2.39 marathon. By the way Leadville is a 100 mile Ultra, one of the toughest around, in which the following year he came 4th.  Really intriguing how people are so different and can train their bodies to complete some amazing accomplishments. He also has some great YouTube clips on the Western States and various other stuff.

So Christchurch Marathon in ten days and then it’ll be a switch of focus to longer/slower mileage for the 50 mile race in the UK mid-August. Looking forward to it!

Out and about this week and weekend:

Wednesday:

Leeston Wednesday Night Road Runners, Leeston, Canterbury.
http://www.ellesmereroadrunners.co.nz/index.php?page=wednesday-handicap

Saturday:

The Frontrunner Series, Queenstown. 10km and 5km

http://www.activeqt.co.nz/events/the-frontrunner-series/race-information/

Enjoy the sunshine

A week on....

I’ve always found that a week can be a very long time with so much changing and happening during its course. This week I was determined to establish a solid running routine, being that I’m quite a creature of habit. With so much going on in our running world it’s hard not to escape.  I love it, so escaping, well most of the time, isn’t necessary. Over the weekend there was the Transvulcania  Ultra, on La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain. The build-up for this race was unprecedented and from all reports/blogs it seemed to live up to the expectation. Perhaps largely down to home grown Anna Frost, who destroyed the women’s field on her way to smashing the course record by nearly two hours.

Here’s a pre-race interview with her from Back Country Runner http://backcountryrunner.co.nz/2012/05/08/anna-frost-pre-transvulcania-interview/

And here is a taste of what the race video will look like

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt09MHBzwA0&feature=youtu.be

Now this weekend, more close to our home, is the North Face 100. 100km set in the Blue Mountains. Likely Canterbury based lads Grant Guise and Vajin Armstrong are going to be at the tight end of the race showing those Aussie battlers how it’s done. There’s also a strong international contingent on hand, so this one has the makings of yet again being wicked tracking for the heads.

Which you could do via:

http://www2.thenorthface.com.au/100/

Fully back in our area now and I popped up to Blenheim over the weekend and did the Saint Clair Vineyard Half Marathon: http://www.vineyardhalf.com/

I was supporting Rose through her first bid at half marathon glory, which she achieved without difficulty, including a massive sprint finish leaving me in the middle of a dust cloud. As I mentioned before, the run was sold out, and it was a true event. A weekend away which appeals to a variety of people leading to the success. The course is stunning, matched by the time of year to make the colours of the vines and surrounding trees take me back to New England in fall.

On course they have a variety of bands, banjos and food stalls. I indulged in Regal’s finest Salmon, Gelato and some super sweet honey chews which were tactically positioned one km out from the finish to give runners a much needed boost! The atmosphere is very relaxed and social with all competitors smiling their way around the scenic course. After crossing the finish line you walked en-route to get a bottle of wine for taking part. On collection some people had decided to reward themselves and get stuck into it straight away, fair enough I say!

For me this week I managed to get that routine sorted with 12 positive sessions, rounding the week out with 165km’s at around 13 hours. My highlight would have to be heading back up Worsley for the first time since the good old days of the ‘Sunday Session Sutherland’ loop and noticing some nice little single track (Mountain Bike) just on the verge of the trees. My downhill was loads more fun with some tight and twisting trails while rapidly descending. Funny how you think you know a place so well and then all of a sudden a new area opens for exploring!

Out and about this week and weekend:

Wednesday:

Leeston Wednesday Night Road Runners, Leeston, Canterbury.
http://www.ellesmereroadrunners.co.nz/index.php?page=wednesday-handicap

Saturday:

Wanaka Riverrun Trail Series

http://www.trailseries.co.nz/

Sunday:

Sri Chinmoy Sumner 10km, Christchurch

http://nz.srichinmoyraces.org/races/christchurch

Photos to follow, currently locating the missing camera lead!

Enjoy!

   

 

Running Soup

A week after the Rotorua marathon my recovery has gone really well and I couldn’t be happier. I employed an ‘active recovery’ approach which began with a small trail run around the Blue Lake in Rotorua. Just ticking around this really made me upset that I haven’t, yet, run the Tarawera Ultra. The area seems incredible for trail running!

Blue Lake

So it was back down to Christchurch and onto the Ports for a lazy Monday couple of hours. My legs felt tender on the downs but good on everything else. Plenty of stretching, relaxed running sessions with no intensity, cold water bathing and eating good food saw me get to the start line of the New Balance 15km Road race.

I went into this race blind, no plan or goal time. If anything I was still buzzing from last weekend and saw it as a great mental test which I’m sure will be beneficial come Christchurch Marathon time. I was expecting the pace to be pretty rapid from the get go so quickly convinced myself to just try and hang on as long as possible. So I suppose that was my hastily thought of race plan. A group of 4 of us put a little bit of distance on the main bunch, this included Sam Wreford (great to see him back in NZ and in top nick), Nick Rennie and Dave Ridley. We ran together for a while until Sam and I put a little more distance on them. I tried to stick with Sam for as long as I could but he edged further and further away from me. By the end of the first lap he was clear by 30-40 seconds. I kept pushing hard through each km but gradually my legs seemed to get very tired. Anyway, I got home in just under 48 mins for the 15km. A solid hit out post Rotorua and really pleased with how it all panned out.

After this it was a quick change at home and into Hagely Park to watch the NZ 100km Championships. I’d been keeping an eye on http://backcountryrunner.co.nz/ with its live updates so had an idea of what was happening. Down there it was great, little 2km loop course which housed competitors tents, food and aid stations as they went by. Great performances by all who competed and in particular Marty Lukes who brought it home in just over 7 hours. Also Glenn Sutton, who won the Northburn 100 mile, only about 5 weeks before, coming home in 3^rd. I always gain loads of inspiration from events and athletes like this so it was great to get there, support and hang out!

This weekend Rose and I are up to Blenheim with Jess and Duncan as we are in the half marathon around the Saint Clair Vineyard. Rose and Jess are in their first ½ and we’ll be supporting them through it. This is going to be great and I also saw that it’s a full on sell-out, 2000 people, look out Blenheim. They haven’t seen the likes since the late 90’s and infamous Marist Div 2 end of year bus tours.

Saint Clair Vineyard

From around the region this week and upcoming weekend:

Wednesday:

Leeston Wednesday Night Road Runners, Leeston, Canterbury.
http://www.ellesmereroadrunners.co.nz/index.php?page=wednesday-handicap

Saturday:

Parkrun, in Wellington but love the concept of these, they have really taken off in other parts of the world. It would be great if they worked here too.

http://www.parkrun.co.nz/lowerhutt/

Saint Clair Vineyard ½ Marathon. I’ll be there, as a supporter and encourager!

http://www.vineyardhalf.com/

Sunday:

Mother’s Day Fun Run in Kaiapoi

http://www.visitwaimakariri.co.nz/new-zealand/eventPopup/index.cfm?eventID=1379

Few stats from the week:

Distance: 103

Time: 8 hours 40 mins

Enjoy it!

Athletics in Action Interview

Here's the link to an interview I did with Gary Nesbit of 'Athletics in Action'.

http://www.athletics.org.nz/Article.aspx?ID=8558

The 100 mile they refer to on the contents page was not overseas, it was the 2011 Northburn. Must have been some kind of typo??

Anyway, enjoy