Start line - a bit chilly

First river crossing

Getting ready to fill my pack

All the kids ran across the line with us - Awesome!

Don't think I could have gone any further

William just wanted to nick my free drink

A picture speaks a thousand words !

Chris…

Here’s my last entry for Triple Peaks 2010.

Crikey!! that was tough only just started to walk normal again with the pain in my legs for the first two days being just horrendous to say the least. I must have a short memory because I can’t remember it being so hard last year. I did enjoy it though although a bit disappointed that we never got under the 5 hour mark.

We didn’t get the best of starts with both me and Aaron stood on the side lines with family and friends fully dressed in our tracksuits with our trainers unfastened chatting away when we noticed that the race had started and everybody was leaving us behind, by the time we had got stripped off and ready to go we were more than 2 minutes behind. To make sure that we never sprinted off to  play catch up we controlled our pace pretty well, we kept telling each other to take it easy I think that we might have taken it a bit to easy getting to the first transition in the same time as last year. It didn’t  help that now we had started last we had a lot of overtaking to do and had to be pretty patient on some of the single line tracks. The transitions were great seeing all of our friends and family cheering us on, no time to stop though just a quick fill of water and off we went.

Before I new it we were at the top of Kahuranaki and heading back down we had walked for about 100m or so on one of the steeper parts but I think that it was more about control and saving ourselves rather that necessity. Half way down and all the talking had stopped with both of us in our stride for about 45mins we both ran on our own with 20m or so between us, I spent this time thinking about Georgina and my boys even having a little chat to my girl in the stars, this was my favourite part of the race  just taking in the scenery while dreaming and remembering.  We reached the 30k mark and I felt great and after a quick time check thought that this was going to be a doddle.

Before we reached the last transition we managed along with several other runners to get ourselves lost we had ran too far up the river bank after maybe 500m and had to double back. We decided that it was not an option so we jumped a couple of fences ran through an orchard and crossed a farmers field full of cows before wading knee deep through what was the most disgusting and foul smelling bog I have ever come across. We came out at he same point as if we had run the right way but instead of using the gate to get onto the main road Knowing that we had lost time I decided to jump the fence. Now I am not a country boy or nothing but I can recognise an electrified fence when I see one so I carefully stepped over the live bit and then climbed the main fence –  no problems there. In hindsight I should have shouted back to Aaron to take care over the fence but knowing that he is a thoroughbred Kiwi I just jogged on, I looked back just in time to see Aaron fly back into the field screaming like a girl and cursing at the top of his voice it was so funny I tried not to laugh but I just couldn’t help it. Still giggling away to myself we headed into the last transition and again very quick with Sam sorting out my water for me a half a banana and a high 5 for all the kids I collected Ben the dog and off we went for the last leg. We had hit the last transition  in about 3hours 45 minutes so on paper we had plenty of time to get home under the 5 hour mark when Aaron told me the time I had a big smile on my face knowing that there were only 2 or 3 individual runners in front of me combined with the time left I could not have been happier.

Funny how things change within a K of heading up the Peak my legs started to go, I had hit the wall with cramp in my thighs and calf muscles the energy just seemed to drain from me and I started to stagger and stumble. Within minutes Aaron was feeling the same showing a lot of concern for the cramp he was getting in his legs. We struggled on but in the end had to walk up the Peak not breaking into a run all the way up, this lost us both a massive amount of time and by the time we reached the top we had been on the go for 4 and 1/2 hours which left us only 30 minutes to achieve our goal time. This is the bit I am most proud of because we both just put our heads down and went for it we ended up being the fastest out of all the athletes on the day including the winner from the top of the Peak to the finish line which shows that we tried our very best. We finished the race in 5 hours 5 minutes which isn’t bad for a pair of old cronies.

We do not know yet how much money we have raised for the Make a Wish Foundation but it will feel good when we come to hand it over. I would like to finish with a big thank you to all friends and family both here and in England for their continued support also to the Havelock Primary School for getting on board with a mufti day and to all of our sponsors Fern-ridge, Black Robyn to name a few – Thank you

Much much later

Chris.

Chris…

Well here we are less than 24hrs to go, 6 months of training all for one run lets hope we have got it right. My aches and pains seem to have sorted themselves out so no worries there, we have had an easy week with just a couple of jog outs combined with a bit of stretching. On Wednesday I had a leg rub from Haley at work which was great and yes painful but it has made all the difference and I feel up and ready for it, Thanks Haley. I have just had a quick chat to Aaron on the phone and he sounds pretty nervous to say the least, I can’t say that I am really nervous probably more emotional than anything but no doubt the butterflies will start soon enough. As daft as it is the only thing that I keep thinking of and it was the same last year is that I hope I can managed a big pooh before the race , the last thing I want to do is make like a bear in the woods. The rest is all in a days work and I am looking forward to getting rid of all this excess energy I have got. Before I sign off until after the race I would like to thank Alistair at the Black Robyn Screen Printers who did an awesome job as usual with our T-shirts, not only did he do a fantastic job but he hand delivered them to me last night and refused any form of payment saying that it was his way of supporting a worth while cause, you gave me a bit boost man Thnx

Later – Chris

D-Day minus 1.

Well I apologise for letting the week pass without a post since Monday but we haven’t really done too much to be honest. We have had a couple of light jogs around the streets and yesterday we ran around Anderson Park for 40mins or so stopping regularly to stretch off. On Wednesday I went and saw Mark Foote and had a leg rub, now as nice as that may sound it certainly was anything but. I thought my stretching regime of the past few months would have been of benefit but not so, Mark hammered me and I was reduced to a quivering wreck. I need to do a lot more work but the silver lining is that I am doing the right thing with the foam roll I have but I just need to get a bit harder, sorry Mark will do better next time.

Today is about getting everything ready for the morning and resting up. I have a half day booked at work and I am going to have a nana nap this arvo then catch up with the kids at swimming, before registering and then the race briefing at the Domain at 6pm. We have “running pasta” for dinner then I am going to hit the scratcher early. We are trying not to over complicate things and keeping it simple, good pace, leppins every hour, banana at transition and just keep moving.

Chris dropped off the running shirt last night we are in Skins this year and I personally think they look great, we have had them printed up with Make a Wish, Ronald McDonald and Child Cancer logos and have Fern Ridge across the back, looking smart boys, a little poofy maybe but smart.

Well thats it folks will catch you after the race with a few pictures as well.

Kia Kaha Aaron

Chris…

First of all thnx Aaron for keeping the blog going in my absence. I have been busy, but too be honest I have not really felt like writing a blog and  I kept putting the job to the bottom of the “things to do list”. It’s not just the training and the fact that we have had a tough month leading up to the taper week, it’s more of the realisation why we are doing this run in the first place. It will be two years in May since I lost my daughter Georgina and the realisation and hurt are tenfold each day I wake. The fitness I gain through these runs along with the friendship I have built put together with the money we are raising for children and families who could find themselves in a similar position are just a few of the reasons why I am still able to get up in the morning but at the same time have found it difficult to write about.

I agree with Aaron I love taper week! Short runs and eating loads of pasta – great! I have had a couple of twinges to say the least though. With the running cutting back I started to feel a bit hyper active with energy to burn so when I got the opportunity from our next door neighbour to cut up a load of fallen trees I dove straight in. The work with the chainsaw wasn’t too bad but the humping of the wood over 100 metres up the hill and then going hard at it with an axe all day Sunday was the wrong thing to do. I did feel like Rocky at the time but I soon turned into Victor Meldrew the following day when I realised that I had put my back out and trapped a nerve in my neck to boot – Doh ! It’s a good job Debbie is a nurse and has copious amounts of anti-inflammatory pills in stock, I would like to say she had a sympathetic ear as well but hey lets keep things real! Not long now with just a few stretching jogs left and maybe a swim on Friday the job is done. We have set goals this year as you need to do when you are attempting something like this these goals are first of all to complete the course, secondly to beat last years time and thirdly we would like to go under the 5 hour mark. The first two I think are realistic enough the third a bit more difficult but I think that we a more than capable both physically and mentally we just need to put them both together on the day. Bring it on is what I say!

Later – Chris

I love taper week! Just a short 6km run with Chris at lunch today and a long stretch off in the Domain, we kept it pretty flat on an out and back run and felt pretty good. I have started to gently increase the carbs and hydrating more and the short run was good just to release the pressure value and let of a bit of steam. The one thing about this week is the constant toilet stops, it seems that I spend most of each day going for a pee. I also made the call (mistake) to text Mark Foote and ask if he could fit me in for a leg rub this week, unfortunately he can on Wednesday and I don’t know whats more painful, 40mins with him or the Triple Peaks. I am a wuss when it comes to these leg rubs and I am honestly not looking forward to it but I am sure it will be a good call in the end.

Kia Kaha Aaron

Managed to get in a good swim yesterday, 30 lengths of the Havelock pool without too many stops, I am no Michael Phelps but every little helps. Met up with Chris and Mike this morning at 7am and we headed up the Peak to the water tanks again and back to the Domain via the route that we will finish the Triple Peaks on. It was a decent hit out and I turned the stopwatch off at 1hr43mins which was maybe a little longer than I thought we might be but still about an hour shorter than the same run last year which didn’t help us then. The chat on our runs inevitably turns to next Saturday and I think we all are now just wanting to get to the start line and get going, its been a long lead up and the time for training and talking is done. Its now time for us to front up and do the business and that’s precisely what we intend to do.

Kia kaha Aaron

Well the last of our double ups today and I am going solo this morning as Debbie is on nights and Chris can’t make it so I decide to do the same run around Arataki that we did on Tuesday only in reverse. It ended up being a nice 13.5km run in just over an hour so nothing too strenuous and that hill at the end always gets me, why we buy houses at the tops of hills I’ll never know. I felt pretty good and had the heart rate averaging about 142bpm, I did notice a couple of times I thought I was going OK only to look at the watch and see that my heart rate had dropped so I promptly sped up. If for nothing else it will keep me honest. Time for food and a sit down at work before our lunchtime run.

Part II

I was feeling a bit stiff when I met up with Chris and Ben at lunch, Chris had run about 9am so he had even less of a break but we headed up to Te Mata Peak and decided to head to the water tanks via the trails and we put in a good solid run as well. I thought I wanted to make it to the top of the Peak but in hindsight it was the right move to go to the tanks as we were both pretty knackered. Tomorrow is a swim and our last decent run is Saturday and then its the countdown, not long now!

Kia Kaha Aaron

Well I am actually writing this blog a few days late so I will endeavour to remember what we did, thats right I remember nothing, no run, not a jot. I had a funeral in the morning in Napier and then we had a BBQ for lunch at work and by the time I had some free time I couldn’t be bothered. I found out the next day that Chris had also avoided a run so an unexpected by welcome rest day.

Kia kaha Aaron

Another early start this morning and I nearly stuffed it up after turning the alarm off I made the mistake of not getting straight out of bed and next time I looked at the clock it was 5.39am. Managed to meet Chris in time and we didn’t have to do the horse this morning so we looped the Village, just over 13km in an hour which was a good effort. Plenty of people out at that time of the morning walking, jogging and riding bikes which is really good to see. Felt pretty good when I got home but it was pretty warm so I had a good sweat on. I didn’t get the stretch off I needed especially with hill sprints on the agenda for lunchtime. Will let you know how we get on….

Part II

Another warm lunchtime run but thankfully it was a little cloudy. I think we both struggled to get into a decent run before the Peak and I for one was quite keen on avoiding the sprints and just running around the trails. But Chris was keen to get the sprints in so I obeyed the team Captain and struggled through the first one. I managed to come right and I was reasonably pleased with my efforts once we finished. I had my heart rate maxing out at 175bpm and then it quickly came back to 120-125bpm which was a pleasing recovery. We had a good run back into the village and that’s the second to last double up done, just Thursday to go now. Not running tomorrow as I have a funeral to go to but will be back into it Thursday morning and will be back on the Blog then as well.

Kia Kaha Aaron

Nice start to the week as I caught up with Chris at lunch for a hit out. We keep it reasonably flat around the streets and reserves in Havelock for about an hour. It was a hot run and we got a bit of relief from the sun when we hit the reserves, legs felt OK as well. To be honest not much more to say on today’s run but will have the alarm set for 5.15am tomorrow morning as we hit another double up day. This time in two weeks it will all be over, months of training, countless early morning alarm calls, endless kilometers and the odd trail or two and that will be it done a dusted for another year. Will have to find another run to aim for, maybe I will have a sneaky peak at the Rotorua marathon again.

Just as a side note we ran over 322km in February, not a bad effort for a couple of old Dads.

Kia Kaha Aaron