Reality check run, is probably the best description of this mornings run. Someone said to me last year before the Triple Peaks not to worry about Mt Erin its a doddle, YEAH RIGHT! Its long and unrelenting and combined with about 10 gates to negotiate its a reasonably tough run on the best of days. Met up with Chris and Mike just before 6am and drove out to find the gate in the dark and without my glasses which made the task even trickier. We parked a couple of kms from the gate and started off in earnest which takes a while these days once I get all my gadgets going! We chugged nicely to the top in reasonable time about an hour all up, couple of pictures and took in the view from the top (beautiful) and back to the car. I felt pretty good and when we got to the car I could have happily jumped in and gone home but we turned around and headed back to the top again. It was warming up by this time and the second assent seemed tougher than the first but we kept our discipline and chugged to the top and I think someone planted a couple more gates along the way just to make it that bit tougher. I found the second run down tough as we upped our speed and I could feel it taking it out of my legs and knees but we got back to the car in 3hours 13minutes and 28.7km and for a week total of 99.12km which might be a record for us!

Considering I was feeling it after the run and pretty stiff when I got home I came right after a hot shower and felt great that afternoon and on Sunday. I had a moment on Saturday when I thought we haven’t done enough but that always happens with me as we get close to a race, I don’t think we could have done much more and with another decent week in store for us coming up I think (hope) we should  be OK. I have been stretching a lot more in the evenings which is helping and I have also started the hot/cold wash on my legs after the harder runs and again I think that’s helping as well. We will see and I will catch you again after our run on Monday.

Kia Kaha Aaron

Chris…

Whoever said Mount Erin was the easiest out of the three is having a laugh and cant have ran it twice in one day after a hard week on the tracks, crikey that was tough we manage 28.9k in 3hours 13mins. We met up just before six and headed off down Middle road in car looking for the entrance, easy in daylight but took a bit of doing in the darkness. A couple of false starts and a U turn later and we were there, we decided to park up a couple of K down the road to make a decent run of it. We set off at an easy pace nice and steady chatting away and before I new it we were at the entrance and heading up. There were lots of gates to negotiate but apart from that pretty straight forward and again before I new it we were at the top. We have been running with hydration packs for a couple of weeks now which are filled with cold water and not hydration fluid like we did last year this combined with Leppin on the hour seems to work for us. A quick photo session and off we went straight back to the car then without stopping turned around and headed back to the top, this is were it got difficult and for some reason it felt twice as long as the first time, might have been because we had run out of things to talk about and all I could think about was my heavy legs and lack of breath but we made it in the end which meant that we could turn around and run all the way back down again, great! Finished it though and recovered real quick I didn’t much feel like I could or wanted to do another 18k or so like I would have too on the day but I have to keep reminding myself that on the day I would not have done a hard weeks training prior so I should be feeling a lot better. A day off tomorrow so I will blog again on Monday.

Later – Chris

Chris…

Not much more to add, Aaron seems to have it covered. Aaron made a comment on the humidity and I must say that the humidity has been a big factor on most of our training runs this year compared to last, I did hear that it has been the wettest Jan / Feb for a hundred years or so well I don’t know about that but when we are out running and the sun is blazing you can feel the hot moisture rising which makes it so much more difficult to run. Everyone on the day has to run in the same conditions though so if it is going to be hot & humid, bring it on we’ve done the training.

Day off tomorrow as well, hoping to fit in a swim  just to keep the old body going. Thanks to Mike Richards we have got permission to run Mount Erin on Saturday which will meen another early start for our biggie of the week. 2 weeks left role on the 13th March

Later – Chris

Had a good run up the Goat Track with Chris and Ben again at lunch, a good steady pace but the heart rate was going for it and i think I topped out at 225bpm as we hit the top! The rate came down pretty quick though which is pleasing as it shows I probably have a reasonable level of fitness. We hit a patch of rain half way up which was refreshing although the humidity was high which meant we were breathing pretty hard. We have decided on a swim again tomorrow which I am looking forward to as its a good chance to rest weary legs before another big hit out in the weekend and just mixes up the training as well. Swimming is a great way to get fit and will help our aerobic fitness for running as well.

Well will leave it at that for today as a night in the tent awaits with my mate Callum in the back garden, kids come up with the best ideas sometimes…..

Kia Kaha Aaron

Another good early hit out this morning with Chris and Ben, 5.55am start and we were away. Had the heart rate monitor on again and we ticked along at an average of 140bpm which is a good aerobic pace for me to tick along at. We covered nearly 13.5km again out to the horse and back and managed to chat most of the way so maybe we needed to up it a little bit but to be honest that’s splitting hairs and I personally think we are bang on track. Thankfully its a little cooler today and overcast so that should make lunchtimes run up the Goat Track a little more bearable I hope.

A big thank you to Progressive Meats for coming on board with sponsorship, thanks Craig and Jim for your support it means a lot to us and again you have put your name behind a local effort and that’s fantastic.

Will catch you again after the Peak today. Kia Kaha Aaron

Chris…

Had to take the car into Hastings to be repaired today so I opted to run back home instead of running at lunchtime with Aaron. It did not make any difference to the program I ran for about an hour at an easy stretching pace, keeping my heart rate as low as possible which is what we had planned. I think I am going to look like the poor relation when running along side Aaron what with his new joggers and now his new heart rate monitor, reckon he will be getting his hair done next! all good though back at it in the morning and now that we have had two days apart we should have loads to chat about.

Later – Chris

Another hot one today and got an early call from Chris that he wasn’t going to make our lunchtime run so I was out on my own. I did have a bit of a turn today as I received my Polar Heart rate watch from the in-laws so I trialled that and was over the moon with the results. Its a reasonably basic model but does everything I want it to so now I am looking like a bit of a real runner (nearly). I did a reasonably flattish run but did loop the Tainui Reserve and managed to get the heart rate up over 160bpm, so I will read the manual tonight and see if that’s a good or a bad thing. Did about 10km in 55mins so nice and gentle before tomorrows double up which again sees us hit the Goat Track. I am starting to get into these heavier weeks and enjoying pushing myself, I will have to line something up for when the Triple Peaks is over but don’t tell my wife!

Kia Kaha Aaron

Dragged my weary body out of bed at 5.30am this morning and met up with Chris at 5.55am for our early run. Took a little while to get into it and felt reasonably good by the time we got to the horse. We increased the pace on the return leg and ended up nailing 13.25km in just a touch over an hour which wasn’t bad for us. Felt pretty good that morning and was looking forward to meeting up with Chris again for our hill sprints session. Unfortunately I poked my head into a meeting the Directors were having just prior to walking out the door and couldn’t get away for another 1/2 hour so I missed Chris but work comes first in that situation. I did manage to catch up with him for his last sprint so I did my first one and what a shocker that was! By about the 3rd rep I was doing OK and finished the six reps in decent form which was pleasing, but man it was hot! I also debuted the new Trail shoes today and it may take me a couple of runs to work them in but initial thoughts are they are a decent buy.

I just had a quick look and we ran just over 83km last week on 5 runs and over 91km the week before again in 5 runs so racking up the K’s which is good.

We would also like to thank Murray Tait of Te Mata Exports for his generous support and also James Drysdale for coming on board with sponsorship it is greatly appreciated and will go a long way to making a local child’s day when they get their wish!

Till tomorrow, Kia Kaha Aaron

Chris…

Another early start a 05:55 meet up with Aaron for the first of two runs today. We did our normal jog out to let the horse out of its pen just nice and smooth talking all the way, Ben said good morning to the horse today which I thought was nice then we turned around and headed back home. We both picked up the pace and by the time we got back we were going along at a fair clip, I felt great – a good start to the day.

Lunch time came around just a bit too quick for my liking, I think knowing that we were going to hit the hill sprints again was the reason why. Aaron got stuck in a meeting so I had to go it alone it was another hot one temp hovering around the 28 deg mark. I headed off up towards Chambers Walk at a reasonable pace going straight into the first set of six without stopping for a stretch off. It hurt to say the least ! it was more like a hill walk & wheeze than a hill sprint, I felt much better though after a quick puff on the inhaler and a walk back down for the start of the next one I held a decent pace for the next five and I was well pleased with the session all in all. Aaron turned up just as I was about to start my last one so we did this together, he seemed to be dragging his butt a bit but then I realised that he had his new runners on and he was too busy looking down and admiring his feet rather than concentrating at the job in hand. Same two runs as last week so that’s another 27k in the bank. Role on tomorrow.

Later – Chris

Just when you think you are on top of training and you’ve turned the corner Monday comes along and knocks you down a peg or two. I felt great running out to meet Chris at lunch today but it soon became apparent that this lunchtime blowout would be a bit more difficult than expected. We hit the Peak again up to the water tanks and while I fancied a couple of stints at walking I made myself chug to the top without walking which pleased  me. One of my goals this year is to work on my mental strength and little things like that all add up. I like the next red blooded Kiwi male like a nice cold beer but I knocked all alcohol on the head at the beginning of January and I am determined not to drop my guard which again helps with the mental strength. I want to know that when the pinch comes and the pain is starting to tell during the race that I can dig that bit deeper and drive myself on. Well the plan is there anyway and we will see what happens. Chris and I have set a couple of goals for this years race and that’s important for motivation and helps when the alarm goes off early in the morning or its high 20’s outside and we have some hill reps to do. As we have said all along once its done its in the bank and hopefully when we empty the tanks on the 13th March we have stored enough to finish the race and achieve our goals, or maybe exceed them who knows. Well its about bedtime for me, meeting the old boy at 5.55am tomorrow then hill reps at lunchtime. Till tomorrow Kia Kaha Aaron