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

Chris…

Here we go again another week of high volume and high intensity training, well that’s what it says on the program anyway. Met up with Aaron at lunch time today in the village domain for our Monday blow the cobwebs away run up the Peak. I had been feeling fine all weekend after Saturdays run not even giving it a second thought. We set off at an easy pace up along Duart Rd, heading for the water tanks on the Peak. As soon as we started it hit me I felt week with no strength at all in my legs I struggled along not saying anything to Aaron trying to work it out what was wrong, maybe it was the volume we put in last week or maybe Saturdays run was tougher than I thought whatever it was my legs would not work, I even walked a couple of the steeper climbs (Aaron never knew he was leading the way) anyway I managed to stumble on and we clocked just  over 12k in the mid day sun (28 deg) which I suppose is not bad for the start of the week. When I thought about it later I realised that I did not sleep well I had beat the alarm this morning getting up about 04:15 and sat about waiting to go to work around 5 ish. I had got back from swimming in time to grab a slice of toast and to take my boys to school then straight out to watch the school swimming sports before rushing back to get changed for running. All in all I had not taken on any water or nearly enough food for the type of training we are doing, its a sharp reminder that food, hydration and sleep are just as important as the training itself!

Later – Chris

Awesome, awesome, awesome! I didn’t think I would ever get such a buzz out of this running lark but Saturday changed all that. Another 5.15am alarm call and 2 1/2 Weet Bix later (will try for 3 this weekend) and it was time to head out. I got picked up by Chris and then we collected Mike and headed to Rochford Road, still pretty dark and very cool but we are a hardy bunch. We set off at a nice easy pace and as we got to the base of Kahuranaki the weather had warmed up nicely and we chugged up at a good pace not stopping but at the same time taking the opportunity to take in the view which was absolutely stunning. When we got to the top we took a few pictures for the Blog then shot back down to the bottom and turned ourselves around and headed back to the top again. The second ascent felt as good if not better than the first and it was a really good psychological boost three weeks out. We headed back to the car and ended up running for 3hrs16mins and 27km which was a little shy of our target but a good hit out. Mike is trying to line out Mt Erin this weekend and this will be our last long run until the day of the race. We have another high intensity week coming up but knowing whats to come after last week is a good thing. I finally bought a pair of Trail shoes as well on Saturday so they will get christened this week as well.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Paul Robertson of Kahuranaki Station for permission to run to the top on Saturday it is very much appreciated and we owe you a beer.

Also congratulations to our adventure race nemesis Spud for completing this years Coast to Coast, I believe hes already lined up to go again next year so that’s great.

Kia Kaha Aaron