Week 2

Week 2 done, and mostly all going well so far. All scheduled runs got done. We're still not going fast yet, running around 6min 50sec per km on the long runs at the moment. Going a bit faster on the shorter runs now however.

The bad news is that I've got quite a nasty blister on my left foot, under the arch. So I'm going to be buying myself a nice new pair of running shoes, which will hopefully fix the problem. But until then, and until the blistering goes down I'm going to have to take things easy. Better to miss a few days, than damage myself badly and miss weeks latter.

So, until then, cross training is the way forward.

Week 1

Well, week 1 (week 2 from the program) of our marathon training is now complete. Which means so far things are going well. Week 1 was 3 5km runs, all done in 32-34 minutes and a 10km run, which took 68 minutes. So we're going slowly, but that's OK at this point, I think...

This week's schedule goes 5km, 6.5km, 5km and 8km. Which looks to be no harder than last week. So hopefully the weather behaves, and we are able to keep our 100% strike rate going.

Coming Next

So, what I've learned from the previous months races is that my training needs to step up significantly if I'm going to get results that I'm happy with. So I have decided on a training program to follow, and have decided on some events to build towards;

1. Whangrei half marathon, 12 September, Goal: Personal Best half marathon time

2. Auckland city marathon, 31 October (this will depend on getting a ticket off trademe as they are sold out) Goal: Finish full distance marathon

3. Kerikeri half marathon, 20 November, Goal: sub 2 hour half marathon

4. Round Taupo cycle race, 27 November, Goal: Completion (in a team)

Disappointment

My next challenge was a 2nd half marathon. And for some reason I thought that Wellington, in winter would be a good choice. Myself and 2 friends went drove down to attempt the harbour capitol half marathon.

If I'm honest with myself I know that my training suffered following the northern crossing, so I was not expecting to set the world on fire.

However, once again in nasty, cold, wet conditions, I was still disappointed with my result. Whilst I was able to finish (and I still think that finishing is something to be proud of) I ran 2hr 30 min. 10 minutes slower than I ran in Kerikeri last year.

I guess this means I will have to go back and do another until I'm happy with my result.

Northern Crossing Done

Well, I said in a previous post I'd be training 5 times a week to get there. That didn't happen nearly was many weeks as I would have liked it to.

But, I got there, It was slower than I wanted, partly because I wasn't as fit as I wanted, and partly due to the conditions. We are looking at strong headwinds, and heavy rain for the duration. It took over 7 hours. But I completed my first multi sport event!

One job done.

Goal 1, The Northern Crossing

It Begins

As a part of my get fit program I started last year, I'm setting myself new challenges, the first is the northern crossing on May 15. That is 9 weeks and 6 days from today. So I have a lot of work ahead of me.

I'll be entering the Duathalon, so I'll be doing 2x 8km runs, and over 80km cycling.

To get there, I'll be training 5 times a week. At least that's the plan.

The blog is to record my progress training, dieting etc. and by publishing what I'm planning like this, it makes it harder to back out!