The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Wow, let me put it out there that today was one of the most jam packed (and best) days I've had in a long time.
I haven't written a running update to anyone (Mitch included) in a long time. Not because I've been particularly lazy but because, up until now, there hasn't been too much of interest. Here's a weekly summary: 33 miles, 53 miles, 57 miles, 67 miles. That's really all you need to know. All mileage was at a steady effort and I've just been getting back into the grind and plugging away like I did last (northern hemisphere) summer. The difference? I'm 100% healthy! I'm hoping to keep it that way by focusing on the new calf/glut routine, yet keeping with past ankle/flexibility/drills that I found useful under Mitch's watchful eye. So now that you're caught up in under 5 sentances, let me narrate the result of that work.
1st ever "WTF am I doing" steeple clearance
I'd been looking forward to today's 2k XC race (steeples included) for some time now. Not just because I love racing, but because I was going to get an experience I hadn't before and may never have again: International XC! Man we're a bunch of wimps in the States, running around on manicured golf courses and calling it rugged XC. Today however, I got a dose of kiwi XC and "Hey Mikey, I think he likes it."
Lead up: Yesterday, I meant to only do 45min to freshen up for this race. That plan was confounded when I hit the restroom mid run. I only realized the significance of said event when I returned to the door of my apartment and realized my keys were no longer in my possession. Thus began the second half of my run, a 40 minute out and back, with 20 of those minutes in earnest prayer the keys had not been noticed and nabbed. Fortunately, they were sitting right where I absently placed them and 85min after it began, I finished my Friday "shakeout" jog.
So today I was once again in the "Screw it" mood, happy to just bake in the sun and enjoy the scenery. Man, this is real New Zealand. I haven't realized how much time I've been spending in the city! It's been 3 months since I saw the grassy hills and dells of the rest of the island, but today, our race was enveloped by rolling hills of cow-studded farmland (I've never seen cattle so fit, not even on Stone Hill). I jogged the course with a smile on my face. Well, that is until I saw the course. There were 6 hurdles total (the last of which was a meter high and at the top of a ridiculously steep climb) and 1 murky stream. I was in for some fun alright, but would I survive this "fun"?
Eventually, I donned my borrowed Scottish club singlet and took my place on the line next to the Kiwi 1500m champ, Hamish Carson. My goal was always to stick with him and push him through the line. However, when the horn sounded, and we leapt off the line, I saw my hope run away from me as fast as the long-haired fellow I sought to push. So 400 flat meters in I found myself in no man's land, 20m in front of the peloton but 20m back of my opponent. However, I felt a flicker of ambition again as I realized Carson was no longer pulling away from me. Soon after awkwardly clearing my first two ever steeple barriers, the competition ceased to matter. The course is what captured a majority of my thought and 800m in, 4 steeples down, it was just me against the course. This might be why I was surprised to come up on Hamish and gave little thought to passing him as we began our first gradual incline. The move I thought stupid at the time (why would I lead on a course I'd never run before?) turned out to be the right one as I discovered Hamish was practically gasping for air at this halfway point in the race. I suppose that's what you get for burning rubber out of the blocks buddy. To his credit, he was going for the course record, and neither of us would have run as fast if he didn't take the chance.
After the gradual incline, we pulled a U-ey and headed right back down... towards the stream. Now, about 4 steps from the water, it occurred to me I had made a mistake during my earlier warmup scouting expedition, and was now lacking a crucial bit of intel -- Water depth. Not that I think any of the spectators minded. I'm sure it was an entertaining sight when I took the leap of faith and landed 6 inches earlier than my best guess of knee height. Fortunately for the rest of the world, a camera was on scene to capture the event in stop-motion.
The course got really interesting for the remaining half mile and, for this reason, kept my mind off of the burning in my legs. Then, quite suddenly, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself 100m from the line and I dashed home to tag off the next leg in the relay (oh yeah, this was an XC relay with 6 members to a team). It finally donned on me what I had accomplished and several other bits of information brought a new smile to my face. Not only did I have the fastest time on the day, but one of the fastest ever, and in fact running the race faster than even Nick Willis had done in his lifetime! I'm going to take this as a really good sign of where my training is headed.
I ran a significant 40min cooldown, taking advantage of the fact I was once again in the beautiful hills and trails of backwater NZ. I finished the meet with some small talk and a nice juicy sausage hot off the "barbee".
The rest of the day was spent visiting a friend in the area, playing a little 2 on 2 basketball, and organizing an "American-style" party with Cary, jointly for his birthday and my farewell.
Well that was the "Good". The "Bad" and the "Ugly" are what happened that night and the next morning, but I'm not going to elaborate on that...
Suckers!
Hi mom 
Kiwi Nationals Day 2
Today is the biggest day of the meet for me.
I woke up and immediately assessed the discomfort level of my calves. I cautiously stood up and walked to the stairs, then took a step, then another. Shockingly, my calves didn't feel at all worse for wear! I still took it really easy though, slowly stretching and resumed drinking liquids.
All too soon we headed over to the track for my 11:38 race. Warmup went well and I congratulated myself for having the foresight to wear flats the day before (nothing like a good self-pat-on-the-back...) This time, unlike yesterday, I was ready for the 20minute wait we were required to sit through (in a tent) before the race got under way. I laced up and was feeling sprightly when the gun went off.
Once again I felt the race out from the back, watching the jostling ahead and trying not to gawk at having to run 56. It's a pretty easy race plan when you have nothing to lose. That's not to say I didn't have a goal and a focus for the race. I really wanted to see if I could get foward onto my toes and close well since I have not accomplished this for over a year now. I don't think it's an essential part of running fast, but I do see it as a requirement for winning! At the end of races I just end up reaching more with my stride to get that extra speed rather than using the sprinting muscles that should be relatively fresh. My problem for quite some time has been that those muscles have received no specific training, and the calf/glute/stride issues I've had for a few months has really highlighted that weakness.
So with 400m to go, I tried to get into sprinting position without picking up my pace too much (ended up in a failed move around a few guys). Stay on my toes. It felt awkward and I really couldn't imagine having more efficiency in that position. However, soon there was only 100m left in the race and I felt like I was stuck in sprinting position, exactly what I wanted. I closed pretty well, but more importantly, I confirmed my hypothesis when I started to rig. This is important! I have not rigged in a LONG time. I have fatigued at the end of races, but that's really quite different from what happens when your feet splay out and your hammies clench (even when they should be releasing). When you fatigue, your hips just sink and it looks to the public like you weigh a million pounds and are about to fall over. When you rig, it's like a full-body cramp. It was great!
Silver Fern Silver Medal
Oh and the race result: I came in 3rd - 1:53. Interestingly enough though, on the podium I was given silver! The change in result happened because the winner was Canadian and each event requires a kiwi podium. So naturally, the kiwi that came 2nd, the lithe Aniel Smith, was boosted to gold as well with the Canadian. Then I assume the official's thinking was "We can't give this kid from the States a bronze and then the kiwi he beat, a silver!" So I shared the silver medal spot with Josh Komen of Canterbury. James List, a Welly training buddy, was 3rd. Crowded podium...
I wasn't done yet though. The real consequence of the rig was that I knew my calves had taken a beating. I had 4 hours before the 1500m and I managed to get back home for some lunch, and, I was hoping, a nap. However, all of a sudden, I was eating a piece of toast with butter and cream cheese when JVD commented, "Well, 2 o'clock. Better think about heading back." What!?! Somehow I had lost an hour and here I was eating cream cheese less than 2 hours before my race. Stupid. And missed my 30min nap too... Great.
I wasn't as lucky in 1500m heats as I was in the 800. I was in the first heat and it looked stacked. No flats for me. That decision was solidified when I looked up and saw a strong overcast grey. Wet track and flats is a disaster.
My race went out and I settled right in a the back (starting to sound like a broken record). However, this time I noticed a gap forming less than a lap in. Looking ahead there were 5 solidly in the pack, and Aniel, the other doubler, was already trying to cover their move. No one said it would be easy but I was feeling up for it and so I moved out and stuck right on Aniel's shoulder. We picked up the pace but never gained ground on the front pack, staying about 10m clear.
2:07 at the 800m.
With 600m left I saw the pack getting restless and Aniel was starting to look the part of an 800 gold medalist as his shoulders began to sag. I moved around him and made the conscious decision to get with the front pack in about 200m. However, as I finished my move on the turn and looked up, I was puzzled. The pack was no closer than before. I redoubled my efforts for the next 300m but still couldn't get any closer to the 5 up there. Now, top 4 make it from each heat and next 4 fastest so I was understandably starting to panic. I went into full gear with 200m to go like I would at the end of a final. I closed pretty well again but realized I wasn't going to get the still quite strong 5 guys in front of me. I accepted my fate with 80m to go and stepped off of 100% to cruise through the line. They actually did the same thing and I finished half a second behind in 6th. For some reason I thought I ran a 3:56 and I was a bit bummed for a few minutes thinking it might be likely I would be first out. However, I was quickly reassured by one of the guys in front that we had finished in 3:53. Wow! I'm actually impressed I ran that fast.
The second pack scared me by running 62 for the first lap but then went through 800m in 2:10 so I had nothing to worry about there. They ended up running 3:58 with my cousin Cary picking up 5th and the last place qualifier spot in 3:59.
That night I repeated the same routine of getting a massage and having a beer and light calf hot tub run. This time though, the masseuse pulled my hairs. Waaa
Kiwi Nationals Day 1
In Debriefing...
That first post was meant to be put up prior to the event so I could cement my mindset. However, lack of internet stifled my ambition. Since then, I've been tying up a ton of loose ends, emails, little requests and other whatnot, and at the same time, trying to minimize the amount of time I sit in this chair (possible cause of fatigue). So I apologize for the tardiness of this entry.
I actually booked my flight with Alex Wallace for Friday morning knowing that I would get to the city, move into my room (planned on the colorful GO Hotel), and scamper off to the track for my 800 heat. Luck would have it that Awal was being picked up in a Wellington-sponsored van from the airport so I tagged along to get closer to the city. Upon reaching his destination: the impressive Camelot motel, I slid open the van door and jumped out.
No sooner had my feet hit the ground than I heard a familiar voice, "Mack Daddy!" - JVD
Camelot
The van had dropped us right at the doorstep of room 744, home to the Scottish ringleaders (Scottish being one of the Welly running clubs). "Where you staying, mate?"
"Haven't booked a room yet. Thinking about ..."
"Oi, I reckon we have an extra bed, eh Josh." Fano was way ahead of me.
"Uh, nope."
"Noooo, it's you, Japes, and Scotty downstairs so just me a Luke up."
"Yip, and there's only 2 beds upstairs..."
"Nooo, there's three beds you idiot."
"Nope, I remember. There was only two."
"I sleep up there you <beep> retard."
"Shall I check? I'm gonna check."
2 seconds later from the balcony, "Aw, yup. K," to me, "You should stay."
Love to. I immediately cut a deal: I would pay for the room's groceries as my part of the cost and we would live like kings! The next three days really reminded me of spring break a bit. Just chillin' with a bunch of runners, trying to relax between sessions, eating food, watching tele, sipping beers. Great times. Great times!
After an hour of catching up we all headed off to the track for day 1 of competition. For me it was just an 800 heat.
Now I was thinking about running in my Piranha flats prior to getting to the track, but once there I had a very pleasant surprise. Turns out, one Nicholas Willis had scratched from the 800m, choosing instead to head back to the States to focus on his training and nurse his knee a bit (I completely understand). Not only that but 1:49 runner Tim Hawks was still feeling worn out and would not be running. Between the two of them and a Canadian with a 1:48 under his belt, I think a lot of Kiwis were scared into the 1500m for their chance at a national title. So now the 800m was suddenly wide open! I was pretty confident about making the final and if I couldn't do it in the flats, I really didn't have any business racing anyways. So in 24 degree heat (no more conversions for lazy Americans) our two heats went off.
I was in the second heat and I smiled a bit as the first went through in 60. Sweet. They finished up in 1:55 and I was all but in to the final. My race goes and I tag along in back at what was probably a 56.
Nope -- 58.
The heat+flats scared me with a lap to go, which was a good thing because I finished in 1:56 after straining down the home stretch. I would have been more worried about how hard that 1:56 felt except that everyone else was panting after their equivalent times as well.
Grabbed a light calf massage (more of a rub) from the Wellington masseuse (the second mooch off the Wellington squad. I owe them big time), and tried to relax with a beer in the hot tub back at the Camelot. Tomorrow, big day! (And don't worry, I hydrated well after the beer...)
Kiwi Nationals 2010 Prelude
Prelude...
Look at me being proactive about my writeup! Well today, for the first time in many moons, I was forced to see the unholy hour of 7AM. My flight to Christchurch is scheduled to leave at 9:15 (in about 9 minutes) and so far so good. One incredibly suprising characteristic of Kiwi airports is that the flights are easy to find, easy to board, and easy to ride. The security is lax (to the extent that officers would probably be taken out and shot if they were executing with the same level of friendliness in the States). But then again, I suppose that in NZ, you have a high chance being remembered when you inevidably meet again on this island nation. But get this, they're playing light rock/pop music videos as we're finding our seats. The experience is similar to what I would expect a private jet to be like. You can just walk up, hop on, and be on your way with less than 20min of waiting. The difference between this and a private jet? Here you only pay $35USD but no hot air hostess flirting with you.
Buildup to this ultimate NZ event has been lackluster. I've done significantly more mileage that I did pre-ITM but it's a far cry from what Mitch would have me doing if all was well. I also didn't meet his expectations for my Tuesday workout. However, I have begun to feel a little more powerful again (though only for up to 25 minutes at a time). With 4 races ahead of me, I have no idea how well or poorly I may fair. The really important thing though: I'm excited about racing right now. I believe in my abillity to race well, even if I'm completely lacking the fitness to finish a tempo at the moment. We'll see how it goes...
ITM
The International Track Meet. Now there's a pretty intimidating title for an event (and like all formal titles, only the acronym was whispered in conversation). Indeed, ITM was advertised as one of the best meets to grace NZ since the '95 Commonwealth Games. In fact, on paper, the directors were lauding the best 800m field in 20 years. With Willis, Risley, and and a couple more sub-1:47 guys, you could only expect fireworks in the race.
I had been targeting this meet since January, when I first worked out my racing schedule for NZ. However, in the month of February I kinda struggled, working on my stride and rehabing some withered calf muscles. During that time I let that meet slip from my mind. Then, two weeks ago, everything started clicking. My new stride felt bouncy and fresh, and I was ripping up my tempos. The week culminated in a fall in an 800m race around the 600m mark. I was through in 1:25 and feeling explosive. I didn't even bother writing it up but, I'm certain I was going to be close to my PR of 1:52. "Ah well." I thought, "I'm gonna kill these next 2 weeks and dominate ITM." Immediately I phoned up the meet director and weasled my way into the meet, citing my workouts of late and promising a near-PR performance in the mid 3:40s.
However, since that magical week things have been less than stellar... I had to take a few days easy after the 800 because my calves were just one big knot. And since then, I've just been struggling with general fatigue. I've never had such a rapid turnaround in general energy level week to week. So leading up to ITM, I was more than a little nervous and it caused me to put top priority on just feeling fresh again. I only ran 15 miles in the 4 days leading up to the meet and only one easy workout, 6x200m. It had the desired effect. My fatigue broke on the day of the meet. For the first time in 2 weeks I didn't whimper at the thought of bounding upstairs or jumping over a bench.
QEII
The QEII stadium environment was a lot more impressive this time than when I ran a local 5k back in December; there were cameras and tents all over the place and almost 2000 people in the stands. Warming up, I was grateful to feel my strides flow crisply and not tire my legs. It allowed me to actually think about the race and not my conditioning. That said, the gameplan going into the race was always the same. The pacemaker was instructed to push 2:27 through 1000m, a pace I have no business running right now and so the plan was to hang on the back of the pack. Draft and stay out of trouble for 1200m and see what happens in the last 300. Try and pick off as many stragglers as possible.
With a simple gameplan, a long stride, and some confidence that I wouldn't embarrass myself, I toed the line. Gun went off and I was immediately blown away! I think every racer got out to a 14s 200m and I nestled down second to last.
Lap 1 - 60
Lap 2 - 62
Lap 3 - 61.5
I was DFL entering the last lap and the time to move to put myself in the race had come and gone. The upside of running like such a wimp was that I was able to call another gear for the back stretch of the last lap, taking down 3 people (who had presumably raced harder in the early stages) in the process. On the home stretch, I wasn't able to get high on my toes and my kick floundered in the last 50m, just like it always does. However, I had closed in 43 and put myself through the line in 3:48.3, a time that has given me some confidence that I can compete on the elite level again. The kick will come with more calf rehab and future plyometrics. I'm just grateful to have spared myself embarrassment. Not the mindset I want to have very much, but this was definitely a race that was tailored towards the southern runners that are peaking at the end of a season, aka not me.
Looking ahead, I'll float for the next week before NZ nationals before getting back into the grind. At that point, all eyes on June in the States and hopefully some new PRs.
Twice the Usual
Before I get down to business. I must mention one good thing has come from my blackberry debacle. Let's start with this:
Quick, say 7 digits out loud!
.
.
Creepy Over-Zealous Guy
Well whatever you came up with, it probably had a sequence in there. And if you're a hot brunette trying to quickly ditch a over-zealous creepy guy (see right), you may be left saying something like, "Oh, my number? Why it's... 123... 1.. 34.. 7! Can't wait to hear from you!" And cackle all the way back to telling your girl friends how cute you are.
The number that I received for my Vodafone cell is... 123.1347. And as you've guessed by now, I have received a couple mysterious and sometimes funny txts. I then proceed to add to contacts as Poor Bloke1, Poor Bloke2, etc... I do that in the event that they call (and they have). At which point I let them down easy via txt. Anyways, it's Saturday night and I just sent this fellow a txt after he called. He responded, "Ouh. I'm S0ry." Drunk at 9:30? Standard...
So now the race of twice the usual distance, 3000m. I ran 53min yesterday to prep for it. Felt a bit fatigued but got this surge of adrenaline thinking that NCAAs would be the next day (today). That got me fantasizing about running 8:19 and just keep going to 5k. Hah! Anyways... who starts a race writeup talking about the day before? Oh yeah, I felt a bit fatigued.
So I woke up this morning and did my standard calf exercises but no morning run. Sat around passing the time 'til 10AM: Division III Indoor Champs kickoff with the mile. Connor was in the first heat and ran solid, qualifying onward. As the day progressed I started flipping between DI and DIII. Over the next 3 hours I got the chills watching the races and was incredibly pumped for mine!
Got to the track and warmed up for 15min followed by leg swings and drills and strides. I still felt a bit fatigued but I've felt the same before sooo many races. The good thing was my calves weren't knotted anymore (slowly working themselves out over the past few days). So I put on the victories and waited for the gun.
You'll have to excuse me, this writeup may be a bit scatterbrained as I'm watching the Phoenix vs. Sydney soccer game right now. So a bit distracted...
The gun goes off and immediately our pacer (Josh Van Dalen) went to the front. The target: 67s.
First lap: 66.high. Awesome.
Second lap 2:14. Nice. For these first two I was riding right on his shoulder, feeling strong and really expecting a harder time dealing with the paces. Made me get a bit close to him at times, each time forcing me to mentally relax, chop my stride, and stop tailgating so hard.
The 3rd lap felt perfect and we came through the 1k in 2:48 and the 1200 in 3:22. Unfortunately, this is where Josh pulled out with a "Sorry mate." I think his calf must have been bothering him a bit. Well I got the lead at that point and while Stefan had offered to try and take 400m after Josh pulled out, he was a step behind and I didn't want to fall off the pace at all so I took it at that point.
I don't know any other splits except 2k -- 5:36. So perfect 2:48 - 2:48. I had planned to start dropping the hammer here pre-race and maybe that was a bad thing because I went from feeling average with 1200 left, to feeling awful with 800m to go. I really felt like I should be kicking at that point. It was horrible. The result: I basically hung on to my stride for 600m and then couldn't muster the mental or physical effort (or both) to get on my toes and close hard. Plus I came through to the bell lap in 7:20 so I knew I wasn't going to hit my mental goal of 8:19. Anyways, I closed out the last lap in 70......... Hardly elite closing speed... For all you arts and humanities students out there: that's an 8:29.
Post-race I walked around for 12 minutes trying to stop my sides from aching before finally getting jogging. And I emphasize jogging. I was supposed to do a bit of a 45min tempo after the race but 10min in to cooldown I knew that wasn't in the cards. So 13min easy cooldown followed by 20min chat. Then 10min light jog home to watch the D1 DMRs.
About 30min later though, with some recoop food/lactate drain, I got back out and finished the session. 40min starting 6:30, finishing ~5:40 by best estimate. Done.
Thoughts afterwards are mixed. I certainly would like to be a bit faster on my own but... with the sun, and wind, and fatigue from the week, and leading over a mile... I'm not suicidal. New goal is to just break 3:50 at ITM though.
Later mates.
Three point Seven-Five Laps
I ran a race last saturday, and I'm sorry but for the life of me I can't come up with an interesting writeup. So boring race, boring writeup, but here's how it went down for you die-hards.
I was feeling a little flat (understandable as I'm doing calf exercises twice a day for achilles rehab... though I skipped the Fri-night and Sat-morn sessions) when I went to the track at 2:00PM today. For the first time in a long time I thought and sweated over the race enough for my body to actually go into race mode (got a little chilly in the morning and needed to hit the stalls a ridiculous number of times leading up to the race. I was sweating not for any reason than I wanted to run well. Amazing the amount of pressure you can dump on yourself.
"Work!" - Mitchell Baker's instructions for the race.
I blatantly wanted to hit 3:52 going 62-63-62-45 but admitted to myself I would be happy with anything under 3:55.
So when the gun went off. Things got boring real fast. It was me vs myself vs time vs a slight breeze.
The result was 62-64-64-46 = 3:56... bleh. Its not bad enough for me to be frustrated, just annoyed. Good news is I did win, led the whole race, and had a slight breeze (calm for Wellington) to slow me. Best news is I felt like I could race again 45min later. So the recovery is there, and, as expected, the speed isn't, but I was hoping there was a little more natural talent in these ol' legs.
Anyways, better than the 4:19 start indoors at MIT last year, but slower than the 4:10 I ran this same weekend in 2009. So yeah, nothing too remarkable one way or the other. Like I said: boring.
And no pictures/video. Enjoy your black and white report.
Coromandel Trip
Please humor the lack of catchy prose in this post, as I'm writing it way too late to remember specifics...
AC/DC mansion
Today was my last day of real honest-to-goodness tourism. Ian rounded up the troops and hustled us into the car for our big trip to the Coromandel Peninsula (but not before I got in a quick 50min run @~5:45 pace and a good strength routine). We were not 10min down the road when he showed us to our first attraction: The mansion of AC/DC. The place was quite impressive, one of the most expensive I've seen in NZ thus far (though I know others are out there. Shania Twain owns a huge ranch somewhere on the south island I believe). 10min in and we're already getting treated.
Eventually, after a delicious hill-top picnic of turkey sandwiches Ian and Jane put together, we arrived at our destination for the day: Pauanui beach in the heart of the Coromandel. The town of Pauanui is known as "rich man's playground" and with Yhats anchored outside houses in man-made canals, I began to believe the hype. The beach itself was unremarkable but had system of really cool sandbars that were fun to play in during high tide. We sunbathed 'til 4 and some of us even fell asleep in the slight breeze. It was incredibly relaxing.
On the way back we stopped at the main beach to change (about a mile down the way) and were pleasantly surprised by a series of brightly painted cars hawking their wares for free. At the time we were there, the only item up for grabs was spicy chicken chips. I had a few, and could see the appeal, but my mouth burned and I quickly turned to the support of the other free handout: water.
L&P and an ice cream. Can life get any better? I wager that it cannot!
On the way out of town we dropped by this amazing gated retirement community built around a golf course. I think it must have sprung up in the last decade as everything was very new. Ian said the location was a possible landing zone once he decided to settle down permanently. I didn't see any reason not to.
The final attraction of the day was a giant monument to NZ's most popular home-brewed cola: affectionately referred to as L&P. We all took our seat at the base of the monolith and I may have been too lazy to move for Jane's turn...
And with that, we arrived safe and sound back at Ian's. Now, it's pathetic, but I cannot for the life of me remember what we had for dinner that night, but you can bet your sweet buns it was something amazing and crafted in the capable hands of Ian Carter.
Milling About
Today was a pretty lackluster, overcast day in general. Cary, Jane and I made our way into downtown Tauranga to just walk around, sample various bakeries, and wait out the weather. Much of the morning was spent listening to Jane hate on Starbucks. Much of the afternoon was spent smiling knowingly at her after she downed a Starbucks "Tall White Chocolate Mocha Soy".
The "main event" of the day ended up being a viewing of Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, and Rachel McAdams (At $15NZ, I can safely say movies are more expensive here. Based on number of people filling the theater I would say they could afford to jack that up a little even. Conclusion: Kiwis love the movies. Likely corollary: technology [entertainment systems] is/are more expensive here). Not really worth reviewing; it was entertaining, but long and had a weird ending. Actually, it was just the ending, really, because the climax hit, and then the movie started wrapping up... and wrapping up, and wrapping up, to the point where the tension was once again starting to build... before abruptly ending. Well, aside from that, it did entertain for almost 3 hours so... mission success!
The training I was supposed to do today involved a gym, which is not very handy around here. So, despite my efforts, I will have to start the lifting routine when I get back to Wellington in 2 day. However, I did ramp up the run to compensate a bit.
5' stretching. 2' warmup followed by 38' solid AR/AB pace probably hovering around 5:45/mi (3:33/k) effort twice around a golf course. 7' slow jog home. 6mi, 47'
10' luxurious stretching and ice achilles. I have also begun to take 3x400mg Ibuprofen starting yesterday. The achilles was in very good shape for the run. Afterward, it both calves were tight (but not weak!) so I'm not going to count this as the first of 3 workouts at 100% achilles.
Aqua-struggle
Today was another great beach day, bookended by two aqua workouts.
Oh the pain!
or not
11AM: 2min warmup. 4x4min@AE effort, 1min rest. 2min cooldown.
Followed up by the strength routine. Cary got a few photos of the routine so I thought I might elaborate.
1-leg squats, 20 each.
1-leg hip-flexor toe-reaches (balance on one foot and reach as far out in front of you as you can with the other foot and come back, all without touching the ground). 20 each.
10x"the neal" each foot (pumping your arms while leaning forward and back on each leg)
2x1min alternating each leg eyes-closed balancing (there's got to be a better way to say that, w/e)
Thats it.
6:30PM: 2min warm up. 7x2min@AB effort, 1min rest. 2min cooldown. Had some very inquisitive Maori's around jumping off the dock and marveling at my ability to stay in the water for just 20min. One was named Azzee and one named Zeair (those are American spellings of American ears hearing Maori pronunciations soooo, could be a bit different in reality).
Had a delicious sandwich today at a beach cafe that was served with all the innards piled high on one piece of toast. The other piece (the one you would usually use to cap off a "sandwich") was cut up! and laid to the side... Ummm, not even God could have eaten it like a sandwich. But I eventually managed to dribble it into my mouth and like I said, it was delicious.
The Author
I'm a runner who's managed to escape the NE winter for a NZ summer. This is a chronicle of my travels.
Cheers!
Cell: +64.021.123.1347
Archives
Calendar
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Apr | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | |||
Recent Albums
Recent Posts
- Its Over
- The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
- Kiwi Nationals Day 3
- Kiwi Nationals Day 2
- Kiwi Nationals Day 1
Recent Comments
- Jared Konkle on The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
- Dad on The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
- Macklin on Kiwi Nationals Day 3
- Joey on Kiwi Nationals Day 3
- Jared Konkle on Kiwi Nationals Day 3