Steve - this is probably too late, but have a great race/tempo!

James - could the softness of the turbo be resulting in some stability issues outside?  FWIW, I also think that pains that move around and then vanish are not very concerning.

Piwi- good consistent week for you.

Mark - excellent news on the breakthrough week.  But please keep that glute under control, so you don't lose the benefits of your hard work!

Zeb - Woah, careful there! Remember you just completed that insanity of endurance, recovery would likely be extensive from something like that, even at your age. (goes back to the front page to check age: What? turned 40 in January? Where is the gray hair? 🧐)

Steve - awesome job for sticking to the plan! 💪

James - some very nice consistency from you lately! 👏

Mark - King of consistency, as usual a great week, kudos for your incredible discipline! 👏

Piwi -Drunks outside the hotel room is a nightmare, it's so important to have a good night of sleep as you age.

You had me researching crime in NZ. It seems there are some armed robberies sometimes in Auckland. Though I've heard last week from a friend that rent prices are also a robbery , he pays 700 kiwi dollars per week, holy moly!

Queen street looks lovely though, I’d never in a million years think it was unsafe. 

You do run with your phone though which is a target.

me - super light week, 4 days off after that short insanity of trying to chase the guys with big mileage 🤦‍♂️

Now back to some base building weeks and depending on how that goes I'll decide which race to run in the 2nd semester. I wanted to try a sub3 but I'll only start down that path if I can handle some bigger weeks. 50 miles/ 80km per week won't cut it as I know I have muscle endurance limitations.

Weekly for period: From: 05/04/2021 To 11/04/2021

Total distance: 32.61km

Flavio good week hope your back is better.  The Three country Marathon sounds cool, my initial thought was it would be a tough course but the profile looks to be flat and I can imagine that it would have nice views.

Zebano hope the calf is nothing serious.

James hope your groin continues to get better you still seem to be putting up good mileage

Steve Solid race/WO came in just under your target time way to stick to your plan

Piwi Mark Watson nice Week

My week finishes up today hope to get in 10 miles later today I'll have to see how I feel and what kind of time I have this afternoon. 10 would put me at about 27 for the week right where I want to stay for now.

Thanks all.

Christchurch Half-Marathon Race Report

The 2020 Christchurch marathon was cancelled due to covid, so after running a time trial on the same day it was scheduled to take place (in cold but perfect conditions I may add), I had an entry to this years' race rolled over.  I planned in about September 2020 to upgrade this to the full but a knee niggle in late December meant that I had to reduce training for 3-4 weeks in January, which left too little time to be ready for this race, which was moved to be in April for the first time due to a few years of cold wet weather on race day (it's winter in Christchurch so not sure why this came as a surprise to organisers...).  My updated plan is to do a full in Wellington in June as it's really the only option left at that time of year, and use my entry to this race to get in a workout.

My target for the full is sub 3:20, so the plan for this race was a few km before and after, and try to hold marathon pace for the whole race.  The weather forecast was for 25 degrees C (77F)  and gusty winds, although with a 7:30am start it would be cooler but this weather would have made racing the half or full well outside my comfort zone.

Race morning dawned perfect, without the forecast wind and nice and cool to start with.  I arrived in town quite early and did around 3.5km around town and via Hagley Park, and got to the start line with 15 mins to spare.  I felt nice and relaxed and enjoyed the atmosphere, and chatted to a couple of first timers.  They had no idea what to expect so it was nice to impart some wisdom.

I wanted to run at 4:40/km and the first 5km I was close but slightly too fast.  I felt great but kept reminding myself to think of this as a full, and if I got it wrong I would pay big time.  First 5km splits:  4:35, 4:36, 4:43, 4:35, 4:35.  In the full these will need to be consistently around 4:43.  The early part of the race is around Hagley Park so was quite crowded (the full, half and 10km all start at the same time).

At around 6km I had my first thought that if this was a full, I'd be in trouble because I wasn't feeling as comfortable as I'd like.  The sun was up now and it was warming up very quickly.  I was saturated with sweat by 10km.  It was a bit annoying that I wasn't enjoying myself as much as I wanted because of all the thoughts about the full but I guess that was the point of the workout.  I tried to remember too, that just because it's a workout doesn't mean it should be without hard work the whole way.  Next 5km went by in 4:41, 4:39, 4:41, 4:38, 4:34.  A little better but creeping up too much again.

This part of the race is around the river through neighbourhoods wiped out by the 2011 earthquake so all houses are gone but some fences and driveways remain which is a bit eerie.  Next 5km 4:42, 4:39, 4:39, 4:34, 4:39.  Consistent when alone but speeding up any time I found myself in a group.  Must. run. my. own. race.

I was working quite hard now and knew if this was a full, the last 10km would be carnage.  One guy cuts me off 3 times during about 2km around here - is wide coming up to the corner then takes the shortest route right in front of me.  The third time he apologises and said he didn't see me...I know I'm short but we were running next to each other!  Final splits 4:33, 4:42, 4:35, 4:40, 4:40, 4:34 for a final watch time of 1:38.40 (haven't even checked the official results!  What's happened to me...checked now, gun time 1:39.05, net time 1:38.39).

I was a bit lightheaded at the finish which is odd, but it was very warm now.  I chose not to take on nutrition in this run which I clearly felt some effects of.  With longer runs coming up, I'll start trying some strategies.  My legs felt okay, so I walked back to my car and started my 4km warm down.  The first km started painful but felt better as I went then at about 1.5km I felt some cramp in my hamstrings so I shortened my steps but I could feel it wasn't going away so decided to finish this lap and stop but at 1.7km the cramp became severe and I stopped straight away.  I couldn't move and was in a crouch position, like at the start of a race.  I had to stand like that for several minutes until it was safe to lie down.  I then felt very nauseated and had to do everything not to vomit.  I assume that came from the pain of the cramp because I hadn't felt like that at all immediately post race (lightheaded but no nausea).  I dealt with cramp on and off for the next hour, sometimes light but often severely painful.  I even started cramping in my abs!  Once I took on 2-3 litres of water and powerade (and a cheeseburger), I was fine and my legs felt tired but not overly beaten up.

Takeaways:  

-  April races are risky for me with potential warm weather

-  I have a lot of mileage to get under my belt in the next 11 weeks

-  There will be huge consequences for going too fast early in a marathon

-  I'm well overdue for working out a nutrition strategy

My week ended up being my highest volume week ever.  This should happen a few times in the coming weeks.

Weekly for period: From: 05/04/2021 To 11/04/2021

Total distance: 84.34km

Piwi - from Steve and others, it sounded like carnage down there with the warm temps.  A few runners I know did pretty well but there were some pretty dramatic blow-ups too (Dan Jones was 2 mins behind Andy Good at one stage and ran him down to win it).  Alice Mason would've been probably 8-10 minutes faster than that on a better day.  Michael Voss ran a PB in the half and was only 10 seconds behind the winner - he actually had to stop for a lace at one point which might've cost him the race!

Darkwave - that must've been great to fall in love with those shoes at first wear!  Even better that you can stock up cheaply.  On the topic of track shoes, a couple of friends have been massively raving about the NB MD800v7 spikes for races up to ~5,000m.

Watson - good to see you back.  Hope that PF is under control.

Flavio - good call having a lighter week, the body will thank you for it especially after those awesome recent PB's.

Steve - sounds like mission accomplished as a marathon training run.  I wouldn't read much into the cramps and nausea afterwards, almost certainly a factor of the warm temperatures and electrolyte depletion.  You definitely do want to practice your nutrition - I generally used long runs for this but even better if you are doing a long run with some quality in there too.

 

Nice.  I've never worn spikes (being an adult onset runner who didn't do high school or college track) and I've always thought that my mid-to-late 40s would be a bad time to start....

You're probably not wrong.  Also an adult-onset runner, I raced in them for a 5,000m for the first time a couple of years ago.  My calves felt more beat up from that than they did from running an entire half in traditional racing flats.  Equally I have a clubmate who has raced track all his life and can happily run a 10,000m in spikes with no issues.

 

Mark - Good to see Oska win on home turf though!  How far from the finish did Michael Voss have to lace?  Looked like a good tussle between the first 3.

I think Voss' lace was around the 10 or 11km mark.  He mentioned it on his Strava.  Another timely reminder to always, ALWAYS double knot.

Watson - Yep, it didn't warm up until about 8am when they were near halfway so probably not enough time to impact them.  Oska was gunning for 1:02-03 based on his training though.  10 degrees cooler and he may have grabbed a minute or 2.