Motuihe Island Restoration Project

This week I got to spend an awesome day out in the fresh air away from the office and I could hardly have picked a better day. I work for ANZ Bank and as part of its values of giving back to the community the Bank gives every staff member the opportunity to do community volunteer work for two days a year.

Our office has 'adopted' an island in the Hauraki Gulf named Motuihe Island, which after 100 years of various uses including farming through to being used by the Navy as a training ground and hosting a variety of introduced pests, it is now to be restored to its former state through an intensive pest eradication and re-forestation project.

All introduced pests and animals have been removed from the island and a replanting programme is underway and in about 10 - 15 years time the island will be a sanctuary for bird life and also day trippers to escape the city and enjoy the tracks.

It's already a great escape from the city with some great beaches to relax on and only 30 minutes by boat from the city.

Here's some pics


The boat trip out to the island.

My 'job' for the morning was to drive a tractor which was fitted with a tank full of spray and a couple of spray guns. Two others were walking behind me and scrambling down cliffs spraying any of the unwanted weeds or introduced and unwanted plants which if left unchecked grow into quite large tress which crowd out the NZ natives. I'd never driven a tractor before but really it's just like a car in a lot of ways so I had no issues with it at all.


On the island's tractor.


One of the island's stunning beaches.

Training this week has been a a little mixed. I felt I had quite a good 'recovery' run of 30 minutes on Thursday but Saturday mornings was a real struggle with the shin actually flaring up the worst since I've been back running. Add to that the numb foot thing that used to bother me looks like it has not fixed itself yet.

This week I'm back to the physio for a check up so we'll see what happens. I'm supposed to get a 50 minute run in beforehand and that is scheduled for Wednesday.

Here's the numbers;

Monday - Run /walk 40 minutes
Tuesday - Swim 1000 m
Wednesday - Volunteer day
Thursday - Run / walk 30 minutes
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Run /walk 35 minutes.
Sunday - Rest

Finally here's a pic from the Auckland Santa Parade held today, again in awesome weather and it's not even summer yet!





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Someone Tagged Me

Looks like I've been tagged. Here's the rules;

(1) Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

(2) Tag 3 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

(3) Let them know they are TAGGED by leaving a comment on their blog.

Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog:


My tagger: Robbrunner

1. I once had to be rescued from the swim leg of a triathlon as I was so under prepared for swimming (hence now I just swim in pools)

2. The one food I can not resist is ice cream (any flavour will do).

3. Two TV shows I will not miss are 24 and Lost.

4. I'm clueless when it comes to most techo gadgets including even IPODs.

5. I often miss place stuff and will tear the house down looking for something only to find it somewhere I 'looked' in the first place


I'm tagging, Ewen, UltraScott and Mike.

That's it.

Nice quiet 30 jog minute today. Feeling good.

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Still Running Six Weeks On!

I'm into the sixth week of my return to running after a four month break to rest and rehabilitate my ongoing nemesis, shin splints. I'm quite pleased with my progress to date and must admit to being a little surprised to have not having suffered a recurrence yet.

I guess after putting up with them for so long and having given in to them on several occasions before I was probably conditioned to the prospect of the shin splints again getting the better of me.

I'm certain the fact that I am still out there running is thanks to the work I've been doing during my time off from running;

- I've maintained regular stretching and strengthening of the calfs and feet.
- took a weekly Bikram Yoga class
- studied what I believe to be a safer running technique in Chi Running (which whilst I haven't fully converted to, I've taken some key points on board).

I've also tried to maintain my fitness through swimming and water running so the eventual come back to running was not such a shock to my system.

I also sought professional advice and was boosted when the Physiotherapist and Podiatrist gave me the all clear to commence training again. After all they're suppose to be the experts right and if they say its okay to train then who am I to question them.

As I said in my last post, I still get some aching in the shin here and there but it doesn't seem to bother me when I'm running which is the most important thing. My only lingering doubt is that as I gradually look to increase my distances the lingering pain will worsen and gradually interrupt my running.

I'm doing everything I can to try and make sure that doesn't happen;

- I've adopted a slow build up utilising the run/walk method,
- Small increases in weekly distances
- Shoes have been given the okay
- Icing

I can only hope that Ewen's comment that the shin splints will gradually dissappear is correct, or maybe as Tesso suggests, I just need to stop thinking about them so much?

Here's the numbers for last week;

Monday - Swim 1000 m
Tuesday - Run /walk 28 minutes
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday - Run/walk 32 minutes
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Run/Walk 36 Minutes
Sunday - Rest / Golf (Shot 94 at Formosa and it was a rest as I took a golf cart)
Today - Run/walk 40 minutes.

Today's run was walking one minute running nine x 4.

The plan for the next ten days is to build up to a 50 minute run which the Physio wanted me to complete before our next meeting, next Wednesday.

Therefore the plan is something like this;

Wednesday 30 minutes
Saturday 36 minutes
Monday 42 Minutes
Wednesday 50 minutes

As you can see, I've not recorded any distances above as I'm not really interested in distance at present, its all about time. I would guess I'm running on average mid 5's to 6 minute Ks.

If I can get through the next ten days then it might be time for a cut back week as it would have been seven whole weeks of building up.

Wish me luck.



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Progress is Progress (and my golf is improving also!)

Three more runs under my belt last week;

Monday - Run / Walk 28 Minutes (run 6 & walk 1 x4)

Tuesday - Swim 1200m (30-35 minutes)

Wednesday - Run /walk 29 Minutes

Thursday - Nothing

Friday - Run / walk 32 minutes (run 7 & walk 1 x 4)

Still no noticeable discomfort while running which is good. I had some tightness in my right calf but nothing too serious.

Saw the Physio on Wednesday and she is happy with the progress also. She wants me to continue with the gradual increases over the next two to three weeks and has given me the task of completing a 50 minute run by the end of the month. That is a little sooner than the schedule I had mapped out for myself, but with a wee bit of rejigging it I've worked out a new schedule will see me achieving that goal.

The odd thing is that the shins are still slightly tender when I'm not running which is a bit annoying. I'm starting to come to the realisation that perhaps I need to accept that this is just part of running and comes with the territory. I just need to manage them sensibly, ice them when needed and if they start troubling me while running then its time to back off the training.

I would be interested in what others think about this. Is some constant mild shin discomfort to be expected and something that we runners must put up with or should I be aiming to be totally pain free 100% of the time?

I've just had two days away at a work golf tournament in Matamata. Matamata is a small town in the central North Island, which is now famous due to the Lord of The Rings movie being shot in the surrounding countryside. Tourists still flock to the to see the movie sets where the hobbits lived. The golf course is a great little country course, and though it may be short it can still be a good test of golf.

This was my fourth Matamata tournament in three years and I'm please to say that on both days I registered a PB for the course, a 92 on Saturday followed by a 91 today for a net 73 and 72. This was some of the best golf I have played this year so I'm reasonably pleased with the result. Brought home a $60 Briscoes voucher for my efforts.


8th hole at Matamata


Par 3 11th hole

This weeks training will be another 32 minute run on Tuesday, increasing to 36 minutes on Thursday and 40 on Saturday. I will also fit a swim or a yoga session in somewhere.

Have a great week.


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Cautiously Optimistic

Another week has gone by and I have managed another three runs. The walking intervals are gradually getting further and further apart and so far so good. Here's how the week panned out;

Monday - Run/walk 21 minutes

Tuesday - Swim 1200 m (35 minutes)

Wednesday - Run/ walk 24 minutes

Thursday - Golf at Takapuna. Shot 93. This was a practice round for my 36 hole tournament in Mata Mata next weekend. Quite happy with the round particularly after my last two outings which were less than impressive.

Friday - Nothing

Saturday - Run / walk 25 minutes.

Still icing the shin , mainly on run days. Stretching etc is still a pretty much daily routine also.

Have another check up with the physio this week to check on the progress. Might see if she can recommend a sports massage for the calfs to loosen them up some more. This has been suggested to me previously as an option to loosen tight calfs. Now that I'm running (sort of) i might look at say a monthly massage.

This week I will be maintaining the gradual increase in time on my feet. Since I'm going away next weekend I will run on Monday (28 minutes), Wednesday (29 minutes) and Friday (32 minutes). Walking breaks will be every 7 minutes by Friday.

Thats all for now.



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