Back in NZ

Hi, I'm back from our vacation now. We had a fantastic time in Canada and the US during the month of April. It was full of extremes with lots of snow in the Canadian Rockies and 20+ degrees days in Las Vegas and LA.

Lots of highlights but Las Vegas, and the Grand Canyon would be two biggies and of course Disneyland where we had a couple of fun filled days.

Check out my travel blog at northamerica2008.blogspot.com for all the detail and some photos. It's not yet fully up todate, I have to post still about the last week in LA and I hope to get some more photes up there so stay tuned.

Still not Running

I have been very lazy this month.

As I mentioned in the last post I've taken a rest from running and have opted for the extended rest option rather than starting up only to have any training broken up by our North American vacation which now is in just ten days time.

I have been naughty though and haven't done any cross training at all. I know that's lazy as but really all thoughts have been on our trip with much time being spent online making final arrangements. Also if I can't run then I often struggle to find the inclination to cross train. I should at least be making the effort to get on my exercycle and give my legs a workout. I want to try and get a half day skiing in while at Banff so I expect if I try that after six weeks of in-activity I will be paying a high price.

Injury wise my shins are feeling okay after a months rest though the heel still seems not totally right. I'm not sure if this is PF as there is no sharp pain early in the morning which is apparently a symptom. Hopefully with more rest that will come right, though I expect much time will be spent on my feet while overseas.

Sorry I've also been a bit lax getting around other blogs. Not much fun reading about others workouts and races when you're not doing the same. I hope to catch up with you once I get back into some training come May or June.

Happy running.


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Time for another break

My body told last week me it was time for another break. After amassing a huge 37 miles for the month of February, I've again succumbed to heel and shin issues.

Here's a wrap of my runs over the last two weeks:

18/2 4 miles 35 mins
20/2 4.1 miles 37 mins
25/2 8.3 miles 47 mins
27/2 2.7 miles 19 mins (and broken)

I don't know what's worse at the moment, my heel or shin. The heel just seems to ache almost from the start of a run and gets progressively worse. It also extends into the arch of my foot. The shin is still the same, always nagging, always there, but last week it was just nagging a bit louder.

It's hard to stay motivated at times like this. When I'm not running I tend to let the other things slip that I should be working on to get myself right again. Hence I've done no stretching, strength or cross training for five days.

Its less than five weeks now until our big North American trip, so that's another reason why I'm perhaps not so into my training right now. It's unlikely that I'll have much time to maintain a regular run programme during our month away (I don't see "running" being on the agenda much when travelling in a foreign country with a 6 and 4 year old, though I'll try and find room for my running shoes just in case).

My question therefore is "Do I bust a gut now to get back out running in a few weeks only put things on hold again for a month in April? Should I just take an extended break from running now?

What ever I decide about when to start running again, I know I need to maintain my cross training (Swimming/yoga), strengthening of the leg muscles and stretching.

Someone who definitely deserves a break is Kieran after successfully completing Ironman New Zealand on Saturday. Check out his race report here.


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The Domain Loop

This is a picturesque 1.72 mile loop which takes me through the Auckland Domain a superb 75 hectare park in the centre of Auckland City. The dominant feature of the Domain is undoubtedly the Auckland War Memorial Museum which sits on top off a hill overlooking Auckland Harbour.

This is usually a lunch time run. I'm so fortunate to have this great park a stones throw from my office it would be a crime not to make use of it.

About half of the run takes me through the centre of the Domain following Domain Drive, the rest of the loop is along neighboring streets. It's largely flat with only a small climb up Carlton Gore Road and into Grafton Road towards Auckland Hospital which also borders the park.

Each lap takes about 14- 15 minutes at an easy pace so its a case of just doing as many loops as your training calls for on the day. If I need to go a bit further but don't want to do another full loop, there's a running track on the field which I run round until I reach my desired distance.

I like the loop as its a good fall back option if I don't feel like venturing too far from work. Its nice to run on the grass and the surroundings aren't bad either.

Here's the map. You can easily pick out the Museum in the centre of the photo.








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Easy Running

The last two weeks I've just been easing back into some low mileage slow and easy runs.

Here the numbers;

3/2 2.6 miles 21 mins
5/2 3.45 miles 29 mins
7/2 3.8 miles 35 mins (Round the Mountain)
10/2 3.8 miles 33:20
12/2 4 miles 35 mins
14/2 4.1 miles 35:20
16/2 2.5 miles 30 mins


In addition to that I did 30 minutes of swimming on the 4th and Bikram Yoga on the 13th.

The plan I'm following at the moment is modelled somewhat on this base building plan plan from marathontraining.com. I've just done week two. That's not to say I'm building for a marathon, far from it. At this stage it's just a case of seeing what happens and hopefully I'll work through my injury troubles at the same time as building/maintaing a resonable base.

You will see that my last run was a bit short (and slow) and that's because I pulled up after about 15 minutes due to an aching foot. It was the same ache that I ran through for 50 minutes a month ago which resulted in me then resting up for two weeks. I listened to my body this time and walked it off. After ten minutes or so it was gone and I ran the last K home. Fingers crossed it was just a one off bad run day.

Is it common for runners to pay extra close attention to other runners? I'm not talking about the passing glances we may sneak as a runner of the opposite sex passes us by, but rather checking out their form and technique. You see all sorts from those that barely manage a shuffle, to the obviously well trained and coached runner.

This week, will out running the Domain Loop (more on that run later), I came across two runners (and yes one was of the opposite sex) with a strikingly high heel lift. They were running with a graceful ease that I would love to emulate.

Over the last two weeks I have also been working on my form, mainly concentrating on keeping everything in a straight line. Toes and feet pointing straight ahead, knees tracking over toes etc, not over striding and also working on my heel lift in addition to just relaxing my feet and allowing them to naturally toe off with each stride (gosh thats a lot to think about when running isn't LOL).

When I say 'relaxing my feet', I mean that rather than thinking about heel planting or mid/fore foot landing, I'm just staying relaxed and letting them land where they land.

Back to the heel lift, I was impressed with the heel lift of these two runners and instantly tried to copy what I had just witnessed as I was clearly not doing enough. I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered how good it felt. I felt stronger, it seemed to put less stress on my shins and I seemed to be running faster.

Well thats all from me for now. Have a good week.



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