Kayaking the Puhoi River

This weekend I enjoyed a leisurely Kayak up the Puhoi River. Puhoi is a small settlement about 40 minutes north of Auckland city, famous for it's cheese and it's historic Pub. I was with a group of about 20 work colleagues enjoying an afternoon of team building.

The people at Puhoi River Canoe Hire sorted us out with some fantastic kayaks. The paddle started at the Wenderholm, a gorgeous Regional Park complete with beach, inner harbour, parkland and bush walks. We set out from the inner harbour and paddled up river with the incoming tide. It was a slightly overcast day and we we paddling into a breeze which was almost strong enough to negate the helpful push of the tide, at least until we reached the calmer sections up river and away form the openness of the harbour.

I'm a pretty inexperienced paddler having only done it about three times previously and this would have been my longest paddle yet. I eventually found what I would call an easy paced and economical technique which I was able to keep going for reasonable periods before either slowing to take in the scenery and bird life or to chat to workmates. All up the paddle took about two hours.

In total by the time I explored a small tributary and the upper reaches of the river before turning back to finish point in Puhoi, I estimate (with the help of Mapmyrun), I'd covered about 7 miles (11 K). Here's a map of the river.

After the paddle we jumped into the cars we had left in Puhoi earlier and headed back to the Wenderholm reserve for a barbeque and a few quiet beers.

Weekly wrap

Not much training this week. One swim of 40 minutes about 1300 meters. One aqua run session of 30 minutes. The aqua running was the longest session I've done yet and I put a lot more effort in this time.

Back into the running this week. Have a good one.

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Starting Over

I've been thinking some more about when I'm going to start running again and also about what sort of mileage I should run when I start over.

The shins have still been niggling me at times over the last week so naturally I'm a bit gun shy about taking to the road again in case it is too early and I end up incurring the same old problem. I've therefore put my come back run back one week just to be safe. By that stage it would have been three weeks rest from running and I will just have to get out there and see how it goes.

I came across a website the other day called marathontraining.com. It's a site full of useful information for runners of all experience levels, however it is chock full of information for first time marathoners or those training for their first full marathon.

Given my current shin splint problem, I was particularly interested in the page on minimising injuries. The key thing I picked up from that page was something called the 10% rule which states that your weekly mileage should not increase by more than 10% and the distance of your weekly long run should also not increase by more than 10%.

I had heard of this rule previously as I'm sure most readers probably have also. I never really paid much attention to it though. I was just looking back in my log at the training I did in the lead up to my first half marathon last October. I trained for that with just six weeks of running as prior to that I was out with the shin splints. The biggest weeks of those six were weeks four and five when I ran 23 miles for the week. The problem has more or less been with me since then and I have managed it through regular icing and only running a maximum of three days a week. Long term though that doesn't seem too healthy and as my Podiatrist said, my aim should be to get to the stage where I'm running pain free.

Maybe way back in October is where the current shin problem has stemmed from. I just came back too fast in trying to make the start line for the Half instead of going for a slow buildup. That said, I'm glad I did the Half and got that first one out of the way, but maybe I just shouldn't have waited until now to take a break.

So from next week, I'll be rigidly following the Milage Buildup Schedule from the marathontraining.com site. This will ensure a gradual buildup in milage thus avoiding any chance of again falling into the trap of doing too much too soon.

All going well the 10 k races I wanted to do next month will still be doable, we'll wait and see about the Half in July though.

Happy running




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Some thoughts on Dean Karnazes and the weekly wrap

I went to Dean Karnazes' book signing yesterday. It was a quick promotional stop off for Dean, who was in Auckland for only 36 hours before heading up to Japan for another race. Last week he was in Australia where he completed a 350 mile run from the summit of Australia's highest peak to Sydney.

Dean's popularity among the local running fraternity was evident judging by the numbers that turned out to pack the Millennium Institute of Sport's conference room, or maybe like me there were just many curious onlookers. It was standing room only though and in my case I had to be satisfied just listening to him as I couldn't even get within sight of the man.

Dean gave 30 minute talk and took questions for about 30 minutes also before launching into a book signing session for the adoring fans. I wasn't convinced enough to part with my $30. There's no doubt Dean has accomplished some amazing feats, however it's clear that he is also pretty adept at using the business and marketing skills he's learned to their fullest.

If I was hoping to be motivated or inspired to run ultra marathons, I would have come away disappointed. I found his talk to be a little too light hearted with little if any substance to it about what drives him to do these runs. It was almost like a bad comedy act with a few too many one liners and jokes for my liking. I figured that if he I wasn't too taken with the man's talk then I probably wouldn't get much out of his book either.

That's just me though and I'm sure DK gained many fans judging by the number of books going out the door.

Today's Ride.

- Distance 20 km (12.5 miles)
- Time 58 minutes
- Max HR 165 Ave HR 140

This was my first ride of this circuit for about two months. I pushed hard all the way and the time is only a minute or two outside my best for this circuit. It was a better than average run with the traffic lights today though which helps. Some wind, a damp road but a mild temperature.

What have I done this week?

- Swam 1300 meters
- Aqua running 15 minutes (I need to stick at this and give it another go, will try harder next time!)
- Stationary bike 40 minutes
- Road bike 12.5 miles / 58 minutes

This week

Was supposed to start running this week. Will check with the podiatrist tomorrow as my shin is still niggling me a little and I don't want to risk coming back too early if it's going to mean a longer lay off in the long run.

If no running then more of the same, swimming/biking / aqua running.

Am off to Wellington on Tuesday for a course. It will be a 7.30am flight out of Auckland for a 9.00am start. Return flight at 6.00pm home by 7.30-8.00. It's a long way to go for a one day course, but it's a day out of the office so sometimes that's all good.



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Missing Running and a meeting with Dean Karnazes

I suppose I'm going through what every runner has at some point. That is experiencing the frustration of not being able to run through injury or illness. It's ten days now since my Podiatrist said to take a two week break to rest my Shin Splints and while I'm not the sort of person to let those frustrations show outwardly, it's just a feeling on the inside that a part of you wants to get out and run. I know though that if I'm to improve longer term this is something I have to work through.

I'm also a little concerned that two weeks might not be enough rest. We had practice last night for Jack's Soccer team. The practice went for about 45 minutes or so and afterwards my shin was almost as sore as it would have been after a run, and that was just after running a kids Soccer practice!

I went to the pool on Tuesday intending on a 1500 meter swim, but only managed about half that before I called it quits. The motivation just wasn't there on the day and I used the excuse of leaking goggles to call it a day. Is that weak or what!

I was back at the pool today and tried some Aqua Jogging as suggested by Ewen last week. I went in the deep water and used a vest unlike my last dabble with this activity which I found to be a bit of a waste of time. Today whilst I certainly felt in a bit more in the legs it still wasn't the cardio workout that I feel I need. I ended up doing about 15 minutes of Aqua Jogging before I reverted to the lanes and swam a good 700 meters. The swim felt good and no problems with leaking goggles today.

Tomorrow moring I'll get up early and jump on the exercyle for 40 minutes or so.

Mike raised a good point about not repeating mistakes of my past. I can't help wondering if I'm being a bit optimistic by wanting to build up to a half marathon in just eight weeks of training (that's if I can start up next week). May be I should flag the half and just go for a more gradual increase in mileage building the to Auckland Half Marathon in October.

This weekend ultra runner Dean Karnazes, the man who famously ran 50 marathons in 50 days, is in Auckland as part of his down-under tour. I thought I would pop along to hear him speak. I don't know too much about Dean, other than his 50 marathons in 50 days thing, so I would be interested to hear any stories or comments from other RBF members who may have had the chance to meet and/or run with him.




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The Last Week

If you caught my last post you will know that I have not been running this week and have about another ten days of rest ahead of me before I can hopefully get out and run again.

This last week my shins have seen plenty of ice and anti-flamme cream. I'm keeping up my stretches and strengthening every night which includes, hip flexors, short & long calf, calf raises, hamstrings, quads, one legged squats, gluts. I'm even thinking about taking a Yoga class to really work hard on my flexibility.

I made it down to the pool twice during the week for a total swim of 2300 in 62 minutes. Didn't get my bike out as intended but I did get on the exercyle yesterday for 40 minutes. First time that's been used in some months! It was a good working though even if I could only get the HR about to around 130. The calf (the one I sprained in March) was a bit sore throughout the workout and has been a bit achy today. Strange that it should still not by 100% as prior to ceasing the running I had been on a few tough runs and the 5K race in which it was no problem.

So this week will be two more swims and maybe some more biking (will see how the calf feels).


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