Training

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Windrush Windfarm Adventure – a fun walk, run or ride event

The start of all the events. Cyclists getting ready.
The runners/walkers in the 2.7km event taking off. Great to see so many youngsters taking part.
The almost complete field of runners and one walker.
Shortly after the start, already the first bit of a climb.
Probably the steepest down and uphill on the course. It’s steeper than the photo suggests, trust me!
The finish area of the cycling tour some 100 metres from the Windrush start/finish.
Trying to get to grips to the size of one of the blades.
Gerry passing 3 massive turbine blades in storage.
Lovely blue skies and a cool breeze made for perfect running conditions.
Cattle and sheep roam the farm.
When not on farm roads, you follow the mowed grass.
Another fairly significant climb.
Gerry speeding by in a blur with the Manawatu Gorge and River below.
A unique view on the Manawatu Gorge.
Happiness is …
Back at the finish.

After our “long-run” the previous day (about 10km) we decided to partake in the inaugural Windrush event of approximately 6km the next day as a “shakedown” (a term used by friends for the recovery run the day-after a hard session). Not that we are even close to double-sessions, cool-down/recovery runs or any other such technical things. But it sounded fancy, so there you have it :-).

Continue reading →

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Super Seven Series – Race 3

A relaxed crowd shortly before the start in front of the YMCA.
1795 registered for this event. Not far to go to reach the 2000 participant mark!
Beautiful blue skies for the third event.
Passing underneath the Manawatu River Bridge just before the turn-off for the 3km course.
The clearly marked and manned route. No getting lost.
One of two similar “hills” on the course – about 1.5m climb to get over the river bank.
Some welcome refreshment at the halfway mark.

Things were going well for the back-of-the-packers. We did our daily jog. Fitted in the long-runs on weekends. Entered for the Rotorua marathon which is happening on 2 May. And then life got in the way. Funny how this always happens the moment you commit to something big. Continue reading →

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A sorry sight.

Yesterday, before discarding our 2013 year-planner (that had been stuck on the bathroom door for the past year), we decided, with some reservations, to add up the numbers and get an idea of our running/walking “accomplishments” of 2013.

I’m putting accomplishments in inverted commas because 2013 must have been more or less our worst running year since we first took up the habit at the turn of the century. Despite our best intentions, and numerous attempts to get back into some training schedule, our running just never got off the ground, and until the last quarter of the year we pretty much never managed to get beyond the breakdown phase of our training. Continue reading →

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New Year’s Resolutions – the Easy (!?) Eight

Well, here we are – hard to believe it’s 2014 already! It’s the first day of the new year, and with Christmas, New Year’s Eve and all the festivities behind us, we can start to look forward to the year ahead. As corny and silly as new year’s resolutions can be, I guess it’s pretty hard to avoid – even if your main resolution is to not have a new year’s resolutions list, we all secretly have a few things in mind that we want to take on, achieve, improve on, perhaps even avoid or quit. Continue reading →