Training

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Super Seven Series – race 4

For this week's run we were treated to a glorious, sunny day, so the complementary sunblock was a welcome sight.

For this week’s run we were treated to a glorious, sunny day, so the complementary sunblock was a welcome sight.

With every step I take, I feel my lungs burn, I hear myself breath hard and fast and there’s a knot in my stomach that just won’t go away.

The reason? I’m going all out, trying to see how fast I can finish the 7 kilometre course of the Manawatu Striders Super Seven Series.

It’s week 4 of the series. Wouna and I unfortunately missed week 2, but for the first and third runs we kept to a fairly casual trot. Being far from racing fit, this seemed like a good approach, allowing us to enjoy our runs while still finishing fresh.

This week, however, being the halfway mark of the series, we decided to not run together like we always do, but each rather going at our own pace, to try and push it a little to see where our fitness levels are. Continue reading →

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Super Seven Series 2014 – Race 1

We arrived early before the registration area gets too busy.
Wouna doing a lazy pre-run stretch. Or maybe she’s praying :-).
Announcements before the run.
Lots of eager legs ready for the start.
The masses at the starting line.
Running along the Bridle Track next to the Manawatu River.
Runners getting moral support from atop the Manawatu bridge.
The return leg, through the leafy suburb of Hokowhitu.
Thumbs up for another great event.
The sausage sizzle is a post-run highlight.
Gerry with post-run banana and sausage sizzle – another happy Manawatu Striders customer.

It’s summer in the Manawatu, and the Super Seven Series is under way. As reported in the local newspaper, the Manawatu Standard, “You know it is summer when the Striders Super Sevens starts up again.”

Tuesday evening we participated in the first of the 2014 series of runs (seven races of seven kilometres each) taking place on consecutive Tuesdays through January/February. And what an evening it turned out to be, with the rather foul weather of the previous few days making way for a lovely, balmy evening in Palmy. Which may in part explain why a whopping 1 659 people turned up. 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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The magical Marathon

The marathon – most fabled of all running events.

As most of you will know, the marathon, a long distance running event of 42.195 kilometers, was instituted to commemorate the fabled and heroic run of the Greek soldier-messenger Pheidippides, from the Battle of Marathon (hence the name) to Athens.

The story goes that brave Pheidippides ran the entire distance without stopping, exclaiming ‘We have won!’ when he finally reached his destination, and then promptly collapsed and died.

Phidippides

Thinking about it now, a couple of things could’ve contributed to his fate. He may have been over- or undertrained. Continue reading →

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Manawatu Gorge trail run (30 January 2011)

Gerry under a big tree.
At the start.
Gerry making the most of an early downhill.
Taking a break at one of the lookout points
Happiness is…
A little “gate” through one of the fallen trees.
The pathway is well laid out with bridges over rivers and streams and steps where gradients are too steep.
Very windy viewpoint.
Wind Farm lookout.
A short “lunch” at the turnaround point.

Ever since moving to Palmy, the Manawatu Gorge walkway has been beckoning, literally in our backyards.  According to everyone we talked to and everything we read, the gorge promised to be one of the most beautiful places in the area, and Gerry and I have been forever threatening to make the outing to see what it is like.

It is a 10.1km point to point walk through the gorge, with the idea being that you leave a car at the finish, drive back to the start and complete the walk. But what to do when you only have one car? Continue reading →