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PB'S Six foot track - 4:09 March 08 3000m 9:50 - October 09 5000m 17:25 10k 36:03 - may 2009 1/2 marathon 79:56 marathon 2:54:56

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Getting better!

Yesterday I managed 2 cycle classes.
Today I did another 2 classes & heaps & heaps of foam roller work & stretching. That injury is heap, heaps, HEAPS better tonight! wooohooo!
Still feels sore now & then but can move around without pain most of the time. Another week or 2 & I might be back to easy running!
The plan of attack this week is to keep doing cycle & stretching & I might do the time trial on Sat but take my time......

Monday, November 24, 2008

No run, no exercise just a flat out day working! Tomorrow I'll kill myself in cycle!

Sunday, November 23, 2008

bit of a break!

Haven't blogged away for a while. Mainly because I've done hardly any running. Still injured since the marathon. It's sore around my butt, hamstring, groin on my left leg. If I want I can run slow but can't stride out so I think it will do me good to have a rest from running. Not sure If I'll be doing much for the rest of the year. I'll just see how the leg goes. I've done quite a few cycle classes but can still feel my fitness going. If I can I'm going to run 2 x a week. 6@6 & trotters and do cycle on other days.
Will also do a bit of surfing when I can.
Today being a Sunday I'd normaly go out for a long run but instead I slept in then went for a surf & did a cycle class in the arvo.
I'll keep the blogging up so I can keep track on how this injury goes. I had the same injury 2yrs ago but not sure if it was the left or right leg

Monday, November 10, 2008

Almost the end...we reach Christchurch




Great sunny day over here today. I even had to get in my shorts. We left Dunedin but not before going up Baldwin Street. It's the worlds steepest street! I would've run up it but...well you know...I do have a sore hamstring! Anyway after getting lost we made our way nth & got to Christchurch a bit after 12pm. Found our motel after getting lost again then had a look around the city then up the Gondola there. Now that was high! (500m up).


Tomorrow we travel all the way to the airport for a flight to Brisbane then back to the Gold Coast.


I'm looking forward to going home but also would love a bit longer over here.




Great news is my hamstring felt really good today. I might even be able to run again soon!


Some photos

Dunedin railway station....the most popular photo shot in NZ

Queenstown up the gondola








The glaciers at Franz Josef




Sunday, November 09, 2008

Queenstown to Dunedin

Got away about 8:30am. Another good trip. Dunedin is alot like what I reckon Scottland would be like. And I reckon it's just as cold!
I got to go on the Cadbury tour! Got some cheap chocolate...mmmm yum!
This is just a quick blog as I'm pretty tired.
Still no running, hamstring still quite sore
Tomorrow Christchurch

Saturday, November 08, 2008

Queenstown

What a great trip this was! This would be the best part of the whole trip. You couldn't ask for any better weather. Just amazing. It's something hard to describe but the views we had & driving right through the mountains just magic!
We got to Queenstown around 10am and had a look all over the place. Up the Gondola & the views up there.....WOW!
Even from my bed you can see the mountains over the lake with snow on them.
Tomorrow we go to Dunedin...I'm going to go to the Cadbury factory!

Friday, November 07, 2008

From Nelson to Haast

No running for me. Hamstring is really sore at the moment. Could be a while off again. Thats cool with me though.
We made our way further south to Haast today. We stopped off to have a look at the glaciers on the way. Went for a 15min walk to get there
Got to Haast about 5hrs later. Not much here....only over priced supermarkets. $6.00 for a block of chocolate! & $8.80 for a pkt of weetbix! Not for me thanks!
Tomorrow we make our way to Queenstown.
The mountains look fantastic...still quite a bit of snow on them

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Greymouth

I got up around 7am & decided to try & have a bit of a jog. Well I'm still sore in my left hamstring so just joged/walked for 20min.
We left Nelson around 9am & got to Greymouth around 1pm.
Great trip. We drove through sunshine, rain, & snow. The snow was so cool. It's pretty cool but not freezing.
We managed to have a good look around greymouth then later we decided to go down the pub (3km away) for a few drinks & some dinner. We thought we might get a cab so we asked the reception if they could call us a cab. They did one better & drove us down there! I couldn't believe it! I tell you the people here are the best hosts! Whats even better they just said to tell the publican to ring them when we are ready to go home they will come & get us! After a few beers & a few hours later we went & had the biggest pub feed I've ever had. The locals there were more than happy to chat away with us. We got home around 9pm. Thats when the sun goes down here at the moment

Tomorrow we go down to Haast about 4 hrs away

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Time for the south! It's getting cold!

We didn't do much looking around Wellington. This place is just way too windy! I have no idea how people could live here.
We pretty much went down & got our car on the ferry to go to Picton on the south island.
Just drove the car on then relaxed for a few hours. The ferry was easy going. Got really rough after about an hour & stayed that way for about 50min then calmed down again. I went outside & my sunnies nearly got blown off my head!
The weather on the top of the sth side is a mixture of sun, wind, rain, wind, wind, wind & wind.
After a bite to eat at Picton we started our drive to Nelson. That took about 2hrs on the most hilly windy road I've ever driven on. At one stage we thought we were going to run out of petrol...but all good.
Tomorrow we will make our way down to Graymouth.

If the weather is ok in the morning I might try to have a light run

Oh by the way they have crap on tv over here. (lucky I don't really watch it anyway!)

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Windy Wellington!

This is some of Auckland from sky tower

Rotorua from the top of the Gondola


How cool is this! This was on our way to Wellington just after Palmerston nth


After the best nights sleep I've had in ages we made our way down to Wellington. This took up most of the day.
We stopped off at Palmerston nth for lunch then made our way there a few hours later.
We are staying out of Welingtown in Lower Hutt. Went for a drive into Wellington but it was way too windy to get out of the car!

My legs are starting to feel fresh again. Still no running for me at this stage
Tomorrow we get on the ferry & head over to the sth island

Monday, November 03, 2008

Monday......time for a rest!

Was bloody stiff when I got out of bed.
Well no running for me today (no surprise there!)
We got out of Auckland early....I've seen enough of that place! & we headed south to Rotorua. This place is heaps cool! We got on the gondola & checked out the view....pretty cool up there.
We managed to get some cheap rooms staying at the Duxton.
Tomorrow we go down to Wellington.

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Ouch!!!...crashed & hit the wall!

Boy o boy....that was the toughest road marathon I've ever done!
Was up at the stupid hour of 3:30am to have b'fast then a walk with all the other runners to the ferry. Got on the ferry around 5ish then just relaxed over the other side untill about 5:50am then started moving & stetching.
Got up the front & just after 6:30 the hooter went off. From the first k this race had hills. Mabye my body doesn't like the hills at the start. Still thought I was doing ok untill the harbour bridge. (how tough was that bridge hill!)
The long run out to the turn around was pretty flat but MAN it was hard. I really felt it in the last 7k. My ks were starting to be in well over 5min from 35k onwards.
Was hoping to do sub 2:55 but way off with a 3:12:17. I had nothing left in me at the end.

After crashing out on the grass in victoria park for about 45min I got up then BANG! I spewed my guts up. Then thought I better so we were going to walk back.....then off I go again. We got a cab back. I thought I was going to spew in the cab. I had the window down & my head out the window! I just couldn't walk the 1km back!
After a 4hr sleep I started finally coming good. Managed to keep down a banana & some water just after 3:30...that's 12hrs after my last bite of food! Then was getting really hungry!! I've never had such a bad reaction from a marathon before!

After a great sleep we went to sky tower which was cool.

So what does all this this mean?...well the Auckland marathon defeted me. It got me & beat me. So that means I'm going to have to come back next year & kick it's ass!

Saturday, November 01, 2008

Marathon eve!

Ok....this is it. Tomorrow I've got the race. It's about 9:30pm as I write this & have to get up about 3:30ish. The race starts at 6:30am but I have to get on the ferry to Davenport about 4:45am. Why so early??? well they want us runners to get on the ferrys around 5am....why so early??? I have no idea!
Anyway I think I should have a good race. My goal is to do a sub 2:55. That means I need to average 4:08 each & every km. I'm hoping to go through the first 10k in sub 4min pace so under 40min. 39ish would be good, then see what I can do,
It's a hell of alot of hard work to get a marathon right. 3months & it's d-day.
Hoping the weather will be like today. It was overcast and around 17deg. I think it's ment to rain. We had some light drizzle tonight

Managed a comfortable 8.1k run today just running around Auckland city. Took my time. Legs feel really good

Later we walked on down to pick up my race gear pack. Had a look over at Victoria park markets then got on a ferry & went over to Davenport. (thats where I start tomorrow)It was like another world over there. Only 12min on the ferry but so different than Auckland.
Auckland really reminds of of Sydney only much, much smaller.

Snacked on alot of carb stuff today.......bread based stuff & had some rice with chicken & a bit of pasta for dinner.

I tried to buy some energy gels but couldn't find any anywhere....even Rebel don't have them. Finally spotted a cycle shop & had a look & low & behold they had gu gels & these lemon ones that arn't as thick. Looking at the price ($5.50-$8.50 for the gu & $2.50 for the lemon ones) I picked the lemon ones

Ok it's bloody noisy outside in the streets of Auckland & I need to try to get some sleep so I'm gunna put in the ear plus I bought today and zzzzzzz off!