Training Log Archive: Heidistolberger

Mix of things today with Jess and individually.
Started with an O intervals session, 3 intervals some were less than ideal as the branches and logs underfoot were not fun.
Slowed right down to do some compass legs and route choice legs.
Before finishing with a real easy jog back to the cars.
Aiming for 90 minutes on the map, definitely some changes out there.
Legs still a bit sore from yesterday so didn't want to push too hard in the tough terrain.
Went hard for the road portion of the intervals going about 3.50 - 4.10 pace before easing off but still pushing once in the forest and navigating.

Pushed it pretty hard in park run this morning.
Was running with Kieran for the first couple laps which gave me motivation to keep the pace going and try not to fall apart.
Pacing was pretty shit but I managed to improve from the last time and got a new PB for the year, always looking for the positives.

Wanted to do a bit of map training so just took it real chill on the senior boys course for part 1 of AKSS finals.
A new map for me so always quite interesting.
Made a few hesitations and had to stop a few times to let cars and people through.

Another easy run around the senior boys course.
Was quite sore after the run this morning so pace was really slow and focus was on map reading as I had made some errors last time I used the map and wanted to keep it clean this time around.
Happy with route choices most of the time but had to stop a few times to pick up controls that had fallen over or boxes that had been knocked off the stands which added a fair amount of time.

Bits and pieces of warm ups and warm downs from throughout the day.

Today's session was a shorter sharper hill session.
Longer warm up and warm down with the warm down at a faster but steady pace.
Ran up Mt Albert and then did 6 x 90 seconds(ish) hill efforts up the steep part of the road loop.
Was pleased with how I felt and the speed up the hills.

Really happy with how this training block has started and hopefully I can keep it going strong.

Power was turned off at home so decided to kill some time and go for a long run while I waited for it to come back on so I could finish up the work I was doing.
Went out for an easy paced 90 minutes and a couple of hills where I could.
From home went up Mt Albert, through Balmoral and up the side of Mt Eden, then down through Kingsland and Morningside, before jumping on the train.
Felt good for most of it and was pretty relaxed. Legs started to get a bit tired and wobbly after a while so stopped as I didn't want to tire myself too much.

Feeling surprisingly good considering I've had quite a hard weekend.
Went out for a real easy, chill 30 minutes just to stretch the legs out and get them moving.
Starting tomorrow I move into the next block of training which is based around endurance and strength so lots of hills, long runs and terrain sessions to set me up for JWOC trial 2 in early May.
Feeling motivated and pumped for this next month and being able to prove myself.

Disappointing race for me...
Started really well, managing to drop the ones I started with and catch up to the two in front of me by around the 1st or 2nd control.
The first 7 controls went well, and I was happy with my speed and navigation, although I did find quite a few of the other controls on the way.
Slowed down for the ones in the coastal side and trying to get through the felling but began to speed up as I hit the road to #8.
This is where the mistakes began, was starting to get tired as I had run harder than I normally would in this kind of course.
Had set in my mind that I had to go left off the track and that I was in the right place when I was actually on a different track to what I thought.
Wasted close to 6 minutes on the control, which is way too much in such a competitive race.
Was mostly fine with the rest of the course but knew I had blown it by then and was making sure I didn't MP in my upset state.

Was probably the most pressure I had felt for a race ever, with the new relay format meaning the competition was extremely high.
I was put in North West's #1 team with Matt and Gene, which was pretty nerve racking to begin with.
Unfortunately while most had been very supportive and did a good job in relaxing me there were a couple of people who were not very supportive and made some unnecessary comments which didn't help my stress at all.

Was a really cool experience though to be able to run with the best in the club and I've definitely learned a lot from it and the rest of the weekend.

Next stage - Ultra long champs in Canterbury for 2nd trial in May.