Training Log Archive: Craney

Something like 14hrs of travel to get back home again.

Squeezed in a third Te Mata (a pas-sata perhaps?) in two days. This time with Kez, who was moving quite well and provided some much-appreciated company and conversation. Turned out the girls (Grace, Piret, Liis and Tessa) were being super-competitive and actually beat us to the top, much to their delight. We weren't afforded the chance to spend too long discussing the differences in the lengths of our different routes.

Staying in Havelock North, so nipped out for an exploratory run of Te Mata (pronounced like a cockney might say 'Tomato') Peak from our bach. Cold and windy - which made a nice change. A very enjoyable run once on the footpaths though - some native bush, huge redwoods, then lots of open limestone country reminiscent of Malham/Kilnsey type places in England. Ended up doing the blue route to the summit, which was along a pretty cool ridgeline.

After some brunch headed back to Te Mata to try out one of their permanent courses, which I downloaded onto my iphone. No printer though so actually took my iphone as my map. The autorotate was quite annoying, so I had to orienteer like Blair. Plus sweatiness meant scrolling the map was tricky. But the main difficulty was the course itself - brutally steep in places to the extent that it was quite funny. I was very impressed someone went out and actually nailed control points to some of those trees. Still, good to get out again and revisit the summit.

Travelling to NZ (Hawkes Bay) for Bryn and Piret's wedding :)

The usual longish IW, this time with Jasen, Sam and Mark Bourne - although Jasen seemed motivated by chat about toddlers and a work meeting, so we ended up dropping the other two. Felt pretty good, although a bit achy over the last few kms. New garmin seems to be doing funny things on a regular basis now - might have to look into getting a replacement.

5x5mins with Tomas on Red Hill south. Hot day (35 degs) so more of a solid fartlek thing than actual intervals. Felt alright though.

Warm-up jog and 2min recoveries.

Steady lunch run on Red Hill north. Interesting seeing some of the wind damage from Friday's 5 minute storm. Legs quite heavy so nice to have a fairly gentle shake-out. Was quite warm.