Half Marathon Completed

well I made it. The half marathon was run yesterday and I got home in a time of 1hour 58 minutes. Was pleased to get in under 2 hours. The event was actually cancelled due to the threat of a tsunami from the Chilean earthquake. Was disappointing given how much work has gone into the training and I was surprised that there wasn't a back up course arranged further from the beach. So about a 100 of us decided to run the course anyway as the sea was flat and the course is mostly elevated so we set off. Was a beautiful run round the Auckland waterfront and into the hills overlooking the ocean and just under 2 hours later I got round the loop.

Very very pleased and now looking for the next challenge

2 weeks till Half Marathon

Its been nearly a week since I have posted and for the most part I have been pretty slack with training. Mid week was busy with kids etc so the training slipped away somewhat. Was supposed to go for a 10km run on Wednesday but it was raining and fearing I might melt with a little bit of water, Shellton and I decided to pull the pin on it so I went to the gym instead.
The following day we manned up and actually went out for 10kms which we did in 1hr 4 minutes (in the rain too...how hard are we??) Was nice running in the cool of the rain on what was a very muggy predawn.
Friday I started to feel the burn of the squats from Wednesday mornings Gym visit and with the effects of the running I gave myself a rest day. I had to be in work early that day anyway and then ended up going to the Blues game after work so would have been hard pressed to get a work out in.
Saturday morning went for another gym session and focused on upper body. Was intending to get some squat work in but ended up just smashing chest and arms. felt awesome afterwards and in the afternoon went for a leisurely game of tennis.
Sunday I was itching to get out for a long run so decided to go for a quick half marathon distance. Did the 21.5kms in 2hrs 6 minutes and the pleasing thing is that I included some hills in the run. Confident now that I can do the distance required and the Cathay Pacific half in 2 weeks will be achievable. Wonder if I can crack 2 hours????

New shoes, new 5km time

Received my new shoes from the UK yesterday and they are a perfect fit. It helps to have a bother who's feet are the same size of course. He sent over some Asics Gel 1140's and so I took them out for a 5km TT last night. Got home in 23minutes 26second. Which is a new PB fro me. The shoes definitely made a difference but I was also pretty fresh having not run for 3 days and had a heap of energy. The new time burned me out though and I still have such a long way to go to get to optimal fitness and my long term goal of breaking 20minutes for the 5km. But cracking the 25 minute barrier for the first time is a great step and one that I am secretly just a little proud of.
Miss 3 months old has the flu at the moment so it means a fairly interrupted sleep (although not nearly as interrupted as wifey's). This means getting up at 5ish for the morning run is getting harder to do. Managed to haul myself out this morning with the intention of going for a 10km run with Shellton but we cancelled due to the rain so went to the gym instead. was nice to basically have the gym to myself so early in the morning. Did chest and a good squat session. Feel good having not wasted the morning and will hopefully get back out running tonight.
3 and a half weeks to go till the half marathon

10k before work

Up at 5am this morning for water and a stretch then round to Shellton's for a quick 10km before work. Went round in 1 hour 14secs which was a nice pace. not too strenuous for an early morning run.

Last night did some skipping and did 100 press ups. Not able to do 100 at once so split them up over a period of time. But still did 100. Need to get back into the gym to do some weights and work on that upper body strength which continues to be pretty slack. Was suppose to go check out a new core work out last night with my brother in law but didn't end up going down in time so will hopefully check that out next week.

Only 4 weeks till the half marathon too. Getting close so will need to start the fundraising

Running backwards

So tonight I was running short of time so checked out the crossfit website and they had a cool running work out on there which i thought I would try. I was supposed to go out for a 10km blast this morning but Shellton fell ill and so I went back to bed...slack I know

So it was down to the track this afternoon after going for a walk with the better half when I got in the door. Miss 11 weeks old is going through a growth spurt so Ebs has been stuck inside all day. Miss 4 is away so we went out for a walk round the neighbourhood to get some fresh air. Dropped the girls back home and headed for the track to do

Run 800mtrs
run backwards 400mtrs
run 800 mtrs
run backwards 400 mtrs

for time

Got round in 13:56. I thought it would be so much easier than it actually was. Ended up the last 400mtrs with my quads screaming at me to stop. Who knew running backwards was so hard