Tigy’s Blog

Race 4 of the Run Auckland series was on Sunday way out in Milford. I didn’t think I’d be able able to make it to this one, but after the boys weekend got canceled I thought I’d give it a crack.

I’m glad I did.  Was carrying a bit of an injury with sore calves from last weeks race, and had only managed a couple of runs during the week, but still managed a personal best time on what was a pretty tough course.

The ‘official’ distance of the run was 10km but I measured it more like 9.4km, which is actually quite a difference.  I think there may have been some last minute change to the course as we took a nice scenic detour at the turn around point.

I started the run a bit faster than normal, my plan was to get near to the front and try to stay with some of the better runners.  I ended up in a bit of a competition with a small group.  A couple of girls who would pull away on me on the hills but I would catch on the down side, and a couple of guys who stuck pretty close to me (or vice versa),  I think we kept pushing each other on.

I’d been reading a bit about the Lydiard method, keeping my effort level steady, not burning out on the hills, keeping my cardio under control and letting my muscles stay relaxed and do the work they’ve trained for.  Anyways what really blew me away was how by just sticking to the plan I was able to chase down all the guys who pulled away from me.  I just kept on “plodding” along and with about 200m to go I saw the last one of the guys I ran with at the start, a final push and I managed to pass he just before the line.

This was the first time I really applied any strategy to my running and to have it pay off was great.  I finished a shade under 43 minutes, which worked out to be about 4:30/km, which is about 0:20 faster than my best training runs.  Doesn’t sound like much, but I know how hard I worked to get from 5:20/km down to 5:00/km.  Still a long way off what the pro’s do, but a great achievement for little old me.

I think I’ll need a couple of days to recover, calves are telling me to rest.  Just 3 more weeks until the next big race though so can’t rest too long.

Xterra 2008 Race1 Team Tiger Yamasaki, Coyote Colquhoun, Panther Hamilton, Mountain Goat Maloney, Bobcat Boyce, Big & Little Horn Clark

Did my very first off road race in the weekend, a mild 16km jaunt out in riverhead, northwest of Auckland.

I’ve done a couple of 10k races on road, but never anything this long, or off road! I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. It was tough, pretty much the first 30-40 minutes were uphill, with one real leg killer at the 7k mark. The rest of the team from work opted to downgrade to the short course, just 6.5k, but me being me wanted the challenge.

Gave my ankle a roll at the top of the big hill, but it came right after a few more km. It was awesome running through the bush on the flat and downhill, at least the bits that weren’t wet clay lined mud slides! There is nothing like being in a row of guys, running through the bush, all wordlessly pushing each other along… Highly recommend the experience!

Managed to knock off the course in 1:21:12, which for me was a great time. I have to admit that by the end I didn’t have much left in my legs and was pretty pleased to finish in one piece. Big ups to Macs’ who provided beers at the finish line, great idea!

Thinking if I can polish off 16km in that time I might be up to a half marathon before years end. We’ll have to wait and see on that though.

Next ones in a months time, can’t wait to see what the course is like!

On a final note I saw the most awesome mushrooms/toadstools in the forest. I mean these were exactly like the ones in the story books, you know the bright red with white spots. Had there been a few fireflys around I would have sworn there were fairies there too!

Had Race 2 of the Run Auckland series in the weekend. My god it was cold!

The course was mainly on walking tracks which was great as I was feeling a bit sore in the legs and my new shoes hadn’t arrived yet (any day now!!). Took on the course a bit more aggressively this time and really wanted to break the 50:00 barrier, was pretty much on track I think but lost heart at the 7.5km mark when I thought I had gone a touch too slow, tried to push hard for the finish but ran out of steam.

The lesson here is trust your training, keep steady and don’t give up! Turns out I was on track, with a couple of hundred meters to go I realised I could get there under the magic 50 minute mark and sprinted in for the finish. My stop watch measured the time as 49:59 but the official time was 50:31, probably due to the squeeze at the start line. Anyway it was still a 4:58/km pace which is easily my best.

I’m convinced if I’d just stuck at my pace rather than trying to push hard at the 7.5k mark I would have been able to cruise in under 50min. Basically my mistake was I pushed hard too early, ran out of puff and tired sooner than I needed to. A slightly slower but steadier pace would have been better. Never mind, lesson learned and we’ll see how I go next time!