Race Report: Blackmores Xterra Auckland Trail Series #1

Otherwise Known As:

The Hardest Run In My Life...

In the weekend we drove to Shakespear Regional Park about an hour north of the city, where the first race in the Blackmores Xterra Auckland Trail Series was being held. I entered on the day so I hope that still means I can be part of the series, as you accumulate points over the six races to determine your eventual placing, and I'd love to do all the rest.  This year I am concentrating on the Mid Course runs which vary from 10-14km, and this one was 10.7km long.

Event Base Camp

Halfway through this run I was cursing Total Sport, the event company that organises it. Grinding my way up yet another hill, and looking across the stream of runners in the distance ascending and descending many more hills to come, and I seriously thought of taking down the "I love Total Sport" in my blog side bar and replacing it with "I loathe Total Sport". But funny thing, the moment I crossed the finish line I wondered why I ever thought such ridiculous thing, and now I can't wait for the next event in Riverhead Forest.  Apparently it's muddy.....

These races take you to amazing places that just make you want to jump in the air, and they always leave me on a runner's high for a few days afterwards.

At the giant hill halfway through the course, I looked up to see my family taking a photo of me walking up the hill.

Well, yeah - doesn't every runner want a photo of themselves walking to show off to friends and family?!  I didn't feel so bad when I saw this photo of the leading men walking too!

There really was no other way up that hill.  At one stage I pulled to the side for a quick breather, and a guy behind me doing the long course said "C'mon, let's do it!", I replied "OK, no stopping!" and carried on climbing.  His encouragement gave us all a burst of energy.  

C'mon, let's do it - it's my new mantra.

I'm making this part of the post really long and drawn out - like the hill itself...

Thankfully there was a drink station at the top.  The rest of the course continued undulating along the ridge to the end of the peninsula where there were fantastic views.

I came a gutser twice.  First my foot slipped out from under me on a muddy downhill and I earned a sexy slick of mud up my right side.   That fall was kinda fun.  The second fall kinda wasn't.   Descending the wooden steps to the beach, I slipped on a U-turn and fell on the 'non-slip' netting.  I'm so glad the netting was plastic and not wire!  And big thanks to all the ladies behind me who checked I was alright - trail runners are awesome!

The final stretch was along the beach, and I admit to taking a quick walk break halfway along.  Then you run up, over the small sand dune, and down to the finish.

For the first time ever, I raised my hands in victory at the finish - I was so relieved to be done!  The photographer didn't quite capture it, but you can see my relief in the race photos.

I finished in 1:14:03, 30th out of 61 in my age group. I'm the classic mid-packer!

Oh, and after the race, in the long queue for a Jimmy's organic sausage and Speight's, I got talking and both the runners ahead of me slipped on the same hairpin bend on the steps!  Although I had the best injuries:

My shoes performed well - I didn't notice them at all so I suppose that means a pass.  I know I fell a couple of times, but one was in a really muddy spot, and the other - well, I knew that foot plant was risky in the microsecond before I took it...

So that's my 4th trail race this year in Jill's 13 in 2013 challenge - only 9 more to go so I better hurry up.

Happy running!

The New Trail Shoes That I Forgot To Tell You About...

In March I bought my first pair of trail shoes, and I haven't mentioned them yet because I wasn't sure about them and I wanted to give them some time.  They are Salomon XR Crossmax 1 shoes, part of their Door to Trail range.

Although I love running trails, I also run pavement, and I was also looking for something to alternate with my Adidas Supernova Glide 5s, so I thought these would be a good compromise.

They have a rather cool quick-lace system - you pull up the laces to tighten, then slide the toggle to secure, then stuff the ends into the stretch mesh pocket at the upper edge of the tongue - quick and no laces to trip on!

Athough they are super comfortable, my first run in them felt much harder, and that seems to be the general trend.  They feel light, they're streamlined, they're really well built and tough, but compared to my slipper-like Supernova's they feel less agile, a bit clunky and inflexible.  Of course that can be a good thing on rocky trails to prevent bruising your feet!

Hey rock, don't you mess with  me!

I forced myself to wear them on my short easy runs once or twice a week, and I find after a few weeks I am enjoying them more.  They are a totally different feel to my Supernovas, but it can be good to vary shoes to strengthen your connective tissues in different ways.  Maybe now my aging muscles and tendons are adapting to the change, my Salomon's feel easier to run in!

Another thing I have noticed is that they are less permeable than my Supernova's.  When it was warm and humid my socks became damp, so blisters may be a concern in the heat.  But on the other hand they repelled rain well during a downpour, so they might be a wet weather winter shoe for me.

The reviews for this shoe are very positive.  I have read a review that these are better on trails than pavement, and to be honest no shoe is going to do both 100%.  I have to admit that so far I have only run around town in these, on pavement and a few short local tracks and parks.  I haven't given them a good trail outing yet - as you can see they are still relatively clean!  I hope to give them a good workout tomorrow up on the Whangaparoa Peninsula, in the first of the Blackmore's Xterra Off-Road Series.

I'll let you know how they go!

Have you ever bought running shoes that don't quite work?
Have you ever returned shoes for that reason?  I was tempted, but it just didn't feel right!
Do you have a trail shoe? Tell me about it!

I Think I'm A Yoga Convert...

Around the beginning of the year I jotted down a few things I wanted to do regarding running, and one of them was to try Yoga.  I'd read so many other runners saying how it had really helped them with flexibility and things and I wanted to give it a go too.

Until this week the only action I had taken on this front was getting some magazines out of the library ...

... bookmarking a few sites/blog posts that took my fancy ... and getting a bit tangled up as I tried to do a pigeon pose for the first time!

On Sunday I jumped in the deep end and wandered along to Lululemon in Ponsonby for one of their complimentary sessions.  The usual clothes stands were pushed to the side and the floor was covered with the multiple hues of yoga mats, which were filling fast.  I found a spot where I made sure I could see the instructor because that was going to be very necessary.

Amanda from the Yoga Sanctuary was taking the class, and I thought she was pretty amazing - fun personality, really clear instructions, and encouraging to all levels.  I've never done yoga before and managed just fine - although it helped that the woman next to me knew what she was doing, as I could glance across at her when I was in upside down positions like the downward dog where I couldn't actually see Amanda!  We did lots of downward dogs!  Also child poses, pigeon poses, warrior poses and those are merely the ones that I remember the names of.

Before I knew it the hour was over, and we were gathering up the mats.  I headed home feeling a bit younger.  Most of my life I've been quite flexible but in latter years I know I've really stiffened up.  After a single yoga session I felt that my spine and pelvis had been reawoken and I instantly felt more agile.

not quite this agile though!

My glutes felt a little shattered, but guess who's going back next weekend?!

Have you ever done yoga?  How has it helped you and your running?

PS - a big thanks to Lululemon and Amanda from the Yoga Sanctuary!

Come, Run With Me To The Fairy Falls...

The Fairy Falls lie nestled in the Waitakere Ranges half an hour's drive from central Auckland (off Scenic Drive somewhere between Swanson and Waiatarua), and are about half an hour's walk into the bush.  We went there last week:

Get me on a bush track and I just want to run!  I couldn't resist running ahead with the phone and taking some "dizzying footage" of the moment.  Wanna come run with me down through some NZ native rainforest to the Fairy Falls?

I am sure those hikers wondered what crazy was running through the bush filming - it's tricky looking at the screen and the ground!  In that video I stop at the top of the falls, then there are a ton of stairs to descend to halfway:

the upper falls

The falls are multi-tiered and halfway down a bridge crosses over them, then you can continue descending right to the base of the lower falls - that's in this clip:

It's a great little hike to squeeze into a morning or afternoon  - only 4 km there and back.  But for every downward step to the falls there is an equivalent upward step back to the car, and I have to admit my quads felt a little tired on my real run later that day!

My Running Watch Died, And Now I'm Lost

I went for my run on Wednesday night and it rained and rained, and I got wet.  So did my Nike+ SportWatch.  I uploaded my run and everything was normal.

Thursday am - went for a bush walk and the watch was operating normally, but it did have moisture inside the screen which cannot be a good thing.

Thursday pm - went for a run and SportWatch was not showing my pace, but it did record the first 25 mins of my run before indicating low battery, even though I had tried recharging it.  After uploading, Nike+ reckons I had an average pace of --, burned 0 calories, and ran 0.0 km for 25 mins!

The screen went blank shortly after, and charging it overnight has done nothing.  I think it is dead :(

I rechecked the water resistance of the watch, which is 5 ATM, or 50m.  According to this site 30mWR should withstand getting caught in rain, and 50mWR should withstand swimming in shallow water:

I've never used my watch for anything other than running or bush walking, so I'm a bit disappointed it leaked the first time it was exposed to rain.  Maybe mine has a faulty seal or something.  I will probably try to return it as it is still under guarantee, but it is 8 months old and they might try and insist that I went scuba diving in it.

But you know what the worst thing is?  I'm totally lost when I'm running.  Nothing to do with GPS - I mean the distance, time and pace type of lost.  I know I checked my watch often to rein myself in at the beginning of my easy runs, but I didn't realise it was that often!  The biggest problem will be tempo runs and speedwork where I am useless at running consistently at a faster pace. And running my next race is going to be complete guesswork, how am I going to know if I start out too fast?  I like the security of numbers, and I really miss my watch!

Has your running watch ever failed on you?
Shall I just take my phone every time I run?  I did try that tonight, not a great experience.
Is this my cue to invest in a better model?

The Off-Road Skills Session I Forgot To Tell You About

A few weekends ago I took part in an off-road skills training session that I haven't told you about yet!  I didn't take any photos on the day - and a blog post needs photos, no?  So when I was running in the same location the other day I snapped a few shots to have a breather speak alongside my words.

The skills session was organised by TotalSport, the company that produces most of the running events that I enter.  A group of us met in the Auckland Domain one Sunday morning and spent an hour and a half running around it's trails, first learning, and then practising trail running techniques under the guidance of running coach Claire Smith.

We covered things like running posture, cadence, leg action, arm action, balance, and avoiding obstacles - something I found particularly interesting after my trip over a tree root during the Tussock Traverse!  Claire showed us the secret to running quickly and safely over bumpy surfaces like these:

 - without tripping!

There were loads of other tips to be had, the sort of details that don't usually get a mention in books.  This alone is a great reason to turn up.  One thing we didn't focus on was uphills and downhills, but this is covered in an additional 1.5 hour session - I plan on doing that next!

Have you ever participated in a running skills session?  How did it go?

My New Training Paces Are Fast!

The result of my 1 mile time trial this week means I have adjusted my training paces accordingly, and they are about 20 seconds faster than before - which is quite a jump when you have to run them!

my paces are in kilometres, not miles!

This week I had an 8km steady "only just conversational" run scheduled, and I wondered I would manage to run that far at 5:45 - 6:00 pace.  As it turns out I ran a hilly route and my pace was all over the place - from 5:30 to 7:00 - and averaged 6:16.  Next time I will try it on flatter terrain!  My long run on Sunday went a little better and was just within my target pace.

Keep in mind that when I say fast, that means fast for me!  My mile time of 7:45 was repeated 26.2 times over by Skinny Runner who averaged 7:42 in the Boston Marathon.  This really puts into perspective how fast some of you run - I can't imagine running 26 miles at that speed!

Nevertheless, I managed to break another record of mine on my steady run - my fastest 5k is now 30:40.  As usual Nike+ does not let these things go unnoticed:

And to put things into perspective again, Kimberley Smith's winning 5km time at Boston this week was 15:16 - more than twice as fast!  She's amazing.