NZ to BC to NZ

earnyourturns

Okay, so here's the deal. I ran the Dunedin Marathon on 12 September in 4 hours 22 mins and since then have been cutting loose, drinking too much NZ white and finding myself in compromising situations. It's been great.

Still cycling in and out to uni and going swimming and doing a bit of hiking now that summer is nearly here (yup, such is life in the Southern Hemisphere. Long, sunny days of November...). I've been running anything between 2 to 5 times a week since the marathon, motivation has certainly been coming in peaks and troughs jpwever. Last week, for example, I was loving running and went out 5 times, including 6 x 800 metre repeats with a local running club and a hilly 12 miler on Saturday morning. This week - meh. Simply couldn't face the thought of going for a run yesterday as planned so instead dragged myself to the gym and did 3 miles on the treadmill, telling myself that anything was better than nothing.

So! Next race is going to be the Rotorua Marathon on Saturday 30 April 2011 and following the 18 week plan of our trusted and respected leader, Hal, this means starting training on Monday 27 December. Ho ho ho! I'm going to follow a self-devised mix of the Novice and Intermediate plan: followed the novice plan, running 4 times a week, for DCM 2009 and ran in 4:19. Followed the intermediate plan for the Dunedin Marathon, running 5 times a week, and grew to loathe and despise running but definitely had a quicker recovery time from the long runs. So this time round I'll run 4 times a week (including the interval sessions with the club I've joined) but still doing the long runs of Intermediate Plan.

Just to keep life interesting I'll be disappearing off to British Columbia - BC baby! - for three weeks in the middle of the training in late Jan/early Feb for skiing, catching up with old friends and for the launch of this. http://pdfcast.org/pdf/snowdrift-blurb. Woo hoo! Hence the name of the new log: NZ to BC to NZ.

From now till 27 December I reckon I'll just run as and when I feel like it to keep things ticking over. More damage limitation than anything else. Will do a weekly update on this log.

earnyourturns

Week One

Day One:
Pre-breakfast 5 miler. Breakfast: Bailey's Coffee and toast.

Start as you mean to go on...

MrCreosote

Nice one!
I'd love to run Rotorua- supposed to be a good tough marathon and there are always those hot pools for afterwards...

earnyourturns

Yes and apparently you get free entry to the hot pools with your marathon entry

The rest of Day One
- mid-afternoon gin and tonic on the veranda. 29C out
- homemade pizza for dinner
- post-dinner merriment and chocolate

Day Two
- Damn! Where did that sun go? Overcast and rainy. Still warm though. Another pre-breakfast 5 miler (fuelled by a quarter of a lemon shortbread mmm) through Hagley Park, which was in fact the epicentre of a minor earthquake yesterday. Stayed solid today though.

earnyourturns

The rest of Day Two
- owing to the torrential rain which ended up leading to massive floods and road closures across the South Island, this became an indoor day
- cheese fondue for dinner, washed down with some fine NZ white wine...
- ...followed by chocolate fondue for dessert. Oh God. This has to stop soon.

Day Three
Pre-breakfast 5 miler, still fuelled by the gargantuan cheese and chocolate fest of the night before. Can barely maintain 10 minute miles at the moment. This Bacchanalian excess has to end soon. Possibly in a massive coronary.

earnyourturns

Day Four: swimming! Followed by mid-afternoon gin and tonic and left-over chocolate fondue. Oh God. Make it stop. Please let it stop. Also a nice bedtime earthquake aftershock just to keep us on our toes. Looking forward to getting back to Dunedin in a few days for:

(a) an end to all this over-eating
(b) solid ground

Day Five: 8 miles around Hagley Park, warm and humid but was sheltered from most of it by the leafy foliage (it is the middle of summer after all). Now gearing up for the rest of New Year's Eve.

Total miles this week: 23
Total miles to date: 23
Total earthquakes/aftershocks noticeable this week: 3 big ones, a myriad of smaller ones
Total calories ingested this week: about 1 million