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.

A Peace Mile

My training plan had a 1 mile time trial scheduled for today.  Well yesterday actually, but I put it off because it was raining when I got home from work, and I thought I'd do it today because I had the day free.  (That was yesterday, as I'm now publishing a day later!)

I ran slow for the 2.5km along to the Domain, where there is a measured mile course - the Sri Chinmoy Peace Mile:

When I read the sign, I thought how appropriate to be running this mile promoting world peace, the day after the Boston Marathon bombings.

Although world peace isn't going to be achieved with a simple mile run, indirectly it helps.  Running contributes to a healthy, balanced mind, and a healthy balanced mind does not plant bombs in public.  Maybe if everyone was a runner...

Anyway, I achieved peace with myself when I ran my fastest mile!  I did it in 7:45 mins, an improvement of 29 seconds from my last time trial in December.  My fastest kilometre is now 4:44, an improvement of 21 seconds.

This means I need to adjust my training paces and run a bit faster!  I'm glad I have the go-ahead to speed up as my old training paces were starting to feel easier.  And running faster should be more bearable now the summer humidity is gone and autumn is here:

Do you run time trials?
Do you train at certain paces?  (I'm using the McMillan Calculator for mine)
Do you have dirty running shoes too?!  (My R shoe was stained by a muddy orange puddle on the Tussock Traverse.  I overtook 3 girls running around it by taking a shortcut right through it, hehe!)

My #BestRun

Today I'm linking up with Miss Zippy who shares the story of her recent #bestrun on holiday in Austin, and she is kindly inviting others to link up and share their stories on her blog too.

Even if you have only been running for 18 months like myself, it can be hard to decide on a single best run.  But last weekend's long run is one that stands out for several reasons for me.

• I climbed 3 of the volcanoes that are dotted around Auckland city, and the awesome views at the top of each was well worth the climb.
• It was my longest run ever, in both distance and time - I ran (and walked some of those uphills!) over 15 km in 2 hours. 
• I had been feeling a bit down for a couple of weeks prior, and this run made me happy once again!  The challenge and rewards of each climb, the freedom of exploring new routes, and blissfully running at my forever pace, was all it took to come alive again.  The jelly beans may have helped too.

For pictures and more, click here to visit this post that I wrote shortly afterwards while still on my runner's high. And pop on over to Miss Zippy's for more Best Run stories - or even better share your own!
Thanks Miss Zippy!

My First Half

It's official - I have just entered my first half marathon!

Entries went on sale at midnight for the adidas Auckland Marathon, so the first thing I did this morning was log on and enter.  The half marathon is limited to 7500 and usually sells out within a few days, so I wasn't taking any chances!

I know it says on screen "Congratulations on entering the 2013 adidas Auckland Marathon", but I did double-check (as it was so early) and I have entered the half marathon as intended!

I'm quite excited!  My first thoughts are that I must take care of myself and not get injured.  I think that is the only thing that will get in my way.  So I promise I'm going to be more diligent about stretching and strengthening - i.e, start a regular routine rather than the haphazard way I have been doing it so far.

So I'm in!
Are you running in the event too?  What distance?
Do you remember the first time you ran a half marathon - how did it go?

Three Volcanoes Run

Today I had an awesome long run - I summitted three volcanoes!

Auckland CBD from Mt Eden summit

First I ran up Mt Eden which is one of my regular routes, but it is only 7km return from my house so it isn't a long one.  There is a long spiral road that gradually ascends the mountain so you can get a real consistent pace going up.  I usually come down via one of the trails that wind their way down through the grassy tree-lined slopes.

Always at the top I play tourist and stop to take in the 360* view, and lately I've found myself thinking about knocking another volcano or two off.  It must have been the runner's high you get after a climb, because today I did!  I headed east toward two of the volcanoes in the photo below.

Mt Hobson on the left, and Mt St John on the right (the small tree covered mount, not the one in the far centre which is miles off!)

I weaved my way through Epsom streets to Mt St John Ave, where I asked another runner how to access the top.  I'm glad I did because I wouldn't have found it otherwise!  At the end of Belvedere Street lies these steep pitted old steps:

... which gradually taper off to a gate, with a rewarding view of the crater - and look, a crater rim track waiting just for people like us!

I loved running along this little track - even though Mt St John isn't that high, the views are awesome.  A kind lady at the top offered to take my photo with the crater in the background, and you can just see the gate at my elbow:

There were views back to Mt Eden where I had come from, great views of One Tree Hill, and Mt Hobson loomed so close that I decided I had to run up there too!

Mt Eden from Mt St John

Mt Hobson from Mt St John

Although it looked close, I had to practically circumnavigate Mt Hobson to find an access track!  I finally found one off Remuera Road, and guess what - it went up:

and up:

and up:

and up:

You get that many photos because that's about how many times I stopped to walk!

Puffing proof I made it to the trig station at the top!

I zig-zagged down a grassy slope among quite a few cows (and cowpats!) towards Remuera Road and Newmarket, where I realised that I could actually add another volcano to the day's tally if I ran through the Domain.  So of course I did:

It would be cheating to claim I ascended this fourth volcano too, as the elevation of the crater rim is only a few metres! But it is still technically a volcano, and I snapped this pic down in the crater which is currently a cricket ground.

I carried a small water bottle on this run hoping to refill it at some water fountains along the way, but found none!  Luckily I had tucked $5 into my skirt before I left, so at the Domain I bought some lovely ice cold water from a cafe and ran home with new found energy along the city streets.  I had been running for over 2 hours, my longest run ever, but I had been taking it easy and was amazed how good I felt towards the end - I definitely could have gone further.  One day I will!

Running Doldrums

Lately I've been in the running doldrums - life has been a bit hectic and it can be hard to find the energy to lace up.

I didn't run for four whole days one week.  Plus I've skipped or downgraded a few runs in the last 2-3 weeks.  Feeling tired, tense and agitated, I would pace the house thinking how I really should go for run, but also thinking how many other things were more important to do.  When I did run, I felt weak, lethargic, and that my arms and legs were out of sync.  My body was not in the mood.

Anyway, this week I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders and I can see light at the end of the tunnel.

Dominion Road underpass, on my Mt Eden running route

I'm back to working part time, and the night classes I teach are almost complete for this term.  It is amazing how some extra time makes life feel more in control!  I'm sleeping better, and I've had a couple of great runs where I felt faster and stronger. Plus, I'm really looking forward to my long run on Sunday.

(Fast Forward - it is Sunday night and I have had an awesome long run that I can't wait to tell you about - tomorrow!)

Does LIFE get in the way of your running sometimes?

Round The Bays 2013

It was a perfect morning for Round The Bays today - clear and sunny, and thank goodness the humidity had dropped a bit because it felt claustrophobic enough amongst all these people!

Look at that crowd stretching way into the distance!  I managed to get into position about 500m before the starting line before it became too crowded to move, after the starting cannon it was a mere shuffle to the start line, and I took this photo a few hundred metres further on at 9:44am - just as we broke into a slow jog! 

A lot of businesses enter their staff/families/friends into these events, so there are always a lot of T-shirts to read to keep you entertained while you wait:

My goal was to basically enjoy myself and run at 6:00 pace and speed it up toward the end if I felt good, and this was exactly what I did.  I think.  Whenever I looked at my Sportwatch it read 5:55-6:10 pace, and 5:30-5:45 around the last bay, but when I look at my uploaded splits they read about 6:15-6:20, and 6:00 for the last km.  I have noticed this difference before and wonder if my watch is calibrated correctly or something! 

At the finish line

It is hard to know what my real time was - according to the announcer I crossed the line just on 60mins, but considering it was about 10 mins shuffle to the start line and there was no chip timing I think that's a bit unfair!  My watch reads 59:47 but I actually forgot to stop it until after I had taken all these photos about 10 mins later at 10:40am - so I guess I ran it in around 50 mins.

Also Nike+ tells me I ran my fastest 5k (31:04) without even trying.  I must run a proper 5k race at some stage.

Some runners rinsing off after the race!

I tried not to get annoyed at the people walking three abreast in the runners lane, the people who stop suddenly in front of you, and the people who swerve across in front of you to get to a drink station - this is a fun run after all!   I think it is great that these people are participating in the event, and don't blame them for being unfamiliar with usual race etiquette.  But... if I run next year I will try to arrive earlier and get closer to the start line in an attempt to avoid all of that!

Runners coming around the bend into St Heliers Bay
(that coastline in the far distance is the North Shore, where I ran my last race!)

Runners approach the finish line 

Would I run it again?  I'm sure I will - it is such an iconic Auckland event, and it's big, cheap ($15) scenic, flat and fun.  Plus, now I have a time to beat, and who can resist that?!

Does your city or town have a big local fun run that you always enter?

I'm Running Round The Bays!

This week I stopped procrastinating and finally entered Auckland's Round The Bays!  This iconic run was on my list of goals for the year but I sort of went off the idea after remembering the crowded start and being confined to walking the first few hundred metres until the field spread out!  Once I got over the fact that my race time will be a joke I signed up and went downtown to pick up my race number this morning - yay!

It is great to see the Auckland Jogger's Club still runs the event too - this club was founded by Arthur Lydiard and friends in 1962 with the aim of encouraging everyday people to jog for health, and helped start the jogging revolution - especially once Bill Bowerman took the idea back to USA!  The club welcomes  people of all abilities from walkers to marathoners, sounds friendly, and I'd consider joining if I lived near Cornwall Park!  They started Round the Bays in 1972 with over 1000 runners and that number escalated over the years to become one of the largest running events in the country.  I admire the story and motive behind the event, and it is one of the major deciding factors for me to enter - anything that encourages people to start running is great!

So it's official - come 9:30 tomorrow morning I will be one of the 70,000 participants running the 8.4km from Downtown to St Heliers - it should be lots of fun as the course is incredibly scenic and the weather this weekend is magic!

Race Report: The Coastal Challenge

Today I ran the Coastal Challenge along the beaches and coastline of the North Shore.  There are several distances to choose from, and I did the 11km version from the north end of Milford Beach to Windsor Reserve in Devonport.  Here I am at the start looking fresh and raring to go!

This is the start - I'm in there somewhere!  If you look closely you can see some runners from the longer distances rock hopping and wading through the water around the coast north of us - maybe that will be me next year!

It was a bit cloudy to start with, but that soon burnt off and we had sunshine the rest of the way.  Look at the cute kids sprinting off to the side, you can see them in the previous shot too - I wonder how long they lasted!

It wasn't all beaches - there was quite a bit of rock hopping around the bays.  I love those parts and somehow manage to overtake people there, although there were a couple of narrow parts that created a traffic jam and we had to queue up - frustrating!  Sometimes that little rest was welcome though ;)

Here's Narrow Neck beach - I had already gone through when Steven and Luke took this photo.  The 33km race starts way off at that distant peninsula:

This is what the coast is like between each beach - it was so much fun.  These runners are approaching Cheltenham Beach:

Cheltenham was the last beach but the hardest to run - with soft cushy sand that really slowed you down.  Halfway along I ventured up to the top edge to seek out some harder ground but that wasn't very successful, so I stopped a little longer than intended at the drink station which was ideally located at the south end of the beach.

Then it was about 1k or so on the streets to the finish, where I gave it everything trying to keep up with 'the girl in the blue top'.  Some kids in Mackay Ave had the garden hoses out which was wonderful - I made sure I got well showered!

I felt I ran really well at the end - around 5:15 pace for the last km - I didn't know if I could keep it up or not  but I was determined 'the girl in the blue top' was not going to get away, and I managed to keep going to finish strongly.  Unfortunately Steven and Luke were probably still at Narrow Neck beach waiting for me and they missed my finish, but they snapped this shot where you can see more runners coming along the final stretch, if you squint:

At least that meant I got to eat the Jacks Links beef jerky and the Pop'n'Good Popcorn that was hiding in my race bag all by myself!  Here I am proud-ish and but tired when we finally found each other:

OK - official results are in now - I ran in 1:11:08 - 10/36 in my age group, 52/145 female overall.   28% and  36% respectively.  

Next year it's going to be 25% :)

Next Up: The Coastal Challenge

The last three weeks of my training have almost been a repeat of a couple of months ago, and as I mentioned in the last post they felt relatively easy.  But I've been really good and resisted the temptation to jump ahead, as it is all part of base building, and it does increase slightly next month.  Patience, patience!

I've signed up for the Coastal Challenge next weekend - an adventure run around the North Shore beaches. (Click the link to check out the amazing pictures!)  I did this race a few years ago and loved it immensely - it follows the coastal track around the Shore, running along white sandy beaches and clambering over black volcanic rocks, combined with a bit of water interaction if you are lucky.  I'm doing the same 11km race as last time, from Milford Beach to Devonport, but there are other distances (6, 17, 23 and the 33km Full Monty all the way from Whangaparoa Peninsula).

This similar route is actually part of the Te Araroa Trail
The Coastal Challenge clings even closer to the coastline!

In 2005 the course finished at Cheltenham Beach and was about 1km shorter, and I finished it in 1:06 - it will be interesting to see how I go this weekend.  One resounding memory from that last race was when I stopped to walk about a kilometre from the finish, and I remember some rapidly gaining footsteps behind me saying:  "Come on, you can do it, not far to go now!"  It was one of the longer distance runners coming through, and as he powered past me I started running again and thanked him, and I actually ran all the way to the finish - that bit of encouragement was just what I needed!

Oh, and I remember I got my first and only running blister on that race.  Sand + Water = Blisters!  I plan to stick some Vaseline on any potential blister spots prior to the race, but I notice the aid stations have Vaseline for any blister emergencies.  I will be wearing my trusty Supernova's as I haven't managed to buy trail shoes yet.  They are starting to feel well worn in, so I decided to tally up the distance I've run in them so far and it is 440km - time to start looking for a back-up pair already.

OK - I'm starting to get excited about this race now!

• Have you ever done an off-road coastal race before?  Tell me about it!  
• What about encouragement from other runners - have you ever been a receiver, or do you give it?  I came across a tweet from Women's Running that said the best running gift you could give was encouragement - it worked for me!
• Blisters - what are your magic tricks for preventing them?