The week just finished has been productive for my marathon training with pushes and indoor rowing. The week started with a 30min row and 6040m clocked up. Monday was a rest day followed by a shorter push on Tuesday afternoon. Bruce Welch accompanied me and I aimed to do this session at a quicker pace.
Distance: 16km, Duration: 1hr 5min, Avg Speed: 14.8km
Wednesday I headed back to the hills and meet up with Alison Batchelor at the Staveley Store. The day was superb; snow on the mountains, mild temperatures and gentle breeze. From the store we headed straight to Flynns Road (road to skating rink), this road climbs steadily towards the hills and is a similar grade to the Verrazona Narrows Bridge. The climb was not a constant grade though and had a series of steep pinches, these saw me crawling up the hill at speeds down to 5km/hr. The trip back down was different with speeds up to 45km/hr. After this hill climb we headed out to the some flatter roads to clock up the kms. When we got back to the store I had only complete 27km so Alison cracked the wip to make sure I did at least 30km so we head up another sealed road with more climbing, this ended up being a really good hard session. Triumph comes through adversity! We ended the session with coffee and cake at the store in the sunshine.
Distance: 30.5km, Duration: 2 hrs 23 min, Vertical Distance Climbed: 150m
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| At the Staveley Store |
Training continued through the back end of the week with another 30 minute session on the rowing machine. Staveley must have tired me out as I only travelled 6037m, 3m less than Sunday! Another rest day on Friday with my brother Stephen in town. Stephen quickly found his way to my fridge and sank a nice cold beer, this was a testing experience for me as I am going alcohol free for the month of September.
Stephen headed away after a particularly nice breakfast of croissants cooked by our resident Artisan baker Harry O'Neill who came down on the Friday bus. After breakfast Denise headed to the pool and a Body Balance class at the new Ashburton sports complex. Harry and I then prepared for Henry who was coming around to do the finishing touches to the deck. After getting Henry underway Harry and I headed out for a training push. The day was kind with a gentle NE breeze and the sun shining. We headed out on the usual course and made reasonable time although the breeze did slow the trip out. We endured for a long session and managed to break the 2 hour 30 minute mark!
Training sessions can become rather tedious for my companions who are no amused by the breathe taking views of the Southern Alps covered with snow. Harry looked to solve this boredom by taking a book with him. Harry managed to finish the book while riding with me without incident.
Distance: 36.1km, Duration: 2hrs 32min, Avg Speed: 14.2km/hr
This post has taken sometime to publish, hence I have completed another training session. Tonight, Monday night, I completed another push again along the usual course. Bruce Welch accompanied me again and we completed a half marathon. The body was a bit washed out even with a rest day on Sunday, I ground it out though and we completed the distance eventually.
Distance: 21.7km, Duration: 1 hrs 32 min, Avg Speed: 14km/hr
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| Safety - By The Book, Harry O'Neill |
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