Kis Ora fellow runners (or runners in waiting if you're like me!). A New Zealand greeting used as hello, Kia Ora (according to Wikipedia) is a MΔori-language greeting which translates literally as "have life" or "be healthy", I am wishing the essence of life upon you πDespite not being able to run, and seeing lots of runners on lots of amazing running routes, I'm having a ball here in New Zealand! I was lucky enough to meet lexi6 at Wellington parkrun, where sanity prevailed and I walked the whole thing. That's 2 of 4 planned NZ parkruns completed βοΈ I've been mountain biking in the mud (literally - I fell off in some very soft, wet and deep mud), I've hiked some amazing trails including the Tongariro crossing (20km with almost 900m elevation) and today tried sea kayaking (and then rafting three kayaks together and sailing them back into the beach) for the first time!
So, I may not be able to run just now, but the cross training is going well π€·ββοΈππ
How's things going for you? Any news or gossip for us? Training on point or curveballs getting in the way? Hot and sunny or cold and wet? Or are you, like me, unable to run but itching to get back at it?
Whatever your running is looking like, do tell us all about it below.
Wishing those that can, happy and glorious runs; and for those who can't patience and hope in spades!
Have a great week everyone
Your team, Irishprincess, Beachcomber66 and me!
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Kia ora linda9389 . I remember it was also the name of an orange squash drink that we had at Saturday morning pictures (if anyone remembers those days) in the 60s.
It sounds like you are having a wonderful time in NZ, even though running may not be on the agenda. Carry on enjoying what you can do. lexi6 has been spoiled with 2 visits from HU runners within such a short time.
My running is ticking along but itβs not long before our ski hols. I wonβt be using the treadmill in addition to all that physical exercise!
It really feels like spring is on its way down here now so it should be lovely when we get back. Then the longer runs will start again. π
Gosh yes Dexy I remember that orange drink. It was horrible. As a child I went to visit relatives in Anglesey . My uncle was manager of the cinema and we got in free provided we bought one if those drinks!! (There was some promotion on and prizes for the cinema that sold the most).
Yes, I'm good thanks Dexy5 excited thatThe Hatters are at the top π€and now I'm really looking forward to getting some more park runs in, it's been far too long. Hope you and UTS are well?
Kia Ora - Morning movie matinees!!! I was dropped off every week when parents went shopping, and I always had a Kia Ora. OMG! I was probably five years old ππ
Oh yes!!! Tommy Steele... Film, Tommy the Toreador, and he sang Little White Bull... at the Essoldo in Longton... with my Nan ! No Kiora for me though... I didn't like it.
How wonderful linda9389 and lexi6 to be able to meet and enjoy Parkrun π You're doing all you can Linda and we hope you have a beautiful break. We're in Essex at the moment and are enjoying some lovely scenic runs here. It's quiet and peaceful and it's lovely spending time with my Mum and Dad too. We've made a positive running start to the year so far with no pressure runs. We're just enjoying being able to do what we do.
Aah Linda, what a wonderful time you are having. Your legs must be getting so strong with all that hiking, biking and kayaking, lucky the mud was soft.Here we are all getting bored with my ears so all I'll say is I think improvement is enough to try a run very soon.
No exciting news but I have decorated my kitchen and upped squats to include my little kettle bell that I found lurking in a corner, sad, alone and dusty. Doing them is fine, 3 x sets of 10 in the mornings, the day after the first day though I kept wondering why my legs ached, then realised ,π€£.
Not sure about strong legs Sue - I'm hobbling around like a stiff old granny! I reckon the last two days increased my upper body strength though (mind you it was pitiful to start with). I do hope that run goes well and the ear problem is on the way out.I'm super impressed with the squat routine and the aching legs badge of honour! πͺπ
Of cours! Increased body strength, that's always good. I've been doing daily squats for about 4 years now, just added the kettle bell lately. Wish they'd transfer to faster running legs though π€£
Hi, love the crosstraining!! I am steadily plodding through my HM plan with renewed enthusiasm after my RED month so happy to be running.
Very envious of your New Zealand trip. I was there last March and fell in love with it. I only did one run there - a gentle plod at sunset at Lake Tekapu but all the walking provided excellent crosstraining!!
I remember Wellington for my best cup of coffee in New Zealand in an unlikely looking industrial unit off the SH1!
How wonderful that RED Jan has given you such a boost. Keep up the great work.
I think my Whangarei parkrun will turn out to be my only run here too sadly. Hey ho. As you say, lots of walking! lexi6 told us Wellington did good coffee - as a peppermint tea drinker I couldn't really comment!
All well here apart from the stinking hot weather which makes juggling running & kicking our tribe out of bed for school challenging. Hubby has been doing it most mornings so I can run pre school run.
Week 2 of my marathon plan. 33miles for the week with 6 miles today already ticked off at MP.
Hoping my base that Iβve built will pay off. Just need to keep my easy runs really easy as the longer runs increase. 10 miles done. Just 23 to go now for the week. Enjoy your holiday with Β Tasha99 π
I ran in mostly mud this week. Itβs been raining too, and Iβm running out of shoes, but itβs been warm π. I got well overheated and soaked on Saturday.
I was walking with the family yesterday, after Sunday lunch, and the six year asked me if Iβd run with him. I agreed and he issued specific instructions. Youβve got to run your fastest! Just follow me and do what I do π He was gone in 60 seconds πͺπ₯π₯ Afterwards he showed me the new Asics shoes he was wearing. His secret weapons π. Great fun! πββοΈ
Running in a mo. A shorter recovery run after Saturdayβs 8 miler. Got to make hay as itβs not raining
Oooh, I'd like a better weather report before I'm back please! My trail shoes had to go in the shower with me to get them clean after my mud bath! Nawh I think I love that six year old, how cute. Have you ordered some new Asics yet so you can compete on a level field next time? Hope you had a great run yesterday and stayed dry π
I hate washing my shoes π. I thought repeated outings in the wet would wash the mud off but no such luck π
I darenβt buy any more shoes for a while π
I did manage to stay dry yesterday. βHilly, hillier, hilliestβ speed intervals with Sally McRae πββοΈ It was that or 20 speed intervals with Chelsea Cox. Iβm saving that treat for tomorrow π¬
Amazing, Linda. My 19 yo son just had three weeks with "Kiwi Experience" having the time of his life! What an incredible country, I'll get there one day. He's now driving a camper van around Tasmania.... weather for him (and you) in NZ and Aus has been so good. So glad to see you've been to parkruns as well, a very active holiday you are having.
I am three weeks out from the Cambridge Half.... did a positive ten miles in the sunshine yesterday, so feeling good. Will miss a week's training to ski so at least the legs and lungs will be active. Can't wait for the mountain air - been five years (!) due to Covid, Mocks, etc....
I think that you will asleep now Linda! NZ is somewhere Mrs BC and I have had in the back of our minds for years; maybe one day. You seem to be having a fantastic time β¦.great that biking and walking and kayaking all work so well.
Back in windy, muddy, chilly North Yorkshire, it was long run day today. I say long; 5 miles on one of my hillier routes in the company of CB. I repeated the route of last weekβs 4 miler for comparison purposes. Result was 13 seconds per K faster than last week (no 40+ mph wind today; only gusting to 26 mph) so I felt pretty happy with that. I also ran the second half of the run quicker than the first, although that was not difficult given the steady and increasing climb over the first 2 to 3k. The plan is to take a bit more pace with me into the 10k to 10 mile section of the programme with the ultimate aim of a HM pb. Why? No idea π. Just a challenge I have set myself.
Hello Beachcomber, Just wondering whether you have a particular HM event in mind? I think because of your 5 mile run, you may be on the12 weeks to go on the NRC HM plan 12 weeks to go. I continue to hope that I may reach HM, but not convinced I'm up to it or in particular my knee. I'd really appreciate a HM t-shirt preferably from somewhere lovely, but probably not too far away. Also I have forgotten, are you a 'pick 3 of the 5 runs from NRC plan person'. 1 long, 1 speed and one recovery per week? I am hoping to run10km this W/E, so I have been wondering whether to use some of the NRC HM plan. Yet one more question when you listen to CB, do you listen to anything else when he goes quiet? Clearly in a questions mood. π
Taken note that you are planning to take a bit more pace into the next phase of your HM plan and a HM pb sounds great fun. If I manage at some future date to run a HM I would certainly achieve a PB as it would be my 1st ever π
π good morning >61 !! Yesterday was the end of 12 weeks to go; 11 weeks starts on Thursday. I have no event in mind. I would like to run a HM race, but we are struggling with health issues here (not mine) so booking a run somewhere just wouldnβt be sensible. I get the shirt bit! I was talking to an ultra runner last week about the coveted Hardmoors shirtβ¦too hard for me; he offered to give me one, but that wouldnβt be right. I digress.
Yesterday was the end of week12; week 11 starts on Thursday. I do three runs per week, and I am choosing the long run (of course) and two speed runs at present. I want to get a bit more pace into my legs; that was why I took myself back to the start of the plan. I may have to swap a speed run for one of the longer recovery runs as the distance builds; we will see. Three runs a week is enough for me; I sometimes play the first run of the week on the plan as I walk back home, because there is often some useful info about the week ahead there.
No, I donβt fill the gap between CBβs or other coachesβ comments with music or anything else. It is good thinking time and my runs take me to places where there is often something to see. Wildlife is waking up, the buzzards are back, I saw a nuthatch yesterday and the woods are alive with birdsong. My bone conducting ear phones allow to me to fill the silences with natureβs orchestra πβ¦.that was bit CB π
My first HM was an accident. I had reached 10 miles deliberately, in the previous week I think. One day I finished breakfast and thought βI wonder how far I can run if I set off really really slowly?β So that is what I did and lo and behold I kept going to HM. I think treating it as something different, requiring a different approach in terms of initial pace, is what worked for me. As CB says, your first 1k has got to be your slowestβ¦.believe me, that first 1k was my slowest since C25k.
My physios told me that my knee will never be a normal knee, as the meniscus which was torn 2/3 through when I fell is meant to be a shock absorber/ cartilage material in my knee, but now it is scar tissue instead. I got up to 11km a year ago and my knee complained and swelled up, so I don't know.
I hadn't realised that you were choosing two speed runs per week. I had thought that you were holding back on pace. I am usually running three times a week, the two shorter runs are around 30 minutes one of which is a 'speed' run of some sort from the range available with NRC. As I am planning a 10km run this W/E I thought that I might listen to the 10km run on the 11 weeks to go HM NRC plan. I have on used the speed runs for some while now and listen to lots of different podcasts on my easy conversational pace runs. If, big if, my knee can take me past and beyond 11km this time round perhaps I'll reach the HM distance at about the time you do, but as I said not sure at all. Over use, HIIT, pace, weights all problematic so we'll see. Happy running and bird spotting to you. A real decrease of birds here these days, although I did see a pair of mallards today, first time in ages. πππ»ββοΈ
Itβs complicated! Generally I am running much slower than used to be the case. So sub 30 minute 5ks and 62 minute 10ks are gone! I had got to the point where every run was a really slow runβ¦.which is not where I want to be, so these intervals are my way of upping pace sensibly. I donβt run any of the intervals anywhere near flat out.
It is working to some degree. My last long run pace had improved by about 13 seconds/k on the previous week; if I can maintain that I will be pleased for now. I might need to slip into 1 long run,1 recovery run one speed run at some point soon as mileage increases. I have my eyes on the dials.π
I ran 10km today listening to Coach Bennett, the first of two consecutive 10km runs on the HM NRC plan. Very pleased with the run although, I am not convinced my heart rate data was correct. Must be time to give my watch a wipe. So odd, happily jogging along HR about 135 and then a jump to 177, and this for the return leg which is mainly down hill. Ah well! I listened Histories Secret Heroes (2 episodes) and the beginning of Desert Island Discs when Coach Bennett wasn't talking. Very pleased that I had energy left afterwards although the circumference of my no longer normal knee was 1/2 inch up on my normal knee. I don't monitor it on a regular basis as I run pain free, but I noticed that it looked larger today. I would like to run another 10km next W/E, but then I think that I shall slow my distance progression compared to the NRC HM plan. Elevation gain 164m todayπ
Have you run the 10km yet? I haven't twigged your normal long run day. Happy running to you πππ»ββοΈ
My first of the two NRC HM 10ks is scheduled for Monday; Monday is (nearly) always long run day for me. That is a serious elevation gain>61; excellent work! Knees take a bit of a pounding on down hill stretches I would guess. You are right; just something to be managed.
I did the tempo run today. It went really well; warm up trot for 7 minutes, pause for stretches, then 25 minutes at 6/10 effort. I enjoyed it. Happy with the pace and AHR of 137 bpmβ¦first run below 140 for a while. Maybe the warmer weather helped? It just felt like a really good run. Note to self; not too fast on Monday!!
It is good being at around the same point at the same time.π
I expect that was the Emily Infeld tempo run. Well done to you on a low heart rate, good pace and so good to enjoy it too. πππ»ββοΈ
I am happy to go with 10km next W/E as per the HM plan, but not at all sure about the next four weeks. Not sure whether you have looked ahead so I'll keep quiet on the distances involved for the long runs . Suffice to say if you keep to the HM plan, I shall be way behind. The May idea for HM that I had, has been replaced with a see what my knee is doing. I did feel a meniscus pain a few hours after my run yesterday. Boo!
I have been through the plan a few times, but only once, last year, to HM. The distances jump quite quickly after this point as mention; the plan sometimes increases in miles and other times in Ks. I am going to do this by feel rather than just tick through each week. Maybe I will put some of the weekly increases in distance into one of my short runs rather than load it all onto the long run. I am not in a rush π. I hope the knee goes back to sleep again!
I note that you said down about down hill being hard on my knees. I just haven't any flat runs around here unless I repeat a ridiculously short loop, loop, loop or something by the river. Can't bear the idea. Could drive to a start line, which I did for my one and only 10 miles, but I don't want to do that either. Just looked at the elevation gain of my 10km runs they were 164m - 282m. So yesterday's was ay the lower end of what I have so far discovered
Total ascent on my HM last year was just 170m; a hillock by comparison to your mountains! You will have built the strength into your legs by facing those hills frequently. My comment about downhill reflects my experience of leaning back and shortening stride on steep downslopes in order to maintain a controlled descent. It jars a bit.
If your goal is to increase distance, then ignoring speed is a very valid approach - particularly when you know you are trying to protect your knee.I too had a good part of the meniscus in my knee removed. When I first started c25k I had knee pain by week 2! A physio fast identified that that leg was way weaker than the other as I'd been favouring my good leg for years. Lots of strengthening exercises for that leg followed and I haven't had a knee issue since! Maybe I was just lucky, maybe your surgery was far worse, but if you focus on building glute and quad strength in that leg, rather than focusing on speed, you may be able to build on that 11k π€
Thank you Linda. I seem to remember that you had surgery, I didn't have any. My orthopedic surgeon didn't think that was the right way forward for me. I continue to work on various exercises that my 4 different physios have given, but definitely room for improvement.
Ohhh! My surgeon said surgery was up to me, but he thought I was awfully young not to be able to fully bend my knee. I interpreted that as a recommendation and honestly have never looked back! I was lucky though, the only damage was the meniscal tear, the rest of my knee was in great shape (that's well over ten years ago, it may be a different story now π)
Oops! I missed this reply. Thank you fir it. Happy to say that I can now fully bend my knee. I can't seem to stay with just easy conversational pace. I used 'Fly with Monas' yesterday from NRC. Third time that I have listened to this one in 5 months. Definitely one I shall come back to every month or so. I hope that I am choosing an appropriately restrained pace.
I've almost never been in a kayak ... and certainly never in a kayak in the sea. The photo shows what the sea looked like when we landed up on the beach to end our day today. I'm not sure it shows just HOW 'exciting' it was. Enough!!!
Lake kayaks are much more tippy than the Canadian canoes. Sea kayaks look to be a bit more stable; they have compartments I think? I am sure that the waves make it an βinterestingβ experience!
Yep lots of compartments. Supposedly stable ... well, we didn't capsize (although one of our three kayaks did capsize today ... and they were seasoned sea kayakers!). Interesting? I do believe I was whimpering at one point yesterday afternoon πππ
The cross training sounds amazing Linda, so much more fun than a couple of hours in the gym! I've been out with my running group this morning. Some simply enjoy the run and the chat and others are training for different events - the Liverpool 10 miles or HM, Manchester Marathon, Manchester HM and, in my case, the Monsal Trail HM.
I ran the full HM distance today with one of the group, others did 10k or 15k. It was a beautiful sunny morning with some sharp gusts of wind. I think we started off too fast as I was flagging by 17k, I will have to work on pacing over the next couple of weeks.
My cross training is enhanced this week by taking my young great-nieces to the park and pushing them on swings, up climbing frames, round roundabouts and running alongside zip wires. All good fun!
Have a great week everyone whatever you're doing - the nights are getting lighter π
NZ is on my bucket list. Maybe one day. Sounds like you are making some amazing memories. What a beautiful place.
Still working my plan. Ran 20k down to the lake yesterday and finally did a strength workout tonight. Weather has been strange. Plus 11 shorts and tshirt run on Friday and a minus 7 run yesterday with 3 layers up top π.
Hello Linda, Thank you for hosting from your amazing NZ adventure. You may not be running, but wow! to your cross training. Wondering whether you know what the problem is more clearly now. So good that cycling, hiking and kayaking are possible and meeting with Lexi, all sounds wonderful π
It has been wonderful so far! Once I get home I am going to make an Osteo or Physio appointment and see if I can get to the bottom of the problem and get a plan for going forward. But as you say, I'm lucky that I have so many other options right now,
Progressing slowly. Hope to run 10km at the W/E and work to a first ever HM. Not sure my knee is up to that, but I'll endeavour to listen to my body. Worked up to 11km a year ago, but my knee swelled up and wasn't happy. So I shall wait and see.
I just replied further up. Never say never - if I'd stopped the first time my knee over reacted to running, it would have been after w2 r1 of c25k π± Listening to your body, being cautious with pace, strength exercises to complement the runs, may all get you to that HM. Wishing you all the very best π€
I have relatives in NZ but have never been. My dad worked there for two years before he married mum and would love to have gone back but mum didnβt want to! I think itβs the plane journey that stops me, Iβm just not good on long haul any more.
But you are busy Linda! No running but plenty of other activities. Itβll all play a part in keeping your body moving.
Well, Iβm in Tenerife and got sick two days after we arrived π€¬ Iβm sure it was COVID but Iβve fallen off the HM plan and am not running until I get home as I donβt want to risk a backwards surge of sickness! So annoying as the plan was going so well. Grrrrrr
Anyway, the weather here is beautiful, the hotel is gorgeous and I did manage one run beside the sea!
Oh that looks gorgeous IP. So sorry to hear you've been sick though and hope you are beginning to feel much better now. You'll sort that HM plan once you're home, but I can imagine the frustration. Take care xxx
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