The 7 in 7 Challenge 2010

The Fine Art of Running Slowly

Lake Wainamu - a jewel amongst the dunes

Yesterday, before the sun had got out of bed, I climbed into my borrowed car (actually, a Ute – hey, I’m a real man at last!) and headed west, like all good young men should. The destination was Bethell’s Beach and ahead lay the longest training run yet. This also marked a new point in the training regime, when everything – pace, food, drink, recovery – becomes as ‘specific’ as possible i.e. doing it as I intend to do it during 7in7. Of particular importance is PACE. It will be crucial that I don’t run too hard at any stage of the 7in7, for fear of crashing and burning. Easy you might think – just keep the pace slow. While that’s easy in theory you have to take into account the male ego that constantly nags with little remarks like “come on you big wimp, you can run this hill, you don’t need to walk” and which loves to make its presence felt with other people are watching! So it takes a little practice to ignore this tiny but dangerous voice and yesterday I focused intently on running to my Heart Rate, keeping within a range of 120-140bpm as much as possible, never allowing it to get higher than 150bpm.

A mirage? Hallucination? No, a TV ad in the making!

Anyway, the run was a cracker despite overcast skies and wet underfoot conditions. From Bethells I went north a little way before running back south along O’Neills and Bethells beaches. Then across the dunes to Lake Wainamu before climbing into the hills and over to Piha beach. Quick refuel at the store (pie & coffee – another good way of keeping the pace slow!)  before a big climb/descend to Karekare where I was greeted by the surreal sight of cherry trees in full blossom in the middle of the beach! No, I wasn’t hallucinating, they were filming an ad! From Karekare I took hilly, muddy bush tracks  all the way back to Bethells, arriving 8.5 hours and 54 kms after setting off…. an honest day’s work in anyone’s book I reckon.

Related posts:

1. Biggest week yet
2. Completing the hatrick
3. The love affair continues
4. The Final Push – Day 1
5. Back to the bush

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 26th, 2009 at 10:33 am and is filed under 2009 Blogs, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.