Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Part Of The Auckland Coast to Coast

Monday's walk was a bit different this time round. We decided to tackle the coast to coast but left from Epsom. (Hit the link for a map) It started with just the 3 of us Cougars as we headed over to One Tree Hill, up and over and back on track. Philomen led the way at pace - Great team captain to get us moving!

The Cougar Hunters, Shayne's team, were also doing this track and so we knew that they were out there somewhere. We heard from them at Manukau Road and so we waited for them - against my judgment as I want to keep moving to get the job done. We walked with them for a bit and had to back track as at this stage they hadn't done One Tree Hill. We walked around while they went up and over.

We decided to pick up the pace again and got to Manukau Harbour in good time. It was on the way back that our team mate started to feel it. Suffering from a cold, female version thankfully, (Sorry chaps!) we reached Mt Eden and climbed to the top at which point Philomen decided to call it. We had a choice of continuing the track without her or head home together.

At the top of Mt Eden we could see the sun going down. A stunning view and I WISH I had my camera to show you. There were several photographers out that evening, capturing the moment. Truly stunning!

After a team discussion we agreed to head home together leaving the boys to continue without us. We were on the coast to coast track for about 3.5 hours and so not a bad training session. I'm going to miss tonight's team training session as a gentle run is all I need to do now in preparation for Sunday but my achilles and calf muscle strain is playing up and so I need to also play it safe.

Thanks for tuning in again - PHOTOS coming soon...

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Time to Leave the Boys

Wednesday's training session, which consisted of the usual 5 mountains, (I must post some photos of our stunning views) proved that we are quicker than Shayne's team as each time we reached the top of the mountain we had to wait for them from between 5 to 10 minutes. From now on, we have decided that we will no longer wait and just keep moving until the end - The race is on!

The training is going well. We missed Suzie, our 4th team mate and Sharon is away at the moment and so it was just Philomen and me but we know that our team mates will be doing their thing to keep their fitness up ready for the next training session.

I know the boys are out again tonight but I need to go for a run and so, all going well, I'll be doing a 6k run later. Another busy weekend ahead but I hope to get a 16k run in on Sunday and then I'm a week out from my next half marathon.

Just a few niggles of pain, right calf muscle and an Achilles pull but nothing too major. So far so good.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Thank Heavens for Mrs G

Once again I tried to be lazy and talked myself out of going for my run. The boys and my team mates couldn't make our Monday training session and so it was down to me to sort something out. In the 'too hard' basket, I prepared myself for a night off but didn't feel good about it.

At 4:00pm Mrs G rang to find out if I was planning on running today. My saving grace! There was NO EXCUSE for me not to throw on my running gear and get out there with my buddy. I drove to her place and we walked up from there to Titirangi Rd, up through the village and on to Scenic Drive. We decided to run the Pipe Line there and back which is 6ks and then walk back through the village where we would begin to run again all the way home.

Today we covered just over 16kms - MUCH better than sitting at home feeling bad.

THANK YOU MRS G!!!!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Twice More For the Cougars

Due to my busy week it has been pretty tough trying to fit in training and thankfully my team mates were able to be flexible enough to change our days. On Thursday evening, Sharon and I drove over to Philomen's with a view to tackling the usual mountains and Sharon is now ready for a wee bit of running - Hooray! No boys with us this time round.

Just for variety, we back tracked and did the reverse of what we normally do although we left Mt Eden for last, it being closer to the car etc. We had an excellent training session on Thursday, suitably fuelled and even managed to run up some of the hills. We made good time too.

Thinking ahead, I knew that there would be no Sunday run this week and so I agreed to meet the girls again early Saturday to repeat Thursday's training session. 5 mountains. It was a late night for me on Friday and we had to be at Philomen's by 6:30am Saturday so that we could get the training over with early enough to avoid the heat of the day and with time to enjoy the rest of the weekend. I was up at 6 and in the car by 6:10 but missed out on breakfast. Even though we still made good time, I felt it and it was no where near as good as our previous session. Silly missing out on breakfast - I won't do that again!

We are now up and running on the OXFAM website under team name: Watercare Cougars
Here's the link: http://www.oxfam.org.nz/oxfam_trailwalker/default.asp

We have raised over 50% of our target already but still have $900 to go. If anyone knows of any companies that would help us with corporate sponsorship, please let me know. We would be happy to wear company logo for advertising.

Next training session should be Monday evening.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

6k Run With my Boys

I had procrastinated enough on Tuesday to decide not to go for a run until my Luke came out and declared he had to go for a run and as it was later than normal I suggested that I join him. I didn't realise that he had already planned on running with Josh but he still wanted me to come along.

Off we went and my Josh took off way ahead of us. Our short legs are no match to his long, strong pins but we tried to catch him. We were only going to run Golf Rd and back and Josh made it to the end pretty quickly while Luke preferred a gentle jog behind me.

I was glad to have done it. So far all is going well again and no muscle problems. Next training session is with my team on Thursday although not sure on where. More than likely we'll do the mountains again as the hill training is beneficial to us at this stage.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

16kms Run Completes Another Week of Training

I left home a couple of hours later than I had hoped and so had to run in the heat of the day. I ran up to the pipe line and to the end and back home, no problems on the hills today but certainly felt the heat. It seemed like a slow run up and down but I managed it in about 1hr 32mins.

Next training session will have to be Tuesday for me. I'll miss my team walks for the week due to other commitments but will try and squeeze in my own hikes where ever possible.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

My Boy and I

I didn't run on Thursday or Friday which meant I had to go today to stick to my plan and so at 6pm, I arrived home from visiting friends, got changed straight away so as not to put it off any longer and Luke, my youngest boy, decided to join me.

Off we went together, up South Lynn, left onto Golf Rd to the end and turn around to head back home. This is my shortest run and although it is only 6kms it has its fair share of hills, enough to get the heart rate up.
I enjoy running with my boys and now that they are back to school and they are straight into sports, they will join me more often to ensure they keep up their fitness. I hope so...

Next training run is tomorrow, hopefully early, and 16kms.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Mt Eden x 5

Tonight's training consisted of 5 hikes up and down Mt Eden. We had no Sharon but Suzie, our very own Iron Woman, joined us along with 2 of Shayne's team. We ran down the hill and walked at pace up the hills from 5 different tracks of Mt Eden.

There were LOTS of tourists and I heard one lady comment that Auckland is a very outward bound city, and signalled to her friend to look at us running up to the top. There was also several runners and walker out doing their thing.

On our last trek down someone suggested a brief stop at Da Post in Epsom for a beer before heading home. Not something we normally do but we agreed to treat ourselves.

Next training day for me should be Thursday or Friday evening and will be a run of approx 6kms, all going well.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

3 Teams v 7 Mountains

Since it was a Public Holiday on Monday we decided to put off our weekend team training session and go out on Monday night instead. This time we (Shayne's team - The Cougar Hunter Party and my team - The 4 Cougars) were joined by a chap from another team. He trained with the boys 2 years ago and has decided to get into it again this year.

We left New Market at 5:10pm with a view of doing the 5 mountains that we have done recently, Mt Hobson, Mt St Johns, Three Kings, One Tree Hill and Mt Eden but if we were good for time we thought we'd try Mt Roskill and Mt Albert too.

Mt Roskill was easy as we went up the road and so the incline wasn't too bad but onto Mt Albert and up a side track, boy, my legs were burning when we reached the top. This was a new experience for me and my introduction to Mt Albert, it went on for ever. There was a chap sitting up there having some quiet time watching out over Auckland. By this time the lights were starting to come on and the city was looking mighty pretty.

We managed all 7 peaks in just over 4 hours and covered approx 24.2kms. It was a good training session and although I had a little pull in one of my muscles it seemed to come right over time which was a relief.

Next team training session will be on Wednesday and I believe we are going to climb Mt Eden 5 or 6 times up and down the different tracks that are available. I went out today for a small walk just to test my muscles but all is good so far.

This team training is for a good cause, folks. I have entered the OXFAM Trailwalker 2010 for the 3rd year in a row and this is to be my last. Please hit the link: OXFAM TRAILWALKER for more info.

For those in NZ that may be interested in putting a team together that is keen to join us in the OXFAM appeal trailwalker, 100kms in 36hours, there is still time to register. The funds raised from the event will support Oxfam New Zealand's humanitarian, development and advocacy work to lift some of the world's poorest people out of poverty. Just hit the link above.

When I first heard about it I thought 100kms was way out of my worldly limits, but believe me, it is achievable! All walks of life from all different levels of fitness and abilities participate, all with a common goal of helping others.

For those overseas that have expressed interest in helping us, Shayne's team has registered now and so hit his team's link above to help him raise the funds that he needs to for the OXFAM appeal. My team should be registered soon and I'll add my link when available. Apologies for the delay in getting our info on-line and thank you in advance for your help. As they say, every penny/euro helps! Oh and thank you for all the emails of encouragement, I really appreciate them! xx