The Week That Was

Ran the Manawatu Gorge Track the weekend before last.  Excellent trail that I have been wanting to run for ages.  Ran with Nneka.  The trail climbs steadily up hill for several km (with a few short downhill sections thrown in for relief).  Mercifully, the beaut native bush that shrouds almost the entire trail, provided a bit of relief from the heat.  Several look outs over the Manawatu Gorge, plains and wind-farm allowed us to get up close and personal with the turbines, as well as appreciate the view (and sneakily rest from the up-hill slog). After descending to the car park at the other end of the gorge, and failing to find a toilet, we refueled, and then made the return run.  At around km 15, we started back into the steeper down hill descent to the start.  The last km wound on and on (zig-zag after zig-zag, and sooo many steps) I was amazed (once again) to think that I had run up all of this!

Half way through the Manawatu Gorge track

Wind Farm, Manawatu Gorge Trail Run

I have been listening to a few running podcasts.  Initially I downloaded episodes with Anna Frost interviews, but have really enjoyed Talk Ultra, and Trail Runner Nation.  I have been finding the experiences of others both inspirational and educational.

It has been a bit of a challenging week at work (physically) and with sorting out the impending semester at Uni (frustratingly), so I eased off some of the tension with a hill run yesterday afternoon.  I tried out some of the technique tips for hill running that Anna Frost had discussed in an interview (mostly about using quads rather than calves for climbing), and found that modifying the muscles that do the majority of the work made the climb a bit easier, and my normally ragged (rabid) gasping for breath was curbed to a more seemly panting, I am guessing because my oxygen requirements were reduced due to more efficient muscle usage (but then again I might be just guessing).

It is nice to have running as a release.  If I have a good day - I want to run to celebrate.  If I have a not-so-amazing day - I want to run it off (note this is NOT running away from a tough day, but rather channeling that day's frustration into a run, an important distinction I feel).

As the semester kicks off next week, I am looking forward to getting into my studies again, and am hoping to continue to build on the fitness and endurance (and speed?) that I have worked on over the summer.  It is always very rewarding to take a run at the end of a long day of lectures and sitting in front of a computer.  I am also looking at purchasing a uni fitness center membership which gives me access to all sorts of yoga, les mills fitness classes, and the gym.  I also really want to join the local running club, so that I have some more running company, and some more comrades-in-running-shoes for advice and for training.