At the track...

Sunday 04/03/07:

Well, I got both my sleep-in and my session done before picking up Courtney, altho I did end up rushing in the end! Lounged round in bed till 8.30am, downed a small amount of cereal, then headed off in the car. Had something a bit different planned for todays session (well, different for me anyway!) Headed to Lloyd Elsmore park - home of "Pakrun" - the Pakuranga Athletics and Harriers Club. Had decided to do this session on the track, so I could kill two birds with one stone. 1) Re-calibrate the Footpod to ensure maximum accuracy, and 2) Be able to do the sprint intervals on the flat, straight, cushioned grass track. Track running is a real novelty for me these days - I used to run on this track at high school as all of our athletics comps were held there. Wish I knew what times I used to run for the 800 & 1500 metres in those days - would be rather interesting! I did always place and make it on to the Eastern Zone meets, then the Auckland Zone meets - but thats about where it always ended for me! Fond memories tho.

Today the place was deserted, just as I'd hoped. But the surronding cricket and hockey clubs looked packed! It was 9.30am by then, but altho warm there was fortunately a fair bit of cloud cover. Did the first lap with the Footpod as it was, just to see how close it would read to 400m. The answer to that is 39? metres - must have been pretty close. I then did the next lap with it in calibration mode and at the end it adjusted itself from .990 to 1.025. Good thing is, if anything, its been reading a little under till now - not over.

I then got stuck into the session, did several laps at easy pace, before doing the first sprint interval. There was a bit of a headwind in the back straight, so yep - I wussed and did the sprints on the home straight and into the first bend! I'd then follow with 1 1/2 laps of easy before repeating the sprint. Felt so much better to be doing this on the track, rather than the road! By the forth sprint I was gritting my teeth, but really gave it my all on the fifth. I was glad to get them over with tho. About half way thru a couple of other runners (from the club?) were running on the opposite side of the track for a while. Then near the end I saw a guy in club colours head off leading a group of about 6 teens, but they didn't stay on the track, headed off across the park instead. Between this and the mixed pace, it kept my amused and I didn't get bored at all. I'd actually forgotten to grab the iPod, but in hindsight I think I'm better off without it on the sprints.

Easy paced run with 5x30sec sprints: 35.56mins, 6.4kms (16laps!!) Max: 3.30min/km, Ave: 5.30min/km (again bought up by the sprints - was actually much slower.)

Did not need to look in the car mirror to know I was a total beetroot face by the time I finished... another very sweaty run! (Note to self - do NOT look in the mirror after a run!) Did a minimal amount of stretching and walking about, before jumping in the car to go fetch Courts and downing a bottle of water on the way!

So all in all, a good satisfying session and I will definately be heading back to the track, esp when sprints are involved, in the future.

Just to update - for anyone interested in Ironman... Cameron Brown took it out again in Taupo on Saturday with a finishing time of 8:26.33 narrowly beating Aussie Luke Bell. The two ran shoulder to shoulder for most of the marathon, overtook the Dane - the only one in front of them - with 4km to go and Cam gradually pulled away from there, but only won by 68secs. It was a different story for Jo Lawn - she was all class and lead most of the day, to win in a time of 9:20.02 by over 8mins, from two Americans. I think these athletes are totally amazing!

Tonight I made my "world famous" (in our household anyway) chicken fajitas for dinner. We were also having a little bit of a celebration - my Mum plays petanque and was in a doubles tournament today, which her and her partner won! They even get a trophy! Now my dear old Mum is not the most confident person in the world, so something like this is a real boost for her. Anyway, I said I'd cook her dinner and we also had a little Bellini cocktail - a real splurge for my Mum!! Courtney is mad on the red onion, tomato, parsley and lemon juice salsa I make for the fajitas and always gets excited and a little carried away on "fajita night"!! Tonight was no exception...

And yes, her mother did (try to) teach her not to play with her food!!