Wednesday, September 30, 2009

What WOULD Steve Gurney Do....

Endurance: staying power - patience - stamina - continued existence.

All these things came into play this past weekend with Spring Challenge, an awesome all girl teams adventure race.

Our team raced under the banner of ‘What Would Steve Gurney Do?’ (the man himself showed up at the finish line just to find out!). To quote Rosie Shakespeare – ‘there were highs and lows and places in-between’. For me the biggest take out was I lasted 6 hours 40 minutes of racing.

If you had run that last (flat) 3km picturesque trail around Lake Rotoiti to the finish line with me and happened to ask ‘do you have anymore in the tank’ I probably would have said no, thankfully the question wasn’t asked….nor you were there to ask it! : )

Ask me a year ago could I see myself out there racing for that length of time – the answer – in-between takes of chips and dip and probably a smattering of laughter would have been ‘holy shit batman, that’s just crazie’

So there I was, with my awesome teammates, rafting, hiking, mountain biking and mountain bike trekking around the gorgeous Nelson Lakes District. My Complete Performance training programme had seen me doing several ‘training missions’ in the lead up to this event –adventures in themselves!! and I can now say hand of heart I could probably walk about Victoria Park blindfolded and not get lost…ok well…maybe with an eye patch then!

My quads were pretty sore over the next few days – avoidance of all stairs was high on the list, however a massage from Jason at Good Massage and wearing skins as P.Js seemed to help the progress along. So feeling ‘almost’ normal again.

Hmmmm now where’s that diary of mine….

Keep ya posted!

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

So here it starts

135 days to go.
That’s 19 something weeks.
About 18 weekends.
In general broad terms I have just over 4 and bit months to go. 2010 Speight’s Coast to Coast 2010 as an individual.
Hmmm counting down in months seems to draw the least increase to the heart rate. .....Months it is then…for now.
After a successful winter of keeping up maintenance mode with my paddling (thanks to the Brass Monkey Kayak Series) and working on turning my shuffle into running (thanks to Karen at Fit For Life) the ‘summer season’ has finally arrived and I find my diary already bursting at its tatty and torn seams with a plethora of events!

I will attempt to recall the hurt, pain oh yes and of course the shear thrill of these as well as my training for this journey. It always surprises me when I mention I am training for Coast to Coast peoples reactions - 'that’s incredible' 'so brave' 'crazy'...but most of all 'I could never do that'. So I am here to say - 'um yeah actually you can'....seriously. Alas I have no god gifted athletic talents or abilities - my driving force has solely to be the best I can and keep challenging my own limits.

Keep ya posted!