Two sleeps to the big race and all is in readiness.
With three hours left before my flight from Sydney to Auckland (leaving at the much friendlier time of 9:40am), there is absolutely no risk of my next post being about yet another disastrous sleep-in. All being well, the flight gets into Auckland at 2:45pm New Zealand time, with the race starting at 6:50am on Sunday (4:50am Sydney time).
The past couple of weeks training after the Melbourne run were OK. I completed every session except one - the final 2 hour 20 minute long run last weekend, where I bailed out an hour short. I’m not sure what the problem was. Mostly it was motivational - I just didn’t feel like going on - and some of it was technical. I forgot to bring an extra gel along, and there were some chafing issues up top which are getting a bit irritating. Still, the second last week saw my second highest mileage of this 137-week quest so far - 61.13 kilometres, just short of the 65.56 kilometres I ran in the countdown to New York back in March.
The final taper week was navigated successfully. Even the sprint session last Monday, which I almost didn’t attempt. It was that equivalent session in June 2015 that saw me tear my hamstring just before the Gold Coast half marathon and ever since, I’ve been deeply suspicious of it (the session, not the hamstring, although that’s still a little tight). I actually decided to skip the session for that reason in the days before this year’s Gold Coast half. But this time, despite my trepidations, it went without incident. My final run yesterday - a 30 minute tempo effort - was also problem free.
My goal for Auckland, which will be something of a stretch, is a sub-1:55. The organisers have arranged pacers for both the 1:50 and 2:00 times, so I’ve decided to just lob in behind the 2 hour pacing group and look to break away in the last 5 kilometres or so, depending how I feel. With my recent back injury, my training for this one hasn’t been as solid or consistent as I would have liked in order to have a realistic shot at a sub-1:50 time. But the Melbourne run felt so strong, I like the idea of cruising along for the first part of the race and trying to pick up the pace over the final part. And, of course, collapsing exhausted over the finish line with nothing left in the tank. It was also quite motivational passing all those runners at the back-end of Melbourne, so hopefully the same thing can happen here and I can come away with a good mid-1:50 time.
This is actually my second Auckland half marathon. The first was back in October 2005 when I ran it in 1:58:09 - in between my first (Sydney, September 2005) and second (Honolulu, December 2005) marathons. It wasn’t a particularly memorable event. I do have memories of getting the ferry over to the very pretty Davenport for the race start in the dawn hours, the run over the Auckland Harbour Bridge towards the end, and the finish in a park. But not much else.
After the race, I’ll be staying in New Zealand for a few days. Over the years, I’ve spent quite some time in the country's South Island but not so much in the North. So I’ve hired a car to drive around it for a few days to see what I can see (including a trek along the famed Tongariro Alpine Crossing - regarded as one of the best one day walks in the world) before returning home. Consequently, I’m going to have to keep you all in suspense about the outcome for a week or so.
Wish me luck!
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