Introduction

Welcome to my blog. The title originates when my primary athletic activity was competitive walking, but now that I am back to running it also includes that.

Not all content is accessible from the main page: for example, the rogaines, racewalking, and ultramarathon pages all include content that is only accessible from those pages.

Ultramarathons

Ultramarathons are any event longer than the standard marathon distance of 26.2 miles / 42.195km. Standard distances for ultras are 50km, 50 miles, 100km, and 100 miles. There are also 12 hour and 24 hour track runs, and multi-day "stage races".

I have currently (September 2012) completed 30 ultramarathons, plus 1 DNF at about 66km at the Molesworth Run. Reports for most events are provided below.

See also

Rogaines

Rogaining is the sport of long distance cross-country navigation. Events can be as short as 2-3 hours or the standard 24 hours. Teamwork, endurance, competition and an appreciation for the natural environment are features of the sport. Rogaining involves both route planning and navigation between checkpoints using a variety of map types.

GN Phillips and RJ Phillips, Rogaining, 3rd ed, 2000


The two main umbrella organisations for rogaining in New Zealand are: My reports for selected events are provided below.


Hiking and Mountains

The Hiking, Trail Running, and Mountains pages are all inter-related, but with some subtle differences:
  • Hiking is not an organised race, and may include Coastal Adventures, activities in the Mountains, and hiking in other locations;
  • Trail Running covers organised events, some in the mountains, but others on local hills and trails; and
  • The Mountains category covers both events and hiking in various places that can be classed as mountains.


    • Racewalking

    Racewalking only has to meet two technical requirements:
    • no loss of contact, as judged by the human eye; and
    • the leg has to be straight from the moment of first contact until it is upright.
    More detailed rules are here.

    I'm not particularly good at racewalking, often falling foul of the straight leg rule. But I still give it a go and here are the results of my endeavours.


    Running

    This blog is primarily about my walking activities, but sometimes I do run. Here are reports for events where I have run.

    Shorter Races

    I classify events as ultramarathons, marathons, rogaines, and "shorter events". So a "shorter event" is just something that is shorter than a marathon and is not a rogaine. Consequently there's a mixed bag in here: running, racewalking, half marathons, 10k and 5k races, , etc.


    Saturday, November 7, 2009

    Training on the Ultra Fun Run short course

    PB070048
    On top of Climie, the Wairarapa in the background
    I figured it was about time to get some serious training in for Kepler so I decided to have a crack at the short course from the Ultra Fun Run that I put on a few weeks back.

    Up in time to have breakfast and then a 6am start. It was a lovely fine morning, but the sun hadn't quite made it over the hills yet. Off to Cannon Point. Up to the top in 48:16, I was making good time even with photo stops. Down the steep descent, and on up the river trail.

    I was hoping to buy a bottle of Powerade or Coke at the Te Marua Store, but it was closed! Had to settle for a refill of water at Kaitoke Regional Park. Up the hill track, and I was already feeling like I'd done enough climbing for one day. At the entrance to Tunnel Gully I stopped for a quick stretch and then continued on.

    Walking along the gravel road it was pleasing to see that the green was returning after the logging several years back. The seedlings were now large enough that their foliage dominated all the offcuts from the logging, rather than the other way 'round.

    Tagged the gate at the start of Mt Climie access road in 2:48:14. Time was still reasonable, although I was likely to be a bit slow heading up. Perhaps about 2/3 the way up I met "Malcolm", whom I would often see on the Cannon Point circuit. We pushed each other on to the top, and I reached the first antennae 1:00:43 after leaving the carpark.

    A bit of time spent on the top taking photos, eating a tangelo, and changing into a dry polypro. Then it was off down the hill. Malcolm tagged along to see where the track went. It was just as steep as I remember, but the path through the gorse seemed to have been cleared a bit.

    Down to the gate on Collets Rd in 1:09:39, and then we ambled along to the school to refill water bottles. Malcolm went down Alamein Ave to head back to Tunnel Gully while I headed for Mangaroa Hill. I hadn't been looking forward to the hill, but it was just a minor rise compared to what I had been on. And then it was just a shortish stretch back home. Total time including stops was 6:23:59 for 36km.

    Elevation

    More photos available on Flickr. For larger versions of any photo click on the photo to open the photo page, and then click the 'All Sizes' button.
    Posted by Andrew Shelley
    Labels:

    0 comments:

    Post a Comment

    Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)