10k at RWNZ Relay Champs

New PB! Took 1:20 off my previous best to record 60:05 for 10k at the Racewalking NZ relay champs / Ekiden walking relay in Upper Hutt. I had done no walking training since early February, so was expecting a time about 3 minutes slower. However my running training had apparently given me the aerobic conditioning I needed to turn in a good performance.

Time and distance recorded on my GPS.

I was expecting the trademark painful shins to appear early in the second lap, but they never eventuated. Perhaps the muscle fascia was constantly inflamed last year and the break from walking training has given it a chance to recover? I did suffer from fairly bad stitch for a lot of the race, so if I can sort that out I might finally be able to dip under 60 minutes!

Lap times (for 1.25km laps) were 7:37, 7:32, 7:39, 7:29, 7:23, 7:33, 7:33, 7:19; first 5km in 30:17, 2nd 5km in 29:48. My GPS recorded only 9.91km... the course was supposed to be officially measured with a wheel, so the 90m must just be GPS error.

NZIC 10k Racewalk

A 10k racewalk on the same course that was used for the Ekiden relay in May. Heavy rain stopped just in time for the start of the race. I recorded 62m:34s, 42s slower than at the Ekiden. The slower time was possibly in part due to slight slippage on the smooth wet asphalt (some of which had some lichen).

Ekiden Walking Relay 2010

Trentham again entered a team in the 'B' division of the annual Wellington Scottish Athletics Ekiden Walking Relay. I walked the 10km lap in 61m:52s. This comes at the end of my off season so I wasn't in particularly good form. But my time was less than 30s slower than my PB so I was quite happy with that. A summer of ultras followed by two months of active recovery including plenty of running appears to have left me in a good position to build on.

New club member John Roskvist led the team out on the first leg (7.195km), bringing us through in 5^th position, with Race Walking Auckland's B team just 36s behind us. Viv took over from John, walking the second leg (5km). We remained in 5^th position but the gap reduced slightly to 27s.

Richard Willis walked the third leg (7.5km). Frans van Buel from Racewalking Auckland closed the gap and then slowly pulled ahead to finish 1m:11s ahead of us, dropping us into 6^th place. I took over from Richard to walk the fourth leg (10km). Racewalking Auckland opened the gap further to 2m:37s, but we both gained 2 places so that Trentham was now in 4^the position.

John Ihaka walked the fifth leg (7.5km), closing the gap to Racewalking Auckland to just 7 seconds. The first seven places in the race remained unchanged. Jackie took over for the final leg (5km). Grant Peper from Racewalking Auckland was just 10s/km faster, opening the gap between the two teams to 59s. The 5^th placed team, including New Zealand's current fastest walker, was just 1m:05s behind us.

Wellington Road Champs

I only finally decided to enter this race only about 90 minutes before the start. My shins were incredibly painful from 2k-4k, and I nearly decided to step off the course. But after 4k everything seemed to loosen up and I felt much better.

Apparently my style was good through to 6k, but significantly deteriorated from that point on when I picked up the pace. Strange thing is that my style felt suspect earlier, but good later!

The photo shows John Leonard, myself, and David Cooke. This must have been taken at about the 3k mark. David dropped off the pace, but John and I stayed together through to the 6k mark. I then decided to make a move and dropped John. But John is registered with Athletics NZ and I am not, so he received the official placing in the championship race.

In retrospect it wasn't my best decision to enter this race. Coming just one week after the 5 Bridges Marathon, my legs were still too tight and sore to race. The race just made everything worse, with sore, aching, and tight legs for the next two weeks. But I did get to meet Nyle, so at least there was some good to come out of it!

McKays Crossing 10k Racewalk

The DQ Board. I was race number 26.

5k warmup (35:05) then 10k race (1:05:08). Race was held over 5 x 2km loop. This was my first walk with new low-profile, soft orthotics. Took it a little easier because of the orthotics and because I wanted to see if I could avoid being DQed. Style was much better - I received only 1 yellow card - although perhaps might not pass at a national championship event.

Legs were tired and achy later in the afternoon. Went out for another 7.3km at a moderate pace. Legs were tired, but definitely felt better afterwards.

Round the Vines

New PB! 1:01:26 for 10k. 22s faster than at the ANZAC 10k race last year, and with perhaps 3km offroad. 2nd male and 2nd overall. Competed as part of team "Awesome Foursome", which was 1st in the teams race with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the mens race and 1st in the women's race. Thanks to the local vineyards for the bottles of wine and to Adidas and Shoe Clinic for the vouchers.

Wellington Road Championships

Another slow time on the slow 10k circuit used for the Wellington road championships: just 64:37 on an unseasonally warm and sunny day. This was, however, faster than the 65:06 and 64:48 for the previous two years. DQed again, but red cards 2 and 3 came in the last lap - a vast improvement on earning 3 reds before 6k in previous years.

Waikanae 10k

5th place in 63:33, 22 seconds faster than last year's 63:55 on the same course. A lot slower than my 61:48 earlier this year, but the Waikanae course has 10 very tight 180 degree turns. Heavy rain from about 2k-4k. Overall reasonably happy with this race given the early stage in my build up.

ANZAC Day 10k

New PB! I won the race in 61:48, a substantial improvement on my previous best of 63:12. Hosted by Ruamahanga Ramblers, this event is based on rural roads bordering Carterton. The temperature was warm (19C) with only light winds.