Iron Jack

The muggy humidity finally broke today. What a relief. I don’t mean that it was cold - it certainly wasn’t - but it was cool enough to go for a run without swimming in sweat. The drop in temperature, combined with a cool breeze and light drizzle, meant it was perfect redhead running weather!

Unfortunately I am a true redhead when it comes to getting hot and bothered! Yes I have a mighty red-hot temper (which my children have also inherited!), but I also turn as bright red as a tomato when I do the slightest bit of exercise. The Indian summer and recent muggy weather have meant every training session (including those in the pool) turn me into a beetroot for hours.

So after work I headed out with my fellow redheaded runner - Alison, triathlete, Ironwoman, journalist and friend. We both embraced the cooler weather as we left her house and ran into the forest. I was on a Level 3/4 heartrate zone run - slightly faster for me, and slightly slower for her. We ran the “flats” which lie behind Scion and adjacent to the forest. Its an area I know well as I used to take the dog there when I worked at Scion, and its a very pleasant run.

We ended up with a slightly longer run than I’d planned - 45 minutes instead of 30 minutes, but it was a great run - slightly cooler, slightly faster and I managed to talk most of the way around! That’s definitely a breakthrough for me - and an improvement! If I can talk while I run, I’ve come a long way!

Just one spin session tomorrow, one swim on Thursday, rest day Friday, short ride on Saturday - and then the Takapuna Triathlon! Cant wait!

I’ve been a bit up and down lately about my ability to complete the Tauranga Half Ironman on January 9. Its now very nearly only a month away. I nearly spammed the email from the organisers informing it was just weeks away - immediately before nearly throwing up with fear!

My training has been sporadic to say the least over recent weeks due to a combination of illness, work and family commitments. I have been dreading every weekend that goes by and actually completely freaking out about the whole thing.

But this weekend I’m on an up and my level of self-belief is on the rise.

Yesterday Mike and I ran for 1h45 minutes non-stop (alright, bar two toilet stops but I stopped my watch during both so that I wasn’t cheating on my time!).

This is a huge milestone for me. The longest I have ever run was for an hour, and the last time I did that was months ago. This time not from bailing on training, but because we have been focusing on the bike and swim.

I’ve been dreading this run every since I got my new programme at the beginning of the month. I don’t know where Lawrence got the idea I could run for that long, but I certainly didn’t think I could.

Mary-Ann told me to have faith on Friday.

“It will be all good. I have found everything Lawrence has given me has been achievable, even if I didn’t think so before I began.”

And as usual she was right.

The babysitter arrived and we high-tailed it out the door before the kids realised we were leaving. We arrived at the Redwood Forest and hit the track before I could change my mind. We had mapped out a big loop before we left, and figured that we would probably do it twice.

The first loop took 45 minutes. It was very comfortable and actually very enjoyable. Loved running with Mike. He’s faster than me, but just ran about 20 paces ahead and I toddled along behind. Toilet and carbo stop and then back out onto the track again. Still feeling very comfortable - and very surprised!

My knees and ankle joints started getting a bit uncomfortable about two-thirds the way around, but I was still feeling great. So great that we actually did the second loop faster than the first, and ended up tacking on another 2km in the forest to make up our 1h45! And I actually felt like I could have done another round. Its difficult to map the distance due to the forest and stream tracks, but it would have been between 12 and 14 kilometres - half my Half Ironman run distance!

I was absolutely stoked - actually over the moon. Who would have thought that 12 months ago I would be running that long. Certainly not me. I couldn’t run 10 minutes to save myself. To be fair, I was running fresh, without a 2km swim or 90km run beforehand, but just to get that sort of distance and duration under my belt is a huge boost.

Turns out Lawrence knows what he’s talking about - and Mary-Ann was right. It was completely achievable.