Looking back - 2007 Round the Bays Run
As I mentioned in the opening post of this Blog, over the next few weeks I'm going to select a few posts from the old blog and 're-run' them here just to give this Blog some history to it and for any newer followers to learn a bit more about some of my races / training of the last few years. Here's a post I wrote in March 2007 following our annual fun run during which I suffered my first ever calf strain.
"Round the Bays Ends in Pain"
I ran in the Round the Bays Fun Run today. It's an 8.4Km run around the Auckland waterfront which attracts upwards of 70,000 runners and walkers of all shapes & sizes as well as a few outrageous costumes.
Distance - 8.4KM (5.2 miles)
Time - 39:50
Pace -4:45 min Kms (7:40 min miles)
Max HR 179Ave
HR 161
This is a flat course so I was hopeful of a time of 40 minutes or less so to achieve that goal was pleasing. The pace was faster than I have been running in my training and I was pretty pleased with the effort I put in to maintain that pace for as long as I did. I've done this run a few times over the years however always for the fun and social side of it. Whilst I did enjoy that side of it today also I was also keen to put in a good effort and achieve a good time. I started about 50 meters back from the start line and took about a minute to cross the line after the gun went off.
The start was pretty slow as the field spread out. By about the 1 Km stage the field had sufficiently spread out enough that I was able to run at a steady pace. I passed a marker at 5.5 km at about 25 minutes so I new that I had 15 minutes to cover the last 3Km to make my time. I tried searching for a little more pace to ensure I made my time and with about 1 Km go I was pretty much out of gas. My pace was slowing and breathing was very laboured.
Then it happened ... I felt a small twinge in my right calf muscle. I've never strained a calf before but this is what I imagined it was, definitely not just a case of tight or sore calfs. I managed to jog the remaining kilometer and crossed the line in just under 40 minutes. So, while pleased with the time a calf strain was not what I had in mind. I can only hope that it's a minor strain and that with some treatment and a bit of rest I will be back running again soon.
I had wanted to run another 10Km race next weekend and then an 11Km Trail race next month. ll be pretty gutted if I can't at least run the trail race as that's something I've never done and would love to give it a go.
Update - Fortunately that injury was over come relatively quickly and though I missed the follow up 10K race I made the trail race the next month.
5 comments:
Bruce, Sorry to hear about your problems with injury. I note for your description of yourself that you are reading Danny Dreyer’s book on Chi Running. Are you learning Chi in an attempt to minimise risk of future injury?
I am a bit older than you. Since childhood I have suffered from a variety of musculoskeletal problems that I could easily ignore in my younger days, but with passing years it is becoming increasingly hard to ignore them. I have therefore spent some time looking into running styles that might reduce the strains on the body and reduce the risk of injury. In particular, I spent quite a lot of time trying to understand and practice Romanov’s Pose, which like Chi, encourages collaboration with gravity. In a literal sense, what both Ch and Pose teach about gravity is nonsense insofar as it violates the laws of physics, but maybe what both methods are trying to achieve is a mental state that promotes lightness on the feet. Dreyer goes far further than Romanov in emphasizing conditioning the mind. I remain a little sceptical of his approach but am nonetheless intrigued by it, so I look forward to hearing about your thoughts and experiences of Chi.
I hope that 2009 is a great year for you, not only in regard to the arrival of the new baby, but also with regard to your running.
All the best for 2009 Bruce. Sounds like you'll have your hands full with the new arrival.
Have to say I was impressed with the pace in that race report. Round the Bays is a bit mad with all those people - worse than St. Lukes at the boxing day sales.
I like the new look, Bruce. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!!
I like this new setup. Very nice!
Hopefully this time next year it'll be "Round the Bays Ends in a PB".
Keep persisting Bruce. I've had a thought about your shin problems...
I've been reading the blog of a runner who once had painful shin splints for many weeks, but kept on running and eventually the pain disappeared. Maybe it's possible to 'run through' this injury and emerge on the other side pain-free?
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