Mar 21, 2010
City to Surf
Completed the Christchurch City to Surf this morning, a 12km road race that finishes just down the road from where we live. Took it pretty steady and was happy with my time of 54:27 . It's impossible to run too fast for the first few kms anyway - half of Christchurch turns out for this event, which always makes for a great atmosphere.
Mar 8, 2010
Avalanche Peak Race
So as expected, my lack of training didn’t pay off. Somewhere over 4kms in the Crow Valley I went from having a great time to Not Having Much Fun At All.
Everything started out just great, of course. Got to the top of Avalanche Peak in just over 1h 15min and felt great. It was a perfect day for the ascent, the mist was clearing off of the top and I headed up with a small bunch of people climbing at around 15-18m a minute, quite a pleasant pace (or so I thought)
At the 1km mark - and having great fun.
Running along the ridge towards Rolleston (which we hadn’t done last year because of the weather) was fantastic, a rollercoaster of small climbs and descents, followed by an amazing descent of the scree to the Crow Valley – so much easier than with a tramping pack on your back.
The boulder field at the bottom was a great opportunity to eat a few mouthfuls of chocolate and get my breath back. It turned out I had picked up a reasonable cut on my leg when descending the scree, I hadn’t even noticed until a race marshal pointed it out.
So I headed off down the Crow Valley. This was fun too, there are a lot of sidle sections of track in the bush and descending over boulders. You then ford the Crow River and after sideling a couple of screes soon pick up the good bush track that cuts out to the Waimak. And it was here that I realised that I was stuffed.
Up until that point the ground was fairly technical, moving over it quickly was limited by the difficulty and individual skill levels. However the bush track should have been easy running, on so many tramps I have commented to Carolina how great it would be to be able to run this sort of track, and when I finally got the chance my body just said: No not today. This was somewhat unexpected, as normally I come to an agreement such as “OK, but this will hurt for a couple of days” or “OK, but you’ll be throwing up at the end”. Instead it was more of a: “Ha – you’ve been tramping for the last 2 months. Wasn’t much running was there?! Expect me to run continuously for the next 12km or so – you must be joking!”
So the gravel bash down the Waimakariri turned in to a horrible torturous section that I just wanted to end. The parts where I walked people came past me in slow motion, - they were running just faster than I was walking. The parts where I ran I was clearly catching them, but it couldn’t be sustained. The problem was, my energy starved brain finally worked out, was that I didn’t have a running pace that was slow enough. Somehow it was just impossible for me to run slow enough to stay with the group I was in.
I got there eventually, - there were a couple of sections, at Klondyke Corner and on the Bealey River Bridge where the spectators caused the Pride in me to force a more sustained run for a few minutes – until out of sight at least. Finished in 3h 50 min, which was around 20mins down on last year given the length of the course. To give you some comprehension of how bad I felt after the race: For two hours or so, I was Never Going Running Again, and for a day and a half there was No Way I Was Ever Going to Race Avalanche Peak Again.
Next year I will do some proper training.
At the finish: smile is purely for the camera. At this point things that I hated included (but were not limited to): the Waimakariri River Valley and Gravel, the hot and sunny weather, people shouting at me to run faster up the last hill, the hill at the Bealey Hotel, being 34, thinking I could run 25km and climb 1400m without any training, Replace Sports Drink for not working as well as expected, Chris and John for getting me hooked on this event last year.
Everything started out just great, of course. Got to the top of Avalanche Peak in just over 1h 15min and felt great. It was a perfect day for the ascent, the mist was clearing off of the top and I headed up with a small bunch of people climbing at around 15-18m a minute, quite a pleasant pace (or so I thought)
At the 1km mark - and having great fun.
Running along the ridge towards Rolleston (which we hadn’t done last year because of the weather) was fantastic, a rollercoaster of small climbs and descents, followed by an amazing descent of the scree to the Crow Valley – so much easier than with a tramping pack on your back.
The boulder field at the bottom was a great opportunity to eat a few mouthfuls of chocolate and get my breath back. It turned out I had picked up a reasonable cut on my leg when descending the scree, I hadn’t even noticed until a race marshal pointed it out.
So I headed off down the Crow Valley. This was fun too, there are a lot of sidle sections of track in the bush and descending over boulders. You then ford the Crow River and after sideling a couple of screes soon pick up the good bush track that cuts out to the Waimak. And it was here that I realised that I was stuffed.
Up until that point the ground was fairly technical, moving over it quickly was limited by the difficulty and individual skill levels. However the bush track should have been easy running, on so many tramps I have commented to Carolina how great it would be to be able to run this sort of track, and when I finally got the chance my body just said: No not today. This was somewhat unexpected, as normally I come to an agreement such as “OK, but this will hurt for a couple of days” or “OK, but you’ll be throwing up at the end”. Instead it was more of a: “Ha – you’ve been tramping for the last 2 months. Wasn’t much running was there?! Expect me to run continuously for the next 12km or so – you must be joking!”
So the gravel bash down the Waimakariri turned in to a horrible torturous section that I just wanted to end. The parts where I walked people came past me in slow motion, - they were running just faster than I was walking. The parts where I ran I was clearly catching them, but it couldn’t be sustained. The problem was, my energy starved brain finally worked out, was that I didn’t have a running pace that was slow enough. Somehow it was just impossible for me to run slow enough to stay with the group I was in.
I got there eventually, - there were a couple of sections, at Klondyke Corner and on the Bealey River Bridge where the spectators caused the Pride in me to force a more sustained run for a few minutes – until out of sight at least. Finished in 3h 50 min, which was around 20mins down on last year given the length of the course. To give you some comprehension of how bad I felt after the race: For two hours or so, I was Never Going Running Again, and for a day and a half there was No Way I Was Ever Going to Race Avalanche Peak Again.
Next year I will do some proper training.
At the finish: smile is purely for the camera. At this point things that I hated included (but were not limited to): the Waimakariri River Valley and Gravel, the hot and sunny weather, people shouting at me to run faster up the last hill, the hill at the Bealey Hotel, being 34, thinking I could run 25km and climb 1400m without any training, Replace Sports Drink for not working as well as expected, Chris and John for getting me hooked on this event last year.
Mar 2, 2010
Preparing for the Avalanche Peak Race
So this weekend is the Avalanche Peak Challenge. A 25km mountain run from Arthurs Pass village that starts with a 1000m or so climb up Avalanche Peak itself. I present below my modified version of the organisers suggested training schedule for such a race.
OK, so that is a bit of an exaggeration - it's not like I’ve been doing no exercise at all, but I definitely missed out on the hill runs that I was doing last year. No Rapaki Track in the Port Hills for me this time. Hopefully the longer tramps that we have been doing recently will help with the endurance a bit. We shall see on Saturday.
OK, so that is a bit of an exaggeration - it's not like I’ve been doing no exercise at all, but I definitely missed out on the hill runs that I was doing last year. No Rapaki Track in the Port Hills for me this time. Hopefully the longer tramps that we have been doing recently will help with the endurance a bit. We shall see on Saturday.
Discovery Stream to Sudden Valley
This was another route on which we had turned back previously. Last May with an early snowfall we had retreated back to the Hawdon Valley after freezing our feet off in the Discovery Stream. This time we had much better weather and lower water levels.
We camped at the Hawdon Shelter with the aim being to get an early start on the Saturday morning. However we just ended up sleeping in, so it wouldn't have made much difference time wise whether we had come up on the Saturday from Christchurch. It was of course much more relaxing camping at the start of the tramp though. 
We reached the Discovery and Hawdon Stream Confluence in around two hours after a pleasant walk up the Hawdon Valley and stopped for a first lunch on the banks of Discovery Stream, relating in the sun.
Discovery stream is very open near the confluence with the Hawdon, but then a short gorge like section must be negotiated. This was great fun with the low water levels and we managed to scramble up to the next stream junction without getting very wet at all, the clean and dry boulders providing great grip. When we were here last May we had been forced in to the bush on a couple of occasions to avoid obstacles in the stream. No need for that today. 
One of the great things about this route is that it passes through so many different types of scenery. After finishing the stream section, there was then a short and OK bush bash to gain the upper basin. The bush spur climbs around a short but spectacular waterfall to suddenly emerge in a barren rock field at the start of the basin. The stream completely disappears underground at this point.
From here it looked like there was a choice of routes to gain the main Mt Scott - Amber Col ridge. The grassy slope looked very possible, but there was an oh so nice stream running up a gully next to it which looked very feasible and much nicer than the grassy slope. The gully was enticing, so we took that route. Yes it looked very steep on the map at the top but still OK.
The descent to Sudden Valley is on mainly good scree and as a consequence, is fast, great fun and easy. Going in the other direction would be a bit of a grind. We decided to camp near the bushline, rather than carry on down to the biv and found a flat spot just away from the river.
We camped at the Hawdon Shelter with the aim being to get an early start on the Saturday morning. However we just ended up sleeping in, so it wouldn't have made much difference time wise whether we had come up on the Saturday from Christchurch. It was of course much more relaxing camping at the start of the tramp though.
We reached the Discovery and Hawdon Stream Confluence in around two hours after a pleasant walk up the Hawdon Valley and stopped for a first lunch on the banks of Discovery Stream, relating in the sun.
Discovery stream is very open near the confluence with the Hawdon, but then a short gorge like section must be negotiated. This was great fun with the low water levels and we managed to scramble up to the next stream junction without getting very wet at all, the clean and dry boulders providing great grip. When we were here last May we had been forced in to the bush on a couple of occasions to avoid obstacles in the stream. No need for that today.
One of the great things about this route is that it passes through so many different types of scenery. After finishing the stream section, there was then a short and OK bush bash to gain the upper basin. The bush spur climbs around a short but spectacular waterfall to suddenly emerge in a barren rock field at the start of the basin. The stream completely disappears underground at this point.
From here it looked like there was a choice of routes to gain the main Mt Scott - Amber Col ridge. The grassy slope looked very possible, but there was an oh so nice stream running up a gully next to it which looked very feasible and much nicer than the grassy slope. The gully was enticing, so we took that route. Yes it looked very steep on the map at the top but still OK.
And it was very nice. Right until the last 20 metres. The stream became a waterfall above the last remnants of snow which wasn't a problem in itself as you could turn it on the left, but the rock had become dank and slippery. A few awkward slippery moves above a steep drop showed that this wasn't a great route choice. A pity - if the rock had been dry it would have been very doable.
So back down we went, - and then back up the grass to the side of the gully. This still had a slightly stomach churning moment, sidling above the top of the waterfall, when a sloping scree / rock field that ended abruptly on the waterfall cliffs still had to be crossed.
The hanging basin above the falls was a fantastic place, carpeted in soft grass and would have made an ideal campsite. We were very tempted. However at around 5:00pm it was a great time to be on the tops, completely clear and with a beautiful late afternoon light. So we continued around the ridge towards Mount Scott. There are great views from here, across the Edwards Valley, to Falling Mountain and down in to Sudden Valley, already masked in shadows.
So back down we went, - and then back up the grass to the side of the gully. This still had a slightly stomach churning moment, sidling above the top of the waterfall, when a sloping scree / rock field that ended abruptly on the waterfall cliffs still had to be crossed.
The hanging basin above the falls was a fantastic place, carpeted in soft grass and would have made an ideal campsite. We were very tempted. However at around 5:00pm it was a great time to be on the tops, completely clear and with a beautiful late afternoon light. So we continued around the ridge towards Mount Scott. There are great views from here, across the Edwards Valley, to Falling Mountain and down in to Sudden Valley, already masked in shadows.
The descent to Sudden Valley is on mainly good scree and as a consequence, is fast, great fun and easy. Going in the other direction would be a bit of a grind. We decided to camp near the bushline, rather than carry on down to the biv and found a flat spot just away from the river.
High cloud arrived overnight, making the Sunday a grey day. We carried on down Sudden valley, past the biv. The track at the end of the flats has been recently recut and marked and is in good condition. It sidles above the Barrier Falls before descending directly back to the river. From here an interesting gorge section soon opens out on to the lower flats. It was then an easy walk back to the start and the Hawdon Shelter.
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