Sunday 19th July 2009
Waitakere Ranges, Auckland – Squad Run 30km Run
Legend of Arthur Lydiard Training Route
Waitakere Ranges, Auckland – Squad Run 30km Run
Legend of Arthur Lydiard Training Route
Route profile attached :-)
The Legend is one of the great training routes of Arthur Lydiard – used to train his elite prodigies such as Peter Snell and Sir Murray Halberg. It is ‘fondly’ referred to amongst our squad as the concrete monster and gets most of us shaking in our trainers when it appears in a training block. It is a gruelling route but one that is equally inspiring as you imagine the journey of some of New Zealand’s elite runners that have gone before you.
We normally run this as a squad a couple of times before New Zealand Ironman and it doesn’t usually feature in our winter training blocks. However, as there are a number of athletes in the squad going to the long distance World Champs and me going to Kona Tony has decided that we should be running this route together at least once every 3-4 weeks – great idea coach! So my main focus was to firstly survive my first winter squad visit to the concrete monster and secondly to set a baseline for the next couple of monster dates.
We set off from Titirangi and the conditions were much better than we anticipated- the odd bit of drizzle and a cool breeze but not the forecasted heavy rainfalls – hooray! Immediately the pace was set at the front by Kelly who tore off into the distance. I decided to keep pace with Tony who was giving chase, aiming to try and get to the base of the concrete monster with him or at least with him in sight. An hour into the run we managed to catch Kelly and we ran as a 3 to the base of the climb – from that point on it was each man for himself.
Tony powered up the hill and I managed to stay with him for half the ascent – beyond that he gradually started to increase the effort and I decided it was time to run it at my own pace to ensure that I made it to the top. Once settled in my own stride I began to relax in the calm and tranquillity of the ranges - there is something about the concrete monster that allows you to empty your mind of life’s clutter and leave it there - offering you a rare moment of perfect clarity. Usually this comes as you emerge at the top and is greeted by a truly magnificent view.
My descent was relatively fast paced and despite a few gnarly hills I made it home in 2 hours 17 minutes, greeted by a few expletives from my coach who declared that it was me who ‘put the acid on’ at the start! I on the other hand maintain it was him!
So all in all a very good result and tough baseline to beat! Today my moment of clarity affirmed that no matter how hard the path to Kona is there is no other place right now that I would rather be.
We normally run this as a squad a couple of times before New Zealand Ironman and it doesn’t usually feature in our winter training blocks. However, as there are a number of athletes in the squad going to the long distance World Champs and me going to Kona Tony has decided that we should be running this route together at least once every 3-4 weeks – great idea coach! So my main focus was to firstly survive my first winter squad visit to the concrete monster and secondly to set a baseline for the next couple of monster dates.
We set off from Titirangi and the conditions were much better than we anticipated- the odd bit of drizzle and a cool breeze but not the forecasted heavy rainfalls – hooray! Immediately the pace was set at the front by Kelly who tore off into the distance. I decided to keep pace with Tony who was giving chase, aiming to try and get to the base of the concrete monster with him or at least with him in sight. An hour into the run we managed to catch Kelly and we ran as a 3 to the base of the climb – from that point on it was each man for himself.
Tony powered up the hill and I managed to stay with him for half the ascent – beyond that he gradually started to increase the effort and I decided it was time to run it at my own pace to ensure that I made it to the top. Once settled in my own stride I began to relax in the calm and tranquillity of the ranges - there is something about the concrete monster that allows you to empty your mind of life’s clutter and leave it there - offering you a rare moment of perfect clarity. Usually this comes as you emerge at the top and is greeted by a truly magnificent view.
My descent was relatively fast paced and despite a few gnarly hills I made it home in 2 hours 17 minutes, greeted by a few expletives from my coach who declared that it was me who ‘put the acid on’ at the start! I on the other hand maintain it was him!
So all in all a very good result and tough baseline to beat! Today my moment of clarity affirmed that no matter how hard the path to Kona is there is no other place right now that I would rather be.
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