XTerra Waiuku 2021

on

4th July 2021

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/7065108202


Race Day
Our RunLikeCrazy team numbers were a bit depleted today for various reasons, so it was just Me, Lynda, Michal, Ed and Helen.
I drove Lynda out (leaving home at 6:45 was fine).
The weather was fully spectacular - a lovely sunrise with frosts and a few bits of fog.




Race

Waiuku is an awesome run - heaps of fast rolling single track, with a good dose of sand and only a few moderate hills thrown in. Even though it was very chilly at the start, I ran with no jacket or backpack, which was fine. As it turned out, I didn't end up drinking anything throughout the run, but I glugged down two gels as I ran.

I started with Michal and I was determined to keep him in sight even though he a notoriously fast starter! We smashed out the first leg out along the Waikato river delta - running into the rising sun which was a bit tricky at times with some sun-strike.

We circled back towards the registration area via some hills, and I was feeling pretty good. The lovely soft sand and pine needles underfoot were a joy to run on.


We headed out onto the 'back loop' section, and Michal was still setting a very fast pace. I was permanently about 5..10 seconds behind him. I never seemed able to catch him, and he never got further ahead. At the 17km mark we descended down to the beach and ran along the sand for a bit. We then climbed up the last biggish hill, and I managed to draw level with Michal a few times. 





I skirted around the big mud puddle. Only Lynda was brave enough to tackle it.


The last few kilometers were a speedy blur. At the 22km mark I thought we'd nearly reached the finish line but then I realised that there was still another section of trail to run, and I really hit the wall in the last 600 meters, losing about 20 seconds to Michal as my fitness finally gave out!



Race Wrap

This was a super fun race. It felt so fast the entire way. I was very happy with my time of 1:50:42, which was my best time ever! (Previous best times were in 2015/16/17 when each year I did 1:51)

I had been running some upgraded (tough) training miles in the 3 weeks since my last xterra race, and although I wasn't sure if I was starting the race a bit fatigued, I guess not, and it worked out well. (As normal my last training run was on Thursday ahead of the Sunday event). I was seriously tired after the run, but with no specific aches or pains :)

Lynda had a great run as a first training effort for Kepler later in the year. She didn't even looked tired at the end!


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