Hamilton Marathon Clinic

Newsletter. November 2021

Blueberry Run - Date Change. Now Saturday 19th February.

Several months ago, we confirmed our date for the blueberry as the 13 th February.
We struggled to get details off the Glenview event to enable publication of the series
detail. Glenview was cancelled due to the uncertainty of things and we put the
Blueberry on the Calendar. Unfortunately, by this time, Round the Bridges started
looking for an alternate date and the 13 th came up as the only suitable date for them.
Their event is more complex than ours, they have a professional organisation who had
to fit it in with their other events and also needed to work with HCC for road closures
and use of Garden Place. We were too late out of the blocks and lost our date. Fitting
an alternate date in this period is hard as there are various events either normal or
rescheduled and we need to run the event in February to work in with Blueberry
Country.
The best date available to us is Saturday 19 th February. It is a big change going to a
Saturday but holidays will be over and not too many playing summer sport. We will
need as many club members, friends and family to assist on the day. Drink stations,
marshalling etc. If you think you are able to assist, please let Ross know. The Airport
runway event is on the following day but only a 5 km event so might be a good thing
for people to do a double header.

Jago Cup – Postponed.

Te Awamutu have notified us that with so much uncertainty and other events moving
into their planned date for the Jago Cup that they have put it on hold. If they can
come up with an alternate date if things get back to level one, they will inform us.
Coming Events.

No calendar of open events this month as need a crystal ball to work out what is happening. The
Running Calendar NZ is a good place to get latest changes, cancellations etc. They update their
website every Tuesday runningcalendar.co.nz
Club events
Again, with so much dependent on getting back to level one it is hard to work out what we are
going to do. The clubrooms will not re open on level 2. We will try to keep people up to date
with what we do by email.
Until we get back in clubrooms, we will not try to run any Tuesday night walks or runs but if
people want to arrange informal get togethers once back on level 2 then send some contact
details as mentioned in recent email and we will issue to members and you can contact others
and make arrangements. As mentioned, you can also pick your own meeting point.
Sundays once back onto level two will just do similar to what we were doing prior to going back
to level three and that is meeting somewhere and doing or walk/run and finishing with a coffee.
Cullum Brae Golf coffee shop is still the planned first Sunday when we get to level 2.

Alternatives
Another month of cancelled events and restrictions has made things look like this
could be the way of the future for a while to come. It makes peoples goals and
ambitions for the hobby so much further away. How many people are sitting close to a
target for park runs, waiting to compete over a new distance or, like Dennis, trying to
complete 300 marathons. Many of us have had drastic changes to what we are doing
and with so limited a number of events many are looking at alternatives to get their
fix.
There are a few people back doing virtual events. These take a few different forms.
Doing an actual event on a planned day and distance when the live event cannot be
run. Doing an event where over a period of days or more the distances are
accumulated. This can be to complete a total distance in a set time, or some get a
little bit fancier in that the event is held over a specific plotted course. The Conqueror
Challenge events have your distances added to the course map and you can see
where you are on the map but also click on the Google Street view and then you get a
visual of where you are.
Ross decided as a motivation he would do the Run the World virtual Run -NZ leg which
several others are doing. He started on first day of the lockdown and his 500 km has
got him from Auckland start point to Cape Reinga The route is the length of NZ but
not simple. Starting in Auckland all the way to the top and then zig zag down the
North Island for about 2,500 km then the same in the South Island down to Bluff then
back up to finish in Christchurch a total of some 4,500 km. A long term involvement is
required. When key towns are reached an email with an information sheet on the
history and geography of the town and area is received. There are weekly, monthly,
annual and overall leader tables on the ap as well as progress map.

Tauranga Marathon

Having had to cancel my entry to several events I had entered earlier in the year due
to injury I decided to focus on injury recovery and also one event I have not done and
that is, walk a marathon. I entered Tauranga Marathon due to be held in September,
and training was going pretty much to plan when August lockdown came along. Even
though there was uncertainty the best thing was to continue training as if it was going
to be held. The original date was cancelled and three alternatives were given in
October. If not then, it would be well into next year. The first two dates were
postponed and with the third looking more and more unlikely (and cancelled), the
virtual option they were offering looked a distinct possibility and would mean that the
training had some final outcome. After some thought I decided to do the Marathon as
a virtual so changed my entry. I realised that it would not be the same as doing an
event with other competitors and spectators to keep you focused and maintaining
speed but better than nothing. I decided as long as I did it in under 6 hours it would
be acceptable so targeted an 8.00 to 8.20min per km average. Time and distance are
recorded using GPS watch and Strava, then the data is downloaded to the organisers
site for an official finish time which confirms completion and that you qualify for the
finishers t-shirt and medal. My start time was 5.00am on a weekday morning. I did
not have a fixed route as such but stuck to Rototuna and Flagstaff areas, which
included the park by Rototuna School so I could top up my drink bottles, which I did
on a couple of occasions. For about ¾ of the distance I was managing just around the
8.00min/km pace average but around then I started overheating and had to stop to
take my thermal layer off. I struggled to get back to similar speed and found I was
having to concentrate too much so decided to relax and back off to a pace where I
could let my mind wander and just go to the end. I finished the 42.2km in just under
5 hours 50 mins so was reasonably happy. It did give me a healthy respect for people
who do these on a regular basis or do longer times and distances. There was a bit
more thought needed on food and drink intake both prior to and during the walk. I
carried a couple of the soft silicone drink bottles in my running vest and these I filled a
couple of additional times during the event. I also had some energy gel sachets. I did
intend to have a banana but left at home. Apart from a bit of stiffness for a day or two
which a couple of easy walks took care off there were no lasting effects. Would I walk
another marathon? - probably not.

Running and walking effect on joints

Many people say excessive exercise wears out the cartilage in the joints. Just reading
an article which discussed this and scientific and medical checks they did on this. They
found out that during exercise the ongoing joint movement and pressure does
compress the cartilage by forcing the fluid out of it, so MRI scans did find less cartilage
after exercise. But they also found that within an hour or so, the fluid does return to
the cartilage so was not wearing it away. The other good thing they found was that
the fluid goes into the bone when exercising and when it works its way back into the
cartilage it is bringing additional nutrients from the bone which could have a positive
effect on the cartilage. So, keep on walking and running but at same time listen to
messages your body gives you.