Warm Weather Training - New Zealand Style!

This winter I was lucky enough to be able to go back home to New Zealand for some warm weather training and racing. For two months I was able to train without my rain jacket on! It was great! For the first week I was back, unfortunately I picked up a little niggle in my foot that prevented me from doing too much training. Luckily with a few days rest and the help from my Squid cold compression device I was able to get back into my training routine.

My favourite part about being home is that I can go to the beach whenever I want to! East, West, North or South, it’s only a couple of hours drive to an awesome surf. Most weekends I was with my family in the Coromandel because this is our favourite place to stay. While I was staying there, my dad took me to some of the walking/running trails in the area, and they were incredible! I love having new places to run, especially when it is within New Zealand’s most beautiful scenery.

As well as beautiful long runs, I was also finally able to get some good track work done in preparation for my races in mid January. This meant the duration of reps was short but the intensity was high! I always find that when I get to track work and am able to chuck on my spikes I have tight and sore calves the next morning from constantly running on my toes. This season, however, I had a new recovery toy – my Squid Cold Compression device! It has been my best friend, especially after track sessions! It was fantastic. I could take it to the track with me with the gel pack, do my session (usually took about an hour) and use the Squid, and it was still cold!

It made my calves feel so much better the next morning, which helped me recover for training that day. I had a lot of curious looks while I was home as no one had seen one of these before and once I let them try it out they were incredibly impressed. But it helped me get one of the best blocks of training I’ve ever had in.

After one of my races I was driving another athlete home (about a 3 hour drive) and she was complaining about a sore quad. Hearing this, I grabbed the squid out and chucked it on her leg in the car. I love how portable it is. The next time I saw this particular girl she told me her quad was feeling better!

It’s the portability that I find so useful. I was able to take it on the plane with me in my hand luggage (exc. Gel pack) and during my layover time I could throw it on and get my circulation going again to get rid of the swelling that occurred during the long flights. So light, so portable and so effective. This meant that I could get straight on with training the day after my flight!

Overall, I had an amazing time being back home with my family as well as getting in some decent warm weather trainings. For now though its back to the cold weather and time to prepare for some indoor racing.