Narrow Neck

ADRIENNE KOHLER

 Adrienne Kohler
  
 

Read Adrienne's latest blog here

  

I’m a 47 year old Aucklander. Sport has always been a big part of my life, my dad was a rowing coach and our family was very involved with it when I was growing up. I grew up in Mangere but when I was about 15, my family moved to Australia. I lived there for about seven years, came back to New Zealand for a year then left to travel through Africa, and ended up living in South Africa for nine years. I came back to New Zealand in 1997 and was a stay-at-home mum. My children have now grown up – my son is 18 and my daughter is 21. I can’t believe how quickly it happened.

When I was in my mid-thirties, I started training at karate and in 2008 I got my black belt. It was a real milestone in my life and a huge mental and physical challenge. However, a few months later my dad became very ill and died after a lengthy illness. Six weeks after that, my daughter was involved in a major car crash and sustained serious injuries which took  months to heal. We had a tough couple of years and I became demotivated, stopped training, gained weight and lost focus. But we have come through it, and it is time to get re-energised and refocus on my health and fitness – especially as I head towards my fifties! One of the challenges of ageing is dealing with all the body niggles and the fact that it does get harder.

I recently moved to place on Cheltenham Beach, which has always been a dream of mine, and it seemed a perfect opportunity to train for the Narrow Neck Beach Contact Triathlon. I’ve never done one, and the swimming especially is going to be a steep learning curve for me. Hopefully there will be a few others who want to join me as I must admit to being inspired by all the women I see walking and running along the waterfront!

Day one – accidental training

Having signed to do the Narrow Neck triathlon, I decided I would start on Saturday, but first there was Friday night and the opening of the Rugby World cup. My plan was simple: catch the ferry into town, meet up with some friends, wander around enjoying the sights and sounds, and then catch the ferry back to Devonport to watch the fireworks.
First off was a 20 minute walk to the ferry terminal, a nice warm-up, followed by an hour and half of queuing to get on the ferry – good endurance training for the legs.  A ten-minute rest on the ferry and then it was time for the obstacle course. I had to fight my way down Quay St to get to the Price Waterhouse Tower to meet my friends. I know now what it feels like to be a tube of toothpaste. A good thirty minutes of ruthless shoving and crawling later, I was squeezed out of the crowd, only to discover that the mobile phone network had gone down. The next two hours were spent walking from location to another, trying to find friends from text messages that appeared at random. Excellent endurance training! Finally I decided that the downtown was just too out of control and headed back to the ferry. Only this time the crowd was denser (both in intellect and numbers) than before. More ruthless shoving ensued until a kindly policeman hauled me out of the crowd and swung me onto the ferry wharf.
Finally a text appeared - my friends were going to watch the fireworks from Mt Victoria. With only twenty minutes to go, I did my anaerobic training as I sprinted from the Devonport wharf, up the road to Mt Vic. A scramble up the muddy slope until I could see over the trees, and I was there! I lay back and watched the fireworks unfold across the city – magical. And then I rolled down the hill, onto the road for my 20 minute cool down stroll home. It may have not been a formal training plan but the next morning I sure felt like I had run a marathon!

Update

There seems to be three versions of me - morning Adrienne, evening Adrienne and Night Adrienne. Morning Adrienne is pretty lazy, struggles to get out of bed, and tends to hit the snooze button while evening Adrienne is more outgoing - "Another wine? Yes please!" The most conscientious is Night Adrienne, who resolves to get up at 6:30am and do that training run along the beach, not eat junk food, and defintely not drink too much wine.
 
This morning, Night Adrienne took control and kicked Morning Adrienne out of bed and onto the beach for a walk and a run. And it was brilliant, every single time I think "Why don't I do this every morning?" That seems to be the biggest challenge, not the actual training but just getting started.
 Update 05/12/11
 
It's a rainy Sunday in Auckland and a good chance to update my posting. My progress has been slow as work, life etc seems to keep getting in the way and I have been patiently waiting for a dodgy knee to come right. But after a  hard run along the beach, it seems good to go. I've found the hardest thing when injured is waiting patiently for it to come right and not pushing it too hard, too soon. I've also been waiting for the sea to get to swimming temp. I had a try two weeks ago and it was defintely a dip and no more because it was so cold, so sticking to the pool for a few more weeks. Hopefully this rain will pass soon - it is bucketing down so not tempted to go out running - some indoor work today! Come on summer - I want to get into the sea and learn how to handle this waves!

 22/12/11

Sad news, a slightly dodgy knee has turned out to be torn cartilage that requires surgery. It has been niggling me for a while but after physio and taking it easier for a few weeks, it seemed to have come right. But after a wild and stormy evening's sailing last week, it was obvious it was far from well and the physio confirmed it. It seemed to have come right because I hadn't been pushing it too hard. Fixing it is relatively minor surgery but of course coming right before Christmas means waiting until the New Year to get booked in for it. I'm waiting to get a date and to find out how long recovery takes. Apparently the process is quite easy, they just scrap off the sticky uppy bit but until then, no training. The worst bit is it is now much worse than it ever was, so even when I'm walking I can feel the cartilage catching - ugh! It's not that painful but man it sure feels weird.

       

            

Contact logo

 		  
                   SauconyMore Fm2XUAdidas Eyewear
   
 SuzukiBananaBoatGoodHealthVitasportChoiceHotels