February 3rd, 2010 / About Us + Events + Head Office + People
Taking a more leisurely lead up to Coast to Coast this year, and knowing that I am only doing half, has seen me enjoy all of my training, but left me slightly under-trained for the event!
Instead of slogging away with early morning starts, lunchtime training sessions, and weekend brick sessions like last year, this year I’ve relied almost entirely on gentle lunchtime runs, the occasional ride around the bays (on nice days, heaps of those in Wellington!) and a few weekend “long” runs.
Hopefully though, my Coast to Coast training “cramming” long weekend two weeks back has set me up to get through the run and cycle in one piece!
This was how it went:
• Friday – 12k run in Christchurch – wearing my favourite Icebreaker GT 150 Dash zip
• Saturday – 100k cycle from Queenstown to Glenorchy and back – wear testing our soon-to-be-released bike shorts and the same Dash zip
• Sunday – gentle trot along the shores of lake Wakatipu – again in the same top
• Tuesday – Coast to Coast run leg – yep, still in the same Dash Zip (which I also slept in Monday night)
• Wednesday – hobble around the office… then 2 hour massage
Fingers crossed that will do the trick!
Even after all of that, my Icebreaker top was still smelling sweet!
Just ask my flatmates, who I threw it at when I got home. “Ew that’s gross” quickly turned to “oh my god, it doesn’t smell. At all!”
- Kimberley Gilmour, HR Manager, Icebreaker Head Office
January 29th, 2010 / Athletes + Events + Outdoors + People
The Speight’s Coast to Coast traverses the South Island of New Zealand from Kumara Beach on the Tasman Sea to Sumner Beach on the Pacific Ocean. Over either two days (individuals or two person teams) or the one-day event (individuals only), competitors cycle 140 kms (three stages of 55km, 15 km and 70 km), run 36 km (including a 33 km mountain stage that crosses the Southern Alps) and kayak 67kms of the grade two Waimakariri River through the Grand Canyon of New Zealand, the Waimakariri Gorge. Icebreaker is sponsoring this event in 2010, and a bunch of us are competing. Here’s an excerpt about the lead up from one of our team members:
So why am I doing the one day Coast to Coast? Mainly I believe, because it is a fantastic opportunity to learn about myself. I know that to get there I have to push myself to my physical and mental limits.
So with only weeks separating me and the start line, do I feel ready? Well yes I think I do, but I am sure there will be some nerves and doubts… But that is part of why I’m doing it really. We face challenges because they test us and make us stronger. In the act of thinking about the question of “am I where I want and need to be?”, I have to reflect on where I was when I was told I would be on the Icebreaker Team. I was nowhere fit enough (7kg heavier than I am now), and I had no kayak or decent road bike. All I really had was a desire to find a new challenge and a giant opportunity.
So now here I am, metaphorically putting the last strokes of the first rapid that we call preparation. The next rapid is more of the same but longer and I know from experience that to do well in a race, a rapid or life in general you need to be prepared, relaxed and focused on where we are going. Bring it on!
- Dave Tait, Speight’s Coast to Coast competitor – Team Icebreaker
