Mixing up the trails!

This week for my days off I decided to mix up the trails I have been training on for the last few weeks. Me and my girlfriend decided to pop of to Te Anau for a couple of days, firstly to explore a new place but also to run on the world famous Kepler Track!

Starting point for a little journey.. 

Before this my weeks training has had been as normal as ever usual forward and back from work and a couple of runs here and there as extra, any one who follows my blog can tell by now I'm not a huge big millage trainer… I much prefer to be in the racing environment week in week out like I was back in UK. Not as easy over here with fewer races therefore I have been putting in more training as I should and using my days off to explore more and more of these world class trails around New Zealand's south island.

A mixture of everything on the trail! 

Whilst over in Te Anau we managed to fit in a 35km run on the Kepler Track in the scorching heat, all great training for the races I have planned for the next few months. To the start of the trail I was staying around 6km away so I decided to jog over to the track as a warm up, oh I am glad we did. From the start of the track till Brod Bay it was  great single file with some easy undulating involved but nothing crazy. After leaving Brod Bay area it soon registered with the legs that we was going upwards for a while as the kms ticked by so did the elevation! It was a great workout on the legs all the way up to Luxmore Peak (the highest point of the Kepler Track) We were rewarded several times with just stunning views in the breaks of the trees and the track its self was a great mix up from rock, technical tree stumps and hard packed dust paths. Exactly what I love running on the most!!

Nearing the top! 

On arriving above the tree line we had panoramic views all around of Te Anau Lake, and the surrounding mountains. I remember thinking to my self "this is why I go through the pain of running up all the mountains, the rewards at the end!" You just don't get the same feeling from running on the road around the cities. I'm sure every trail runner will agree with me?? After taking in all the amazing views and a few pictures we decided to descent down before it got to dark as we had only set off at 15:30pm. All in all, it was a great track and would love maybe one day get the time to run the 60km Ultra Race on this track.

My Nathan Vapour 12L pack was my choice of pack, what a great choice it was! Fully breathable around the straps and back of the pack which was essential for the hot weather we had (23+ degrees) I carried a full 2L bladder of fresh water, a couple of snacks and a jacket just incase the weather turned and my camera. Even with all this in the pack just doesn't move no bouncing, no chaffing and still plenty of room for many of other things if you was going further. Fully recommend this pack for people training or racing the longer ultra distance where you need to carry a big kit list and your water + fuel.

Thanks to everyone for reading!
Cheers
Paul

Playing around on the tops..