Go Hard

Over the years I've encountered plenty of snakes on the trails. Most of the time they move away, keeping their distance from the stomping human. Sometimes they just stay where they are and it's easy to move past them without a problem. Then back in December 2011, I ran into a tiger snake's personal space and it gave me a bite before making it's getaway. The details can be read in Snake Season . Since then I felt as though I've become more accepting of snakes in general and the small element of fear that often goes with a close encounter had dissipated. If anything that had been replaced by a newfound interest. Now I've come to the conclusion I just don't like Tiger snakes. Why? To put it simply, they can just be aggressive. I know snake handlers/experts tend to disagree and claim everything is just defensive, but tiger snakes in my experience are the most likely to have a go . I headed out for a hard run, 4x2000m intervals at about 10km race pacing over ...

It's been a while since my last post. No real reason for that, except there has only been enough time for the staples of training and not the extras. As for my training, it's been going ok. Due to a couple of medical appointments and kids interrupting sleep a lot the training has been stripped right back. The key runs have been all there, a couple of the easy runs were missed and most of the strength training was dropped. To me that's ok if it is short lived and doesn't become a habit. In the short term it keeps running specific improvements rolling along. For genuine long term gains the extras do count. My running is definitely getting better. The majority of my easy runs are feeling very comfortable and natural. The average paces for these runs have migrated from slower than 6:30/km up to around 6:00/km with what now feels like less effort. At the moment one of the key runs is what I term an Aerobic Run. It is run at an effort level that is steady, a fair bit bel...

I've seen plenty of snakes over the years while running or just in the bush. I often take a compression bandage on some of my long runs if I'm some of the more isolated trails. This is the first time one has bitten me. Just out for a local evening run after the kids went to bed. Only about 20 minutes in, I was still running pretty slow. Coming off a little dirt track next to creek, where it is reasonable to assume snake would be I found one. Unfortunately I was less than two steps from the snake when I noticed it. I made a failed attempt to jump away to the side, but got to see it strike my leg. Since the plan had been an easy 60 minute run in my area, I wasn't carrying a phone or other gear. For a few seconds I tried the denial tactic, but realised that wasn't going to be helpful. As a better plan I tied my singlet around my leg. It wouldn't do much, but it might do something. Then I approached the house just across from me. The front door opened, and told th...