Go Hard

Alright, back into it. Time to train big, think big, dream big, eat big and rehabilitate big. I celebrated this new go big mentality with a massive track session of 2x1000m. After the lack of running recently, that hit the legs harder than is traditional for me. Not exactly the levels of training I tend to aspire to. Of course I have the hamstring injury to blame. With a bit of creativity I should be able to get nearly two years worth of excuses out of that. Rather than big kilometres and huge intensity I have to take a different approach. Maybe I have to focus the on big picture instead. As appealing as having a pig head buried in the sand can be, forcing the kilometres up and ignoring current limitations may not be the best approach. So reality, wisdom the weakest link all combine to dictate the limits of my training. The big picture includes running for life, but also more than that. Just running is not enough. I still want to improve. Run faster races, and run longer...

Right, I'm building back into running. The blogging should also increase. So what's happened since my marathon in Traralgon fell apart? I took 3 weeks away from running. For me that's is a ridiculously long time, and in the last 17 years, I've only ever gone that long without a run maybe twice at most. Why 3 weeks? It wasn't all injury related. A two week holiday in Malaysia with the family played a big role in the time frame. While there was some good running option where we stayed, I simply had no interest in exploring them. Sun, cocktails and pool were the clear winners. However, I did get into the weights a fair bit and focused on some important rehabilitation. So what went wrong back in the marathon? The short version is I did a hammy . The longer version is more complicated. Unlike a sprinter or football player, the injury wasn't from a one incident where I felt it go . Instead it has been building to be a significant problem over quite a period of t...

A good time out from this race I had big goals. Not only was I looking for a PB, but I was aiming to absolutely smash it. Reality got in the way. Life, work, sleep (lack of) and plenty of other things collectively limited my training time. That isn't an excuse or complaint, but an acceptance of the way things are. As a result I haven't devoted any time to updating this blog. The energy or interest in it hadn't been there. After all, I was struggling to get in the training I needed. Coming into the race I'd refined my goal to still having a crack at breaking my 2:58 PB. Some of training had gone quite well. I felt very comfortable at race pace, my nutrition was well tested and I had honed my sense of pace and efforts very well. What was missing was any extended sessions at race pace or any runs at all beyond 32km. That was a big deficit in the required endurance. Despite the last point I still planned on the sub-2:58 with an all or nothing race plan. Race morn...

Somewhat of an iconic race, The Great Train Race is a bit of local favourite for Melbourne. A race over the hills from Belgrave to Emerald where you pit yourself against the course itself, other runners and the old steam train Puffing Billy. Even the distance is different. Slightly longer by 300m this year because some of the trail was washed away in heavy rains a couple of weeks ago, giving 13.5km to cover. In typical Melbourne style the weather was a mixture of cold, sun and rain. Last year I finished in 50:25 and had plans of going under the 50 minute mark this year. The extended distance made that a much harder ask, adding some 60-90 seconds extra of running time. The morning started well with a bit of a catch with some other runners, a warm up where it seemed easy to hit my form. That had me feeling confident, which I needed because my run the day before could only described as a dismal failure, where I ended up resorting to walking. Still I wasn't too concerned. A few flat...

I have absolutely enjoyed the Australasian Police and Emergency Services Games. Most years I get to compete in the state version, this year adds in competitors from around Australia and neighbouring countries and has created a new level. The level of competition stretches across all the sports from complete beginners to elite and everything in between. I've had the luxury to enjoy a lot of the track and field both as a competitor in the 5000m and as a spectator for the other events. The great culture amongst emergency service workers appears to be universal and delivers a friendly, but intense rivalry and competition. My second and last event at these games was the half marathon. It was the race I was really aiming for. Not to take away from the 5000m, but my heart definitely was for the 21.1km. I do tend to favour the longer stuff. Plus with less than two months to my next marathon I probably need to be better at the longer event. Conditions were great. A cool...

With all my years of running, I would I don't have much experience on the track, and 5000m definitely hasn't ever been a feature. At the end of last year I was struggling to find any sort of speed in my legs. To find the improvements I wanted, the 5000m was the perfect event to put me out of my comfort zone. From all around Australia and from New Zealand, across the various emergency services 33 lined up on the blue at Lakeside Stadium . In my Ambulance Victoria colours I felt as ready as I could be. There was clearly a vast range of abilities and it was too hard to tell pre-race who would be at the pointy end. I was happy to see fellow ambo and semi-regular rival Mark Clarence in the mix. We all crowded the start line, but once the gun sounded the spaces opened up immediately. Looks like my recent training had dialled in the pace and I moved through the first 1000m right on 3:36 as planned. This was my opening bench mark, setting up a reasonable first kilometre and allowin...

Leading into the Australasian Police & Emergency Services Games, I was a little conflicted with how to lead in. I want to race at my best, but I know if I went in with a full taper then my preparation for the marathon to follow would suffer. Not because of any lost training sessions, more so because if I hit a true peak in performance, then there is very likely a slump to follow. So I took an approach that hopefully still has me performing well without carrying undue fatigue through my races and still has me improving in the weeks afterwards. As usual, what went on paper ended up a bit different when it came to putting the runners on. This is what the previous two weeks of training has looked like: Sat: 4x2km at 10km pace, with 400m jog recovery. Total 17km. Sun: Easy 18km. Mon: An attempted interval session, but realised I was getting sick (thanks to a sharing family), realised it wasn't going to happen. So ended up taking it easy for 12km. Tue:  Easy 11km Wed: Fe...