My Wife takes No 3 Daughter to a party, no 2 Daughter fancies a power nap and no 1 Daughter is relaxing with her laptop. Oh well, might as well sneak out for a relaxing 10k. One of the benefits of the girls growing up is Karen and I are getting our lives back which means more running for me. Actually it’s probably just me getting my life back as Karen still seems to be busy as. So the lesson here is if you can find 45 minutes you can get out there….

Day number 12 of two runs a day and for the first time I felt fatigued on a recovery run with Mike and Steve. Had this feeling a few times over the years and it feels like the legs are made of lead and you just want to stop and walk. Ran through it of course and the last 5k was slightly better , finishing with a progressive type pace for the 10k.

 

Ran through Elizabeth Quay which is relatively new to Perth, less than a year old. Nice bridge to run over and great views of the city.  Will see if I can manage another run after work.

I run a lot and have for many years. This has resulted in improvement in all distances but a lot has to do with just improvement over time,  over distance. i.e. keep running and building on your foundation fitness and you’ll keep improving…. until…you reach a tipping point where either age beats you or your training stagnates and your times stop improving. This happened to me in 2014 after a stella 2013 where everything went right.

I decided in 2015 to talk to Raf Baugh, the owner of The Running Centre (TRC) in Perth and he gave me a program, my first training program and coach, at 48 ! It was a shock to the system but I feel his work laid the foundation for the great year I’m having in 2016. Raf is infectious and in his eyes age really is just a number. He opened my eyes to all sorts of different terms and running pace, tempo, threshold, VO2max, recovery; etc. Before I was just running, no real goal, just running. This new approach has set me up for another tilt at the sub 2:40 dream. Thanks Raf, you really are a legend.

www.frontrunnersports.com.au

 

So the reason behind the post, if you feel you have plateaued go jog down to your local running shop and ask about a coach or group runs. It’ll be the best thing you ever did, period.

 

 

After this morning I was worried about keeping up with the boys on our weekly 16k tempo run. Funnily enough felt great and left the lads at halfway and pushed on. This double  up running is really do wonders for my stamina.

 

Even had had a bit of rain to keep me cool. Jon took a short cut to get this photo. 

 

Big effort to get out of bed but went with the theory I’ve never regretted going for a run. Rewarded with a wonderful sunrise over Star Swamp. Outstanding run and feel ready for a 16k tempo pace double bridges at noon. Bring it…

Well run  number 20 in 10 days and my double up streak continues. Had a good 12k tempo run with Stevie K. at lunch in Kings Park. Am so lucky to have such a beautiful park right on my doorstep. Leave the office, up the hill and you have 4.06km2 (I googled it) of pristine trails to play with. Outstanding. The view from the park ain’t too shabby either. Followed that up with a run in start swamp. Enjoyed both runs but not sure how much longer I can keep up running twice a day. Logistically testing but I know it’s doing me so much good. Maybe a few more days.

I understand the professional athletes run twice a day but in-between they would do very little. The Kenyans would just sleep in-between runs or eat. Unfortunately not sure the boss would take too kindly to me having a power nap after my lunch time exploits. The curse of the part time runner.  When you have Kings Park and Star Swamp to play in though it ain’t really that bad and Perth’s temperature is purpose built for running.

The odd power nap wouldn’t go a miss though, someone pass me a pillow.

 

I’m a big believer in distance, golden rule number 1, but also understand this can lead to injury or a general feeling of fatigue. If, when, this happens it’s time to take some time out and either do some other cardio based , low impact exercise ( cycling, rowing, swimming) or complete rest. My friend Gareth once said ‘running is something I do between injuries’. Unfortunately so many runners can never achieve their goals or reach their full potential because of injuries caused by distance.

Recognize the signs and take action otherwise golden rule number 3 will be broken, don’t get injured. Signs may include restlessness, sleepless nights or interrupted sleep and generally not feeling that great. Your runs will feel laboured and you’ll certainly notice a drop in performance and a rise in your average heart rate.

As for distance being the key to performance I am very much in the Matt Fitzgerald camp of 80% easy pace and 20% speed work; but with a good dose of distance. Compare this to the experts at FIRST who are very much “less is more” advocating three pace sessions and two cardio a week. In the end it’s what works for you. If you are susceptible to injury with high distance go for quality over quantity.

 

 

 

 

 

Made the local Perth news webpage. It’s a start….

 

 

First time in ages I set the alarm for pre 6am and ran a pre-work,  pre-dawn 10k. Sometimes it’s a struggle to get out of a warm bed to run on a cold morning (well cold in Perth anyway). What makes me make the leap of faith is I’ve never finished a run and regretted it, I’ve always been happy I actually made the effort and got out of bed. No change this morning, so close to resetting the alarm but got up and ran a nice steady 10k while watching the sunrise over star swamp. It really doesn’t get any better….

 

You know the email ‘call to arms’. 10K easy, recovering from <insert race> or <big week last week> etc.. With my lunchtime running buddies I receive these emails all the time, promising nice relaxing runs all about recovery and the ambience of like minded individual doing what they enjoy. Don’t be fooled, somewhere in the group there will be someone who has not read the email and then it’s on.. Today our 10k easy ended up with a 4:16min/k average, just under 43 minutes. Easy for Mo Farrah maybe,  not me.! It was a glorious day and we had a tail wind before the hills but seriously…

 

I run with a group called the “St. Georges Terrace Running Club” as we are all based on, you guessed it, St. Georges Terrace in Perth. We’ve even had some tops made, pretty serious.

 

Attached is a shot of the usual suspects on one of our many pre-marathon ‘pb runs’ as we call them…