As regular readers of my blog will know I’m a big believer in distance is king and the key to unlocking your potential. Of course some may argue that you need to add threshold, tempo, fartlek, VO2 max, track work, 800m’s , 1500m’s, Gregsons’ the list is just about endless and grows daily but all this is really just noise. If you really want to improve you have to build a foundation for success and this, my friend, is distance. Maffetone (https://philmaffetone.com ) , Matt Fitzgerald ( https://mattfitzgerald.org/about/ ) and the late , great Arthur Lydiard all champion distance over pace, that’s not to say pace does not have its place, of course it does as the reason for distance is prepare yourself for the next step, adding pace.

Lets not get ahead of ourselves though. If you want to improve as a runner just run more than you are doing right now, that really is it. Once you’ve doubled, tripled or better your average weekly distance you’ll notice achieving your desired race targets just got a lot easier.  As my favourite coach once said ‘There is no such thing as junk miles’, a Raf classic statement. (Please note Raf is my favourite (full time) professional coach   ( http://therunningcentre.com.au (I also rate  my good friend the T-train; ( https://www.tonysmithruncoaching.com ) both are excellent so if you want a coach and live in Perth give them a call. )

Tony sums up my distance is king statement. Two out of the last three weekends he has risen before the sunrise , ran a sub 3 marathon and then finished it off with a 5k park run. That’s a 47k Saturday morning run. By repeating this run on a regular basis it becomes the norm, as much as running a marathon a week in training can be. He’s training for the Bunbury 50k in a few weeks, an event he has won twice , no surprise there. By doing the hard work in training you take away all the unknown variables in long distance running, trust in your training, it’s a meme I live by. The harder you train the more unlikely you are to get a bad result, training just takes away the uncertainty of racing. The Bunbury 50k is a week Sunday, Tony will probably win it for a third time and I predict, if the conditions are good, a big PB for the T-train. I’m fairly confident this will happen, why, because I watch him train on Strava and can see he is ticking all the boxes. He also has experience in his corner and being a mature runner, a bit like myself, can deal with the metal struggles we all go though on the longer races. I’ve said it many times running a marathon, and beyond, is all about mental toughness as well as the physical preparation. I know many runners who should run so much faster but crumble under pressure , while others just seem to flourish over the longer distances and embrace the challenging mind games you need to play with yourself to persuade your mind your body is up to the task.

Remember the mind will also always try to protect the body and it does this with it’s good friend fatigue.  Fatigue is the arch rival of our trusted goal ‘Personal Best’ and will do everything in it’s power to stop us obtaining some PB time ! It does this by persuading your body that is cannot go on at the current pace and the only answer is to slow or stop. I really believe that as we age as runners fatigue starts to find new ways to test your mental strength , and together with his mate ‘self doubt‘ and ‘acceptance’ combine to persuade you that this is all too hard. The good runners , later in their careers, find a way to block out these nagging thoughts and continue onwards but as you age it does get harder and harder and all of a sudden you start to look at age adjusted times or season bests etc.. all ways you can kid yourself all is right in the running universe and slowing is something we all do.

Trust me the T-train is not listing to fatigue, self doubt or acceptance. He is listening to PB and thoughts of victory, mentally he is still on the ball and has the mental character to continue in his pursuit of new improved running times and distances. I feel his time in the military is another reason why he is such a great competitor and also why he is so mentally strong. I have met many ex-military runners and to a man/woman, they are always giving their best and never beaten, well not without a massive struggle. They also seem to embrace the harder , longer distances and excel at these races; not for them the show pony shorter distances where physical aerobic fitness is more important that mental toughness.

Another one of my running buddies, Wayne McMurtie, embraces this ex-forces toughness and his Run for Resilience  ( https://www.run4resilience.org/ ) website highlights his goals and passions. Wayne ran 1500km over a 22 day period and his reason for the run is described below.  He then ran the inaugural 200mile Delirious West  ( http://deliriouswest200miler.com.au ) February this year and has signed up for next year already. Wayne may not be the fastest 10k runner in the world but add distance and all of a sudden you have a steely competitor.

This September, a solo, supported ultra-marathon journey will be taking place in Queensland as a mark of remembrance and commemoration for all Australians involved in conflict – past and present.

The Run for Resilience will be a 22-day, 1500-kilometre journey of resilience and coming home. Wayne McMurtrie and his Support Team will step off from Anzac Square in Brisbane at dawn on September 1, making their way to the central-west Queensland town of Winton.

Why this route? Mr McMurtrie says that in 1914, as the chaos of war swept across the globe, and from Winton, young men boarded a troop train to Brisbane and began their journey towards war, earning their place in the legend of the ANZAC.

“The Run for Resilience will be a reversal of the original route, signifying how the country trains its troops to go to war, but doesn’t train them to come home,” he says.

“As we run across all levels of terrain, the run will focus on telling the story of current generation young veterans as they struggle to re-define their sense of self-worth and identity, while re-discovering their passion and purpose as they make their way back home in today’s modern society”.

“Community engagement will be a key factor to the success of the Run for Resilience, and to achieve this Fee Mc will host live “Campfire Sessions” to promote positive interactions with local community groups, sporting clubs, schools, regional government, local ESOs and Reserve units along the route.”

With 2018 marking 100 years since the armistice between the allies and German forces, and signalling the end of World War I, the Run for Resilience will also highlight the isolation that many young veterans experience when their time in uniform ends, as well as the tyranny of distance that veterans in regional Australia face – including gaining access to services, support and employment.

Mr McMurtrie will be Joined by his sister, Cairns Community Radio Presenter Fiona and together they will document the journey through the Community Radio Program “Campfire Sessions with Fee Mc”.

Fee says “We will invite members of the communities that we visit to join us around the campfire to share their stories and encourage conversations that break down the stigma around mental health”.

The end of the journey will coincide with Veterans Health Week, which will be held from Saturday, 22 September to Sunday, 30 September.

The Run for Resilience’s charity partners PTSD Resurrected Inc and EDit (Ex-Defence integration team) are currently working to assist young veterans in recovering from the traumas experienced during their service and to re-integrate into life at home with their families and to become respected and valued members of the community.

In September, the community will be encouraged to support the Run for Resilience in any way they can, by either joining the run, join us by the campfire, provide a donation, cheering participants on, or just by joining the conversation.

Run For Resilience’s Charity Partners

PTSD Resurrected Inc was established in 2017 to restore hope, healing, and purpose to individuals suffering from PTSD as a result of trauma experienced during their service. The charity recognises trauma does not only impact an individual, but the entire family and as a result helps those individuals and their families to address trauma from a holistic perspective. Visit ptsdresurrected.org for more information.

EDit (Ex-Defence integration team) is a veteran-owned, Australian not-for-profit entity providing employment, transition and integration solutions for former defence members and their families as part of a veterans employment program. Their vision is to see more veterans in meaningful civilian employment and to break down the workplace cultural barriers to the commercial world through a quality transition course and in educating organisations on how best to integrate a veteran into a non-military workforce. Visit edit.org.au for more information.

More Information, Donate & Volunteer

For more information to donate, or to volunteer go to https://www.run4resilience.org/

Continuing on this distance and the military theme (please note it started as distance only, the military bit just happened ?) the Light Horse Ultra is coming up in Perth towards the end of next month. ( http://lighthorseultra.com.au ). Shaun, the RD, has offered free entries to serving or ex-military personnel. This will make it one tough race for all. Three options a 3hr, 6hr or 12hr around a 2.5k loop, if that isn’t a mentally challenging race then what is ? Perfect for the strong minded.

This race is one of the many challenging courses created by Shaun Kaesler and his WA Ultra Series. ( http://ultraserieswa.com.au ) Of course the mother of all marathons is on this weekend, the Barkley Marathon, a marathon where the norm is no one finishes. !! There’s no website and the entry is a non refundable $1.60 ? If you want to find out more google it or watch the documentaries on Netflix, they are amazing. (Where dreams go to die)

To prove my point here’s a list of the Barkley finishers, not winners, finishers… !!!

The Barkley Marathons is one the hardest races in the ultrarunning world. Created by founder Gary “Lazarus Lake” Cantrell, the race provides one of the most grueling ultramarathons ever created. Here is what you need to know about the mysterious race that takes place in the hills of Tennessee.

History

In 1977, James Earl Ray, who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr., escaped from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in the town of Petros in Morgan County, Tennessee. A massive manhunt took place over more than two days, but Ray only made it roughly eight miles through the hills and backwoods surrounding the prison before being caught.

Uninspired by the low mileage of the criminal, Cantrell believed he could make it 100 miles in the mountains around the penitentiary. Thus, Barkley was born.

The name is said to come from Cantrell’s neighbor, Barry Barkley. The reason for this is unclear. The first official running of the Barkley was in 1986.

Field Size and Composition

Though the race has grown in popularity over the past few years, the race caps participants to around 40 people every year. The field consists of runners of all abilities, from elite runners to people Cantrell says have no business being there. This is especially true for whoever receives bib No. 1. That is known as the human sacrifice—a.k.a. the one person Cantrell thinks has the least chance of finishing. Each year, the official participant list is usually kept hush-hush until the race begins.

The race is popular, but the application process is a secret. The information that exists says that mailing in an application, which is subject to changing each year, and a non-refundable registration fee of $1.60 is all it takes to enter. However, when and how is a well-kept secret. There is no official race website.

If you are accepted into the race, you receive a letter of condolences. Racers are also expected to pay another fee, which often takes the form of an article of clothing such as a white, button-up shirt or socks. Cantrell picks the item to bring to the race each year.

First timers—or “Barkley virgins” as Cantrell calls them—are also asked to bring a license plate from their state or country.

A Brief Look at the Course

The course is not well-known outside of those who have attempted a loop of the fabled race, but for your main reference you should know it takes place in Frozen Head State Park, which is in Wartburg, Tennessee. From there, all you need to know is it takes you through the park, by the closed Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary, and up and over wicked terrain and switchbacks.

You must complete five loops of the course to earn the title of Barkley Finisher. The distance for each is about 20 miles, according to Cantrell, though runners often dispute the claim saying it is roughly a marathon. (Add in the fact that it’s easy to go off course, and you can see how it becomes longer.)

The elevation is one of the most notable challenges of the race. The total elevation gain (60,000 feet) if you complete all five loops is the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest twice.

Being in the woods and often off blazed trails, runners are subjected to the thorns, briers, and other unpleasant plants to run through. Runners often return from a loop battered and cut up.

Race Date

The race historically takes place during the first weekend in April, though it has been run in March before as a way to throw off spectators. Only racers are allowed on the course. Media and spectators are quarantined to only two spots while crews must wait at the campground near the yellow gate in Frozen Head State Park as they await runners returning.

How the Race Works

The start time occurs between midnight and noon, usually on a Saturday. However, racers are never told when the race will officially start. The only indication they receive for the start time is by Cantrell blowing a conch shell, which could come in the middle of the night, to signify that the race will start exactly one hour from that time.

Once the hour is up, runners line up at a yellow gate at a campground within Frozen Head State Park. When Cantrell lights a cigarette, that starts the race and the clock. Participants then have 60 hours to complete the race. That is a hard cutoff, as learned by Gary Robbins, who appeared to be six-seconds off the cutoff time in 2017. (It was later deemed that Robbins came in from the wrong direction.)

Runners must touch the yellow gate as they leave. When they complete a loop, they must touch the gate again to officially finish. Once touched, they can go to their crew and recover. When they are ready to go back out, they receive a new bib and touch the gate to start again.

The bib is very important in this race. It does not track the runner or splits; rather, each loop requires runners to make it to various points in the park. At those checkpoints are books that Cantrell has placed there. Your bib number is the page number you need to rip out of that book. Typically, nine to 11 books are placed in the woods, and if you are missing a page then you didn’t officially complete the loop. There is one map at the start line for runners to copy, and no GPS technology or course markings are available for runners.

To complete the race, you must complete five loops of the course. The first two are done clockwise. The second two are run counterclockwise, and, it can be one or the other on the final loop. Each loop must be done in 12 hours to even attempt the full course, unless you’re attempting the “Fun Run”—that’s three loops with a time limit of 13 hours, 20 minutes for each loop (40 hours total).

Most runners struggle to complete one loop. It is considered a high honor to complete the “Fun Run,” which is three laps.

It shouldn’t be hard to believe that there haven’t been that many finishers over the three decades the race has been around. The “Fun Run” wasn’t even completed until 1988 by “Frozen” Ed Furtaw when it was a 55-mile race. After that, it took until 1995 for someone to complete all five loops.

Only 15 individuals can call themselves official Barkley finishers by completing all five loops in less than 60 hours.

If you drop out, you surrender yourself at the yellow start gate and “Taps” is played on a bugle to symbolize you tapping out of the race.

Want to know more? You can read about Cantrell and the race from a 2011 Runner’s World classic titled “Notorious,” or you can check out a new feature from Outside.

The Barkley Marathons has gained in popularity over the past few years, mostly because of new documentaries and stories that take you inside the race weekend. One of the most popular is The Race That Eats Its Young, which came out in 2014. Another new film, titled Where Dreams Go to Die, documents the two-year stretch where ultrarunner Gary Robbins attempted to complete all five loops. You can view it on YouTube now.

Consistency in running is paramount to success and historical data is a good way to predict the future.

Running success is very rarely an overnight thing. As I have said on many occasions ‘running is an honest sport’ and the more time you run the better you will eventually become. (barring long term injuries ofcourse) This is why the 80/20 method championed by Fitzgerald, Lydiard and Maffetone works so well. 80% of the time at a relaxed pace putting little strain on the body as you aren’t pushing the envelope, so
to speak. The faster you run the more pounding you give your joints and muscles, physics as my Dad use to say. Also running off road on trails is another way to avoid injuries (barring a twisted ankle etc) and also helps with the core as you engage the core and fire muscles you wouldn’t use on a flat, even, straight concrete road/path. With a good trail you need to be mentally on the ball and watch every step, compensating for gradient and surface changes. Trail running is also great fun and you get to meet a more ‘running friendly’ lot than the show pony’s of the asphalt racing world. Although as a show pony myself both communities are friendly and open but the trail runners are extra friendly and open; if that is possible.

Right back to consistency. Darlington half last weekend was my 9th in the last 11 years. I missed one through injury and one when they had a road cycling race and cut off the freeway leaving me and Mike on the wrong side of the road unable to get to the start line, very frustrating! (damn pesky cyclists! ) My times for Darlington have been consistent as detailed below.

2009 1:25
2010 1:24
2011 1:21:12 (9th)
2012 Injured
2013 1:19:45 (9th)
2014 1:17:22 (5th)
2015 1:21:46 (10th)
2016 DNS (due to pesky cyclists)
2017 1:19:16 (6th)
2018 1:19:02 (4th)
2019 1:22:55 (9th)

What does this show me? Unfortunately, I’m slowing down but, after coming back from injury and the race being held on a particularly humid day, by how much is open to debate. Will I ever break 80 minutes again? Probably not but if I can run sub 90 minutes for a few more years I’ll be happy enough. Six top 10 finishes in the last seven years is something I am very proud of but more importantly I’ve had some great running battles with good friends and managed to do so much better than I ever thought possible back in 2009. To be running quicker 10 years late is a sign of consistent training, day in, day out and even today I thought to myself how much I still love running.

So, as you can see,  I can gleam so much from historical results, what you can’t see of course is the memories and Darlington holds some great memories. 2009 I ran with my good friend Brett Coombes after we had run Comrades the year before and were training for Comrades 2010. We ran a controlled race and finished together, albeit I remember Brett left me a 100m’s from the line. I’m still smarting!

In 2010 I ran the whole race with Jon and we crossed the line hand in hand. Sounded like a good idea at the time but luckily no one took a photo! It was also the first time we bumped into my now good friend Mark Lee as he weaved in and out of the bush answering natures calls. Something he still does ten years later! How he was a professional football played in a previous life is beyond me?

2011 and me and Steve ‘Twinkle’ Mckean had a great battle and it was here he got his ‘twinkle’ nickname as he would sneak up behind you when you least expected him to. We pushed each other all the way and I just managed to edge past him and grab my first top 10 finish. Highlight was me swiping the last few drinks at one of the drinks stops leaving him with nothing, all is fair in love and racing twinkle.

Funnily enough I can remember much about 2013 but another top 10 was the end result. 2014 was the year and a big PB for the course. I look at my splits for this run and now can’t comprehend how I ever went that fast. My last 10k is still the fastest I have ever ran that distance. I remember I was closing down on 4 th place and this was a runner who was always so far ahead of me. I think this really was a break out race for me coming after 2013, which was a breakout year of racing. Probably my running peak looking back now.

Unfortunately, after the high of 2013 I had a shocker in 2014 after Darlington. I blew up in the Bunbury marathon, as defending champion, and this put me in a running slump for well over a year. In the early stages of 2015 I started to work with Raf and Darlington ( http://www.therunningcentre.com.au ) was the first race under his tutorage. It didn’t end well, and I went over 80 minutes and ran a shocker. With Raf’s help I rediscovered my love of running by adding distance and pace and this is something I take with me to this day.

2017 and 2018 were both sub 80 minutes and good top 10 finishes and I enjoyed good races with great completion on both occasions. Not at the dizzy heights of 2014 but I was now in my fifties so happy to win my age group and stay competitive.

This year though was slower, and I certainly felt the long lay off with Plantar Fasciitis. It was also humid, so the top 10 finish and a reasonable time was a big tick in the ‘comeback’ box. The only fly in the ointment is the continual increase in the ‘pain’ associated with running these times. The increase in time, albeit minimal, is not exponentially reflected in the increase in the pain of achieving these times. Basically, it hurts a lot more now than it did 10 years ago! I feel this is the reason you start to slow as a runner, age and your mind,  conspire against you and the bearable pain threshold begins to come into play at a pace a lot slower than previous years and races. The pain is the same but the pace is a lot slower. Is it possible to raise the pain threshold? Possibly but it is probably a temporary situation at best. Let’s face it as you get older you eventually have to slow down, it’s just a case of when this happens and how much you slow?

This weekend I have another race, this time a 10k which I won last year ( a very rare occurance and probably my last 10k victory …) running sub 35 minutes. I’ll be happy to run 36.xx minutes on Sunday and if I achieve that it will be mainly down to the Nike Vaporflys 4% flyknits (I’ve mentioned these a few times right? ) Do I think I can go sub 37 minutes ? Not sure, I’d hope so as I’ve not run over 36 minutes for many years, actually 2010 at the WAMC run for gold 10k where I ran a 39:25 coming back from injury. (it felt a lot quicker i remember thinking when I crossed the line that day ! )  I remember that day doing my best impression of a scolded cat and basically hanging on for dear life in the last few kilometres, story of my racing life. This weekend I’m going to make an effort to start slower and finish stronger, maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks?

The table below highlights the effort I have needed to put in to keep reaching my your goals. Is that a problem ? No way, training is fun, racing is fun and writing about running is fun. I lead a charmed life really….

So the point of this post. Keep a track of all your running in either a spreadsheet or Strava (you have got Strava right ? http://www.strava.com ) and use this to predict the future as well as setting realistic goals. Also remember it’s better to be consistent over a long period rather than having peaks and troughs  in your training. Another valuable tip is to cross train as much as possible if you get injured. Swimming, cycling (on an Elliptigo of course http://www.elliptigo.com) or even gym work is better than nothing at all. If you can’t run do anything to get the heart rate pumping, it all helps long term and may make the comeback easier.

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The last couple of years have been a testing time for the BK running career. Struck down by a calf tear in 2017 and Plantar Fasciitis in 2018 I have been unable to string together a full racing season. I never really have a ‘down time’ and the last 10 years have been a continual circle of train, race, train repeat, always a race to get ready for and then a small recovery period before of we go again. This has served me well over the years and I was probably a few months short of a good 10 year of unbroken injury free running. Of course as I always say on this blog eventually the piper comes calling and he needs to be paid. I consider the last two years my payment, in full !

2018 started well with an Australian Ultra Association (  https://www.aura.asn.au/data/Records/AURA%20Age_Group_Records-MEN-18December2018.pdf  ) Age Group 100k record and 8 gold medals at the Australian Masters ( four state and four national) but it all went downhill pretty rapidly when Plantar Fasciitis came calling. As soon as I knew I had PF I just about wrote the year off. PF is an injury that just takes time to heal due to affected area having little blood flow and the fasciitis itself. This combination just makes the whole healing process a slow one. Personally I think I was quite lucky to return to full training after 7 months of trail running on sand. Speaking to my fellow runners there was stories of 1-2 years recovery and at my age that isn’t an option.

So after my return in December at the 6 inch ultra I was ready for another crack at the AURA Age Group record for 100k at the Australian Day Ultra. Unfortunately I got ‘man-flu’ a week out and just couldn’t recover in time, truth be told I’m still recovering now a month later. This leads me to the point of this post. Recovery is all part of a runners journey and if it is approached with the right attitude can be just as stimulating as full on training. The knack is to take it slow and just try and get a bit better every day/run. Don’t worry about pace or even distance, every recovery run is judged on its own merits and how you feel on the day. Want to cut it short, fine, or go a bit longer , ok . The point is for recovery you can free yourself from the tight reins of a training plan or daily run expectations. It can actually be quiet liberating.

As you can see from the graphic below I was building up nicely from the 6 inch before ‘man-flu‘ struck, I’d say on January 11th ! With hindsight doing a double-double day the day before (A Yelo progressive, commute to work on the Elliptigo, a 10k lunch time run and then a commute home; three hours of exercising) was probably the straw that broke the camels back. Of course that is easy to say now but I must admit to feeling weary after the Thursday morning progressive run at Yelo and promising myself I’d have the lunch time off but of course when midday comes all is forgotten and off you go. Even when I retired to my bed on Friday I was confident I could make the ADU the following Friday, it was a taper week anyhow so a few days in bed would probably do me good. Not to be this time I was still weak as a kitten a week later and as you can see from my training log was out of action for over two weeks.  So back to recovery I stumbled starting with a long run with the NSRG ( http://www.nsrg.org.au ) , 18k that probably should have been 10k but mission accomplished I was back. I even stumbled out for a second run but this proved to be my undoing and I had to have Monday off before building up again, putting in the time on legs without worrying about pace or distance. So far I’m on track and starting to enjoy my running, although I never really don’t enjoy my running but running with a post man-flu glow can be testing.

As you can see from my Strava extract above ( you are on Strava aren’t you? ( http://www.strava.com)) I have also been loving my time on the Elliptigo and the Bionic Gen1 . These extra hours spent commuting I’m sure will pay dividends when I eventually get myself back to full fitness and race ready. The Bionic especially is a hard stand up bike to master and I only managed a week before I scuttled off back to the Elliptigo. I’m blaming my recent illness but the Bionic really is just plain old fashioned hard work and I feel I need to be better prepared for the beating you take. Of course when I say ‘beating’ it is in the best way possible. I’m stoked that I’m now getting 6-8 hours a week extra aerobic/cardio fitness time compared to sitting on a train of commuters glued to their phones. Commuting to work on the Go or Bionic is hard work , yes, but so enjoyable and its doing me so much good it really is the ultimate win-win situation. Hell I even save money daily, albeit the running costs of the bikes probably cost as much as the train fare but that’s not the point is it.

Living in Perth I am so lucky with the climate which is either ‘perfect for running,  anytime ‘ or ‘prefect for running but you need to run early mornings (summer)‘ ; it also has hundreds of kilometres of bike paths so you can ride all day and never enter the territory of those nasty ‘bike hating’ cars! I understand a lot of you don’t live in such a hospitable environment and commuting on a bike is out of the question but if you can even drop the car a few kilometres from the office and run in that would help; anything is better than nothing. As I said in previous posts I was inspired by Tim ‘the man in the Halo‘  Don who still averaged 15 hours a week exercising with a broken neck wearing a halo. ! ( https://www.on-running.com/en-au/athletes/tim-don ) For me to average 15 hours a week running would be injury suicide, thus my commuting on the stand up bikes , running without the pounding and thus no chance of injury. So fast this has worked well and the 6th place finish at the 6 inch ultra marathon in December showed my lack of running mileage could be supplemented by the cardio benefits of the Elliptigo. ( http://www.elliptigo.com )

Back to recovery , which was the reason behind this post I think, I sometimes just ramble on and never know where these posts take me. After an injury or illness treat recovery as a ‘gift not a hinderance’. Embrace the feeling of just running for the pure love of running and slowly increase the distance/pace of each recovery run but if for any reason you ‘aren’t feeling it’ , pull the pin. Arthur Lydiard was a big believer is this and that man knew a thing or three about running ! ( http://www.runningwizard.com/lydiard-principles ) Don’t be forced back into racing too early, a sure fire way to regress and also demotivate yourself when you run a slower than expected finish time. Nothing demotivates a runner more than slowing down but you can slow the process with a good recovery plan. I’ll be putting this to the test over the next few months and I’ll keep you informed of progress, right, I’m off for a run albeit a slow one.

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Yesterday I managed to run for the first time in nearly three weeks after successfully surviving the near death experience that is ‘man-flu‘. Please note this is something only men can understand because for some reason women, and especially my current Wife, do not understand this potentially fatal condition. I had six days off work which culminated in a 4am call to the mobile doctors and a request from them to go to hospital. They were thinking heart attack,  I was thinking pneumonia, my Wife was thinking ‘it’s a bloody cold , get over it!’ (I told you , they don’t understand?) In the end I decided I didn’t want to bother anybody and there was probably really sick people at hospital and if I was going to check out I wanted to do it surrounded by my loved ones and also make it as hard as possible on No1 Wife to teach her a lesson. Luckily I managed to survive to run another day and so the rehabilitation began in earnest.

By rehabilitation I mean wandering about with a ‘woe is me‘ look on my face for a week and letting all interested parties , of which there was one, Mum!, know how I was lucky to be alive , no thanks to my current Wife. (I never did find my bell I used to summon her the first few days when I needed a cup of tea (as all men know a cup of tea cures all known ailments, and doubly quick if you make it sweet.)  I had my suspicions to its whereabouts as I can hear it every time I ‘twerk’… ?) Anyhow I digress….

For my return to running I selected a run with the Northern Suburb Running Group (NSRG http://www.nsrg.org.au  ) a social running group that has been going for longer than I can remember and is always welcoming to new runners, old runners or even runners who have survived ‘man-flu‘ and need some company. (and also someone to talk to about the experience in great detail.) I took Jon along because he always loves company and is still seeking his new Wife after jettisoning the old one. (For any runners who are looking for love Jon is available on tinder and would make a great mate. http://www.tinderdating.com.au   For any of my readers (and my Mum!) under 18 please do not click on the tinder link.)

For the NSRG Sunday long run there was about ten of us and we all thoroughly enjoyed the company and the route taking in a local bushland loop and a lake before retreating from the heat to the local Dome Cafe for waffles and coffee; a runners post long run treat. Actually the conversation post run was probably as long as the run itself, I take this as a positive personally. For all runners looking to either start running or just wanting some great company the NSRG is the place to go, you won’t find a better bunch of runners in Perth. They also spend time in the company of the T-train and a few have jumped on board his coaching programs which seem to be going great guns. ( https://www.tonysmithruncoaching.com  )

Feeling excited about running again I did manage a 8k second run that evening which started slowly, sped up in the middle and ended as it started. No problem, it was about getting out twice which I believe is a massive benefit and improves running quicker than a new pair of Nike Vaporfly 4%’s… (You all have a pair of these now don’t you ? https://www.nike.com/gb/t/vaporfly-4-flyknit-running-shoe-7R7zSn ) probably.  Funnily enough at the end I thought I had a 5:18 average, turned out to be 5:38; ouch. Looking at previous runs on that route (thanks Strava) I was informed this was the slowest, ever, but quite a margin. Was I upset? No, it was never about pace , all about just getting out there on tired legs and putting some time in. I really enjoyed the run, bar the enforced Mark Lee toilet stop in the middle and it served the purpose it was meant to. Remember people Matt Fitzgerald 80/20, Arthur Lydiard and Phil Maffetone. The three wise men of running.

More news in the runbkrun assault on a potential marathon PB this year. I have added a new stand up bike to the stable. (Is two bikes a stable or a garage?) I managed to find a brand new (virtually) Bionic Gen1 from a friend on Strava and I pick it up tonight. I am more than excited as the Bionic (Gen1 and 2) and the Predator were stand up bike invented by an Australian Company (run4) which has since gone out of business due to dubious Chinese suppliers . It’s a pity because these bikes were well built and also built for runners specifically. I managed to get a test ride on a Bionic after I brought the Elliptigo ( https://www.elliptigo.com.au ) and was really impressed with the product. Unfortunately the company then went out of business so finding one virtually brand new is a real find. (I have also sourced a brand new Predator and aim to add that to my stable soon but the Wife is still not overly excited about me purchasing another bike so maybe purchasing another two bikes would push her over the edge? …maybe ? Women really are from different planets, maybe even different solar systems!!!)

Is there alternatives still available on the inter web ?  hell yeah. https://cyclete.com  This bad boy looks the business but is hand built to specific orders rather tham mass produced, that means it very expensive. It looks very, very good but the price is a show stopper for me. For any runners out there with some serious coin to throw about this bike looks very, very good. Unfortunately (I say that a lot when my  current Wife is then also mentioned in the same sentence?)  my current Wife would divorce me if I paid the $10k Australian needed to bring one of these into the country. I’ll get in touch them and see if they fancy sponsoring an old, balding runner with a beard and a blog supported mainly by his mother ? (Actually if you google ‘stand up bikes‘ and check out the images there are some really ‘out there‘ versions; and I mean out there!)

The point of this post is twofold. First, I am recovering from time out from running and when you do this you need to think of recovery as a day by day activity with small progress, be it in pace or distance, the target not reaching the dizzy heights of where you were pre-injury (illness). Matt Fitzgerald summed it up when he stated he actually enjoyed recovery as the pressure of obtaining certain goals was not there. You can get back to the pure joy of running without the need to ‘improve bu hitting targets’. I always think of this when I return from injury and this is why yesterdays second run, with an average pace of 5:38min/k, is still seen as a positive and a small step forward. I loved the feeling of getting out there for a second time and just ‘running’ for the pure love of running, admittedly i could have down without the ‘Mark Lee‘ toilet stop.

Second I am again talking up the benefit of stand-up bikes. Trust me people these are the Nike Vaproflys 4%’s of bikes, forget the usual version, for a runner you need a bike built for improving your running not improving your cycling. (Unless of course you are a triathlete reading this post by mistake; remember its runbkrun not swimrunbikekbrunswimbike.com !) These bikes really do work and I cannot wait to get on my bionic and see what benefit I can gain from this compared to the Ellipitgo. Does this mean I’m selling the Elliptigo? Well I may have mentioned to my Wife I was going to sell the Elliptigo to pay for the Bionic but I suspect this may not happen and I may keep both, funnier things have happened.

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2018 was probably not my best year with seven months wasted due to Plantar Fasciitis. The year did start and end well but injury made for a very sad BK for most of the year. There was a slight glimmer of hope  after a top 10 finish at the 6 inch trail ultra marathon ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com ) and I started to believe that maybe 2019 was going to be a better year.

After 22 weeks of Elliptigo commuting to work and some good quality training towards the back end of 2018 I was ready to defend my ADU title. ( http://australiadayultra.com ) Last year I probably had the run of my life to win the 100k event and set a sub 8 hour time. I had certainly left a few minutes on the course and reckoned with a new pair of Fly 4%’er’s I would be able to collect these and maybe even nudge a sub 7:45 finish. Unfortunately (I seem to be typing that a lot lately?) this was not to be as a week out I came down with ‘man-cold’, this then morphed into ‘man-flu’ (which can kill !) and finally a throat infection and onto the antibiotics.  Needless to say after over a week off work I was in no condition to run 100k. So the ADU 2019 was added to my ever growing list of races I had entered and not started, the dreaded DNS. (Did Not Start). In my defence there was no way I was going to make the start line , even with the best Goggin’s motivational lines; and there are many !! ( https://davidgoggins.com )

So how many DNS races have there been in my career ? The first one , and the most expensive by far, was the 2015 Disney Goofy challenge. I think the entry was over $500US and unfortunately the Oil price put paid to that trip to sunny Florida when Chevron decided they’d had enough of me and I had to move to Schlumberger, for a massive pay cut ! Current Wife and many Daughters were not happy with that decision. In Disney’s defence they did refund me a few hundred dollars gift card which I never used. (Their retail site really is very, very sad; sorry Disney.)

Next in line was the Darlington half 2016 when due to a bike race shutting down the freeway we couldn’t actually get to the start line in time. I blame the guys at TRC for putting out a route that was flawed and left me and Mike the wrong side of the Reid highway unable to cross. on the bright side it was stinking hot and humid and they probably done us a favour ! Mike had actually worked out a route to the start which would have worked but for once the ‘trust in TRC‘ mantra backfired; sorry Mike.

Next was the Bunbury Marathon of 2017 when I picked up a nasty 5cm calf tear there week before after racing the WAMC Bridges 10k. With hindsight I probably should have given that race a miss so close to a marathon and this was a lesson learned. This calf tear cost me three months and was my biggest injury at that time. I blame hanging around at the finish for the age group medal I had won and then jogging back to the car. That jog back , while dehydrated and tired after running a 10k, was the reason behind the tear. Preventable for sure and a real rookie error. Funnily enough I had risked the run back and made a big effort to take it as easy as possible. The tear happened as I exited the shower somehow ? Still I could have probably avoided the injury with some forethought.

Finally the City to Surf in 2018 was another race I had entered early but due to injury couldn’t make the start line. This was to be a big race as it was the 10th in a row and also I was part of a small group of runners who had all previous nine. 25 of us had made this elusive club after running the inaugural marathon in 2009. This one hurt and it was very emotional on the morning of the race as I walked the dogs rather than compete. With hindsight I could have probably completed the course but was worried about breaking my 27 in a row sub3 streak I was (am) on. If I had my time again….

That’s it, five races all in the last 4 years, and at least I got my annual DNS out the way early this year? Overall I suppose I got to be happy with that and I’m still to experience the dreaded DNF (Did Not Finish). The quandary I am now in of course is is the fear of either DNF’ing or finishing a marathon slower than sub three hours going to start to eat away at the reason why I run in the first place, , my love of running ? Is the fear of failure going to eventually outweigh the pursuit of running goals that keep you coming back to the sport. Will I start to avoid events that may result in me not performing as well as I would have liked. ? I remember once somebody said to me why do you train so hard and my response was fear, fear of slowing down; was that the wrong reason ? Surely it should be for the love of running and pace and time should be secondary. ? Probably, but on the other hand I am a competitive runner and every time I put on a race bib it really is on for young and old. there is no grey area here people, just a switch, on and off. This is why I am able to replicate times I have achieved ten years previous, even in my early fifties, good old fashioned hard work and the fear of failure. Of course there is also the love of competing and, as I have said many times , the pack may be calling but I’m still not ready to go back to it. A few more years in the sun I reckon , keeping a few young guns honest, albeit for less and less distance after the start of a race but it’s still nice to be at the pointy end, albeit briefly, and feel alive doing what I love to do with like minded people.

This was what made missing the ADU yesterday so painful, the camaraderie of the event and general atmosphere. I have a whole year to wait before I can experience that again and I’m not the most patient person in the world, that is why a DNS sucks. On the bright side I feel a lot better today and may even start running again next week so the year isn’t a right off just yet. This extended break has also given my PF time to finally fully heal and I’m confident I can start to add some pace work to my endless Kings Park trail running rehabilitation program. This is much needed with the WAMC racing catalogue about to start for 2019 and I need to get back my age group win after losing it last year due to not completing the required number of races to qualify. Will miss the February presentations for the first time in many years , got to love getting old. ( I seem to have typed that a lot lately as well?)  Not much of a positive post this one but unfortunately (there’s that word again.) sometimes running is a cruel mistress and once in a while the piper needs paying. Personally I think I’m paid in full for a few years so lets get back to writing about what I love writing about, racing and training with the BK posse…. yours in running… BK

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Well as we move into 2019 I completed my tenth year of recording my runs on the good old fashioned Excel spreadsheet. Thanks to Excel I can see I ran 3031 times for a total of 43,299 kilometres. Wow, didn’t feel that long ? The Earth’s circumference is 40,075km so I have actually ran around the earth, albeit it took me 10 years and I rarely left Western Australia.  That is a lot of fun and for the most part it has been fun. Of course there has been struggles at times but ultimately I always came out of any slump better than when I went in so always seem to improve; albeit the PB’s are harder to come by these days.

Right some points from the table below :-

• PB’s were a lot easier in the “early days” of my running career when I probably ran less and also with less idea of what I was doing but I ‘m a big believer in the old adage that most runners have around 7 years of PB’s, independent of when they start running, before they plateau and ultimately start to slow.  2011 and 2013 show this to be true. (in 2012 I had the first of my many calf tears and my Father passed, away so my running was limited)
• The foundation for my running career was built on three Comrades campaigns in 2008-2010. ( http://www.comrades.com ) This is where I ran, a lot, training in the Perth hills  for the Comrades ultra-marathon, my first taste of Lydiard or Maffetone training before I had even heard of them. Lots of distance and slow and steady. I say ‘a lot’ , at the time it was a huge step up from previous adventures but looking back nothing to what I run now. In those days there was no training log, GPS watches and Strava was a twinkle in somebodies eye….. (Please note there was to be a fourth campaign but No1 Wife put her foot down and as, luckily, this doesn’t happen often when it does I know to listen. She is probably still smarting from my promise of a new dining room table and chairs I offered her to let me go the first time. Must get to that one day?)
• There was a “second coming” in 2016 when, with the aid of Raf and his team from the Running Centre ( http://therunningcentre.com.au/)  I was put on a program to work towards breaking two hours and forty minutes for the marathon in the later part of 2015. Ultimately a small stress fracture put pay to that but I used what Raf taught me to run amok in 2016 and race every other weekend. This was probably my best years running and I achieved some great times I thought were well beyond me.
• 2017 and 2018 have been destroyed by injury at a time I was beginning to gain momentum from a Stella 2016 season. In ’17 it was a calf tear and ’18 the dreaded Plantar Fasciitis.
• 2013-2016 I increased the weekly mileage annually and the results came thick and fast. The double days and running slower to race faster was the main contributor to some great races in this period. It’s a pity 2017 and 2018 were hampered by injury as these years were probably my last chance to get some solid times before I eventually slow; which I’m assuming is anytime soon unfortunately.
• Big believer in racing as much as you can. Nothing aids improvement more than putting yourself in the pain box, in the fetal position. as much as possible. We run to race, if not other people than ourselves; this is why we do what we do, to test ourselves against either what we once were or what we are to become.
• Can I run 6000k in 2019 and not get injured and if so would I be able to replicate previous years results ? This is the big question of 2019. Personally I don’t think I can as running in your early fifties you run the tightrope of picking up injuries and regressing or avoiding injuries, with less distance, and maintaining a certain standard; without improving.
• I’m running more in my fifties than I have ever ran before and still loving it. This is due to running more times a week but also slower than I previously ran, on average. Race times, I’m holding steady at the moment.
• Can I make it one more time around this planet we all live on ? Hell yeah….although it may take longer than 10 years this time round. !

There is also a separate worksheet detailing my marathon and ultra times which may be of use to my many readers of this blog; well Mum can print it off and show her friends. ? This table shows that with perseverance and good old fashioned hard work you can achieve your running dreams. I remember running my first sub3 in 2009 and the euphoria of that moment will go with me to the grave. It was my 11th marathon and I always said I’d retire when I ran my first sub 3, never quite got to that retirement thing and don’t intend to anytime soon.  This table also shows, combined with the table above, that running improvement needs time and consistency. That is the most important factor in my opinion, consistency. Of course you’ll improve quickly at the start of your running career as you build the cardio engine but to continually improve you need to just keep running, as much as you can.  The table above is fed by my daily table for each year where I record every run; this morphs into a weekly total and then 52 of these and hey presto you have an annual table. ( Please note my table pales into insignificance next to Jon’s but he is an accountant by trade and has an Excel Spreadsheet  that Bill Gates would be proud of, cocooned in pivot table heaven. As well as distance he records who he ran with, time of day , temperature, how he felt etc. etc… it really is a think of beauty. )

These days of course we have Strava and Training Peaks, amongst others, and the digital world has taken over but I’m still a big believer in the old fashioned method of Excel (or even notebooks) when you can easily look back at previous years and see what worked and what you did to aid in your assault on your next running goal. When it comes to running historical data is gold, sometimes looking back can help you look forward. (I must write these motivational lines down , although I probably just did of course?) So even if you have Strava (because as we all know if it wasn’t on Strava it didn’t happen!) a manual spreadsheet is still worth keeping, plus it’s always good to know when you have finally ran the circumference of the planet you currently live on. !

Finally manage to get some kudos from Feedspot.com with recognition for my blog , making the top 10 Australian Running blogs, a debut at number 6. Happy with that but of course will make every effort to get a podium in the near future, nothing beats a podium. https://blog.feedspot.com/australian_running_blogs/

Right so that was 10 years of running, gone in the blink of an eye, best part is I hope to have at least another 10 years to add to the table above so I’d better get my skates on,  ( only figuratively speaking of course, unless there is a skating option on Strava?) I’m off for a run, you don’t get round the world twice blogging you know. !

Finally…as I have said many times you need friends to share in your journey and I have some great examples. So as well as concentrating on the running reach out to fellow runners and suffer(?) / enjoy the journey together… when it comes to running you really do need friends….

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At my age the best years are probably behind me. Runners don’t tend to improve too much after 10 years running and getting close to 52 day by day. (February 2nd if anybody is interested, all major credit cards accepted for the BK Retirement Fund!) In my continual battle with ‘Father time’ today I sneaked off to the hills in sunny Perth, and believe me people it was sunny. I probably laced up at 9am and it was over 30 degrees, of course it got hotter by the minute as I moved into the trail. The plan was a 38k loop with time on feet the reason behind the adventure. This was reaccessed at 7k and I decided a 34k shorter loop was more in keeping with the conditions. A few kilometres later it turned into a 20k out and back as I about turned at 10k and struggled back to the car.  By the time I got back to the car I was in a right state, staggering around Darlington Oval looking for a water tap. Unbeknownst to me my tap had disappeared from the last time I visited Darlington and I was left high and dry scouring the surrounding houses for external water taps. Luckily for me the local volunteer fire brigade had what I was looking for and I treated myself to a tap shower.

The moral of the story , apart from not running in the Perth hills in a Perth summer alone and without water, is you need to continually assess how you feel while you train and if you ‘ain’t feeling it‘ pull the plug and live to fight another day. I could have forged on at 10k and probably even survived the 38k loop , I say probably, but what would it have achieved ? As I said earlier the 20k was a real test and I had to treat myself to a two hour ‘power nap’ when I eventually crawled through my front door, much to my current Wife’s disgust. In my defence I did manage to then take the family to the beach with the dogs and make a good effort playing with both. Even as I type this I feel I could probably manage a slow 10k this evening but know better and will save myself for tomorrow when I’ll get back on the GO  ( http://www.elliptigo.com ) and scoot off to work while treating myself to a lunch time trail run and a scoot home on the GO. This three exercise sessions a day has served me well these last 3-4 months and I’m hoping it’ll get me to the end of the ADU 100k in a few weeks. (  http://australiadayultra.com ) must admit thinking about running a 100k at the moment is filling me with dread,  not excitement, but it always takes me three to four weeks to fully recover from a marathon/ultra so maybe I’m not as badly off as I feel as the moment, maybe ? This concept of training on feel is one of the major building blocks of Arthur Lydiard and his distance training techniques, Lydiard together with Fitzgerald ( http://mattfitzgerald.org/8020training/ ) are my two favourite coaches , with a little bit of Maffetone ( https://philmaffetone.com ) thrown in for good measure.

So in 2019 what’s the plan ? As a runner you need, goals as I’ve said many times, if you don’t have goals as a runner you find yourself drifting into ‘jogging‘ and before you know it you start to not worry about time and just concentrate on the pure joy of running. Then before long you’ve dumped your Garmin and you stop logging runs to Strava, imagine that , not recording your runs on Strava ! I’m starting to ‘sweat‘ just typing that last sentence.. let’s move on quickly ! For new runners you can start to think about personal bests ( or personal records for our American cousins) . I miss the days of turning up at races and knowing you’re going to run a PB, those days are not as frequent as I’d like now, last year there was only one PB albeit it was a beauty setting a AURA record for the 100k for the 50-55  year old age group. (see certificate below) I’ll be racing this event again in a few weeks but am not seriously considering beating this time unless Jon can drag me to halfway in a good time and the legs feel they maybe have one more record in them. After this mornings runs it’ll be more about just surviving than setting records but I have a few weeks to recover, I suppose? That’s running of course, my number one mantra has always been ‘trust in your training‘ , that’s what I love about running , it’s the most honest sport, do the hard yards and on the day there is a good chance you’ll get your reward, miss your training runs and then aim for the time not mirrored to your training program will always end in tears.  You can’t ‘fluke’ a good marathon or ultra time unfortunately, or fortunately if you are prepared to put in the work.  This is why I’m not overly excited about the ADU but will be more than happy to finish around the 8 hour mark, of course with an ultra it’s the little things that can conspire against you. Examples would be no vaseline during the run (trust me on an 8 hour run a small chaffing can turn into a major issue very quickly without vaseline!) , the wrong hydration and nutrition (the engine cannot run if it runs out of fuel (nutrition) or there’s a radiator leak (hydration)) and finally the training needs to be tailored to the event. (For an ultra it’s about 80/20 training and time on legs, not too worried about pace just run, a lot!)

Of course speaking of coaches there is a new rooster in the hen house, my old mate the T-train has thrown his hat into the ring and now offers personalised training programs from his website , https://www.tonysmithruncoaching.com. If you need to be inspired Tony would be your man as personally I find him one of the nicest guys around but with a ruthless steak when it comes to racing as this photo of the T-Train mowing down the opposite in the last few hundred metres of a 50k race. I put this down to his army training, no prisoners were taken in this race that’s for sure.  Tony’s training is certainly unique but his results cannot be argued with. Even this year , on a comeback after a nasty case of Plantar Fasciitis, he’s won a 50k ultra a week after racing a marathon and always places top 5 in any ultra he enters, winning his fair share. Although he’s not as long in the tooth as yours truely he is the wrong side of forty but loves putting young pretenders to the sword, in the nicest possible way of course. Looking at his website he has the coaching credentials and experience to back up his racing pedigree so I can highly recommend Tone. Please note as a TRC Ambassador  ( http://therunningcentre.com.au ) I cannot mention coaching without plugging Raf and his crew as well, Perth is big enough for the both of them of course and the most important thing is selecting the right coach for you and that just takes experience.

Right that’s it for the first post of 2019. I’ll try and post more about running this year and less about injuries as the last couple of years there has probably been a 50-50 split. A nasty Calf tear in 2017 and Plantar Fasciitis in 2018 have been the major talking points on the blog and really its a running blog not an injury prevention blog, I mean its not called www.donotrunbkdonotrun.com is it ? Lets hope I can get though 2019 injury free and see if distance and the Elliptigo can’t propel me to maybe one or more PB’s before I get dragged back to the pack…..we’ll see. Happy new Year all..Yours in running… BK

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As avid readers of my blog will know I have suffered through 6 months of Plantar Fasciitis , actually you, the reader, has probably suffered just as much with my posts. Anyway it seems I may have finally got on top of the dreaded PF but honestly I cannot say what allowed me to do so. Over the 6 months I’ve tried exercise, shock therapy, pyschio visits, many tablets , magnesium rub , night socks, sand running only  and sacrificed a virgin. (That last one was a joke, I don’t think she was a virgin !) Personally I feel with PF time is the only real healer but you might as well keep busy with the many other ‘miracle cures’.

Was there a benefit of being injured for 6 months and avoiding racing or pace on hard surfaces ? Probably not, truth be told, but it did force me to get back on then Elliptigo and start commuting to work rather than sit on the train wasting my life away watching rubbish on my iPhone. By Elliptigo’ing to work I have found any extra 7 hours exercise weekly and this has allowed me to create a cardio-engine that I hope I can add a turbo too (by adding tempo and threshold sessions to my training week) and explode into 2019 a faster runner. Personally I have never felt fitter and at nearly 52 years old that is saying something. The GO is a hard work out and I’m not one for cruising to work enjoying the view, that’s not me people. As with all things I give it 110% (all exercise things that is …the important stuff!) and I regularly end up at work in the changing rooms sweating like a prize fighter whose gone 15 rounds with Ali. I just about recover for my 10.6k Kings Park hills and trails before jumping back on the GO and getting back in the ring with Ali. Needless to say I have not seem my pillow for 10 weeks, I feel my head move towards the pillow and then ‘hey presto’ it’s time to get up, sleep depravation is not a problem when you average over two hours exercise a day.

Another benefit of the GO is it is non impact training so the knees don’t take a hammering daily. My 10.6K Kings Park loop is 90% sand so my knees are spared any hard surface work here as well. End result the legs feel great with no niggles even though I’m starting to get up to 100k a week running and 200k a week on the GO. I’m still aiming for my 15 hours a week exercise after watching the ‘man in the halo’ video on Tim Don.( https://zone3.com/tim-don-documentary/ ) C’mon people, if Tim can average 15 hours a week with a broken neck we should be able to reciprocate, surely ?

Of course I’ve always known core work is beneficial to running but taking time to do any has always been a problem. I use to do a circuits class twice a week at work , when it was free, but never joined a new class when we moved buildings. (Although I did keep going for nearly two years as you could sneak in through reception into the gym where the class took place and I’d been going for so many years they just assumed I was still in the building. It was only when that part of the building closed my free circuit class days were finally brought to an end. Pity, that building also had an outdoor tennis court and a 28m lap pool. As it was my first building coming to Perth I assumed they were all like that…unfortunately not !) So the GO has allowed to me get my core fix as well as a cardio engine building workout. After many years the Matthews Six-Pack is back, though as Mike says it’s mainly ribs !!! I must admit to using a few kilo’s but am enjoying losing the ‘middle aged’ spread that was starting to introduce itself, mainly due my lack of running due to PF. I actually think it was a comment from no3 Daughter about me putting on a few pounds that made me embrace the GO, and boy I’m glad I did.

The first test of my new found fitness will be the 6 inch on December 16th and I’m secretly (well not that secretly anymore?) hoping to maybe give my course PB a tilt. I always aim for a top 10 finish, win the Veterans (over 50) trophy and try and beat all the women home. Last year I achieved two out of three but failed to beat Nera to the finish line after Zac got me lost… ok, ok.. maybe I helped get me and Zac lost. I love Zac’s comment you know you’re lost when Big Kev says “I know where we are” .  ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com )  The 6 inch will be a good yard stick from which to measure my fitness going into 2019 and one of the big goals of the year, the Australia Day Ultra in January. ( http://australiadayultra.com )

Last year I probably had one of the runs of my life to sneak under 8 hours and I’d love to go a tad quicker in 2019. This really will be a test of my GO inspired fitness and also the Nike Vaporfly 4% trainers I brought for the Bunbury Marathon but never used. They are virtually brand new so I’m hoping they’ll propel me to a new PB on the 100k course. With Jon and the T-train as my wing-men I reckon we have a good chance to all go quicker than we have ever gone before, isn’t that a Star Trek quote, or was that going somewhere where no one had been before and being bald ? (or was that bold, whatever… you get then picture ?)

So the point of this post, assuming you’ve read this far in which case well done, is you need to find another aerobic exercise that is non-impact and add this to your running bag of tricks. If you can combine this exercise with commuting to work then great, no impact on family or social time ( do runners get social time? If you do shouldn’t you be running instead..? ) Of course not all people are a lucky as me with the facilities and bike paths in the Perth area. My commute to work is 18k with 95% of that on bike paths and only a couple of road crossing where I have to interact with the car and its driver, who is usually too interested in their iPhone to look up , it’s a worry! The Elliptigo is , in my opinion, the ultimate cardio workout and best alternative to running, it gives you a running workout without the impact, trust me people it really is that good.

Right that’s it, I’m off to see if I can stay awake long enough to feel my head hit the pillow, confidence is, as always, low…..

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