Bridging the Gap

A few weeks in and it doesn't get any easier, you just dig the heels in a little deeper.

I can’t even imagine where INXS would be if Michael Hutchence was still with us. A Global Juggernaught, I love this song to kick off some long efforts to put me in the mood.

“We can change the world and make it a better place. It is in your hands to make a difference.”
— Nelson Mandela

Pam’s Playground 1 - Peak2Soon 1

I came into Sunday knowing that it was going to be a tough slog being in a calorie deficit. Running a half marathon without the adequate level of fueling is always going to be tough, so my game plan was to get the most out of the first 10 kilometres, and try and hold on to see if I could control the back half with my race day fueling.

When I’m talking about calorie deficit, I’m still having my proper race day carbs during the run, but I’m not having the 600 grams of carbs in the lead up to the race that I normally would, I won’t be doing that for GUMBY, I’ll have two weeks of good eating leading into it to adequately fuel, but at the moment I’m trying to get a bit lighter in the lead up to the race, to try and make things a little bit easier on the body.

This includes having a lot of protein to try and make sure that I’m not breaking down, but it means there are less carbohydrates, it’s been a process of tinkering, and I’m realising I can increase my calories a bit more, and as a result training has felt better in the past week and a half.

Looking Ultra Medicore: Photo by John Harding

Kowen’s New Year’s Resolution is always a tough run, I started a bit faster than I’d liked with a sub 6 minute first kilometre on a slight uphill. I was feeling really good though, the pain of last year seems to have subsided, and the pain I was getting in my adductor from pushing the downhills is no longer there, which is giving me a lot of confidence as downhill running is my strength, take that from my arsenal and there isn’t much to show.

I felt at times like I was on track for a course PB, before the reality of the deficit hit, I was at the 10 kilometre mark with Andy, and starting what is known as ‘The Rollercoaster’ this beautiful undulating section. I was coming downhill at a good rate, but realising I just couldn’t hold it or mentally I just wasn’t there to hold it, I’d done some thresholds during the week and was training myself to sit in the uncomfortable, but on this occasion I just didn’t have it in me.

Then it sort of spirals from there, it becomes a lot of pity party and just not staying in the zone. Amungula was brutal, perhaps payback for the story I spun, but the encouragement of seeing friends on course including Danielle, Fi, and Jodie at Aid Stations, as well as Thomas was really a really great boost.

It was also good to see so many friends out there. In the end I finished about 30 minutes off my personal best, which is there abouts of what I was expecting based on how my running has been lately. There is a fair bit to take out of it, and a few things that need tinkering with, but once again another cracking start to the year with a great community event, thank you Pam and crew.

Party Pace? Dead at Amungula: Photo by Thomas White

I’d say the course and I split the points, I won the first half of the race and the race beat me in the second half.

The Pod is Back

My podcast has sat idol for a month, after an interview with the incredible Mark Avery, a bloke I’ve been fortunate enough to connect with over social media, and someone I’m looking forward to sharing a brew with when he comes down for the Australian 24-Hour Championships at the AIS in April.

It was partly intentional the slow down, but it was also because I had a small identity crisis of sorts, and a bit of lack of confidence over the Christmas and New Year’s Break. It’s nothing minor, but I felt like a bit of an imposter of sorts.

I’ve interviewed all these incredible people over the year from Rob Mason, to Maree Connor, Allicia Heron, Pam Muston, Camille Herron, Cassie Cohen, Joe Ward, Toby Steele and new Antarctic Record Holder Donna Urquhart.

These are world class athletes, and I’m just me. It’s very silly because it’s not like my podcast is about comparing myself to these athletes, it’s about celebrating two incredible sports in ultra-trail running and ultra running, and the achievements that these athletes have had in the sport.

It’s perhaps due to the fact that I was once told I’ll never commentate football on television because I never played at the highest level, and maybe that has rubbed off into my thoughts about running. If you look at a lot of podcasts, it’s elite runners basically telling you about thresholds, intervals and fartleks, speaking in a language the average runner doesn’t concern themselves with.

What I’ve always strived to do with Peak2Soon is put running into the language for the average punter, and to show that these elite athletes are just like you or I, they just have that ability to push beyond what we previously thought was possible.

Once I realised that I’m not an imposter, and simply someone who is documenting and sharing the story of incredible athletes, which is my job as a newsreader and director, I started to feel a bit better about things. This came off the back of a great conversation with Monika Holmwood on Sunday, who reminded me that there will be people out there that reject our plans, but that’s just part of the job, not everyone is going to have 100 per cent success.

I’ve reached out to Dillon Rinn and Lisa Sherman, two runners and athletes I deeply admire for different reasons, and I look forward to kicking off another year of telling stories about this incredible community.

I’m also thinking of doing something a little bit crazy, and that’s going out and covering the 24-hour track championships in April across the full race, but there is a bit to sort out before that happens.

This Week’s Sessions

Monday: Cheeky walk for rest day and some Yoga, still dealing with a bit of a flu.

Tuesday: Tempo and only a short one, about six kilometres at Wagi Bridge, trying to get some level of hills into the legs, while also trying to push my pace a bit.

Wednesday: Huge amount of rain today. Went for 10 kilometres around the pond because you just don’t get to choose the weather on race day, then caught up with some friends at Running for Resilience to complete a daily double in terrible weather!

Thursday: Broke in my new trail devils with a nice and easy five kilometre effort. These shoes are the business.

Friday: Easy upper body session in the gym, before 10 miles on the sit down bike, nice and easy to get into. Enjoyed mixing up my training, my previous training block I just smashed running, so having gym and yoga incorporated this time around is helping.

Saturday: Another tempo run, this one faster than Tuesday. Around six and a half kilometres.

Sunday: Kowen Half Mara. Tough.

Run Totals: 55 Kilometres, 6 hours 42 minutes, Elevation Gain 1,141 metres

Walk Totals: 12.4 Kilometres, 3 hours and 6 minutes, Elevation Gain 99 metres

Another solid week, just trying to see where my body is happy at the moment. A little bit more reserved to try and give Kowen a good shake on a deficit, quite happy with it.

Courage Comes in Many Forms

She won’t like it, but I want to single out my friend Trude. She wrote an incredible blog recently, one that I knew was coming, knowing who she wrote about, and what she was talking about wouldn’t have been easy.

I had a lot of fun at the end of last year training with Trude as we tried to get her a Six Foot Track Qualifier, I know the story and the person involved. I won’t write about this further as the story is for the people involved to own, I just think it’s very courageous not to stay quiet, sometimes that means more than pretending nothing ever happened at all.

Getting the Gang Back Together

I’m hanging out for Tuesday Night. Like really hanging out for it. The gaps between terms at Elevate feel like forever, but the summer break feels like it’s one that takes extra long, because in reality it is a few extra weeks.

I love group running, it’s perhaps the one downside of my job is that I can’t run with groups as regularly as I used to, so I really take advantage of it when I get the chance.

Elevate has helped shaped me, if you’re interested in perhaps becoming an ‘Elevator’? ‘Elevatist’? get in touch and I’ll give you the details for our wonderful coach Shiree.

That’s it for this week. Happy Australia Day! (am I going to jail now?) see you on the trails soon you wonderful humans.