I'm Blue (Da Ba Dee)
Got to race for the first time in months, need some help with my nutrition goals, been inspired by some big running across the country and think I'm continuing to go in the right direction.
“The elevator to success is out of order. You’ll have to use the stairs, one step at a time.”
Joe Girard
It Takes Courage To Set Big Goals
I first met Matt Breen when I was running in my first ever marathon. We jostled for a good couple of kilometres until I realised running a marathon requires fuel and I completely blew up with cramps 18 kilometres from home.
I didn’t know at the time how significant of an impact he would have on my life through the initiative he created called ‘Running for Resilience’.
In Matt’s own words “Having been through the wringer and coming out the other side stronger, I felt compelled to share my story to help others going through a tough time, people who’ve been through a tough time, or people yet to go through a tough time.”
I started going to Running For Reslience, in October last year at the time I was purely a solo runner, I didn’t like running in groups because I’m extremely shy (believe it or not), but through the group I’ve come out of my shell and been more in touch with my emotions.
I’ve also met so many people I otherwise wouldn’t have ever had the chance to run with. It’s a conduit that’s led to so many amazing friendships. Last week Breeny set the goal of having Canberra ‘Suicide Free by 2033’, in 2020 statistics show that 57 people took their life in Canberra.
A big goal, but not an unachievable one, but if Breeny didn’t have the courage to come out and make the goal and speak it into existence, it’s not unimaginable that no one would have put themselves forward to try and achieve the goal.
I guess what I’m trying to say is if you have a goal that seems out of reach, set it anyway, no matter what it is. You’ll never know the outcome unless you have a go, what’s that old saying ‘you miss 100 per cent of the shots you don’t take’.
If you are struggling, please know you are not alone and help is available. Please contact any one of the following organisations:
Lifeline Australia - 13 11 14
This service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can also chat online with the Lifeline support service, available 24/7.
Suicide Crisis Text Line - 0477 13 11 14
For those who feel more comfortable with texting rather than talking to someone. Confidential one-to-one text with a trained Lifeline Crisis Supporter
Beyond Blue - 1300 224 636
This service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can also chat online with the beyondblue support service every day from 3:00 PM until 12:00 AM (AEDST).
Nutrition?
One of my biggest dilemmas coming into the 100km (104km now) race at Kosciusko is:
I’ve never run or slowly plodded 104km in a row before
I’m terrible with nutrition on my runs so what am I going to eat?
I think I have 1 covered purely with the battle of the mind, you won’t run the distance you’re going to run in your race during training, so it’s important to build a good base and then the rest of the race is what you have inside and in between your two ears.
But without proper nutrition you can only go so far as I’ve learnt on a couple of occasions, it led to a conversation with my coach Shiree this week about a few different combinations, but also potentially viewing hydration and nutrition as two separate entities.
So the next few weeks is going to be a bit of trial and error to see what I enjoy and what works, everyone is different, I’m interested to see what combinations others use on their long runs?
Happy Birthday Bro
To my brother Todd, happy birthday mate, can’t wait to run with you soon in the half marathon (fun run), love you.
Weekly Training
Monday: Rest Day, spend about half an hour stretching and on the foam roller, last week was a big one and I woke up on Monday quite sore.
Tuesday: Still sore on Tuesday so went at 75 per cent in Zone 2 for 8km. Headed out at night with Lizzie for some trail action. 9.5km banked and also saw a Spotted Quoll.
Wednesday: Cracking of a run to start the morning with my friend Kirstie, 11.1km in the bank, and in the evening got to run with my good friends Bronte and Bridgette at Running for Resilience Bring a Friend Night, so 17.1km for the day.
Thursday: Elevate Session with my Coach Shiree and the crew. This was a focus on power hiking up hill and then sending it on the downhill. Gained some good confidence during this session 450 metres of elevation over the hour and 6.12km in the bank.
Friday: Rest day, my back had progressively been getting worse over the week, but this seemed to be the tonic for it.
Saturday: Mona Fartlek session, 500 metres warm-up either side and clocked 5km over the session with 2x90 seconds, 4x60 seconds, 4x45 seconds and 4x30 seconds, 1:1 rest in between.
Sunday: Run leg 4 of the Sri Chimnoy 100km race it was 23.5km and 755 metres of elevation in just over 3 hours which is right on target for my Kosciusko pace that I’m hoping to try and hold for as long as I can, as a team we finished under 12 hours which is awesome! Body held up really well, I think my nervous energy got the best of me today, when you’re waiting around instead of just heading out for your long run your body starts to do funny things. So inspired by my blue crew family including those who managed to finish their solo 100km race, just incredible.
Totals: 69.7km, 8 hours and 28 minutes, and 1,562m of Elevation
Think some more hill work will get worked into my program, overall really happy with my week considering I got concerned with my back.
Motivation Monday Hero
You may have been following the journey of Nedd Brockmann across Australia, but on the East Coast something incredible is happening with Erchana Murray-Bartlett. Murray-Bartlett is a professional marathon runner, who narrowly missed out on selection for Tokyo, rather than let that get her down she decided she would run across Australia, and hopefully break a World Record.
Her goal is to run from Cape York to Melbourne, a distance of 6,200km in a period of six months. She’s partnered with The Wilderness Society to raise awareness and funds to help our native animals. She just completed Day 23 of running a marathon everyday in some pretty remote areas, a pretty inspiring woman pushing the boundaries of what is humanly possible.
I like real whole foods while trail running :) Cream cheese bagels, ham and cheese croissants, I love drinking maple syrup for easy calories as well.
Best of luck with it all!
Even if after 11 years, if the suicide rate in Canberra has only dropped to 56... it will be worth the effort.