The Boulevard of Rekindled Dreams
Coming off my biggest week in close to a year I'm feeling good.
I have accepted fear as part of life — specifically the fear of change... I have gone ahead despite the pounding in the heart that says: turn back.
Erica Jong
So here's to another better year, we've crossed that thin line, don't try to hold us here, If for just this once you'd think of us, I hope you're happy with yourself.
One of my favourite songs of all-time, was a song that got me through a lot of heartbreak in college.
One to Remember
Monte Carlo Biscuits and Caramel Slice form core memories in my childhood, which was often spent in the Central West of New South Wales when school holidays were on, either with my Aunty Kay and Uncle Michael, or with mum’s parents my Nan and Pop.
It was either that or we were sitting on my dad’s bus route as the cost of that was far less than the cost of childcare, and I’m grateful that I had this type of upbringing because it taught me to appreciate things a lot more, and it also meant that I got to spend a lot of time with family rather than being in a childcare centre, but I note not everyone has that luxury.
Nan was a legendary baker deeply ingrained in the Country Women’s Association (Cranky Women’s Association) was the joke often made by pop, my uncle and dad. At Christmas time you would often wait for nan’s Christmas Pudding, and during the months there was always an assortment of biscuits and slices after you had finished a day on the farm.
When it was shearing season, I was only a young fella, but I’d pick up pocket money by sorting sheep and helping drag them into the yard. It was good practice for footy, but I’d often be the one trying to get my hand on nan’s Monte Carlo Biscuits and Caramel Slice.
Nan was an incredible lady who raised a family during a time where women basically did everything in the house. She was hard but fair, I still remember the day my younger brother got a warning for swearing, before nan scrubbed his tongue with soap (he can’t say he wasn’t told).
Perhaps nan’s greatest prank on me was the day I ate sheep’s brains. See my grandparents were incredibly resourceful in terms of food. Quail was often a delicacy, and as a kid I was told they were ‘small chickens’ and the day I had sheep’s brains I was told they were chicken nuggets.
It was only when I finished eating and said ‘these are the best chicken nuggets ever’ that my family told me what I’d eaten, I was hysterical, I couldn’t believe it, but it also piqued my interest in branching out from a boring diet of fish fingers and vegetables.
But towards my later teenage years, I realised that something was happening with nan, my brother and I were playing a play station and nan came and asked us a question. She got her answer and walked out of the room, before coming back and asking the same question, when I told her we had already told her she seemed perplexed.
This is a woman who would spend afternoon’s working out Sudokus or other brain teasers in That’s Life or Women’s Weekly magazines. It turns out it was early stage dementia, which progressed taking away a lot of what nan was good at.
I never saw nan at her worst so my memory is some what protected of the woman that she was before it all took hold, but my thoughts go out to those who watch loved ones go down hill, eventually forgetting who they are and the people around them.
On the 25th of February the Memory Walk and Jog will be taking place in Canberra, sadly I can’t join as I’ll be doing the Sri Chimnoy 100 Relay the night before, but my friends Prue and Mim are doing it in memory of loved ones.
Not many people know, but dementia is Australia's second-leading cause of death. By 2058 it's expected that over 800,000 Australian's will have dementia. But we can change this.
All money raised will support the work of Dementia Australia and help provide vital support services like counselling, support groups, education, and research to help find a cure.
If you have the financial means think about supporting either of them.
Prue’s Page
Mim’s Page
The Best Week in a Long Time
Last week felt like something that I was chasing for a long time. It had been 11 and a half months since I’d last run 100 kilometres in a week. The week before last I wrote my blog and then I had niggling pain that made me feel like I was on another road to ruin, that similar pain has taken a hold this week as well, so I’m taking it easy. I’m putting it down to football returning, and the fact my body just doesn’t hold up to doing two interval sessions in consecutive days.
There’s a lot going on in life at the moment in terms of changes at work I’m navigating with the resources I have, as well as planning to marry my fiancé Cassandra in October.
I saw a quote that I needed to see which basically said it’s okay if life gets in the way, you’re not a professional athlete and sometimes we train like them despite not having the same time or resources. I’ll admit I used to freak out if my mileage wasn’t consistent, but then I factor in now a range of different things I do for training now that I wasn’t before, just measuring my progress by how many kilometres I’m doing doesn’t justify the entire picture.
For example I’ve overhauled my diet since Christmas, and lost four kilos since. That’s one metric to measure, and it’s improved based on the fact I haven’t focused on it, more it’s been something I know I’ve wanted to lose, but rather than focus on the weight I have to lose, I’ve focused on the ways I can make that happen by improving diet, sleep, my training as a whole and it’s been really good.
This came about because I wasn’t happy with where I was heading, to be honest though it probably isn’t a bad thing that someone who is considered obese focus on getting healthier. It’s funny when I started running people talked about it, but no one said a word when I was lazy and ate take away five times a week.
A good blog from Precision Hydration actually spoke on the topic of optimal weight for racing, and perhaps why we shouldn’t fixate on it too much.
As as Alex Hutchinson puts it in his aforementioned Runners’ World article in their blog piece is that optimal racing weight comes as “a consequence that flows naturally from training hard and eating well, rather than a distinct goal that you have to obsess over separately.”
So if you find yourself thinking too much about weight know there are other metrics to think about like that hill that keeps kicking your ass, or your resting heart rate, are you getting enough sleep?
The Big Training Week
Monday: Rest day, a bit of yoga which felt really good.
Tuesday: I really got a zip from Elevate coming back, I used to have a lot of social mornings across my week, but due to changing circumstances a lot of my training is now done in the arvos.
I love a tough interval session, and having some new people join the crew really helped me find my best in this session.
Wednesday: Was indecisive in what I wanted to do here. Just headed to Mulligan’s and started running. It was hot and I was just looking to get two hours done, it wasn’t fast by any means, but was more than what two loops of a Backyard is in the same time.
Thursday: It was really hot so I waited till later in the afternoon to get this run done, a 10 kilometre run in about an hour and a bit, the fastest I’d run in quite some time!
Friday: In our group we have a few different places where people have created a route or track. At Mount Ainslie and Mount Majura there is ‘Brad’s Track’ it’s about 700 metres of elevation across the two spots and includes a nasty climb which I’d never done before out the back of Majura.
This was a brutal day out, the mercury dipped into the low 30s the whole time and I had close to three or four litres of fluid across the journey! A toughie I have to go back and make a regular for my Sri Chimnoy training heading into August.
Saturday: A huge weekend of split runs.
A slow 10 kilometre run in the morning, at night I decided to do the second half of my mission when it wasn’t scorched earth territory. It was still 31 degrees, but not having the sun cook me felt good, I’m training for a backyard so trying to fatigue the legs and split runs I think will help me going into that race.
Sunday: After a quick turnaround I was out on the trails with the Lazy Glutes for 12 on Sunday morning on Red Hill, I was fatigued but it felt vastly different to what I’d been going through. Felt good to not be in pain, and just trying to re-find my boundaries in terms of what I can achieve.
That left me 10 kilometres to get and I waited till the afternoon where Cassandra just said to send it, I got through my first five sub 30 minutes, which felt good, but slowed a little bit to complete the run in just over an hour.
Weekly Totals:
Run: 100.2 kilometres, 13 hours and 40 minutes, 1,636 metres of elevation
Walk: 2.8 kilometres, 49 minutes, with 23 metres of elevation
Yoga: 2 hours across the week (bendy boy)
Huge week and one I’m grateful I got to do, I’m realising now that while the GUMBY is going to be a lot of fun, my intention is all going into August. This mindset shift probably comes from a place where I’m being realistic about where I’m at in my training and journey coming back from a long term injury.
While it would be great to have an unbelievable run at the GUMBY the reality of the situation is it’s going to be tough, and that getting more than last year will be incredibly satisfying, but I have some level of reservations, knowing that Sri Chimnoy in August is more aligned with my journey.
So What is that Journey?
This year isn’t going to be big by any stretch of the imagination in terms of races. It’s a good thing though, I’ve absolutely been racing too much and perhaps didn’t focus enough on how I was approaching races that weren’t my ‘A Race’.
Next year despite all the hoo-hah about Ironman I’d like to go and do UTA, I’ve never been to the Blue Mountains and think it would be a good place to run as I look to build my resume for a push towards Coast to Kosci at the end of the decade.
I’d also like to complete a miler, and Ultra Trail Kosci seems like a good place to do it. At the moment nothing is concrete and could change, but for me that feels like where I want to head on my journey.
See you on the trails soon! x