Well Ladies and Gentleman the time is nearly here. I’ve done all I can in the land of Australia to prepare so now it’s time to taper things down, cut the training load and cut the country name by a bit. Yep, Austria will be my new home for two weeks before the World Champs on June 8th.
Do I feel ready? Do I feel lucky (punk)? Well yeah, yeah I kind of do. The last two weeks have had some ups and downs to mirror that of the race and to whip them through in true fraserdarcy.com fashion here are the key moments:
Thursday 18th May: Easy Thursday arvo cruise on Dutchman’s. Was going well. Was feeling fit and fast. Was enjoying the singletrack and felt in flow. Then bam. Hit the ground on the downhill and chipped my tooth, cut my hand a bit, and got some bruising on my shoulder and my ego. Finished off the run but was very unsure about what I needed to do to fix my body and get it fresh again. I’d also entered the State 10km Champs on Saturday 20th May back in Adelaide at this point and sure, my injuries didn’t affect my ability to run but fuck me, dealing with the unknown of a chipped tooth was not how I had imagined tapering into the race.
Saturday 20th May: State 10km Champs. OK so I’d come back from DEFCON 2 about my body and gotten myself to a point on the start line where I had a smile and was ready to race hard. I went hard at the start and hung with a pack of three that was just off the front two runners. The twisty course through the Showgrounds in the slippery rain wasn’t ideal for fast times and meant I never got settled in my rhythm. But, my motivation to enter this race was to be subjected to hard racing conditions for 30 minutes. It was easier doing this than psyching myself up for a similar effort all by myself back in Quorn.
Going through halfway I dropped off the pack of three I was with. The decelerating and accelerating around corners was getting to me and I backed it off a bit. Upon reflection I realised I was also not really enjoying the race as much as I hoped/usually enjoy a trail running race. I was also probably dealing with fatigue from my fall and the heavy training load I’ve been subjecting myself to. In the end I hung on for 6th place, fighting off a last minute charge from 7th. My time was 32:01, not too flash for what I wanted but still ok. This event coupled with the Thursday 18th are classified as the downs in the past fortnight’s ups and downs.
Essendon getting a win over Richmond later this Saturday night, when I had given up hope, was the catalyst to turn things back into an up.
Sunday 21st May: Sunday long run day. 2.5 hrs in the wet up and down Tilley’s Hill Road. All three efforts up the hill were consistent and after 2.5 hrs of running I still felt strong and ready to go for another couple of hours. A great indication I’m getting psyched for 4-4.5 hrs through the Alps in Austria. A large part of me is now excited by the fact I get to challenge myself on a run longer than 3-3.5hrs like I have been on Sunday’s usually as opposed to holding myself back through training so I don’t overcook the goose.
Driving back to Quorn later this afternoon it felt as if I’d pulled off somewhat of a ‘climbing trip’ weekend. I had hoped to find my limitations on the Saturday in my 10km project and certainly won’t die wondering whether I could’ve run faster (running with the front pack and then blowing up is the evidence there) there, but I still scraped together a succesful trip with the solid Sunday long run.
It was good I reflected on the successes of the weekend because I was also feeling the impending doom of one final week at school before I head off. Parent teacher interviews were going to be a new stimulus as was ensuring the relief lessons I was to plan for two and a half weeks were up to scratch AND handing out two tests to my Maths classes. My Aussie uniform was also due to be picked up from the post office and I had an interview to organise as well. Plus my usual 170-180km’s of running one last time. All these balls in the air meant I was experiencing some decision making fatigue at the start of the week. Only way to handle this is to keep moving forward, ticking off every decision as it comes and dealing with the punches of life.
Wednesday 24th May: The return is coming. By now I’d ticked off most of the big ticket items for the week but I hadn’t gotten a release yet. That moment when your body goes ahhhh as it relaxes onto the couch. Running (or more so falling I was that stiff) down the start to my Warren Gorge running loop I wasn’t sure what to expect from this run. Supposedly I was to do some 400m repeats as is the norm at Warren Gorge. But I felt pretty shit to be honest so just kept running out with the wind behind me for a bit longer warm up than normal. Then I turned around and ran back to the car. Then I got to the hill where I do the repeats and started running up, then down then up. Then I started running the flat 400m repeats. Then Craig Mottram came on the podcast I was listening to and this man was THE man for running in the late 2000’s. Even when I wasn’t a running fan I knew Craig Mottram. And here I was getting it done while Craig explained how he got things done in the late 2000’s. An hour and ten minutes later I’d done all my 400m repeats by not really thinking but just doing them. And now the body was feeling good. I had gotten my ahhh moment and had relaxed into it. I continued on running for enjoyment because that’s the best medicine for a tired and depleted runner. Reminding yourself that running is fun. 21km’s later and I was feeling confident about my fitness.
Thursday 25th May: Confidence that I needed for the next bloody day. I’ve been fortunate with the weather the past 6-8 weeks. Not much rain and not much wind. That streak ended on this run. 1-3mm on the forecast was more like 20mm with 20-30knots of wind. Optimistically I set out for Devils Peak knowing the road had been improved in the last few months and should be able to handle the forecasted rain. I needed 500-800m elevation on this run and had hoped to get it in my typical Devils*3 session (up and down Devils Peak three times, not rocket science).
My warmup on the road wasn’t great but wasn’t horrible. The mud was treacherous in parts but I could find the good surface after a while. Heading into the first rep up the new gravel path was looking good and I was able to have some intensity up the hill. Getting into the technical part of the climb I tried to tell myself that being resilient and completing sessions in pouring rain and wind would be the difference come the World Champs. Bring the right attitude to training because race day could like look this. About thirty seconds into the technical part though I realised that running up a creek with slippery rocks is not the most effective way to train and aborted the session I had planned. This was no retreat because I wasn’t willing it was a retreat due to practicality. Instead, I used the terrain I had available to me and lapped the good gravel section eight times.
All the while I was lapping this nice bit of path I was stressing about getting the 2WD Triton back out the road to safety. Worst case scenario I’d have to run home and deal with the problem later. Thinking I’d made it through the run without any serious mishap on the last rep I sunk into my shin in a mud patch and hit the ground again for a second consecutive Thursday (you can see this on the pace chart above at the 11km mark). This time it wasn’t too bad but it was serious motivation to get my arse off this trail and back to safety. That scene in Indiana Jones where Indi is being chased by a boulder through an underground series of tunnels was front of mind as I felt the rain and mud situation worsening. No post-run stretch and feeling good about myself, hit the car, engine on, get to the bitumen. The first 1-2kms of road was where the sphincter was real tight and some luck was needed. Driving pretty carefully I did lose traction at one point but was saved by the fact the road workers had laid lots of dry good sized rocks on the side (meaning no mud) and was able to continue driving on the road not off it. Heading into the IGA after the run looking like a drowned rat I was pretty happy I’d ticked off this session despite the adversity and was now beginning to see the light at the end of the teaching tunnel for the week too.
Thursday night: Been watching lots of sport on TV at the moment in the half hour before I hit the hay. However tonight there wasn’t much on and I needed something good in the background while I packed my things for Austria. Look in the cupboard, first thing there, Rocky, perfect. I’ve been using the Rocky theme song in a lot of my playlists and the whole story of man gets picked for a World Title Fight without much background has similar themes to my adventure. Plus, the passion that Rocky’s character displays in some scenes is good inspiration (‘It stinks’ scene). The best one though, relevant to my teaching life and also to how I wish to approach life and get others to get after it is the following scene:
The message is simple I think. Make the most of your opportunities as they come so that the Mick’s of the world don’t look down at you as a waste of life. Couldn’t think of a worse insult to be honest.
Sunday 28th May: Last Sunday long run on Australian soil is now in the bag and I made the most of my opportunities in Belair by sessioning the best hill in the muddy conditions to maximise my vert. End result, I feel good. Less than two weeks to go now and my number one focus is on promoting good sleep, good nutritional choices and getting my mindset to race ready. The secret weapon I have up my sleeve is fans of the blog will know that for the past two summers I’ve frothed the summer pre-season vibe I get going while the Aussie Open is on. Two weeks of tennis and running and working at the pool as I get in the best physical shape. Well Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight’s the night the French Open starts so let’s get this show on the road…
Thanks for reading!
Fraser Darcy 
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