Fraser Darcy

The past week has been the second week/part two of my school holidays. Like in a movie series, part two hasn’t been as high and exciting as part one. Still good, has an OK storyline and some cool locations, but the plot wasn’t as exciting as part one. These ‘Nothing Special’ weeks are the page turners in the book to fill in the gaps between the good stuff. Real exciting start to the blog I know right?

The ‘Nothing Special’ week did however include a trip to Port Victoria as the highlight. The Darcy family’s beach house is my number three residence that I am fortunate to have a spot to lie down in which I usually use for my summer hibernation period. With no chance of a ski mission this year (due to the budget blowout on Brisbane’s race, the training scheduled for the Adelaide Marathon and the feel of it being a real ‘push’ to get a trip over there done in the space of a week) I settled for a bit of R&R by the water at Port Vic.

The nice part about travelling there in winter, as opposed to summer, is when it’s nice and sunny, it’s nice and sunny. Not baking hot. The grass is green, the town is pretty quiet and you can run and ride around in the middle of the day pretty cruise-ly. Which is how I spent the best part of 3 days. Plus a fair amount of sleeping, movie watching (Matrix Reloaded and the Matrix Revolutions (AKA the 2nd and 3rd instalments of the Matrix series)) and book reading. Sounds like a great way to spend holidays to anyone who’s currently slaving away at work (so yes I am grateful) but it’s not the cool and exciting holidays I once dreamed of. At the risk of raising a first world problem, it does feel a bit boring and lonely lying on the couch trying to decide what to do next all day without the schedule of the school day or some big multi-day adventure to keep me in check. Go for a bike ride? Watch some running videos on Youtube? Stare into the abyss? Sometimes there’s not enough time for it all after all that staring out the window…

The valuable part of a week that’s nothing special, compared to what I did in a week of skiing this time last year, is:

• It’s better for the consistency in my running. I feel like a better runner at the end of this week than I did at the start due to prioritising recovery whilst maintaining a normal training load. Something that’s not as possible during the teaching weeks.
• Better cost savings. Not everything is about money but some of it is. I’ve booked another trip to NSW in September for a race so the money I saved this week goes out the door in mid-September.
• It’s not that fucking cold in Port Vic as it is skiing. Nice to be able to enjoy some sunshine without having to ‘brace’ for the weather during winter. Almost felt as warm as Brisbane did last week!
• Able to properly rest and recharge the sleep bank. Every day for the first week of holidays an afternoon nap was pretty standard and most long drives between Quorn and Adelaide involved a quick nap (had one on my way to Port Vic too) at the end of Term 2 telling me that I was definitely very tired. A few days sleeping in at Port Vic has meant come the second half of the week and I am now making it through days without a nap and back recording some good sleep stats (included at the end).
• These are the ‘boring’ weeks I’ll look back on when I’m neck deep in my next race as inspiration to keep running hard as I made it through these weeks in pursuit of this goal so I better make my effort worth it.

One highlight to end my week and transition from Port Vic relaxation into Fraser Race Mode was recording a podcast with friend of the blog Jeremy May discussing my running and other related thoughts on his new podcast Lactic Chats. Jeremy’s a frother on getting better at the things he enjoys doing and the podcast he’s creating is going to record his conversations with other similar people focusing on their specialty after he completes a workout with them. It’s kind of like Ric Stein going on a cooking holiday and cooking meals with special chefs but Jeremy’s exercising instead of cooking. Should be cool to follow along with and here’s a link to my episode. https://open.spotify.com/episode/0TpuebuIBiMoaFok3prMw3?si=5992fb8b3362477d

Having recorded that episode it was time I awoke from my ‘nothing special’ slumber. Good timing as well (why am I congratulating myself, I planned it that way) because the Hills2Henley (H2H) was on Sunday and was the finale to my racing period of the school holidays.

30km in length, slight net downhill, all on the Torrens Linear Trail from Athelstone to Underdale High School (due to some typical Adelaide roadworks at Henley) this race was the last of the trifecta of school holiday races. First was 35km on trails in Brisbane, second was State 10km XC Champs and third was H2H 30km.

Having raced each weekend of the past two an outsider’s perspective could be ‘aren’t you feeling burnt out and tired?’. To a degree, yes. But that was all part of the design of this holiday period. To try and get myself to the point where the racing load is right at my limit for what feels like is doable. Standing in the shower on Saturday night, I realised that I was right at the edge which is what I wanted right? So, I had to embrace my own personal challenge and pressure and just relax into it a bit once I stepped out of the shower.

Pre-race, the excitement was medium-high. A couple of other biggish names appeared on the entry list, one being Mark whom I’ve raced three other times on the trails (2-1 in my favour) over the last 18 months and another, Robbie, who’s hoping to also run the Adelaide Marathon at a similar pace. But like I learnt from the build up to the Pichi Richi 10.5km, just because a fancy name is on the list doesn’t mean they’re racing it. But it also shouldn’t impact my performance on the day, run your own goddam race Fraser.

The other exciting part about finishing this race was that it signalled it was time to return home to Quorn. I didn’t want to return feeling like I didn’t expend all effort from my body. That will make for a miserable 4 hour drive home. What did I hope to achieve then out of this last effort for the school holidays? A solid hit-out, average some 3:30/km pace km’s in there to continue my preparation for the Adelaide Marathon, and enjoy running 30km along the River Torrens on a Sunday in Adelaide! If I ticked all those boxes it would be a nice drive home I hoped.

***THE RACE***

Race morning’s tend to be quiet periods of solitude in readiness for the morning’s activity. This one was no different. In fact, it all felt very routine which is great. Toast, coffee, poop, drive to the finish, bus to the start, chat to Robbie, Clayton (another good runner) and Tara (first female in the end) and got myself warmed up. The weather was good and my legs felt good for the first time in a few days with no general soreness felt when getting up and out of chairs. Robbie’s intention was to start out with some 3:40/km pace and then build into it considering he’s stepping out into the marathon distance for the first time and is still in heavy training and building confidence racing at that distance. Mark was rumoured to be planning a session instead of racing flat out but was also nowhere to be seen.

Until the start line where he popped up very reminiscent of my first encounter with him back in Onkaparinga last year! My plan was to average around 3:30/km at the start and try to then race it at some point depending on what was happening with the others. I wasn’t hanging around away from Quorn to just train through a race after all. I wanted the win, the cash that came with it and to make sure I left the finish feeling content ready for the drive home to Quorn.

Off the start line I pushed it out a bit, got some breathing space for a minute or so and then re-absorbed into a group with Clayton, Robbie and Mark. Averaging around 3:30/km I felt comfortable and already had some tunes playing. The course was slightly uphill to start and then rolled down all the way to the adapted finish of Underdale due to construction works near Henley. At about the 5km mark a little downhill roller popped up and I extended my legs out and got rolling. When I hit the flat section I seemed to just roll through at 3:20/km pace whereas the other three remained a tad behind. Feeling good I decided to keep free-wheeling for a bit. 3:20/km (or just over it which is what I was averaging) gets me low 2:20’s for the marathon which would be a real stretch goal. If I could hold this for 25km’s in this race and asses how I’m feeling by the end I would have a better idea of a good race plan for Adelaide.

Music on, 3:20/km rolling and nice cool conditions. Couldn’t ask for much more on a Sunday. Having the lead cyclist to follow made life a dream for the first 10k’s. A gel, skip to the next playlist and then life kept going on. The middle 10k’s felt the most boring but I did manage to improve on my drink-taking ability from the plethora of drink stations on the course.

Passing the 20km mark I was still holding 3:20/km’s and starting to hit some more scenic spots on the trail which was nice. The body was feeling a little sore but breathing and energy wise I felt fine. I decided to hold this level until the final 5km’s and then try and push it out a bit more then. I took my caffeine gel and carried on.

5km’s to go and things were starting to get tough but not too tough. Good feedback for any plan for the Adelaide marathon I guess. 3:20/km is not doable for 42.2km so aiming out to start at 3:30/km pace is a wiser idea. I still managed to hold 3:20/km pace and finish pretty strongly over the last km but would’ve liked to have known if I could’ve pushed more if I had to if there was competition closer by. I had been in the lead from the start effectively and had no idea how big a lead it was. Robbie crossed the line less than a minute behind me and had been within around 45 seconds for quite a large part which I’m glad I didn’t know because I feel that would’ve made me tighten up a bit.

Returning to the title of this particular article, the race was nothing special but I chose to give it a good effort in the end and got out what I put in (plus $300 cash) after labouring through an at times ‘nothing special’ week. But really, the nothing special week is actually a good reflection of my life and anyone’s else life most of the times. Essentially what I hope you’re picking up is I think I am nothing special (and I think you are too, whoever you are, no matter what your mother says). Myself, well I am the average height and average weight so for anyone out there reading along thinking oh yeah but he’s built differently of course he’s a good runner, he’s got special legs no siree that is not the case. If there’s one special thing I do think I have at times is I choose to have a good attitude. But I also believe that’s anyone’s choice. Sometimes I don’t have the right attitude, aka the start of this week, describing it as nothing special, but sometimes I do. It takes practice to always make that choice though.

Wrapping this all up, watching The Matrix earlier in the week it was clear that one of the main themes of the movie is that there is a battle between the idea of there being in a choice in life (good guys idea) or instead choice being an illusion and there is actually only cause and effect (bad guys idea, it’s all a computer simulation after all). Neo, the main character, and his mate Morpheus continually fly in the face of the Machines and bad-guy Mr.Smith because of what they ‘believe’ is right because of the ‘choice’ they can make. The ending to it all is the director’s way of saying ‘yes, you have a choice in life, all you have to do is believe in it’ as opposed to the ‘karma/fate/destiny/cause and effect’ way of life. Applying this to my life and week, if I can continue to choose the right attitude then I guess can make anything that isn’t special actually seem special like this week. I can also continue to choose to improve myself as a runner/outdoor athlete, as long I, like anyone else reading, has the ability to make that choice which, as the writers of the Matrix would have you think is all the fucking time. So choose and believe what you want wisely I guess…

There you have it, a nothing special week that involved a trip to Port Vic, a podcast recording, a race report, and a short movie anecdote. There’s something special about nothing special after all…