Fraser Darcy

Here we go then, the last blog before this race that I’m focusing on at the moment. These last blogs can be the most annoying to write because the little voice in your head looks into every potential thought bubble as a ‘ooooh say that and you’re putting pressure on yourself‘ or ‘c’mon that sounds like you’re just trying to dodge all the nervous energy by saying you’re just there to enjoy it‘. So you know what, screw all that I’ll just roll through this one like any normal blog and whatever comes out of the fingers on the keyboard is what comes out. Chances are I won’t be thinking about it on the start line and if I am maybe that means I’m so relaxed I’m off in my own little world which’ll probably be a good thing anyway.

This week as a ‘training’ week was a little tricky. I’m glad it’s out of the way. I was going from 1.5 weeks to go on the Monday at the start of this week to 0.5 weeks to go. Push it too hard this close and there’s no time for recovery. Go too easy and I may go in feeling too recovered/slow/lethargic but that’s probably a better problem to have. In addition to this I had to tie up a few loose ends at school this week plus some airbnb booking’s and some swim club work. All that stress is now past me so I’m eyes forward towards the race.

Instead of telling you a whole run-down of the week I’m going to cap it at what was different.

#1. Airbnb booking on a Monday night. They checked in around dinner and tried to negotiate a second night (which wasn’t possible) but we got over that awkward moment pretty quick and were pretty reasonable people.

#2. Usually Tuesday’s are my ‘hard effort’ days up Mt.Brown but this particular afternoon was the swim club’s welcome BBQ to start the season officially. So, instead, I ran an easy hour before work, worked all day (including holding two maths tests), then helped at swim club, ate some BBQ sausages for dinner and went for an easy sausage-fuelled half an hour afterwards to clear my head and wind down after a second busy day in a row. I might have cleared my head but my stomach was pretty cooked on this run so it wasn’t that enjoyable…

#3. Having a different Tuesday meant my Wednesday was different. I bumped my hard run to Wednesday arvo and changed it slightly as well. I still did the 4 reps up my favourite little hill but did them at ’50km’ race effort and had no rest between the 2nd and 3rd reps and just continued straight on each time. Felt good to just enjoy ticking my legs over as opposed to really pushing it hard up the hill. The same for going down as well.

#4. On top of my Wednesday run being different I had another airbnb booking on Wednesday until Saturday morning. Nice solo traveller who kept mainly to herself though so it was actually minimal stress. Received a 5-star review from her.

#5. Karl and his girlfriend Lucie were in town on Wednesday/Thursday which was great to give me a good reason to get out for an easy thirty/forty minutes on Thursday morning with them. First time I’ve ever ran with more than one other person in Quorn and it felt incredibly easy. I was back on track to my normal routine for the week by now so did an easy hour later in the day followed by another swim club training helping session.

#6. My mid-week long run up and around Dutchman’s Stern was on Friday this week (which I did when it was 40 degrees a few weeks ago so it was still part of a routine for me) but instead of doing the full loop I just rolled back down the shorter track to the summit to make it a double out-and-back from the carpark (once to the road and back for my warm up and once to the summit and back). I didn’t do an easy half an hour on this morning and no weights/mobility either so my legs felt pretty fresh at the start which hasn’t been the case the last few times I’ve started this run. Good signs that my recovery is going in the right direction. Friday also marked my last day of teaching for a week or so!

#7. Saturday’s easy hour was not around Quorn, not up Mt.Brown but in Melrose with Chad! Yes Chad made his long awaited return to the blog! He was on a little mountain bike bender with Emily (his wife and also friend of the blog) so I nipped down to Melrose for an easy hour along the rail trail. Good run, good chat, great start to the weekend.

#8. Sunday. Final day of the week and instead of a long run I went on a normal hour loop and ran the middle part (half my normal ‘hard section essentially along Pinkerton Rd) at a faster pace. At first it felt terrible. It was hot already at 9am (waited to watch the results of Victor Harbor Half Marathon roll in, Georgia got a PB) so they might’ve been a factor. By 7 or so minutes in though to the hard effort, it was fine and I actually enjoyed it by the end. The end of this run signalled the real start of the taper even though I’ve kind of been tapering since a week and a bit ago. Every run from here is easier until race day.

8 things all up that were different across the week. That’s a fair bit in the end but really none of them were too consequential by any means. Now though we have finished ‘the training block’ and I am happy to look back on what is my longest continuous block of work with pride. Consistent long runs, never missed a ‘session’ or easy runs and didn’t have to battle the weather too much. If I was looking for more out of it I’d probably say I could’ve traded a hill rep session or a threshold/tempo run for a flatter/faster session of 400’s or 1km repeats at one point just to keep my speed in touch. Or maybe tried to do a 3hr, 3hr 15 minute long run at one point too but overall I think what I’ve done is good. Having no niggles throughout the block was also pretty cool (except for that tight hamstring a few weeks ago now I think of it but I didn’t stop running because of it).

Those are of course the physiological aspects of the training block. From a mental perspective having this long of a training block without racing has been challenging and great. Racing is fun so it was challenging to miss out on small local races. In the absence of those races though I was able to power up the mental hyperdrive. Forget about all the mumbo-jumbo non-sense that doesn’t matter in races like paces per rep, heart rate, floats, etc and just focus on effort. Give a good effort and be excited to give a good effort. That’s what the mental hyperdrive is. You might call it ‘being focused’ but imagining you’re charging up some sort of big red button thingo to then smack and go light speed at and just run (keeping it simple stupid) is better. The longer this training block went on, the more I was charging up this big red button and building a mental capacity to drive it. Each time I overcame a challenge in training, boom, that moment goes in the memory bank to be drawn upon later. When the memory bank is low, or the hyperdrive isn’t charged, I don’t do well and this was the case at the Hounslow Classic and possibly the Brisbane Ultra. I only really understand this though because I have made those mistakes in the past and have tried something different with this race. Maybe there’ll be new mistakes to make after having such a long block, who knows. But the training block is now finished.

Which leaves me heading into the ‘race block’. This week, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will just be easy runs, with maybe Tuesday involving some of the hills around Thredbo to get a feel for the course. I’ll try and do plenty of stretching on my drive and while sitting around from Tuesday arvo when I get to Thredbo. In dot point form to keep it short, I’m looking forward to:

• Running well for as long and fast as I can.
• Seeing familiar faces at the race and being in a race atmosphere again
• Re-visiting the Snowy Mountains area and seeing how many memories flood back
• Nice weather forecast
• Not teaching or working for a week and living the OG Outdoor Athlete lifestyle.
• Getting the most out of my body on the course and pacing myself smartly so this happens right on the finish line.
• Seeing how I’ve improved given the race experiences I’ve had over the 40-60km race distance in the past and whether I’ve learnt to not make the same mistakes or whether my training has improved my capabilities.
• Seeing where I stack up against other quality runners in a field that looks to be filled with some decent interstate runners (VIC, NSW, ACT, QLD and of course me from SA all represented).
• Having the ability to relax after a race knowing I gave it my all and then I don’t have to drive off anywhere in a hurry! Yeoow!

A lot to look forward to! How it all goes, nobody knows. And that’s the part that I’m starting to relax into actually. If I did know how it was all going to go would I still do it? Would it still be fun? Where’s the excitement and curiosity in that? I could let the unknowingness (not a word) scare me a bit. But I think it’s more productive to flip it and use it to ‘free my mind’.

There’s always the hope, pre-race, that everything goes really well. On Thursday at 6:30am eastern time, hopefully the possibility of doing well is still on the table (it’s always a chance something happens beforehand right? I’ve gotta be grateful for actually getting there). From the start line, it’ll be a case of making sure the first 5km goes well, then re-assessing the possibilities, hoping that they’re all still there and then go again. and again. and again. Till the end.

Thanks for reading and following along, I look forward to sharing how it all goes down! That probably won’t be for a few days but I’ll get a recap up at some point this year…Cheers.

As a side-note to finish on… this weekend also involved a large amount of elite running being watched. Zatopek:10 in Melbourne, Fukuoka Marathon in Japan and Valencia Marathon in Spain. Read about that in The Blue Line on Friday. Big issue incoming…