Fraser Darcy

Following on from last week’s successful Belair race it was back into training this week. With a bit of a twist. For 99.99% of my running career I have trained alone. It’s simpler that way because I only have to organise one person’s schedule, I can hold myself accountable to my own standards and I can listen to some music while I train.

Doing something 99.99% of the time means I am generally operating within a comfort zone though. i am comfortable organising my own training, I am comfortable pushing myself physically to an uncomfortable place and I am comfortable when listening to music. Improvement and new experiences come from getting out of the comfort zone though and so, having recognised I needed to break out of my comfort zone a while ago, an opportunity finally presented to train properly with some other runners this week.

I was invited along to friend of the blog/work colleague of Emma, Michael Nitschke’s (Nitta) training group on a Tuesday evening in the North Adelaide parklands. Coming off a hard half marathon race on the Sunday and rolling into a Tuesday session, on a hot day, was always going to be a tough ask but knowing I was heading to the nice surrounds of the parklands and being within a group I was hopeful the change in routine was enough to motivate me to train well.

Warming up in the parklands before the session started was nice. Always is though running along the same trails as the Adelaide Marathon, Hills to Henley and Ultra Adelaide victories of mine. The group knew exactly where they were going for the warm-up so I just sort of followed along which was already a little out of my comfort zone but quite relaxing. I didn’t have to think about where I was going, just follow.

Back at the clubrooms after the warm up it felt like an abbreviated footy environment. There wasn’t as much milling around and smack talk as there is in footy but having our bags, different shoes, own little space on the bench all felt like footy. Things got serious after this brief interlude. ‘Fast shoes’ were on, the group headed out for some warm up drills and strides while I just did a couple of run throughs. I didn’t want to start copying everything they did without really knowing what I was doing. Plus, warming up with drills all seems a bit too professional for my at times amateur disposition. If you follow the recipe all the time of what everyone else does how will you ever achieve a different result to them? Conforming to what everyone else does only gets you mediocre results. After a bit of faff, the time for the session was finally upon us.

The run was 3 sets of 2*1km repetitions (off a 4 minute cycle, i.e. take 3 minutes to run, get 60 seconds rest) plus 2*200m reps (off a minute cycle) with 2 minutes rest between sets. The idea was that the 1km’s were done at 5-10km pace (more like 10km pace) and the 200’s were done really fast (quicker than 3km pace, i.e. well and truly out of my comfort zone). In an ideal world, Nitta wanted me to train with some of the top runners in the group but they were all doing a much easier session before a race oa few days later. Didn’t bother me though, I normally train alone anyway of course, and plus it gave me a little bit less pressure to just ease into a session with the group rather than putting any ego I have on the line running with other fast guys.

Nitta himself joined in for the 1km reps to start with and after ideally wanting to start at 3:10/km pace I clocked the first in 2.58. Classic Fraser, going out too hard on the first rep. The second rep went through in about the same time and I thought ‘hmmmm, I was trying to take it easy but running at 2.58 pace for the first two reps means I’m either very fit or I’m about to get hurt big time and struggle to finish the session’. The first 200m rep was next and Nitta took me ’round the grass track in close to 30 seconds. He’s a former/current? track specialist so I was working way harder on these reps to keep track of him. The next rep we jumped on the back of the fast guys who were just focusing on running 200’s fast and I got cooked running a sub 30 second fast 200m rep.

This is the type of cooked I was wanting though. I know I still had a half marathon from Sunday in my legs but to be dragged around at that pace for those 200m reps is exactly what my running needs to improve. I was well and truly out of my comfort zone. The shit thing is though I still had two more sets of that to do. Oh boy, come out to your first session and cook the first rep like a nuffy. Classic Fraser move.

I was grateful for the two minute rest but just before I started the third 1km rep Nitta jumped out and left me to my own devices. Heading out on the rep I realised I immediately had way too much lactate still in my system and things were about to get interesting. I still ran two more sub 3 minute km reps but was bent over at the end of each one. The 200m reps were on me before I knew it and instead of running 30 seconds I only managed some 34 second reps. I wimped out and wanted to ensure I still hit the 3:00/km pace on the 1km reps considering that’s my main aim at the moment to be efficient at that speed. If I ran the 200m reps fast again and then fell off the 1km reps to 3:10/km pace I’d be disappointed. To ensure I kept the 3:00/km pace reps up I took an extra thirty seconds or so after the second set to rest.

That helped alot, as did running the 200m’s slower, because I was able to run the 5th rep at 3:00/km pace (with Nitta’s help) and then the 6th km was a bit slower but still mostly good (3:04). The final 200m’s were an improvement on set 2 and considering I did both of them solo I was pretty happy by the end. Any session or adventure where you are doubting if you’ll make it to the end before halfway and then somehow pull through is obviously a hugely beneficial training experience. The biggest takeaway, besides the physical effects, from the session was watching in person other runners training and trying to mimic their effort/stride over 200m. If I can nail that after a few more sessions I’ll easily find the extra few seconds per km I want to be able to increase my speed.

At the finish of the session, we did a quick warm down, some stretching (me only interestingly) and then I was back in the car before I knew it trying to cool myself down. Overall the experience was positive, I was happy with my times given Sunday’s effort and left feeling like it’s definitely worth going out again if I can fit it in my schedule.

That wasn’t the only group running I did this week though. The very next morning I joined in for a mid-week long run with the Cocks brothers, Jess Stenson and Tom (from Sunday’s race) through Adelaide’s eastern suburbs/parklands. No real need for a major breakdown of this 90 minutes of running but it was a real treat to again be taken on a tour of some good running locations, all without thinking of where I was going, amidst some quality runners. I wasn’t so much out of my comfort zone with this run but it was another step in doing more with these runners who do pull me out of my comfort zone in races.

After all that excitement my time in Adelaide was up. I headed back home in the afternoon to beat my Airbnb guest home and get the hot water and wifi on. Since being back in Quorn I’ve been a bit go-go, working 30 hrs across 4 days at the Quorn and Hawker pools, fitting in more running (including another good quality tempo run on Friday), hosting my Airbnb guest and publishing the latest issue of The Blue Line (please subscribe). I knew I would be a bit go-go and have less time for any walks or bike rides but there has to be compromises at times. The money I’ve earned over the last four days has covered the majority of my cost for living in January while the time off my feet and off my bike will mean come Wednesday I’ll be pretty refreshed and ready to go for both my 5km race and the ensuing start of proper marathon training that follows.

That’s all really for this week. The emphasis on getting outside of my comfort zone will be carried over to Wednesday night’s race where I’m hoping to get as close as possible to breaking 14:30 for 5km’s. That’s one of the the goals I set to work towards for this year. However, as long as I am dragging myself into a place I’ve never been before while racing my fellow competitors (i.e. GETTING OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE) the time will take care of itself. The excitement of running on the track for the first time since high school is also a big motivating factor. Thanks for reading and get outside your comfort zone this week. Or don’t. I don’t care. It’s your life you’re wasting.