A recurring idea I have mentioned once or twice in the last few weeks is the personal theory I hold that if I can string two 100+km’s weeks of training together I will feel fit. I have passed that mark and now feel fit. It’s almost three weeks of running if you start counting just pure 7-day periods (instead of Sunday-Sunday) of 100+km’s since I finished the Clare 10km. I don’t necessarily feel as fit as I was when I ran 14:29 over 5km and 30:25 over 10km, but I feel 80-90% of the way there. I have a sneaky suspicion I feel more durable than I did back then but without having the benefit of time travel it’s hard to tell. The afternoon walks up Devils Peak have been just as aerobically beneficial as an afternoon run while also strengthening some of the lesser-used muscles when running. The end result is I have run less km’s than I probably want but may have arrived at the same outcome as if I had run 160km’s. Again, hard to know, but that’s the fun in experimenting with different training regimes.
That’s a fair introduction to this week’s recap and sets the scene for what has been my best and most consistent week since mid-February. On Monday it was an easy hour followed by an easy arvo run. This of course followed my first 2hr Sunday run the day prior so to crank out two runs was great. Both were just easy though so nothing to write home about or elaborate further about on this website.
Tuesday. Km reps. I’d been keen to do these again for a couple of weeks because similar to a parkrun effort or a personal time trial, they are a great benchmark session for me. I was hoping to run 3:10/km for each of the 6 reps I’d planned (off only 60 seconds recovery) because I have been worried my top end speed is not what it used to be (the lack of ‘power’ in my tendon/ankle/foot was the factor behind that). The first one out of the blocks was 3:04. That would’ve been great even if I ran that in January or February. I better hold on here then and not regress too much from that. The next rep, which incorporates a slight downhill was 2:57. Great, that’s two down quite well. The third one, up the hill was a bit slower at 3:08. Ok, A little regression but good to be smart and controlled about it. It’s also still under 3:10. Back down the hill at 2:57 again for the fourth one. Final two. Up the hill I was hurting a bit in the back end, this is great training though, and managed to still scrape in for a 3:07. I could’ve done with twenty seconds extra rest but stuck to my 60 seconds and went back down the hill and closed strongly for 2:53. Very good. Still didn’t feel like I quite have the pizzaz from January or February but this is pretty good.
On Wednesday I did actually make it through my mid-week long run this time. Last week I aborted it at 6km’s in. It wasn’t pretty this week but I still made it through 20km’s. I supplemented this day with a walk around Devils Peak, going a little bit further to the climbing section to add some more minutes and just to change up my routine.
For Thursday I was in two minds. If I made it a two session week then Thursday was just going to be an easy run. But then I would have to do a tempo run on Friday morning which is the day The Blue Line gets released and I also had guests staying with me with the night before and the Friday night so I would be a little out of my routine. But if I tempo’d on Thursday, that would be three days in a row of ‘intensity’ following Tuesday’s km reps and Wednesday’s mid week long run. Would that be too much overload on my return to full health? Only one way to find out. I warmed up and felt fine, did a few strides and made the decision to tempo. As it was now going to be a three session week I decided three laps of the North Quorn Parklands loop would do (6.3km) instead of the four I did last week (8.4km’s) during a two session week. If I averaged around or just below 3:20/km I’d be happy. Of course, the first lap I went out a bit quicker than that and recorded 3:15/km. The next lap I maintained it with a bit of control for 3:13/km before closing the final lap in 3:10/km. A well executed tempo run where I wasn’t overreaching towards the end. A PB for this session is cranking out two laps of 3:10/km in a row so to be not too far off that was quite pleasing.
Following this it was good to spend the rest of the day relaxing with the Anzac Day match the Bombers of course play in. I was motivated to get some more fitness in and whacked the footy on the radio while I headed out to Devils Peak for an afternoon walk. If I could sneak in a quick walk during half time/the third quarter, I’d be back to watch the end of the fourth quarter on TV. With the footy providing great background noise I pushed out a quick Devils walk, recording a PB in the process. The day would’ve been perfect if the Bombers held on to win but their draw was probably the next best result and I guess reminds me that not everything can be perfect. Of course later that evening I had some guests roll in who were staying with me until Saturday morning. They were actually returning climber friends of mine who stayed way back in September 2022 so it was nice to see them again!
By getting my tempo run out of the way on Thursday I was able to enjoy publishing The Blue Line on Friday morning and then go on a slow easy loop of Dutchmans afterwards. I finished off preparing some training programs for the RunAsOne people I am responsible for, rode my bike a bit because it was such a good day in Quorn, and then rested for the rest of the day which even included a serve of fish and chips at the pub with my climbing mates!
On Saturday, I again had a dilemma in my mind about whether I head to Moonarie for a time trial up the ascent track or just stick to an old faithful Saturday morning routine of going to Mt.Brown for some hill repeats. I chose the Mt.Brown option because I don’t particularly enjoy the cumulative 2hr 20 min drive to Moonarie enough for just an hour run. I had this same dilemma about doing my long run up there but again, just opted to do it at home. For the Mt.Brown steep hill session I warmed up like I normally used to (6km’s) when I was doing this session a lot in October/November 2023. I opted to just run up and down the hill without any rest at the bottom and without pushing it too hard. This was meant to be a third session of the week but I was more interested in how mechanically my body would cope with it as opposed to aerobically. I put in some effort on the fourth rep and was pleased with how it felt but that was about it. I could notice some discomfort in my right ankle/calf/tendon because I can compare it with my left which is relatively pain-free but it’s really not holding me back anymore I don’t think. To top off my training for the day, and again to make the most of a good afternoon of weather, I walked the ‘long’ version of Devils Peak again and went for an afternoon run listening to Carlton v Geelong. Great game, average run (stomach was a bit cooked).
This finally brings us to Sunday, the longest run and most important of the week. It’s almost a shame that it’s left until the end of the week when I’m at my most tired but it also feels natural to do a long run on the day that most other runners are doing a long run. My tendon was a bit tighter than normal when I woke up which wasn’t great for my confidence but I managed to warm-up properly before setting off for my run. On the run it only took the first few km’s before I realised that it actually felt a lot better and I wasn’t compensating at all for it. I ran the same route I did last Sunday which helps a lot with comparing how I felt so I am pretty confident in saying that I have improved my fitness. Similar to last week I ran for 2hrs but went a teeny bit quicker for 26km’s. In total that gave me 130km’s for the week and to put that into context, if I had run an easy afternoon run on the days I just went for a walk and if I had run an extra few km’s on my long run I’d be at 160-170km’s for the week which was my normal training load through January. Also, to remind you of how I started this post, it marked the second official week in a row of 100+km’s. Post long-run I also felt fine, not overly stiff or tired.
Continuing with the theme of returning back to full fitness, today (Sunday) is also the day of the Ballarat Marathon, the event I was training for in January/February/March before I had to pull the pin. It’s a little bit sad to look at the results and wonder what might have been but it reminds me of the lesson I have learnt about managing my injury and staying healthy. No good being super fit and injured. Having now also passed the day of the race with Ballarat I feel as if my future race plans can take centre stage as opposed to feeling like they’re just the second option. They were just the second option while the first option, Ballarat, was still a mathematical chance of happening, but now, without the use of a time machine, there is no possible way I can race Ballarat so any race from now on is a first choice option. And as I alluded to last week I am focused on selecting races that will place me in harm’s way and make me a better runner.
Which, could be as soon as next Sunday if I enter one in particular. I will wait to see how I pull from my second 2hr long run and if it’s all good then it’ll be time for me to enter a race I believe. Training by myself is great and helps me keep the pace easy, but throwing myself into the lion’s den of a race (provided I’m injury free) is what really stimulates some extra fitness. I just can’t remember to forget my hat in the lion’s den.
Apart from a potential race on Sunday, the rest of the next week is a little different to the last two. There are no coaching programs to write and I have a day of rock climbing work this week. Hopefully it goes well. I always stress about outdoor work because the weather and the clientele is always an unknown. For the last few years I’ve been telling myself I’m going to retire from it but I keep saying yes for good reasons. This time the good reason is to help the local school, other times it’s to help out friends or because at the time it sounds like a good idea to get paid to go to a place I enjoy going or simply because it’s a quick way to earn a thousand dollars or so. Even though they are good reasons sometimes I’m not sure they outweigh the build up and the displacement of my normal routine. If I can get to a position with my other income streams that I don’t need to accept outdoor work for money then that will be good in the future. But for the immediate future of this week I will be re-entering the fray of teaching rock climbing to teenagers. I’ve been watching a fair amount of Adam Ondra’s Youtube channel to build my psyche and having my two climbing mates stay during the week also helped me get back into the climbing frame of mind. It’ll be good to have it as a distraction as opposed to just thinking about a race all week too.
For now though, thanks for reading and enjoy this Spotify created playlist below which has been getting a serious workout lately.
P.S This popped up on my Facebook this week, reminding me that it has been 9 years since I paddled to Tasmania. Great memories!
Fraser Darcy 
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