Fraser Darcy

A fortnight ago I raced the State 3000m Championships as my first track race in 2025. That race itself came a fortnight after winning the Cadbury Marathon and was a good indication that I’m fit for track racing but needed to sharpen up my speed a bit more. Running 8:19 was a PB but given I had only fit in two, maybe three, sessions of track running in the lead up it’s probably not indicative of my true potential over 3000m.

Two weeks later though, with a few more track sessions under my belt and now almost 4 weeks targeting track distances I am in a better position to race well on the track. This blog’s highlight, a 5000m track race on Saturday, is covered in detail at the end but highlighting the fact that I am in a better position than I was two weeks ago with my fitness is a good starting point.

A good starting point is also to start my weekly recap on Monday. I ran an easy hour in Belair and felt pretty fresh having taken it relatively easy in Sunday’s long run the day before. I had a physio appointment with Emma in the morning too where she was happy enough to tell me my sore foot I’ve been dealing with for a few weeks isn’t too big of an issue at this stage but I should just keep an eye on it. A bit of gym, some life admin, a swim and an easy run followed by some strides and Monday was a good starting point to my week.

On Tuesday I trained at 6:30am with the RAO group for the first time in a fortnight and this time, instead of drifitng off the back of Jacob from the start, I aimed to stay on him for the first set of a 2.4km progression into 3*300/100jog. I did it relatively comfortably and was happy with the paces we hit but when it came to the recovery jog after the last 300 he pulled away from me a bit too easily. I couldn’t recover at his pace so let him go. Pretty good to go from not being able to sit on him to being able to sit on him for half of the session. Maybe next time I can sit on him for 3/4 of the session?

The second set of the session was either another 1.6 or 2.4k progression followed by more 300/100jogs. I ran the first lap to feel of the progression and came out at around 72s which is pretty good going for a mile for me so opted to juts try and hold that pace for 1.6k. I did and finished it off with 3 fast 300’s. A shorter session but one that was good value. To finish off the running component of my day I hit another 30min jog in the arvo on the trails and continued the theme of feeling pretty good in my training.

That theme is something I put down to the consistency of my long runs since November/December without having interruptions for racing like I used to do a lot more. I also put it down to it now being three months of consistent strength training. And finally, feeling good in my afternoon jogs has probably been a result of a subtle change in my diet in the last week. I used to eat a bowl of oats for breakfast and then reward myself with another bowl for lunch but always knew that it was a lot of oats and perhaps the reason I had stomach issues in the arvo was because my digestion couldn’t handle it or it couldn’t handle the quantity of peanut butter I was consuming too. So, I’ve only been eating one bowl of oats per day for the past week and feel a lot better. It took some mental training to be able to cope with it but now having reflected on the benefit it’s making me feel physically, it’s an overall win and something I should’ve been more consistent with in the past (this is not the first time I’ve tried to stop eating so many oats).

On Wednesday I ran a slower than usual 90 mins with Jess and Jacob in the morning which was nice. A bit of gym afterwards and another jog in the afternoon capped off a busy ish day doing some work for RAO behind the scenes on a few things.

Thursday, quite possibly the best training day of the week for me as I get to sleep in as much as I want. Which meant until almost 7am on this day before I naturally woke up. It was also my longest sleep since late October with my best deep sleep score as well. Put that alongside the very still and cool conditions that greeted me at Bowker Oval at around 7:45am that morning and I was on for a good session. Being a slight taper session before the 5km race on Saturday night I followed a similar recipe to that of before the State 3km race where I ran a reduced version of Deeks (8*400/200float) and threw in some extra 400’s. This time I went for 4 sets of 400/200float and was going to do 4*200’s.

Out the gates my first lap of the Deeks was in 68s, the pace I hope to run on Saturday night and a couple of seconds quicker than this session two weeks ago. I maintained the 68s a lap pace for the first three 400’s and then squeezed out the last one in 66. Very good. My floats were also faster than the last two times I’ve done this session as well. I had a quick rest, changed into my spikes and got ready to aim for a sub 30 200m. My training partners Luke and Fin had jokingly suggested that a sub 30 200m at Bowker is impossible so naturally I aimed to prove them wrong. I did it on the first go and made sure it wasn’t a fluke on the second one too. Geez, that was actually pretty easy, how fast could I run for a 400m? If I went through the first 200 of a 400m effort in under 30s then I told myself I would just continue on to see if I could run sub 60. Sure enough, I went through in 29.5 for the first 200m, pushed on, felt like I was tightening up in the last 100m but still finished quick enough to run sub 60 for 400m. I still wanted to run another couple of 200’s and reasoned with myself that a key Lydiard session is 6*200m and effectively, by running 2*200 and then a 400 I was only two away of my quota of six 200’s. So I did two more 200’s and was pretty happy with myself. Like I said at the start, I was definitely in a better position than I was two weeks ago.

There wasn’t much else on for the rest of the day besides some coaching work, putting together TBL and then another easy arvo jog. I did make a fancy risoni dinner that night too which was a personal highlight.

Friday proved to be an interesting day, I was on the bike for the 6:30 session and in organising myself I accidentally pocket dialled my old friend Guangyi! Long, long time blog readers will remember that I lived with Guangyi in Quorn for a few months in 2023 and he was a great housemate. I completed the RAO session and finished it with a text from Guangyi just checking in why I had called him. I explained it was a pocket dial but the nice surprise was that we quickly caught up and Guangyi now runs his own driving school, has bought a house in Melbourne and has a pretty good life (in his own words!). I went for a jog knowing Guangyi had organised his life pretty well and only ran 10km’s due to having the race the next day. I also wanted to stay pretty fresh because I was going to help Izzi on the bike for her own session at 9:30. That turned out to be 2hrs of good fun bike riding around Botanic Park and by the end it was time to go home for lunch and relax for the rest of the day. In amongst my relaxing I did go for a little walk and do 20 minutes of mobility, without added weights, which refreshed me and made me feel better than just going for a standard 30 minute jog.

Besides that little walk/mobility session, being able to relax for the majority of Friday meant I was able to continue reflecting on how much my running has changed not only in two weeks, not only in three-four months but also in twelve months since I ran my 5km PB of 14:29. Back then I was average the same amount of km’s but the quality of my sessions, strides, strength training and overall training was a lot lower. That bodes well for a good PB on Saturday night but it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a given. I still have to run faster than I ever have for 5km in my life to make that happen which can be a daunting prospect. Something that helps me not be as daunted by it is the fact that well, in two weeks time or another three or four months time, or even another twelve months time, the aim is to be better than I am now by continuing to improve and maintain my focus on progressing. The easiest way to do that is to try and run as fast as I can in the best paced race I can. If it’s a PB great, if not, well hopefully it’s a step closer towards an improved version of myself in two weeks, three months or twelve months time. The sense of satisfaction I felt running a sub 30 200m and sub 60 400m is enough to entice me to keep on improving with or without a 5k PB because it is a good reminder I am progressing. I felt hungry in those 200 and 400m efforts and that’s a good approach to me, and one I will have in the 5k, to getting the best out of myself.

Of course, before the 5km itself on Saturday I went for a short jog in the morning at Belair and ran my normal shakeout loop. I even did a few strides at the end to really activate my body and just test out if that’s a good thing to do before a 5km race. The rest of Saturday was the pretty classic Saturday before a race of not doing much at all, putting together the blog, enjoying having some quiet time at home etc etc.

Then it became race time.

I made it down to the track at 6pm nice and early to watch some 800’s and get the lay of the land. It was windy. That’s not ideal for fast times but it is a race after all and everyone in the race will have the same conditions to deal with so that’s all that really matters. And running fast. Or so I told myself as I wandered over to the other side of the track to meet up with my mates and get ready to warm up.

Our race was scheduled to start at 7:30pm but these things usually run over time by about 5 or so minutes hence we delayed our warm up a bit. Once we did get going I was pleased to not have any afternoon stomach issues which can sometimes happen, especially with nerves around racing. Perhaps it was the less oats thing or perhaps I was just more used to racing at the track. Anyway, we got back and just as I started to get my spikes on I noticed other runners had hip and chest numbers pinned on. Fuck me, I asked when I checked in if we needed any of these and the bloke said no. So not wanting to trust some other Aths SA official I jogged around to the office to grab my pair, pinned them on, jogged back to find another official calling out the list of names to check us in. Oh you went back and grabbed your numbers did you? Yes I fucking did because I trusted your organisation once already tonight and look where that got me.

With our numbers all pinned on and somewhat ready to race we stood perplexed by the track. There was a 5000m walk still going on and it was already 7:30pm. We watched as one lone walker finished off their race sometime around 7:42/7:43pm. Now I’m all for everyone having a go and everyone having access to sport, but to have programmed it so that twenty guys raring to go for a 5km race and a whole stadium are watching one bloke stroll around the track at literal walking pace, that’s a bit much. Eventually, we got going though.

The plan was for Jacob to pace through until 3k at 8:40 which is 14:20-14:25 pace (or 68-69s per lap). Myself and a few others were on board and right from the gun Jacob clocked a 67s lap. I was happy because I feel like I benefit from a faster pace throughout the whole race as opposed to a fast last km. But the theory goes for most of the running population that if you have a pacer, you stick in behind them, let them do the work, and then kick in the final kilometre. So that’s what I was experimenting with. This did happen in the 5k track race where I ran my PB of 14:29 last year but I felt like I started to make some moves before the 3k mark so did have an idea of doing that throughout this race. I also had in the back of my mind that some of my more enjoyable races (Sydney Marathon, State 3km last year) are where I’m on the front doing the work.

A few more laps down and I was still sitting pretty comfortably behind Jacob and we were a touch in front of the pace which was good. As things got closer to the 3k mark I started to get closer to Jacob’s shoulder on the back straight, almost egging him on to go faster. I had to restrain myself from passing him. This is something I regret in the end. Jacob kept on pacing till 4k and I got passed by only two other runners who ran 14:13 and 14:19 while I finished in 14:24. A PB and a big win over the rest of the field but to finish 3rd to two people who had run times I was hoping to run is a bit eh. Maybe if it wasn’t windy my time would translate to a bit faster but it was so I can’t do anything about that.

I was mostly happy with being able to run 14:24 on a windy night and tick a PB as that means in a months time at the State 5k I can confidently go hell for leather for another shot at sub 14:20 or just sit in the pack and try and race. But honestly, linking back to the part of the race I regret, I’d probably prefer to just run my own race in the State 5k and if I feel good, go early and run from the front. I wish I had gone faster through the middle part of the race on Saturday night and just responded to how I felt rather than trying to play the smart pacing game. It’s more fun just going with how I feel. I did that in the State 3km last year and this year’s State 3k and also in November’s 5k. Just run to how I feel, latch onto a pack if it felt good and try and get to the front if it didn’t. Overthinking the pace is not my style.

It’s a good lesson to learn though for next time and it is still a good PB to have next to my name. Plus being not totally satisfied with a race is part of the human condition I think. If we were satisfied with our lot, we would never have bothered to explore half the planet or think to try and cook a dead animal. So I’m glad we have that part of the brain that always wants more from ourselves, it’s already motivating me to run a bit faster and hungrier like I used to in parkruns for the next 5km track race which in turn, hopefully makes me a better runner (and person) in the long run.

Of course, that’s not all the weekend running I had though. Sunday was a busy day with most of the RAO group racing at the Semaphore Classic. Last year I raced this event as a non-RAO runner and so it was different to turn up this year as a coach for the biggest running group in SA. I talked to a few of the people I coach, started a jog with some mates, looped back to see the people I coach either win, set a PB or just finish (or in some cases DNF but not that I knew that at the time). It was nice to see in the end how many people did get a PB whilst also seeing that I coached 4 of the top 5 female runners in the 10k including the winner! I kept on moving with my long run though and made it to 1hr30min before deciding I was sick of the shoes I was wearing. A quick change into a faster pair of shoes and I was off again, motivated to get some frustration out from the night before. I ran the last 10-12km’s at a steady pace and ended up with 35km’s for the morning as I had planned for myself which was nice. I was pretty unsure after the first few km’s in the morning how my morning would turn out so to tick off all 35km’s was good. It was a good mental effort to do so more than a physical effort and one thing I reminded myself towards the 28th/29th km was that these mentally hard runs are good to look back on when I’m reflecting on my training block.

Which, might be changing tune for the next few weeks. I do have the State 5km as my next race which means I could keep doing what I have been doing. Or, considering the National Mountain Champs is coming up and Ballarat Marathon I could add in some more trail specific sessions plus a little bit more volume now I’ve ticked the goal of getting faster. While my 5km PB doesn’t necessarily reflect the fact I think I’ve gotten much faster in a race, I do think I am faster than where I was twelve months ago so I have ticked that part of my goal from the last four weeks. If I could keep that speed, add back in the 180-200km volume, plus some trail work then I’ll be in a good spot in another two weeks time and then another two weeks time after.

The only way to find out though is to give it a go (for me) and read about it here (for you). Thanks for reading.