Fraser Darcy

We pick up where we left off in blog-land. I’d just had a week ‘off’ where I ran 160km’s without the mental focus of training for anything in particular. This present week was about switching back ‘on’ and training for something in particular, albeit still very far off in the distance. That meant I could afford to ease my way into this training knowing I’ll need to spread my cognitive load over the next three-four months. Can’t be using it all up in the first week of this block. With the scene set, we zoom further into present day of blog-land (well present day being Monday of this week)…

I slept in until 8ish for the first time in a long time. Maybe since I was sick actually which was only back in March. Anyway, I was maybe going to run with Fin and Luke on this day for an easy social run along the beach but decided instead to operate on my own timezone rather than stress about trying to time it all so it worked out. Once I did get out for my run though I ran into Fin and Luke, jogged a few km’s with them, talked about how good the Sinner v Alcaraz French Open final was and then continued on afterwards solo. It was a pretty good run apart from that, and a pretty good day. I went up to my former sponsors (Mum and Dad’s) to use the drier and collect a few things and that was about it. My afternoon run got dragged out later in the afternoon than I would’ve liked so I only added in some surges, as opposed to strides, within the final kilometre of my run.

Tuesday. RAO Session Day. In the original plan of this week I was going to ‘coach’ this session and let Riley participate however he was a bit sore from our hills session so let me participate instead. I was still sore too but seeing as my race wasn’t anytime soon it didn’t actually matter too much how well I executed this specific session of 800m on, 200m jog. I decided to do 10 sets worth of it given I was sore and given I was just after a bit of volume. It wasn’t the intention of the session, and it was probably a bit more like a 10*1k with 60s jog session I’d like to try one day, but it felt right to do it this way for my mood and the cognitive effort I wanted to apply. On the numbers of it, I started out around 3:00/km for the 800’s and stayed there/slowed down. Not a great execution but oh well, I wasn’t putting too much thought into this one so didn’t get much out of it. The Nutri Grain slogan holds true.

I did some gym afterwards and felt pretty weak in my usual exercises which was a bit weird and then got in the sauna afterwards. A pretty big morning of training and by the time I got home I actually felt pretty cooked. More so than I’d usually like to admit so I intervened and cooked up some pasta for lunch to try and re-stock the fuel tank more so than a tuna wrap and a bread and butter sandwich could ever do for me. Pasta and a nap later hadn’t done the trick. What had actually been happening to me is that I had got a COLD! I had the sniffles! Oh no! It meant my piss poor effort in the gym wasn’t because I was still sore and tired from my running over the last few days, it meant I was already suffering from the fatigue a cold brings…

So what did I do with the self-diagnosis of having a cold? I went into horizontal relaxation mode on the couch, organised a double with Fin to ensure I had some accountability in my training and waited until the last possible moment I could leave to arrive on time. I jogged with Fin and made it through the run pretty ok, blowing my nose every now and then but feeling not too bad. Once the run was done I could get back to living pretty stress-free in a hope to kick this cold sooner rather than later. A good night’s sleep and…

Nope. Still had the cold on Wednesday morning but at least I had accountability in my jog, meeting up with Jess, Jacob, Chad and Will. We did 1hr together along the Torrens with me managing it pretty well before I added on another 15 minutes with Jacob and then debated how far I’d add on solo until I’d run 25km’s (or an extra 30 minutes) which is the distance I had hoped to run. Of course, pushing myself to get this distance meant I was pretty wiped out for the rest of the day but did some work from The RunHouse as I tried to rest. I debated with myself about the need for a second run on this day and eventually dragged myself off the couch to visit Mum and Dad’s again to return a non-compatible DVD player (anyone with a free DVD player that has a HDMI cable AND not a red-yellow-white cord, this is your opportunity to help me out). While there I knew I could amble out for an easy jog on my former home trails. I kept it pretty easy and gladly made it to 40 minutes. I also felt pretty springy too which was a good sign. Perhaps I was over my cold?

Nope. It was still there on Thursday but on this day I had a real easy day planned. Easy run along the beach on a nice sunny morning, work from home in some peace and quiet, bit more relaxing, and then an easy run finishing with some strides in the afternoon. To do these strides I grabbed my shoes from home and jogged over to Bowker Oval, my first real venture back there for a couple of months. As I put my fast shoes on it was getting a bit dark but it didn’t really matter as I wasn’t going to be there long…*wijjjhuhhh* the big oval spot lights came on. The Bowker Magic had kicked in and the oval was bathed in light. Perfect, this is the magic I need to get back into gear and do some strides. And that I did. It felt great doing strides on an oval around the corner as opposed to up and down the street dodging cars. It made me feel like a real athlete which is the mental belief I need to start having with my training and results. I should be bothering to do the extra one percenters because I am now hoping to get to that level. Instead of just looking at what exercises elite athletes do on YouTube I may as well experiment doing them myself and seeing if they do make a difference…

The difference they make, or specifically the difference the Bowker Magic makes, is that I was over the hump of my cold by Friday morning. I trained on a Friday with the group for the first time in a long time and we had a session of 8 minute reps with 2 minute jogs. I eased into the first set, not looking at my watch and instead tried to focus on getting the right effort. It came out at 3:13/km pace which was a bit slow for what I should be doing this at. Oh well, I didn’t panic, used the jog to back off the effort and then got into the next set. 3:06/km. That’s better. I recovered on the next jog and then loaded up for two more sets at 3:00/km each. Ooooh yeah, that’s a lot better. I was definitely over my cold and lethargy. It showed as well when I went into the gym and lifted my normal weights and jumped in the sauna for a normal amount of time. My afternoon run later in the day was the final bit of evidence to show that yes, I had recovered from my cold.

Which was great news for my Saturday because I could get on with my morning run and day knowing I didn’t have to prioritise rest anymore. I jogged with Luke up at Belair to keep my hill running ability in check and also just for the fact that I enjoy running in Belair, and I guess running with Luke. The best part about some Saturday’s though is that I treat them as my real easy day of the week. An hour run in the morning and an easy jog in the arvo and that’s it. Structuring my week this allows me to be refreshed and motivated for what’s to come on…

Sunday. Long Run day. Last week I knocked off my first 2.5hr run in a long time and felt great about doing so. Next week, I plan on running pretty steady for 2hrs or more for my long run so this week needed to be a bit of a transition between the two. Hence, I ran an easy 75 minutes with the group and then picked up the effort for what was going to be 10-12km’s worth of work but ended up being 13km’s to finish at 2hrs. I ran most of this with Jacob and we didn’t really have a pace we were aiming for, more so just run to feel. He had originally planned to do 5km’s worth of work but ended up staying for 10km’s (makes sense now why I also pushed it out a little bit too doesn’t it). I was happy to record 3:22/km for this section given I wasn’t in my race shoes and wasn’t really forcing it. I jogged an extra thirty minutes to get my morning total to 2.5hrs again and was happy to record an extra kilometre than I did last week. I also got a bit more practice taking on some of my new Bix gels and drinks. It’s all part of the plan to get a bit more serious with the ‘one percenter’ side of my running to hopefully make a few more gains in that department.

Speaking of gains, there was some gains in the mileage department this week, clicking over 210km’s for the week for the first time in a couple of months. It felt good but it’s easy to say that when the emotion of the achievement is still present. Maybe ask me next week how it feels after another 200+km week of training. Or maybe just subscribe and read along next week. Or don’t. I’ll still be here writing anyway.

Thanks for reading this week!