Fraser Darcy

Ah the final blog before the big week of World Champs. The excitement on the keyboard is palpable. Where will we go, normal weekly recap? Deep training analysis of the last couple of months? A reflection on the blogs from the last World Champs? All this and maybe more?!

You betcha. But first, a word from our sponsors. That’s really you. And a few other people who don’t read the blog but do ‘follow’ me on Instagram. The plug of my Australian Sports Foundation fundraising page on Instagram during the week increased my fundraising tally to just under the whole cost of my flights, transport, accom, uniform and levy. Incredible really given I was unsure of even doing it to begin with. It just goes to show me, and others, that although there is a short term of funding this trip of mine to compete at the World Champs, I also think there is an element of the bigger picture of what it means to make an Australian team and the fundraising is just a reflection of that. Come sixth at a random race overseas? No big deal. Win a race domestically and represent Australia at the World Champs? Big deal and something that resonates whether you’re a runner or not. Now, with that out of the way, back to normal programming.

Monday. Having had an easy day post-Sydney trip on the Sunday before this day I was optimistic I’d be ready for a session. Riley was going to be away for the Tuesday session so it was again my turn to coordinate on Tuesday meaning I couldn’t train with the group. Hence, a Monday session would be great and my body cooperated. I felt fresh when I started running around Belair and was comfortable giving a short sharp session of 6*500m hills, with 6*200m afterwards a go. The 500m hills were going to be the shortest hill reps I’d done in a long time and were aimed at testing my VO2 max out a bit seeing as that’s what had been lacking in my training. I picked a hill in Belair that had what I thought was an achievable course record on it and it was also a hill that I’d always wanted to do a session on but just never had the motivation. World Champs training is the right motivation for almost anything though.

I warmed up, did some strides and went for it. 500m up hill at almost 20% grade is around 3 minutes of running. I knew the CR was 3:12 and had a look at my watch at 2minutes in. Shit, I better get going. I dug a little deeper than I was hoping for, hit the top of the hill, hit lap and sure enough, 3:10. I’d just snuck under. But I was breathing very hard. Great for VO2 max training, but not for the chances of me completing 5 more at the same effort. I jogged down, did a ten second loop on the flats and then went for rep 2. Same thing, hard up, hit lap, 3:20ish. Oh boy, we’re going backwards. As long as I was still able to hit VO2 max type effort I wasn’t too fussed with the times. Pleasingly, I hadn’t had to work this hard in a session for a long time. And it was only rep 2.

In rep 3 I ran 3:40 and now the VO2 max effort was going on for almost 4 minutes which meant the quality was a bit different. I decided to jog for 3 minutes once I was at the bottom of the hill again and instead of aiming for the top of the hill and a 3:50-4:00 minute long rep, I just went up for 3 minutes still aiming to hit VO2 max type efforts. I did and it hurt. But hurt is good. I jogged down and then went back up for two more 2 minute reps this time. That way I could ensure I kept the quality in them and my aim was to have the same GAP pace for as many reps as possible. From the data below I’d say I did a pretty good job.

Given I had to adapt the session I then also adapted the 6*200m efforts and just did 4*15s strides down the road. This was after a slight interlude of me asking some workers if they’d seen my shirt I left at the bottom. They hadn’t but the others further down the road might’ve. So I did my strides down to them, collected my shirt off them thankfully and then warmed down back to the car. I knew I’d trained pretty hard in this session because my warm down wasn’t great quality and my easy jog in the afternoon wasn’t either. Thankfully the rest of the day was pretty good, watching the Men’s Marathon at the World Champs (could that be me in 2027?) doing some washing, replying to some emails and having a sauna of course.

Tuesday. RAO session day and with me on the whistle it was just an easy jog which didn’t actually feel that easy. The DOMS from the session yesterday were quite intense which is great because I hardly ever get DOMS so it was a good sign I pushed myself! The rest of the day was pretty basic, gym, sauna, some admin work, an easy run in Belair where I avoided the rain and then chicken schnitzel for tea for the last time for a few weeks perhaps.

Wednesday. My doms were still present on this day but not too bad. It meant I was fine to run with Jacob, Jess and Joe in the morning for the first time on a Wednesday since pre Europe Trip 1. I did 75 minutes with them and had an array of options for what I’d do after. Some 1k efforts? An up/down effort up Coach Rd? Some steady work on the flats? In the end I went for neither of them and did my longest uphill effort on the treadmill of 35 minutes. I wanted to avoid some faster flat work to not risk making my DOMS any worse and also wanted to avoid a downhill effort for the same reason. Hence, the uphill treadmill it was. And it was good to do this because I only realised on the treadmill that my two long uphill efforts from Europe were a while away so it was good to just remind my body what it’s like to run consistently uphill without any break for longer than 20 minutes. It felt ok and then immediately after running uphill you feel relatively fine. It’s much like doing a hard spin bike session, painful in the moment but once your heart rate is down, your body is pretty fine. Very different to a hard downhill run!

Re-learning this on the treadmill reminded me that the uphill race is going to be very challenging physically and mentally whilst the classic race is going to be as well but for different reasons. In the classic race I’ll probably only need to run uphill for 20-25mins at a time before I get a 15-20minute downhill ‘rest’. It’ll be somewhat like running a very hard 5km, then a hard 5km, then a very hard 5km on tired legs, then a get to the end 5km. Whereas the uphill race will be more like a 10k that goes for 50 minutes. Or at least that’s how I’m compartmentalising it all. Either way, I’m confident I’m in 5k – HM PB shape at the moment so I’m ready for either of those scenarios.

The rest of Wednesday was pretty relaxing. I got started on some programs, rewatched the uphill race from 2023 World Champs for some inspiration, took the arvo off to absorb some training and try and clear my DOMS away and then had the night to myself somewhat. Alice was at dinner with a friend so it was a good window into what my next two weeks will be like without Alice for company in the evenings and weekends.

Thursday. Easy run day with Chad again just like last Wednesday. This time we visited the O’Halloran Hill trails for my first time really and it was alright. Not a bad spot for an easy 30-60minutes but a spot where it’s hard to find any rhythm or flow on the trails given they are all a bit windy in nature and don’t actually go anywhere. Being an easy day and getting closer to race week I took this day very easy indeed. Ticked off my Blue Line nice and early, wrote some more programs, cleaned the house so I don’t have to do that on the weekend and then went for an easy arvo run with some strides and drills. This was the first time I’d sort of unleashed properly on strides and drills since Sydney and it felt good. I hadn’t lost my touch.

Friday. That gave me confidence that I’d have a good session on Friday morning with RAO for the last time before World Champs. Even better, I tried on a new pair of Asics Metaspeed Edge’s and gave them a good hitout. The session was a mixed fartlek of 2min and 1minute efforts with 1 minute jog recoveries. I sort of worked at anything faster than 3:00/km for the efforts and anything around 3:10-3:30 for the recoveries. Kilometre splits of 3:00-3:05/km were a good indicator that I was moving well and consistent with how I felt. Back in June/July I was happy when I was getting splits of 3:07-3:11/km in sessions like this but now I’m operating a bit quicker. Hence why I’m confident that I could run a 5k or 10k PB at the moment.

After the session, a bit of gym, sauna, some packing and then some blog writing time in the sun. Which brings me to the analysis section of my training:

Analysis:

• Overall I’d give myself a 90-100% grade with my training since July/August/September. The sporadic trail and uphill sessions I did before my first Europe trip were good to set a benchmark of where I was at. The Europe trip then improved my fitness in those areas with the two big VK days being an obvious highlight. Posy Sydney I fit in just the right amount of uphill, flat speed work and sauna’s to be confident that I’m peaking again. The CR’s I hit were good but hitting them definitely made me keen for more in the future so in some ways I wish I had more time to train but that’s true about every race you ever do I think. Having a short block means I’m motivated to still keep training on the trails as opposed to a long, drawn out block that leaves you hating training by the end of it. I’ve been down that road before.
• The key sessions in particular I’ll look back on are:
  • Mt.Lofty uphill part 1
  • Chamonix VK
  • Zakopane VK (for the very good 1k efforts)
  • Mt.Lofty Uphill part 2
  • Coach Rd long run
  • Pengana Spur
  • 500m hills session
• I could’ve improved this block by adding more fast downhill work however I think I have compromised ok here with the effect that bounding has had on my ability to be springy and light when running downhill. It’s always a risk when running fast downhill too for injury that I was glad to avoid.
• One final comment, I think everyone thinks about achieving the perfect training block too much. Or comparing their training to the best runner’s training. Oh I need to be doing the exact same sessions as them. Or oh, I need to have every week the same and great sessions on Tuesday and Thursday and Saturday. There is some merit in following what others have done and achieving some consistency but I also think great athletes would perform well off a variety of training programs. It’s not necessarily the program or session specifics that make the athlete great, but their attitude and approach. Same as with the weekly structure, some times it’s good to have weeks with lots of intensity, other times it’s better to allow for more recovery after a big session. I have tried to honour these principles in my training before these World Champs by constructing a program that works for me and by having the freedom to chop and change things. This approach keeps me engaged with my training and enjoying it (thus avoiding the symptoms of a long drawn out training block). Because, every race, no matter how big or small, is just a small step in the long term progression of a person as a runner. Long term I’m looking for adaptations to my body that will help me achieve my short term goals.

With the training analysis of the last few months done, it’s time to consider the analysis of my training and approach and how it has changed since my last World Champs in 2023:

• I competed in the Short Trail (45km) event in Innsbruck in 2023 and came 88th. An overall reflection of that experience is available here whilst if you navigate via the ‘Blog’ tab above and click on June 2023 you’ll be able to find daily updates I wrote when over in Innsbruck. Pretty interesting reading looking back on it. In my overall reflection piece I identified the following lessons for next time:
  • Run downhills faster. Ok, have kept this skill somewhat the same. The long downhills in Europe a couple of weeks ago were great for building my resilience and my Coach Rd long run, Mt.Lofty and Pengana Spur sessions were important in maintaining those adaptations.
  • Be more social. Coming from Quorn last time to the World Champs I was a bit in my shell with the whole social side/team hotel aspect. I am much, much better at this now having being involved with RunAsOne and also having travelled to many big domestic races where there is a race hotel. This is almost a strength of mine.
  • Stick to my race day routine. Again, having two years of racing experiences like I have since the last World Champs has improved my skills in this area. Which is nice to reflect on because this is why I enter so many races, to gain experience and enjoy my running!!
  • Steep hills. I remember going over to Austria, getting on course, racing and then recovering and having legs of steel for when I came back. This time, I tried to get that effect in the Europe trip Part 1 in August and hold on to it. I’ll know how successful I was at that in a week’s time. One thing is for sure though, before World Champs 2023 I didn’t train at Cleland at all (instead opting for Devils Peak and Dutchmans in Quorn and these were not steep enough at all compared to Cleland).
  • Adapting to racing in crowds without headphones. Similar to points already discussed above, this is probably now a strength of mine strangely! For example, my interaction with the crowd at times in Sydney Marathon last year and this year was great and I look forward to tapping more into that playful mindset at the World Champs this time instead of shutting it out like I did last time.
  • Each race is a journey to finding my best. I’m almost starting to sound repetitive in this blog but yes, I have continued to apply this lesson and I look forward to learning more about achieving my best as a runner and what I’m capable of in Spain. Whatever happens in Spain, there will be a race after that and there may even be another World Champs in two years time to train for. Perhaps I can enter the Uphill and Classic and be able to try and beat my position.
  • Change the training stimulus often, be in a community of runners, race on the roads for good competition. Tick, tick, tick. At first when I joined RAO I probably yielded too much to just following the RAO playbook, but now I have a good blend of my own training and RAO training. I enjoy being apart of the RAO community though regardless and I very much enjoy racing on the roads in SA and interstate.
  • Bankruptcy of pocket or bankruptcy of life. When I competed last time, I was just starting a job as a teacher and thought that was the method to making my millions and having the time to train and race. Turns out, my lifestyle has gone down a different path and I now have a better set up where I might not be making millions, but I sure do not have a bankruptcy of life situation, getting to embrace many different opportunities that come my way.

Now that was a bit of a long detour from the normal weekly recap but all valuable I think. Back in the short term though, on Saturday I treated myself to a sleep in and just an easy jog from home for the first time on a Saturday since August 2nd! That’s almost two months ago and was the weekend of Fitzy’s for context. Hence it was nice to just jog by myself around home and then pop into the City Bay expo to grab my half marathon bib for Sunday. Yes, I had an entry for the half marathon at City Bay on the Sunday before I flew out to Spain and was at times in the past week torn between a few options. Do I just jog it as a 90 minute run with a steady finish? Do I treat it as my last workout before the Uphill race with some tempo work and a fast finish? Do I race it for the prize money? Do I pace someone? Do I not even do it and run on the trails instead?

Well, taking my own advice, there is no perfect training program and it’s the approach that counts. My approach for the race at this stage on Saturday afternoon, is to treat it as a final session before flying out in the evening. I haven’t done a long tempo/steady run this week and it’ll be similar, or a tapered version at least, of the run I did last week in Centennial Park. Instead of pushing it out to 2hrs, I will aim to warm up, start the half marathon at 3:20’s, hopefully finish on the podium, sprinting into the finish if I need to and then do a very short warm down. I have the whole day to recover then, have a nap, some food and then get on the plane. Once I’m on the plane to Spain I’ll then have three full days before the uphill race. Or in other words, it’s like if I was to do a session on a Wednesday and then race on the Sunday. Usually I do my final session on a Thursday or Friday so this is giving me a couple more days grace for the travel and the length of the session. If I can manage to keep it at 3:20/km pace, slower than marathon pace then I’ll be happy.

Sunday. Turns out, the rough plan was followed pretty well to perfection. I started my warm up from home, ran 4km’s, got rained on waiting for the start, started and found myself jogging with Patty, a RAO mate. His plan was to hopefully crack 72 minutes but I knew his PB was around 70:high. Was he in PB shape? Guess we’d both find out.

The first half of the race felt ok, not amazingly fresh or anything, but just a bit of steady work. I carried a soft flask with 500mL of Bix in there and a gel and was enjoying treating the race as a long run session. Running from home and not pausing my warm up on my watch helped with that. That little trick also made it feel like the time I ran from home and won the Pichi Richi 10.5km two years ago.

When we ran through the city and turned to come back down Anzac Highway we were on track for just under 72 minutes. The slight downhill nature of Anzac Highway helped us to get rolling a bit quicker though and soon we were on pace for 70:mid. I kept going thinking, geez, Patty is running well here, if he keeps this up I am going to have to drop him to make sure I win and get the $3000 cash prize. Shortly after that thought, with about 5km to go, a small gap was created between Patty and myself. I continued on at the same pace while Patty maybe dropped 2-3 seconds a km. By the 1km to go mark it was about 15s between us and I knew I had him covered. I eased off a bit, made sure I didn’t unneccassarily cook myself and came home just in front by less than 10s in the end to win my long run. And of course $3000. A nice effort and one that by the time of writing on Sunday afternoon I already feel recovered from. If needed, I could go and run a hard trail session this afternoon so that gives me confidence I haven’t risked too much for the reward of some cash and being apart of South Australia’s biggest fun run.

And that’s about it really, the rest of Sunday arvo was/is going to be relaxing, tidying up loose ends, cooking dinner with Alice for the last time and then a plane to Spain. I’ll end up at the team hotel on Tuesday around midday, have a run on course on Wedenesday and then race the 6k Uphill race on Thursday around 6pm Adelaide time. Visit this link for more information although be warned, it’s a bit heavy on the graphics this website and not so much on the details. On Friday and Saturday the short trail and long trail races are held and then on Sunday it’s the 14k Mountain Classic race at probably 8pm Adelaide time. What that means logistically for fraserdary.com is probably don’t expect a blog from me until mid next week when I’m on my way back. I don’t think I’ll be doing a daily blog like last time so your email inbox is safe from any fraserdarcy.com spam.

I’ll leave it there for this week. Thanks for reading as always.