What is going on everybody! A Wednesday prepared blog! Haven’t done one of these in years. In the past, a delayed blog has either been because I’ve been too busy on the weekend OR it has been because I got ‘p-1-double-snakes’ (pissed) off at an injury and didn’t want to write about being injured. I’m pleased to report that, despite my sore foot, it is the former situation and not the latter that has led to a delayed blog.
In addition to being a good amount of busy over the weekend, I am also enjoying my increased work hours at the Uni and increased responsibility there (I am helping to write a paper on some of the results I have been working on, so that is cool). PLUS I have also been reviewing my own running on the coaching platform (FinalSurge, or FS for short) I have been using since April which led me to getting to the end of the weekend already having felt like I have reviewed my week in running.
That last point is probably the most important update in this blog because it may represent a shift in how I use this blog going forward. I always intended to use FS’s features on myself when I started coaching but because I review my running here and I knew no-one was looking at my FS I didn’t really have the accountability over myself to use it properly. Hence, I didn’t.
Having recently thought about getting a coach though and having had some preliminary discussions with someone, I was motivated to actually use FS in case they looked at it. It’s not a case of having to be accountable to someone in case they look over my shoulder and question my work, it’s more a case of trying to give them a detailed picture of all the information around my running so they could possibly use it to plan the future out a bit better. ‘They‘ in this case also refers to myself, because this is what I do for the runners I work with! So, after reviewing my running each day on FS I started to see some patterns emerging that helped get me over the hump of this sore foot and then led to me having a BETTER relationship with my running and managing a niggle than I have ever had.
Narrowing in specifically to that lesson, I started to notice that all my afternoon runs last week felt better and were being reported as ‘good’ or ‘great’ while my morning runs were only ‘normal’ at best. When I see this pattern in runners I coach I point it out to them, so I did the same to myself, hey Fraser, why don’t you make your goal to have a good run in the morning on Saturday and take it as easy as you need to. Gee, that’s a good idea… And what do you know, it worked! I ran it slow and had no real discomfort. That theme has continued so far into this current week where my training has continued to increase. As you can see from some of these example screenshots, I have been quite optimistic about my running lately and have enjoyed it a lot.
So what does this mean for the blog? Well, that’s something I’ve been considering since the weekend. To keep it short, I think I will continue using it but probably only do so sporadically or when it makes sense. Perhaps it will move to being every month, or perhaps I will publish a blog around certain races or training moments or other topics where it makes sense to sit down and share my learnings and reflections with the subscribers to fraserdarcy.com. Maybe I’ll go more freehand. Who knows. I know though that when I started this blog I didn’t think I’d be using every week to describe my training but that’s where it ended up; serving a purpose as a tool to reflect and record my experiences. It has served that purpose well and it has also given me a platform to start my own coaching business and a place for me to practice my writing (which I think of as more of a fun creative hobby to work on, like a musician being in a band or a photographer using Instagram). I have also enjoyed the routine and discipline of creating a weekly blog but in the same vein, did miss when I first started blogging the fun nature of having a single topic to explore and craft a blog around. I could go on a long list of my favourite and least favourite weekly blog moments but doing so would feel a bit like going into blog-retirement which is something I AM NOT doing (I think).
Given that long pre-amble and explainer to this delayed blog update I hope that now makes a bit more sense as to why it’s a Wednesday blog and not a Sunday blog. To finish off though, a quick overall summary of my last 10 days of running is… I basically spent all of last week jogging and working on some toe exercises to strengthen my FHL tendon. I would make it through the first 3-4km of my morning runs without any discomfort until it would tighten up and feel like a blister was going to explode if I stepped on it wrong. Afternoon runs were better because tendons generally perform better in the afternoon (it’s a result of their hydration status and moving out bad stuff that has accumulated in the collagen matrix overnight is my understanding). Things were continuing to improve throughout the week, I was staying pretty levelheaded for the most part, except when I ran downhill, that still triggered some serious level of discomfort. I was happy to run 120 odd km though for last week.
But I was even happier to be running pain free all this week so far! Even with some intensity on Tuesday afternoon that went better than expected. I ran 3:10’s and 2:55’s for some shorter reps and really felt like I got up on my toes for the first time in a while.
Having recovered well from that session I am now confident, but not setting the expectation of myself just yet, of making it to 140-150km for this week with more intensity to finish off the week. That gives me a good base to do three things:
- Continue training at that level for the next few weeks trying to get as ‘trail’ fit and sharp as possible.
- Look for races that line up well with where I’m at and also what makes sense logistically.
- Communicate with my potential coach about being ready to go for full training volume from now on.
Perhaps once I’ve done one or all of those things it’ll represent a good time to release another blog. Until then, thanks for reading my weekly updates if you have, and if you haven’t this shouldn’t change too much for your life. If I decide to change my mind about this when the weekend rolls around, it’ll be like that scene in the Wolf of Wall Street where Leonardo di Caprio’s character Jordan Belfort decides he’s not leaving after all. Find out on the weekend I guess! Thanks!
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