Its no big secret that in my earlier years the Wombat was a low mileage runner. This served me well and I believe also helped me remain injury free for the majority of my career as a runner. It is important to note here also that the pace at which I ran most of this lower mileage was pretty quick. Whether this was but intention of accident I just enjoyed moving quickly and could not see any point in dawdling. My training partner, OTFBD, also ran at the same pace so it was not a problem in this regard. By low mileage I am saying no more than 60 miles a week.
The mileage issue only became a problem once I entered the senior ranks. I don't mean senior ranks at state level but rather at national level. You see (and I have alluded to this in previous blogs) I could run an 8.12 for 3km and I had even managed a 14.07 for 5km off an 70mile week in my late teens but with limited endurance in my legs I just was not capable of maintaining this tempo for 10k, 15k of the half marathon. To make it even harder was the fact that the senior guys were running sub 8 min 3ks and sub 14min 5ks.
The way in which I moved up a notch was to kick up the mileage, increase the long Sunday run to an 18 miler (As a teen I was a 9 mile wombat, why 9 miles well this was the approximate distance of the Jacoby Park Loop) and notch up the pace of the tempo run. Fortunatley for me there were already seniors who were doing the longer runs at Jacoby so OTFBD and myself had a group we could tap into. The tempo runs were also made easier because again we already had a group of Stirling Swans Seniors (John Hambleton, Ivan Shatford, Greg Sullivan, John Hawks, Alan Thurlow, Mike Bonner) who were doing this on a Wednesday night from Fraser Avenue car park. This group would sometimes have others join like Martin Assmussen or Patty 'donk'Maslen.
The tempo course was a beauty. We would run down Fraser Avenue and then turn left and head to the bottom of Kingspark before hair pinning and looping back into the park. Weaving around a number of bike paths we eventually came out near saw avenue then dropped down to the bottom play ground via the road before heading up the boardwalk for about 100m before ducking down the first opening on your right. This brought us out near the war memorial at the round about at which point we would skirt the roller coaster (bike path) that ran along the side of the hill. The pace always amped up for any climb that we came too but this first loop was about relaxing into the run and there was plenty of sledging. Finally we approached ANZAC Bluff before dropping down the path (no longer possible) onto the river and then crossing the narrows before circling the bridges then heading back up the shitty climb to ANZAC Bluff and then into the car park.... The pace on the river flats got fast and other than someone joking about the pace being a bit slow (sarcastic) it was on for young and old. In a nut shell the course was eay over the undualtions in the first part, wind up over the flat river section, scream up the hill at the end and wind down back to the car park.
For me I think this was where I learnt to run at a sustained pace. With this group of senior athletes , who I looked up to as a junior, OTFBD and myself just hung on for grim death, testicles dragging, balls out running simply to keep up. We loved it. It was pure threshold running.
Since that time I have had a similar run with Deek and Andy Lloyd along the pipe line flats in Stromlo , prior to it burning in the big bush fires, and they did the same thing, they just wound it up. Mona did the same with Troopy at Spion Kjope in Falls. In fact I remember running with Deek once in Portugal as we prepared for the World Cross Country titles, the wombat was in the juniors , Deek a senior, coincidentally this was Mona's first team as a Senior athlete, there were some other runners there too and the tempo that morning was scary. Like "Shit how am I ever going to ge to this level" We were flying and these guys were not even in a sweat. It was just awesome, I was left along with Stuart Mee, eating dust and making our way back to the village alone.It was all about holding that fast past, teaching yourself to run on the edge. Obviously as you got fitter the edge got further out and that was the point, that's why I loved the tempo run, I think that was what set me apart in the state, and set the Stirling Swans Seniors apart at the time. It was the tempo run. That running at a pace that was nearly all out but not quite, a pace that was fast enough not to impact on the session the following night but a pace that you felt pleasantly rooted after.
I remember taking Carter and Cox on a tempo run around the river when I first gave them a hand with their training . I had tried to explain what I meant by winding up, I mean they got it but they didn't if that makes sense. We took off at a steady pace and gradually got comfortable. Once we were out to the UWA boat shed we turned to come home and I gently wound the pace up. Shaph was the first to go, just a gradual slipping out the back door. Now I know you want a training group but this was a tempo run and each of us had a different tempo , you don't run to the weakest denominator. Carter held in their a lot longer but over distance I ended up by myself coming home well clear of the two younglings. The discussion after was about " We think we were doing the tempo a little too slow" and "Yeah we get what we need to do" Over time they got faster and the strength in their legs built up. I feel that it served both the boys well, Shaph became a more aggressive runner with confidence in his strength and managed to take out some 10k state track titles as well as a fast 5k win at the bridges. Carter has gone from strength to strength and is now based in NSW.
Its great to see a group trying to revive the 'real' tempo run from Raf's base in West Perth. I have heard that Mark See, Patto, Nuttan, Gerry and others have all run in this group at various stages.
The marathon Club too, have a Wednesday night group that heads off from its base in Burswood. Various groups of runners head off in different packs.
Hopefully the wombat will be amongst these groups soon.
Don't under estimate the TEMPO RUN it is an essential part of any and every distance runners program regardless of ability.
Barrel on Wombats...
No comments:
Post a Comment