About Me

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The older I get the better I was... but after many years of idle burrowing the candle of desire is still burning and I have come to realise that running is as much a part of me as my heart and lungs... In Christmas 2008 I was 82kg and was not running a step..This is my journey , the journey of the wombat...Dogged...determined...persistent...and maybe a little grumpy.. but like the wombat my journey is territorial, its about running and I am going to work to protect it...Come along for the ride and see if I can become the wombat warrior. 2009 was a mixed bag for the wombat's journey.A top ten placing in both the Bridges and the City Surf brought a small sense of achievement but also a degree of frustration.... I think I can do better and better I will in 2010. A better run in the Busso Half iron man in support of TV in his swim and bike ride and that was about the extent of my racing. Lets see what happens in 2010 as "My journey Continues". Now in 2011 the wombat will continue his journey, but not alone the wombat has a youngling who knows how to dig. 2015 and its a new beginning , time goes on and the journey to the 2016 World Masters is under way.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Shit...bum...bugga

The wombat has once again achieved the impossible........ A no show for the Bridges... A big congratulations to Todd for another win over the 10km course and well done to Courtney Carter in the State 5km Track Title, I believe Raf had a good win in the triathlon changed to Duathlon after the Swan river went septic ... and the Wombat , well he was sulking into his Coco Pops.

Had been running really well then the cards began to crumble. Tuesday worked hard over a gradual uphill course, during the return journey my right calf/Achilles began to get sore after another 1km it got worse so I backed right off and only ran 6 miles of the planned 10miles. made an appointment with Nathan Doig "Mr Magic" for the next day. Got a good solid rub and as directed only ran a very easy 2 miles, was to be 3 but a little sore... Thursday went for an easy run and the pain returned after 2 miles and then sat with me for the next 3miles , again stopped at this point and made a call to the physio....

Explained the situation to Cameron and suggested it was at the junction of the Achilles and Calf and guess what ???? It was... Cam worked it and needled it and then delivered the verdict... I would seriously not race on that Sunday... I gave him the " You are not serious " look and he returned with the " Do I look like I am joking " look... I gave him the " Shit!!!!" look and he returned with the " make another appointment" look.. he then added keep doing your ice (frozen water not lines) . .. (It is at these times that you appreciate surrounding yourself with people you can trust because I know if Cam is telling me not to run he really means don't run), your stretching and your raises.......

No run Friday, not run Saturday and woke Sunday to on going discomfort... Currently working madly to get it right for next week so I can toe the line for the masters but I guess time will tell. mean while I am doing any exercise that I am allowed to do without stressing the Achilles..

Time will tell I guess......

Barrell on wombats

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Big Week along with the Tan....

I included this clip which has nothing to do with running because I enjoyed it.

Anyway what a week. left for Melbourne on Wednesday, ran for an hour prior to leaving, arrived Melbourne 10pm, picked up the hire coaches and travelled, along with 26 other colleagues, to Berwick arriving at hotel by 1am (EST) and then went for a 5 mile run to try and wake up the legs and settle before hitting the sack. Woke at 6.30am Thursday morning, drove to the College for an all day professional learning session, drove back to Quest Narre Warren and went for a 9 mile run. Discovered the Wilson Botanical gardens and ran circuits around the undulating gardens. Really pleased with how I felt.

Friday another full day of professional learning then drove the group back along the M1 and into Melbourne. Settled into the hotel and headed out along the Yarra to the Tan to see if could catch up with any old mates. Ended up running 3 laps of the Tan and then coming back along the Yarra. Bloody great run and fantastic to be in cooler weather. Another 9 miles.

Saturday I ran out along a similar course and ran across Tyson Popplestone. This young guy was running in Perth when he was a tiny lad and to see him still running and running well was fantastic. Kept him company for a while and ran an additional lap of the Tan with him just because I could. Ty is off to the world university cross country championships , an event that I pointed out to him as having been the stepping stone for a number of our Australian distance runners. Another 9 mile run.

Sunday up early and out along the Yarra and around the MCG, Tennis centre and Olympic Park. Looped around the Tan again and just because I could. Thousands of runners gathering for the 'Run for the Kids' Fun run. Mona was compare of this event and as usual was able to provide plenty of worthwhile advice to competitors. fantastic that he will be in Perth this weekend. Continued to loop around the park then explored the Docklands and around the stadium which the night before we watched the Dogs smash the Saints. Watched the start of the 5km fun run and then saw the 10km runners come through. Gave Rod DeHighden (Rowdy) a loud cheer as he ran past in the 10km, still obviously fit as he was near the front of the pack. Finally headed in through Melbourne and then back to hotel... A solid morning run and ready for the flight home.

Really pleased with a week of 65 miles. This will give me some good fitness confidence for the Bridges in two weeks time. In the mean time I still have a great deal of running to do....but at least now I am again comfortable running for extended period over a number for days.

Barrel on Wombats...

Friday, March 5, 2010

The Wombat Cheers...Mark See...... Great Run

The new stadium at Perry Lakes is providing WA distance runners with a fantastic opportunity. The chance to run in the evening not only when it is considerably cooler on the Friday evening but with very little if any headwinds that often hampered distance runners in the old stadium.

These conditions , a magnificent track surface along with an atmosphere that had long ago diminished at the old stadium is bringing about some wonderful performances in WA.

Last night was one such example. Mark See, seen here in the left of the photo (18) lined up for a fast time. he was chasing Deeks record of 8.12.2 set back in the 80s over the 3km distance. Ethan Heywood was also chasing a time, the under 20 record, In a large field in near perfect conditions the runners got underway. It was a large field and it was not long before See stamped his dominance on the field and wound up. It was also , a few laps into the race, the same time that See, Heywood and a few others spent the rest of the race passing and running in lane 2. Busi was chasing hard but once the speed was taken up a notch he looked to struggle with the kick down still managing to hold off Heywood though and clock an 8.21.0

Despite the clock being out 6 seconds ( 200m in 23seconds) the boys ran superbly. See looked strong throughout while Heywood looked to be on his limits but running strong. It was fantastic to watch young runners chasing a time rather than each other.
Coming into the bell lap See needed to run under 60seconds to break the 20+ year record . He commenced his trademark drive for the line with 400 to go and just looked smooth. Heywood too was chasing hard with both runners knowing that they were in reach of their goals. For See it was not to be, running an 8.12.6 , the fastest time by a WA runner since 1991 when an 8.12.82 was run at Perry Lakes by the Wombat. For Heywood the grit of a young runner almost paid off with a 8.23.1 narrowly missing ducking under the 8.21. this will give him more confidence for the World Cross Country Championships later this month. I believe that had the race been split into two events both See and Heywood would have been faster . A fact that I think both their coaches would be telling them.

For See the future looks bright with an 8.18 under pressure 2 weeks ago and a solo 8.12.6 this week he is certainly entering an exciting stage of his running career. His 3.48 1500 together with the 3ooom time places him in the mix at a national level. I certainly look forward to seeing Carter , See and even Heywood continuing to chase the times because it is this mind set that may just see WA distance running having a few competitors making the grade in the senior ranks, for Heywood in the near future but for See and Carter maybe sooner.

Another kid to watch is Aaron Patterson who clocked a 14m55s Pb for 5000m back in January and last night was solid with an 8m40.2s. Patterson too may be coming off age but like all the young brigade coming through only time, patience and training will tell.

As an aside and maybe one to watch in the future was De Castro Cruz making a run in the mens 800m. Coming off a 400mH event earlier in the evening he ran a respectable 1m54.89s. Not bad overall considering he has never had to fight for lane position before and appeared to lack any real tactical understanding in terms of the event. This young guy could pose a serious threat to our WA contingent if he gets a clear run and establishes himself early in the pack for the first lap. It was very evident that he had to prop early when the field slowed late in the first lap and DeCruz almost stopped. Anyway someone to watch considering the race was won by James Boden 1m49.36s and Scott Tamblin 1m51.81 both seasoned 800m runners. Boden's time was also the fastest we have seen on the track for a bloody long time.

Congratulations Mark and Ethan, fantastic runs from lane 2.

Barrel on wombats....

Tiger on the trail.....

Last night was a top session. Ran out along the pipeline loop kicking off from Victor road. The goal for the night, as it always is during this run , was to get home faster than I went out.

Of course racing Tegat, Coe, Birmingham and Mottram it was always going to be a solid run. Got out to the bottom of the hill in 11 minutes which is pretty standard. From here on I establish a good pace that is comfortable and just hold it . Through a process of natural progression I usually get quicker anyway.

A short time later as I put my foot (left) down onto the trail I noticed something different about the grass. For one thing it moved and for another it looked pretty much like a bloody tiger snake... It was one of those times where you see it and by the time you realise what it is that you are looking at you are to far committed to alter anything.

As my foot came down next to its head the bloody thing coiled back, at which point I thought, that's it I'm fucked, Fortunately it did not strike. I then covered the next 100m in a time that would have left Bolt covered in dust.... In all my time out on these trails I have seen maybe three or four snakes and this was the first tiger I have seen on the trails... I guess that's what happens in dry summer.... Next time I will bring a change of underwear..

Anyway I did settle my heart and manage to also drop Mottram , Birmingham, Coe and Tegat and came home strongly over the upper pipe trail. Surging the uphill sections and rolling down the drops.. I got back 2 minutes faster than the journey out and 6 minutes faster over all than previous runs this year.

Watch out for tigers on the trails people....

barrel on wombats...

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Get a plan...

We must all find our own way....

With so much information around about running, about what the top guys are doing and about how to run it is a little surprising that we still look to coaches for guidance.

In reality the coach is there to support and guide in an effort to enable the athletes to reach their full potential. The problem with programs on the Internet and taking on another athletes program is that while it worked for that athlete the same may not be for another.

While I have helped only a small number of athletes and while elements of the programs have been the same and the philosophy of the program has been the same there have been differences, WHY? because each of us is different. You can't expect to pick up Mona's training program and begin to do it if you have not run before. Yet a lot of people do. Mona ran some long mileage , with some really quality sessions but he built up to it and did it day in day out.

My own program at the moment is very different to what I was doing when I was 30... There is no way I could run 200 -220 km at the moment. It would kill me. Yet a decade ago it was a piece of cake. I just did it.

So why is the coach there... to add a degree of reality to the program. There would be some people I cold not coach. Not because they could not be coached but simply because I don't have the time to watch every session , they need to be able to work under their own steam 95% of the time. The 'Rock" who I helped out a few years ago was fantastic. He just did the work. If he was sore he let me know and we worked around it but other than that he did the sessions which meant I was not second guessing him and wondering if he had done the last session and whether or not I have to alter the next session because he had missed the previous session.

Another athlete I helped was different again as they tended to miss sessions which made it hard meant we were always having to juggle and modify the program.......

In a nutshell be careful what you read in terms of following a program... Anyway I gotta go I found this really good program of Sebastian Coe's and I want to get my 10 1 mile repeats done before I start the gym session...

Barrel on wombats...

Bugga.....

Craig O'Connnor Road does lead into Kelly's Climb or visa Versa...

For those who run this we call Kelly's climb after Troy Kelly. Troy was a fantastic WA mountain runner who trained up this bloody hill for many years. The guy was a mountain goat... he has actually been seen out at Helena of late running very early on Sunday morning. Keep your eyes out for this quiet but lethal hill climber...

It would seem that every time I establish some sort of normal routine Murphy's Law pops up like the old self righting clown. Once again I had to run in the dark because of work and family commitments. The only bonus, well actually there were two, was that 1. I was still getting a run done and 2. I was so pissed off that I was running late that my pace was sitting on 3m24s/km for the 3 miles (5km).

The wombat's life was so much easier when I was a young runner. Wake up run, go to school, come home run, eat dinner that was cooked, usually left in the oven for me as I was normally training when every one else was eating. Then go to bed. During the school holidays I could remove the need to go to school. At college it was pretty much a similar routine, assignments were only a slight inconvenience as I usually did these the night before they were due. The when I entered the work force I would still run , then work , then run again. If I worked late then I could get down to the river late and get what ever I needed to run that day.

As a working family wombat the logistics of this simple act of running becomes a scheduled and planned mission. Leave work and get the run done prior to getting home. This is always a very small window and if I miss it, like I did yesterday I need to wait until after tea to get this done or I can eat and wait even longer so I don't run with a stitch for the entire way. Add to this that the later I run the later I get to bed as it takes me a while to come down from my run in terms of temperature and mental activity. Running at 10.30pm means bed by 11.30 midnight. Any earlier and I Lay awake perspiring and over heating.

I guess I should not complain though, Mrs Wombat encourage my running and at the end of the day I can run... I just wish I could run earlier that bloody midnight....

Lets see what happens today as I am supposed to be stopping at Helena for a solo session along the pipe. I think Tergat was going to take me on today.....

Barrel on wombats...

Monday, March 1, 2010

The difference a day makes.....

Monday morning out for a steady 3 miles (5km) around Kangaroo rise and then a lap of the block. The block for me is 1.71km in length. This provides me with a gauge as to my fitness levels. Earlier in the year I had to work hard to get around the loop in 7 min 30s. This equated to a 7m3sec mile or 4m23s KM.. This was my easy runs. This morning I thought I would run the loop at the end to see what pace I was travelling comfortably at without having to push or work.

The split came in at 6m35s which translated into 6m12s per mile or 3m50s/ km. To me this was significantly faster than 5 weeks ago. Better still when I ran my 6 miler in the afternoon covering the loop in 6m24s (6m2s/mile or s/km). This was better still because my legs felt shot this evening and the perceived effort was considerable harder. I actually thought that I was running lower.

I guess each run is building on the other.. Now if I can just get the sessions to start to feel better.


barrel on Wombats...