Coffee Run...

Man oh man tonight was an absolute coffee run... That is, it was a grind the whole way.

Felt like shit and the subconscious was not much help as I had to fight the urge to turn back the whole way. What annoyed me the most was not the fact that I felt like I was moving at 8m30s per mile but that it was actually a good run time wise.

The small hill felt like a mountain, the flat was longer than normal and the heat was oppressive.

5miles in 35m40sec so I was still running just over 7 minute miles...

I am continuing to run for the reminder of this month and then I will start to add a bit more structure to my training next month as well as move up the mileage again... Might try and run from Helena this Sunday morning instead of Jacoby just for something different.

Barrel on wombats...

Three days solid...

It never gets easier... Just as you feel your getting fitter you increase the mileage a tad and you find that your not. Another three days from the home base burrow and while I am subconsciously getting faster its not getting any easier.

I have added a small 1.21mile loop into my current course. This pretty much means I come off the gravel rise hit the road and turn right and head up a long steady climb. Of the loop roughly a mile of it involves climbing. Its runnable but its not pleasant.

I have settled down a little and am running a constant 5 miles each day at the moment just to let every thing get back in place. I am also trying to get into a routine which will remain in place once I start back at work on Thursday. This will be the true test for me.

Anyway the small loop is now being covered in 8m 16s and guess what it feels just as hard as when I was covering it in 8minutes 50 seconds.

Even yesterday during the run I though" Bloody hell I must be crawling " a quick look at the garmin and I noticed that Mars was rather hot, more importantly it was telling me that I was clipping along at a 6.30mile pace. Now I know that this is not about to set the world on fire but let me tell you, it is significantly faster than I was running several weeks ago.

Keep up the good work to anyone who has maintained a run every day this year that's 25 done or 50 if you are running twice a day.

Don't get down on yourself and self destruct if you have missed a couple of days. Get back out there when you can. Don't look at a missed day as a reason to throw in the towel. Just shoe up and head out when you can and maybe I'll see you out there.

Barrel on wombats...

Wombat Flashback...1987 A 21 year old wombat... 23 years ago.

July 19th Sunday... At 21 years of age I had entered the realm of senior competition. This day was the national 15km Road titles and they were being contested in Hobart.

My diary reads. Goals for the week: I would love to have a solid run in Sunday's national 15km road Race.

Sunday 19th: Breakfast 4 pieces of toast and jam. 1 cup of coffee and no sugar. A little bit windy and rather cold 4-5degrees Celsius.
Easy warm up 1 mile and some light stretching. Went out at a good solid pace and worked with a pack of three until 6km (5km 14.48) At 8km I was left to run alone and well back from Camp, Mona, Morley and Carroll. Held 5th place until final 200m. Ran a solid 10k-13km (10km 30m38s) Came in 6th 45m56sec Easy cool down 12 mile day

The race sheet has
1st S.Moneghetti 44m11s
2nd Brad Camp 45m06s
3rd Quinten Morley 45m18s
4th Pat Carroll 45m23s
5th Sean Quilty 45m53s
6th wombat Warrior 45m56s

Other WA athletes in the race. Greg Webster 20th 47m50s, Mark Altus 33rd 49m34s, John Hambleton 35th 49m44s, Simon Elliot 37th 50m17s, Jon Kappler 43rd 51m29s. WA finished 4th in the teams.

The week of August 23rd - 29th was an interesting one: My goal for the week reads. Continue and finish off a solid training period since the national road titles. I am aiming to run an aggressive and fast race at the national cross country titles on the 29th.
My diary has me run 61 miles for the week.

Saturday 29th reads: Lazed around the room until 12.45pm. Easy warm up no more than 1 mile, some run throughs and stretching. Went out hard and setttled donw to a good pace. Ran strongly but lost a little ground goign downhill. Came in 7th, 6th Aussi for the 12km. Won a sprint home against Quinten Morley. This was good he beat me in Tassi. Time 12km XC 36m52s Bundoora Course. Easy Cool down a little tired.
An excellent race at the nationals. A little more work and I can get there. I must learn to relax on the down hills. A pleasing way to end the XC season.

Slept on the plane coming home but had a restless nights sleep

Sunday 30th Reads: Tough nights sleep coming off the plane from Victoria, Woke 7am Perth City to Surf. Easy warm up and feeling a bit flat. Stretched . Took off aggressively and attacked the hills. Broke away with Mike Bonner very early. Could not shake Mike until the 11km mark. I ran up the hills hard and Mike pushed coming downhill. Came home in a new City to Surf record 35minutes 54 seconds. Broke old record by 1 minute. Legs heavy over last 2km.

Flew to Kalgoorlie for the Golden mile on the 2nd September.
Diary 2nd September reads: Easy warm up 1 mile, Ran very hard from the gun and lead the field after 200m. The miles rises 22m over the course of the distance. A solid 4m20sec 7 seconds clear of 2nd. Course record held by Gerard Ryan 4m13seconds. Calves tight. Flew home that afternoon.

Longest run for the week 8 miles Weekly mileage 39 miles.

Week's summary reads: An excellent week of racing. Nationals, City to Surf and the Kalgoorlie mile. Time to get back to just running for a little while.

" Running is a stress. When it's applied in small doses, the body reacts by strengthening its defences against this and other stresses. Runners require specific and regular stresses in order to adapt and improve."

Barrel on wombats...

Smooth run today...

Friday 21st Jan: Smooth running this afternoon. Covered a lazy 5 miles in 35 minutes. The distance was slightly longer than 5 miles but I have never been a big fan of adding my points of a mile when totalling the mileage.

Out and back from Drucker's Store. Headed up the heritage trail through Stoneville and back. This is what I call a cheat run and is actually handy to remember. The out section of the run is uphill, only gradual as the course follows an old railway line. This means that the home journey is the opposite, slightly down hill. Obviously I did not have to work as hard coming hone to maintain the pace as I did going out. You can use the same principle when running out into a wind.

A few walkers on the trail but otherwise a quite afternoon. Bloody humid and hopefully the rains will come through on the Sunday as predicted as everything is dry.
No niggles but feeling a little weary.

Pretty pleased at the moment that I am stringing consecutive runs together without to many worries. Am really hopeful that this holds. I do have in the back of my head that I was moving well this time last year until the wheels fell off in late March and I missed the masters competition and the Bridges run. Fingers crossed and time will tell.

Barrel on wombats...

A Very Looooooong day....

A late post tonight due to a very late run, fortunately its a full moon here in the west tonight and more so that the wombat is a nocturnal animal.

The time in Perth at the moment is 10.57pm. I woke this morning , as did Mrs Wombat at 5.40am. No, not to go for a run but to take the little wombats and 2 of their mates water skiing. The dam is a good 2 hours drive and we wanted to make a day of it. At the present time gone are the days when I would get up to run at 4am in the morning because I had to travel at 6am. (did that a few times as have many of you I bet)As I am the only one with a skippers ticket it also meant that I drove the boat all day too. We eventually arrived at the dam by 9.45am skied all day, packed up and drove home to come in the drive way, after getting a meal in Pinjarra, at roughly 9.45pm.

At this point I unpacked the boat and when everyone went to bed at 10.10pm I went for a run. Mind you tonight was a token gesture of 4 miles run in 30 minutes so a tad over the 7min miles pace by my reckoning. Still I was very happy as a little part of me was putting up the arguments of it being too late to run and I could leave it tomorrow. The full moon made visibility easier and the evening was an absolute gem. Stirred up a few dogs running past properties at this hour and I wonder how many thought foxes were at the chickens.

Sitting her with my cuppa tea typing this I am feeling pretty stoked that I got the run on the board as it means I can move another step closer to reaching my goal...

As for me? Well I am going to crash for some well earned rest. Tomorrow brings another day of exercise and greeting the day.

Barrel on wombats....

Okay so we build the engine now what...

Mona had a bloody great engine, something that both he and his coach Chris Wardlaw continued to build on every year. How? Day in day out he ran, Falls Creek every year for a top up and some solitude in the mountains.

You can do the same..... The tempo run is one element and the wombat believes that the long run is another element. The long run builds the strength in the legs to stay upright for a long time... Mona was big on it, his coach was big on it, Deek was big on it. Lance Armstrong did big mileage rides why? because it builds physical and more importantly mental strength. Its how you keep building the engine.

I remember when I was a young furry wombat and Deek came to Perth to have a crack at the world 25km record around the course at WAIT. Myself, OTFBD and Jussi Vaalsta all followed him on bikes, he was flying and he was doing it by himself. He missed the record by 15.5 seconds running 1hr 14min 13.3 seconds missing the record by a mere 15.5 seconds after being hassled by a dog and running into the back of a car when it passed then stopped in front of him. After the event Clayton Clews introduced me to him. He spoke with me for a while and at one point I asked about all the things he did. one of his responses was " You don't get better at running by going bowling" When I asked my dad what he meant dad explained that he was saying if you want to get better at running you run.

That's how you build your engine, you run. You build a base by running. As you get stronger you run faster for longer at training. This is often easier said than done because it is a fine line between running fast and running too fast. Only you can judge that point of fast and too fast.

One way to do that is consider how you pull up the next day. If you are smashed then it was too fast. If your all good then you are on track.

With the long runs in pace and the tempo runs in pace the next thing is to run every day if you can... Small runs at first then slightly longer. For a runner with a solid base (1 year behind them) they can add some multiple elements at the same time. They may increase their daily average as well as add some fartlek.

Again a word of caution "Don't be impatient" Get the mileage steady and hold it. Add another element , say a fartlek session and hold this for a couple of weeks. If all is smooth sailing increase the length or style of the fartlek. over time you can add another element. Over time you will get to the stage where you have such a base that you can remove and replace the different aspects of a distance program without fear of injury. (Having said that you can go from months of road and trail running then switch to track suddenly and throw in a track session in spikes. I get my guys to initially do a couple of session in their flats then switch over.)

Good luck wombats keep building that engine... While it may not make you a Lance Armstrong , a Mona , Deek , Paula Radcliffe, Geta Waitz, Bikila or a Haile G/Selassie. It will enable you to reach new limits with your running... patience and building blocks that what its all about.

Barrel on Wombats...

The Engine continues...

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...

Morning Pace .....

Mornings have always been tough for the wombat. I just don't like them. Nothing seems to work smoothly. Even in my younger days the morning run was a grind. Eventually I did warm up and move well but those first 20 minutes of the run were just tough. No ankles, no knees, just a grind. Still to get to where you want to go it has to be done. Why ? well its more mileage, its extra credits in the bank.

This morning was a grind. Ran the Kangaroo rise circuit from home and seriously I did not move well until the final 2 miles of the 5 mile circuit. despite my discomfort during the run, not painful just unpleasant, I was moving at a pace that was just below 7 minutes a mile (Yes I had the Garmin on again) The overall run time came in just under 35 minutes so all in all a good pace.

Now if I can just get a weight circuit or gym style circuit that I was happy with I feel I would almost have all the elements in place to fine tune and tweak. (My gym is in my shed, we not fancy but we cheap).

Barrel on wombats...

Wombat words...

Arrogance !! is this a good thing or a bad thing.... well to some extent to be a good sportsman you need it but the important thing about arrogance is that it is kept in check. This usually comes in the form of close mates who always are able to bring you down a peg or too.

The ability to walk the walk is an important element of being good at what you do. It helps, in some cases, to create the image or impression that your in better shape than you actually really are and if you are able to carry this onto the race track then you are more likely to be able to control the race.

The arrogance of self belief is a good thing. We see it in many sports people, without it , self belief , you tend to fall short of what you set out to do.

The ability to keep this in check also helps to keep you on the straight and narrow when it comes to training. Mona was, is, a bloody good athlete, in the right situation he was arrogant, he new he was the top dog in the field, you could just tell in the way that he carried himself. Yet at the same time he did this in such away that he was respectful of those he was racing against. He paid tribute to the other competitors when questioned about his ability to do well in race. The bottom line however was Mona new he had done the work, he knew he was fit and he knew he would be bloody hard to beat but he did not rub it in your face.

Armstrong was, is the same, you just knew he was in bloody good shape and he would say as much but he always had the humility to acknowledge the guys he was up against. He would point out there strengths and identify what it was he and other competitors needs to watch out for but by doing this he was also saying I know this guys strengths and you bet your bottom dollar I have prepared myself to deal with that.

De Castella was the same, he would state clearly what his intentions were, he could have been consider arrogant in his statement of fact with regard to what he was about to do but again , like my other two examples he acknowledged he competitors for what they were, competitors. He paid tribute to their abilities and and in doing so was also paying respect to them as fellow runners who were not be treated lightly despite his incredible strengthen.

In all these cases the competitors have their arrogance in check, they write their own press and control what is written yet at the same time were and are humble in the public arena outside of the battle arena. They knew and know when to out the game face on but in public as a citizen like the rest of us they left the arrogance behind.


While I can't speak personally for Armstrong as I have never met him, I can say of Mona and Deek that away from the field when they were not in competition mode they were extremely approachable and would happily provide the time of day to you.

I remember vividly when Deek, Mona and Hoyle came to Perth for the Swan Premium Quit meet and were competing in the Bernie Cecins 5ooom track event (The wombat was racing too) a young spectator approached Deek as he was warming up on the track and asked for an autograph. Deek simply said not now... Why? Well the answer is easy, this is his arena, he was about to do battle and it was game face on.... What impressed me was that after the race was over he made the point of going over to the far side of the field and signing the autograph for the fan. He was not treating the young kid with disdain it was simply that 5 minutes before the start of the competition was not a good time to be getting an autograph.

Sometimes its all about the persona and if we can get it right for the competiton it can make the difference between winning and losing. Just remember that that if you carry it too far and take it with you away from the field then in Australia it will earn you the title of 'wanker'

Barrel on wombats...

Wombats are dogged...

Okay so where do you start to be a wombat... you become territorial. This means your exercise time is protected, interfere with it and your a dead man. Obviously you need to identify a time when this is least likely to be waylaid.

Start with something small, Something like walk jog a mile and do this for a week. That's how I got started again slowly slowly. Then build on. after a week up the mark to walk jog for 2 miles then 3miles then try and jog for the whole three miles. Believe it or not this is how its done. Slowly slowly, steady steady.... The wombat builds its strength...

The funny thing about exercise is the more you do the more you want to do. You start to develop a fitness level that makes you realise you can do other things.

Over time things improve and you reach a new plateau and believe me when I say that is where the fun begins.

Come on Start today..

Barrel on wombats...

Six Wombat Warriors and a mad Aussi driver....

Sometimes you look back on an event and have to say " Holly shit how do we survive that?" The Fred Hollows International relay was one of those events.

If anyone asked me what the toughest event I had run in prior to this I would have said without blinking "The Ottway Classic". Indeed until 1995 this was certainly the case.

The Fred Hollows event was organised out of respect for the man himself and consisted of teams from countries in which Fred had helped and had an impact. The nine nations were Australia, Zimbabewe, Kenya, New Zealand, Vietnam, Nepal, Ertirea, China and Tanzania.

The Aussi team consisted of Peter Brett, myself, Marcus Brown, Michael McIntyre, Robert Spurrs and Richard Barrett. The team was led by non other than Gary Henry, one tough bugga when it comes to racing. Gary was also the team driver. At the end of the day the Australian team finished second behind Zimbabewe and ahead of Tanzania.

I will get to my diary extracts in a moment however Ray Kershler wrote for the Daily Telegraph Mirror of the event on April 10th 1995 " The teams tended to make up tactics as they went along. In the end this 500km team relay turned into a race of repetitive sprints of distances as short as 100m. Just imagine it- long distance runners jumping in and out of cars and vans every few minutes and sprinting a couple of hundred metres. On one leg the Tanzanian team counted 90 changes. These proved to be tactics at which the Australians became quite adept but as team manager Garry Henry said at the finish at Westfield shopping centre at parramatta .." It was not something you can train for" ...

The relay itself was brutal. Starting out the back of Burke with the then Prime Minister Paul Keating starting the race all hell broke loose. Initially there was a 12.6km race around Burke. I was the first Aussi over the line and the team was placed 5th overall. All the teams then drove to Dubbo some 300km away. prior to an 800m circuit sprint, this turned out to be more like 600m. Each team had to run there runners twice in any order they felt. For us we simply rotated the list. Our team was placed 4th at the end of the day.

Stage 2 was a 123km leg. Teams had to nominate one runner to run the first 2km out of town before they could commence changes. teams were also restricted to limited changes in the final 10km to help reduce the chances of injury. Initially we ran 500m legs, we followed this process for 70-80km. The team bus would drive ahead and drop us off at 500m intervals. Gary Henry would then follow the runner and pick them up in the small red pulsar we were allocated. With the 6th runner on the road and 5 runners in the car Gary would scream past the last runner and toot his horn, this indicated that you had to hang in there of another minute before your next change. Gary would catch the bus , which we would all get on except who ever was to change next and then the bus would head off and drop us off again and the process would be repeated. Basically we were getting a 500m sprint every 3km. Gary Noticed that the African teams were changing over shorter distances so we dropped to 300m legs for the next 30-40km meaning we got a run/sprint every 1800m. At the end of this stage gary had successfully burnt the brakes out on the car and was guided by a police bike over the closing stages of the stage. We ended up 5th behind China.
At 2.40pm on the same day we started stage 3 a 35.1km leg heading out of Forbes. For 23km we again ran 500m legs, this was reduced to 200m legs and the sprints got quicker. I was assigned 4km of the final 10km leg with Bretty and Marcus sharing the other changes. Teams in the final 10km were only allowed two changes. We upset the Chinese team as they accused us of making three. In actual fact we cut it very bloody fine. Gary Henry (team manager, ) pointed out that if we changed just outside of the 10km exclusion zone we could still make two more changes within the 10km limit. I made the change with Robbie just outside the 10km flag and ran to level peg the Chinese runner however with them only having one change left and us still two we eventually over hauled them and the Eritrean team to finish third. The Chinese protested but we were cleared of any wrong doing.

Friday was brutal again. My diary for 7th April 1995 reads.
Woke 6.30am feeling stiff but nothing out of the ordinary. today a 121.9km leg. Started out (after Bretty's 2km) with 500m repeats, running once every 3km. They seemed to come around bloody quickly. match racing with China. Switched to 300m then 250s then 200s for the hill climbs then back to 500s for the long flat sections. Gazza drove like a bloody legend and kept up the humour which helped to relieve the agony. Came to running with 5 guys when Robbie Spurrs achilles became inflamed. My left knee is sore and the ITB is not good. ran the last 4km into Orange. Massage, physio, bath and then alight jog around the hotel. team is in good spirits but rooted.

Saturday 8th April reads: Slow warm up.8.30am start for the 65km leg. Bretty lead out then we quickly moved to 300m legs, these were alternated between 200 and 100m depending on the undulation. Gary was stoked, you blokes are blow'n them away. he loved it. I ran the final 2.5km into Bathurst. Australia won the stage. you beauty.

Arvo. I lead the 2.5km out of Bathurst for the next 67.1km leg. Same process as the morning stage and the team ran aggressively. Brownie in trouble with a knee glitch and mine was taped to ease the discomfort, physio thinks its not tracking right. Not sure if its the running or getting in and out of the bloody car. ( The Chinese runner was withdrawn from the race by the event doctor, this was ignored and he limped in for the stage)

Sunday final stage into Parramatta.Diary Reads Sunday 9th April 1995:
Stage 7 26.8km Bretty lead out then bang into 200 and 100m sprints. I ran the last 3.5km stage for another stage win. All team moving well except Robby , Achilles is not good.
Stage 8 final into Parramatta Bretty lead out again only this time we dropped to 80m sprints Gaz loves it, his face just seems to say this is insane. Brownie put in some corker legs as to did Mike and Richard... I covered the second last 3.5km before handing over. team was third in the stage and 2nd over all.

These extract do not do the race justice, it was brutal but the team just worked so well together. Gary Henry was brilliant as the manager and his light hearted humour made the event just that little bit more bearable. Gaz went through 2 cars (brakes) to get us to the end but given the chance to do it again I would because the event has never been run again...

Ray Keshler writes " At the end of 500 gut wrenching kilometres more than 50 runners sprinted into Parramatta yesterday. Those last bursts to finish the Fred Hollows International team relay were acts of sheer defiance. So the Aussies finished second and scalped Kenay and Tanzania in the one race, a mighty effort for a team cobbled together only two weeks before the race started.They chewed up a 12minute deficit in the last stage.
...Chinese runner Wan Min Su ran into Parramatta with an aggravated shin fracture. The Event doctor Seamus Dalton said " what can you do they are running on national pride"...The Nepalese runner finished with a broken shoulder and broken ribs after being hit by his support car...The Fred Hollows relay will claim an honoured place in Australian sport"

One thing I do know is that those of us that made up the team will never forget one week of being wombats and digging deeper than we may ever have gone before

Barrel on wombats...

The day a wombat's heart was ripped out....

The Sydney Olympic trials were supposed to be the icing on the cake, the Holly Grail of races for the wombat... Yes the Olympics were the pinnacle but the hardest part about an Olympics , which I came to realise back in 1996 was actually getting into the team. I believe once you leap that hurdle the games themselves are a piece of cake. yes I know the competition is very tough but the fact is once you are in the team all you need to focus on is running the race of your life.

My prep for 2000 had been good, I had run a PB in Chicago in October of 99 which meant I had 6 months to recover and build towards the Australian trials in April. I had qualified in the Chicago race which meant that pressure was removed for the trial. All that remained was to be either the 1st or 2nd athlete who had qualified over the line. This did not necessarily mean winning it. Providng those who did finish in front of you did not qualify during the race. The maths said it was unlikely that anyone would run a sub 2hr 14 min at the trials. Mona was already a shoe in. This left Rod DeHighen (Rowdy) Lee Troop (Troopy) Pat Carrol and myself who had all run qualifiers. This meant four runners for two places.



Training was going well. A stint up at Falls Creek post Christmas and extending inot January. This was cut short by 2 weeks as my first born wombat, who was now one, was admitted to hospital . A few phone calls and a made dash from Falls Creek had me back at the airport to make my 8.30am flight back to Perth to be with him and Mrs Wombat. My diary has me leaving Falls at 10pm , sleeping in the car along the Hume Hwy at McDonald's until 4am and arriving at the airport at 5am. I ran at the airport at 6.30am and got a morning 6miles done before arriving in Perth. Shot to the hospital and then ran from the hospital for another 5 miles feeling shattered. We slept at the hospital that night and I trained from there for the two days that the little wombat stayed in hospital.



This appeared to be the only real glitch in my lead up to April and that was only a three day hiccup. My Achilles troubled me for a couple of days and that was all. Yes sure I did not get to do a really big bulk of mileage and hard work in the much cooler climate of Falls but other that that all indicators were good.



The diary indicates some corker sessions, a win in the state 1500m in 3m56sec, A solid 29m45s run in the National 10k track champs in Melbourne and 6th Aussi placing. Then three weeks out I won the Bridges 10km in 29m40s for a new course record.



So what went wrong, I woke on the trial day feeling fantastic, my taper had been good and I was niggle free. We went to the stadium from the hotel on the race bus and my warm up was good. My coach was happy with the lead up and she too was quietly confident..



My diary for 30th April 2000 reads: Woke 3.15am 4 x toast , white coffee and 2 sugars. Easy warm up and light stretching from the gun felt good, very controlled. Magnus went hard from the start and slowly began to build a lead. Let him go as I did not see him as a threat to the outcome. In hind sight this was a major tactical error by running for position I had changed the way I had previously raced. I was running within myself at this point. The first km 3m9s. 5km was hit in 15m49sec and the 10km was hit in 32m6 sec. The main players were in the group , Troop, rowdy with pat Carrol, the fastest of the four qualifiers have a worse day than me. At half way we were 1h8m3 seconds. A slow half way time . This left a big group still and magnus was now out of sight. at about the 25km mark I started to feel like shit. Legs heavy and feeling lethargic. Hindsight I feel I had been running too slowly and I just was not used to it. Quickly got into a rut and just could not lift out of it. Watched the group move away and with it my chances of an Olympic berth.



25k to 30k split 17m 16s.. 30k - 35k split 17m 40sec and my 35k - 40k split was 18min 33s. My slowest in a marathon since China and at least at china I knew I was sick. Negative self talk brough me donw further and instead of digging and chasing I settled into rut running. Going past Doona (Sean Quilty) Iwas given encouragment from him " Go Boydie dig mate you can catch them" While I moved away from Doona thats about all I did.



Through the mouse hole and the stadium came into view. My last 2.195km was covered in 8m15secs. I crossed the line 2hrs 22m 56sec in 13th place. Rowdy had won the event having run down Magnus in a cliff hanger within view of the stadium to record 2hr 16m36 sec. Troop was 5th in 2hr 18m 50 sec. That put me out of the team.



Shattered sat in stadium solo and looked down onto field. That was as close as I was to get. Hindsight indicates I broke the rules, I changed the style at which I raced best and I out strategised myself..



Later I hoped that Troop would nominate to run the 5km track as he had already qualified for this event and I would be able to fill the void but this was not to be the case. the 2000 games was to be Mona's swan song. Troop ran aggressively however unknown to him was carry a severe injury that sidelined him for many months. Credit to the wombat inside of him that he fought back after others had written him off and went to the next Olympics in Athens to again represent his country.Of more significance, and knowing that he was coached by Mona and Mona's take on the marathon, this was also not only the birth pace of the Olympic games but the birth place of the marathon and all it came to represent. He went on to be one of our top marathon runners in Australia and continues to have an impact in the athletics arena. Way to go Lee Troop an honorary Wombat Warrior.



For the Wombat, well I was gutted, , the wind had gone from my sails and I just went off the rails... I finished the year out according to my diary but after that training was spasmodic and a bought of plantar Fascia in 2001 caused me considerable grief.



Still its that part of what we do that make us what we are and as my blog says every journey begins with a single step.. so we move on.





Barrel on wombats...

Born Free....

Today the wombat ran naked and oh! what a feeling.... No not naked as in no clothes, I mean that would be silly .The West Australian sun would just cook me... No I ran without my Garmin. I took my watch the youngest of my wombats purchased me 2 birthdays ago and set out the door. I could faintly hear the foot pod , which was still attached to my shoe, screaming as it tried to locate it's wristed partner in vain but I did not care. The watch with the faded red (now pink) wrist band and ability to simply tell me the date, time and then start and stop but no memorise it was bravely digitally away. Normally relegated to working in the yard while I do cementing or clean the pool it was actually getting to leave the burrow and head out for a run.



Today I felt free and I was born free, well I actually think my parents were charged a small fee at the hospital but other than that I was free. No chimes, no mile reference beeps or time calibration chirps. Just me and my simple watch and favourite pair of Kayanos moving through the bush. Today I actually floated. Felt fantastic . In fact it was on eof those runs where you just seem to move along. Having run this course a number of times, many in fact, I knew pretty much how far it was. (The Garmin had indicated previously that it was 8.11miles which is not bad as I had estimated it as 8 miles using my tried and true method of simply saying I cover each mile in 7 minutes, this is a very rough calculator but surprisingly very good. If I do in reality run further then that's money in the bank, if it turns out that the run is shorter then I guess I can draw on the money in the bank. either way it works out)....



My pace was good this morning and I was determined not to let the pace slip so I just worked it and bugga me I felt good. yeah I know it was only 5 miles (8km roughly) but for a fat little wombat on a journey of rediscovery it felt good... The open section of bitumen that I had to run along to get to kangaroo rise was a tad hot but the gradual down hill helped this and then climbing the exposed gravel rise that tends to be a little exposed was made easier by the fact that a mob of roos were feeding on the dry, crusty barren grass... The final pinch of Beacon to Molloy hurt, it always does when your not fit , but I just felt quick today .


At I crossed my make believe finish line between the letter box and the road sign (cant stop running until I cross this line, comes from habit " Run through the line my coach would always say") I look down at my faded red pink wrist banded watch which has gamely been holding time since I headed out 35 minutes ago is still recording time. I press the the stop button and glance to notice 35minutes 36.34sec, at the same time I must have pressed the reset button. Shit , gone , time lost.... Ahh no worries I remembered it, not that old yet... Tomorrow I may go back to the safety of the 2456789 memory watch which can tell me how many steps I have taken , plot my course on google earth and communicate with extra terrestrial life at least then I wont have to try and work out how to get this bloody foot pod off my shoe...


Barrel on wombats...

Footnote: Freaking thing my blog dashboard now has an add for the Garmin Forerunner 405.. Has google earth tracked me or is the watch trying to gang up on me to upgrade... Conspiracy theorists would love that on

Diary Extract 1999.... Chicago and an Olympic A qualifier

1999 was an interesting year for the wombat. I spent a chunk of January and the previous December up in Falls Creek in an effort to prepare for the Canberra marathon. My goal was to win this and in doing so secure a trip to Chicago and run the Chicago marathon in October with the intention of qualifying for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.(More on Canberra Later but basically I won it and made it to Chicago.

A good prep in Falls put me on track for running well , so I thought , and on returning to Perth hit 36degree Celsius and 40 degree days ... I race a poor 3km track GP and won this in 8.45 , which was hardly inspiring, edging out Dave Suiter in the process. Running some big mileage 110 and 120 miles a week I managed to win the state 1500m in 3.51.70. on 14 Feb My diary for this day reads: State championships1500m. Warm up easy (solo) 24min3sec. Light stretching and strides. Ran some more strides in my flats before changing into spikes. Made a great start but was soon passed by fast boys and although at the back of the pack I was at least in contact. Sitting in 8th , put my head down and just worked but did not panic. gave coach a smile after first lap and she smiled back knowing we only had to work hard and wait.Slowly worked through the pack and while they slowed each lap I maintained and eventually got faster. With 200m to go I finally caught JP . passed him with 80m to go. Shattered as I crossed the line. Pretty sure my lower intestine was intent on coming up through my throat. Splits : 45.05/63(1.49)63 (2.52) 59 3m51.70s. You beauty.

On March the 2nd my first little wombat came on the scene and life changed. Interruptions to training while we (Me and Mrs Wombat) tried to established routines with a young wombat who was playing by his own rules was not easy.

News clipping in my Diary 9th July 1999 " El Guerrouj ran 3min43.13sec to shave 1.26sec off the previous mark of 3.44.39 set in 1993 by Algerian Nourdine Morceli.

Chicago October 24th 1999: Diary reads: Woke 4.19am Breakfast 4xtoast with marg. Walked to warm up area (6.30am) easy warm up 18min34sec. Light stretching. strides to the start 7.30am Quickly established a rhythm and got inot pace by the second mile. Stood next to Khalid Khannouchi but that was it. he went on to win in a world record of 2hr5m42s. Went through first mile in 4m58.22 and held this for the next mile. the 5th mile was covered in 4m55.03 s (5km in 15m33sec) 10km was 31m4sec with a 15m24s split. I was still running and holding sub 5 and 5 minute miles through to the 17 mile point. Settled into a a small group and ran with the kiwi Dale Warrander. We were both after the same time so it made sense to work as a team. By half way dale was in trouble and I still felt strong. Half way point in 1hr 5min 42sec. Continued to run strong until the final 6 miles where I had slowed to 5min 14s miles. 30-35km was a 15m55s split. The next 5km 35-40k was a 17minute split. Looked at my watch and realised I was in a real danger of missing the qualifier. Covered the final 2.195km in 6min 50sec. Finished 16th in 2hr 13min 26seconds. Olympic A qualifier...Job done..

Apart from the A qualifier and being a part of a world record race the highlight came when I got to meet and talk with Frank Shorter 72 Olympic Gold Medalist and 76 silver medalist for the marathon. Frank was just an amazing bloke to talk to and I came away with a sense of having talked to someone who was grateful for his ability to run and run fast... I have the card he signed in my diary and a large poster of the event he signed I later had bloke mounted.....

Later than year in possibly the last marathon of the year in Japan Rod Dehighden (Rowdy) ran a 2hr13m59s qualifier to just duck under the 2.14 time limit. This now meant that the Sydney Olympic trails planned for April 2000 had 4 runners (Rod, Pat Carrol, Troopy and myself) via for 2 positions behind Mona , who held the first. In the Trial in 2000 Rod won the race, Troopy was second of those who had qualifier over the line and I was third.The other runners ahead of both Troopy and I did not run qualifiers in the race. A fact that all of us knew was doubtful on the course and so had a significant advantage. This meant that I had again missed selection....

More extract from the wombats past soon.

In the meantime have your own dreams and chase your own goals.

Barrel on Wombats...

Garmin but wait there's more...

Monday 17th and a lazy 5 miles around the burrow... or so I thought... Remember I spoke of the Garmin and all its wonderful and super essential information that it provides you while you run. Things like how many steps I took and my average number of steps per km.... Well today I thought , just because I could, I would put on the heart rate monitor and use the threshold limits. This was set to my height, weight and age.

Well of I set content in the knowledge that I am getting a little fitter and can actually talk aloud to myself without collapsing. Next thing my Garmin is beeping at me. According to the limits I was about to flat line.... Now I know that at the present time my fitness levels are far below what they are capable of and where they should be given my genuine love of the sport. But seriously I was not about to slow to a walk to keep the Garmin happy.

Choosing to ignore the alarm I continued on my easy run, according to me and not the Garmin. Again here lies the problem. I understand the science behind the threshold limits , I get the point of working at the various levels of heart rate to achieve the desired outcomes but seriously I was more than happy to run along at a pace that was around the 7 minute mile pace. Its not fast , its around 4m20s a km and it was not going to kill me... Eventually the alarm settled and my heart rate dropped. When I checked again it had dropped to the point of stopping, no reading " Shit I am now dead" or so I thought... With a bit of wriggling the chest band settled and got a connection again and things were good however my heart rate had increased from the stress of thinking I was dead so the bloody alarm was going off again.

I know that Lance Armstrong swears by the numbers in terms of his training (from what I have read as I have never actually met the guy , would love to but highly unlikely it will happen) but my run was becoming a genuine pain in the arse.

My heart rate did eventually settle well it felt like it had as I was now running with the heart rate monitor in my hand and just to really annoy the Garmin I worked the hill because I could.

I finished the run moving slightly quicker that 6m45s/mile in the final stages happy in the knowledge that I am actually getting fitter.

I should apologise to Garmin, the watch is a bloody good watch in that it gives me the session splits and I can program all the other sessions into it but I can do without the digital telling me I am going to flatline and slow down. I mean really if your in a race to you really slow down because its a little bit uncomfortable.NOOO.... Do you ease off just before you reach the finish line because you are above threshold NOOOO... you show your wombat and dig deeper....


Like Trailblazer said in one of his comments his coach gave him a hard time for looking at his watch. In actual fact I only wore a watch for training to record my total time and interval session I never used to race with one until I started racing the marathon. I still question myself over this as I often wonder about the watch actually causing you to hold back if you see that you well into pb territory...

See you out there people...

Barrel on wombats...

Goal Setting ...

Running or rather running fast can be a science. While the wombat (me) argues that it is a simple sport and as such does not require a great deal of thought, there is still a degree of mathematics involved....

I will share a goal with you and in doing so try and explain the science/ mathematics involved.

A goal that the wombat warrior has set for 2011 is to finish in the top ten of the Perth City to Surf. This goal is a public goal, once shared there is/ may be, an increase of pressure on myself in terms that I have now made it public I am being held accountable by everyone who reads this. This could also be considered a safe goal. I am not prepared to share the personal goal which falls somewhere within the top ten goal.

Okay lets now break it down. At the present time if I stepped on the track this would not be possible. Why ? well at the moment I am averaging a 6.30 - 7.10 minute per mile pace. (4m20s km) This puts me in the 52 - 55minute range for the 12km race. This means I am not going to finish in the top ten. I know, having won the event 11 times that to win it if you can run between 35min 50 sec and 37minutes then you can pretty much guarantee the win.

To get into the top ten I need to be running on my easy runs , comfortably , 3min 30s per km. There for this becomes a goal of my training runs. If I can get comfortable at this pace I know that I can guarantee a top ten finish. Am I a long way off at this stage,? Yes... Do I have plenty of time to get there ? Yes...

So where to now for the wombat in terms of this goal. Okay initially I am aiming to get very comfortable on a 2hr to 2 and a half hour run for the Sunday long run. I am aiming to get a solid tempo run of at least an hour where I occasionally hit 4m55s / mile.

For anyone setting a goal in terms of times or places they need to know the time that they have to achieve to get there. After that it is a small mater of mathematics. This established the pace you have to be comfortable at to get there. Is it possible? Well only you can answer that but if you plan and set out a series of steps to get there , along with patience anything is possible...

Barrel on Wombats

Diary Extract 1996.... Last long run prior to Beppu marathon

The following is an extract from my 1996 training diary. Two weeks out from my Beppu marathon on the 4th February 1996 where I qualified 3rd behind Sean Quilty and Rod DeHighden for the Atlanta Olympics. Mona had already secured the first place for the team which left me out of the team.

Sunday 21st January Reads:
7.10am. Big pack at Helena Valley. Suiter and I ran from the primary school to the end of the road and joined up with Baxter, Evan K, Cameron J, Mark Presley, Paul Mac and Paul. Travelling well but a little slow on the hills this morning. (Out 54m12s/Back 49m24s) Ran alone from 1hr 32m. (ran extra loop 18m8sec) Time 2hr1m54s. Distance 18miles.
7pm: Form home, looped the local oval then 3 1/2 laps of the community oval , mainly grass,moving well. Time 25m7sec. Distance 4 miles.

Diary Entry for 4th February 1996 marathon day reads:
Woke 8.10am Breakfast 3 x toast and jam, Coffee with 2 sugars. Feeling good walked to the stadium. Really easy warm up over 12 minutes. 12noon start. Went with second main pack and floated off the back for much of it.. Missed my bottles at 18km and 24km. Fell off the pack at half way.At 25km (1hr 18minutes ) I felt like shit. Worked through it and got to 30km. Started to pick up a lot. Worked the climb and at about 32km I passed John Andrews and the group he was leading. Continued to pass runners and caught sight of Rod at 35km. Tried hard to close and was doing this slowly and steadily but ran out of distance. Finished well with a much better run than the Gold Coast last year. 3rd Aussi home , 5th over the line. 39seconds behind Rod Dehighden in 2hrs 15min 5seconds. Doona (Sean) 2hr13min 26sec. Happy with a personal best but disappointed that I could not get Rod. 39 seconds works out to less that 1 second a km. Looks like I will be watching Atlanta on television like most of the planet.
Light job on bloody stiff legs. Rab said I ran a bloody good second half coming through the pack. Wayne Larden DNF. Dolly finished in the back of the field after a quick start.Back to the drawing board.

Barrel on Wombats...

Compare and Contrast... 2011 Vs 1997 and a World Champs qualifier

My morning run was greeted with a strong warm easterly as I headed out from home and along Beacon Road and down to Drucker's store. Managed an 8 miler this morning and the climb back up Richardson to get home was not pleasant. Still the run was done and the mileage goes in the book. That's the important part. each days builds onto the next and I have a lot of building to do.

Looking through my old training diaries, as I often do, I like to reflect on what sort of training and mileage I punched out when I was a tad younger. My 1997 training diary for Saturday the 18th and Sunday the 19th of January reads. ( I was up in Falls Creek preparing for the Tokyo Marathon where I hoped to qualify for the Athens World Champs. This task made a little more difficult as I had gone up there unfit. I had already been there for 4 weeks)

Saturday 18th Reads.

9.30am: Ran easy with Brendan Hayes and Troopy to the aqua duct and picked up Mona. Continued up to Mount McKay Road (10m12s) Stretched. Starting at the rock we ran hard for 6km to the top. Mona Troop and Hayes got away fast with me never in the picture. A gutless run by me in Elite company. (6km climbed from 1620 to 1820: Mona 18m23s record, Troop 19m1s, Hayes 20m10s, Me 20m40s) Cool down 35m35s Distance 10miles. (sit ups x100) ( massage on right Hammy)

4.46pm: Ran 4 laps of the lake at Mt Bogong village. 3 with Mona and troop and 1 alone. Distance 8miles time 54m9s... Days total 18miles (week 126miles)

Sunday 19th Reads

9am: Ran from the front of High Plains with Troopy and Hayes. Picked up Mona on the aqua duct. Brendan and Mona worked the Mount McKay Hill and we eventually regrouped going into Pretty Valley. I'm still not running comfortably on the hills and have to work hard to stay in touch. Generally a little leg heavy. Ran Marm Point then back along Pretty Valley Road. Mona put the accelerator on for a small section and I swear I could hear my nuts dragging along the trails, chased Troopy's back to stay in touch was determined not to be dropped. Time 2hr32m58sec distance 22miles

6pm: Roper's Lookout: An easy run from High Plains with Mona, Troop and Hayes. Feeling a touch weary but pleased with my progress. (Time 18m25out 17m8s back ) 35min33sec Distance 5 miles Total for the day 27 miles.

For anyone interested I raced in Tokyo on Sunday the 9th February: I qualified by running a PB of 2rs 14mins 26sec (3m18.85s/km average)

My diary entry on this day reads.

Woke 7.15am and dozed until 7.45am. Toast 4pieces /coffee with 2 sugars Feeling good, relaxed. A light warm up at 11am, easy stretching and still feeling good. A few run throughs prior to the gun. went out fast and eventually settled into the second pack consisting of 9 guys. Even though it was new territory I felt it was the right decision to stay with this pack. At the turn , half way,(1hr5m32.61sec) the group was down to 4 with me off the back. I relaxed and over the next 1500m got back onto the group. Moved to the front amd started to try and keep the tempo up. At 25km (1hr17min 47.54sec) we threw in a 3m8s km. Pat Carrol and another dropped leaving myself and Vladimir Kotov. We ran aggressively. At 27km I dropped off Kotov but continued to chase. We continued passing runners however Kotov continued to pull away from me. Scrambled up the final hill dropping 15sec for the km over 3km before kicking down again. Finished in a world qualifier.My only bad patch was at 28km when I though " Gee it would be nice to stop" and my body just about did. Placed 12th. Winner Koji Shimizu of Japan 2hr10min 9sec. Kotov finished 8th in 2hr13min41sec. Still need to work on hardening up and really working through the uncomfortable sections and until I can embrace this I wont be able to make the jump to the next level.... Here we come Athens.... (5km 15m14.3s/10km 15m30.02s/15km 15m42.5s/20km 15m40s/2

Barrel on wombats5km 15m39s/ 30km 15m57s/ 35km 16m17s /40km 17min/ final 2.195km 7m24sec)

Barrel on wombats...

One of those mornings...

This morning I was chewing a brick. Everything was a battle from putting on my shoes to getting out the door to taking the first step. It did not help that I took the young wombats to see 'Tron' . The session did not get started until 9.10pm so by the time we got home it was well past midnight. ( The words of Mona ringing in my ears " It does not matter what you did the night before as long as your there for the session")

Well not quite a session this one but a run just the same and at my junction in life at the moment every run is important to building the fitness and staying on the good looking side of the 'Man Mirror' . (Mrs wombat complains when she looks in the mirror however my man mirror seems to always portray me as " loooooooking Good". Most blokes have these mirrors). However I digress. My run was not enjoyed or maybe I would not let myself enjoy it. My legs ached , it seemed that my ankles did not exist and like a fellow athlete 'Jas' my knees refused to work. This meant that the first point at which my legs actually moved was through the hips.

A very slight breeze, warm , blew across kangaroo rise as I made my way over the small gravel incline heading towards Malmalling. This morning I did not even contemplate doing a loop of the small testing little circuit which I have created around this area. Actually look forward to when I am race fit to giving this a good hit out, but not today.

Came out onto the Molloy and then climbed back to the front gate. Just one of those runs where you tick the box. Sometimes its tough being a wombat (eats roots shoots and leaves) and this morning was one of those internal battles that everyone has once in a while. But at the end of the day I won because I did the run.

Hope you win your battle today.

Barrel on Wombats...

Back to the engine...

With all the runners I have coached, assisted or guided my underlying philosophy has been the same. (Even with myself however I am getting a third party to guide me and they have the same philosophy) Build the base , get it solid and then fine tune it or to continue the analogy, start to add the parts that will super charge it... I spend time with the athlete building a mileage base and a tempo base. Getting them to be comfortable at a slightly faster rate than they would normally run at.

You can't go out and start churning out quality sessions or quality times in races without first putting the time in to make sure that your body can cope with it. Sure you can smash out a blinder session and maybe even churn out one brilliant ball tearing race but then you have to recover. A runner (person) with the better base (more days, weeks, months and even years ) under their belt will recover a lot quicker and repeat the performance over someone who does not or has not put in the same time.

The longer I run for and the longer I am on the planet the more simpler I see running as an action. It is possible to add small elements of hard efforts while you build a good base without having to put in structured sessions of 400s, hill repeats or the like.

For instance during the longer runs, which build endurance and strength in the legs to go the long haul it is possible to work the hills a little harder while you are running. Make a conscious effort to lift and drive up the hills. This has two benefits that I see straight off the cuff. The first is that is does not take much to make the hill harder by increasing your pace and holding it over the hill. This will raise the heart rate, increase lactic and basically hurt (be the wombat)secondly if you keep doing this you train yourself to lift on a hill. This in time can become a subconscious effort, your body just does it because that's what you do on the hill. When you come to racing even the smallest increase on a hill can have devastating affects on your opposition. This is also a time when you will naturally want to slow down so make again simply by making an effort to maintain the same pace while climbing the hill requires you to make an effort and focus on the drive and climb. Remember to run over the hill and not just to the top.

The second way to incorporate a harder element is to increase the speed at which you run for short periods during your other runs. Again this could even be during a long run. As a young wombat this is something I would often do. When I lived at home with my parents I would always wind it up over the last mile and a half. I even ran a commentary in my head and sometimes aloud, where I was pushing the likes of Salazar, Deek and Seko (guns during my time) to the line in the closing stages of the Olympic games. ( I always won). The act of just running does not have to be boring. I never find it so. Run faster for three or four lamp posts, Chase down a cyclist, anything but have some fun. Visualise an opponent during the run and push them. The ideas are limitless.

Once you have built this base then you can start to super charge yourself. Courtney Carter is a prime example of a WA athlete who has built a base , over time, that is enabling him to work harder and achieve the times. I am sure that if he sticks with what he is doing with Greenie he will continue to get the times.

You can't hope to compete with a sub 30minute runner off a 30km a week base the sums just don't work.

Marc See is another young runner who is coming into his own with the addition of years of training. Ethan Haywood has had some good results and over time with a bigger base and more runs under his belt the times will come down and his performances will become more consistent both on a state and national level. All these runners have and will need to continue to be patient.

Mona, Deek, Coe, Birmingham, Mottram (Buster), Radcliff all took time to build a base and over time improved their times and their standings. Even know Buster is rebuilding with a new coach. It all takes time. You cant build a great house without a solid foundation. Even the leaning Tower of Piza (While injured, leaning) if it was not built on a solid foundation do you think it would still be standing. In other words if we get injured on a good base our recovery and chances of getting back are so much better....

Barrel on wombats...

My morning done...

Covered my morning mileage and happily walked in through the gate. The runs are getting easier as long as I hold back from sprinting out the gate and trying to wind up the pace as I go.

At the present time everything is going well. No work due to the school holidays so that stress is out of the way and providing I get things done before Mrs Wombat needs my help with the little wombats everything is good. I will be working to get the balance of running , work and family sorted out before I get back to work and I am determined not to miss runs because I work back late.

Saw a number of kangaroos out on the trail today. The just stood there watching as I ran past. More than likely wondering why a creature would bother running in the morning if it was not trying to get away from danger. I am finding , as I always do, that the more I do the more I want to do. The hard bit is holding back and being sensible about it....

Barrel on wombats...

Become a wombat warrior...set your target....Go for it

The hardest thing to do is step out the door. Most of us, even the wombat himself, have a million and one excuses for not stepping out the door. Take last night for example. I had left my run very late and Mrs Wombat had asked me if I was eating with everyone else or running first. The is basically code for get your wombat arse up here and have dinner with the family. I now have an excuse for not getting out the door as I have just eaten. A part of my brain (the lazy arsed section) argued that we could run longer tomorrow. The other part of my brain ( the masochistic section) shouted get off your lazy arse and get out the door and run with a stitch if that's what it takes. So I went out the door, in the dark and ran. ( No stitch)

If you live in Perth now is the time to target a marathon and set the wheels in motion in terms of preparing yourself for the onslaught of the distance. For the metro area there are two choices.The Perth marathon on the 19th June or the City to Surf marathon on the last weekend of August. There is also an overseas marathon on Rottnest Island on October 23rd and an early marathon in Bunbury on the 22nd May.

In the case of Bunbury a runner would have a Little less that 20 weeks of prep. This is doable but maybe a little bit rushed for someone with no base. For a runner who is already fit then it would only be a matter of building up. Perth in June is ideal as it allows you to build a really good base of distance and tempo over the next few months and then heading into winter you can start to add the more demanding sessions (if you were really after a time). It also means that for you Sunday long runs you are doing the bigger distances in the cooler months. The same situation presents itself for the City to Surf and Rottnest marathons. All of these allow a very controlled and steady build up. For my way of thinking they also allow a little more time to recovery during the training phase if you have any interruptions such as sickness or even injury (should this occur).

The other bonus of the later marathons is that there are plenty of other fun runs around Perth that allow you to enjoy the social element of racing and training and this is all part of the fun. Mind you I am a solitary wombat and enjoy training solo however I really love the comradery that the running fraternity brings with it. Remember running is a solo endeavour when it comes to achieving your goals....

It does not matter if you have not run for a while or never run ... Remember " Every journey begins with a single step" so pick a race(Perth half) or set a goal (get fit, lose some weight) and start your journey.

Start by walking a mile (1609m) then walk jog a mile then jog a whole mile. Next use the same process to cover 2 miles (3.2km) and so on. In four weeks time you will be covering 5km (3miles ) without even thinking about it.

Come on be a wombat warrior and dig deep , go for it, set a personal goal and achieve it.

Barrel on wombats....

The Wombat's Down South...

From North to South... Just spent two days down south at Logue Brook Dam. This is located roughly 2 hrs drive out from Perth along the South West High Way. The turn off coming 19km after driving past the lake Navarino turn off in Waroona.

Took the boat with us so the little wombats and Mrs Wombat could enjoy the water while the wombat himself was out hitting the trails...

Once again it got pretty warm down there but no where near what I experienced in Green Head. The running was magic early in the morning and once I was out the back of the dam the wind was hindered by the tall timber that grows out the back. Amazingly still some water out back. Just enjoyed running long to build up base and strength so that I can hopefully tackle and put together some harder sessions commencing March. Mind you having said that if I am feeling good I have been winding them up to come home. Not to the point where I can comfortably sit on a 3m15s km pace but happy to cruise at the 3.40s and 50s that come my way at the moment.

Despite wearing the Garmin, which had a little trouble in the bush at times in picking up a signal, I am working off a 7 minute mile average in my head and this is still proving to be accurate even now. There were times when I could comfortably sit on a 4m20s mile pace for ages (would love to revisit that fitness again) however at the present I am enjoying the feeling of moving along. Found the hills (small climbs) a little troublesome in maintaining the steady pace but I know that this will come back over time...

Knowing that base and distance are the elements to building a solid structure on I am happy just to wait and be patient , something the young athletes sometimes lack. (if you build it , it will come) ..

Two days and 6 runs all spaced out enough to allow sufficient recovery and all at a pace that is allowing this old wombats body deal and cope with it....

I hope others are enjoying the building up over these months so that when the racing seasons really hits for the states and GP they can fly. As for me I am waiting for the winter when it gets cooler and I don't have to run in the dark to get some respite from the heat. Mind you I can't complain as the crew in Queensland are doing it bloody tough. You just have to love the inbuilt Wombat that Aussi's tend to have hidden and which only really shows itself when the chips are down.. Hang in there Queensland the country is behind you....

Keep getting out there crew and build on you fitness and work towards your goals. If you thinking of running a marathon in Perth this year I would be starting the base work now to enable you to put in the a really well planned and staged build up.....

Barrel on Wombats...

Get the Engine Right....

We all have an engine but tuning that engine to each of our individual pursuits is the difficult part.

With the people that I have coached, and even with myself, I have tried to focus on ensuring that the base to the engine was solid. To run a marathon , a half marathon a 10k and even a 1500m the base training is important. Why? Because without it you don't have much to fall back on.

I have said it a few times , and I will say it again, it is no point being the fastest in the field if you are not there when push comes to shove. While I was not necessarily the fastest I was certainly capable of running the same pace at the end of a race as I did at the start of the race. Lance Armstrong may not have been the fastest in a race but what made him extremely dangerous as a competitor was his incredible strength. If he put the hammer down then you could bet your bottom dollar that that hammer was able to remain down for a bloody long time , including up until he crossed the line. DeCastella had this base strength as did Mona, Salazar and certainly Haile Gebrselassie.

Distance runners do not happen over night, nor do PBs. They take months and sometimes even years to achieve. Never under estimate the importance of the long run and the tempo run. For me as a mature age runner if I was to drop a session it would be neither of these two. Both these runs provide us the base on which to build a very good engine. Just ask any good distance runner.

The wombat has lost many things but the one thing that he has not lost (scary talking about myself in the third person) is the base on which he has build his engine. The engine is there I just need to fine tune it. Lets all think about building our engines for 2011 and make it a year to remember.

Remember " we run because we can"
"мы бежим, потому что мы можем"
"nos encontramos, ya que podemos"
"Vi kör eftersom vi kan"
"私たちがすることができますので、実行"

Obvioulsy each translates a little differently but the message is the same......

Barrel on wombats...

2011 and another under the belt.

Ran from home this morning, out the door and into the bush. Mind you a chunk of the course was on the road (bitumen surface) but the majority was along gravel tracks and over undulating terrain. My only grizzle was the bloody easterly wind which tends to live in our back yard over the summer months. I guess its lucky I am a wombat because it was a case of head down and nut it out.

In my younger days as a furry cute wombat with no fear of anything I would have run harder just to spite the wind and then kept winding it up until I got home. Now as a gnarly greying wombat I tend to barrel along at a steady state with gritted teeth merely cursing the wind. (what does not kill us makes us stronger.... Or simply annoys us to the point where we try to beat the shit out of it).

Anyway plenty of roos (kangaroos) out today across the open gravel rise. No snakes which was a bonus, not that I usually see many, well, see any actually. The small kicker hill was a bit of a bastard today and I just could not drive up it (lazy I think) Came back in through the loop to be greeted by my dog at the gate. All in all a great run.

For the garmin junkies (not quite there yet) I averages 3.50/km with a max pace of 3.28/km. The FR60 also made me a cappuccino at the 4km point of the run which I declined however of even less use to me I took 6672 steps for the run. Not sure of I will add that information to my diary as it is not something I would reflect on for future improvement, just another thing to worry about.

Green Head...Bloody Hot

Family time sometimes means you run in tough surroundings.. 2 days at Green Head, a small coastal community approximately 300km north of Perth, meant running in 42 and 43 degree heat. Interestingly 12 years ago I would have covered many more miles in the same surroundings had I had to go there. Mind you my young wombats would not have been on the scene and I would not have been there anyway. In fact I more than likely would have been in Falls Creek with the rest of the running fraternity. (Usually stayed until late February)

Very barren terrain on the road's edge, gravel tracks and grey hot sand. Still I managed to get the runs done and not melt. Got some swimming in too. Not quite the Falls Creek altitude running but heat training is supposed to bring similar gains. (if you don't burst into flames in the process. ) Checked the Garmin at one stage and I think it said " You're a bloody idiot, it's too hot to be running you may die" I will check that once I get around to down loading the data. I have already written the mileage and times in my diary but I may as well get digital too.

The old ASICS Kayano's need an upgrade too. Fortunately I have kept some old habits from my more glorified running days (well glorified in my head) and always have 2 pairs on the go.

I am actually looking forward to getting into the full swing of the training regime again after a small break (smaller than 6 years anyway). The trusty old wombat who set it a few years ago knows a fair bit about running and let me tell you the program works... Why do we push ourselves.... because we can I guess..

Anyway back in Perth now and happy to be in familiar surroundings... back into the bushland of jacoby park , may even venture to the river and head along the flat lands...

until soon

Barrel on wombats...