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...