Along the Southern Coast

The last week was spent running about Augusta while I vacationed with family and friends at the Turner Caravan Park. This was usually into a howling coastal wind on the out journey. The bonus of this was that I had it behind me for the return journey.
This is a basic rule of running for out and back courses and one that I put to good practise over the week that I ran in Augusta. This way when I was tired and heading home I had nature lending me a hand.

Switching to miles, or back to miles, has also made a difference to my mind set which is definitely  something I needed to happen. Everything aches at the moment , but again, I expected this and just need to punch through it as my body adapts to being asked to do something that hurts. Looking forward to more enjoyable runs soon.

The shortness of breath continues to hamper me at times and on one run which I did out at Foul Beach along the Cape to Cape trail, I found myself having to stop in an attempt top draw a breath. I'm finding this more and more frustrating  as I know it is the main reason I am reluctant to start doing harder sessions for fear of collapsing. Initial heart checks involving an ultra sound, running on a treadmill and wearing 24 hour monitor  have revealed nothing yet it still frightens me when it happens as I am usually running by myself.

Anyway on a less depressing note, it was good to get out of Perth for a little while and have a run in an area that I was unfamiliar with and while everything hurt and it was a struggle , as I know it will be while I build a base , the Southern Coast had some great trails and wonderful scenery. I even bumped into Glen Quartermaine, who was on holidays as well and it was good to see him getting ready for his next marathon assault.

Since getting back to Perth I have kept the ball rolling and even stepped up to a 5 miler where the pace was almost at 7 minutes per mile , something that was an easy task many years ago but needs to be worked at currently. My goal is to get really comfortable at this pace again and flow rather than push, which is the norm at the moment.


Barrel on wombats....

Guest Blogger for Front Runner Sports...

The following two links may help provide some useful information for anyone considering a marathon in 2015.

I provided the information as a guest blog for Front Runner Sports who provide training programs ( locally, nationally and internationally) and training groups (In Perth) to help runners reach their goals, be they simply to get fit through to making an Australian Team.

Raf Baugh has built this company from the ground up and surrounds himself with a highly successful group of people , all of whom are successful in their own fields an many of who currently compete as distance runners or triathletes.

Part 1 Marthon link: http://frontrunnersports.com.au/guest-blog-ray-boyd-the-marathon-part/

Part 2 Marathon Link: http://frontrunnersports.com.au/guest-blog-ray-boyd-the-marathon-part-2/

Barrel on wombats...

We never plan to fail, we only fail to plan.

While this may well be a cliche, it still and will always remain a constant truth.

To say that I have been there and done that would be an outright lie, however, I have been to a few places and done a few things.

From a running perspective none of this has come about  without considerable work and effort on my part.

Nothing is ever a guaranteed given in life and this is more the case when you put it into a distance running context. It is possible, however, to increase the chances of success, again, this only comes about through hard work, consistent work and patient work.

Nothing puts a smile on my face more, than seeing someone who I know has put in the time and effort and then achieved success. I have seen many examples of this throughout my life time and in some cases I have had the pleasure of training with them. Without stating the blatant obvious examples, a few that come to mind have been:

• Lee Troop ( 3 x Olympian) 
• Sean Quilty ( Olympian for marathon after being a national 1500m medal winner)
• Rod DeHighden (2x Olympian)
• Nick Fragamini  (Stawell Gift 3km winner)
• Glen Quartermaine  (Sub 4 hour marathon)
• Nathan Doig (AFL Grandfinal boundary umpire)
• Raf Baugh  ( 2nd in the world Ranking for Biathlon & Successful owner operator of Front Runner sports management)
• Courtney Carter (State champion and now resides in Sydney)
• Shaphan Cox ( Dual state 5km track champion)
• Julie Gardner (State team representative)
• Todd Ingraham (State champion over multiple distances, Australian representative and Comrades marathon runner)

All these people share one thing in common, a commitment to achieving their desired goal. All these people, and this is only a few example that I have mentioned, put a plan in place and worked to it. They set a target, established some short term gaols and never lost sight of their end game. For some the attainment of the goal came quickly, for others like Nick, Troopy, Raf and Glen, they got knocked down a couple of times but each time they got back up and used the set back as a reflective process in refining the path to the golden egg.

The bottom line is that with any target or goal that you set yourself there will be set backs however, it is important to understand that these will occur and then plan for them so that you can continue with a way to manage things when and if they do.

Endurance sports athletes, of which distance runner are, always take time to develop, they develop a resilient doggedness, that is also found in successful people from all domains of life,  in pursuing their goals and this is why they succeed. They also, in nearly every case that I can think of, have someone that they can use as a mentor, coach or simple sounding board. They have someone who can offer an impersonal opinion of what they see. So never think you have to or in fact should , go at your goal alone as this will simply add another blocker to what it is that you are trying to do.

So don't plan to fail by not planning. Make a plan, make a start and set yourself on a journey that will increase your chances of success.

Barrel on wombats...

2015 and we start again

Today's heat made running anything but pleasant. For me it was the 5th run for the year, something that actually made me feel pretty good despite moving at a speed that would make stationary vehicle look fast.

Last year I was on a roll until November, at which point a stomch issue forced me off the road for five days and threw a spanner in the works in terms of getting through a whole year without break. Having said that the year was still a huge success in terms of covering more ks than I have for a long time, being able to coach a great group and Guildford and still being able to guide young Caulfield and Doigy (every now and then), both these young guys remind me of what passion used to look like.

Further to this, the opportunity to commentate live to air , the Perth City to Surf , alongside Glenn was possible a commeatry highlight. Working in the studio at 9 was both fun, intereating and an eye opener and I thank Andrew Spittle for the opportunity to do it.

Anyway lets see what the year has to offer for the Wombat and in the meantime

Barrel on wombats...