Why do you want to run 100km? The REAL story behind the motivation....

So I have been asked a few hundred times - why do you want to run 100km?! And not just any 100km race, but one of the toughest (if not THE toughest) 100km race in the Australia?

As you know from my previous blog "When Day Dreaming Becomes Reality" I have had the idea about running The North Face 100 since 2009. Without going over old ground, it was always a "stretch goal" one where you think "when I get time" someday I will commit to training and running it.

On the 26th of April last year "someday" arrived. It was the public holiday for ANZAC day, my mobile rang and it was my step mum Rhonda. My dad had just been involved in a very serious accident at work and had suffered life threatening head injuries. He was being airlifted from the mine to the Mackay hospital. Rhonda wasn't sure if he would be sent to Brisbane or if they could stabilise him in Mackay. Dad had a very large skull fracture, a fractured back and internal injuries. They tossed up about putting a plate in his skull, but ended up leaving it to heal itself. It was pretty intense there for a while.

Bel's dad had suddenly passed away the previous December and it was very confronting to think that we might also lose my dad. As we took turns sitting by dad's side watching him sleep during his weeks in hospital - I spent a lot of time reflecting on my own mortality. Sure I had been focusing a lot of effort on being a dad, trying my best at the balancing act of a new job, new business etc, but was I really happy? What if I died, what would be my legacy, if I was in his place would I be happy with my life and my decisions?

Dad's life had been so focused on work, he has an unbelievable work ethic - really old school, no sick days, hardly takes holiday (you know the type). Dad didn't "waste" money on holidays or stuff, he spent his money on practical things, and is always saving for the rainy day.

Watching dad slowly recover, two steps forward one step back - it made me evaluate what I really wanted out of life. What IF my time was up? I guess we all think about this at times, have a mortality check and change tact in life.

What I decided was that I was going to commit to running one of my dream races. In all honesty I was a lazy trainer and an ordinary marathon runner - I loved it, but I was never going to reach my potential.  That was until dad's accident made me think that I was wasting my 30s, wasting my best training years on just going through the motions.

Dad's accident provided me with the fuel to completely tear myself down, and rebuild myself as a new runner. My little sister actually went the opposite direction, dad's accident and living in Brisbane so far away from him stole her running mojo. She spent most of 2011 not making any real running gains, PBs were few and far between.

Monica has re-invested energy into achieving one of her stretch goals, which is to run under 2hrs for the half marathon. She will do it this running season, I am as sure of that as I am of anything in this world.

As for my stretch goal - running TNF on the 19th of May will mark the end of one chapter of my running career. Whatever the result, I have already decided it will be my last Ultra for sometime, not saying ever, but for the next few years. The other part of the journey is the commitment, it takes a whole lot of commitment from everyone in my family to make it happen. Not only the time and money, but emotionally it is very draining riding the roller coaster of bad/terrible races, self doubt and constant TNF talk.

One of the things I often feel on a long run is a sense of guilt that I should be at home with the boys and Bel. It really isn't normal to be out running for 6hours on a Saturday morning, was this any better than my dad working a Saturday. Is my obsession for running healthy for our family unit, was my intense focus the glue holding us together or a wedge which may split us apart?

The great benefit and curse with running for nearly 3000km is that you do a lot of self reflection. What will I have to show for the effort, what if I don't finish? What is next? Did I find what I was looking for, my purpose?

Honestly I can, hand on my heart, swear that it has been worth it. That's even before I get there to run. You see I am out there living my dreams, they aren't in an Orange folder under the bed anymore, I am ACTUALLY living it.

Your dream might be to run a 10k or a marathon or a 100km or do an Ironman. What ever you do, don't leave that dream stuck in a folder or hidden away. Turn it into reality, you wont regret it, not one bit. I promise.

A goal is a dream with a plan. Live it.  

Pex

The Numbers - TNF 100 Training a Review

For a bit of fun this week I thought I would put together some numbers regarding my TNF 100 training.

As I said last week my training plan began on the 14^th of August 2011:

·         Total training phase 40 weeks or 280 days

·         Over the 40 weeks I would have run a total of 2913kms

·         Average weekly running is 72.85km/week

·         Total training hours including gym, bike and running 535 hours (approximately)

·         9 weeks with a weekly total more than 100km   

·         2 official Ultra Marathons (Hounds and Hares 54km and Nerang 50km)

·         53km longest training run – Rockhampton to Yeppoon to Emu Park

·         10 runs of 40km or longer (that is about a marathon every 4 weeks)

Personal Bests – over the past 40 weeks I have set a number of running personal bests they include:

·         5km PB of 21.20

·         10km PB of 43.55

·         42.2km training “Marathon” PB of 3.49.00

·         Run the Great Whitsunday Walk 28km Trail Run 3.33.37 (PB of 35minutes from 2009)

·         4 wins from 4 starts Frenchville Frogs Short Course Duathlon – series champion

·         King of Mountain 47.30 (PB of 9minutes 10 seconds from 2011)

Gear

·         I have worn out 4 pairs of shoes, 2 pairs of Nike Pegasus, 1 pair of Nike Vomero and a pair of Salomon XR Cross Max

·         I have used 4 boxes of gels, 3 boxes of honey shots and 3 containers of Hammer Perpetuem

·         I have worn out 2 pairs of compression shorts, a pair of 2XU Compression Shorts and a pair of Performaxx Compression Shorts

Life

·         ZERO - the number of movies I have seen at the cinema the past 40 weeks – actually the last movie a saw at the cinema with Bel was Avatar!

·         1000 - the number of beers I missed out on drinking with my neighbours on the Friday and Sunday afternoon drinks and Golf Days Trent has organised

·         100 – the number of times I have fallen asleep in Joel or Hayden’s bed reading them a story!

It is only for a laugh, so don’t take my training volume or plan as gospel. If you have the urge to run the TNF 100 next year please don’t hesitate to drop me an email humanraceevents@hotmail.com or Facebook me at www.facebook.com/HREoz happy to share my experiences and point you in the right direction of some awesome people who can help you.

This weekend is also another big one for racing, with the Noosa Winter Festival providing a playground for runners and cyclists. Jason is off to do the 160km ride and my sister is racing the half marathon in her first big event of 2012. She has really been concentrating on her speed work, so it will be interesting to see how her hard work has paid off. Fingers crossed that she PB's and Jason is in the front bunch.

I am in taper mode, which is a little weird after 125km last week. My Saturday run with Benny went very well; it was 45km including a full walking summit of Mt Archer. Some real specific work in prep for the walking at TNF. Nutrition and hydration was excellent, and so too was the pacing. Benny and I both finished hungry to run another 5km to take us up to 50k, but both our wives expected us home – so being “husbands of the year” we called it a day. It was extremely satisfying to feel capable of running more. There is little more I can do other than to freshen up, get some sleep and enjoy the taper.

With a little over 2 weeks till the race – I am a mixture of excitement and nervousness. In reflection of the effort and time it takes to get to this point, I sometimes feel very guilty about the effort and  some of the forced changes to our family life. It comes with the territory when “TNF Fever” strikes and all you talk about is gear, nutrition, shoes, running, vomiting etc. Lucky I have the best wife in the world who understands that this is important to me.

Enjoy the taper

Sean  

Fone a Friend

I am at the pointing end to my training for TNF 100. The race is a bit over 3 weeks away so I am in the final stages of preparation. Just as a recap my campaign started in August 2011, some 37 weeks ago. It is certainly is a long time to be training and focussing on one event.

This week is my “last big week”. What exactly is a big week?

Before all of this craziness started, my big weeks consisted of about 60-65km of running. I ran 30km on a Saturday, 5km recovery on a Sunday, 10km of Speed Work Tuesday and 15km on Thursday. That was it. I had never run more than 68km in a single week, I also started to get injuries when I ran near 65km.

Now I don’t mean to use this blog to brag, but my big weeks now are in the range of 115km to 125km. This week will be my last 125km week before I taper.

Now before you all head out the door for double session days, 45km long runs, or triple Mt Archer summits there is a few key things that I have done to get me to this point.

1.    I went and spoke with Glenn from Vector Health. http://www.vectorhealth.com.au/ This is again a plug for the Strength and Stability program he put in place for me. Doing it solid for 16 weeks BUILT me a strong body to handle the kms, and it keeps my gait from deteriorating on those long runs when your body and mind are tired. I also complete a maintenance program to keep me tuned up.

2.   Slow down. I am training to COMPLETE a 100km Ultra Marathon. No speed work. Just lots and lots of steady km’s. I spent months not even worrying about how fast I was going, I was running for distance only. So for you that might be going up to 60-90 seconds per kilometer slower than what feels doable. This helped me build a huge aerobic base, it also taught me to enjoy the running. This is also a key running principal, you shouldnt increase both intensity and distance at the same time.

3.   Be consistant. By backing off the pace, it didnt matter that I was tired or fatigued, I just headed out for more miles. I kept logging them. Some runs were junk, others were awesome. Some weeks I ran doubles (two runs per day), other weeks I got up earlier and ran big mid week (25km), just to show my body I could. This was a change in perspective for me, no complaining, just do the work.

4.  Love Hills. Yep I used to hate hills. I run them now for fun. That includes double and tripple summits of Mt Archer. In one week I ran Mt Archer 5 times. I have worked hard on my hill form and also trying to have a really positive outlook of hill running, "I Love Hills" has became one of my favorite sayings.

The last point is to "Fone a Friend". That is I go and seek constructive feedback from people who will be honest with me. Here is a great visual example. These photos are exactly 12 months apart, Bel and my sister Monica think I look great in both of these photos. Thank god love is blind!

From one photo to the next I am 9kgs lighter. The top photo is King of the Mountain April 2011, 1 week prior to me running the Canberra Marathon. When I returned dissapointed with Canberra, Jason said "lose some weight". Enough said. I worked hard on dropping weight and this year have continued to lose more. The bottom photo is from last Sunday's King of the Mountain - 9kg lighter, I ran 9 minutes 10 seconds faster than my 2011 time!

Benny also has provided some good old honest feedback. You need to be running more - he said. Sounds silly - but in the past I was always trying to get by on running less. Mainly because I thought I was time poor. It was just an excuse. So I just invested more time to actually running and less time to sleeping in and dreaming about it!

Fone a Friend is also useful to gain positve feedback or to shape your weekly sessions. I have had a couple of rushes of blood and wanted to ramp up the training, Ben has said a couple of times "no need to do that - you are doing enough work". Which is reassuring. Pete has also been endless source of positive feedback - especially regarding the phases to my training and getting the right mix to my training.

The point of this blog is that I think you should regularly seek honest feedback to improve your running, it might be a visit to Glenn at Vector Health or a podiatrist like Anna to assess your gait, or just talk with a running coach or Fone a Friend about your goals and current training plan. By regularly assessing where you are at, you can identify keys to unlocking your running potential.

P.S - Speaking of last weeks King/Queen of the Mountain (which is a 7.3km race up Frenchville Rd &Pilbeam Drive with a 550m gain in elevation to the top of Mt Archer) - a big congrats to Jen Taylor for winning the womens event. Jen has not been well since running a Boston Qualifying time at Gold Coast last year - it was great to see her back running strong. She smashed it!

Thanks to the weather gods for the cooler weather finally today!

Pex