The last couple of years have been a testing time for the BK running career. Struck down by a calf tear in 2017 and Plantar Fasciitis in 2018 I have been unable to string together a full racing season. I never really have a ‘down time’ and the last 10 years have been a continual circle of train, race, train repeat, always a race to get ready for and then a small recovery period before of we go again. This has served me well over the years and I was probably a few months short of a good 10 year of unbroken injury free running. Of course as I always say on this blog eventually the piper comes calling and he needs to be paid. I consider the last two years my payment, in full !

2018 started well with an Australian Ultra Association (  https://www.aura.asn.au/data/Records/AURA%20Age_Group_Records-MEN-18December2018.pdf  ) Age Group 100k record and 8 gold medals at the Australian Masters ( four state and four national) but it all went downhill pretty rapidly when Plantar Fasciitis came calling. As soon as I knew I had PF I just about wrote the year off. PF is an injury that just takes time to heal due to affected area having little blood flow and the fasciitis itself. This combination just makes the whole healing process a slow one. Personally I think I was quite lucky to return to full training after 7 months of trail running on sand. Speaking to my fellow runners there was stories of 1-2 years recovery and at my age that isn’t an option.

So after my return in December at the 6 inch ultra I was ready for another crack at the AURA Age Group record for 100k at the Australian Day Ultra. Unfortunately I got ‘man-flu’ a week out and just couldn’t recover in time, truth be told I’m still recovering now a month later. This leads me to the point of this post. Recovery is all part of a runners journey and if it is approached with the right attitude can be just as stimulating as full on training. The knack is to take it slow and just try and get a bit better every day/run. Don’t worry about pace or even distance, every recovery run is judged on its own merits and how you feel on the day. Want to cut it short, fine, or go a bit longer , ok . The point is for recovery you can free yourself from the tight reins of a training plan or daily run expectations. It can actually be quiet liberating.

As you can see from the graphic below I was building up nicely from the 6 inch before ‘man-flu‘ struck, I’d say on January 11th ! With hindsight doing a double-double day the day before (A Yelo progressive, commute to work on the Elliptigo, a 10k lunch time run and then a commute home; three hours of exercising) was probably the straw that broke the camels back. Of course that is easy to say now but I must admit to feeling weary after the Thursday morning progressive run at Yelo and promising myself I’d have the lunch time off but of course when midday comes all is forgotten and off you go. Even when I retired to my bed on Friday I was confident I could make the ADU the following Friday, it was a taper week anyhow so a few days in bed would probably do me good. Not to be this time I was still weak as a kitten a week later and as you can see from my training log was out of action for over two weeks.  So back to recovery I stumbled starting with a long run with the NSRG ( http://www.nsrg.org.au ) , 18k that probably should have been 10k but mission accomplished I was back. I even stumbled out for a second run but this proved to be my undoing and I had to have Monday off before building up again, putting in the time on legs without worrying about pace or distance. So far I’m on track and starting to enjoy my running, although I never really don’t enjoy my running but running with a post man-flu glow can be testing.

As you can see from my Strava extract above ( you are on Strava aren’t you? ( http://www.strava.com)) I have also been loving my time on the Elliptigo and the Bionic Gen1 . These extra hours spent commuting I’m sure will pay dividends when I eventually get myself back to full fitness and race ready. The Bionic especially is a hard stand up bike to master and I only managed a week before I scuttled off back to the Elliptigo. I’m blaming my recent illness but the Bionic really is just plain old fashioned hard work and I feel I need to be better prepared for the beating you take. Of course when I say ‘beating’ it is in the best way possible. I’m stoked that I’m now getting 6-8 hours a week extra aerobic/cardio fitness time compared to sitting on a train of commuters glued to their phones. Commuting to work on the Go or Bionic is hard work , yes, but so enjoyable and its doing me so much good it really is the ultimate win-win situation. Hell I even save money daily, albeit the running costs of the bikes probably cost as much as the train fare but that’s not the point is it.

Living in Perth I am so lucky with the climate which is either ‘perfect for running,  anytime ‘ or ‘prefect for running but you need to run early mornings (summer)‘ ; it also has hundreds of kilometres of bike paths so you can ride all day and never enter the territory of those nasty ‘bike hating’ cars! I understand a lot of you don’t live in such a hospitable environment and commuting on a bike is out of the question but if you can even drop the car a few kilometres from the office and run in that would help; anything is better than nothing. As I said in previous posts I was inspired by Tim ‘the man in the Halo‘  Don who still averaged 15 hours a week exercising with a broken neck wearing a halo. ! ( https://www.on-running.com/en-au/athletes/tim-don ) For me to average 15 hours a week running would be injury suicide, thus my commuting on the stand up bikes , running without the pounding and thus no chance of injury. So fast this has worked well and the 6th place finish at the 6 inch ultra marathon in December showed my lack of running mileage could be supplemented by the cardio benefits of the Elliptigo. ( http://www.elliptigo.com )

Back to recovery , which was the reason behind this post I think, I sometimes just ramble on and never know where these posts take me. After an injury or illness treat recovery as a ‘gift not a hinderance’. Embrace the feeling of just running for the pure love of running and slowly increase the distance/pace of each recovery run but if for any reason you ‘aren’t feeling it’ , pull the pin. Arthur Lydiard was a big believer is this and that man knew a thing or three about running ! ( http://www.runningwizard.com/lydiard-principles ) Don’t be forced back into racing too early, a sure fire way to regress and also demotivate yourself when you run a slower than expected finish time. Nothing demotivates a runner more than slowing down but you can slow the process with a good recovery plan. I’ll be putting this to the test over the next few months and I’ll keep you informed of progress, right, I’m off for a run albeit a slow one.

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Yesterday I managed to run for the first time in nearly three weeks after successfully surviving the near death experience that is ‘man-flu‘. Please note this is something only men can understand because for some reason women, and especially my current Wife, do not understand this potentially fatal condition. I had six days off work which culminated in a 4am call to the mobile doctors and a request from them to go to hospital. They were thinking heart attack,  I was thinking pneumonia, my Wife was thinking ‘it’s a bloody cold , get over it!’ (I told you , they don’t understand?) In the end I decided I didn’t want to bother anybody and there was probably really sick people at hospital and if I was going to check out I wanted to do it surrounded by my loved ones and also make it as hard as possible on No1 Wife to teach her a lesson. Luckily I managed to survive to run another day and so the rehabilitation began in earnest.

By rehabilitation I mean wandering about with a ‘woe is me‘ look on my face for a week and letting all interested parties , of which there was one, Mum!, know how I was lucky to be alive , no thanks to my current Wife. (I never did find my bell I used to summon her the first few days when I needed a cup of tea (as all men know a cup of tea cures all known ailments, and doubly quick if you make it sweet.)  I had my suspicions to its whereabouts as I can hear it every time I ‘twerk’… ?) Anyhow I digress….

For my return to running I selected a run with the Northern Suburb Running Group (NSRG http://www.nsrg.org.au  ) a social running group that has been going for longer than I can remember and is always welcoming to new runners, old runners or even runners who have survived ‘man-flu‘ and need some company. (and also someone to talk to about the experience in great detail.) I took Jon along because he always loves company and is still seeking his new Wife after jettisoning the old one. (For any runners who are looking for love Jon is available on tinder and would make a great mate. http://www.tinderdating.com.au   For any of my readers (and my Mum!) under 18 please do not click on the tinder link.)

For the NSRG Sunday long run there was about ten of us and we all thoroughly enjoyed the company and the route taking in a local bushland loop and a lake before retreating from the heat to the local Dome Cafe for waffles and coffee; a runners post long run treat. Actually the conversation post run was probably as long as the run itself, I take this as a positive personally. For all runners looking to either start running or just wanting some great company the NSRG is the place to go, you won’t find a better bunch of runners in Perth. They also spend time in the company of the T-train and a few have jumped on board his coaching programs which seem to be going great guns. ( https://www.tonysmithruncoaching.com  )

Feeling excited about running again I did manage a 8k second run that evening which started slowly, sped up in the middle and ended as it started. No problem, it was about getting out twice which I believe is a massive benefit and improves running quicker than a new pair of Nike Vaporfly 4%’s… (You all have a pair of these now don’t you ? https://www.nike.com/gb/t/vaporfly-4-flyknit-running-shoe-7R7zSn ) probably.  Funnily enough at the end I thought I had a 5:18 average, turned out to be 5:38; ouch. Looking at previous runs on that route (thanks Strava) I was informed this was the slowest, ever, but quite a margin. Was I upset? No, it was never about pace , all about just getting out there on tired legs and putting some time in. I really enjoyed the run, bar the enforced Mark Lee toilet stop in the middle and it served the purpose it was meant to. Remember people Matt Fitzgerald 80/20, Arthur Lydiard and Phil Maffetone. The three wise men of running.

More news in the runbkrun assault on a potential marathon PB this year. I have added a new stand up bike to the stable. (Is two bikes a stable or a garage?) I managed to find a brand new (virtually) Bionic Gen1 from a friend on Strava and I pick it up tonight. I am more than excited as the Bionic (Gen1 and 2) and the Predator were stand up bike invented by an Australian Company (run4) which has since gone out of business due to dubious Chinese suppliers . It’s a pity because these bikes were well built and also built for runners specifically. I managed to get a test ride on a Bionic after I brought the Elliptigo ( https://www.elliptigo.com.au ) and was really impressed with the product. Unfortunately the company then went out of business so finding one virtually brand new is a real find. (I have also sourced a brand new Predator and aim to add that to my stable soon but the Wife is still not overly excited about me purchasing another bike so maybe purchasing another two bikes would push her over the edge? …maybe ? Women really are from different planets, maybe even different solar systems!!!)

Is there alternatives still available on the inter web ?  hell yeah. https://cyclete.com  This bad boy looks the business but is hand built to specific orders rather tham mass produced, that means it very expensive. It looks very, very good but the price is a show stopper for me. For any runners out there with some serious coin to throw about this bike looks very, very good. Unfortunately (I say that a lot when my  current Wife is then also mentioned in the same sentence?)  my current Wife would divorce me if I paid the $10k Australian needed to bring one of these into the country. I’ll get in touch them and see if they fancy sponsoring an old, balding runner with a beard and a blog supported mainly by his mother ? (Actually if you google ‘stand up bikes‘ and check out the images there are some really ‘out there‘ versions; and I mean out there!)

The point of this post is twofold. First, I am recovering from time out from running and when you do this you need to think of recovery as a day by day activity with small progress, be it in pace or distance, the target not reaching the dizzy heights of where you were pre-injury (illness). Matt Fitzgerald summed it up when he stated he actually enjoyed recovery as the pressure of obtaining certain goals was not there. You can get back to the pure joy of running without the need to ‘improve bu hitting targets’. I always think of this when I return from injury and this is why yesterdays second run, with an average pace of 5:38min/k, is still seen as a positive and a small step forward. I loved the feeling of getting out there for a second time and just ‘running’ for the pure love of running, admittedly i could have down without the ‘Mark Lee‘ toilet stop.

Second I am again talking up the benefit of stand-up bikes. Trust me people these are the Nike Vaproflys 4%’s of bikes, forget the usual version, for a runner you need a bike built for improving your running not improving your cycling. (Unless of course you are a triathlete reading this post by mistake; remember its runbkrun not swimrunbikekbrunswimbike.com !) These bikes really do work and I cannot wait to get on my bionic and see what benefit I can gain from this compared to the Ellipitgo. Does this mean I’m selling the Elliptigo? Well I may have mentioned to my Wife I was going to sell the Elliptigo to pay for the Bionic but I suspect this may not happen and I may keep both, funnier things have happened.

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2018 was probably not my best year with seven months wasted due to Plantar Fasciitis. The year did start and end well but injury made for a very sad BK for most of the year. There was a slight glimmer of hope  after a top 10 finish at the 6 inch trail ultra marathon ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com ) and I started to believe that maybe 2019 was going to be a better year.

After 22 weeks of Elliptigo commuting to work and some good quality training towards the back end of 2018 I was ready to defend my ADU title. ( http://australiadayultra.com ) Last year I probably had the run of my life to win the 100k event and set a sub 8 hour time. I had certainly left a few minutes on the course and reckoned with a new pair of Fly 4%’er’s I would be able to collect these and maybe even nudge a sub 7:45 finish. Unfortunately (I seem to be typing that a lot lately?) this was not to be as a week out I came down with ‘man-cold’, this then morphed into ‘man-flu’ (which can kill !) and finally a throat infection and onto the antibiotics.  Needless to say after over a week off work I was in no condition to run 100k. So the ADU 2019 was added to my ever growing list of races I had entered and not started, the dreaded DNS. (Did Not Start). In my defence there was no way I was going to make the start line , even with the best Goggin’s motivational lines; and there are many !! ( https://davidgoggins.com )

So how many DNS races have there been in my career ? The first one , and the most expensive by far, was the 2015 Disney Goofy challenge. I think the entry was over $500US and unfortunately the Oil price put paid to that trip to sunny Florida when Chevron decided they’d had enough of me and I had to move to Schlumberger, for a massive pay cut ! Current Wife and many Daughters were not happy with that decision. In Disney’s defence they did refund me a few hundred dollars gift card which I never used. (Their retail site really is very, very sad; sorry Disney.)

Next in line was the Darlington half 2016 when due to a bike race shutting down the freeway we couldn’t actually get to the start line in time. I blame the guys at TRC for putting out a route that was flawed and left me and Mike the wrong side of the Reid highway unable to cross. on the bright side it was stinking hot and humid and they probably done us a favour ! Mike had actually worked out a route to the start which would have worked but for once the ‘trust in TRC‘ mantra backfired; sorry Mike.

Next was the Bunbury Marathon of 2017 when I picked up a nasty 5cm calf tear there week before after racing the WAMC Bridges 10k. With hindsight I probably should have given that race a miss so close to a marathon and this was a lesson learned. This calf tear cost me three months and was my biggest injury at that time. I blame hanging around at the finish for the age group medal I had won and then jogging back to the car. That jog back , while dehydrated and tired after running a 10k, was the reason behind the tear. Preventable for sure and a real rookie error. Funnily enough I had risked the run back and made a big effort to take it as easy as possible. The tear happened as I exited the shower somehow ? Still I could have probably avoided the injury with some forethought.

Finally the City to Surf in 2018 was another race I had entered early but due to injury couldn’t make the start line. This was to be a big race as it was the 10th in a row and also I was part of a small group of runners who had all previous nine. 25 of us had made this elusive club after running the inaugural marathon in 2009. This one hurt and it was very emotional on the morning of the race as I walked the dogs rather than compete. With hindsight I could have probably completed the course but was worried about breaking my 27 in a row sub3 streak I was (am) on. If I had my time again….

That’s it, five races all in the last 4 years, and at least I got my annual DNS out the way early this year? Overall I suppose I got to be happy with that and I’m still to experience the dreaded DNF (Did Not Finish). The quandary I am now in of course is is the fear of either DNF’ing or finishing a marathon slower than sub three hours going to start to eat away at the reason why I run in the first place, , my love of running ? Is the fear of failure going to eventually outweigh the pursuit of running goals that keep you coming back to the sport. Will I start to avoid events that may result in me not performing as well as I would have liked. ? I remember once somebody said to me why do you train so hard and my response was fear, fear of slowing down; was that the wrong reason ? Surely it should be for the love of running and pace and time should be secondary. ? Probably, but on the other hand I am a competitive runner and every time I put on a race bib it really is on for young and old. there is no grey area here people, just a switch, on and off. This is why I am able to replicate times I have achieved ten years previous, even in my early fifties, good old fashioned hard work and the fear of failure. Of course there is also the love of competing and, as I have said many times , the pack may be calling but I’m still not ready to go back to it. A few more years in the sun I reckon , keeping a few young guns honest, albeit for less and less distance after the start of a race but it’s still nice to be at the pointy end, albeit briefly, and feel alive doing what I love to do with like minded people.

This was what made missing the ADU yesterday so painful, the camaraderie of the event and general atmosphere. I have a whole year to wait before I can experience that again and I’m not the most patient person in the world, that is why a DNS sucks. On the bright side I feel a lot better today and may even start running again next week so the year isn’t a right off just yet. This extended break has also given my PF time to finally fully heal and I’m confident I can start to add some pace work to my endless Kings Park trail running rehabilitation program. This is much needed with the WAMC racing catalogue about to start for 2019 and I need to get back my age group win after losing it last year due to not completing the required number of races to qualify. Will miss the February presentations for the first time in many years , got to love getting old. ( I seem to have typed that a lot lately as well?)  Not much of a positive post this one but unfortunately (there’s that word again.) sometimes running is a cruel mistress and once in a while the piper needs paying. Personally I think I’m paid in full for a few years so lets get back to writing about what I love writing about, racing and training with the BK posse…. yours in running… BK

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Well as we move into 2019 I completed my tenth year of recording my runs on the good old fashioned Excel spreadsheet. Thanks to Excel I can see I ran 3031 times for a total of 43,299 kilometres. Wow, didn’t feel that long ? The Earth’s circumference is 40,075km so I have actually ran around the earth, albeit it took me 10 years and I rarely left Western Australia.  That is a lot of fun and for the most part it has been fun. Of course there has been struggles at times but ultimately I always came out of any slump better than when I went in so always seem to improve; albeit the PB’s are harder to come by these days.

Right some points from the table below :-

• PB’s were a lot easier in the “early days” of my running career when I probably ran less and also with less idea of what I was doing but I ‘m a big believer in the old adage that most runners have around 7 years of PB’s, independent of when they start running, before they plateau and ultimately start to slow.  2011 and 2013 show this to be true. (in 2012 I had the first of my many calf tears and my Father passed, away so my running was limited)
• The foundation for my running career was built on three Comrades campaigns in 2008-2010. ( http://www.comrades.com ) This is where I ran, a lot, training in the Perth hills  for the Comrades ultra-marathon, my first taste of Lydiard or Maffetone training before I had even heard of them. Lots of distance and slow and steady. I say ‘a lot’ , at the time it was a huge step up from previous adventures but looking back nothing to what I run now. In those days there was no training log, GPS watches and Strava was a twinkle in somebodies eye….. (Please note there was to be a fourth campaign but No1 Wife put her foot down and as, luckily, this doesn’t happen often when it does I know to listen. She is probably still smarting from my promise of a new dining room table and chairs I offered her to let me go the first time. Must get to that one day?)
• There was a “second coming” in 2016 when, with the aid of Raf and his team from the Running Centre ( http://therunningcentre.com.au/)  I was put on a program to work towards breaking two hours and forty minutes for the marathon in the later part of 2015. Ultimately a small stress fracture put pay to that but I used what Raf taught me to run amok in 2016 and race every other weekend. This was probably my best years running and I achieved some great times I thought were well beyond me.
• 2017 and 2018 have been destroyed by injury at a time I was beginning to gain momentum from a Stella 2016 season. In ’17 it was a calf tear and ’18 the dreaded Plantar Fasciitis.
• 2013-2016 I increased the weekly mileage annually and the results came thick and fast. The double days and running slower to race faster was the main contributor to some great races in this period. It’s a pity 2017 and 2018 were hampered by injury as these years were probably my last chance to get some solid times before I eventually slow; which I’m assuming is anytime soon unfortunately.
• Big believer in racing as much as you can. Nothing aids improvement more than putting yourself in the pain box, in the fetal position. as much as possible. We run to race, if not other people than ourselves; this is why we do what we do, to test ourselves against either what we once were or what we are to become.
• Can I run 6000k in 2019 and not get injured and if so would I be able to replicate previous years results ? This is the big question of 2019. Personally I don’t think I can as running in your early fifties you run the tightrope of picking up injuries and regressing or avoiding injuries, with less distance, and maintaining a certain standard; without improving.
• I’m running more in my fifties than I have ever ran before and still loving it. This is due to running more times a week but also slower than I previously ran, on average. Race times, I’m holding steady at the moment.
• Can I make it one more time around this planet we all live on ? Hell yeah….although it may take longer than 10 years this time round. !

There is also a separate worksheet detailing my marathon and ultra times which may be of use to my many readers of this blog; well Mum can print it off and show her friends. ? This table shows that with perseverance and good old fashioned hard work you can achieve your running dreams. I remember running my first sub3 in 2009 and the euphoria of that moment will go with me to the grave. It was my 11th marathon and I always said I’d retire when I ran my first sub 3, never quite got to that retirement thing and don’t intend to anytime soon.  This table also shows, combined with the table above, that running improvement needs time and consistency. That is the most important factor in my opinion, consistency. Of course you’ll improve quickly at the start of your running career as you build the cardio engine but to continually improve you need to just keep running, as much as you can.  The table above is fed by my daily table for each year where I record every run; this morphs into a weekly total and then 52 of these and hey presto you have an annual table. ( Please note my table pales into insignificance next to Jon’s but he is an accountant by trade and has an Excel Spreadsheet  that Bill Gates would be proud of, cocooned in pivot table heaven. As well as distance he records who he ran with, time of day , temperature, how he felt etc. etc… it really is a think of beauty. )

These days of course we have Strava and Training Peaks, amongst others, and the digital world has taken over but I’m still a big believer in the old fashioned method of Excel (or even notebooks) when you can easily look back at previous years and see what worked and what you did to aid in your assault on your next running goal. When it comes to running historical data is gold, sometimes looking back can help you look forward. (I must write these motivational lines down , although I probably just did of course?) So even if you have Strava (because as we all know if it wasn’t on Strava it didn’t happen!) a manual spreadsheet is still worth keeping, plus it’s always good to know when you have finally ran the circumference of the planet you currently live on. !

Finally manage to get some kudos from Feedspot.com with recognition for my blog , making the top 10 Australian Running blogs, a debut at number 6. Happy with that but of course will make every effort to get a podium in the near future, nothing beats a podium. https://blog.feedspot.com/australian_running_blogs/

Right so that was 10 years of running, gone in the blink of an eye, best part is I hope to have at least another 10 years to add to the table above so I’d better get my skates on,  ( only figuratively speaking of course, unless there is a skating option on Strava?) I’m off for a run, you don’t get round the world twice blogging you know. !

Finally…as I have said many times you need friends to share in your journey and I have some great examples. So as well as concentrating on the running reach out to fellow runners and suffer(?) / enjoy the journey together… when it comes to running you really do need friends….

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At my age the best years are probably behind me. Runners don’t tend to improve too much after 10 years running and getting close to 52 day by day. (February 2nd if anybody is interested, all major credit cards accepted for the BK Retirement Fund!) In my continual battle with ‘Father time’ today I sneaked off to the hills in sunny Perth, and believe me people it was sunny. I probably laced up at 9am and it was over 30 degrees, of course it got hotter by the minute as I moved into the trail. The plan was a 38k loop with time on feet the reason behind the adventure. This was reaccessed at 7k and I decided a 34k shorter loop was more in keeping with the conditions. A few kilometres later it turned into a 20k out and back as I about turned at 10k and struggled back to the car.  By the time I got back to the car I was in a right state, staggering around Darlington Oval looking for a water tap. Unbeknownst to me my tap had disappeared from the last time I visited Darlington and I was left high and dry scouring the surrounding houses for external water taps. Luckily for me the local volunteer fire brigade had what I was looking for and I treated myself to a tap shower.

The moral of the story , apart from not running in the Perth hills in a Perth summer alone and without water, is you need to continually assess how you feel while you train and if you ‘ain’t feeling it‘ pull the plug and live to fight another day. I could have forged on at 10k and probably even survived the 38k loop , I say probably, but what would it have achieved ? As I said earlier the 20k was a real test and I had to treat myself to a two hour ‘power nap’ when I eventually crawled through my front door, much to my current Wife’s disgust. In my defence I did manage to then take the family to the beach with the dogs and make a good effort playing with both. Even as I type this I feel I could probably manage a slow 10k this evening but know better and will save myself for tomorrow when I’ll get back on the GO  ( http://www.elliptigo.com ) and scoot off to work while treating myself to a lunch time trail run and a scoot home on the GO. This three exercise sessions a day has served me well these last 3-4 months and I’m hoping it’ll get me to the end of the ADU 100k in a few weeks. (  http://australiadayultra.com ) must admit thinking about running a 100k at the moment is filling me with dread,  not excitement, but it always takes me three to four weeks to fully recover from a marathon/ultra so maybe I’m not as badly off as I feel as the moment, maybe ? This concept of training on feel is one of the major building blocks of Arthur Lydiard and his distance training techniques, Lydiard together with Fitzgerald ( http://mattfitzgerald.org/8020training/ ) are my two favourite coaches , with a little bit of Maffetone ( https://philmaffetone.com ) thrown in for good measure.

So in 2019 what’s the plan ? As a runner you need, goals as I’ve said many times, if you don’t have goals as a runner you find yourself drifting into ‘jogging‘ and before you know it you start to not worry about time and just concentrate on the pure joy of running. Then before long you’ve dumped your Garmin and you stop logging runs to Strava, imagine that , not recording your runs on Strava ! I’m starting to ‘sweat‘ just typing that last sentence.. let’s move on quickly ! For new runners you can start to think about personal bests ( or personal records for our American cousins) . I miss the days of turning up at races and knowing you’re going to run a PB, those days are not as frequent as I’d like now, last year there was only one PB albeit it was a beauty setting a AURA record for the 100k for the 50-55  year old age group. (see certificate below) I’ll be racing this event again in a few weeks but am not seriously considering beating this time unless Jon can drag me to halfway in a good time and the legs feel they maybe have one more record in them. After this mornings runs it’ll be more about just surviving than setting records but I have a few weeks to recover, I suppose? That’s running of course, my number one mantra has always been ‘trust in your training‘ , that’s what I love about running , it’s the most honest sport, do the hard yards and on the day there is a good chance you’ll get your reward, miss your training runs and then aim for the time not mirrored to your training program will always end in tears.  You can’t ‘fluke’ a good marathon or ultra time unfortunately, or fortunately if you are prepared to put in the work.  This is why I’m not overly excited about the ADU but will be more than happy to finish around the 8 hour mark, of course with an ultra it’s the little things that can conspire against you. Examples would be no vaseline during the run (trust me on an 8 hour run a small chaffing can turn into a major issue very quickly without vaseline!) , the wrong hydration and nutrition (the engine cannot run if it runs out of fuel (nutrition) or there’s a radiator leak (hydration)) and finally the training needs to be tailored to the event. (For an ultra it’s about 80/20 training and time on legs, not too worried about pace just run, a lot!)

Of course speaking of coaches there is a new rooster in the hen house, my old mate the T-train has thrown his hat into the ring and now offers personalised training programs from his website , https://www.tonysmithruncoaching.com. If you need to be inspired Tony would be your man as personally I find him one of the nicest guys around but with a ruthless steak when it comes to racing as this photo of the T-Train mowing down the opposite in the last few hundred metres of a 50k race. I put this down to his army training, no prisoners were taken in this race that’s for sure.  Tony’s training is certainly unique but his results cannot be argued with. Even this year , on a comeback after a nasty case of Plantar Fasciitis, he’s won a 50k ultra a week after racing a marathon and always places top 5 in any ultra he enters, winning his fair share. Although he’s not as long in the tooth as yours truely he is the wrong side of forty but loves putting young pretenders to the sword, in the nicest possible way of course. Looking at his website he has the coaching credentials and experience to back up his racing pedigree so I can highly recommend Tone. Please note as a TRC Ambassador  ( http://therunningcentre.com.au ) I cannot mention coaching without plugging Raf and his crew as well, Perth is big enough for the both of them of course and the most important thing is selecting the right coach for you and that just takes experience.

Right that’s it for the first post of 2019. I’ll try and post more about running this year and less about injuries as the last couple of years there has probably been a 50-50 split. A nasty Calf tear in 2017 and Plantar Fasciitis in 2018 have been the major talking points on the blog and really its a running blog not an injury prevention blog, I mean its not called www.donotrunbkdonotrun.com is it ? Lets hope I can get though 2019 injury free and see if distance and the Elliptigo can’t propel me to maybe one or more PB’s before I get dragged back to the pack…..we’ll see. Happy new Year all..Yours in running… BK

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As avid readers of my blog will know I have suffered through 6 months of Plantar Fasciitis , actually you, the reader, has probably suffered just as much with my posts. Anyway it seems I may have finally got on top of the dreaded PF but honestly I cannot say what allowed me to do so. Over the 6 months I’ve tried exercise, shock therapy, pyschio visits, many tablets , magnesium rub , night socks, sand running only  and sacrificed a virgin. (That last one was a joke, I don’t think she was a virgin !) Personally I feel with PF time is the only real healer but you might as well keep busy with the many other ‘miracle cures’.

Was there a benefit of being injured for 6 months and avoiding racing or pace on hard surfaces ? Probably not, truth be told, but it did force me to get back on then Elliptigo and start commuting to work rather than sit on the train wasting my life away watching rubbish on my iPhone. By Elliptigo’ing to work I have found any extra 7 hours exercise weekly and this has allowed me to create a cardio-engine that I hope I can add a turbo too (by adding tempo and threshold sessions to my training week) and explode into 2019 a faster runner. Personally I have never felt fitter and at nearly 52 years old that is saying something. The GO is a hard work out and I’m not one for cruising to work enjoying the view, that’s not me people. As with all things I give it 110% (all exercise things that is …the important stuff!) and I regularly end up at work in the changing rooms sweating like a prize fighter whose gone 15 rounds with Ali. I just about recover for my 10.6k Kings Park hills and trails before jumping back on the GO and getting back in the ring with Ali. Needless to say I have not seem my pillow for 10 weeks, I feel my head move towards the pillow and then ‘hey presto’ it’s time to get up, sleep depravation is not a problem when you average over two hours exercise a day.

Another benefit of the GO is it is non impact training so the knees don’t take a hammering daily. My 10.6K Kings Park loop is 90% sand so my knees are spared any hard surface work here as well. End result the legs feel great with no niggles even though I’m starting to get up to 100k a week running and 200k a week on the GO. I’m still aiming for my 15 hours a week exercise after watching the ‘man in the halo’ video on Tim Don.( https://zone3.com/tim-don-documentary/ ) C’mon people, if Tim can average 15 hours a week with a broken neck we should be able to reciprocate, surely ?

Of course I’ve always known core work is beneficial to running but taking time to do any has always been a problem. I use to do a circuits class twice a week at work , when it was free, but never joined a new class when we moved buildings. (Although I did keep going for nearly two years as you could sneak in through reception into the gym where the class took place and I’d been going for so many years they just assumed I was still in the building. It was only when that part of the building closed my free circuit class days were finally brought to an end. Pity, that building also had an outdoor tennis court and a 28m lap pool. As it was my first building coming to Perth I assumed they were all like that…unfortunately not !) So the GO has allowed to me get my core fix as well as a cardio engine building workout. After many years the Matthews Six-Pack is back, though as Mike says it’s mainly ribs !!! I must admit to using a few kilo’s but am enjoying losing the ‘middle aged’ spread that was starting to introduce itself, mainly due my lack of running due to PF. I actually think it was a comment from no3 Daughter about me putting on a few pounds that made me embrace the GO, and boy I’m glad I did.

The first test of my new found fitness will be the 6 inch on December 16th and I’m secretly (well not that secretly anymore?) hoping to maybe give my course PB a tilt. I always aim for a top 10 finish, win the Veterans (over 50) trophy and try and beat all the women home. Last year I achieved two out of three but failed to beat Nera to the finish line after Zac got me lost… ok, ok.. maybe I helped get me and Zac lost. I love Zac’s comment you know you’re lost when Big Kev says “I know where we are” .  ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com )  The 6 inch will be a good yard stick from which to measure my fitness going into 2019 and one of the big goals of the year, the Australia Day Ultra in January. ( http://australiadayultra.com )

Last year I probably had one of the runs of my life to sneak under 8 hours and I’d love to go a tad quicker in 2019. This really will be a test of my GO inspired fitness and also the Nike Vaporfly 4% trainers I brought for the Bunbury Marathon but never used. They are virtually brand new so I’m hoping they’ll propel me to a new PB on the 100k course. With Jon and the T-train as my wing-men I reckon we have a good chance to all go quicker than we have ever gone before, isn’t that a Star Trek quote, or was that going somewhere where no one had been before and being bald ? (or was that bold, whatever… you get then picture ?)

So the point of this post, assuming you’ve read this far in which case well done, is you need to find another aerobic exercise that is non-impact and add this to your running bag of tricks. If you can combine this exercise with commuting to work then great, no impact on family or social time ( do runners get social time? If you do shouldn’t you be running instead..? ) Of course not all people are a lucky as me with the facilities and bike paths in the Perth area. My commute to work is 18k with 95% of that on bike paths and only a couple of road crossing where I have to interact with the car and its driver, who is usually too interested in their iPhone to look up , it’s a worry! The Elliptigo is , in my opinion, the ultimate cardio workout and best alternative to running, it gives you a running workout without the impact, trust me people it really is that good.

Right that’s it, I’m off to see if I can stay awake long enough to feel my head hit the pillow, confidence is, as always, low…..

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2018 has nearly disappeared in the blink of an eye and I’m left with the 6 inch ultra trail marathon (December 16th http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com ) and 3 races I need to complete the WAMC 7 races to try and win my age group.  Considering I haven’t probably ran a sub 4 min/k kilometre since April I see trouble ahead. The Joondalup half ( https://www.wamc.org.au/major-events/joondalup-half-marathon/ ) next weekend will be the litmus test to see if my Plantar Fasciitis has finally given up and moved on to the next unfortunate runner. I’ll dose myself up with Voltaren pre-event and hope this will get me through it. Assuming I survive the half it will be the City Beach 8k a week before the 6 inch in early December and then the New Years Eve 8k on New Years Eve, funny that ?

Kings Park trails and the Elliptigo have been my salvation this year and I’ve managed to string together a strong last 3 months, albeit with more Elliptigo action than running.  From the last 7 weeks you can see I’ve managed to avoid a day off exercise and have tried to exercise there times a day in the week when I Elliptigo to work. This has certainly been challenging as I’m not a ‘cruise to work in lycra‘ kind of guy. When I get on my GO it’s on for young and old, I’m racing baby, be it the clock, average pace, the cyclist infront of me ; whatever. This means I get to work in the mornings and home in the evenings on the cusp of a heart attack normally and I wouldn’t have it any other way, I am in a ‘building phase’ and I’m building a cardio engine that will allow me to add a turbo to it (i.e pace) early 2019 and hopefully onwards to glory, that or an early grave and some rest in my box. ? I must admit ti feeling great, albeit tired a lot, and there’s even the chance the BK six pack is making one more appearance before it scurries off to hide behind some well placed toxic fat as I fade away into old age. With my Elliptigo I may be able to avoid that for a few more years and maybe even nudge a PB or two in the near future. The proof will be in the pudding so speak and if my PF finally leaves I have the chance to try this new cardio engine at the Australia Day Ultra in January, around Australia Day funnily enough ? ( http://australiadayultra.com ) It was at this event I set the AURA  ( https://www.aura.asn.au ) age group record for the 100k and I ‘d love to knock a minute or two off that but with the interrupted year this is highly unlikely.

Right to the point of the post, cross training can and needs to be a weapon in the arsenal of the competitive runner. Running twice a day every day, even with the second run an easy one, eventually catches up with you. I’m testament to that with my calf tear last year (thank you Mark Lommers and your Cappacino laced with injury !)  and a bad case of Plantar Fasciitis this year. On the plus side the previous 8-9 years I ran virtually injury free. Must be a fifties thing which I’m hoping to grow out off in my sixties ? With me I have found the Elliptigo gives me that runners heart rate and cardio workout without the pounding on the legs, supported by some big names in the running world albeit they’re sponsored so have to write good things about the GO. I actually love my time commuting to work now and I’ve found an extra 6-8 hours a week where I can give myself a good workout without affecting work or family time. The alternative is sit on a train with all the other commuters glued to my phone wasting my life away. I actually mislaid my train smart rider months ago and cancelled it before finding it again (Always the way?) Anyhow I’ve never actually been to Transperth and reactivated the card, no need I have my GO . As you can see from the Strava image above ( You have Strava right ? Everybody has Strava don’t they… if not , get it quick and feel free to follow me ; click on the icon at the bottom of this post)

Another point of this post is to remind everyone I’m still here. I’ve moved house in the last month and managed to fill seven garages full of ‘stuff’, it seems the Matthews family are hoarders ? ( I’m currently staying at a 4 villa complex I brought that i can’t seem to sell? The joys of being a property developer in your spare time, in  between running… ) This coming from a man who never throws out his running shows and probably has 4 boxes full of old pairs. They are like old friends to me and if you were to pull a pair out of any box I could tell when I wore them, what races , if any, I ran in them and probably how many kilometres I put in them. My Wife just shakes her head, actually everybody shakes their heads but they’re all special to me. Is that wrong , who knows? If i can find all the boxes in the 7 garages I’ll get them all out for a photo, it’ll need to be a wide angled lens if course !

I seem to have digressed , as is my way, but I’ll make more of an effort to post to the blog now I’m nearly uninjured, I have so much more to talk about when I’m racing of course. This weekend there may be a story or two as I’m running a recon run for the 6 inch ultra on Saturday. Even though I’ve ran the course nine times I’ve got lost three times and that’s even wearing two watches with a GPX file loaded to keep me on track. Needless to say I’m not the best person in the world to run the 6 inch with and the running joke , excuse the run, is when I tell people I know where we are you need to panic because you are then officially lost, harsh but true unfortunately! (Thanks for that Zac!)

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Due to my ongoing battle with Plantar Fasciitis I have embraced my beloved Elliptigo of late and added this ‘weapon of mass destruction’ to my running armory. The plan is to commute to and from work as well as run lunchtimes to aim for 15 hours a week exercise time. That should break down into around 7 hours on the GO and 8 hours running. The GO time is non impact so allows me to crank up the hours without the risk in injury. The 15 hours target is due to Tim Don  ( https://www.timdon.com/ ) who managed to achieve this while training for Kona with a broken neck wearing a halo drilled into his head ! My logic is if Tim, a world record Ironman holder,  can train 15 hours a week with a broken neck then I , an ageing runner with Plantar Fasciitis,  should be able to replicate that. ( https://www.runbkrun.com/2018/10/13/when-cross-training-takes-more-time-than-running/ ) Tim successfully returned to Kona a year after breaking his neck and ran well under 9 hours for the Ironman. Inspiring !

So far I have managed to maintain my cross training and running targets but must admit to feeling fatigued daily and I’m hoping this is just the phase I need to go through to build the ‘engine’ that will power me to a successful 2019 and beyond. Not sure how much ‘beyond’ I have in me as I’ll be 52 next February and even with the best intentions I realise my time near the front of the pack is limited and eventually I will be dragged, kicking and screaming, back to the chasing pack. Of course there are a few more years , I hope, of running sub3 for the marathon and protecting my 27 in-a-row current sub3 streak. It would be nice to nudge that close to 50 before I eventually succumb to Father time, we’ll see.

The whole point of this cross training program is to allow me to build my engine now for 2019 and not waste this time. I understand that PF has limited my training, and that is an understatement, but like Tim Don I have found a way to keep moving forward and adapting to my injuries. Of course a mild case of PF is not a broken neck but myself and Tim have both felt the devastation of injury and the fear of slowing down. Tim was 39 when he broke his neck after setting a world record for the Ironman, hitting forty we all realise he is going to struggle to maintain that intensity long term and his , like mine, time in the sun, at the front of the pack, globally in his case, is limited. This is why he chose the halo compared to  less painful option which would have probably killed off his triathlon career, certainly at his level. He considered the three months of pain a small price to pay for the future glory of still being at the top of his game. Personally if someone offered me the same choice I would take it , three months of intense PF pain but with the caveat that after three months the PF is fixed and you can continue on. Currently PF has been hanging around for 5 months and still I cannot run on my beloved asphalt, it’s better but not 100% yet.

This is why the Elliptigo has become so important to me, that and my Kings Park trail runs. Between the two of them these exercises allow me to ‘scratch‘ my daily exercise itch and , I hope, still maintain my running fitness. In-fact I hope that my three times a day exercise regime may even allow me to return even stronger and fitter than before I was so cruelly cut down at the Australian Masters in April. How I regretted that event that may have earned me 8 gold medals (4 State and 4 National) but destroyed my 2018. Not only did it decimate my racing calendar,  worse than that it made me totally reliant on trail and grass running which, socially,  just about made a running leper. I’ve never spent so much time running alone. No more Sunday long runs with the boys and , worse than that, no post-long run pancakes  or waffles.. ! This is another curse of being injured, you miss your time with your friends because most dedicated runners over time lose any friends who don’t run. It’s hard to balance training with social events and I’ve mentioned many time No1 Wife has created a whole social life for herself without me. I’m the stay at home baby sitter while she goes out with her friends , who I’m assuming are similar middle aged Wife’s with Husbands who prefer the couch to the bar. Actually I should take more of an interest because she did mention the other night she was out with the pool cleaner and we haven’t got a pool ? Only joking , current Wife does have a good group of lonely Wife’s who together cobble together a good social life while leaving me to watch Netflix films on all sorts of sport and the kids of course.?

Right, after digressing yet again for most of this post the point is two fold. First, make cross training a part of your training program  and second always keep looking forward. Ok 2018 is a write off for me but I’ve reset the goals and am determined to make 2019 a special year to make up for the disappointment of this year. The Elliptigo will help me clock the hours training without risking an injury because half the training hours will be on non-impact equipment, while still aiding my running as the GO is as close to running as you can get, IMO. (Now the Bionic has stopped selling due to the company folding.) I’m hoping these extra 6-8 hours a week on top of around 100k of running will build the aerobic engine enough that by early March next year I can start to add pace, the classic Lydiard training program. I’m about half way through the initial ‘Conditioning‘ phase. I’ll then start to move up the pyramid which should stand me in with a good chance of going sub 4 hours finish time at the 6 Inch Ultra in December, assuming I don’t get lost for a fourth time ! ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com Any trail runner reading this in Perth or Australia, you need to enter this event quickly, it’ll sell out soon.)

Lydiard Basics

The principles of sound training that Lydiard developed in 1960s––based on experimenting on himself and a small group of local New Zealand runners––have stood the test of time as the scientific studies have caught up to validate his approach. Many of the principles that are part of the Lydiard system are found in coaching and training systems in use today, and nearly every successful athletics coach or athlete consciously or unconsciously emulates Lydiard’s training system by laying an endurance base and making use of periodization for peak performance.

Initially, this culminated in sending Murray Halberg, Peter Snell and Barry Magee to the medalist’s podium at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. Subsequently, too many runners to mention have used Arthur Lydiard’s approach to achieve an impressive array of Olympic medals and race wins throughout the world.

Lydiard based training is based on five critical principles:

1. Conditioning – At the start of any Lydiard training cycle, there is a long phase of aerobic running to build endurance and lay the base for a strong performance on race day.
2. Response Regulated Adaptation – Trying to run at training paces that are not aligned to your current fitness level is not a recipe for success. Lydiard plans adjust your effort levels based on how you are responding to training stimulus to optimize your fitness improvement.
3. Feeling Based Training – Learning to accurately interpret the language of your physiology allows the runner to stretch the training envelope while avoiding the perils of overtraining.
4. Sequential Development – Unlike many running plans that seek to develop multiple facets of running fitness at the same time, Lydiard training is based on a philosophy of developing the building blocks needed for a good race day performance individually over a longer training cycle to allow optimal fitness development.
5. Peaking – The later phases of Lydiard training are designed to guide and sharpen the runner to a point where they are in peak condition on race day in an excellent position to run the best race possible.

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The Lydiard Training Pyramid

A typical Lydiard plan includes five distinct training phases over (ideally) 24 weeks.

While it is a longer training cycle than what you may be used to, the length of the cycle allows the safe development of running fitness as each phase builds on the previous one. The individual runs are not significantly different from what you might find in another training approach; it is the overall structure and flow of the plan that sets Lydiard apart.

Aerobic Base Building – a period of aerobic runs (run by overall time, not mileage) at a variety of paces to develop stamina and a base of conditioning.

Hills – Develops the leg power and flexibility that will be needed to support faster running while continuing to develop the aerobic base.

Anaerobic Development – Adds faster running (tempos and intervals) to prepare the runner to be able to handle race pace.

Integration – Race distance specific tuning and sharpening including shorter distance time trials.

Taper – Final preparation for race day.

Time to pay the Piper? … no way baby, plenty of time left in the BK running machine…look out 2019.

After watching the Run Nation 2018 short film ( https://runnationfilmfestival.com/#home-section ) on the World Champion Triathlete Tim Don I have made a conscious effort to try and hit 15 hours exercise a week. The reason behind my target was Tim had been knocked off his bike on Hawaii a few days before the Kona Ironman. He woke in hospital with a broken neck but decided to go with a halo type contraption screwed into his head to aid recovery quicker, rather than lying in bed to heal for many months. ( https://www.on-running.com/en-au/athletes/tim-don ) What inspired me was even with a halo to aid his broken neck he still training for 15 hours a week while preparing to run the Boston Marathon only six months after the accident. He was hoping for a good sub-3 time which he achieved on only limited training, in his words, of 15 hours a week. In the end he ran a sub 2:50 marathon in atrocious  conditions.  I thought if a man with a broken back, albeit a World Champion, can train for 15 hours a week then there is no excuse I shouldn’t be able to match him.

While cycling in Kona as part of his final preparations, Tim was hit by a truck. The collision was serious. Scans revealed Tim had broken his neck. It was the end of Tim’s hopes of competing at the World Championships, but thankfully not the end of Tim.

The epitome of a fighter, Tim’s thoughts quickly turned to recovery. Among several options for treating his injury, only one would offer Tim even a chance at competing with the best again: a halo.

Despite its angelic name, the halo resembles something from a torture chamber. A circular metal framework, the halo was fixed directly into Tim’s skull and supported on his shoulders. Two days after the crash, Tim was back home in Boulder, Colorado, with the halo holding his head in place for healing and a long and painful road ahead.

The following four months tested even an Ironman like Tim to his very limits, mentally and physically. When the halo was removed in at the start of 2018, it marked the end of the first chapter of Tim’s recovery and the start of his rehabilitation.

The steely determination that Tim showed since returning to consciousness after the crash now shifted to rebuilding himself as an Ironman. Less than half a year after he broke his neck, Tim was already in the gym with his sights on big goals. Remarkably, on April 16, almost exactly six months after the accident, Tim took on the 2018 Boston Marathon. Despite driving rain and temperatures close to freezing, Tim finished in 2 hours, 49 minutes and 42 seconds, just five minutes more than the marathon leg of his world-record-setting Ironman race in Florianopolis, Brazil in May 2017.

On July 29, 2018, Tim was back on an elite Ironman start line in Hamburg, Germany. A ninth-place finish marked an incredible achievement but was not enough to secure a return to Kona. Undeterred, Tim made another bid for qualification just three weeks later at Ironman Denmark in Copenhagen. Unfortunately, the race didn’t go to plan. After a strong start, Tim was forced to retire. Just as he was accepting that a return to the World Championships would have to wait, news came that one of the qualifiers had dropped out. Ranked just outside the qualification places, Tim would take his spot. The Man with the Halo is heading back to Kona. Check back for updates as Tim heads to Hawaii with unfinished business to settle. The Ironman World Championships takes place October 13, 2018.

 

Unfortunately with my old friend Plantar Fasciitis still hanging around I knew I’d need to find some cross training exercise to help me meet my 15 hours a week target. So with the aid of the Elliptigo ( http://www.elliptigo.com ) I set about achieving my goal with gusto. As you can see from my Strava details below ( http://www.strava.com ) I have managed to hit my magical 15 hours exercise only once in the last few months, and this is without a broken neck. Maybe the Halo makes exercising easier ? Note: the last sentence was humour at its worst and I do not recommend anyone going out and breaking their neck , putting on a halo on the possibility it may aid future exercise regimes ! The extra hours spent exercising has been challenging but i certainly feel stronger now that when I started this 6 weeks ago. The rides to work on the GO are still hard work and, combined with a lunch time run, I am certainly sleeping well at night. I can feel my body adapting to the extra hours and looking forward to 2019 I’m excited for what I might be able to achieve.

Of course this year has been written off from a competing stand point and this will be brought home again next weekend when I miss Rottnest , a marathon I have historically done quite well at. Five top five placings and two second places probably makes Rottnest my best marathon from a position only view point. Not my fastest due to the terrain and heat but definitely one of the hardest and this makes the playing field a little more level when you’re racing younger, fitter and faster marathon runners. As Rottnest is a four lap course on the last lap mental strength comes to the fore and you can sometimes find yourselves passing runners that normally you wouldn’t see for dust. If any Perth runners are reading this post and feel they are ready to tackle a marathon next Sunday I’d go book a ferry ticket and get over there, if not this year I’ll  see you next year for sure, need to win that race one day and at 52 , in 2019, I’ll be the perfect age ?

I seemed to have digressed again, it’s a curse you know. So back to cross training and how it can help you as a runner. If I tried to run for 15 hours a week I think I would be a physical wreck. I would normally average around 12 hours a week when I’m hitting multiple double days and around the 130-150k a week. This was my training in 2016 and early 2017 and I did achieve some great times but eventually injury came calling. With hindsight, so easy to type this two words, I should have cut the mileage early in 2017 and spent more time on the GO when I felt the onset of Plantar Fasciitis, there were early warning signs I ignored. This has come back to bite me big time with the biggest injury of my career. Lesson learned I hope and I will be making the GO a continued part of my exercise artillery. Of course the GO is not for everyone but , I hate to say this, a bike may be an alternative or joining a gym and just spending time on general aerobic exercise or body pump type classes, high intensity low impact. The only caveat to high mileage weeks is there is always the ability to achieve these if you drop the pace and run on ‘forgiving surfaces‘ i.e. trails or sand. I have running friends on Strava who run over 20 hours a week without getting injured but always run most of these kilometres on trails or at a very relaxed pace. If you add pace and asphalt to mileage you end up injured, trust me on this.

The GO enables me to get the running feeling without the high impact of running and also helps me avoid wearing lycra, which at my age is a very good thing for all concerned ! With the commute to work I have been able to hit 160k a week on the GO and that’s 7-8 hours I’d normally spend on the train idling my life away on my iPhone with the rest of the carriage. By commuting to work I am out-there living the life in the real world not through a 6″ high resolution phone screen. It really is a win-win situation, I even get to save a few dollars a day on the train ride, I’m sort of a professional commuter albeit a very poorly paid one. It also helps me find exercise time I can justify to No1 Wife and many Daughters as it doesn’t impact our family time , although I will admit to scuttling off to bed before my 10 year old these days due to being so tired after my three times a day exercise regime, a small price to pay I think ?

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