Run

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"But I don’t look like a runner"

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"But I don’t look like a runner"

I hear this phrase quite a lot, particularly from those who are relatively new to running or lacking a bit of confidence.  It is usually said in the same sentence as “but I’m not a runner.”  This (as you are about to find out) frustrates me!  I believe that if you run, you are a runner, you can be a good runner and you should think of yourself as one, no matter what your shape or size.

I think part of the problem is that we are led to believe there is a certain shape that we should all be aspiring to look like in order to become the perfect runner.   Yeah sure, the guys and girls who are in the top 10 finishers of the marathon are usually pretty much the same shape (small, skinny, run / fly effortlessly and weigh about 50kgs) but after that, the similarities end.  I know guys who are 90+ kilos and run a 3 hour marathon and well as girls who are 5 feet tall and run a sub 20 minute 5km.  Go figure.  

Most of us are not in that elite category of runners and training for the upcoming Rio Olympics, nor will we ever be, so why do we need to adopt the same shape, weight, height, cadence and posture as these guys?  The answer is that we don’t.

" ...and then #FlywithGus was all over Facebook”

" ...and then #FlywithGus was all over Facebook”

This week I met a woman of true awesomeness for lunch (yes awesomeness is a word).   I love meeting up with Leigh.  I always come away with something random to research, a new book to read, a new run to try, a new restaurant to visit and usually a headache after drinking one too many long black coffees.  

I think Leigh and I have similar approaches to our running.  Yes, there is a competitive element which we both relish, but there is a release, a calm and an element of self development that comes with running, which we truly enjoy.  I met Leigh through my local parkrun (Albert Melbourne parkrun) and she has been a great supporter to me as I set up Go Run.  She was actually the first person to ever wear a Go Run running t-shirt!   Over the past couple of years, I have watched her 5km times tumble, her friendship group grow and her running horizons expand, whilst also watching her go through a lot with the illness of her son, Gus.  

Gus passed away at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne a week after last years 'Run for the Kids' event.  Whilst at RCH, Gus spent time in several different wards, ICU for 3 months, Sugar Glider for 6 months and his final 2 months in Kelpie. He was a much loved patient and constantly astounded everyone with his good humour and resilience at every turn. Gus, Leigh and their family were exposed to many carers - doctors, nurses and just about every type of allied health worker. They cared for Gus as if he was their own child. They doted over him and appreciated every small milestone of his treatment as well as consistently showing generosity of spirit, selflessness and tenderness over many months.  All of this helped Gus, Leigh and their family through the darkest parts of their hospital experience.

The 2016 'Run for the Kids' is now only a couple of months away and Leigh is on a mission to raise $20,000 for the Royal Children’s Hospital, because of the extraordinary care the staff provided to her son in 2014 and 2015.  Under the banner of ‘Fly with Gus,’ the #flywithgus hashtag is now all over Facebook and their story is in the Herald Sun and on the Run for the Kids website.  There are now 30 runners who have joined the #flywithgus team to run the 16km course and it looks as though this number is going to keep growing.  Whilst a ‘Leigh on a roll’ is a force to be reckoned with, I think even she has been surprised with the generosity of her running friends and the wider running community.   Over our lunch, the phrases “but they didn’t need to do that” or “and I barely know him/her” kept on cropping up as examples of generous runners who are now supporting the #flywithgus cause in one way or another.

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"There's no way I can run 5k!"

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I have heard this quote from lots of runners when they first start running...

"There's no way I can run 5k!" 

In this interview I chat to Maddie who also uttered those words at one point.  Maddie talks to me about how she went from "the girl who can't run" at school, and not running even 3 years ago, to a marathon personal best time at Melbourne Marathon in October 2015.  I find Maddie's story inspirational and I loved hearing about how she overcame some of the stresses associated with running and in particular the question of "what are people going to think of me?" in her most recent marathon.  Enjoy!

Are you ready to run? If the answer is "YES!" then sign up here for your own running coach and personalised monthly training plan to get you running stronger, longer and faster.  I will get in touch straight away and we can begin working on getting your running to where you really want it to be!

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"What will people think of me?” Recognising the real fears of real runners

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"What will people think of me?” Recognising the real fears of real runners

In my last blog I wrote about getting goosebumps when trying to choose the right event for 2016.  I got an amazing response to this blog and even had one of the Go Runners suggest that the idea of a first marathon gave her goosebumps and that we start working towards that as a new goal.  AWESOME!!

Before we all get carried away, it is important to recognise that goosebumps are just the start…  Now the tough stuff starts.  Time to overcome all of those real but hidden fears that we put in the way of ourselves when training for these events.  This blog is about recognising those fears. 

Even as a coach, I am not somehow immune to these fears.  In fact, I am one of those people that wants to be good at something before they try it.  This means that if i don’t think i will be good at it, I either don’t do it, or it takes A LOT of persuasion to get me to try.  This has been the case with numerous sports, from swimming as a kid, through to pilates as an adult, even my running has required a lot of work on this front.  My mum will tell anyone who cares to listen about my swimming lessons as a kid and how much I hated them, because I wanted to be able to swim already.  I don’t remember those very well (selective memory perhaps??) but I do remember signing up to train with a local football team in the UK one summer and being so petrified of going to training that I pretended to be sick, hid upstairs and refused to leave the house.  Now, lets get one thing very clear. I loved my football.  I played all day and watched it most evenings.

So why the drama?

I was absolutely petrified of not being good enough and of what people might think of me.

I can’t even dismiss this fear as being something that I only had as a kid, because I still care what people think.  I remember it took almost a year of persuading and waiting for me to try pilates, which I now love.  I remember putting off my first parkrun in Melbourne for weeks, whilst my wife, Kathryn went, raved about it and met some of the best friends we have ever had.  I have now done over 100 parkruns.  I have no doubt that I am getting better but Kathryn keeps telling me that I still care too much about what other people think.  I am a work in progress…..aren’t we all?

Over the past three months I have been doing a lot of listening to the runners I coach and others, hoping to understand more about some of the fears that exist for real people around their running. I have heard stories that really do make me sad.  Fears like...

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"I just want to get fit and stop getting injured"

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 I hear this phrase from runners all the time... 

"I just want to get fit and stop getting injured."  

Particularly at this time of year, we have a tendency to go too hard into a new fitness routine, too soon.  There is no quicker way to undo all of your hard work, than getting injured, and trust me, getting injured sucks!  The mere thought of it was enough to persuade me to do a short 5 minute video talking to Physiotherapist Sally Maple about running injuries and how to prevent them. I ask her about areas to watch out for and stretches and exercises to help keep you injury free.  

Click below!

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Use the power of goosebumps to find YOUR event in 2016

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Use the power of goosebumps to find YOUR event in 2016

If you are anything like me, the Christmas break has meant a quadrupling of my food and alcohol intake, accompanied by many reflections on the year that has gone, discussions about what races I enjoyed, questions about whether I am actually any fitter this time around and bold predictions for the new year.  As runners, this is usually accompanied by animated conversations with friends and planning around events and races that we want to sign up for.  

With so many events on the running calendar these days and entry costs going through the roof, it is becoming tricky (and expensive) to decide which event is actually the right event for you.  I see so many people sign up for events that they don’t really want to do and / or have little motivation to do well in.  

I want you to use the power of goosebumps to avoid that!

I have just gone through this process having had a pretty great 2015, with PB’s at half marathon, marathon and half ironman distances, as well as my first ever Ironman.  However, I struggled to find the right event to sign up for 2016.  You know, the one event that keeps you motivated and gets you out of bed in the morning when you really don’t feel like it.   

Read on to get a little insight into my slightly quirky, random thought process, when deciding to sign up for Ironman New Zealand and how this can help you pick the right event for you in 2016.

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Older doesn't mean slower! By the first person I coached

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Older doesn't mean slower! By the first person I coached

As you may know, Go Run is a small, young, start up company, but thankfully the good news stories and results are already starting to roll in!  I want to tell you about the first runner that I began coaching, my dad!  

He is nearly 62 years old and has run for recreation and fitness for over 30 years, completing 6 marathons (all of them under 4hrs 15 mins), over 20 half marathons, plus many other shorter races.  We began working together over a 14 week period to prepare him for the Great North Run half marathon in mid September and he managed to get his best half marathon time in 7 years (2:06:32)!  

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Melbourne Marathon Festival 2015: Results

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Melbourne Marathon Festival 2015: Results

Yesterday was a BIG day for GoRun.  Our first major event in the spring / summer running calendar came and went with the Melbourne Marathon Festival.  Five GoRun coached runners entered in the 10km (2 Go Runners), Half Marathon (2 Go Runners) and Marathon (1 Go Runner) all performed amazingly well and I am extremely proud of what we managed to achieve together!  So here are the results:

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Dealing with taper time

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Dealing with taper time

Many of you will be lining up to start your races at the Melbourne Marathon Festival in less than two weeks time.  Congratulations on getting this far!  You will mostly have gone through the tough, long preparation for the 10km, half marathon or marathon distances and now entering a taper period, to freshen you up for race day.  This is a weird and wonderful couple of weeks where things are more likely to go wrong than right.  Many people can derail their races during this period, so I thought it would be useful to run through five 'race ready' tips with to help keep you focused and ready to roll when you get to the start line in under two weeks time.

Here goes...

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Why did I get a coach?

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Why did I get a coach?

In the lead up to my first Boston Marathon I spent hours poring over running training plans.  I would take elements of each plan and change my own plans for the next day, week and month.  Sounds like good, adaptive, evidence informed work, right?   Yeah, but no, but…

This constant adaptation became over-complicated, obsessive and wasteful.   The need to adapt stemmed from my tendency to over-think things, and the need to know that I was doing the right training.  The problem was that I simply didn’t know.  I didn’t know what was right for me and couldn’t distinguish the advice, supposed evidence and opinion from the thousands of resources available through Dr. Google.  I was paralysed with too much information and wasted a lot of valuable time and energy worrying about it.

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Running in the Melbourne Marathon Festival? Training Tips for the next 10 weeks

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The Melbourne Marathon Festival is now ten weeks away! The PMPP team is in the midst of its training and looking strong!  The next ten weeks of running will be challenging, so we have enlisted the help of Recreational Running Coach, Chris White from GoRun (www.gorun.com.au).  For this blog, we asked him for five tips to surviving and flourishing over the next ten weeks before crossing the finish line at the MCG.  

Read the full guest blog I did over at the Port Melbourne Physio & Pilates website 

 

Are you ready to run? If the answer is "YES!" then sign up here for your own running coach and personalised monthly training plan to get you running stronger, longer and faster.  I will get in touch straight away and we can begin working on getting your running to where you really want it to be!

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Running the system

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Running the system

In the immediate aftermath of any major event that I train for, I eat junk food and reflect. Post-Boston Marathon last year, I remember scaling new heights on both counts. The eating I am still working on, but to help my reflections I wrote a blog. So here goes….

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Recovery is king

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Recovery is king

Lots of athletes are keen to do the hard physical training, but not so keen to get the appropriate rest and recovery that will enable them to perform at their best when needed. This is a trait I can see in athletes all around me.  They are eager to get out for the next session, do the best they can, push limits and keep improving on those all consuming Garmin numbers… Sound familiar?