Beginnings

Without stretching the imagination too far, I figured the best post to start with would be about my early experiences with running. A lot of this may not be all that interesting for the rest of you, but it's also something I can look back over later (when my memory begins to fail me :P).

My background in running, and sport in general, is fairly limited. In school I never participated in team sports and had limited involvement with athletics. For a while I was in the local little athletics and managed some wins in hurdles, but wasn't all that interested. The only time I recall actually being excited about doing any physical activity was hiking. We used to go camping quite a bit growing up, often to the Grampians which has some great hiking trails and beautiful terrain. I always used to run off up ahead, then run back and repeat. Outside of that, riding my bike to and from school was my sole form of exercise, but was only about 2km each way (although I did get pretty quick as I left from home later and later).

Hiking the Grampians in 2008. Covered most of the main trails in two days in scorching heat (although it certainly pales in comparison to running Badwater). At least I had the sense to bring a bladder (even if it was a cheap knock-off).

After high school, I got into roller hockey for a while, which is actually pretty fun. I reckon the twisting and turning, fast stops and general control required helped develop strong ankles, good balance and quick feet. We did alright in the end, but I eventually moved on to karate, which I ran with for about 3 years. I loved the discipline and finesse required, but the main thing I really got out of it was how to push through when fatigued, and enjoy it! We were encouraged at gradings to put in 100% for the entire duration, so I would try to do exactly that. Of course, as anyone that's ever attempted to put in 100% into any physical activity can tell you, you can't maintain that for more than a short amount of time - but that's when you really get to do something significant. That's when you get to prove something to yourself about what you're actually capable of.

After moving on from karate I really didn't do any exercise other than walking in and out of work, but my desk job as a software developer can really take its toll on your back and neck if you don't stay active. A year or so on some friends of ours decided to take up running as one of them had been into running quite a lot in their earlier days. I wasn't really into the idea of running much, but liked the idea of getting outdoors, particularly along the bank of the Barwon river. I think largely due to my low weight (from my fast metabolism), I picked up pretty quickly and started adding in solo runs around the local park, usually running a total of 5km by first running 1km and walking, then 2.5, building up through running the whole 5km to eventually 10km and slightly over.

That's when my first real injury struck - Illiotibial Band (ITB) Syndrome. I imagine pretty close to all runners are familiar with this, if most haven't also experienced it personally. It started with sore and tight knees on the outside, worsening as runs continued. As I'm used to pushing through that sort of thing, it didn't bother me enough to stop until it got bad enough to look into it. Once I realised the only real treatment was cutting back, I stopped altogether to give it a chance to heal.

Unfortunately I didn't start running again for a year or more until early 2011, when the company I was with at the time entered into a corporate team triathlon (I signed up for the 5km run stretch). This time I formed a rough plan of running 5km every weekend and 3km in and out of work two or three days a week. I'd been riding in and out of work on and off for about a year, so I wasn't in bad shape and managed 5km again on my second run (although it did take over 30 minutes). With rigorous stretching each night, I managed to avoid ITB issues recurring and training went pretty well. I got sick in the last week before the event, but ran the event in April in a time of 20:55, which I was pretty happy with.

Running the Harwood Andrews 2011 Corporate Triathlon - Love the running gear? :) At this point, any shorts I could find, a hiking top and a pair of Nike Structures were the extent of my gear.

From there I kept running 5km on the weekend and having switched to job in the city, ran the 1.5km in and out of work to get a few extra kms. I ran on and off with some friends, and ran anywhere from 10 to 25km a week. I got my first running watch (a Garmin FR60) in June and started running a bit more regularly. I started focusing on my 1500m runs and got them down to around 3:45min/km average by the end of the year. In December, having only run one a handful of 10km runs before, I ran a 17km in 1:17 and a half marathon in 1:40 (although I think the FR60 was tracking up to 7% short, making my paces seem faster than they were).

I continued on in much the same, with the occassional 10km or longer run (mostly 5km was still my 'long' run), and picked up circuit training once a week to add some strength and help balance the running. By July 2012 I was doing okay and managed a half marathon in 1:33 (again, the FR60 may be giving me a bit more than it should) and was running with a few people I'd got onto through my personal trainer. We had a few runs of around 10km, but it quickly dropped back to two of us. After a few weekends, we ran the Bellarine Rail Trail run, which had been limited to a 22km out and back due to flooding. The original plan for my running partner was only for 17km, with a stretch to a half marathon. Since we were at different points in our training, I ran from Leopold and racked up about 32km that day, being my first real distance run as I see it. My partner struggled from the 18km mark and fell short of his goal, but remained dedicated to getting stronger, faster and pushing for more on every run. It was a great run despite being very wet and muddy and got us excited about looking for other places to run.

BRT Run 2012 - Starting to get some gear together! I ran this one in Nike Lunar Eclipse, a Nike technical top, Nike tech shorts and some new 2XU Compression tights (love these for cold weather and recovery).

We started looking around and found Portarlington to St Leonards, Torquay to Bells Beach, St Leonards to Edward Point and finally the Salomon Trail Series #4 - Anglesea. We'd signed up for this run fairly late in the game. It seemed pretty straight-forward as it was 'only' 14.6km. I ended up getting only around 5 hours sleep (ironically the same as for my recent 100km), but ran it in 1:08 for a 4:40 min/km average. It seemed a little disappointing at the time, but looking back it was a great first effort onto trails. My running partner had a great day pulling in a 6 min/km average which was a great accomplishment given the hills we faced that day, learning for the first time that elevation charts rarely accurately reflect the difficulty of the course. I remember slipping around a bit in the old pair of Nike Lunar Eclipse I was wearing, getting wet while running through the river mouth and having to walk because I was caught behind people on single track and hadn't placed myself well at the start - all very new experiences. It was our first serious attempt at trail running and we loved it.

Salomon Trail Series #4 - Anglesea. Pretty much the same gear in different colours. And no, I don't recommend Nike Lunar Eclipse for trail running :P

Looking back, the writing was on the wall for me. A love of beautiful terrain, running hiking trails, pushing through barriers and developing complex technique - all adding up to my current passion: ultra distance trail raining.