Recently in training Category

I seem to be a fertile vessel lately for the nurturing of a field of excuses. Escuses to procrastinate and put off today's run until tomorrow, to get the bike serviced next weekend (and then forget), and excuses to not sit down RIGHT NOW and work out a new training plan.

So, now that I'm settling in to the new studies, new job, and new life with a very cool girl, it's time to cultivate an effective training plan and sift out the noxious weeds that have grown in its place.

One thing making this easier is our mostly inefficient public transport system. I've started taking the train to my new job lately, and since the closest train station is more than 9km from my house, I've been grabbing a bus to the station in the morning. It's no extra charge, and I don't arrive at work too hot and sweaty. The catch is when coming home. The train arrives barely two minutes after the connecting bus leaves, so I would have to wait for nearly thirty minutes for the next bus home (which then winds back and forth for another twenty-plus minutes).

Simple solution : I can run/walk 8-9km in less time than that!

It has been rather quiet around here lately, and some of you might have wondered why. To set your minds at ease; no, I'm not pregnant. Nor have I been arrested for grave robbing or other questionable antics. I didn't get lost or stolen, nor broken and returned to place of purchase.

I'll spare you the boring details regarding my absence for the past few months. I'm back now, and the future is where all the opportunities await us. Things are about as normal as ever (that is to say, not very) and I'm training.

I have decided to work more resistance training into my schedule and began that a couple of weeks ago. The trick, I guess, is to continue to run, bike, and swim as well and not burn out.

I've had the flu for about a week, and as much as I would like to have run anyway, it's in my lungs. I'm mostly over it, and although it is raining again this week at least the wind has died down. I love running in the rain. Not a great idea when sick, but since when did 'not a great idea' ever stop me from trying something?

With the Gold Coast on July 1 fast approaching I wanted to at least get a little bit of running in early this week in time to taper. I had hoped to do one last long run of around 15km today, but it seems I'm going to have to let go of that wish. It is still in my lungs, and breathing is tough.

I had to settle for a short run - it was all my lungs could handle today - so I decided to do some intervals instead. At least I get to push myself a little and still give my lungs a regular break. After all the long runs lately I'm sitting here feeling as though I haven't worked out at all today (although it was tough at the time).

I find myself wanting to go back out this afternoon and do a long run anyway, but maybe I should just rest for the next four days and let myself heal up for Sunday's 21km.

A well oiled machine can perform flawlessly, unattended, for long periods. Metaphorically, it is a state that any athlete strives for both in training and in competition.

Having fueled up last night with burger, fries, and coke, I was indeed heavily oiled for my run today - though not in a good sense - and if the noisy clunking and wheezing racket I made all morning qualifies me as a machine, then I'll settle for that. It isn't the machine-like efficiency I'm striving for, but at least I was out there, and that's something.

With less than two weeks left for training before the Gold Coast Half Marathon, I know I should be eating more of the right foods. I'm not stupid, just pathetically weak. Well, okay, you got me there, but at least I'm truthful on the second point. One out of two ain't more than half bad. It wasn't just last night that I dined poorly, and I'll be carrying an extra 10kg over my target weight on race day because of it, and maybe that's enough to smarten me up enough that I stop sabotaging my training. Maybe.

There was simply no chance of success for my plans for Thursday night. It is easy to look back on things and see now, but the bizarre and unlikely series of events that changed the outcome of my day could not have been predicted. "Best laid plans of mice and men"? Well, we all know that once in a while that really doesn't mean much.

There's something about a tale of triumph over stacked adversity that always wins my attention. More to the point, when that same success story is of a person with a positive attitude, I'm captivated. Considering my interest in athletics, it is no surprise that some of my sporting "heroes" have this kind of story to tell.

Such is the case with Anne Garton, a truly inspiring Australian Triathlete who is fighting a battle against mental illness. I had heard her name come up on occasion in the media in the past and I became interested in trying to follow her progress, but there has always been surprisingly little said about her. Even now the internet hasn't managed to keep up with her, and Google tells us little beyond the recent and teriffic news that she will be representing Australia in the world championships in Hamburg later this year.

Had I not been driving a friend to the airport at the end of his spur of the moment vacation, I would probably have been asleep rather than sitting in traffic. Had I not been experiencing car troubles that caused a short that drained my battery recently, the settings in my car stereo would not have been wiped. Nor would I be listening to the radio (which I almost never do while driving), and certainly not on a radio station I haven't listened to in a number of years. I never would have heard the fund raising event that the radio station was assisting Anne with that morning, and I wouldn't have learned about the seminar planned for that very night.

While the topic of the mental health seminar was of interest to me, my recent return to triathlon training (setback due to illness) coupled with the fact that Anne was going to be speaking barely TEN MINUTES from my house more than piqued my curiosity and limited my night's options to precisely one. The opportunity to meet and talk with her afterwards came as a pleasant surprise, and was in fact a first for me - my first time face to face with one of my sporting heroes*.

"Triathlon is my chocolate.", says Anne, "... once you have your first taste, you crave more".

And I can relate to that when it comes to exercise (although I'm guilty of indulging in the other type from time to time). Exercise - something I was never encouraged to become involved in when I was growing up - the training, the journey toward the next athletic event... you can never stop at just a nibble.

"It's not about the medals... not because I have won races, but because triathlon gave me my first taste of 'the other side'." Anne goes on to explain that 'the other side' is "the happiness and pure pleasure I feel when I ride my bike beside the ocean watching the sun rise. It is the feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction after finishing a tough run - feelings I never had before."

Work at your goals, strive for success, but remember to enjoy the journey.

Anne Garton is a winner. Not through lucky genetics - and not just in sports - it's in her character. She has excelled all thoughout her life, long before taking up triathlon.

In response to being referred to as a sporting hero, Anne states, "I'm not. I'm exactly the same as you, and you have it in you too."

Letting the hero comment slide, Anne is right about the rest. She seems very down-to-earth, and despite her struggles and successes she is very much like you and I. And, like Anne, we can all be winners once cease to play victim, or stop seeing things as "too hard", and begin to feed our passions.

* While I have never personally met The Amazing Hip, I have reason to believe that my friend Jeff is in truth his alter-ego, so Anne may technically not be the first of my heroes to be graced with my presence.