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My Running Life - The Road From Obsession To Ruin And Back To Riches !
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06 July 2011
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Having completed my fifth marathon and my first since injuring myself back in late 2009 inspired me to look back on the road travelled to get to where I am today.
A borderline obsessive approach to running in 2008/2009 pushed me to the point of physical destruction and left me with a repetitive strain injury know as Osteitis Pubis (explained in detail in one of my other blogs). The injury completely wrote off any chance of serious running until late 2010. Once I knew I was on the road to recovery there was a great deal of soul searching and advice seeking to find a better way of doing what I love !
First of all, the days of 100kms running per week (and nothing else) were cast aside. In its place, a more balanced and varied training program was adopted but I needed help to do this. My physio, Sean Cooney, was the foundation of this new approach and introduced my to two new obsessions, riding and using personal trainers/coaches.
Riding was an easy progression when you have a brother (Trevor Smith) who is probably more devoted to riding that I am to running. Trevor used his wealth of knowledge to leapfrog me from being a relative beginner to a hill climbing Contador killer in no time at all. In fact the transition from runner to rider was so effective that I often wondered whether I'd bother going back to running again. Fortumately I now have a fascination with both sports !
The other huge turning point for me was Seans suggestion that a visit to a gym could do no harm with my rehabiliation. Exercising under a roof, I thought, you've got to be kidding !!!. I did however recall an amazing destiny driven encounter I had while running the 2009 Blackmores Sydney Marathon. Something I enjoy doing while running a marathon is maintaining a "conversation pace" to keep your composure and heart rate under control. You just have to be very careful not to chat with people who don't adopt the same strategy ! I struck up a chat with a Vision trainer called Jarrod Smith and for the next 20kms we developed a friendship that can only happen while running a marathon. To cut a long story short I contacted Jarrod after the race and next thing I know I'm training in a manner that I never thought was humanly possible. When Jarrod says, "I'll get you to your Vo2 max and THEN start working you hard" you'd better believe him !
With these two new disciplines added to the training program I had the benefit of endurance conditioning with the riding and all round body strengthening with the V02 max sessions. Most importantly the chances of injury were significantly reduced and allowed me train with the same intensity.
A number of other changes contributed significantly to my personal "ruin to riches" story:
- Rather than entering every single race on the calender, I was far more selective in the races I chose to compete in and I also did my first full season competing in the Sydney Marathon Clinic clubs races which is a combination of monthly half marathons and longer races throughout the summer "off season".
- Nutrition, between AND during races took on far greater importance. Many of the energy gels did not agree with my stomach but after plenty of experimentation (another great thing about doing the SMC series) I found that the SIS brand of gels suited me perfectly as the flavours were not overly sweet and, being a diluted isotonic gel, they were not as concentrated and were far easier to digest with or without water.
- My physio, personal trainer, massage therapist and many fellow runners were staggered by my lack of fluid intake. I have now gone from drinking less than a litre of water per day to comfortably consuming over 3 litres per day, with noticable results. I also realised that the 5 seconds you saved not slowing at a drink station during a race often resulted in losing over 30 seconds per km at the back end of a race. Slowing down at drink stations was a far better option that falling to pieces late in a race !
So, a typical training week prior to the injury would have been:
Monday: Run
Tuesday: Run harder
Wednesday: Run hardest
Thursday: Run tired
Friday: Try to run
Saturday: Run all day
Sunday: Run in pain
After a complete change to my training a typical week now looked like:
Monday: Rest day
Tuesday: AM Vo2 max gym session
PM Gentle run
Wednesday: PM Gentle run
Thursday: AM Vo2 max gym session
PM Gentle run
Friday: AM Core gym session
Saturday: Long ride/short run
Sunday: Longish gentle run
How much did this change my performance ?
My personal best times over all distances have improved significantly but the defining moment was at this years Gold Coast Marathon. The faster you go, the harder it is to drop your times by the same margin but that could not have been further from the truth in my case:
2008 Sydney Marathon 3:33:46
2009 Canberra Marathon 3:21:45 Margin gain 12:16
2009 Gold Coast Marathon 3:12:45 Margin gain 8:45
2009 Sydney Marathon 3:12:37 Margin gain 0:08
2010 Out of action !
2011 Gold Coast Marathon 2:54:51 Margin gain 17:46
A borderline obsessive approach to running in 2008/2009 pushed me to the point of physical destruction and left me with a repetitive strain injury know as Osteitis Pubis (explained in detail in one of my other blogs). The injury completely wrote off any chance of serious running until late 2010. Once I knew I was on the road to recovery there was a great deal of soul searching and advice seeking to find a better way of doing what I love !
First of all, the days of 100kms running per week (and nothing else) were cast aside. In its place, a more balanced and varied training program was adopted but I needed help to do this. My physio, Sean Cooney, was the foundation of this new approach and introduced my to two new obsessions, riding and using personal trainers/coaches.
Riding was an easy progression when you have a brother (Trevor Smith) who is probably more devoted to riding that I am to running. Trevor used his wealth of knowledge to leapfrog me from being a relative beginner to a hill climbing Contador killer in no time at all. In fact the transition from runner to rider was so effective that I often wondered whether I'd bother going back to running again. Fortumately I now have a fascination with both sports !
The other huge turning point for me was Seans suggestion that a visit to a gym could do no harm with my rehabiliation. Exercising under a roof, I thought, you've got to be kidding !!!. I did however recall an amazing destiny driven encounter I had while running the 2009 Blackmores Sydney Marathon. Something I enjoy doing while running a marathon is maintaining a "conversation pace" to keep your composure and heart rate under control. You just have to be very careful not to chat with people who don't adopt the same strategy ! I struck up a chat with a Vision trainer called Jarrod Smith and for the next 20kms we developed a friendship that can only happen while running a marathon. To cut a long story short I contacted Jarrod after the race and next thing I know I'm training in a manner that I never thought was humanly possible. When Jarrod says, "I'll get you to your Vo2 max and THEN start working you hard" you'd better believe him !
With these two new disciplines added to the training program I had the benefit of endurance conditioning with the riding and all round body strengthening with the V02 max sessions. Most importantly the chances of injury were significantly reduced and allowed me train with the same intensity.
A number of other changes contributed significantly to my personal "ruin to riches" story:
- Rather than entering every single race on the calender, I was far more selective in the races I chose to compete in and I also did my first full season competing in the Sydney Marathon Clinic clubs races which is a combination of monthly half marathons and longer races throughout the summer "off season".
- Nutrition, between AND during races took on far greater importance. Many of the energy gels did not agree with my stomach but after plenty of experimentation (another great thing about doing the SMC series) I found that the SIS brand of gels suited me perfectly as the flavours were not overly sweet and, being a diluted isotonic gel, they were not as concentrated and were far easier to digest with or without water.
- My physio, personal trainer, massage therapist and many fellow runners were staggered by my lack of fluid intake. I have now gone from drinking less than a litre of water per day to comfortably consuming over 3 litres per day, with noticable results. I also realised that the 5 seconds you saved not slowing at a drink station during a race often resulted in losing over 30 seconds per km at the back end of a race. Slowing down at drink stations was a far better option that falling to pieces late in a race !
So, a typical training week prior to the injury would have been:
Monday: Run
Tuesday: Run harder
Wednesday: Run hardest
Thursday: Run tired
Friday: Try to run
Saturday: Run all day
Sunday: Run in pain
After a complete change to my training a typical week now looked like:
Monday: Rest day
Tuesday: AM Vo2 max gym session
PM Gentle run
Wednesday: PM Gentle run
Thursday: AM Vo2 max gym session
PM Gentle run
Friday: AM Core gym session
Saturday: Long ride/short run
Sunday: Longish gentle run
How much did this change my performance ?
My personal best times over all distances have improved significantly but the defining moment was at this years Gold Coast Marathon. The faster you go, the harder it is to drop your times by the same margin but that could not have been further from the truth in my case:
2008 Sydney Marathon 3:33:46
2009 Canberra Marathon 3:21:45 Margin gain 12:16
2009 Gold Coast Marathon 3:12:45 Margin gain 8:45
2009 Sydney Marathon 3:12:37 Margin gain 0:08
2010 Out of action !
2011 Gold Coast Marathon 2:54:51 Margin gain 17:46
