The hills are alive in Melbourne?

view from Mt. Buffalo

I was in the spectacular region of Bright last weekend, and it was only natural to go for a run that took me to the Mt. Buffalo Chalet. The last 11.3 kms of which rises 700m or so as it follows the BIG WALK hiking trail, which is also known to Buffalo Stampede runners. A most spectacular course, but I quickly discovered that whilst I am reasonably quick on the flat tracks around bayside Melbourne, the hills or mountains quickly brought me undone.

This lead to the realisation that I need to find and hit some big hills around Melbourne ASAP, as I prepare for the GOR Half in 5 weeks time, and then the Wonderland Run in the Grampians in August.

Hills are an integral part of many runners' training, and serve to build strength, form and condition to your running, and hence boost performance. Here's a link to a previous post I have written on the beneficial effects of hills training & why you should include these in your training regime.

Whilst you will find plenty of good long hills on the outer suburbs of Melbourne and beyond, such as in Heidelberg, Templestowe, Dandenongs, 1000 steps, You Yangs etc, there are not many around the pancake like flat-lands of inner Melbourne.

So, I've decided to compile a short list of decent hills that we can access around inner Melbourne that will help with your hills training.

1. Anderson Street, The Tan

A popular running location, with a decent mid length hill of about 400m to work with. Most of us have completed many, many reps of this local favourite, and you can catch my own Friday morning running group here every Friday morning from 6:15am.

So, I've decided to compile a short list of decent hills that we can access around inner Melbourne that will help with your hills training.

1. Anderson Street, The Tan

A popular running location, with a decent mid length hill of about 400m to work with. Most of us have completed many, many reps of this local favourite, and you can catch my own Friday morning running group here every Friday morning from 6:15am.

2. Kew Boulevard

An excellent course of undulating hills stretching about 7kms from end to end, popular amongst cyclists and runners alike.

3. Walmer Street ( off Kew Blvd)

Walmer Street runs past the southern end of Kew Blvd, and if you start from down near the Yarra River, it stretches up at a good gradient nearly 1 km to Studley Park Road. That classifies it as a Long Hill!

4. Princess Street to Barclay St/St.Kilda Road to Alma Road

One of my local favourites, and basically the only decent hill nearby, these two hills that meet together at the top (Barclay Street) offer a shorter steeper option ( Princess St-400m) or the longer, less steep section along the highway ( 600m). Not such a pretty option (traffic) but it's about the best I can offer in the area.

5. Fitzroy Gardens

As I often run during work hours from the CBD, I have found Fitzroy Gardens at the Eastern end of town a very attractive place to punch out some surprisingly good length hills. Whilst not so steep, these longer inclines can be weaved up, down & around in all kinds of combinations to give you a pretty decent workout.

6. Back of Essendon Airport

Somewhere in my distant track training past ( thanks Coach Bisinella) is the painful memory of a (horrendous) long set of steep stairs somewhere out the back of Essendon Airport. I can't even tell you what street it is, but it rises from the depths of the creek and bike paths up & up into a residential court. Too many painful repeats were done here to take any more notice of this place other than the vague memory of the airport in the distance, as we lay flat on our backs sucking in gulps of air.

Please feel free to share and add some more of your favourites that I and others can enjoy also.

Happy hill running and as always Run Well!

Improve your Running Efficiency with these 4 steps!

It's the time of year where many of us are in the early stages of a running program or thinking about it. As we look way down the calendar to our chosen events, our goals can seem a long way away. 

Sometimes early in the program it can be hard to keep focussed or motivated with our running training, but this is the ideal time to focus on what really matters when it comes to your running training. And that is, running with good form, and improving our running technique & efficiency, hence Run Well.

As always running training is about becoming a stronger & better runner, which given time will result in you becoming a faster runner. Hence the key here is in practising good technique, and thus developing good, strong motor (movement) patterns as we run. Train well, get stronger, improve your efficiency and faster will come.

Here are a few key pointers to get you started; 

1. Tall posture, strong trunk.

Running tall, chest up with a strong trunk allows you to keep your hips on top of & in front of your feet, to access your glutes/hips for power. Look out in front, not down to the ground. 

2. Shorter stride length , more steps

Reducing your stride length will also keep your hips over your feet, reducing the tendency to reach out in front with your foot ( over-striding). This also help you to land through your mid-foot for energy recoil, More steps, means reducing the load with each step, 

3. Pick up you feet!

This is called 'Knee Drive'; so pick your feet up off the ground at the end of your stride to get your knee coming through high & forward in position for your next step. This focal point will also help prevent you from reaching forward with your stride and over-striding.

4. Push from hips.  

Your glutes come from (the back of) your hips, and are the strongest muscle in your body. These are the runner's powerhouse that will allow you to run well, and fast. The combination of the above factors will allow you to push your body forward as you stride, thus increasing your stride length behind you during knee drive, and not reaching out in front.

Keen to learn more? 

Come to my regular running group sessions, held every Wednesday evenings 7pm at St.Kilda, and Friday mornings 6:15am at the Tan. These are coach led sessions with an emphasis on good quality running & form.  Wednesdays will include some running drills/strength, and Fridays is all about hard intervals - hills & track.

You can find out more here. 

Or if you're interested in  learning how to "Run Better, Run Stronger, Run Faster", you can join my next Running Technique Clinic to be held after Easter; all the details you will find here. 

I hope to see you out for a run soon.

As always, Run Well, always!

Great Ocean Road Marathon - just the Half?

It's just over 12 weeks until the GORM Running Festival!

if you're thinking of running in this spectacular event, it's time to step up your training.

I've entered the Half ( 23 km), and have put together my own 12 week Personalised  Training Program to help me to a PB. If you'd like to jump on board with a personalised training program from 'Run Well' to help you achieve your own PB in the GOR Half Marathon, then get in touch here.

And for this week only, you'll enjoy a 25% discount on the price. Your personalised program includes;

• A Detailed Runner questionnaire
• Follow up phone call to further discuss your goals & needs
• Personalised 12-week Training Program with Pace Guide
• Detailed Information Sheet explaining how to use your Program & Pace Guide
• Runners Pre-hab & Injury Prevention & Maintenance Guide
• Personalised Pre-Race Guide & Race Day Plan
• Access to Smart Training Options
• Exclusive access to Friday morning training session (6:15am@theTan, just $5) 

Hope to see you down there for a Run Well get together after the race!

- Rohan 

Summer Runnin': a month in Jamberoo.

Summer holidays have just ended for most of us, myself included. However, i was fortunate enough to have spent most of January in the beautiful surrounds of Kiama & Jamberoo. 

The region of Kiama - Jamberoo is one of great natural beauty. It offers spectacular coastline, numerous beaches, rolling green hills, mountains set amongst dairy country & rainforests. It is nothing short of ridiculously beautiful as you will see in the pics that follow. Jamberoo means 'track' in Aboriginal, but I think that's underselling it just a little. Perhaps bloody steep track would be more appropriate for this area is one of many, many steep hills.

Kiama; lots of hills and cows.

As with any other holiday destination, this represents the opportunity to explore new running routes, trails & workouts in a different environment. Being from Melbourne, where hills are scarce in the inner city, I do love to run the hills around here.

Regardless of where you are, or which time of year, a running session is never far away. Here's a few of my favourites from the region, and whilst you may not get to Kiama itself, you can take these suggestions with you almost anywhere.

1. Hill circuits:

Find a hill which is not hard here, and run it. Repeat, repeat again, and so on. Kiama boasts the 5 X Bs; 5 streets starting with B, that are horrendously steep and about 400-500m long. The one I found in Jamberoo was 1.7 km long with an elevation gain of 160 m with each repetition, & taking just over 9 minutes to get up, and just as long coming down for each rep.

Rating : Bloody hard but beautiful on the way down.

2. 1000 steps.

Find a decent set of steps, 81 in this case. Run the set, recover on the way back down. Repeat til you've done 1000. 12.3 repeats for me, ouch!  

The shorter the set, the harder you go!  

81 steps on the way to 1000.

3. Trails. 

If you're from the city, spoil yourself & your feet and get off road whenever you can. The Coastal Track between Kiama and Gerringong is an absolute gem. It's 6 kms one way ( you can catch the train back?), or 12 km return. Absolutely stunning too.

4. Run the Mountain.

6 km of uphill hell to Saddleback Mountain. Locally known as the Saddleback Smash raced in October. Sadly, cancelled last year, but hoping it will make a comeback soon.

5. The Epic Trail Run. 

This run involves setting yourself a destination or goal and just heading out and seeing where it takes you. The last time I did this in Kiama a few years back, I ended up running to Geroa and back, a total of 38kms. I probably won't make that mistake again. For me this time, it was continuing up and up beyond the end of our Jamboree road, (the 1.7km hill) and into the Buderoo NP, more up and into the pine plantation, and down the steep muddy descent to the most magnificent little stream & waterfall to cool off. take in the breathtaking drop off, before continuing downhill to the main Road. And then come back again! Took, an hour and 45 mins. Totally worth it!

Like every run, running hills, stairs, trails, & tracks all involve the opportunity to work on your strength & technique as you conquer endless hills. Great training early in the year as you build your base before getting stuck into your specific race training program.

Sounds like the perfect place for a Summer Running Training Camp.  

And that's exactly what we're going to do next January 2017. If you like the sound of that, please let me know & you can join us!

As always, Run Well!

How's your New Year's Running Resolution going?

We are already into the second week of the New Year, which leaves me wondering how our resolutions are holding up, 8 days later?

Typically, New Year's Resolutions involve promises of healthier and fitter lifestyle changes, which will often include running related goals, challenges and even the threats & dreams of marathon finishes!

have runners, will run.

To start with here's a few tips to get this year's running resolutions into gear;

1. Start by Running Regularly; try for every second day, allowing a day in between for recovery. 

2. Be realistic when you start. If it's been some time since you've run, then start slowly, with short distances, and take it easy. Try 15-20 minutes, and include short walking breaks if you need to along the way. Many people that break down , do so by doing ' too much, too soon'. Listen to your body. Your body needs time to adapt to the demands of running, so let it. It may take 6-8 weeks before you can run 5k, and that;s okay. The next 5 k will come easier I promise.

3. Recovery; Most important for all runners, and in particular those starting out. Work on your recovery when you're not running, this will help your body adapt between runs, thus keeping you running and on track. This will involve your foam roller, stretching, try yoga which is great for running recovery, body & mind.

4. Be patient. Good runners are strong runners. You need to be strong and mobile. This takes time to develop and work to maintain. Take your time, and build your running fitness. Again, don't fall into the trap of 'too much, too soon'

5. Set goals. There's no better way to stay motivated than to be training for a goal, and you can't reach a target if you don't have one! Start with a 5k Personal Best, or maybe 10k and work your way up. Soon enough you'll be looking at a Half Marathon, and then maybe even a Marathon!

Maybe you ran the Half or Full marathon last year and now you're looking to improve on your performance and aim for a PB!

Either way, allow enough time to adequately prepare & train for your race and give yourself every chance of making it, and making a PB!

6. Enter a Race!! Now it's time to really plan out and train for that race. Pick your distance and commit yourself to a solid training program of 12- 20 weeks, depending on your distance. If you need some help or advice on this, feel free to email me here.

Now that you've made a start here's a few race events to consider for the year ahead;

Here's a link to all of the 2016 Australian Running Calendar of events.

And just for good measure, a list of my faves to consider for the year ahead;

• Two bays Trail Run 28/56k; 17 Jan
• Rollercoaster Run 43/21.5k; 27 Feb
• Run 4 The Kids 15k; 20 March
• Puffing Billy Run 13.5k; 1 May
• Great Ocean Road Marathon 44/23; 15 May
• Surf Coast Trail Marathon 42 solo/relay/22: 25 June
• Run Melbourne 5/10/21; 24 July
• Wonderland Run, Grampians 20/36: 21 August
• Melbourne Marathon 21.1/42.2; 16 October
• NYC Marathon 42.2; 6 November!!!!

If you're looking for any running or training advice to help you achieve your running goals for 2016, please email me .

And if you're planning on running in the 2016 New York City Marathon, so am I!! get on board with your personalised Run Well Marathon Training Program here!

For the Love of Running

I've just finished reading one of the best books about running that I've ever read.

“Before stop watches, cinder tracks and perfect records, man ran for the purest of reasons: to survive. The saying goes, “ Every morning in Africa, an antelope wakes up. It must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa a lion wakes up. It must run faster than the antelope, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re an antelope, or a lion - when the suncomes up you’d better be running.”
There are few instincts more natural than the body in full motion as it races across a field or through the trees. From the beginning, we were all made to run. In days past, when ‘survival of the fittest’ meant exactly that, the only measure of the race was whether the hunted reached safety before being overtaken. Seconds and tenths of seconds had no meaning. ”

— The Perfect Mile, Neal Bascomb

It's been nearly a couple of months now since we ran the Melbourne Marathon, and whilst I'm happliy back into my running, and running for the pure enjoyment of it, I am looking forward to getting back into a scheduled program and pushing myself again, as I set some personal goals and events for 2016.

This particular book has only inspired me more as I am reminded of how much running is not only a major part of my life, but a reflection of life itself. 

The Perfect Mile, is a book about the global race to break the seemingly impossible barrier, the 4 minute mile.  After failing miserably at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, three world class runners set out on a personal quest to achieve this monumental feat. 

From separate corners of the globe, these three athletes trained themselves harder than anyone before them, daring to push the physical and mental limits of their very being.

None more-so than our very own John Landy, considered the perfect running specimen and arguably the greatest miler of his time (yes, I'm biased). His story alone is one of one incredible drive, focus, & ambition with a good does of humanity thrown in. His story alone, is sure to make you proudly Australian. 

With Xmas approaching there are many worthy distractions that take us away from our running or exercise routines. Whilst it's good to let go a bit and have a well deserved break, this can serve as a prelude to re-ignite your passion as you build into your next campaign.

When the New Year comes around, and you're looking for some inspiration and goal setting to get you going again, you could do worse than picking up a book.

Give the gift of inspiration with a great book about running.

Here's some of my favourite titles to consider if you're looking to give or receive the perfect gift!

If you're thinking about running the marathon next year, or aiming for a personal best time? At Run Well we can help you achieve your goals. 

All the best in NYC Marathon this Sunday!

I must send a message to 2 of my Run Well marathoners who will be lining up for their first marathon this Sunday in the NYC Marathon. 

NYC marathon, on your bucket list?

I can only imagine the excitement and anticipation that Phoebe & Monique must be feeling, being in the Big Apple as we speak. Both Phoebe & Monique have committed & dedicated themselves to a comprehensive Run Well marathon training program. As such they are in great shape & well prepared as they line up for their first start. And what a thrill that will be. 

A long held dream of mine, I am planning to be there next year after running a qualifying time this year. I am also putting together a Run Well training package for any other enthusiastic runners looking to head to NYC  next November also. 

Whilst it's 1 year away, the time to start planning is now. There's a lot to organise before your training program begins.There are various ways to gain an entry which are explained

And failing that, you can always guarantee your entry through some travel packages with companies such as Travelling Fit.

Most importantly, if you are going to commit to run this memorable race, don't go to all that trouble and expense and leave yourself under-prepared. 

If you're interested in running the NYC marathon next year and would like Run Well to help you prepare, please contact me at ; runnyc2016@runwell.net.au

RUNNYC2016

Finally, all the best this Sunday girls!! 

As always Run Well!  

Post marathon...what now? Can I still wear my running watch?

Be a finisher!

I can happliy say, that as of today my legs are working again, and i can run again, sort of, for at least for a few metres anyway  Not that I'm planning on going for a 'run' until later next week but the spring has returned to them which is a nice feeling, meaning I am recovering. I hope yours are too!

It's normal to feel a little deflated after the marathon, regardless of how you performed on the day. After such a long intensive build up of training, running long runs every weekend, and when you're not running working on your recovery, and when you're not doing that thinking about the marathon, and talking about the marathon. Let's face it, It's pretty full on! 

Most importantly, I  hope that you all have been spending this week revelling in your achievements, and basking in the glory that goes with having just run the marathon. It's a very rewarding and satisfying time, that you should enjoy as much as possible. And don't hesitate in letting them all know that yes, you were out there on Sunday and yes, you ran the 'full' marathon!

This is a good time to reflect on your training, your race plan and how it all unfolded on race day. Looking at your overall time, your splits and your HR you can review your race performance  stage by stage. From that you might think about what & where you might change your plan for next time, or what you might have done differently in training and on the day. Of course, you'll never know whether that would produce a better outcome or not, but it's worth considering.

Each time you race the marathon will be a different experience and much can be gained from every one. With analysis, time & experience you will become better at racing the distance. The only catch is, you have to do all that work again, and it's a while before you get another crack!

I particularly love the fact that after only 4 days we are all thinking about our next marathon, aren't you? It was the last thing in the world you were thinking at about the 36km mark, but happily this all changes.

After a race, many runners want to capitalise on all that training and hard earned fitness, and not let it go to waste. Some will be searching for the next race to try to make amends for a bad day, whilst others might be looking to continue their successful run and see where else they can push the limits.

My advice, is stop now. You, your legs, your body and your mind needs time to recover. 

Rule #1: No running for 2 weeks!!  You need to recover.

Your muscles have taken a battering which is why they are so sore and you couldn't even walk properly for 3 days, let alone downstairs! Thus, they will take 2-4 weeks to fully recover & regenerate, maybe longer if you are very sore. Even if you feel like you can run before this time ( < 2 weeks) you are still in recovery mode, so only short, easy runs please. Only easy runs for the first month, starting with small distances of 3-5 kms, and building by only 2 kms each week. No fast running for 4 weeks.

If you do too much, too soon, you risk developing soft tissue injuries that may hang around for months. It's been a long and intense haul to get to the marathon, so it's important to take some time off.

LET YOUR BODY AND YOUR MIND RECOVER!

You can however, still exercise in the mean time, as other forms of active recovery will be helpful. Naturally, you don't just want to sit around ( if only), but walk regularly, swim, gentle cycle, pilates, yoga... and of course don't forget your roller, massage & stretching etc.

And then we can look ahead to what's next.

I am already planning which events I will be training for next year, which for me will and of course culminate in running the NYC Marathon in November 2016!

But in the mean time, and for probably the rest of the year, i will look forward to running again just for the pure freedom and enjoyment of it all. 

Who knows, I may even leave my Garmin at home and run naked. Oh the freedom of running by feel!

Real, take it easy, run easy but Run Well!

You can however, still wear your running watch! Thankfully it also tells the time!