We are now back in Australia following our amazing two weeks with the Kiwi Run Tour Group.  With less than two weeks to go before we fly to the US for the 2nd half of our trip, and as this may be my last blog from Australia (I'll have to see what happens), I  was going to use it to reflect on how it has gone over the past two and a half months.

But to be honest, I can only think of good things to say, and there is a chance you may think I am not putting forward a true critical analysis of this training period.  Instead I will describe some of the things we have learnt about my training.  Most of this we haven't learnt from being in Australia, but from having the time to develop and test ideas, and evaluate and modify our approach.. This is what we have learnt about me and my training and so won't be directly applicable to anyone else, but isn't that the same with all training - no one formula fits all.  The more I learn about training, the more I believe this is the case.

Two of the biggest and most important learning points are linked, and I have been acutely aware of them for a long time as you will notice from many of my previous blogs.  These relate to my pace, and my recovery.  I've learnt the importance of understanding, not only what pace each training session or run should be done at, but also of teaching your body what those different paces feel like and being able to better gauge my effort.  The quality of my training has markedly improved over the last few months, but this has been as a result of trying to control my pace, rather than run faster.  My reps have started to stay consistent throughout a session, if not slightly speed up towards the end, and I no longer panic if I don't feel great at the beginning of a session as I have often found myself able to 'work into' it.  

I think that the 10,000m race I ran nearly two weeks ago highlighted how far I have been able to change my thinking around pace.  I was able to control my  pace and I found that there was no temptation to go faster in the early stages to accumulate time for later on.  One of the key changes in my thinking is to not expect it to feel easy even in the early stages of the race.  My 10km time equates to 3:21s approx for each kilometre.  If I ran one of these by itself, it wouldn't feel like I was jogging so why would it be any different in a race?  Understanding this meant that I was not concerned at all when, even a kilometre into the race, I wasn't finding it a walk in the park.  Linked to this, the fact that I have also been able to work into sessions has given me the confidence that I can work into races in the same way and there is never a need to panic if I don't feel especially fresh.  Of course I won't always be able to do this - I fully expect to feel terrible the whole way in a race at some point again in my career, but it won't happen every time.

On the way to winning the New Zealand 10000 Championships

Getting my pacing better has helped me maintain a consistent training programme throughout the past few months - without ever feeling run down or excessively tired.  There are days when you feel more tired than others but it only lasts a day or two days at worst.  Not the same week after week of tiredness that I have experienced in the past.  I really believe that this is as a result of not hammering the first rep of every session and controlling the pace throughout.  It's also a direct result of making sure all of my runs are controlled, and that certainly with steady running anyway, it is often better to err on the side of caution and go slightly too slow than too fast.

Finally, I now also understand what it feels like to run easy.  Easy pace for me isn't a number.  It's not 7.5 min miling or 8 min miling or whatever.  It's the pace that feels as though I am not trying.  Somedays it may be faster, somedays it may be snails pace.  It is the pace which is going to help prepare me for the next session, not take away from it.  If I feel tired, I slow down.  No garmin, no target times, just easy, and I think these runs are finally serving the purpose for which they are intended.

I haven't even touched on some of the other learning points from the past few months such as those around stretching and core but I already seem to have written an essay so I'll save those for another day.  Maybe I will try and get another blog in before we leave Australia after all.