Welcome back to The Blue Line - your fortnightly hit of running news and views.
Anyone been up to much lately? Been pretty quiet here, hey. Joel’s been training well from what we hear. Big things comin’.
Oh, big congratulations to Matt Ramsden and his partner Lauren Hyde-Cooling on their engagement last week.
Congratulations are also in order for one of our team for an incredible run on the weekend. It’s always hard following an international race - trying to find a stream and figuring out split times but we’re very very proud of our own Elise Beacom for her marathon PB in Valencia. Elise ran a blistering 3:01:05, for an 11 minute PB.
Win of the Week this week is from friend of the show, Sarah Billings.
by Elise Beacom
Anyone who’s ever run a marathon knows getting it right is rare. On Sunday in Valencia, Sinead Diver got it more than right. She ran 2:21:34, smashing the Australian women’s marathon record, only hours after Brett broke the men’s.
The King is dead, long live Queen Sinead.
It was Sinead’s third attempt at the record (the others: London on a looped course in 2020 and Nagoya earlier this year). Nagoya ended with Sinead’s first (and she hopes last) DNF. She was visibly swaying at 35k and pulled out just before 40k so she could have a quick lie down on the side of the road (ugh, so close). Training had gone well, but it was hotter than expected, she was dehydrated, and she had struggled to sleep beforehand.
So, when sleep escaped Sinead in the days leading into Valencia, memories of Nagoya played on her mind and doubts crept in. Her training had been better this time, but everything had to fall in place on the day. Sinead spoke to The Blue Line over a drink at a rooftop bar after the race, and explained just how hard it is to nail the marathon.
“To run well in the marathon, you need everything to line up... I’ve done 14 now and this is probably the first one where everything has lined up.”
As she settled into the first 5k at Valencia, Sinead was relieved to feel good, even if slightly uncomfortable with all the jostling bodies and heel clipping around her. She was running with the 2:22 group but made a critical decision to drop back around 10k when some of the women were pushing a hotter pace. “At any second it can unravel very quickly so you have to be in control the whole way, or feel like you’re in control,” she said.
Sinead caught the group up again later, going through halfway in 70:40 (almost bang on the schedule she’d discussed with coach Nic Bideau), and had the pacer almost to herself to 30k. Sinead’s pacing was dead even, and she followed the blue line (the blue line - get it?) as closely as she could (smart move 😉- we didn’t want a repeat of New York in 2019 when she and Ellie Pashley took the ‘scenic route’.)
Coming into the iconic blue carpet finish, Sinead felt she’d run a PB, but had only lap splits on her watch. She didn’t realise the record was hers until she saw the clock in the home straight.
“When I crossed the finish line… I was half crying, smiling, yelling, but because I was down the list of females no one was interested in me. I wanted to shake someone and say, ‘do you know what just happened?’” she laughed. “But I didn’t realise I was on camera at that point until I went home [to her hotel] and people were sending me the footage and I was like ‘oh my god, I was carrying on’.”
But all of us who have followed Sinead’s career LOVED the display of raw emotion. This is what the marathon is all about. Her husband Colin (happy belated birthday) and their two sons Eddie and Dara had watched the race on TV and were “sooooo excited,” and her sister Triona was in Valencia to share the moment IRL.
News travelled quickly after that. Previous record holder Benita Willis (2:22:36) posted on Twitter congratulating Sinead. Even Kipchoge posted a throwback pic with our GOAT. 😉 And accolades for the Sinead and Brett double act came in thick and fast. “It’s really special how we both broke it on the same day,” she said.
For Sinead the next big goal is the Paris Olympics in 2024. “Obviously with my age [45]…I have no idea how long I can continue… but I’ve just proven that I’m in no way on the downwards spiral so I’m excited about that,” she said. “Over the past couple of years, I have gone through really bad patches…but I’ve persisted and come out of it and now run the best I’ve ever run.”
We are all excited for your future, Sinead. Long live the Queen.
by Brett Robinson
I was asked to share some personal insights on the race experience at Fukuoka for The Blue Line. I’m not a big writer, but I thought I could just share some of my pre-race notes with you. Maybe you’ll find it interesting.
Race Day
7:30 get up
8:00 drop drinks
8-8:30 Breakfast
9:10 Maurten Solid
10:00 bus
10:50 mobility and core
11:10 Caffeine drink, Breathing exercises
11:20 start warm up
12:10 Race
Pre-race notes
“This is the fastest I’ve ever gone out in. It’s the Japanese way. Running 3.00s will feel easier for me than everyone else. Sit in the pack and do zero work. There will be a windy section so being behind people is important. Between 25-31 km it will be a head wind. It will be important to get in behind, once I get to the turn around it's a tail wind home. I can run under 2.08…I probably can win. More than likely I’ll get a stitch, that’s ok, I’m more confident with dealing with it now. If it comes, 2 deep breaths in through my nose, 1 hard breath out, breathing out on left foot strike. Can try leaning to the left to take out the right side bend. Remember forward lean, remember not to be pulling my right arm too far back.
Think of flamingos. Think of Farby. Think of Maurie. Go and do it.”
A lot of the above is pretty simple, obvious stuff but it helps me to write it out. Even just writing out my schedule is helpful - and I still nearly missed the drinks drop off.
I guess the unusual section is probably the last few sentences - it’s what I think about in the race. “Think of flamingos” is what a massage therapist at London told me to think of, it’s just something that takes my mind away from the race for a bit, it’s a happy thought. “Think of Farby” is thinking of my grandad, he has always supported me so much and I know how much a big result would mean to him. “Think of Maurie” is thinking of Maurie Plant. Maurie died a few years ago, he meant a lot to me and he is someone I always think of when I’m racing, he has this big loud voice so I just think of him yelling at me to go faster. I like to take my mind off what I’m actually doing so I find having these things ready to go as soon as negative thoughts come into my head helps a lot.
I also always do something similar after a race - I write about what I did well and what I can do better on for the next one.
by Fraser Darcy
Falls Creek is still suffering from some bad juju somewhere because a slow moving landslide has cut off road access between Mt. Beauty and the Falls Creek village. Access is still possible from Omeo but you’re going to need a longer road trip playlist because the travel time blows out via that option - you could rewatch Brett’s marathon back to back 3 times and still be in the car. As a result, everything is going to be a lot more low-key up there - think the quietness of the early ‘80’s, when on a still summer day the only sounds on the mountain were the furious footstrikes of Deek or Mona. #takemeback.
So what are some options then if you still crave that summer training camp vibe and have cash to splash after cancelling your accommodation?
Option 1: Join the Ingebrigtsen Family Christmas in Sandnes, Norway.
Athletic prowess is as contagious as Covid I’ve heard, so who needs any altitude training at Falls when you can just mooch off Team Ingebrigtsen with this option. Think of the Christmas day festivities you could be a part of! (surely there are matching outfits). In between double threshold days there’d be time to pick on Jakob with the older brothers Henrik and Filip, while also having enough time to listen to the surely endless training stories from Papa Gjert. By the way, it’s pronounced ‘Gjert’.
Option 2: Heat (or cigarettes) are a poor man’s altitude
Falls is Australia's version of altitude training right? We started going there to prep for Mexico City in ‘68 where the main track was at 2239m, and we kept going back to look for where Ralph Doubell got his mojo from. Given Mexico City isn’t hosting as much as a Parkrun anytime soon, wouldn’t it be better if we focused more on heat acclimatisation than altitude? Go somewhere you’re feeling hot hot hot. There’s a hot option in every state, where you could probably get more bang for your buck with your Airbnb money, establish the training camp vibe, play lots of Nintendo 64, and load the freezer up with Zooper Doopers. Options abound, but here’s a few that come to mind… The Grampians, Alice Springs, Quorn (#biased), Marble Bar…
Option 3: It’s Torana Time on the mountain
Hey wait a minute, aren’t we hosting the World XC champs in Australia in 2023? Isn’t there a race where amateurs can win a spot to join the superstars? I reckon I read that somewhere…Why not give yourself a training camp at Bathurst and make a bid for the ‘King of the Mountain’ title made famous by the late, great, Peter Brock (RIP). Plus, if you invest time there now, you’ll know the best cafes to loiter in and how to safely talk to any revhead bogans lingering around…’that the double throttle 8 litre, is it? Yeah na, sounds shit hey.’
Option 4: Staycation.
Or maybe you go full cheapskate, keep your pennies and stay at home. It works well for you during the rest of the year so why do you even need a holiday? Invest your money in a coach, some new supershoes, take your family out to a cafe to thank them for putting up with all your running bullshit or book yourself a massage and cryo session maybe? What about a proper week of groceries? You could spend summer properly fueled instead of relying on Christmas beers and leftovers for your long run?! Nah, f**k that, I’ll long run off of prawns anyday if it means I can take a holiday to go and lie on the couch somewhere different.
It was a bad weekend to be an Australian marathon record.
I simply had to give Win of the Week to our two heroes, Brett and Sinead.
I know you know a lot about Sinead and Brett already, but what are they actually like? I wanted to give some perspective as a member of the same training group.
Training “with” Sinead is a bit like training with a transformer. I say “with” in inverted commas because we’re only alongside her for about 10 steps before she zooms off into the distance to hunt down Joel.
Prior to a session Sinead is fairly quiet, sometimes a bit nervous for the task at hand but will always give a laugh to Stewy’s mediocre jokes. As soon as the session starts, Sinead transforms into beast mode. She’s tough and her ability to grind through a session is inspiring to witness.
After a session, when many of us go for a post-training coffee, Sinead transforms into boss mode as a Senior Analyst Engineer at NAB, all while raising her two boys, Eddie and Dara. She’s someone we all admire and respect a lot. She’s softly spoken but I think her achievements speak volumes about how hard she works and the person that she is. If you asked every guy in MTC who their favourite woman in the group is they would say Sinead.
She’s everyone’s favourite transformer.
Now, I must admit I was a little intimidated to move in with Brett. Being one of the heavy hitters in our training group, he can be intimidating to many. However, this was short lived after seeing how much of a simp he is with his dog, Nelson.
Brett is a man of few words, often going about his business with no fuss - so naturally, he didn’t give much away about his goals for the marathon on Sunday. But having now lived with him for several months I’ve noticed how hard he works. He’s the king of the “one percenters”. He does all the little things well. I’ve never seen anyone do so many pre run exercises (not sure if that’s a sign of his commitment or his age), he’ll be up 90 minutes before his jog making sure his body is ready to run well. Everything he does is to better himself on race day and over the past few months he left no stone unturned. I don’t think anyone is more deserving of that record than Brett.
How could the win(s) of the week not go to Sinead and Brett? It was a win for them, a win for MTC and a win for Australia.
News just in from Brett and Joel - the last FTK episode of the year will be out on December 20, just in time for you to download it, burn it onto a CD, scribble on the front “FtK MiXTapE”, wrap it, and put it under the Christmas tree for dad. If you’re on a budget, skip that idea and simply print out this newsletter for the ultimate Christmas surprise.
The boys will be back on January 3rd - tune in then to listen to New Year's Resolutions about quitting smoking and reading more.
Also - Liz Clay on FTK next week…she’s so much more than a graphic designer, she also hurdles!