Breakthrough Season: Glen Yarham Blogs For RT

2010/2011 season was a season to remember. It began with me changing from my high school coach, David Miles, to Pat Clohessy. Here I was introduced to the cruel world of hard training. In my final year of school my training program consisted of 45km weeks. Moving to Pat, I soon realised to become competitive, I needed to be stronger and faster. To do this I had to increase my training load. Soon after moving to Pat’s I was introduced to 75-85km weeks on a consistent basis.

After a few weeks I noticed significant improvement in my strength and fitness with the increase of my training load. I competed in a 3km winter carnival up at the University of Queensland where I ran an 8.45min (PB). This was a 7sec PB for me and was the first sign that my new training program was working for me.

A few weeks later Brisbane hosted the National Cross Country Titles. I was excited to race having produced a big PB in the 3km and been training hard with boys in my squad such as Jay Twist and Sam Schofield. Here I finished 8th, a huge improvement from my previous national cross placing of 32nd the year before. Narrowly coming behind Juniors Kevin Batt and Hugh Williams, gave me confidence that I was starting to become more competitive in the Junior ranks.



With a strong placing at Nationals, Pat and I decided to focus upon selection in the Junior World Cross Country Team for Worlds in Spain. With Peter Nowill back from London, the next few months involved lots of training and little racing. I would like to thank Pete for all those sessions he has pushed me since returning from London. Three races that we focused upon were the 5km Noosa Bolt, 1500m Classic and Zatopek.

In all of these races I produced massive PB’s as a result of my hard training. In the Noosa Bolt I ran a 15.10min, a 30sec PB. In the 1500m Classic, I ran a strong 3.52min, a 7sec PB and at Zatopek I finished with an 8.26min, a 19sec PB.



As a result of my good form towards the start of summer, I was given an opportunity by Athletics Australia to attend their Junior Camp down at Falls Creek. Here I ran with some of Australia’s top Junior and Senior athletes such as Collis Birmingham and Brett Robison.

The highlight of this camp was missing the bus back to the hotel from a training run one morning and getting a lift from Steve Moneghetti. Speaking to one of Australia’s greatest runners about my running was an honour.



Two weeks after Falls, I travelled to Canberra for the World Cross selection trial. It was a race I had been working towards for six months and by race day, I was ready to give it my all. The race started off slow for the first lap before Josh Johnson put down the pace and broke up the pack. By the last lap I was in a strong position and knew if I could hang on and hold off Ethan Heywood I would be picked in the team. I finished third in the end behind Josh Johnson and Hugh Williams and as a result was picked in the team with Ethan Heywood as well.

Receiving that call from Athletics Australia later in the week letting me know that I was picked made all those hard months worth it. Representing Australia at World Juniors with some of my best running mates is what every Junior dreams of and I thank Athletics Australia for believing in me and giving me the opportunity.

Looking back at the 2010/2011 season, it was a season full of PB’s and experience for me. Running at World Juniors Cross and placing 41^st was the highlight of my season. The trip, the race, the experience and the mates I made from it, is something I will always remember. The season has given me the opportunity of meeting some of my greatest mates I now have, such as the boys in the CIS (Clayfield Institute of Sport) house and Ethan, Hugh, and Josh who I got to experience falls and worlds with. These are the boys that help you through that last km rep and push you harder in your races. The major thing I learnt from the season is self belief. Believing in your training program, your coach and training partners when that gun goes, is an asset that I will always cherish.



At the moment I am involved in heavy training working towards Junior National Cross. In the coming months I will be looking at competing once again at the Noosa Bolt, 1500m Classic and Zatopek as I work on producing fast track times and possible selection in the World University Cross team next year.

I would like to thank SIS and Runner’s Tribe for giving me this opportunity to blog for them and I hope you enjoy reading what I thought was a breakthrough season for me.