James Nipperess: November at Falls Creek Blog

Whenever I read running-related articles on the Internet or otherwise the first few questions I ask myself are: How does this apply to me? How is this information going to either entertain or enlighten me so that I might become a better runner?

I think too many writers of opinion pieces and blogs these days primarily aim to glorify themselves or give shameless plugs to sponsors, so rather than rolling with what is sadly becoming cliché I hope that by sharing my insights into my training you may draw a few ideas for yourself, or at least find my latest experiences interesting. 

The isolation of Falls Creek has never been more apparent to me than this second week of November. Many would know of the runners that travel in their hundreds to train at Falls over the Christmas/New years period, but my sixth stint here has been a distinctive chapter of my athletic life.  On our first afternoon run on the mountain run we saw no other people during the entire hour besides our own squad- something definitely impossible in Centennial Park. This theme of lonesomeness would continue as I ventured out for a fish by myself that afternoon in what I have come to know as a brown and rainbow trout packed dam- and not even a nibble!

I think our attempt to grow our beards whilst on the mountain made the testosterone levels of our five-manned room at Woodsmoke apartments reach critical point earlier point than normal. Our first night we watched squad favourite TV show UFC. When monkey see- monkey do, and when the super middleweight Jeremy ‘Rex-quan-do’ Roff had Jeff ‘The Hitman’ Hunt in side control I thought it was all over, but the marathon man’s conditioning paid dividends and crash-tackled Roffy through the lounge setup for a huge upset win. When its just the boys around you have to be on your game physically and verbally and as I found out after leaving my iPhone in the living room unattended also social-media-ly alert!

Good friend of our Ken Green-coached squad Craig Mottram (and his quick-wit) joined us for the long run the following day and few more of the Melbourne boys and girls trickled through over the following days to liven the place up. 

Our first session of 8 x 1km off 60 seconds was this Tuesday gone by (6th of December). The conditions were unquestionably the worst I have ever experienced in the six years I have been training for distance running. If it wasn’t the cold, it was the wind- and if it wasn’t the wind, it was the rain. I’m sure anyone who has ever trained for an event remembers a session that really challenges themselves both mentally and physically. For me this will be the session I think about in the hours leading up to my next race trying to remind myself of what I have been through and overcome.

The Wednesday run ‘Spion Kopje’ was equally as tough; only the heavy rain was replaced with fog. My company was three men with much greater long distance running credentials than my own. The consequent thought of being lost all day in the fog if I dropped off the back of the pack helped me battle through to holding my own up the infamous rolling hills. That night Liam Adams and I made friends with some of the locals over a few games of pool at ‘ The Man’ and whilst I thought I was a pretty handy player- we were put well in our place.

 The view from the apartments one day then the next!

There were two highlights to my traditional Thursday Falls Creek quarters’ session (8 x 400m rep with 200m float)- neither of which were my own running. On the drive out to the session at Langford’s West we were greeted by a pack of wild brumbies across the road.  They held their ground and stared blankly at us. I stared back, and realized we aren’t that much different from them- both animals doing our best to survive out in the wilderness. I tried to channel my animal instincts in this session to not much avail and really suffered in the later stages. Meanwhile highlight two was unfolding ahead of me where Craig was putting on a clinic of how quarters is done.  It really is a privilege to be training with people of his calibre, but besides that, I feel that just when hanging out with more experienced athletes up here that their athletic mindset rubs off. Later that afternoon we were treated with a few hours of another squad favourite TV show “Worlds greatest explosions –caught on camera” (Volume #23), some of Roffy’s famous banana bread accompanied by a delicious flat-white from renowned barista Courtney Carter. Generally my diet has improved up here with very little junk food, and upping the fruit and veg- just a few little lifestyle changes I’m hoping will make the difference on the track this season.

Friday is our easy run day out to a water tower by the Pretty Valley Dam. As per tradition we wrote our names with our fingers in the dust of the door at the turn around. I make a real effort to take the pressure off on this one day a week and relax as much as I can on my run and especially for the rest of the day. When you are trying so hard to look for performance every day of your life I think the social aspect of sport can be neglected. We all had a good chat on the run and later that day Carter and I went down to Mount Beauty for a massage, a café lunch and (attempted to) tan at the Local Pool.

I like getting away from the routine of my Sydney lifestyle and just focusing on getting fit up here- it makes me hungry to be on the track. Falls Creek’s rocky and hilly terrain, the altitude and weather conditions toughen you up. The comradery amongst distance runners and athlete lifestyle makes training camps like this ideal. I’m really looking forward to this Australian domestic season and racing over various distances.

I find the most interesting thing about fellow athletes blogs are their training scaffolds, so for the record here’s mine for this current week:

Monday:

AM: Fitzy’s Hut Run (16km)

PM: Easy Run (8km) + GYM

Tuesday:

AM: 8 x 1km off 60 secs rest 

PM: Easy Run (8km)

Wednesday:

AM: Spion Kopje run (23km)

PM: GYM

Thursday

AM: 8 x 400m rep with 200m float 

PM: Easy Run (8km)

Friday

AM: Tower Run then 6 x 100m strides in flats (13km)

PM: REST (+massage)

Sat:

AM: 6 x (1 Long hill then 1 short hill)

PM: Easy Run (8km)

Sunday:

AM: Pretty Valley Long run (26km)

PM: REST

Total Km (with warm up warm down): ~160

Thanks for reading,

Yours in running,

Nipper