TRAINING CAN – AND SHOULD – CONTINUE

Kate Dzienis • March 28, 2020

Contributed by Glen Smetherham, Head Coach, Consistent Running

If you are a runner, and if you have been training for an important race in the coming weeks or months, you may have had those plans completely undermined due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the last week we have seen many races around the world and locally being cancelled or postponed. You may have been diligently training for an event for months already, only to have suddenly been left wondering what to do next.

There is plenty of information available to help inform us how best to reduce the risk of contracting and potentially spreading the virus. I won’t repeat them here.

As a runner, training can and should continue. We owe it to those around us, especially the sick and elderly, to reduce our risk of becoming carriers, and take every precaution and stay healthy whilst training.

Some extra recommendations for runners to follow, assuming you are feeling well and don’t meet any of the requirements for self-isolation, would include…

Avoid running in groups.
Wash hands before your run. It’s very common to touch your face when running, wiping away sweat, snot rockets, etc.
If you use gels, clean the surfaces before your run, same with hydration bottles.
Pick running routes that are not in congested areas.
If you go to a gym, consider going at quieter times, and be very careful to clean surfaces before and after use, wash hands after use. No gym, no longer possible.
Maintain a well-balanced diet. Fuel for the upcoming day/activity. If you have more time at home and are less active, try adjust your eating habits.
Instead of food snacks, try to have regular ‘exercise snacks’. Short micro-strength sessions throughout the day. Eg. 10 squats whenever you enter a certain room.
Maintain healthy sleep habits.
Try to time your training sessions to reduce the risk of being vulnerable to infections. If you have travel planned or a particularly busy/stressful day ahead, aim to precede that day with an easy to moderate training session rather than an intense one that will result in a short term hit to the immune system.

Options available if your ‘A’ race has been cancelled:

Initiate your planned taper (you may like to complete the remaining weeks of the training schedule), then run a time trial.
Scale back your training and think long term. Aim to improve weaknesses and consolidate strengths. Quite often with frequent racing, it can be difficult to find the time to fully focus on a rebuilding phase.
Find an alternative race to make your new “A” race. Your best bet at this stage would be smaller events and trail races. While they still may require some organisational changes and restrictions, they generally are more manageable with the current recommendations.No longer possible.
Organise small fat ass races among those you trust to do the right things or stay at home if at risk. This option is becoming less likely.
Organise or take part in virtual races. I’m sure there will be a large increase in these during 2020.

I am planning on organising some virtual challenges and a small fat ass race to help maintain motivation for runners who have had races cancelled and provide some variety to training.

So, continue your training, although modify where needed. That way you can be sure to remain as healthy as possible and reduce your risk of becoming a carrier of COVID-19 (or other illnesses) and therefore reduce the risk of others around you.

“𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢 ‘𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨’ 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯, 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 5 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 1 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘚𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘢 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 [𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦], 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘣𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦.”

— Jan Olbrecht, The Science of Winning.*

* Planned rest days and occasional unplanned days are preferable to pushing through sessions when injured or sick, as they can prevent a longer series of unplanned days off.

Glen Smetherham is a Level 2 Advanced Recreational Running Coach accredited with Athletic Australia. With a focus on how the individual is responding to training, coach and athlete working together is the best way to achieve running goals. Glen is always working on finding the best methods and training practices to help athletes achieve their running goals. He has completed over 25 ultra marathons from 48kms up to 350kms, as well as many other endurance events.

Always check federal and state government advice as changes occur on a daily basis due to the current Coronavirus pandemic.

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AUTRA News Report 19-02-2025

By Kate Dzienis • February 19, 2025

The latest in race results, covering Cradle Mountain Run, City Run, Oscars 100 Hut 2 Hut and Yaberoo Trail Ultra.

Final 2024 Points Competition Results

By Alexis Oosterhoff • January 30, 2025

Results for the 2024 AUTRA Points Competition have been finalised, and are available on our Points Competition page. Full details of the top 10 (as shared on Facebook during January) are detailed below, and results for all participating AUTRA members can be found in the documents at the above link. It was a real battle throughout the year between our top two finishers, Phil Gore & Kevin "BK" Matthews, with both giving it their it their all at events, and through contributions to the community - volunteering at multiple events, and submitting articles to our monthly newsletter, Ultramag. They finished within 2km of total distance for the year (Phil on 1203.087km, and Kevin on 1205.510km), and it was only Phil's final volunteering effort on 6 Inch Trail Marathon in December that gave him the that very narrow victory. As you'd be aware from previous communications, this marks the end of the Points Competition. With trail running (of all distances) now incorporated into AU T RA's constitution, and after careful consideration of the costs of the competition payouts in it's current form, the committee felt it was time for it's retirement. This marks my seventh and final year of delivering the points competition to membership (2018-2024), after taking on the role from Cheryl Symons. It has brought me great joy in doing so, and I feel like I've had an opportunity to get to know so many of our members through seeing their race (and volunteering) performances over the years! I'm continuing in my role as the AUS/NZL statistician for DUV (from whom we shared the data for the points comp), and you can expect to continue to find your ultra-race result on their site. 1st Place - Phil Gore (WA) - 86 points Phil's achievements this year have included a massive 265.653km (and 2nd place) at the IAU 24h Asia & Oceania Championships, wins at the Red Dirt Backyard Ultra (33 laps), the Australian leg of Big Dog's Backyard World Team Championship (96 laps), and the Soochow/Taipei 24h Ultramarathon (270.826km). He also knocked out an easy (!) 72km at the Light Horse Ultra 24h in between supporting his amazing wife Gemma. Those two 24h wins netted Phil new Oceania 24h Open Male records, IAU Level 1 qualifiers, and pushed him to the top of Australia's 24h trophy board (with only the great Yiannis Kouros having run further). Phil topped-up his points by contributing one article to Ultramag, worked as an Event Director at Herdy's Frontyard Ultra, and volunteered at a further five events through the year. He finished on 86 points. 2nd Place - Kevin Matthews (WA) - 84 points Finishing in 2nd place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is WA's Kevin Matthews. He monstered his way through the year with finishes at Australia Day Ultra 100km, Delirious WEST 200mi, 24 laps at Herdy's Frontyard Ultra, 190km at Light Horse Ultra 24h, 23 laps at Birdy's Backyard Ultra, and also completed Feral Pig 100 miler, Sandman 50km and Six Inch 47km. And to top things off, he contributed five articles to Ultramag, and volunteered at five events. BK ran 1205km in Ultramarathon races this year, all of them AUTRA-listed, and surpassed 100 marathon finishes (including 51 Ultramarathons!) Kevin finished the year on 84 points, a massive 34 points ahead of our 3rd place finisher Sue Robertson. 3rd Place - Sue Robertson (WA) - 50 points Finishing in 3rd place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is WA's Sue Robertson. Sue completed the Ultra Series 100 miler trilogy of Delirious WEST, Irrational SOUTH and Unreasonable EAST, and rounded out her year with the Sandman 50km and Six Inch 47km races. She received 30 points from the racing at AUTRA-listed events, and was awarded a further 20 points by volunteering across eight events and contributing two articles to Ultramag, for a total of 50 points for the year. Thank you Sue! 4th Place - Margie Hadley (WA) - 47 points Finishing in 4th place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is WA's Margie Hadley . She was the top-female finisher at both the No Time to Die Frontyard Ultra & Wild Dog Backyard Ultra, 2nd at Birdy's Backyard Ultra, ran 182km at the Australian 24h Track Invitational and placed 3rd at Coast to Kosci. Margie received 47 points in the competition 5th Place - Melissa Robertson (NSW) - 44 points Finishing in 5th place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is NSW's Melissa Robertson. Melissa took out 1st place at Irrational SOUTH 200 miler, 2nd place at Lakes Trail Festival 100km, 1st place at Hume & Hovell 100 miler, 3rd place at Rumble in the Jungle and 6th place at Ultra-Trail Kosciuszko 100 miler! She also volunteered at the GNW 50km event, receiving 44 points in the competition! 6th Place - Aaron Young (WA) - 42 points Finishing in 6th place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is WA's Aaron Young . Aaron finished in 1st place at each of the Ultra Series "Triple Crown" of 200 milers (Delirious WEST, Irrational SOUTH and Unreasonable EAST), 55 laps at Big Dog's Backyard World Team Championship, and rounded his year out with Feral Pig 100 miler. Aaron receives 42 points, just nudging ahead of Maree Connor (who also finished on 42 points) on a count-back 7th Place - Maree Connor (NSW) - 42 points Finishing in 7th place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is NSW's Maree Connor. Maree had an outstanding year, achieving 2nd place with 221km (and an IAU Level 1 qualifier) at the IAU 24th Asian and Oceania Championships, 1st place at the Lakes Trail Festival 100km, 1st place with 67km at the Southern Sydney 6h race, and 1st place with 116km at the Narrabeen Allnighter 12h. Maree also competed at Spartathlon race this year (for which she contributed an article to the September Ultramag on her experience), receiving 42 points in the competition. 8th Place - Darren Linney (SA) - 41 points Finishing in 8th place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is SA's Darren Linney . Darren completed 34 laps at No Time to Die BYU, 199km at the Adelaide 24h race, and 814km at the Australian 6 Day race, for a total of 1241km raced and 41 points . 9th Place - Tristan Cameron (WA) - 40 points Finishing in 9th place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is WA's Tristan Cameron. Tristan completed the Ultra Series Triple Crown of 200 mile races (Delirious WEST, Irrational SOUTH and Unreasonable EAST), along with Feral Pig 100 miler, for a total of 1154km raced and 40 points. 10th Place - Jen Millum (WA) - 39 points Finishing in 10th place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is WA's Jen Millum . Jen finished 1st at all three of the Ultra Series Trilogy of 100 milers (Delirious WEST, Irrational SOUTH and Unreasonable EAST), and was 2nd female with 35 laps at the Wild Dog Backyard Ultra. With a volunteer stint at the Yaberoo Trail Ultra, Jen finished the year with 39 points in the competition. To view the complete list of members who secured points in 2024 click here and then follow through to Points Summary under the 2024 tab. All winners have already been contacted, with cash prizes distributed for 1st - 7th places, and AUTRA Store vouchers sent for 8th, 9th & 10th.