Uncover your inner athlete!

Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be eaten.. Each morning in Africa a lion awakes - it knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve.


No matter if you are the lion or the gazelle, when the sun comes up you had better be running!



Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Group speed

It is amazing how the group mentality manages to reinvigorate any flagging that one may have with regards to running and exercise.

Yesterday I dragged my (still relatively unfit) body off to train with the Warrior crew here in Sydney at lunchtime. I had forgotten how much these group training sessions gee one up and get you running at your best.

One only needs to look at the Kenyan training camps to know that having a group and a rabbit to chase after during the session is something that will improve your running. Sadly the club scene is not as strong in Australia as in other parts of the world, so we have make do to improve.

Another friend of mine who is a really good runner makes sure that once a week he heads out with some mates for a hard group fartlek session with each one of them taking turns to be the ‘leader’. This method works really well as you are not continually pushing it yourself.

If alone, I have found that the greatest progress can be made using an 8-10km where midway through you complete 5-7 sets of 1 minute on and 3 minutes off. This does help to build the pure speed and keeps life interesting for those of us who run alone for whatever reason.

I wish you swift and stress free running.

Running together (as a group) – Stride for stride on a life changing ride! – Sean Muller

Sunday, November 28, 2010

A good run = a good life

A life spent running is quite simply a good life for me. It is amazing how much at peace I feel after my morning run. It seems as if the world just all seems good once this is done. It sets the day up nicely and I know that regardless of what else may follow, I have had a positive start to the day.

This is how I felt when I woke up this morning and as I thought, things have gone well since the conclusion of the run. For me it is so much more than mere fitness, it is just part and parcel of life. As Amby Burfoot says in the Runners Guide to the meaning of life, he still follows the principles set down by one of his early coaches in that he eats organic, runs and gives back and this sums it up nicely as to how I feel about my running.

Keep running together- stride for stride on a life changing ride! – Sean Muller

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Must haves

A great start to the morning today – a gentle 7km warmup and then some run throughs and hills to finish the session. No better way in my mind to develop overall running strength than to do sets of hills every couple of weeks in your program. 5-7 x 200m at 5km pace is what does it for me to pump things up a notch.


Would be interested to hear of any of your own must have sessions in your own training.

Running together – stride for stride on a life changing ride. – Sean Muller

Friday, November 26, 2010

Shoes for planet earth

In another feel good story for a Friday, I feel compelled to publicise the great work being done by my friend and fellow ultra runner Viv Kartsounis and her man Nick Drayton.

Viv is not only a great human being, but also a passionate ultra runner who has represented Australia 3 times at the 100km World Cup and also came past me in the last 8km of the 2009 Comrades to finish ahead of me. In short she is a tough runner, but also highly inspirational with loads of energy.

Like myself, Viv is passionate about improving the lives of others and whereas on here I am focusing on diet , exercise and mental tips, Viv has started up her own organisation ‘Shoes for Planet Earth’, whereby she and her team collect old running shoes to distribute to needy individuals around the world.

For many people our old runners will be the only shoes that they will ever have. Much of the work that Viv and her team do is self funded through their own money or any donations they may receive.

Please take a look at her website for more information on how you can partner up and help to improve the lives of those much less fortunate than yourself.
Keep believing – keep achieving!

Running together (while improving the lives of others) – Stride for stride on a life changing ride! – Sean Muller

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Wiggle it

Today I did my bit for the consumer by providing someone I had only recently met in a sports store with the details of an online supplier which charge a bare minimum of AU$120 less than do the mainstream sports shops for a pair of trainers. Now if you think how much some of us run and how we go through pairs of shoes, it makes perfect sense to be seeking out the best bargain online and going for it.

I am not against the idea of local shops making money by any means, but I just can’t find anyone who can explain to me adequately how it is possible for something to be that marked up.

Anyone seeking decent running, biking or triathlon gear at very competitive prices need only head to Wiggle. Generally I don’t buy anything else other than shoes (as the rest of my gear I get for free), but Wiggle are definitely worth looking into.

Happy shopping.

Running together – stride for stride on a life changing ride! – Sean Muller

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Improvements to speed

A short one tonight, but just wanted to comment that it is becoming seemingly much easier to hold the pace at 4min/km or sub 4 for some periods. I think this is the measure of improvement in anyone when they are able to hold their desired pace for a time without dying.

8km run this evening with some decent hills involved and the legs seemed to be fine. I have yet to put my finger on whether it is a result of the drills and plyometrics I have been doing over the last three weeks or if it is a result of the improved diet with regards to the caveman way of eating.

I am going to monitor this intently and will continue to report back on any further changes. One thing I must say is that lighter does go faster and I do feel lighter on my feet.

Stride for stride on a life changing ride! – Sean Muller

Sunday, November 21, 2010

What's for dinner?

Many of you have asked me to see examples of my diet, so hence I have taken some photos of recent dinners and post them. It is amazing how caveman one can eat from just searching in the fridge and cupboards. A couple of nice stirfrys with loads of veggies, chia, nuts and eggs for protein.
Experiment and enjoy!
Running together stride for stride on a life changing ride! – Sean Muller

Friday, November 19, 2010

Importance of the simple life

This video is further proof of the importance of staying healthy, eating organic caveman food and living and running with and as part of the earth.



Running together - stride for stride on a life changing ride! -- Sean Muller

What is on your menu tonight?

I was talking to some colleagues about what they might be eating tonight as a Friday night meal. Almost all of them made mention to something along the lines of Chinese, Pizza, Big Mac etc. What these things all have in common is the fact that they will in no uncertain terms cause your waist to expand and your cholesterol to rise.

The general pattern is that people will head home and order in for the night – now I know that it is relatively cold and wet here in Sydney today, but that is still no excuse for not getting your butt off the couch and making sure that at the very least you are keeping active.

I was reading the other day about a bloke who had saved a Big Mac and chips in a cupboard for about a year and there had been no sign of degradation in the meat or the bun. Now for me regardless of if you have read Fast Food Nation or not, or if you subscribe to the caveman way of eating, something that does not rot after a year of standing out in the open should not be eaten by anyone or anything in any shape or form. If bacteria does not want it then neither do I.

Pretty pleased that I have not touched Big Mac or such junk in about 5 years now.

Sometimes I get a little jaded by the thought that we are going to take an awful long time to correct our eating patterns that have become progressively worse as we have evolved as a human race. We can however prevail if we are to teach the youth about the importance of healthy eating and weight management. By not buying fast food, we are sending a message to these companies that we don’t need their junk in our eating plans and pretty soon what you don’t buy you don’t eat and you won’t miss.

I am living proof of this having run away from junk food and 105kgs and each and every one of us can embrace this lifestyle if we want it enough.

Believe it – Achieve it!

Running together – stride for stride on a life changing ride. – Sean Muller

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Behaving like a kid!

Kids are the funniest to watch when they are running. They have no concept or understanding of pacing and just seem to go for it – and why not – this shows that they have no fear and run with a mixture of enjoyment and for beating their friends.

They run until they are tired and then often refuel before running again until they are tired again. In theory this is the way man has always run. The old way of running and walking is how we managed to chase down animals in the primitive days of persistence hunting. It seems some instincts never change – we are exactly like that once we first start out running and carry it through to our quality sessions.

Behaving like a kid – albeit a grown up kid again can and will breathe new life into your running. Run with your buddy – gee him or her up – offer some encouragement if they are flagging and make running fun again.

Believe it – achieve it! – Sean Muller

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Running without time

The latest book that I have been reading is Magical Running by Bobby McGee. It talks to me in the language that I understand – i.e. that it is not all about the time that it takes to complete a certain distance, but rather about the journey and what one goes through inside.

He talks about the importance of positive self talk and preferring to coach people with the right attitude rather than those that may have been blessed with good genes. To have the chance to learn about that which is so often overlooked (i.e the mental side of running) is great. In fact his methods have worked in turning around runners like Colleen de Reuck and helping them to greater success.
He addresses the importance of going out and running without the aide of a watch or Garmin etc – I tried this at lunch and although I am not sure how fast I was going, I was running within myself and with the earth. It is an interesting question to ask as far as if you don’t have a concept of time on your wrist, will you run faster or slower than normal?

My one and only race I ran without a watch was a half-marathon where I just went out and ran from the heart. It happened to be the first one that I managed 88 mins. A complete surprise really, but one which I gladly accepted at the time.

Another interesting thing that I recently read is that the ‘angry man in sport and life is no good as he will always defeat himself’. Focus the anger though and don’t dwell on it and success will come.

Get off that couch and head out the door (sans watch of course).

Running together – stride for stride on a life changing ride! – Sean Muller

Monday, November 15, 2010

Wet weather endurance

Today provided some interesting conditions for the runner. Torrential rain has limited the amount of runners that were out on the streets today. Only the very dedicated to the cause have the inclination or the stomach to face this sort of weather. They seem to be like ducks who are unafraid to let a little water affect them in their quest for their daily fix of ‘mans greatest freedom’.

Running in the cold and wet seems to develop a strong and hardy stomach – so says a mate of mine who grew up running in Ireland. He seems content to almost be wading through a large puddle swimmer style and moving on his way as happy as a child playing in a pile of leaves. Despite this evidence of joy in running in the rain, a large amount of us seem soft and undisciplined at the prospect of this adventure.

Weather should not weaken us nor hold us back – strengthen your resolve and head out that door and into freedom. I’ve got the goldfish – who is coming with me?

Keep believing – keep achieving. Running together stride for stride on a life changing ride! – Sean Muller

Sunday, November 14, 2010

The future of Australian running

This week I read an absolutely great feel good story about marathon great Rob de Castella taking a group of young promising Aboriginal guys off to run the New York marathon. A better mentor these guys could not have asked for to prepare them for their first marathons.

The four young men from the Northern Territory all completed the event successfully and can now go back to their communities and act as positive role models for healthy living.

I believe that there is no reason that Australia can’t produce an Aboriginal marathon runner of note in the coming years. The Aboriginal people have always had a history of being able to run and walk long distances just as other tribes in Africa and South America have.

Those that wish to read more can do so by clicking here.

My own personal opinion on this is that it would so great to be able to have various other community and business leaders following suit to set an example for many others in the community.

Go forth and motivate those in positions of power to achieve more than they thought they could. This flow on effect is infectious. As a wise man pointed out to me this last Friday, surround yourself with good people who set a good example and you will pretty soon start to take on some of those behaviours. Surround yourself with those not setting a good example and watch things slide.

Running together – stride for stride on a life changing ride! – Sean Muller

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Why do others run

Last night I was out with friends and was referred to as an evangelist for my work in helping to motivate and get people up and active. That is a label that I will happily take as I think that we need as many people as possible out there working to motivate and get people off the couch and out the door.


I was buoyed by the amount of people who were out running this morning despite the heat. Many of them were clearly very out of shape and it led me to thinking why they were running. From the strained expressions on their faces, they were not running for the enjoyment factor. But I suppose who does really care why they were running. The fact remains that they were running and that in itself is better than them staying indoors and contributing to the obesity problem that has infiltrated our society.

I hope to see those people and many more out running again tomorrow.

I would be interested to hear from readers what motivates them to run.

Stride for stride on a life changing ride! – Sean Muller

Friday, November 12, 2010

Short and sweet

Lunchtime tempo run of 22 minutes averaging 3.20/km. So good to be back into the swing of things and good to be running relatively fast again albeit over a short distance. Heat did not seem to be a problem (this I put down to 3-4 times a week of 30minute saunas) – try this trick to overcome running in the heat yourself.


Have a great weekend folks.

Running together – stride for stride on a life changing ride! – Sean Muller

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Discovering new areas on the run

100th post today folks!! Thanks for reading!

This morning’s run really helped me to revive myself after a horrible night’s sleep. Amazing how man’s greatest freedom can do that to us. It has that magical knack of just improving mood and getting the body out of bed and ready for the day ahead.

Running only with the feel of my feet and with the earth, I made my way through areas that I was not familiar with into bushland that I had not previously explored. After about 40 minutes of running, I knew that I was lost (the ex always said I was rubbish at directions), but I carried on running and running and was just as happy if I did not make it out of that bushland. Was in no rush to do anything else other than just to be by myself out on the run and discovering areas of Sydney that I was not familiar with previously. No time like the present really to get out there and discover new things is what I was thinking.

Shear liberation to be out there running with the earth and as part of the earth, not watching the clock – sometimes running fast and sometimes running slow and sometimes pushing back foliage to carve a trail out.

Head out discover your area on the run – take yourself places that you would otherwise never have seen – see new wildlife up close – smell the earth the sun and the rain and above all give thanks for your part in man’s greatest freedom today.

Life is good folks – life is exactly as it should.

Keep believing – keep achieving!

Stride for stride on a life changing ride. – Sean Muller

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

From cupboard to caveman

Nice simple little piece this evening on nutrition and the absolute reassurance that we can eat caveman style from only selecting from our cupboard and fridge. Just polished off a great meal of organic quinoa, tuna, tomatoes, sunflower seeds, celery and lentils.

Was really delicious and hopefully just the thing to give me some energy after I have been flagging the last couple of days and not sure what is wrong with me.

Meal cost next to nothing to make and is full of caveman goodness that we can all grow to enjoy and love.

Have a look through your pantry and let’s hear of some more recipes that use caveman foods that cost next to nothing.

Running together stride for stride on a life changing ride! – Sean Muller

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Black tea potions

I am currently sitting with my foot in a bucket of black tea mixture... What you may be thinking – this bloke has seriously lost it right now. You see folks my feet have obviously become soft during my lack of running over the past couple of weeks and so yesterday I went for a lunchtime run and developed a blood blister on the inside of my right foot. I know what caused the blister and it was almost certainly the lack of socks that I was wearing during my run. Normally running in just trainers is fine for me, but for some reason this area got irritated this time round.

Soaking with black tea really helps to harden the feet folks. Try it sometime.

Running together – stride for stride on a life changing ride! – Sean Muller

Friday, November 5, 2010

Life reflections and running

Life is way to short friends. Unfortunately death comes upon us all too soon.

I have been reflecting on this fact this week as some very strange things have been occurring. A friend and running buddy is off to pursue his dream job on the other side of the world in the process packing in a very good corporate job. I can only commend him on his actions and think that many more of us should be doing this or considering it now.

I am so glad that he has found that which he wants to be doing with the rest of his life. It is a stark reminder of what I have been saying here all along – ‘Life is not inside your office making someone else rich, nor is it on your couch stuffing potato chips into your mouth while getting fat and lazy’. All this stuff is superficial.

Do yourself a favour this weekend, throwaway the Wii and Playstation, turn off the TV and computer and head out that door. Savour every minute out there performing man’s greatest freedom as you don’t want your last moments to be spent on the couch.

Running together folks (and beating obesity) stride for stride on a life changing ride! – Sean Muller

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Turning lives around

I am always fascinated by the conversations I hear people sharing about different topics. The one I heard the other morning while at the gym revolved around why we as human beings could fly aeroplanes and put people into space, but we could not come up with an effective fool proof way of weight loss and keeping it off.

I had to hold my tongue to correct this tubby individual by saying that we have an effective way and have had one around for as long as we have been on this earth. It is called the old-fashioned ‘Get your butt off the couch and start running and eating healthily’ plan. It requires no pills or potions, and many are doing it every day even without shoes.

Look at tribes around the world and you will see that mostly the only overweight people are the kings. You won’t find any of the warriors or workers who are overweight (fat being a sign of wealth in these communities).

There is no magic pill folks, but there is a program that we can follow to ensure that we are happier and healthier:

• Live simpler – how much stuff do we actually need

• Eat less and healthier – if you don’t buy it you won’t eat it and pretty soon you won’t miss it!

• Live closer to the earth

• Get active and run and teach your children to do the same

Let’s stop trying to find new ways when old ways work just fine. Let’s stop making excuses for being an overweight culture! Throwaway the Wii, turn off that TV, get off that couch and out the door.

We can beat obesity together! I lost 35kgs, got my cholesterol down and turned my life around and so can you! Like anything though you really have to want this lifestyle. If you are content to be lazy and undisciplined then as harsh as it is to say you will remain fat and unhealthy.

Running together – Stride for stride on a life changing (obesity beating) ride. – Sean Muller