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, February 28, 2012

Always back the track

After some queries about track workouts this morning, I again detail one of my most favourite sessions below so that others can also benefit from it.

I can’t lay claim to the rights however as they were formulated long time ago by people far more qualified and able than myself. In short however the following workouts will increase your leg cadence when done at 5KM pace each week.

6x4x200m or 8-10x400m.

Simple – just jog a short 3KM prior to the session and then run the workouts while jogging/floating along between each rep for a short period of time. Then a short jog and home.

These workouts have worked for me and many of the other folks I have helped and there is no reason why they can’t work for you to if you are willing to work hard at them.

Running together (while picking up cadence on the track) – stride for stride on a life changing ride. – Sean Muller

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Converted

Today was another fantastic day out with mates running a trail race in the mountains west of Sydney. The event was organised by the fantastic folks from Running Wild, a great non profit organisation that is committed to hosting low cost trail running events for all. Everyone interested in trail running with a good group of like minded individuals without the corporate greed should definitely consider supporting this group.

It turns out that another 100 odd people turned up to the event on the day – a sure fire sign that people are getting sick of being ripped off by corporate running events and wanting something down to earth that does not break the bank.

This was only my third trail race, but I must say that I am now a convert – I suppose some good results in all three is enough to convert me, but the whole experience has been amazingly enjoyable.

Something that was really interesting was the fact that there were so many ladies out on the track running strongly in testing conditions. Amazing to see the commitment of them.

There is something out there in the solitude. Something special – something that makes you feel one with the earth over which you run. It also makes one develop a new string to the running bow. Really having to concentrate on where you are stepping and landing.

Ann Trason commented that she always felt that she was protected by trails and in a way that is how I have felt over the past weeks. It will be interesting to see how I fare once I get back on the road once again.

As an older wiser head said today – the trail will never go stale mate. Not much more to say really.

Running together (while becoming a convert of the trails) – stride for stride on a life changing ride! – Sean Muller



Saturday, February 25, 2012

The importance of seeing to injury sooner rather than later

This week I was feeling just a tad tender after the mountain run on the weekend and so booked in to see my physio. This is something that I only do once a year as I am seldom injured or sore and because the physio has been very good in helping me to learn how to fix myself if and when something comes on that troubles me.


Finding a physio or massage therapist and indeed someone that you gel well with is extremely tough and once you have found and formed that bond of trust, then it is well worth holding on to.

Long story short, my niggle was nothing serious and should disappear after a few days of rest and massaging of my hamstring and butt with the trusty tennis ball..

Running together (while building a winning team around you) – stride for stride on a life changing ride! – Sean Muller

Monday, February 20, 2012

Stromlo mountain running



This weekend I experienced glimpses about my past and present life.


What do I mean by this? I learned that one of my favourite pubs while I lived in London had closed down due to too much trouble in the area. Although those days are very much a part of my past, I did feel slightly sad at this news after all the days that I had spent out on the beach volleyball court (yes they had a beach volleyball court in London).

The other thing that happened was that I was able to spend another fantastic weekend running in the mountains just outside of Canberra with some good mates of mine. I am really enjoying the mountain running as a group over the past months. The freedom, fresh air and camaraderie of things is just fantastic. One can’t really beat it.

As someone who was and always is in love with the track and the road, it is refreshing to find another aspect of running that I am keen on. I suppose one of the reasons for this would have to come down to the fact that I don’t seem to be half bad at this bush running malarkey. Coming 15th overall yesterday, I proved not only that I could run offroad, but also that I could beat many people who were significantly faster than me normally.

Best of all though the festival was run by runners for runners with running in mind. There were good sponsors present, but unlike other festivals in the modern world money and gouging the public was not a key factor.

I even got to meet the greatest Australian marathoner ever in Rob de Castella. 

Next year I might try the 12 hour solo event and see how I get on.

Running together (while enjoying running in its truest sense) – stride for stride on a life changing ride! – Sean Muller


Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Fitness lies

Ultrasams is about honesty – this is key cornerstone of my makeup and how I live life. I hate lies and especially companies that perpetuate lies to sell their products to unsuspecting people.

I witnessed some of this yesterday at a pharmacy where a young rep pedalling the latest concoction in sports science was explaining to an overweight man that all he needed to do to get the ‘8 pack’ of the bloke on the front of the package was to take the product and ‘lift weights at the gym 3 times a week’. This is absolute rubbish of course and the only way that that bloke is going to get that ‘8 pack’ is through doing some large amounts of cardio and more specifically running.

I found this out for myself when I was larger. Only when I decided to take my running and cardio more seriously did I see that the fat started to strip off in large amounts and the abs started to show through.

We have only really had supplementation in running since about the early 1980s when the first gels were developed along the FRN line (Fordyce, Rose and Noakes). But it is interesting to note that since this time, long distance running records have not really substantially come down by very much. Do we really need these substances?

The long and the short of it is that for all the science and knowledge that we supposedly bring to the table these days, people in the west are still getting bigger and bigger and this growth does not seem to be stopping.

I was only chatting this morning with a colleague about the dangers of some of these powders and contraptions and the amount of caffeine they have in them. The science lab is just not the way forward for me. Natural and controlled eating is the only sure fire way to control weight and keep it off.

Running together (while going natural) – stride for stride on a life changing ride! – Sean Muller

Monday, February 13, 2012

The urban warrior

I know a man who is an ever declining breed in the modern world. He seems to be the master of his urban surrounds, having defined for himself a lifestyle that has turned its back on the mainstream of society. He has rid himself of his car instead preferring to walk, run or ride his bike to get him to his destination. He has an organic garden out the back of his property and done away with his TV instead merely listening to the radio.


He runs in cheap Dunlop volleys, a tshirt that is over 10 years old and some ragged old rugby shorts yet still manages to knock out some pretty impressive times and remaining continually happy. In fact he is someone that I look to for inspiration on how we should be living (ie. A lot closer to the land).

Possessions are not his goal and he seeks out to improve and grow through giving more instead of taking. Quite simply he is a model to each and every one of us.

Running together (while living very simply) – stride for stride on a life changing ride! – Sean Muller

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Rip off runs

Like most runners, I have my favourite events that I like to participate in. Oftentimes these are the only occasions where you see so many of your old mates together in one place. You get to see who have let things slip a little and who is looking in great shape.

Some of these runs are club run and others put on by various event organisation companies. Now when I started running more seriously a couple of years ago, most of the organised events in Sydney were still well within my budget, however of late I am finding it increasingly difficult to justify spending large amounts of money on relatively short events. This price gouging I can only put down to events being taken over by large corporates or media companies. As a result they lose their community feel and where once the event was put on with a focus on actually delivering a service to runners, this has changed substantially with athletes now considered to be just cash cows to be milked while being offered less and less.

This week I heard of a family who was hoping to run a local half marathon (3 generations together), however due to the exorbitant cost of the event, they have been prevented from doing so. Such a pity to hear stories of people being ripped off when all they want to do is run.

Many of these runs I have walked away from now and will not return to. This is sad, but there are just so many other community events out there that are not only fantastic value, but also allow one to experience some completely new runs.

Running together (while avoiding rip off runs) – stride for stride on a life changing ride! – Sean Muller

Monday, February 6, 2012

Friends

This past weekend was spent in the company of some amazing friends that I befriended at last year’s Comrades Marathon. Ever since I had met them, they had invited me to join them and their family for a weekend of running and all around good fun.


The short version of things is that these people not only invited me into their home, but treated me like one of the family, with the dad even accompanying us on our long runs up and down the coast on his bike, while providing us with a whole number of refreshments.

It never ceases to amaze me how the power of something as simple as running is responsible for bringing together so many and building such solid community connections between people who were previously veritable strangers.

Running together – while turning strangers in to friends – stride for stride on a life changing ride! – Sean Muller

Thursday, February 2, 2012

What is your Thursday morning?

Thursday morning is a special time of the week for me. It signals the start of only two days to go until the weekend, it is also the time that I choose to run what is becoming one of my stock weekly runs of 3 x 6KM at marathon race pace – these are all great things, but most of all it is the time where a group of friends of mine comes together after running and gyming at a local coffee place where we enjoy a chat and some light breakfast.

This time is where positivity flows and we share parts of the day. It is great to have this time to not only exchange training and lifestyle ideas, but also to build and reinforce community amongst like minded people who are all passionate about the really good, healthy things in life. It is almost as though there is an unwritten rule of ‘leaving negativity at the door’.

Surely is how everyday should be in life. Good times and great vibes.

Running together (while building community and reducing negativity) – stride for stride on a life changing ride! – Sean Muller