I have always found peoples stories, especially concerning their running journey, quite fascinating. 

Everyone has a different tale to tell; how and why they started, where they have come from, challenges overcome, bumps in the road and achieving things they never thought possible. 

As we begin to offer more running training services for adults (something we used to do a lot of, but have taken a break for a few years while our focus has been junior sport), I thought it was only appropriate that I share my own running story……….

So let’s start at the beginning; I loved running as a child. While I never did athletics or specific running training, I did pretty well at 400m, 800m and cross country at primary school. My Year 7 teacher would have us do a 20 minute run around the oval first thing every morning and I thought this was the best way in the world to begin a day at school (not sure all my classmates agreed with me?!)

In high school I barely ran at all, except when playing team sports at school. My life was dominated by being on or in the water with a heavy training schedule that involved swimming, paddling (board and ski) and surf ironman. I also had pretty severe body image issues at this time (like many a teenage girl) and just didn’t want to be seen running, so I left it alone through my teenage years.

So after a good ten years of not pounding the pavement at all, I started participating in a few multi-sport style events (variations of swim/run/paddle) and triathlon races in my early 20’s. Hence, I had to start running again………and I think it’s fair to say I was terrible!

In fact, if three words could describe the first five years of my return to running at age 22 they would be:

Word One: Injured

Between 2004 and 2009, I dealt with every lower leg injury under the sun.

You name it I’ve had it; shin splints, patella pain, ITB syndrome, stress fractures in my foot, plantar fasciitis, piriformis syndrome, compressed nerves, hip issues and damaged ligaments in my ankle. I had a medical record that read like a ‘who’s who’ of common running injuries and I wasted far too many hours and $$$ in allied health clinics.

I even had some injuries you probably couldn’t name off the top of your head as they are that rare, such as external iliac artery endofibrosis (a condition which restricts blood flow to the leg during exercise), for which I was operated on in October 2009.

Over a five year period, I don’t think I ever strung together more than eight weeks of consistent running training. No hint of exaggeration, I was ALWAYS injured.

Word Two: Slow

Due to the fact I could never train consistently with all the injuries, my running didn’t really improve. As I was very fit and mentally conditioned to endurance sports through surf lifesaving and marathon swimming, I could gut out the run during a triathlon and ‘keep going’ but it was neither fast nor pretty. In fact, I completed multiple Ironman triathlons on next to no run training at all, so I got used to the run simply being a matter of survival! (I would not recommend you do this).

As for my times…….

I did my first fun run, an 8km event in 2002, in 53 minutes. In 2004, I ran my first half marathon in 2 hours and 15 minutes. So as you can see, I hardly set the world on fire.

Word Three: Frustrated

See ‘injured’ and ‘slow’ points above

In hindsight, I believe my injuries were due to three factors:

I didn’t have a holistic approach to training

I knew how to push myself through years of junior sport and I can be quite sadistic, with a love of gut-busting, intense training sessions. Training hard was the bit I found easy…….

But massage rollers, strength and conditioning, drinking enough water, eating well, getting enough sleep and mobility exercises………I didn’t make time for. I know I definitely didn’t have an understanding of how they all intertwined to achieve the consistency required for improvement and optimal sports performance. I just didn’t pay much attention to those things.

I also definitely had an issue with rest (as in lack of it). I would push above and beyond what my body could handle and ‘overtraining R Us’ could have been my motto. I thought training hard was the only way to get better and I had no problem exerting myself.

I was very fit from swimming, but my legs were not used to weight bearing

The cardiovascular fitness and work ethic I developed over many years in the pool was a double edged sword when it came to running training. Despite not coming from a running background, I could run forever because I was fit. So if someone said ‘I’m going for an 80 minute run’ I’d say, ‘Ok, I’ll come’ and I could do it no problems.

However, my legs couldn’t keep up with my lungs. Swimming is great for your heart, not so good for the bone density in your legs. My bone structure, ligaments and tendons were not used to this pounding and it wasn’t too long before they all started to cry out, especially as I wasn’t doing anything to help them adapt (see point above).

I didn’t know how to listen to my body

It is very hard, when you first transition from one sport to another, to distinguish between what feels like a ‘niggle’ and what is general soreness from training. I certainly didn’t know the difference and trained through many injuries, in essence making them much worse, as I didn’t know what ‘normal running’ felt like. It takes time and maturity to develop this awareness.

A real turning point in my running journey……

Came in 2009, when I was diagnosed with an artery issue in my leg. After a long winded period of 15 months where I was tested for anything and everything, finally having a diagnosis, plus knowing surgery would fix the problem, was a huge relief. I had also reached crunch time mentally, where I knew I needed to make changes to my training and take responsibility for my own body, or give up on running.

So I took the six month period while I waited to go under the knife (and wasn’t able to run properly) as an opportunity to reflect on what was happening and why. Ultimately, it came down to education. I needed learn what worked for me, understand why it worked and have the faith to try a different approach.  

I turned my whole approach to running training on it’s head……..

In my rehabilitation, I was able to start from scratch. I did a heap research and reading on current training methodologies and began implementing a completely different training program……where I was actually running a lot less than before. All of this learning was the instigator in heading back to study my masters in exercise physiology.

I overhauled my training program and got rid of ‘junk km’s’ and the mentality that I had to run ‘x’ amount of km’s a week to improve. I added mobility exercises, massage rollers and strength and conditioning to my schedule and consistently stuck with it.

Post-surgery, I also really committed to my health. It had been a tough few years with this injury and Ross River Virus in 2008 and I needed to look after myself, so I starting adopting a much better life balance where my life was not so consumed by sport.

The aftermath…..

Running is now my favourite activity and I have not had any major or long-term injuries since my surgery in 2009.

And most surprisingly, with different training methods and having a consistent, more holistic approach to training…..I’ve found out I am an ok runner! While I’ll never make the Olympics, I’ve run the fastest age group marathon in an Ironman at Challenge Roth in Germany (pictured above on the course at about 40km’s into the marathon), finished 3^rd at the Senshu International Marathon in Japan (pictured below) and 3^rd at the Great Ocean Road Marathon, where I covered the marathon distance in 3.01.

Most importantly, I understand enough about appropriate training loads, injury prevention and body maintenance that I can ensure I can keep running long-term………..which is awesome news to me because I absolutely love it! There is nothing better than a trail run out to Bells Beach on a clear, sunny day 🙂

So the motto of the story is…….

You can train your body to do anything, if you approach your training the right way and place an emphasis on your health, rather than just ‘how much’ training you can do

And this is why I am so passionate about helping people with their running training. Through my own experiences, I’ve seen people overcome injuries and increase performance, not just my story but in the people I’ve coached. It makes me sad to hear people say ‘I’m just not a runner’ or ‘I always hurt myself running’, as I know this doesn’t have to be the case. You need a willingness to change and a bucket load of patience to get there….but make the right changes and stick at it long enough and you will be able to achieve your running goals.

Let us show you how by joining our ‘Run Fit’ community through the Team Hemley Training App! 

Running sessions, strength and conditioning, warm up and running technique work all delivered through our App with daily reminders, direct messaging to me as your coach and instructional videos. You can sign up for our next six week ‘Fitter or Faster’ challenge HERE, this starts on Monday 7th of September.

We love helping people discover the joy of running, it really is one of life’s simple pleasures.

So that’s my running story, I would love to hear yours……..

As a coach in charge of many youngsters ranging in age from 8-20 years, I have found that parents in particular have many questions about their children starting sports, with most of their worries centered on over-training and injuries.

These are valid concerns.

As coaches, teachers and exercise professionals, we need to understand as much as possible about what is going on inside the bodies of children and teenagers as they grow, so we can make sure the athletes under our care are training as safely as possible.

An eye to the future and healthy long term development is paramount.

Here are some of the main issues you need to be aware of if you work with developmental/young athletes and sports people:

Everyone is at a Different Stage of Growth and Development

Everyone grows at different rates.

I was ‘fully grown’ (those who know me will laugh, as I barely stand over 5ft!) by 12 years old, while others will not have a major growth spurt until they are in their late teens. You cannot judge a child’s stage of development simply by their numerical age.

Growing Bones Are Still ‘Soft’

By ‘soft’ bones, I mean that a child/teenager who has recently gone through a growth spurt will not have the same ‘hardness’ and calcification as an adult’s bone. Therefore, they are very prone to breaks and stress fractures through repetitive movements and excessive training loads (particularly with load bearing sports like running). The athlete needs to be held back and guided through this time with great care.

Bones Grow Quicker than the Surrounding Muscles and Connecting Tissues such as Ligaments/Tendons.

It takes a while for muscles, tendons and ligaments to ‘catch up’ to growing bones, which can lead to a whole range of injury issues. As such, conditions such as Osgood-Schlatter’s Disease and Sever’s Disease are two common injury concerns in young athletes.

Changes in Body Composition at Puberty

This is particularly relevant with female adolescents whose body composition changes from that of a girl (higher relative lean body mass) to a woman (higher relative body fat). This can be a particularly hard time to navigate because as the athlete adjusts to their new body, performance often plateaus and in some cases, they go backwards for a while. Coaches need to approach this time with care, sensitivity and encouragement or they risk losing the athlete from the sport. Changes in body shape and weight at this time can also effect movement patterns, so an emphasis on refining technique during adolescence should be included as part of the program.

So with all this in mind………how do we manage to coach young athletes safely?

It takes planning, consideration and an individual approach, but the good news is that exercise as a youngster has many physical and mental health benefits that outweigh the negatives.

Here are some practical tips for coaching youngsters involved with some of the more common junior sports:

Swimming

Evidence has shown that you can do a huge amount of development with your aerobic capacity as a child (that stays with you as an adult) and a great way to do this is swimming, as it is non-weight bearing. Young swimmers have been swimming daily for many years and as long as this is part of a structured program with an emphasis on stroke development and the youngster is not suffering any injuries, it is completely safe to do so.

Rotator cuff and shoulder injuries are the main curse to a young swimmer and these are caused by a combination of overuse and poor technique in the growing athlete. If this is happening, then training load needs to be decreased and the athlete referred to a health professional ASAP.

Cycling

Cycling, like swimming, is non-weight bearing however unlike swimming, the action is even more repetitive as you can’t change strokes and use different muscle groups. As the athlete grows, it is very important that bike fit is constantly re-adjusted accordingly to avoid overuse injuries.  Many junior cycling/triathlon competitions also use restricted gearing to avoid excessive load.

I would strongly advise against putting in huge amounts of cycling km’s or training with excessive load whilst going through major growth spurts due to the imbalance of bone to muscle/connective tissue growth. If the young cyclist is not going through a major growth spurt (PHV or ‘peak height velocity’) and is set up on the bike correctly, then long distance bike riding is not an issue and like swimming, a great way to build aerobic capacity. Through the growing years, emphasise a program based on skills and developing pedal stroke/cadence.

Running

Running has the highest injury rates of any sport (no matter what age you are!) as it is weight-bearing. Therefore, when a weight-bearing sport is combined with all the growth and developmental factors I have talked about already in this article, you can see how carefully a running training program needs to be constructed for youngsters.

There is good news however; running as a youngster builds up bone density in the legs. As long as your athletes are managed through these years properly, you are setting them up well for a future of running as an adult.

With running training keep to soft surfaces as much as possible, include conditioning and strength exercises such as lunges, squats and planks as part of your program and have sessions focusing on technique development and short, fast efforts rather than long, slow training.

Team Sports

Most youth team sports are modified versions of the adult games with special equipment, rules and coaching methods designed to protect athletes. Non-contact rules in youth sports assist with limiting (however they can’t completely prevent!) impact injuries. Make sure you are aware of all of the age-appropriate rules for your sport and implement them as required. Training for junior and youth team sports should prioritise skill development, movement, decision making, agility and change of direction training, along with plymotric jumping, hopping, landing to build up resistance to injury (also has the additional influence of increasing performance)

In conclusion,,,,,

Treat all your junior athletes as an individual; they all have different rates of growth, personal physiology traits and various ‘training ages’ (i.e. the age they began a certain sport) that need to be considered.

Don’t accelerate or hold back an athletes training just because of their numerical age, consider all of their personal factors.

Develop networks with local allied health professionals for referral and parent/athlete education.

Teach your young athletes to really listen to their own bodies so they can learn to distinguish the difference between an injury and general soreness and tell when something is up.

And most of all, encourage enjoyment and a love for the sport. We want to see these kids stay involved for life, no matter if they take a more performance pathway or simply continue participating as adults.

Train smart, train happy……..Michelle Hemley

‘Coming back’ to running after extended time off is one of the hardest things you can do as an athlete.

It doesn’t matter if your break has been due to illness, injury, pregnancy ( me right now!) or simply taking some time out with different priorities, returning to training and racing is HARD, both physically and mentally.

Personally, I have not run for 10 months, since I was about six weeks pregnant, as I was too ill. My baby daughter is now 12 weeks old and I’m just getting prepared to hit the pavement again. So if, like me, you are returning to running at the moment…… I feel your pain! It can be a tricky situation to find yourself in and as a coach, I assist people through this all the time all the time.

If this is you, here are some things to consider and expect as you head back towards athletic glory……

Start slowly

Coming back is a gradual process and takes a lot of patience. If you start off too quickly by doing too much too soon (or go too hard too soon) you will either hurt yourself, make yourself sick or take too long to recover from the session.

I’ve seen a lot of ‘one session heroes’ who smash out a hard session after being out of it for a month, then they are too sore to do anything for the next four days. You gain more benefits being able to train consistently, so smashing yourself once a week and taking days and days to recover will not fast track your fitness at all.

Pick a goal and work backwards, building up the volume and intensity of your training in increments as you get closer to the event. A gradual process is particularly important for older athletes to avoid injury and it helps to give yourself plenty of time to get back to PB shape.

Don’t let your ego get in the way

Many athletes attempt to start training back at the level they were previously. For example, if they were holding four-minute km’s for a threshold running effort before they had their break, that is the speed they try to hold from the first session back.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite work like that and the saying ‘if you don’t use it, you lose it’ rings true. Start slowly, be patient and build from there.

It is a great idea to include some testing as a part of your training, so you can base your current training levels on the results and gage improvements over time. This can be a simple time trial, a heart rate test set or blood lactate test to give you something to work off.

Don’t compare

Everyone is an individual with diverse backgrounds and physiological makeups. Don’t look at others and compare how quickly they get back to peak fitness compared to you. For one thing, you don’t know the full story to what they are doing or the extent of their break. Keep the focus on you, your goals and consistently getting the work done.

Pay attention to the one percenters

Know that cardio fitness is easier to regain than strength and power. For an experienced runner, you can feasibly be back running longer distances again after a few short weeks. What takes longer to regain is power, strength and having your bodies tissues, joints and ligaments used to the impact of bearing your weight again.

Therefore, don’t just focus on improving your ‘fitness’ and trying to run further each week. Take the time to do your functional strength, massage rollers and establish good nutritional practices. This gives your body a fantastic foundation, so it can handle the increased training load as you build the work, while ensuring good habits are in place.

Let the weight come off slowly

If you have put on weight during your break, be aware that weight loss needs to occur gradually so it is sustainable and so you can ensure you are losing fat, not muscle mass.

Too many people become concerned with the weight on the scales, however to be a top performing athlete what you need is a high power to weight ratio. Maximising your lean body mass compared to your body fat is key.

Depending on your height, if you are losing more than 1kg a week, you are probably losing muscle mass and in power generated sports, this has a big impact. In triathlon, therefore you often see people who have lost a lot of weight suddenly have big drops in power on the bike.

A way to keep track of this is to have your body fat percentage tracked regularly. This can easily and there are many different technologies available these days. Make sure you are always measuring under the same conditions and using the same tool to ensure consistency.

Get professional help

So many athletes try to go it alone, not wanting to spend the money on a dietitian, personal trainer or coach, believing they can figure out a comeback themselves. While this really does depend on your experience, I see so many people struggle along on their own getting constantly injured every few months, not making many gains in improvement and even putting themselves in harm’s way by attempting the latest fad fitness and diet information they picked up on the internet.

A return from injury or break will be so much quicker and executed better with professional guidance to keep you on track and at times, hold you back. Investing in your improvement with a coach (or attend a coaches sessions to gain feedback) or exercise professional (Like an Exercise Physiologist or Strength & Conditioning coach), shows you are serious about reaching your performance goals.

To conclude…….have patience grasshopper!

Be prepared to feel like crap when you first start back, but remember this crucial point; consistency is key. Keep plugging away week after week, give yourself plenty of time. believe in yourself and you’ll get there.

If you are making your own comeback, good luck and let us know how you go. I’ll try and keep you updated on my own journey

The lessons learned in sport are a great platform for kids to develop skills they can transfer to everyday life.

As a long-time sports coach/exercise professional, I see many positive, character traits being developed in the young athletes I coach every day. Commitment to a goal and to others, patience, discipline, resilience, work ethic and team work are evident daily. Sport participation in children is not simply about developing physical skills, but life skills too.

This got me thinking, what I have I learned in over 20 years of endurance sport and how have I applied these principles successfully to other areas of my life, particularly founding and growing my own business? On reflection, the major concept that has become clear to me through a lifetime of sport is this; if you have a vision, and are prepared to keep showing up, day after day and do the work required to achieve your goal, you WILL get there eventually. This can be quite a tedious process and it may take a lot of time, effort and resilience. However, I’ve found if you really want to do something, nothing beats consistent, dedicated work. At times it might not even feel like you are moving in the right direction, but then one day you find yourself exactly where you wanted to be and can say ‘I did it’!

The first major goal I ever set for myself was through sport and it took me a decade to achieve.

The Rottnest Channel Swim is a major annual event in Perth (where I grew up) and involves swimming a distance of 20km from Cottesloe Beach, Perth to Rottnest Island off the WA coast.

When I was a 10-year-old club swimmer, I decided a Rottnest Channel Solo crossing was something I really, REALLY wanted to do. However, I was 10. I would have to be patient and wait until I was a bit older to even attempt my goal.

This goal was always in the back of my mind as I kept showing up to swimming training day after day through my teenage years. I took baby steps, swimming my first ‘Swim Thru Perth’ (4.5km) at 15, then in the following years more 5km, 10km and a 15km event. I swam two ‘Rotto’ crossings as a team of four and one as a duo, before I finally attempted my first solo 20km crossing at age 19…… and then I didn’t even manage to complete the swim on my first go!

In horrendous conditions, the start of the Rottnest Channel Swim event that year was initially delayed, then called off, then eventually began an hour and a half late. After 7 hours & 45 minutes of swimming into a tough headwind/swell, I was forced to stop. I had swum 18 out of the 20km, but had been vomiting for the last two hours, my right shoulder was about three times the size of my left, my whole support crew was down and out (severe seasickness) and there was no way I’d reach the island before the reduced cut-off time elapsed. Not many swimmers made it all the way to Rottnest that day.

For me, it was a worthwhile lesson in patience and the realisation that you can prepare as best as you can, but you can’t control everything.

I was pretty gutted at not completing the crossing after thinking about it for 10 years, but again, a great lesson in resilience…..if at first you don’t succeed, then just try again. The following year (in more ‘normal’ conditions) I managed to complete the swim in spot on 6 hours. After working towards something for so long, to reach the day when you have finally ‘done it’ was quite surreal. The whole journey taught me that it’s extremely satisfying to finish something that has felt overwhelming at times.

In regards to starting my own business Team Hemley Training in 2011, it has been a similar process and I thank the lessons I learned through sport.

From the beginning of my business journey, I have focused on the vision of creating a full-time company that supports people to have positive experiences in sport, achieve athletically and maintain long-term, active lifestyles. I was not sure how long this would take, but like training for Rotto (and the many other endurance challenges I have since undertaken), I knew it was simply a matter of showing up day after day doing the things needed to make it happen, and I would eventually get there.

Like training for an endurance event, sometimes it felt like this goal was unachievable and I was getting nowhere.

Like building up from a 4.5km to a 20km swim I took baby steps; we began as a business in 2011, however I kept working full-time in 2011/12, then dropped down to four days a week of work in 2013, and finally three days a week in 2014. In September 2014, after more than a decade in the government sector, I was able to say good-bye to my ‘other’ job and could concentrate all my energies on my business full-time. We are now at a stage where we have grown to a point where we have employed staff members and service over 400 clients each school term. Each step of the journey has had its own significant challenges, however through the resilience developed from my participation in sport, I have been prepared to tackle them.

In conclusion, skills taught through sport are highly transferable and I see similar characteristics being developed in the athletes we coach every day as they break through their own personal barriers. I believe the future is bright for kids who grow up regularly participating in sport, no matter what direction they want to go.

And to those thinking of tackling an up-coming challenge, athletic or otherwise, I say go for it!! It is extremely satisfying developing a dream and having it come to fruition, and if it ends up taking a long time it is even more worthwhile when you finally get there.