Motivational Tip of the Week
1. A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step

2. To maintain motivation grab a friend and get them involved – you are less likely to let down another person and it will make the whole process more enjoyable.

3. It can take 21 days to build (or break) a habit, so the first few weeks will be particularly challenging, hang in there as it will get easier!

4. Track and record your times, this will give you a goal to try and reach for your next session at that distance.

5. Where possible complete your training in the morning, your hormonal levels are better suited to this and you will also have only yourself to blame if you fail to get up!
6. You only have to get fit once. Once you have achieved a level of fitness that you are happy with maintenance of this fitness is easier and can become a key part of your day.

7. If possible get to the actual course prior to race day and familiarise yourself with the flow, where are the hills and where may you need to conserve some energy.

8. On race day avoid getting caught up with the excitement of the day, focus on yourself and go at your pace.

9. Practice mental imagery, this can help build confidence and you can mentally play out challenges on the day and how best to deal with them.
10. Tell other people about what you are trying to achieve as this will increase the chances of you sticking to your plan and they will also provide some extra accountability.

Training Tip of the Week

1. Enlist the help of a Personal Trainer, they can give you tips on correct technique in your run and your resistance training exercises.

2. Ensure you are running with good upright posture, not slouched or hunched over.

3. A hear rate monitor can assist in judging how hard you are actually training and can help on race day as you will have a good idea on what heart rate you can maintain for a prolonged period.

4. On average most people’s aerobic threshold, the heart rate which they can maintain over a long period of time, is 65% of their maximum heart rate. To find yours simply subtract your age from 220 and find 65% of that number.

5. To keep yourself focused and your breathing consistent you can use a breathing count, a common count is 1 breath in per 2 strides and 1 breath out per 2 strides. If this doesn’t feel comfortable try a 3, 3 count.
6. Recovery is extremely important; a combination of flexibility, massage and hot/cold showers after training will help in maintaining optimal function and assist in recovery.

7. If you are feeling the toll of running you can change a running session with some cross-training, taking the load off your joints, such as swimming or cycling.

8. Running can be tissue destructive so incorporating some resistance training twice a week will assist in maintaining lean muscle.

9. To increase your speed you can either increase your stride LENGTH or increase your stride RATE. Improving leg strength will also assist is increasing stride rate (How many steps you take per minute.)
10. The week before the C2S rather than going hard the whole wee towards the end of the week start to back off your training so you are fresh for race day.

Ready, set, go training plans

Whether you’re walking, jogging or running the City2Surf, follow these training guides designed to get you into competitive shape.

Program guide and glossary

• Easy run – run at a comfortable, steady pace where you can still talk, but not sing. A 6km easy run is likely to be 35-45 minutes depending on your pace. That’s approximately 6-7 minutes per kilometre.
• Fast run – challenge yourself by picking up the pace. Your breathing will be heavier, and you should find it difficult to hold a conversation throughout the run.
• Hilly run – choose a route with one or two challenging hills to help prepare for “Heartbreak Hill” – the City2Surf’s 2km ascent from Rose Bay to Vaucluse.
• Interval run – on the treadmill, run at a challenging pace for 400m then slow down to a jog or walk for 1 minute. Repeat 4 times.
• Walk – walk at a brisk pace, keep your shoulders back and relaxed and your tummy muscles pulled in. It’s likely to take 10 minutes to walk each kilometre, so a 6km walk will take an hour. If your schedule doesn’t allow for long walks during the week, break it into a morning and evening walk or swap with a group fitness class such as BodyPump. Alternatively, jog some of the walk to get it done quicker. Start with 30-60 seconds of jogging at a time and gradually build up to longer durations as you get fitter.
• Hilly walk – choose a walk with some decent hills to help prepare for “Heartbreak Hill”. You can do these sessions on the treadmill using the incline/gradient feature. Alternate periods of flat walking (0% incline) with hill walking (2-6% incline) to prevent overworking the calves.
• Rest day – give your body a rest and chance to recover. Doing so helps you get fitter and prevents burnout.