Life has been pretty hectic lately. I’m struggling to find a minute to spare but I need to post a blog to keep my streak alive, and stop beeminder from taking my money. I’m currently sitting on a plane using the flight to write this post. I thought I might do a traditional blog about what I’m up to and my plans for the year.

I’ve been enjoying reading Fraser Darcy’s blog, which is essentially a journal of his life, training and racing. Consider this my trail-running equivalent. Stick around, and I’ll share how I’m balancing (or failing to balance) heavy training, life chaos and big goals.

📋Plan for the Year

This year I’ve got one big scary running goal! To race the GPT100 miler in November. I ran it back in 2023 (link to post) then did the stage race last year (link to post).

After the stage race I felt the urge to go the full distance again. I signed up early and am leveraging the long lead up for maximal voorpret (joy of anticipation, thanks Kylie Garratt for introducing me to the term).

The Tasmanian contingent is assembling once again to take on the GPT. Ziggy and Justin have both signed up for the big boy. I am so excited to spend the rest of the year focusing on a big scary goal along with two good mates. There’s so much training to be done and it helps having some friends along for the ride. Training for a 100 miler can be pretty full on so it’s good to surround myself with people that understand and are on the same journey.

On the local front I’m racing the whole kunanyi Trail Series. This is mostly for fun and to write blogs and make videos about these great events. And to get amongst the Hobart trail running community. I’ll treat them like training runs, don’t want to go too silly and get injured. I’ve already done the Organ Pipes Classic, you can read about that one here.

I am looking for some kind of training race before the 100 miler. It’s hard because there’s nothing in Tassie in the lead up. I am visiting my sister in Cairns later in the year which I might tee up with the Kuranda to Port Douglas ultra. A 60km ish event partly on gravel roads and trails. Not the most specific training but it will be warm weather and a good chance to test nutrition and hydration in the heat.

🎯Race Goals

I still haven’t determined any specific race goals. I’ve got a lot of time to think about it. Rather than performance goals I’m going to make my main goals process related. The only performance goal I want to achieve is running it faster than last time.

I’m already thinking that I want my goals to be related to running strong in the tail end. I’m not sure how I’m going to frame it but I just want to feel good for as long as possible. A great challenge in these long, technical ultras. I’ll share my goals closer to the event.

🗓️Annual Training Plan

This year I’ll be self coaching. I’m planning out the year using my annual training plan spreadsheet. The year is broken up with block periodisation focusing on the least specific stuff the furthest from the event and getting more specific as the event approaches. Also building up overall volume and specificity as the year progresses.

The annual plan is the overarching framework and it will be a living document that adapts throughout the year. Training block lengths will vary depending on how long I need to maintain the block to get the desired adaptions. I will end a block once I’m significantly fatigued and my performance decreases. This will indicate that I’m ready for rest.

The spreadsheet is used to plan overall training volume and the general focus for each block. The microcycles are programmed in Intervals.icu. I have a library of saved workouts that I drop onto the week till I reach the desired volume and focus. So far it’s working well. If I program a whole block I follow through with my training with good compliance. In the past I’ve trained day by day and go too easy on myself. Which leads me to the ingenious method we’ve devised to stay accountable while being self coached.

🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒Coaching Syndicate

The issue with self coaching is staying accountable to oneself. To combat the lack of accountability and oversight, Ziggy, Justin and I have founded a group coaching syndicate. Since we are all training for the GPT100 and all self coaching we have shared goals and shared challenges.

We’ve also got another friend Smick involved. He’s not running the miler but he is probably going to pace Justin. He brings some different training methodologies to the table coming from road running and cycling. It’s good to have an extra person in the group to break us out of the ultra running echo chamber.

We meet up once a month to have dinner and discussions about training programming, progress and whatever else we want to talk about. We’ve floated the idea of doing deep dives on topics and presenting the findings amongst the group. So far we’ve only had one meeting so the deep dives haven’t started yet. Justin hosted the first meeting and set the culinary bar way too high with an elaborate delicious Ramen. Ziggy and I are hosting the next one and we hope to bring the standard back down to a reasonable level.

On top of the meet ups we’ve setup a discord server to discuss planning, running knowledge, share race reports and do weekly check ins. We have a template for our weekly check in and each Sunday we all post a report of our past weeks training.

So far it’s working well. I am smashing out the training because I don’t want to ‘let the boys down’. We’re hoping to have more group training sessions and long runs as the year progresses.

We have given the group a tongue in cheek name, the ‘GPT Podium Syndicate’. This is partly because Joe Dorph (GPT100 Race Director) keeps joking that us Tassie boys will clean sweep the podium. And partly because if we keep joking about it we might help manifest it. Justin already made it on the podium last year (link to post) so who knows what may transpire.

📚Coaching Course

For a long time I’ve wanted to do a coaching course. Not necessarily to become a coach but to improve my knowledge and better coach myself. I finally signed up to the UESCA Ultrarunning coaching certification. I’m slowly working through it when I get the time. I’ll be implementing the knowledge throughout the year as I coach myself to the 100 miler.

I’ve read Jason Koop’s Training Essentials for Ultra runners over 3 times now (check out my reading list). I like his training methodology and science backed approach. He is the lead instructor in the coaching course so I’m keen to become a disciple of his coaching style. He coaches many successful elites so hopefully I can elevate myself and those who I may coach in the future.

I had a crack at coaching a friend earlier in the year for the kunanyi Mountain Run. I found the process incredibly rewarding. It’s fun to follow along and see the progress and getting to feel the sense of achievement when they cross the finish line.

My partner has entered the GPT50 this year, and I’m coaching her as she brings her “rise of the Phoenix” story arc to life. After undergoing back surgery last year, she’s now aiming to run an ultra just one year later.

With the gradual, conservative approach I’m enforcing, I believe she’s on track for greatness. Right now, my biggest challenge as her coach isn’t pushing her harder, it’s convincing her to do less.

Getting her to the start line healthy, fit and uninjured is my main goal!

Down the track I might start coaching more athletes. But I need to make sure I have enough time to dedicate to it and at the moment I definitely don’t.

Stay tuned, one day I may offer a coaching service!

👟GPT100 Training Camp

Last weekend I travelled to Grampians with Justin and Ziggy for the GPT100 training camp. Justin and I have been along every year since it’s inception. We almost didn’t go this year but Joe Dorph emailed us and managed to twist our arms into coming.

This year there was a fee to enter the camp, previous years it was free if you entered a race. But this year’s edition included accommodation at an old school camp which made it feel like a proper training camp. It was exceptionally good value for money and a truly wholesome weekend. Lots of new friends were made that we will meet again on the startline in November.

We had splendid weather for the weekend. It was cold in the mornings but sunny and clear during the days. Over four days we covered a lot of ground, these were our runs:

• Day 1: 8.63km short run up Chataqua Peak
• Day 2: 50km run from Mt Zero to Halls Gap
• Day 3: 34km from Griffin fireline to Grampians retreat
• Day 4: 15km Loop to the pinnacle from Halls Gap

Each day there was an Instagram reel contest with a pair of ASICS shoes up for grabs. I went all in on the 50k day filming Ziggy sending it on the technical terrain. My hard work was rewarded with the prize for that day. Our cabin mate Josh won the first day. And Justin finally got serious about reel production on day 3, he put in the work and snagged the shoes. Ziggy won a free hat for his effort but his reell was deemed too controversial to share on the event Instagram page.

Here’s my reel, I’ve added links to the others below.

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A post shared by Joseph Nunn (@josephnunn7)

• Josh’s Day 1 reel
• Ziggys controversial Day 2 reel
• Justin’s Day 4 reel

I’m so glad we headed up for the weekend. It was a great reminder of how incredibly rough and technical the terrain is. And it was good to stoke the fire and get us motivated to ramp up the training. I highly recommend attending this weekend if you enter the GPT100, you’ll meet a heap of great people and get a good taste of the uniquely technical trails.

🎙️Podcast Feature

A local running group called Gariwerd Trail Running (GTR) operates in Halls Gap as a not-for-profit to encourage running in the area. Founded by Pat Drum, Phil Gjsbers, and Mark Whyte, the group has recently launched a podcast series. Each episode focuses on a different section of the Grampians Peaks Trail (GPT).

While we were up at the training camp they asked if we’d like to feature on an episode. By now, Justin, Ziggy and I have become quite familiar with the GPT having ran the full trail many times. So we agreed to feature. We discussed section 8 of the trail from Jimmy Creek to Yarram gap.

I think the boys were hoping to get some good banter out of us but they decided to record it after we’d just finished two enormous back to back long runs. We ran 50k on the Friday then shortly after finishing our 34k on the Saturday we sat down to record the episode. I think we were all pretty cooked. Hopefully with some good editing it comes out alright. I’ll post the link here when it’s released, otherwise here’s the link to listen to all of the previous episodes.

⚖️Work Life Balance

In between all of this running I have to squeeze in full time employment. I work at a shipyard as the in house Naval Architect. This means I sometimes design boats. Often I’m just doing little design projects or docking plans but at the moment I’m in the middle of designing a 24m catamaran.

Designing a boat from scratch is a big job. It’s great work and the kind of challenging and engaging stuff that I love. But it leaves me a bit mentally fried some days.

So far I’m managing the balance of work, training, life, blogging and spending time with friends and family. I try to adapt training to account for other life stressors. Each morning I take a heart rate variability measurement and answer a questionnaire with the HRV4 Training app. It’s a helpful tool to pick up overtraining before it’s too late.

I’m definitely the kind of person that is most productive under some pressure. But I need the right amount of pressure and deadlines, if it becomes too much I’ll crumple into an anxious procrastinator. So far I’m sitting in the productive zone, fingers crossed I can continue to stay here and not over do it.

🏁Coastal Ascent 25k

This weekend, I flew to Newcastle to visit my sister and meet my newborn niece, Olive. I’m writing this post on the plane. I did the opposite of every other person and left Hobart during Dark Mofo. Despite leaving town l still managed to see a show (Rival Consoles, check him out!) on the Friday night before my flight. I’ll get my Dark Mofo fix next weekend 😉

Of course, I found a running race while I was there. The Coastal Ascent 25K is part of the Golden Trail Series and attracts some seriously fast runners. I used it as a chance to see how I stack up against the speedy short-course crowd.

I did the same trip last year, running the race and visiting the sister. I’m still working through the trauma of us catching gastro from my nephew, Theo, who kindly brought it home from daycare. The gastro hit the night after the race which made for a rough post race recovery. Three of us went down in short succession but thankfully slightly staggered which relieved the stress on the single bathroom in the house.

Race Report

My only goal was to run it faster than last year. I went into the race with minimal pressure or nerves, which meant I slept well the night before and felt relaxed at the start line. Despite the laid-back approach, once I started running, my competitive side kicked in.

The race started along Mereweather beach on soft sand. See the instagram reel below, you might be able to spot me in amongst it. Thankfully only for a few hundred metres before we moved to the road. By the time we reached the Scenic Drive climb I was able to count my position. Sitting in 10th. I worked my way up to 6th by the top of the climb and was sitting just behind 5th and was hungry to steal his position.

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A post shared by The Coastal Ascent (@thecoastalascent)

I was running so strong and certain my time from last year was going to be smashed. Recent hill interval training came in handy and I was charging up the climbs then flying down the descents. I struggled the most with the many sections of beach running.

I stopped at the halfway aid station but my 5th place competitor went straight through. This meant I lost a lot of ground on him but could still see him along the beach heading back. I worked so hard trying to make up ground. After much work I clawed back to within 50m of him in the final few kilometres. On the last climb, he kept glancing back as I gasped for air, fighting to catch up.

The race finishes with a fast road descent back down Scenic Drive to Mereweather, and no matter how hard I pushed, I couldn’t close the gap, he was just too quick. My time goal was slipping away too. I’d knew the course changed this year and hoped they’d cut the final beach section, but no such luck. A frustrating 300 metre slog through soft sand stood between me and the finish.

My cheer squad was waiting, my sister, her husband, their two kids, and my dad, all there to see me cross the line. I didn’t catch my rival or beat last year’s time, but I finished 6th (up from 17th last year).

Comparing the data, this year’s course was nearly 800 meters longer with 90 meters more elevation. My average pace was 7 seconds per kilometer faster, which would’ve meant almost a 3 minute improvement. So, even if I didn’t technically run faster than my previous time, I’m satisfied with the progress. I felt strong the entire race, and it was a great benchmark to measure my growth from last year. Things are moving in the right direction and I’m just getting started with serious training.

Wrapping Up

I feel like I’m teetering on the edge of taking on too much especially as my training ramps up for the big event. Between full-time work, heavy training, maintaining relationships, and keeping up with this blog, my days are packed. That’s why I’m experimenting with this new style of post: less research, less polish, but a helpful way to organise my thoughts and plans.

For now, I might prioritide these quicker updates over more in-depth posts, maybe even mixing in some simple vlogs on YouTube. I’ve always loved following other people’s training journeys, so I figure mine might be interesting to others too. (Though, ironically, this “short and easy” post still took way longer than expected, it’s hard when there’s so much to say!)

Anyway, that’s all for this week. Thanks for reading!