This week started with a different kind of training... no stopwatch, no splits, just movement.
On Sunday we drove up to Trentham, walked the rail trail and followed it down to the waterfall. Ten kilometres of easy hiking, cool air and that earthy smell of the bush after rain. It was slow, steady and exactly what I needed after a few busy weeks. The views from the waterfall lookout were unreal... and a good reminder that sometimes progress looks like just showing up outside.

The rest of the week was a mix of medium-paced runs... a 5K, a 10k... keeping the legs loose and the effort even. Nothing fancy, just steady mileage doing its quiet work.

Then came today’s long run: 16 kilometres of alternating 4:00/km and 4:30/km.
Four minutes on, four and a half off.
Push, then pause.

It’s a simple structure, but there’s science behind it. Alternating hard and easy kilometres teaches your body to recover while still moving... that’s how you build both endurance and efficiency. The harder efforts push your heart rate up, training your aerobic capacity and strength. The easier ones allow your system to clear lactate, regulate breathing and rebuild control under fatigue.

In other words, you’re training your body to stay calm in the chaos... to work hard without falling apart.

And maybe that’s what this whole phase of training is about: learning to find balance between the extremes. Go too hard, you burn out. Go too easy, you never grow. The sweet spot lives somewhere in between.

That same idea’s been showing up in another battle this week... food.
The more kilometres I run, the hungrier I feel. It’s biology.
When you increase training load, your body ramps up ghrelin, the hormone that tells you you’re hungry, and lowers leptin, the one that says you’re full. Add to that the “I earned this” mindset that sneaks in after a long session, and suddenly every snack looks justified.

It’s a tough loop to break, because the hunger feels real... and it is. Your body’s burning through energy, and it wants it back fast. But if I’m honest, some of that “reward” eating isn’t about fuel. It’s about emotion. It’s that little voice saying, “You ran hard, you deserve this.”

That’s when the “push and pause” idea hits again.
Push to train. Pause before reacting.
Listen, but don’t let every craving call the shots.

Finding balance with food while training is its own discipline... learning to refuel properly without sliding into the “I deserve it” spiral. Because the truth is, what you deserve is to feel strong, consistent and ready.

So between a waterfall hike, a solid set of intervals and a few honest reflections about food, this week turned out to be about more than running. It was about self-awareness... knowing when to push and when to pause, in every sense of the word.

Tip of the Week:
Training teaches balance. Push hard, recover well. Fuel enough, not too much. The body adapts in the space between effort and restraint... both are part of progress.

Next week:
Back to steady runs, strength sessions and a closer look at recovery. Tokyo’s is now exactly five months away, and every week like this one builds the base. One push, one pause, one lesson at a time.