With an extensive coaching background and over 10 years of national and international racing experience, Julie Tedde is well qualified to assist you in achieving your goals.

Julie has represented Australia in the professional triathlete field at the 1991 World Championships, and the 1991 Japan Strongman; as well as in the age group team at the 1993 and 1995 World Championships. She has also raced in 5km, 10km, half-marathon and marathon events (including the 2009 Gold Coast Marathon, which she completed in a time of 3:16:46).

Julie has coached and trained people of all levels - from juniors and beginners through to experienced professional athletes. She has coached many runners to sub-three hour times in various marathons and more than 100 athletes to half-ironman and ironman performances both nationally and internationally. In 2004/5 she was awarded Triathlon Victoria Coach and Educator of the Year.

Julie will be providing training tips for you in the eight weeks leading up to the event on Sunday 18 July.

WEEK 8 - WEDNESDAY 14 JULY (Event week!)

This week is all about freshening up. Taper properly during this last week, by dropping your mileage by 65-70% and focusing on short, fast, but non-soreness-inducing sessions (e.g repeat 400s at 10K pace). To run a great race on Sunday, read the following example of what your training should include this week: Monday and Friday - rest, Tuesday - complete 6x  400m at 10km pace, Thursday - 10mins effort around race pace... Everything else should be small and easy!

This week should be about confidence - you have done the training, so the best thing you can do is freshen up and be ready for the final push. If you've done the work then the taper is logical. Just watch that you do rest and don't simply add in other activities.

On race day - give your self plenty of time to collect your race number, go to the toilet, put your clothing in clothing area and then do a warm up run. Warming up prepares your body to run at race pace by increasing your body temperature, metabolic rate and the circulation of blood to your muscles. So, anywhere from 5- 20mins running (depending on what your body needs) is ideal. Including some builds to race pace will also assist the body in warming up. Once you have done this, head to the start line around 10-15mins prior to your start time. Due to the large numbers in the event, each predicted time group will be broken into smaller numbers and sent off in waves.

WEEK 7 - WEDNESDAY 7 JULY

Diet affects performance, and the foods that we choose in training and on event day will affect how well we train and compete. You need to be aware of your nutritional goals and of how you can select an eating strategy to meet those goals. Carbohydrate is a key nutrient for energy supply - be aware of foods that can help meet your carbohydrate needs and make these a focus of your diet.

Fluid intake before, during (where appropriate) and after exercise is especially important in longer events. Salt replacement is also important when sweat losses are high. Electrolyte drinks such as Powerade are an excellent product to maximize hydration and restore carbohydrates during and post-training and racing.

Pre-event:
Eat 1-4g/kg body weight of carbohydrate during the 1-3hrs period before exercise. This small carbohydrate meal ‘primes' the body to rely more heavily on blood glucose, but it does not provide enough carbohydrate to sustain the athlete.

Five different examples of foods that each provide 140g CHO in a pre-event meal* (2g/kg for a 70kg person) are:
- 2.5 cups breakfast cereal + milk + large banana.
- Large bread roll or 3 thick slices bread + thick spread honey.
- 2 cups boiled rice + 2 slices bread.
- 4 stack pancakes + cup syrup.
- 60g sports bar + 500ml liquid meal supplement or fruit smoothie.

You should drink sufficient fluid with meals on the day before competition to ensure hydration on the morning of the event. Don't refrain from drinking water or carbohydrate containing fluids during the hours leading up to warm-up before the event as it is recommended that approximately 400-700ml be ingested during the 60-90 minute period before the start of the event. This will allow sufficient time for urination of excess fluid, and thus rest-room facilities should be identified. During races lasting longer than one hour, which cause heavy sweating without sufficient opportunity for fluid intake, athletes often benefit by drinking 300-600ml of fluid during the 15 minute period immediately before the start of the event.

WEEK 6 - WEDNESDAY 30 JUNE

A great tactic leading into the event is to choose your race pace for the event and build the distance you are able to hold that pace. With three weeks of training to go, the suitable race pace sessions for each distance are listed below. If you are able to meet your targets, then there is a good chance that will be close to your race pace for the event.

5KM:

• 4km warm up - 8x600m at 5km race pace/400m easy - 2-3km warm down.
• 4km warm up- 6x800m at 5km race pace/400m easy - 2-3km warm down.

10KM:

• 2-3km warm up - 2x(1600m at 10km pace-1000m at 5km pace) - 400m EZ b/w each - warm down 2km.
• 2-3km warm up - 3x(1600m at 10km pace-1000m at 5km pace) - 400m EZ b/w each - warm down 2km.

HALF-MARATHON:

• 2000m, 1600m, 1200m, 800m, 400m, 2000m with 2mins rest after each. Target your half-marathon pace for the 2km efforts and up to 10km pace for the shorter efforts.
• 2-3x 3km at half-marathon race pace with 5mins easy b/w each.

WEEK 5 - WEDNESDAY 23 JUNE

Building recovery time into any training program is important because this is the time that the body adapts to the stress of exercise and improvements take place. Recovery also allows the body to replenish energy stores and repair damaged tissue.

Without sufficient time to repair and replenish, the body will continue to breakdown from intensive exercise. Symptoms of overtraining often occur from a lack of recovery time. Signs of overtraining include a feeling of general fatigue during the day, staleness, a general trend of slower times in training and increased risk of injury.

Short-term recovery: Complete some low-intensity exercise after workouts during both the cool-down phase and immediately after a hard effort . This allows muscles, tendons and ligaments to begin to repair and allows efficient removal of chemicals that build up in the cells that cause fatigue.

Also, replenish energy stores and fluids lost during exercise and optimize protein synthesis (the process of increasing the protein content of muscle cells, preventing muscle breakdown and increasing muscle size) by eating the right foods post-exercise. Drinks and foods high in carbohydrates and with some protein will assist in this area.

Long-term recovery: These are techniques built into your training program - they include days of no training or easy training, cross training and getting adequate sleep. Do not be afraid to modify workout types, and make changes in intensity, time and distance of your training if you are feeling fatigue. This will allow your body not only to adapt to the training you have done but will also allow you to rejuvenate both physically and mentally.

Finally, if you have time, including stretching, massage and contrast shower and baths (hot and cold water), as these have been shown to have excellent benefits in recovering post-exercise.

WEEK 4 - WEDNESDAY 16 JUNE

The aim of training is to improve your fitness and get faster for the event. Obviously, the regular training you are doing will improve your fitness, however, if you try to practice good technique you will also see yourself getting faster and becoming a more efficient runner.

For any runner to perform at their best it is important that they run efficiently, allowing their body to use as little energy on each step as possible, whilst maintaining the required stride length and cadence.

When landing on each foot, think about landing more on your mid-foot to the front of your foot. This will ensure quicker contact time on the ground and a more optimal cadence (target should be around 180 strides per minute).

When pushing off from the ground, think about bringing your heel up quickly towards your backside (making good use of your hamstrings). Ensure you bring your knees up (parallel to the ground) and extend your legs out, as this allows for the greatest range of movement and hence a longer stride length. All movement needs to be in the direction you are traveling - so, no vertical movement of the head up and down and no lateral movement of arms of hips.

Drills such as high knee lifts, 'butt' kicks, skipping and striding are excellent ways to practise good running technique.

WEEK 3 - WEDNESDAY 9 JUNE

Knowing and practicing how to pace for your 5km, 10km or half-marathon is key to performing well on event day. Everything about participating in an event tends to get you keyed up, and it should. But try to keep yourself under control, as if you let yourself go out too fast you may undermine your race.

The inexperienced runner often overextends him or herself too early or holds back too much. Going too hard, too early and depleting energy reserves or failure to push the body to its limit will occur if your perception of how hard you can race is consistently inaccurate.

The decision to increase or reduce effort during an event has a lot to do with your pacing ability. Therefore, pacing is a function of your perception of your ability to maintain a level of effort for an extended period of time.

Suunto watches (Run Melbourne’s training partner) certainly are one tool that enable you to make a very accurate judgement of what pace and intensity you are training and racing at. Their watches come with a heart rate monitor strap that gives you constant feedback on your heart rate (and therefore what intensity you’re at). They also come with the option of a foot pod that will give you information about the speed you are running and distance you are covering.

By training with this tool, you will learn what pace or heart rate zone you can hold for the distance you plan to participate in; which takes a lot of the guess work out of your pacing on event day.

Exercising at different paces is another very good way to enhance your understanding of what cues you need to pay attention to, to accurately perceive your level of exertion and achieve an effective race pace.

WEEK 2 - WEDNESDAY 2 JUNE

There is a belief that all runners should try to do at least some basic core and strength work on a regular basis (on a fortnightly basis at least). If time is available, then additional leg strength work is also beneficial.

Some direct benefits of strengthening your core are:

• Improved balance
• Improved posture, which will ensure that you have better running technique, resulting in less chance of injury.
• Improved efficiency that sees your stride length become longer. As a result, your endurance and ability to hold onto an optimal speed for the duration of the race will improve.
• Increased stability - a more stable frame on contact with the ground will see less wear and tear on muscles, therefore reducing the likelihood of injury.

What you can do to work on this area: Yoga and Pilates are probably the best option. However, gym work, floor exercises and even cross training have benefits.

WEEK 1 - WEDNESDAY 26 MAY

Hopefully by now you have got your hands on a copy of the official Training Guide or downloaded one of the training programs available online to use in your preparation for the 5km,10km or half-marathon.

All of the training programs are quite general, so you may need to adjust some of the sessions to fit your individual needs. The programs can be easily modified, moving days of training or altering the duration of runs to suit you.

You may also like to address some of your individual weaknesses. For example, if you are not a strong hills runner include a hills session each week or if you find you lack some speed in the last kilometre of a race then include 4x 30 secs flat out with enough recovery to fully recover in the last part of at least one run each week.

Remember, in some of the training programs there are only three or four runs. This means that each session is important. Consistency is the key to success especially in the longer events, so, if you need to miss a run, the shorter, easier sessions are a lower priority. If you are having trouble sticking to the sessions - try to join a group of friends or join in the Suunto Run Melbourne Training Sessions on a Tuesday evening at The Atrium, Federation Square.