I don't get to meet too many celebrities, but a more approachable, down-to-earth and humble man I could not have expected to meet. The man does not put himself on a pedestal, and without pre-knowledge of his achievements you wouldn't know he was one of the best marathon runners we have ever seen. He also did more than his fair share of washing up, I can tell you! The camp was an exhilarating experience and one that I will never forget. It was also a great opportunity to catch up with Biscuitman, Epi, Clown and TB and others who one tend only to get fleeting contact with. Blogging is often seen as a self-indulgent ego driven kind of thing, but without it I would never have met any of these guys and probably wouldn't have ended up at this camp.
And my hat is definitely off to Raf Baugh and the Running Centre for getting this whole thing together. His enthusiasm and drive to get the running scene off it's arse in WA is inspiring. We shouldn't have to settle for second best over here, and with guys like him, hopefully that is a thing of the past. It was a major disappointment, and dare I say embarrassment that so few folks were there. Where were the young guns ? The current top athletes in WA ? Coaches ? Guys, you missed out.
More photos..
As far as the running goes, we did four sessions in 36 hours covering about 50k. A lot of running! Next time, I may taper... this took my week to 95km.
On Friday there was a 8.8km recovery run on the roads around the nanga bush camp ; probably more than intended due to the odd wrong turn, but we got back in the end (and in the dark!). Lovely conditions and a nice easy 5:20 pace.
Friday evening we had an exhilarating evangelist style talk about nutrition from Steve Skivinis - dare I say I'll never look at food the same way again. Some interesting points were made (e.g cooking in oil is not a great thing to do, and the GI of foodstuffs is something we need to think about in our eating ), but I won't be giving up my oats or full cream milk any time soon. It certainly had a lot of talking points for the group to discuss, which helped filter the information into a more reasonable approach.
Saturday morning we did a Mona Fartlek session (what else!) - 4k warmup, 20 minutes of effort, 4k cooldown. I was sorry I didn't have my track shoes for this one so had to do it in my clunkers, but I still enjoyed it. I think it's a session I will use more ; the point was made later about the intervals I have been doing with the standing recoveries - the continuous session is so much better, and actually seems to cram in more effort in a shorter time. Nearly 5.5km in the 20minutes was a good, hard effort. Mona and Raf were miles ahead of course. After the cooldown, we had 'coffee' and breakast at the nearby Millhouse cafe which was fun for the group as we started to feel relaxed with each other.
When we got back to the camp we had a short session on physio from Raf, Mona and Justin Barich which made a lot of sense ; one of the benefits of a camp like this is that you get to meet and almost get an inside track to some of the top people in their fields ; just the sort of thing runners need.
In the evening we did a 6.6km recovery run in the hilly trails around the camp ; running with a group with Mona just another one of the guys, it was like a dream. As biscuitman said elsewhere, it does not get any better than this. I know, I'm gushing. The spell was temporarily broken when the group made a sharp right turn down a steep hill cambered the wrong way, and my legs disappeared from under me on the pea-gravel. 'The legs are OK!' but the right hip and shoulder copped a good bang and I lost a good bit of skin off my left hand. I'm just thankful I didn't take anyone else out.
Sunday morning was the long run. Again the group headed out the camp up the hill to track the Munda Biddi trail though Dwellingup for about 10k and then turned back. Very steep in parts and the footing was tricky. I thought we were going to stop in Dwellingup for water, but no such luck. I was feeling a bit depleted because I hadn't been eating enough and had to dig a bit in some sections coming home. A highlight, and something I will never forget happened just a bit later. We were on a dirt road and the group made a turn that was less than obvious, so I thought I would turn back just to make sure Sas and Rachel didn't miss it. The boys group was really flying along, most suffering a bit more than usual in the longs runs I suspect, but trying not to show weakness. Mona and Raf both turned back as well, to make sure the 'girls' made the turn. Anyhow, we three then started going again and I think the pace got turned up a bit to catch the boys group again, so there I was, shooting the breeze with Raf on my left and Mona on my right and flying through the forest on the Munda Biddi trail. The going was tough, but boy, was I going to hang on to this as long as possible. I eventually used the excuse of another turn in the trail to drop back for Sas and Rachel again... in the end I did about 22km and I was pretty spent, but perked fairly quickly after rehydration and getting in some solid food.
After that, it was pack up, say our farewells and head home, exhausted, exhilarated, inspired and all that good stuff. A weekend I'll treasure for a long time to come, and one I daresay I'll never forget.
6 comments:
See you guys there same time next year?
Absolutely - next time I'll taper and bring racing flats (for the long run !)
There are a lot of athletes and casual runners in perth who are very disillusioned by Raf Baugh. He comes across as someone who is so approachable to everyone and willing to go the extra mile for anyone. In reality, money making is all that matters at the end of the day to this individual. Beware of his sessions - you will pay $7-$10 for an interval session and very often he is not even there to run it (if he is he usually trains anyway) so you have paid that for just going for a run with other people. It is a great shame. I think another reason there were not so many people at this camp with the great opportunity to meet Monaghetti is that people are becoming more wise to Raf Baugh.
I don't want to draw out a discussion point here, especially on someone else's blog, and I don't know Raf very well, but I don't think $7 to $10 sounds like a lot of money for a session. Most of us have to make a living so begrudging him that for an organised session seems a little unreasonable and churlish. For one-on-one training, you'd be paying about $60 or more at any gym. Of course it's not great if he never turns up and doesn't offer training guidance or clear sessions. Is it truly just a run with others, or does he offer a training plan? Does he or members of his team follow up with you at all? I expect he has people who help run sessions - again I can't really comment as I haven't been on any. I only know Raf from the camp and was impressed by his enthusiasm and what he put into it. It's a shame if you and others have had a bad experience, though it still doesn't make sense to me that people would miss such a great training camp. It certainly wouldn't have made him much of a profit, even if 60 people had turned up. The reality is Raf has been the only person here to actually organise a camp like this - at least applaud him for his gumption.
Sorry Liz, I don't agree with your experience. I'm sure you have valid reasons for your impressions, but I have to say I found his enthusiasm infectious (and by organising the camp is doing something), and I also tend to judge people by the people around them, so no fault there. Unfortunately nothing in this life is free, and the guy has to make a living. He's certainly been up front with me about coaching fees etc. so there should be no surprises. If you feel ripped off, you should just walk away... as I guess you did. The fact is, myself and twenty-ish others walked away from this camp with a new found inspiration and memories that will last a lifetime, and you can't put a price on that.
CharisK and Sugar, you both make very good points. A guy who is a good friend of mine who trains for triathlon got him to write a program for him. Program was sent to him 2 weeks after Raf said it would be with no explanation. The program did not include the races he had mentioned wishing to do and attempts to ask Raf to modify the program (he advertises that it is ok to email anytime) took an eternity to get some action on. After asking around it would appear this is pretty standard for him. I think the guy is so overcommitted due to the fact he is coaching/running and training himself/owning a shop/family etc and may think he is doing a good job but really is letting others down in their training. I've met Raf a couple of times with my friend and I agree he comes across as very enthusiastic and promising the world but he seems to underdeliver on that in a big way.
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