We love Falls Creek

We have both fallen in love with Falls Creek. The amazing scenery, picturesque walks, and fantastic accommodation is all to blame. Having the Viking lodge all to ourselves influences things a bit as well. It’s meant that we have been able to treat the place as ours. The lounge is massive with the most comfortable sofas we have had in any of our hostels so far. It would be great for large groups to come to and relax. In fact that is what a lot of people do here anyway, especially if they are here to run, cycle or ski - there is only so much exercise you can do in one day! The only thing that Falls Creek falls down on is the lack of a decent supermarket and internet access, hence why we are uploading two of our blogs at the same time.


The infamous lounge

The day started a little later than normal as there was no need to get out running before the heat, as it only reaches around 20C here. Andrea managed an 80min run around some of the undulating roads out of the town. The altitude doesn’t seem too noticeable on the steady runs as Andrea was able to clip along at a decent pace. It has worked out that we are moving on before Andrea’s next harder sessions, so we don’t know how the thinner air would affect things on the harder efforts. Something to test out next time maybe ;).


Andrea on her run

At around midday we went for a 4mile walk to the north of the town, which took us up a few hundred meters overlooking the town. There is only a little snow around, which will melt further as it warms up. During the Australian summer Falls Creek is a haven for walkers and they go to town for them. The walking routes are all planned and marked out, which is awesome. Means you see some good sights and more importantly; can’t get lost! We returned and did ‘big core’ before relaxing the rest of the evening in the lounge and watching TV.


Mt McKay - last nights walk - altitude 1852m


Falls Creek from above

During the day we saw a few more Australian and American distance runners, including Bobby Curtis (who ran 13:19min for 5000m last year) and Collis Birmingham (Australian distance running stud who ran 13:14min for 5000m this year and qualified for world champs final in Berlin as well). It got us thinking about being full-time elite athletes. It is something that at some points we have both dreamed about. The lifestyle is fantastic - you are able to travel the world through racing and get to train in amazing venues such as Falls Creek. Apart from the training it is a really relaxed lifestyle (its important to not get too tired between runs) and you get to do something you love doing every day. If things are going to plan it is great. However, with running you are always just an injury away from having to write-off a season and even if you are in your best shape ever, unless you get the right races, have the right mental approach and a bit of luck as well, then it can all be for nothing. You may as well not have bothered with all the hard effort. And when you are so focused on certain goals, which can be months or even years away it can be demoralising when things don’t go right. Especially as you have days and months to mull things over. Not much else to take your mind off things. Many elites can’t handle being full-time if things aren’t going right. That is why it is always important to have a sense of perspective and not let the sport totally dominate your life. Obviously being full-time is a must to attain the most out of yourself, but unless you are the right sort of person, it can be sole-destroying if things aren’t going as you want them to.

That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have jumped at the chance though ;)