Operation Kookaburra Kicks Off

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It was an evening that many of the runners planning to attend the Gold Coast Airport Marathon 2011 (GCAM) were waiting for - the start of Operation Kookaburra, a marathon training program tailored to prepare these GCAM-bound runners with a sufficient base to see them though this fast and PB-friendly course. The initiative by Tourism Queensland, GCAM and Team FatBird was a first for the Singapore running community to have a specific and structured training program for an overseas marathon.

Although the weather looked gloomy, and rain started in the late evening at different parts of the island, there was still a good number of Kookaburra trainees (of the 80 who have signed up to date) who turned up for the first session. By 7.45pm, the shelter at Changi Beach Park was all set up with the refreshment, baggage and registration points to take care of the 2 groups of trainees...the other being those who were preparing for the Sundown Marathon (Operation NightHawk). As the Kookaburra trainees arrived, the team of FatBird Running Guides were on hand to assimilate them as well as help them get settled in.

The Kookaburras will be going through a 12-week structured program, with weekly training schedules and information/tips dispensed to them, along with a private training area for sharing of information on training and GCAM support matters. There will be 6 fortnightly face-face group training runs with Team FatBird where they will be brought through the phases of base building and pace training. The first few sessions will focus on the BaseBuild phase of the FlightZONES system. Most of the training sessions will be in the dusk hours of the evenings and nights to simulate the cooler (although not quite as dry and nice) conditions in Gold Coast.

After a briefing of the training plan and the evening's route, the Kookaburras were flagged off together with their Running Guides for distances of 13km (HM) and 21km (FM). There was much enthusiasm as quite a number are joining FatBird's night LSDs for the first time, while others have been waiting for the start of training to kick off. As the Kookaburras ran off towards Coastal Road, they eventually settled into a front and mid pack, with a few taking it easy at the rear. The NightHawks, who were already into session #6 began their first session of Pace Training, with the respective groups starting with their Pace Group Leaders and teams.

As we ran along the 'long and mentally-draining' Coastal Road, we could see the flickering lights of the Pacers' blinkers and the luminous glows of the light sticks around the trainees' wrists and backs. There were quite a fair bit of chatting, cheering one another on, and making a little noise to keep the silence of the night to more bearable levels. The air was quite cool actually, in spite of the impending rain which did not come. By the time the front NightHawk groups reached NSRCC, the Kookaburras were already running back, smartly in groups. It was just the first session, and already they were able to keep in pace, partly thanks to more experienced FatBird Runners in their midst.

Most of the Kookaburra trainees made it back to the end point within the maximum on-feet time of 2.5hrs set for the FM category. The experienced runners in the group finished looking very strong but the newer runners did well too, in spite of this being the longest run they have done in quite a while. After refreshments of isotonic drinks, bananas and apples, they were given a post-run briefing as well as the next training session.

It was a great start for Operation Kookaburra. We are looking forward to see them face-face in a fortnight, especially for those who did not managed to attend the first session. We will continue to maintain communications and the dispensing of training information in The Nest. Meanwhile, there have been new enquiries and registrations for the Kookaburra Program. We hope to have a close-knit group by the time we are bound for GCAM at the end of June.

Facebook Photos from FatBirds Chin, Winston, DO
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