Davies did a complete 180 degree turnaround in his life, and before he knew it he was representing Australia at the tender age of 32.
And although having conquered everything from the shortest of distances to the longest (240kms in the 2014 Coast to Kosci), Davies’ says his favourite distance is the 5km.
“You know exactly where your fitness is at with a 5km, the distance provides so much feedback,” he explains.
“If my 5km is fast, I know I’ll be fast across all other distances; on the flipside, if I’m slower than where I need to be, I know I have to go away and work harder in training as something is missing.
“Sub 16 is where I want to be for my 5km leading into Croatia. I know the endurance is the easy part of the training, the speed work required to run a 5km under 16 minutes is always much harder for me.”
Realistically, with only a few weeks left leading into Croatia, Davies’ mileage has been around the 160km to 200km per week mark, and because the 100km World Championships are a road race, he’ll be taking his focus more on road than off.
For the Blue Mountains resident, there will still be an equal emphasis on building speed and endurance as holding a strong, steady pace for the distance, with lots of VO2 Max sessions, pure speed work, tempo runs, and just lots of kilometres.
Because for Davies, there’s a goal in mind.
“I’ve had a great year thus far, having won some big trail events and getting my marathon time around 2:30, but I have a bit of a goal to be in good enough shape by Croatia to break the long-standing Australian 100km record of 6:29 by Tim Sloan,” he says.
“To do this, I’ll need to be in absolute peak condition in September. If I know I haven’t quite gotten there, I won’t jeopardise my result by foolishly still pursuing that time; if I run another 6:44 like I did in Spain at the last World Championships, then I’ll be more than happy.”
Despite having years of experience as part of varying world teams, Davies has never taken the opportunities for granted, and revels in having a personal target to achieve to make his country proud.
“It’s always a great honour being part of an Australian representative team, and I’ve never undervalued this,” he explains.
“In my four previous 100k World Championship events, I’ve run sub 7 hour – I’ve never done a sub 7 outside of a World Championship; it’s also super exciting this year as it’s the first time the men’s team can legitimately say that it has a shot at a team podium medal, which is a dream I’ve been harbouring ever since I ran my first World Championships.”
Davies may be focusing his efforts on attaining his race goals and captaining a strong team of athletes, but just because his eyes are on the prize doesn’t mean encouraging others to reach their goals has dissipated.
“Even if representing your country is just an inkling of an interest you harbour, keep pursuing your goals, and if the opportunity ever comes where you’ve developed your ultra running to the level where you can have a crack at qualifying for any of the representative teams, then go for it!” he says.
“And if at first you don’t succeed, keep trying.
“If there’s one thing ultra runners are good at, it’s at being resilient and stubborn, so this should come naturally.
“Never think you’re too old, or that you ‘got into ultra running too late’, because it’s simply not true as evidenced by our team make up – most of us are in our early to mid 40s, with a couple of the ladies in their 50s.
“AURA has shown this year that if you’re good enough, you’ll be selected, so please don’t ever think that representing your country is beyond any of you – it’s not.
“We all started in the same place as every single other runner. With some focused training, perhaps enlisting the help of a good coach, and dedication, anything is possible.”
Pictured (feature): Brendan Davies finished 19th at the 2016 Comrades. Photograph – Supplied.
Pictured: Davies takes the win at this year’s UTA. Photograph – Supplied.
