Birmingham back to basics as he hits the road
Published Mon 15 May 2017
As Collis Birmingham moves up in distance towards the marathon, following a few seasons derailed by injury, he is welcoming a return to the daily grind that made him one of Australia’s top distance runners.
The 32-year-old is a veteran of the Melbourne Track Club, headed by coach and manager Nic Bideau, littered with Olympians, national record holders and rising young stars from around the country.
Training is not easy, nor should it be when the Olympics is the goal, whether it is on the trails at Mt Laguna in the United States or on the track at their European base in Teddington, England.
He has endured the journey, putting in the work season after season, laying the foundations every professional distance runner needs to be competitive at the elite level.
“It is a great atmosphere,†Birmingham said of his training group.
“We have a lot of experience in the group now and some younger athletes who are experiencing everything for the first time - which is fun for them and exciting for us to watch.
“But it's also a steep learning curve. You can get found out pretty quickly when training alongside Olympic and world championship finalists, some persistence is required as it doesn't always come quickly.
“I like that the athletes in our group take responsibility to help each other improve, but there is no piggybacking.â€
Birmingham has done it all before, all those things that are required to be world-class - the gruelling track workouts, double runs and gym sessions amongst a typical week loaded with mileage.
Training partners have included David McNeill, Brett Robinson, Ben St Lawrence, Andy Vernon, Sam McEntee, Jack Rayner, Luke Mathews and 1500m national record holder Ryan Gregson.
His resume since working with MTC makes for impressive reading – a two-time Olympian, former 10,000m national record holder and five-time national champion on the track.
“Nic and I started working together toward the end of 2005,†Birmingham recalled.
“He has a great amount of knowledge and I've tried to take in as much as I can over the last 12 years.
“What sets him apart from other coaches is his work ethic and commitment to his athletes and their goals.
“It's very easy being an MTC athlete, just try and work harder than Nic works and you will do well.â€
Birmingham is now healthy after a serious hamstring injury and on the march towards a marathon sometime at the end of the year as he looks towards next year’s Commonwealth Games.
The Ballarat local’s four years between the last two Olympics started brightly after the London Games with a superb 2013 before injuries limited his performances going in to Rio, leading to his absence from the team in Brazil.
Prior to
Birmingham is well on the way back to recapturing that form as he turns his attention to racing more on the roads in preparation for his first real attempt at a marathon.
“I'm going well,†he said of his form.
“I'm back putting consistent blocks of training together – I've had some setbacks which I can mostly narrow down to turning 30, I guess I'm paying for the clear run I had up until that point.
“I had most of my success from months and months of good training and I want to get back to that.
“I will race a 10K in Manchester later this month and in August I am racing the Sunshine Coast Half Marathon and I will attempt to be the fastest Australian over that distance on home soil.â€
His standing amongst Australia’s best distance runners is right up with the elite, ranked second behind Craig Mottram over 3,000m and 5,000m, and behind Ben St Lawrence over 10,000m on the all-time lists.
To highlight his elite range, Birmingham is the eighth fastest Australian ever over the mile and 11th quickest over 1500m while also clocking one of the fastest half marathon on an IAAF ratified course.
Birmingham’s personal bests
1500m - 3:35.50
3000m - 7:35.45
5000m - 13:09.57
10,000m - 27:29.23
Half marathon - 1:00:56
Given his personal bests from the track and his current times over a half marathon,
At the moment, Michael Shelley and Jeff Hunt are the only active runners who have broken 2:12 as all the local distance men are now looking to post times to qualify for the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.
“I am (looking forward to the marathon), the weekend has only made me more excited to see what I can do,†he said after pacing duties at the Breaking2 event in Monza, Italy last week.
“It's the goal but I haven't decided on a marathon just yet, it's likely to be between October and December.
“I'd be lying if I said Mona and I haven't had many long runs debating this exact topic, as I'm sure a lot of others have.
“It would be great to go sub 2:10 but I have no idea how the marathon and I will get along, so I won't be making any bold predictions.â€
Birmingham’s involvement with the Breaking2 run hosted by Nike in Italy would have provided inspiration for every distance runner who will soon be taking on the marathon.
He was one of over 20 pacemakers used to help tow Eliud Kipchoge, Zersenay Tadese and Lelisa Desisa
“I was approached to be one of the pacemakers about three weeks before the event and I said yes right away, before I even thought about it really,†Birmingham explained.
“It worked for me because I was looking to do something after a good block of training in Mt Laguna with the rest of MTC and as a
“The most important part of the job was to not get in the way of the three athletes and that's why we did so much practice.
“We wanted to be as smooth as possible come the day – the times weren't that difficult, but I still needed to be on my game.â€
Kipchoge went on to clock 2:00:25 in a truly jaw-dropping run regardless of all the scientific help provided with a perfectly flat looped course, state-of-the-art shoes, pacing teams and drinks delivered at any time.
The time will not count as a world record despite being well under Kenyan runner Dennis Kimetto’s 2:02:57 from Berlin in 2014, as it was not a proper race ratified by the IAAF.
“Before I got there, I was a sceptic,†Birmingham admitted of the pursuit to break two hours.
“I thought 2:01.30 at best, but when I arrived (about a week before) I saw the work and thought that had gone into the attempt and I could see how determined Eliud was, so I started to come around.
“I ran three legs of 4.75km – we had roughly 27 minutes between each leg so I would jog around and do some strides in between.â€
Later this year Birmingham will not break two hours for the marathon, maybe no one ever will, but if his body allows him to string those months of training together there is a good chance he will be at the pointy end of the Australian rankings for yet another distance.