Thomas "The Tank" Dade

Blog Update #11

It’s been a hectic 4-6 weeks, you’d think the COVID-19 pandemic would’ve slown me down due to gyms closing and work drying up, however as a labourer and as someone who’s had access to weights I’ve been very fortunate. My work and training routine has been anything but slow, it’s been crazy. I’ve been lucky enough to get 80+ hours of work some weeks, a combination of labouring and pamphlet deliveries. I’ve also had some of the best training sessions in the past 4-6 weeks than I’ve had for years. Again I’ve been lucky, although gyms have been closed down I’ve been training everday, I’ve had access to my mates home gym. Once we finished working we’d head straight to the weight room. With his help my deadlift has gone from 110kg to 140kg, my bench press 70kg to 80kg, my shoulder press 40kg to 57.5kg, my back squat 70kg to 100kg, my pull-ups 5 reps to 9 & my push-ups 20 reps to 40. I’ve also run two training marathons and even a 60km ultramarathon that was part of the Great Ocean Road Virtual Running Festival, I’ve also been running shorter 10km-30km runs. As a result of all this quality training I’m in the best shape of my life (besides a few niggles which has led me to not running as frequently as I want).

As I mentioned above I’ve been working a lot and as a result I’ve managed to go from having negative $400 AUD in the bank post Aconcagua expedition to having $4000 AUD. I’ve finally got an Australian Business Number (ABN) and started my own labouring business with the hope one day to be able to work for myself completely. I’ve also entered 4 ultramarathons which cost well over $1000 AUD. What’s exciting about the savings is not the money itself though, it’s the opportunities that open up because of it. I can start planning what I’m going to do for the back half of 2020, and I can even plan what I want to do next year in terms of expeditions and ultramarathons. Like so many my race plans in 2020 went to s**t with many of my planned races being either cancelled or postponed however were not going to focus on those instead I’ve been planning on what’s next. Assuming some races can start moving forward from August I’ve currently got 4 ultramarathons booked from August to November; The Wonderland Run – 60km, Surf Coast Century – 100km, Great Ocean Walk 100s – 100km and Alpine Challenge – 100 miles. These are all locked in and paid for, I hope to also run numerous 50km’s in-between these races and finish an IRONMAN and a 10km swim in December. With that being said nothing is guaranteed due to both the COVID-19 pandemic and I have no idea how my body will hold up with all these races. On top of this I plan to join Climbing the Seven Summits (CTSS) on their Australian Alpine Academy and Mount Kosciuszko Ascent expeditions in July. Learning more skills in regards to mountaineering as well as navigation is a must for me as I start to make my way to more technical mountains such as Denali, Mount Everest and even other mountains outside of the seven summits such as Ama Dablam, Mount Cook, etc (I’ve got big dreams). I also need to improve my navigation for more intense ultramarathons such as the Alpine Challenge 2020 Ultramarathon – 100 miler and Hut 2 Hut 2021 Ultramarathon – 100km. Yes I mentioned a 2021 race, that’s the thing Im not only planning for the back half of 2020 but I’m looking ahead to 2021. I want 2021 to be a big year, I’m looking at a possible Denali ascent which if successful would be seven summit #5 (if I do Mount Kosciuszko with CTSS this year). I’ve also already got 3 ultramarathons booked for 2021, as mentioned above Hut 2 Hut – 100km, Ultra-Trail Australia – 100km and Buffalo Stampede – Grand Slam (10km/75km/42km). These are all intense mountain races which will push me to my limits. So as you can see I’ve been planning, I want to continue to push what I once thought was possible.

So I’ve been working and planning and with that I’ve been stressing, taking on too much work at times. This has led me to coming close to having breakdowns even though I thrive when I’m busy and working hard. Finding a balance between work, training and life is difficult. If I’m not working or training I feel like I’m not being productive, this leads to me getting anxious so I either work more and/or train more. This results in me running myself into the ground to the point were I’m struggling to keep my eyes open whilst eating dinner and can’t sleep properly even though I’m super tired because I’m anxious. However even though I know I’m tired and need rest I feel I can’t stop and rest because if I do I feel like I’m being lazy. It’s a vicious cycle and I know I need help because it’s starting to beak me down. As I continue to work on achieving my ultramarathon goals and mountaineering goals I need to start finding inner peace before I fall apart. I need to find the confidence and self love where I can be happy with who I am and not just what I do or achieve, otherwise I’ll never be happy or satisfied.