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Running Aimlessly Down Under - From 54 to 53 sec 400m
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Just 3 of our sprint group at the track today: Myself, our 50.1 second 400 runner and our 10.6 100m runner back in his prime.
3x300m with 10 minute recovery.
My times were:
46-46-47
The 50.1 second lad was:
39-40-40
And our 100m sprinter (probably at 11.5ish these days) went:
43-43-44
So we were all fairly consistent which is very important. I was 3 seconds behind him throughout which I'm happy enough with. I was getting very close to him on Tuesday at the end of the hills so maybe I thought I would get closer, but hills and track are two different beasts. On the first rep I lost a lot of ground to him on the first 100m. On the 2nd and 3rd reps I started better but lost a lot during 100m and 200m. On all 3 reps however I finished stronger than him so at least that bit is encouraging.
Speed needs improving so I'll be doing some 60s on Saturday before the beer mile. Will probably just do 2x(4x60).
Now I got to get myself ready for this weekends big beer mile race. Off to the bottle shop to get some training in.
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Hey Pisco, how old is your 100m mate and is he training for the 400m now?Pisco Sour wrote: »Just 3 of our sprint group at the track today: Myself, our 50.1 second 400 runner and our 10.6 100m runner back in his prime.
3x300m with 10 minute recovery.
My times were:
46-46-47
The 50.1 second lad was:
39-40-40
And our 100m sprinter (probably at 11.5ish these days) went:
43-43-44
So we were all fairly consistent which is very important. I was 3 seconds behind him throughout which I'm happy enough with. I was getting very close to him on Tuesday at the end of the hills so maybe I thought I would get closer, but hills and track are two different beasts. On the first rep I lost a lot of ground to him on the first 100m. On the 2nd and 3rd reps I started better but lost a lot during 100m and 200m. On all 3 reps however I finished stronger than him so at least that bit is encouraging.
Speed needs improving so I'll be doing some 60s on Saturday before the beer mile. Will probably just do 2x(4x60).
Now I got to get myself ready for this weekends big beer mile race. Off to the bottle shop to get some training in.0 -
Hey Pisco, how old is your 100m mate and is he training for the 400m now?
He's about 41 or 42 I think. Nah he's training for 100 mainly. He said that yesterday was his first ever 3x300 session in his life. I dont believe him though.
The coach wants him to run some 400s this year. Wants to see hom doing 56s. 0 -
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Pisco Sour wrote: »He's about 41 or 42 I think. Nah he's training for 100 mainly. He said that yesterday was his first ever 3x300 session in his life. I dont believe him though. The coach wants him to run some 400s this year. Wants to see hom doing 56s.
Nice 1, keep me posted on his races please. Good luck tomorrow. If you throw up any beer is it a DQ?0 -
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Krusty_Clown wrote: »Did you practice with the bottles in the weeks/days leading up to the race? What kind of beer was it? (sticking to the important questions).
Yeh I had 2 training sessions (discussed in detail above). On Thursday I did a beer session with 2 x 1 beer off a 5 minute recovery between each rep. Felt pissed after but it was a vital session for getting me up to speed.
Then on Friday I had a half beer mile session, with 2 beers and 2 laps, and felt fine, and then eased back with 3 beers each in 30 minutes with a 5 minute recovery between each recovery beer. This laid the foundations for yesterday's top 15 finish.
Report coming very soon.0 -
Pisco Sour wrote: »Interesting stuff. I guess though if you're doing 55 at 16 with no real gym work then you probably had a fair bit of natural speed, and I would guess that you would have run a lot faster once you reached adulthood (correct me if I'm wrong). I guess aswell for anybody who is growing and still in their teens weights could be argued to be bad.
For myself though, being in my late 20s it would probably be a bit different. Having said that I'm not doing too much actual weights. Most of my gym work is with regards my legs and core, with things like step-ups, crunches, lunges etc. I've gotten a lot stronger since I started. I'm not trying to bulk up, and my weight has remained at 65kg (which is pretty light for a sprinter I think) in that time. But I'm much stronger and have a better muscle to fat ratio than I had last season. I'm hoping that this will enable me to get through the tougher sessions this year and stay injury free. To run a 55 I need to be running at a higher intensity and I need to be strong to get through such sessions injury free.
I'm no expert, but all my training group are in the gym twice a week, so I'm kind of just going with the crowd.
I got down to 51.3s before I packed it in 3 years ago... getting back on the horse now though. I haven't decided whether I'm focusing on 400m or 800m yet though. Just building up a base at the moment.
65kg is a good weight I think (although I'm a fair bit heavier now, I was about 65kg at 17/18), how tall are you? Those exercises all seem sensible enough, and being with a group is always more fun. Are you still in Australia? And what stage of the racing calendar is it at the moment? 0 -
Oregano_State wrote: »I got down to 51.3s before I packed it in 3 years ago... getting back on the horse now though. I haven't decided whether I'm focusing on 400m or 800m yet though. Just building up a base at the moment.
65kg is a good weight I think (although I'm a fair bit heavier now, I was about 65kg at 17/18), how tall are you? Those exercises all seem sensible enough, and being with a group is always more fun. Are you still in Australia? And what stage of the racing calendar is it at the moment?
My height is 5'10"
Here's the track calender for the season which starts in a few weeks.
http://www.athsvic.org.au/cache/NewsFile/6496AV%20Summer%20Calendar%203.09.2012.pdf
I have a race every weekend (bar 2 or 3) up to Christmas. Then my visa runs out, but I've just got a new job which is full time so there's a good chance I may get sponsored to stay on. But at worst I'll get half a season, and most of the grassroots stuff is before Christmas anyway. After xmas it is more dominated by championship events (which I'll definitely do if still here).0 -
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Background:
I've never been the greatest drinker. I was considered a lightweight in college, but over time built up a commendable (though not extraordinary) tolerance, which probably reached its peak in around 2007/08. I was never the best chugger of beer however, and was usually more of a slow burner when it came to the pints o' the black stuff! All in all, in drinking terms I am extremely average.
The running part is not better. I'm not much of a runner, and certainly am no miler, especially compared to the vast majority of my competitors in this beer mile. My best non-beer mile time was just before leaving Ireland in September 2010 when brianderunner paced me along to a 5:48, which was off almost no training. Right now, despite the fact my training is only for the 400m, I'd be confident that I could better that and maybe go sub 5:40, but in mile terms I'd be way down the list.
Target:
Given my mile PB and my lack of drinking prowess I set myself what at first appeared a realistic target of sub 10 minutes for the beer mile.
Fail to Prepare, Prepare to Fail
With 2 days until the race I was yet to do any specific training. Sure I had been out on the tear the weekend before, but sipping a beer in 30 minutes was not going to cut it at Melbourne Uni this weekend. So a contingency plan was put in place to get some last minute training in. After all, the facebook page for this event was gaining momentum, some athletes were flying in from a Tasmania for this specifically, and the event was even covered on Letsrun, so it would be wrong of me to not give it the respect it deserves. There were even bloody betting odds for this event!
Thursday night was focused solely on chugging. 2x 1 beer with 5 min recovery. First beer was swilled in 39 but I could only manage a 50 for the 2nd. 10 minutes later disaster struck. I was pissed. Confidence shattered, I went to bed that night thinking I had no chance of getting through this race in a respectable time, and sub 10 was nothing but a pipe dream.
I managed to convince a mate of mine to join in the festivities for the laugh. He's not a runner. He doesn't look like a runner. He hasn't competed in a single athletics event in his life. But he can neck a drink and hold it down well. We went for a training session Friday afternoon on my local cricket oval, a half beer mile. 1 beer, 400m, 1 beer, 400m, and then warmed down with a few crucially important recuperation beers. Confidence restored. We both safely negotiated this session. I now knew I was going to make it through the full mile, but a sub 10 still seemed a distant dream.
The beer:
Beer mile Kingston rules state a beer needs to be at least 355ml and 5% in volume. However I was never going to be setting any records so I just picked the best beer that would suit me (as did plenty of others). I decided for Hahn Super Dry, a lower carb beer with 4.6%, 330ml, 1.2 standard drinks. A full strength beer for sure, but slightly under the allowed amount, but unless you are at the pointy end of proceedings then it matters little. All training was completed with said beer.
The Race:
The atmosphere was hopping by the track. Approximately 40 competitors, and then probably twice as many spectators. There was music, and the sun came out. The excitement was building, but the nerves were also very much there, not just for me, but for some very good runners also. Running a sub 4:10 mile is one thing, but chugging 4 brews is another story entirely.
The gun went off and the crowd roared. I got off to a great start, but kept my enthusiasm in check. Took a few breathers but the drinking was pretty solid and I finished in 31 seconds, faster than any of my splits in training. However as I went off to run, I noticed I was towards the rear of the field with just 6-7 behind me. A lot of people went off like heroes and no doubt would suffer very soon.
First 100m was focused on burping. It's a key ingredient to successful beer mile-ing. Keeping all that gas in the stomach and going off at a blistering pace will destroy you body, mind and spirit. So burping out all the gas over the first 100m before upping the pace is necessary. Once this was completed I strided out and passed a few, but I was not running in any way hard, and indeed a few went past me.
2nd beer was solid. A little slower for sure, and more breathers, but just kept it conservative. At this stage you have no perception of where you are in the race as some of the top lads are nearly lapping you, and some are puking, and others are taking ages drinking their beer. So at this point it's just me versus the clock and afterwards you worry about where you finish. Kept the 2nd lap pretty conservative just like the first.
3rd beer was tougher than the first 2 but I heard my friend (I had a bit of a support crew) shout out encouragement which was greatly appreciated and it got me through this difficult moment. I plugged away, increasing the pace a little on the 3rd lap, but trying to hold myself together for the big last effort on the last lap.
4th lap and disaster strikes. I pick up the wrong beer. I opened somebody elses beer in my hazy confused state. One sip and I knew I was in trouble. This sh1t was dire, but what choice did I have now but to finish it! It was horrible tripe. How anybody would buy it I cannot comprehend. I can't remember the name of it and I'd like to keep it that way. I battle through, and burp like I've never burped before.
With 300m to go I knew I was not going to spew. It's a great feeling, knowing you are over the worst. At this point I put down the boot and overtake a few. I was finishing strong. With 400 to go the clock was less than 8 minutes on the clock. I knew sub 10 was a certainty. I couldn't believe it. I now just had to hold myself together and keep the alcohol down. With 150m to go and with the nearest person ahead of me well out of sight I eased back very slightly as the stomach was feeling a bit sketchy. Imagine the shame of vomiting in the final 100m and having to incur a penalty lap? I wouldn't let it happen and cruised home in 9:20. I was over the moon. In the provisional results I finished in 15th out of 38 finishers. My mate came home over 4 minutes later to finish ahead of about 15 people. Upon looking at the results I noticed I had beaten far superior athletes to myself. People I wouldn't be anywhere close to in a normal race. It just goes to show the importance of going out on the beer at least once a week. It's long term, lifelong training at holding one's beer.
Aftermath:
Once finishing and I caught my breath all the 4.8 standard drinks hit me at once and I was fairly hammered. What's the best cure for this? Crack open another beer. I didn't get home until 8 hours later. The drinking went on for the rest of the day and the craic was mighty. Good Irish representation aswell. Overall an excellent event, lots of fun and supremely organised. The only disappointment was Josh Harris failing to break the world record. He seemed to be in good form, but he had a bad day sadly and could only finish in 7th, way off his best. No doubt he's disappointed, but form is temporary, class is permanent, and he will be back at the forefront of world beer mileing for many years to come, that I have no doubt.
Advice:
Too many runners have tunnel vision with their training these days! Have a bit of craic. One beer mile won't kill ya. I'm back into my real training tomorrow and in no way will this weekend's events seriously hinder my performance over my upcoming races, but the enjoyment of this race will stay a lot longer in the memory than the guilt of one interupted Saturday afternoon session! Do it! 0 -
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Took the weekend off after some hard consistent training over the last few weeks to let the body recover a bit.
Back today with a bang. Did all 14 exercises twice, making the following changes:
1) Goodmornings - Bar now at 35lbs, up from 25lbs
2) Box Squats - Bar now at 35lbs, up from 25lbs
3) Crunches - 40, up from 35
4) Lunges with dunbells - 25, up from 20
5) Chin-ups - decided to, for a change, see how many of these I could manage rather than stopping at 10 all the time. Managed 20 which was pleasing, especially given then fact I could barely manage 2 the first time I did them 4 and a half months ago. Just did the 10 the second time around, and will probably go back to doing 10s on Wednesday.
6) Side sit-ups - 20 on each side, up from 15
Started a new job today which is obviously great news, but one of the minor side effects is that I can't get out until 5pm. By getting out at 5pm on the dot, and doing a bit of running around the corner to the station I can make a train that will have me arriving at the track at 5:30. Get changed quickly and I'd probably have 8-9 minutes to warm up. If I miss that train then I'll be late. It's a right pain to be honest that clubs do their training sessions so early out here. I don't want to be doing a short warm up and jumping into a session, but I also don't want to be running on my own as I won't improve that way. Could end up being a case of for example a 3x300 with 10 minute recovery I would miss the first 300, do the last 2 300s with the group and then do one on my own at the end to make up for the one I missed. We'll see how it all goes anyway.
Very sad about the Irish girl here in Melbourne who has gone missing. She was last seen only about a 15 minute walk from where I live
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Pisco Sour wrote: »Took the weekend off after some hard consistent training over the last few weeks to let the body recover a bit.
Back today with a bang. Did all 14 exercises twice, making the following changes:
1) Goodmornings - Bar now at 35lbs, up from 25lbs
2) Box Squats - Bar now at 35lbs, up from 25lbs
3) Crunches - 40, up from 35
4) Lunges with dunbells - 25, up from 20
5) Chin-ups - decided to, for a change, see how many of these I could manage rather than stopping at 10 all the time. Managed 20 which was pleasing, especially given then fact I could barely manage 2 the first time I did them 4 and a half months ago. Just did the 10 the second time around, and will probably go back to doing 10s on Wednesday.
6) Side sit-ups - 20 on each side, up from 15
Started a new job today which is obviously great news, but one of the minor side effects is that I can't get out until 5pm. By getting out at 5pm on the dot, and doing a bit of running around the corner to the station I can make a train that will have me arriving at the track at 5:30. Get changed quickly and I'd probably have 8-9 minutes to warm up. If I miss that train then I'll be late. It's a right pain to be honest that clubs do their training sessions so early out here. I don't want to be doing a short warm up and jumping into a session, but I also don't want to be running on my own as I won't improve that way. Could end up being a case of for example a 3x300 with 10 minute recovery I would miss the first 300, do the last 2 300s with the group and then do one on my own at the end to make up for the one I missed. We'll see how it all goes anyway.
Very sad about the Irish girl here in Melbourne who has gone missing. She was last seen only about a 15 minute walk from where I live
20 chin ups in one set? That's really good! I'd say I could only manage 10-12 at the moment. How many reps do you do for the squats though?
Yes that news about the Irish girl is very sad. Her husband was on the radio a few minutes ago... There's been a lit of trouble for Irish people recently down under. 0 -
Oregano_State wrote: »20 chin ups in one set? That's really good! I'd say I could only manage 10-12 at the moment. How many reps do you do for the squats though?
Yes that news about the Irish girl is very sad. Her husband was on the radio a few minutes ago... There's been a lit of trouble for Irish people recently down under.
Facebook page for her search is here. Horrible when you hear this happening to anybody, but when it's a fellow Irish person, and it happens in my very own local area out here it can be a bit hard to take: http://www.facebook.com/HelpUsFindJillMeagher
Yeh 20 in the one set. Had steadily progressed from a pathetic 2 on my first gym session in May, quickly up to 10 within about a month. Stopped then and kept it at 10. Decided the other day to give it a full crack and see what I could manage. Pretty delighted to get to 20 I have to say.
For the squats I am doing 2x10 twice during a gym session at the moment.0 -
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