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Running Aimlessly Down Under - From 54 to 53 sec 400m
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Absolutely miserable evening in Melbourne. Rain pouring down. The first proper rainy day Melbourne has got this summer I think. Got absolutely drenched during my session. I was completely unprepared for it and didn't have suitable clothing. It was real Irish weather. I've been struggling with homesickness but days like this go some way towards easing it a bit. The thoughts of doing sessions in that weather all year around is not nice (though a lot easier if prepared for it). Makes me realise how good I have it weather wise with regards training. Nothwithstanding the disgusting hot days I've been running in great sprint conditions for most of the summer.
Anyway coach said to me he's not interested in my time on Saturday. Told me to do 3x200m hard at around 95% with 200m walk break (probably around 2 and a half minutes). I wanted to get out of the rain so rushed my warm up so I could run with the rest. A mixture of middle distance and sprinters this evening.
First rep wasn't the best, perhaps as a result of a quicker warm up. Second rep was better and I crossed the line just ahead of one guy who timed himself at 28.6. Given I was wearing flats on a wet track that wasn't too bad. Last rep I could feel the lactic acid in the legs but battled through to finish not too far behind the faster guys.
The middle distance runners wanted to jog the 200m recovery instead of walk, so they ditched us after the second rep. They didn't like the longer rests and one remarked "bloody sprinters" when she looked around and saw a few of the guys a good 30m behind her on our walk back.
Coach said afterwards that a good training session for me on Saturday is to do a 200m and then an 800m. He said it's something to consider. I hadn't thought about it, and I wasn't too enthusiastic about it when he said it, but I will give it some thought for sure. Depends how I'm feeling I guess.0 -
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The 12th and final round of the AV Shield held at Lakeside Stadium at Albert Park. A final chance for all clubs in all divisions to grab that coveted spot in the AV Shield Final, the highlight of the Victorian inter-club athletics calender.
Going into the final round Richmond were in 3rd place of Division 2, just 1 point adrift of Old Xaverians in 2nd place with only the top 2 teams claiming a spot in the finals. We had been in second all year long and at one point held around a 6-7 point lead over 3rd place but lack of depth has caught up on us as the stronger clubs have started getting their better athletes available and we haven't been able to compete.
Despite everybody's best efforts we were unable to overhaul them in round 12 and so we won't be represented in the Shield Final, for either men or for women which is a great shame. As a result in 2 weeks time I will have a weekend off racing.
From a personal point of view Round 12 was about the 200m and 800m.
200m:
Lanes 1 and 2 were being used for the women's 800 so there were 6 of us in my heat and I was in lane 5. I knew nothing at all about my opponents. As always at Albert Park there was a wind, which more often than not is a headwind in the straight given the position of the finish line in relation to the lake and sea (whoever designed that aspect of the stadium made a balls of it altogether!).
Gun went off and I got out ok. Could have been better. Don't think it was as crisp as last weekend. 2 guys inside me eat up the stagger on me quickly and a guy outside me is stretching away from me. Could feel the wind in my face coming around the bend which was reasonably strong. Felt that from 50-100m I felt very relaxed, maybe even too relaxed. Ate up the stagger on a guy outside me coming off the bend and entered the straight in 4th place, well down on the others. My final 80 or so felt great though and I closed on those ahead of me but never really seriously threatened to catch any of them and finished about 6 tenths down on the guy in 3rd.
Was disappointed when I saw my time of 26.11 seconds with a -0.8 m/s headwind. This was 0.49 down on my PB and 0.36 down on last week. However there was a 2.0 m/s differential between this race and the other 2, so the gap in reality was about 2 tenths less. When thinking about it more there was no way that -0.8 reading was reflective of what the wind was really like as it was into my face coming around the bend, so it must have been more of a cross wind than a pure headwind in the straight. My coach said that my time was worth a PB to me. That's all he said on the matter. Another guy I know said it was the best he had ever seen me run (he hasn't seen all my races though) and that I looked strong and held my form right to the end. So I guess on reflection it was a good run. Can't control the weather unfortunately.
With regards the 200m there may not be many more this season. I plan to compete at that distance at the State Champs but only if it is after the 400m. Besides that there is currently no other 200 in my calender for the rest of the season but that could change.
800m:
My coach suggested on Thursday for me to do the 800 as a form of training. This planted the seed, and with one of training partners doing it I thought I may aswell jump in his race. He had run 24.6 earlier in the day for 200m, into a headwind, a very impressive performance. However I've always found I have better endurance than him, and our 400s are therefore almost identical this year (with me having a slight quarter of a second lead). I was in no doubt I would beat him over 800m.
Unlike the 200m where I knew nobody, in my 800m heat I knew a fair few. Sharing lane 2 with me was a club mate of mine who I always beat over 800m, despite him having a slightly better PB than me. A mate of mine from Collingwood was in lane 3. He told me beforehand he was going to do none of the work and just sit on my shoulder and outkick me. He's pretty talented but doesn't really push himself and really just does athletics for the pure fun of it, and does almost every event. Then there was my training partner in lane 6.
First 100m I went out quick and then settled. Coming into lane 1 I am in 3rd place with my mate from Collingwood in the lead. Seeing fairly quickly that he wasn't interested in making much of a pace of things I went past him and into the lead after 180m and I took up the pace. First time in my life I've ever been in the lead doing the work in a distance race. Behind me were 4 others sticking very closely to me with my mate literally on my shoulder almost in lane 2. This felt like a real race. Like one of those ones you see on Eurosport! I felt like Paul Tergat with Haile just sitting on me waiting to pounce.
Jokes aside, I was feeling pretty comfortable and hit the bell at around 70 seconds. Now was the time to push on and shake the others off. With about 300m to go my mate goes past me easily, but upon a quick glance behind me I see a reasonable gap has opened on the rest. I have shaken them off. From now on it is digging deep and trying to stay as close to my mate as possible. He's moving away easily from me, but so am I from the rest. I push as hard as I can and finish about 20m down in second place.
My time was 2:23.8 which was a PB by 3.8 seconds, and a season's best by 4.6 seconds. I finished 5.2 seconds ahead of my training partner which was satisfying, and 5.4 seconds ahead of my other club mate.
Of course this time is nothing special and is way off my 400 time but I don't expect it to be near to that. I don't train specifically for 800 so I can't be expecting 2:10 or whatever. Coach said that it was a very good workout for me. I'd love to have one crack at sub 2:20 at the end of the season, either in a race or a time trial. An Irish mate of mine over here who is a fairly legit runner said he'd be happy to pace me.
Shot Putt:
With decathlon just one week away I opted for another go at the shot putt to get some valuable practice in. My first attempt was 6.00 and my second was a poor 5.7x. However I improved with my 3rd attempt to a 6.21m which is my second best throw ever. PB is 6.51m which hopefully I can better next week when it really matters.
High Jump:
There was just one high jump competition left for the day so I stuck my name down for a bit of practice for next week. However the starting height was 1.35m and despite my begging they would not change this. I knew I had no hope of clearing it as my PB is 1.26m (not that I do this often). I gave it a shot but it was a waste of time. I didnt get close and I really gained nothing from the experience ahead of next week.
So the AV Shield is over for this season. How those 12 rounds have flown. In total I managed to compete in 10 of them, and have done 4 100s, 6 200s, 4 400s, 4 800s, 2 4x100s, 4 shot putts, and a few 4x400s, so I know I have done my bit for the club.
Next weekend is Victorian Open Decathlon Championships, probably the best weekend on the AV calender.0 -
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Pisco Sour wrote: »With the State Decathlon Champs in just 4 weeks time I thought for a bit of fun I would do up a bit of a target for the event. The main reason for doing it is to get another 400m race in before State Champs in March, but also because it’s incredible fun. And once you are taking part you want to do as well as you can, even in the events I don’t train for. So I have set myself a modest but challenging target of 2500 points, which would be a significant improvement on my 2290 from last year.
100m: Bit conservative here. It would be a small PB, but you can never know what the wind will be like so best to be cautious.
Long Jump: Haven’t done the event all year. Jumped 4.32m last year. I’m faster and stronger now, so even without any technical improvements or any practice a 4.28m should be well doable.
Shot Putt: PB is 6.51m, but that was a bit of a freak. Next best is 6.02m so basing my target of 6.18m on that.
High Jump: Haven’t done this since September but I jumped 1.26m in appalling conditions that day so 1.28m should be realistic.
400m: Have predicted for 55.8. I expect to be in the 55’s by then, but with the event being at the end of a long day that’s bound to have an effect so I’ve chosen a high 55 here.
Hurdles: Won’t be attempting them, and even if I finished my time would be so slow I would receive zero points. No worth it.
Discus: Have thrown 15m before so no reason why I cant do it again.
Pole Vault: Will give it a shot but am hopeless at this.
Javelin: Have thrown 13m the first time I did it. Only 10m the other 2 times. Am fairly useless at this so modest target.
1500m: Finished the decath in 5:28 last year. Much fitter this year so 5:20 is realistic.
What sort of training will I be doing? Well I’m not taking the eyes off the main prize so very little. My training will cover me for 100m and 400m completely. The few 800s I have done and general fitness will get me through 1500m. All my gym work will hopefully help me somewhat towards the rest, and I will do another 2 shot putt’s at the Shield. But besides that I probably wont do any specific stuff for other events til Country Champs are over. Once they are done I may ask somebody to give me a crash course on the javelin and discuss, and it would be good to practice the high jump. All of this after my normal training of course. It’s just a bit of fun and something different in the end of the day. But I will come back to this post as reference closer to the time.
With decathlon champs tomorrow I thought I would dig up this post from a month or so ago and modify it slightly.
100m: If I get fair conditions I feel I am in the shape to run 12:7x. Why not? I'm in way better shape since my 12.92 which was my last 100m race, 2 months ago (seems like an age now). Expected points approx 500
Long Jump: I haven't done it all year but with my improved speed I should be able to consolidate last years performance of 4.32m. Expected points approx 250
Shot Putt: 6.21m last week. Getting better with every competition this season. Hopefully can smash out a PB tomorrow (current PB is 6.51m). Expected points approx 250
High Jump: Last week I did a comp starting at 1.35m which was a waste of time. PB is 1.26m, so will be starting at 1.10m to get a feel for it. Hopefully go close to 1.30m.Expected points approx 250
400m: Consistently at low-mid 56 now, so would expect that again. Probably in 55 shape now I believe, but 9 hours at the track and 4 events beforehand may have a bearing. Would be delighted with any sort of PB tomorrow and do believe I can do it. Expected points approx 550
Day 1 expected points: Approx 1800
110m Hurdles: I haven't attempted these before, and with Vic Champs in just 3 weeks I won't be engaging in such tomfoolery on Sunday. Expected points approx 0
Discus: Another event I haven't done in 12 months. I'm so much stronger now than I was then so I would expect an improvement on my 14.17m last year. Expected points approx 200
Pole Vault: I really really want to clear just one height, the lowest which is 1.50m which would score me around 50 points. But I haven't touched a pole vault in a year so this can only be seen as a bonus if it happens. I have cleared 1.75m before in practice (18 months ago) but in competition after 7 events is a different story. Expected points approx 0
Javelin: This event is one of my worst. I always seem to foul by having the wrong end hit the ground first. I tend to look foolish attempting this, when you've got people lobbing it 50m effortlessly without much of a run up. I only managed around 10m last year, but I did 13m before so I should target that at least. Expected points approx 50
1500m: I definitely think the 1500 target is a bit soft now given my 2:23 800m last week. 5:10 would be a better target, although hard to know how the body will react after 9 events. I hope to be ahead of a few of the better decathletes in this this year, as last year I disappointingly was way down in 5:28. Very lenient with points here so a great chance to boost my tally.Expected points approx 500
Day 2 expected points: Approx 750
Total Expected points: Approx 2550 (Lets make the overall target 2600 so)
Obviously the 400m and 100m are the priority events, but this is a fine competition with great people so the event will be treated with the utmost respect. There will be no tanking the high jump etc in prep for the 400m. There will be more 400m races but there's only one Vic Decathlon, the most enjoyable weekend on the calender. The only reason I am tanking the hurdles is simply because I can't do them and don't want an injury.
The next couple of days will no doubt be fun, painful and satisfying, and no doubt new friendships will be made just like last year. Will report all the thrills and spills over the coming days.0 -
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Very good first day of Victorian Decathlon Champs. 12.82 for 100m (499 points) into a -0.7m/s headwind, a PB by 0.10, but in reality by a lot more given the headwind.
Then a PB in the long jump of 4.40m (273 points), a somewhat disappointing shot putt of 6.18m (259 points) and an unsatisfying high jump of 1.22m (200 points).
Finally a 56.39 for 400m (544 points) which was just 0.13 off my PB. Given the fact I was stuffed after the first 4 events, lacking in energy during the warm up, and got muscle spasms in my right calf 3-4 times during the race, that is possibly the best race I have ever run. This is the 3rd time I have raced a particular guy at Decathlon. The other 2 times he beat me by 1 second, today I smashed him by over 1.5 seconds. Don't think he was expecting that. Despite all that I'm a little gutted not to have PB'ed. It would have been an excellent occasion to have done it, but perhaps it was expecting a lot after 9 hours at the track and 4 events in the legs. 55 surely will come next time when running it fresh.
1775 points overall after Day 1, 102 points more than at this stage last year. Day 2 will be a struggle but looking good for an overall Decathlon PB.
Had the full ice bath/ warm bath treatment this evening. The decathletes and heptathletes were able to get into the excellent facility owned by the Victorian Institute of Sport located beside the track. It could be a lifesaver ahead of tomorrow. Things aren't going to get any easier.0 -
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