Running Aimlessly Down Under - From 54 to 53 sec 400m

RandyMann

Hey Pisco, like I said before, my guess is that you are fatigued and the reasons for that could be a few. The decathlon like you mentioned is probably a factor.
Another thing that comes to mind is nutrition and I dont know what you are eating but you said before that you dont supplement with stuff like protein etc. With your added workload of the gym this season, have you made sure that you are getting enough protein in your diet to factor in for muscle growth and repair? I was told by a sports nutritionist that you need about 1.4grams of protein per kilo of body weight if you are training as a sprinter.
I figured myself recently that I was only getting half of that, so I doubled up and I am noticing the difference with recovery and the intensity I can apply in training. The real test is if I can get some more pbs in the Summer so time will tell.
I am not telling you to take supplements but maybe look at your diet overall to see if you are lacking in that area.
With regard to doing an 800 and looking to break 2:20, I wouldnt care and I wouldnt bother with middle distance races if I have only one more chance to try and run 55 this season. I would be doing speed work.

Pisco Sour

RandyMann wrote: »

Hey Pisco, like I said before, my guess is that you are fatigued and the reasons for that could be a few. The decathlon like you mentioned is probably a factor.
Another thing that comes to mind is nutrition and I dont know what you are eating but you said before that you dont supplement with stuff like protein etc. With your added workload of the gym this season, have you made sure that you are getting enough protein in your diet to factor in for muscle growth and repair? I was told by a sports nutritionist that you need about 1.4grams of protein per kilo of body weight if you are training as a sprinter.
I figured myself recently that I was only getting half of that, so I doubled up and I am noticing the difference with recovery and the intensity I can apply in training. The real test is if I can get some more pbs in the Summer so time will tell.
I am not telling you to take supplements but maybe look at your diet overall to see if you are lacking in that area.
With regard to doing an 800 and looking to break 2:20, I wouldnt care and I wouldnt bother with middle distance races if I have only one more chance to try and run 55 this season. I would be doing speed work.

Interesting with regards to protein. I don't think about it too much but I eat a lot of eggs (4-6 per week), try to have chicken once a week, and most of the time will have Kangaroo meat twice a week. Kangaroo meet is very high in protein and low in fat. Could be worth having a look at how much I need to take in. I'd rather stay away from protein shakes though and get my protein naturally. Whenever I think of protein shakes I think of bulked up front row rugby players. Maybe I have the wrong impression of those shakes.

With regards the 800m I dont think it will do any harm. Sometimes it's good to shake up the routine with something a bit difference, and a fast 800 will benefit my 400m, and a good run on Thursday could do wonders for the confidence, something which has taken a knock this weekend.

RandyMann

Pisco Sour wrote: »

Whenever I think of protein shakes I think of bulked up front row rugby players. Maybe I have the wrong impression of those shakes.

I am a skinny 68kg and I take them My weight has stayed the same for the past year. You can get your protein whatever way you like but it can mean eating a lot to get your quota..

Pisco Sour

Back on the horse this evening after the weekend's disappointment. Did a full gym session:

1) Bench Press: 8 x 145lbs, 8 x 152lbs, 6 x 157lbs, 4 x 162lbs
2) Leg Press: 3 x 8 @ 416lbs
3) Box Squats: 4 x 10 @ 45kg
4) Goodmornings: 2 x 15 @ 30kg
5) Deadlifts: 3 x 6 @ 50kg
6) Body twists: 50 @ 10kg as fast as possible
7) Crunches: 50
8) Side sit-ups: 20 on each side

One thing I forgot to mention about the State Championships was Tamsyn Lewis. She has achieved great things at international level yet always shows great support to grassroots athletics. She's not too big for State Champs. She's not too big for AV Shield. She was sitting a few rows in front of me while I was waiting around before warming up for my 400m and she came across as very down to earth with no big egos. Much respect. It's great for the sport to have elites who are happy to compete for their club on a regular basis.

RandyMann wrote: »

I am a skinny 68kg and I take them My weight has stayed the same for the past year. You can get your protein whatever way you like but it can mean eating a lot to get your quota..

Cheers. Will be something I will look into ahead of next season for sure.

Actually had a free work health check today with these being some of the results:

Resting heart rate: 45 bpm
Cholesterol: 2.94
Waist measurements: 77cm
Blood pressure: 117/71

Not sure how relevant they are to sprinting, but in terms of general health I'm very happy. My heart rate was always 60 bpm up to a few years ago. All this intense sprinting has brought it down.

ecoli

RandyMann wrote: »

I am a skinny 68kg and I take them My weight has stayed the same for the past year. You can get your protein whatever way you like but it can mean eating a lot to get your quota..

+1 I am a skinny little 59 kg long distance runner and I use them . Recovery and adaptation is just as important as the actual training and as such nutrition timing is a crucial factor. Its a bit like tuning up an engine to get more bhp and then shoving diesel in a petrol engine.

Its a good habit to get into to view the session as not fully over until you finish that recovery shake/ bit of food and just as important to pack that in your bag for training as the spikes. Never go training without the following ; choc milk/ whey protein shake, banana and a bag of nuts

dna_leri

Pisco Sour wrote: »

After that I will look towards the 400m at the Peter Norman Track Classic on March 26th which will be my last 400m of the year more than likely. There's a High Velocity meet the day after also so still keeping my options open.

55 may not happen this season but I want to go out on a positive note but at least nailing my 5th 56 of the season.

Your season is not yet over, don't start thinking like it is. Three weeks is plenty of time to get your sh1t together and run a PB. Make sure that's your target

RandyMann

Pisco Sour wrote: »

Actually had a free work health check today with these being some of the results:

Resting heart rate: 45 bpm
Cholesterol: 2.94
Waist measurements: 77cm
Blood pressure: 117/71

They are good health stats and an impressive heart rate! You must have no stress in your life
Its a good sign of fitness for sure... mine is 52 average, it used to be a few beats lower when I did that middle distance for a while.

Pisco Sour

RandyMann wrote: »

You must have no stress in your life

That's certainly not true I can assure you of that.

Pisco Sour

Back to our footy oval this evening as our track is not ready yet. A more aerobic session this evening with all the sprinters and middle distances runners in together. The session was 100m at 16 second pace, slow down to a fast-ish jog for 100m, and then pick it up again for 100m again at 16 second pace. The middle distance guys had to do this 8 times, while myself and one of the other sprinters had to do it 6 times. The recoveries were just 2 minutes, but after the 4th rep the two of us sprinters were given a longer break of around 5 minutes. For our last one the 2 of us had to run the whole 300m flat out around the oval, which the coach timed at around 46 seconds, which running on grass on unfamiliar bends is not too bad. I sort of got lost in the bunch for the first 100m and lost a good bit of ground on the other lad, but found a lot of clear space from 100m to 200m as the others slowed to their jog, and started to slowly catch the other lad, and eventually finished about about half a metre down on him. He was cutting a few corners also.

So to summarise:

5 x (100 hard, 100 easy, 100 hard), 1 x 300 hard

Paced 800m time trial to come on Thursday after gym and massage tomorrow.

Pisco Sour

Weekly massage followed by a slightly shortened gym session. Did the exact same session as Monday except:

1) Didn't do any of the stomach core exercises
2) Did just 2 sets of 10 of the box squats rather than 4 sets
3) For the bench press I didn't have anyone to spot me for the 162lbs so was looking to just do 4. I lost concentration after just 1 and couldn't lift it up and was on my own in the gym flattened by the bar and weights at over my body weight. Not the most fun experience but managed to come away unscathed.

800m paced time trial tomorrow.

The last 2 days or so have been over 30 degrees and the next 7 are forcasted to be the same. This weather is becoming a joke at this stage. There's just no end to this heat. It's March now, it's supposed to start cooling down!

Pisco Sour

My PB entering this season was 2:27.6 wearing sprint spikes. Soon after I was given advice not to wear sprint spikes for 800m again as they are risky on the achilles. Not willing to shell out on a pair of middle distance spikes for an event which is not my focus I have run every 800m since in racing flats.

I ran a 2:30 at the graded meets in Irishtown last August, getting walloped by Krusty in the process. My first 800m of the season was a bit better at 2:29.2. My next was a write off due to intense heat and I went around in 2:40. Just before Christmas I moved my season's best to 2:28.4. I said that that would be my last 800m of the season, but I had a change of heart when my coach suggested I do one at the last AV Shield meet in early February as a form of training. Ran well, doing a lot of the work in the race and finished in 2:23.9, a new PB.

I haven't raced 800m since then, and with the focus fully on the 400m at the Vic Champs I wasn't going to mess around with 800m in the lead up to this. So an Irish mate of mine kindly agreed to pace me once the State Champs were over. We penciled in this evening a few weeks ago. At the time I had 2 400m coming up and was confident of a 55. The plan was to knock out that time and then have a bit of fun with the last few weeks of the season and experiment with 800m and maybe even 1500m.

However the last few weeks haven't gone to plan so I will be training hard til the end of March for 2 more 400m races (on consecutive days). However as I had planned in my head that I was going to do this 800m I didn't want to change my plans and figured that after some disappointing recent results this was exactly what I needed to boost the confidence levels which took a knock last weekend.

I did my usual sprinter warm up with drills, strides etc, then it was time to go. Conditions were pretty perfect. Warm, but the sun was covered, not much wind. The bends are insanely tight on the Melbourne Uni track (would be a nightmare for a 200m) but over 800m it's not an issue at all really.

The plan was to go through in 69. Off we went and I tucked in nicely behind him. The first 200m felt very comfortable with his split being around 34.5. We went through half way in 69. Bang on schedule. Keeping concentration was certainly a challenge. There were times in the third 200m especially when I could feel a gap beginning to open and I had to work hard to keep on the pace. I never let the gap go further than around 2.5m though. We went through 600m in around 1:45. Once I got to this point I knew I would be fine. The third 200m is a mental challenge at times, but I have good speed for the finish. My mate shouted out at 200m to go "Use your speed now". I gave it everything and entering the final 100m I was coming right up on my mate and he moved out into lane 2, and from then on we ran side by side pretty much. We crossed the line together, which was a blessing as I messed up the timing on my watch, but my mate thankfully got the time, stopping the watch at 2:19.3, a PB by 4.6 seconds. He said he was cautious stopping the clock and was probably a couple of feet past the line when he did, just to be safe, so there's no doubting I broke 2:20.

A few interesting things:

1) While I was knackered in the immediate aftermath I recovered extremely quickly, and wasn't even on my hands and knees. A good sign.

2) I was up more on the balls of my feet than usual over 800m. This wasn't a conscious thing at all, it just sort of happened. Maybe because I was going at a decent pace there was some sort of muscle memory in there. No way could I run a 1500m like that. I wasn't as much up on the balls of my feet as I would be doing sprint events but I definitely didn't feel like I was heel striking, or even flat footing anyway.

Am very pleased with my run. I think looking back there could have been another second in me had we gone out a small bit faster but it's easy to say that in hindsight, and who know's it could all have blown up in my face. The pacing was absolutely excellent. He did a great job. A few years back he could run multiple 69 second laps in his sleep, and is still operating at a very good level. After pacing me to 800m he did a 5x1k off 3 minute recoveries at 2:20 800m pace, which was an easier session for him. True there are lots of people who can do sessions like that faster but I still find it very impressive.

After the 800m I decided to do some speed work. I did 3x120m at around 90% with slow walk back recoveries. I felt ok after the 800m so didn't want to leave the session as just that, so happy to get a few shorter reps in.

Confidence restored now, a reasonably respectable 800m PB now, and onwards to the two 400m races at the end of March.

Pisco Sour

2 days off after my 800m PB but back to the track this morning. Weather was very humid and hot. Hottest summer since 1961 in Melbourne I believe. Every day but 1 has been over 30 in March so far, with another 3-4 to come (getting up to 36-37) before we get a cool change. 14 of the 28 days in February were over 30. I'm well and truly sick of it now!

Back at the Collingwood track for the first time in 3 weeks. They have completely resurfaced the home straight and it looks and feels great. Besides that they resurfaced nothing else except a small patch in lanes 3-5 on the first bend. A bit mad they didn't resurface the whole thing but I dont think the council were willing to spend all that money. Still though, it's better than nothing, that's for sure.

Session was 6x160m with 5 minutes recoveries (which sort of stretched to 5 and a half or 6 at times given our labouring walk backs due to the heat). I didn't time myself. Was running with 2 other lads, one who is in low 24 200m shape, who I was around 9-10m down on on average, and another guy who is in around high 24 shape who I was around 4-5m down on on average. So given that I felt I ran pretty well.

Coach reckons I could run 2:16 for 800m right now. No more 800m for me this season though. I'm happy with my 2:19 and will leave it at that for this season.

Pisco Sour

My next race is the Peter Norman Track Classic in a couple of weeks time. I was doing a bit of googling and youtubing about this event and came across this from the 2010 event. Pretty run of the mill, low key local type meet with bugger all spectators, and Rudisha shows up! Mental stuff! Unlikely to get a repeat this year but one can live in hope!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8vQmsmcz8E

Oregano_State

Re: Rudisha. He's some man, he showed up in Mallow around October last year because his coach is from there. I only found out about it because a friend of mine put up pictures of him and the big man, with Rudisha's Olympic Gold around his neck!

Pisco Sour

Pisco Sour wrote: »

1) Bench Press: 8 x 145lbs, 8 x 152lbs, 6 x 157lbs, 4 x 162lbs
2) Leg Press: 3 x 8 @ 416lbs
3) Box Squats: 4 x 10 @ 45kg
4) Goodmornings: 2 x 15 @ 30kg
5) Deadlifts: 3 x 6 @ 50kg
6) Body twists: 50 @ 10kg as fast as possible
7) Crunches: 50
8) Side sit-ups: 20 on each side

Exact same session as above except for the Bench Press I could only manage 4 x 157lbs and 2 x 162lbs. Think the insane heat may have affected me.

Pisco Sour

Good session this evening. Was 35 degrees yet again on the track and I arrived a small bit late and was very laboured warming up in the heat. Not many sprinters around today so everyone was going together in a 5x300m with 4 mins recovery. I missed the first 2 and was told to jump in for their last 3 to do a 3x300m with 4 minutes recovery, my bread and butter session from last season.

Was told to stick to our 2:08 800m female runner who was doing the reps in around 44-45.

Rep 1: Got out a bit slow due to poor positioning at the start line. Bit of a gap developed between myself and her and was going a bit comfortable the first 100m, then in the second 100m upped the pace and caught her and went past entering the home straight and from there just maintained a 2m gap. Time was 44.9. Coach said that there was too much change of pace and that I'm to run more even, so stick with her from the start next time.

Rep 2: I did exactly that. Stuck behind her and entering the straight came up beside her and maintained that and we both finished at the same time. 46.5. I wasn't going 100% at the end in either of the first 2 reps.

Rep 3: Stuck with her for the first 80m and felt good so pushed on and went past her. Went pretty much flat out from there and was around 5-6m ahead of her with a time of 45.7.

So to recap the times were:

44.9 - 46.5 - 45.7

Happy with the session. Can't ignore the fact the rest of the group had 2 reps in their legs before I started and had I done the full 5 no way would I have been ahead of her. Still though happy to be able to run off somebody of a good standard like that. Knew if I could stick with her the first 150m then my superior speed would carry me through.

Coach thinks I'm made for 800m and that I should do them next season. I will definitely do more of them next season and treat the event more seriously but I want the 400m to remain the number 1 focus with everything else built around it. I find training for the 400m can make one a well rounded athlete with the short sharp speed stuff, the aerobic power stuff like today, and the strength work in the gym. It's good variety and I enjoy it because of that. I really have no interest in doing long runs. No doubt there's potential to get down to sub 2:10, but there's also no reason why I can't run 53/54. Once I have done absolutely everything I can for 400m and am seeing no more improvements then I think that would be the time to make the 800m my primary event. But in the meantime there's no reason why I can't run well at 800m and 400m (and 200m and 100m).

Following on from the Rudisha story I mentioned above, I was talking about it at the track today and one lad overheard me and said that he was in that race. He said that Rudisha actually false started and the organisers were panicking. They couldn't throw such a big name out of such a tiny local meet so they let him run. The others in the race wanted to run against Rudisha so the false start rule was ignored!

Pisco Sour

Weekly massage followed by solid gym session.

1) Bench Press: 8 x 145lbs, 8 x 152lbs, 6 x 157lbs (up from 4 from Monday), 1 x 162lbs (down from 2 on Monday). Felt tired when I attempted the 162lbs at the end of the session.

2) Leg Press: 3 x 8 @ 426lbs (up from 416lbs). The heaviest I have done to date.

3) Goodmornings: 2 x 15 @ 30kg

4) Box Squats: 4 x 10 @ 47.5kg (up from 45kg)

5) Deadlifts: 3 x 6 @ 50kg

Let the core body stuff out this evening.

Pisco Sour

Just entered the last of the high velocity races. The racing schedule for the remainder of the season is:

1) Peter Norman Classic - 400m - Essendon - Monday 25th March
2) High Velocity Club meet 6 - 400m - Knox - Tuesday 26th March

Not ideal that the 2 races are back to back but I may aswell go and do both of them. I won't have another 400m race for 7 months after so I have nothing to lose by doing it. I'd expect that the better performance will come on the Monday. Less pressure on the Tuesday race. Obviously if the Monday race had bad weather, with a good forecast for the following day, then I have the option of ditching the first one to save myself for the second meet. Have to maximise my chances of getting that 55 before the season is out.

There's a 100m race my club is putting on next Monday before the presentations for this years club championships, but it's not a proper race, with no electronic timing, the numbers probably won't be high, and I'm not sure if I'll even do it.

These two 400m races will officially bring an end to my season. I'd imagine we'll still be training to wind down before going on break.

Cleanman

Pisco Sour wrote: »

I won't have another 400m race for 7 months after so I have nothing to lose by doing it.

7 months sounds a long time. Any chance you'll be back in Ireland over the summer? You could have another crack at a graded meet.

Pisco Sour

Cleanman wrote: »

7 months sounds a long time. Any chance you'll be back in Ireland over the summer? You could have another crack at a graded meet.

Yeh sadly there's no indoor season here to break up the long winter. Just cross country which has no relevance to me. Wont be back this summer. Am looking at going to Moscow for world champs this summer and waiting til Xmas for my trip home. Gonna be an expensive couple of trips. Damn the isolation if this place!

Pisco Sour

Session for me this evening was 3 x 250m with 4 minutes recovery. I was doing it with one of our middle distance guys. He was going 3x300m so I would run with him from the start and stop 50m early. I didn't time myself but he was clocking his reps and would check his watch at the 200m mark also.

He clocked himself at 42-41-47 for the 300s and after 200m he had himself at 27-26-29.

I was about 1-2 seconds down on him at the 200m mark on both of the first 2, but on the 3rd I was level with him at 200m and right the way to the 250m.

Based on that my times for 250 would probably have been around 35-35-36. Hard to know for sure and not too bothered. It felt damn tough so that's the main thing.

Really starting to feel fit again. In hindsight I may have lost a bit of strength in the weeks leading up the State Champs. Feeling good now. The last week and a half has been tough and hopefully it will stand to me in these final 2 races.

Next session is Sunday morning but as it is St Patricks Day I won't be in attendance that morning so I will be doing 6x160m with 5 mins recovery on my own on Saturday. The shorter reps are easier to do solo. It's the longer ones which I find tough on my own.

Coach said that after my final race in 12 days time my season and training will be officially over and I will go on a 6 week active break. No training, let the body fully recover, and just do whatever exercise I want to keep in shape (jogging, swimming etc).

Pisco Sour

An interesting session this. Originally I was due to run on my own today but a mate of mine ended up coming down to the Melbourne Uni track with me.

He's here for 2 weeks and last week he was trash talking a bit (all in good spirits of course) that he wanted a race over 400m against me as he reckoned he could take me. You can't say much back to that as you don't want to look like an arrogant twat by saying he has no chance and doesn't really understand how fast certain times are to the man on the street. His confidence was based on a 12.3 hand timed 100m when he was back in school, and his grandfather was a top international standard 100m runner back in the 30s. Good genes and all that.

Session was 6x160m with 5 minute recoveries. For each rep he went for about 60m, would be maybe 5-6m down and then couldn't go any longer and had to jog the rest. He knows full well now how hard running certain 200m and 400m times is. I think it was just banter trash talking on his part but it is true that a lot of people just look at our sport and think "ah I could beat him". No better way about bringing someone back down to earth than by inviting them along to a tough session.

There was a girl there training by herself so I asked her did she want to join in and she was delighted to do so. So she ran the last 5 reps with me. For the first 3 I was close to 10m ahead of her, and for the last 2 I was only level with her entering the straight and then would pull away to finish around 5m ahead of her. I was very happy to have somebody to run with as I thought I was going to have to run on my own. She's an excellent runner and national standard 800m runner and has run 57 and 2:09. Doesn't seem to be quite in that shape right now. Ran a 61 at the State Champs.

Happy St Patricks Day to all.

RandyMann

Pisco Sour wrote: »

Coach thinks I'm made for 800m and that I should do them next season.

I think your coach is wrong and should not encourage you to do that.
It could take a few more seasons before you plateau/reach your 400m potential and when you do, it is then you should move to 800m if you wanted. Patience is required, I mean whats the hurry? You are still young in your 20s. Stop fretting, you will get that 53 if you really want it.

Pisco Sour

Back at the gym this evening with the following:

1) Bench Press: 8 x 145lbs, 8 x 152lbs, 6 x 157lbs, 2 x 162lbs
2) Leg Press: 3 x 8 @ 426lbs
3) Box Squats: 4 x 10 @ 47.5kg
4) Goodmornings: 2 x 15 @ 30kg
5) Deadlifts: 3 x 6 @ 50kg

RandyMann wrote: »

I think your coach is wrong and should not encourage you to do that.
It could take a few more seasons before you plateau/reach your 400m potential and when you do, it is then you should move to 800m if you wanted. Patience is required, I mean whats the hurry? You are still young in your 20s. Stop fretting, you will get that 53 if you really want it.

He does make some valid points. It is easier to develop endurance than it is to develop top speed (that's not to say that you can't improve top speed as you have shown, and as I have done so over 100 and 200 this season). But speed is more of a limiting factor over 400m than it is over 800m, and given this he sees big improvement potential over the longer distance. I don't think he is wrong to suggest it, and I'm sure I could do well over 800m if I committed to it. But it all boils down to the fact that right now, I have no great interest in training specifically for the 800m. I don't enjoy long runs. They bore me greatly. I enjoy sprinting, and that is what I intend to do for the foreseeable future. In the end of the day you've got to do what you enjoy, and that for me is long sprinting. Everything else (100, 200 and 800) are merely supplementary (albeit very important) elements to the main event. My coach has said that I can go 2:10 next year with specific training, but tbh 56 and 2:10 are the exact same thing. Certainly not worth the switch IMO.

RandyMann

Pisco Sour wrote: »

Back at the gym this evening with the following:

1) Bench Press: 8 x 145lbs, 8 x 152lbs, 6 x 157lbs, 2 x 162lbs
2) Leg Press: 3 x 8 @ 426lbs
3) Box Squats: 4 x 10 @ 47.5kg
4) Goodmornings: 2 x 15 @ 30kg
5) Deadlifts: 3 x 6 @ 50kg



He does make some valid points. It is easier to develop endurance than it is to develop top speed (that's not to say that you can't improve top speed as you have shown, and as I have done so over 100 and 200 this season). But speed is more of a limiting factor over 400m than it is over 800m, and given this he sees big improvement potential over the longer distance. I don't think he is wrong to suggest it, and I'm sure I could do well over 800m if I committed to it. But it all boils down to the fact that right now, I have no great interest in training specifically for the 800m. I don't enjoy long runs. They bore me greatly. I enjoy sprinting, and that is what I intend to do for the foreseeable future. In the end of the day you've got to do what you enjoy, and that for me is long sprinting. Everything else (100, 200 and 800) are merely supplementary (albeit very important) elements to the main event. My coach has said that I can go 2:10 next year with specific training, but tbh 56 and 2:10 are the exact same thing. Certainly not worth the switch IMO.

If it was easy, we would be all doing it And no, definitely not worth the switch.

Pisco Sour

Perfect weather for this evening's track session. Not too hot, but sunny. Low 20s! Was told I was doing 300-200-100 off whatever recovery was deemed appropriate (basically made up as it went along). There were 4 of us running but 1 guy was only doing 200-150-100 as he is coming back from injury.

I only really focused on one lad for all reps. His 400m time is slightly slower than me this season but the reality is he is probably in high 54 shape now. He's been doing the pro races of late and is in 38 second 300m shape.

For the 300m I was a bit cagey at the start but kicked well after 100m. I finished around 13m down on him. It felt quick, but no time sadly (no time for any of the reps). At a guess he went 39 and I went 41 but hard to know.

For the 200m I felt very good and was only 8m down on him. Given he is a much better 200m runner than 400m runner I was sort of expecting the gap to be similar to the 300m so was happy.

For the 100m I felt the lactic acid a bit but ran well and was only about 1.5 - 2m down on him, which surprised me, as he usually kills me over 100m.

On the ground, destroyed, I gave it everything. Session over!

Then I hear my club mate say "half way there now lads". I couldn't believe it! I either misheard the instructions or I wasn't told in the first place. Either way I thought the session was over and now had the devastation of learning that I had to do it all again! Hilarious in hindsight, but the thoughts of another 300-200-100 were a killer.

The 300 was exhausting. I had no energy and entering the homestraight I was 20m down on the same guy. Probably lost another 5m in the homestraight at least. At a wild guess I'd say 47 seconds.

Coach told me to only do 150m instead of 200m. Felt like vomitting before it but got through it fine. Was grand for the 100m and was only half a metre down on him. A nice way to finish.

One of the toughest sessions I've done in a while. Will hopefully stand to me next Monday and Tuesday. Easing up from here on now until my final 2 races.

Pisco Sour

The final gym session of the season. As it is still 5 days until I race I did a big session this evening as normal:

1) Bench Press: 8 x 145lbs, 8 x 152lbs, 7 x 157lbs, 3 x 162lbs
2) Leg Press: 3 x 8 @ 426lbs
3) Box Squats: 4 x 10 @ 47.5KG
4) Goodmornings: 2 x 15 @ 30KG
5) Deadlifts: 3 x 6 @ 50KG

Certainly a far cry from my first gym session last May. I was as weak as a kitten at the time.

Pisco Sour

Think of the worst day at work you've ever had and then multiply it by 2. That's what today was for me. Was mentally and emotionally exhausted going into my session. Gave it everything but my heart wasnt 100% in the right place.

4 x 120m (60m hard, 20m slower and 40m hard again)

Was about 7-10m down on the 3 ahead of me for each of the first 3 reps. Decent but would have liked to get a small bit closer. The last one I felt something in my left calf spasm at the end of the first 60, so instead of kick again with 40 to go I just strided home.

Pisco Sour

Coach intended for me to take 3 full days off to be ready for my races on Monday or Tuesday. I reckoned I'd go mad sitting around for 3 days waiting for a race so he told me to do 6x60m with long recoveries.

However just before going to bed last night a sore throat came on out of nowhere and woke up this morning with it much worse. So have skipped the session as it is not worth the risk. Not feeling the best right now. Hope it is just one of those 24 hour things. Frustrating timing it has to be said.

Pisco Sour

Have felt like sh1t the last 2 days with a nasty sore throat. I always use Molkasan to treat a sore throat and it works wonders, but the bottle I had in the fridge didn't quite taste right, and it didn't seem to be working yesterday. It's been opened for over 6 months now so it must be out of date. Devestated, I thought where the hell am I going to find anywhere in Melbourne that sells this stuff. Molkasan is the world's best kept secret and I have yet to meet anybody outside of my extended family who has ever heard of the stuff.

Tried calling various places and nobody knew what I was talking about. Then I tried some obscure health store and low and behold they had the stuff. Elated, I requested her to save me a couple of bottles and I would be right in to collect them.

Starting to feel a bit better now, but still far from 100%. It's a pain in the ass but just got to make the most of the bad situation, so have opted to pull out of tomorrow nights meet in Essendon. 3 reasons:

1) The main reason. Still not feeling great so an extra days rest would do me the world of good and get me ready for Tuesday.

2) I haven't had a massage in nearly 2 weeks. Body is knackered and I really need one before I race. The guy who gives the massages has been away all week so by racing tomorrow I may have to go in without a massage. Instead I'll get a massage tomorrow evening and race Tuesday.

3) I had a look at the line up for both nites and Tuesday is much more my type of race: 3 guys running 51, 2 guys at 53, a lad who has just pipped me twice this season by a quarter of a second, and a lad running 58/59. Compare that to tomorrow night where it is a bunch of 48-50 runners, a guy running 53 and me. If the 53 guy doesn't show up (and how do I know that he will?) then I'm running on my own basically.

It's no great loss not being able to run on Monday. With the races back to back if I raced tomorrow, Tuesday would more than likely be a slower run due to fatigue. So the reality is that only one of these races was going to be a shot at a PB, so nothing lost in that regard.

Weather looks pretty savage also for Tuesday, at high 20s and clear skies.

The only thing is that by Tuesday it will have been 5 full days since I have done any training. Hopefully that wont have any impact. Maybe the rest might do me good, who knows.

My main concern is shaking this sore throat over the next day so it is gone by race day.