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

Pisco Sour

The guy who gives the massages was away all last week so it has been 12 days since I had one, incorporating 7 tough sessions. The body desperately needed one ahead of tomorrow's season finale.

Still not feeling the may west. Left work pretty early this morning as I didn't feel well. Sore throat has moved upwards thankfully, away from the throat and more into the Eustachian tubes, and up to the nose. Much better to see it travel north as opposed to venture south.

Have no idea what to expect tomorrow and I'm not particularly fired up about the race yet. Very frustrating timing but there's not much I can do about that now. On the positive side I'm well rested over the last 5 days and it's only less than a minute of running I have to get myself through. One gigantic effort to come and then it's break time!!

Pisco Sour

My 13th and final 400m race of a long season and it wasn't a lucky one. Really shouldn't have been racing as I came down with something nasty on Friday, have been fighting a losing battle the last few days and felt like sh1t all today. But didn't want the last 3 weeks of hard hard work to be for nothing! 57.93, slowest time since early December, but not too bad given the circumstances. Bit of a depressing end to the season and a bit gutted that my season sort of fizzled out poorly the last 3 races, but I'm sure when the dust has settled I'll be very happy with the season as a whole. 4 times in the low to mid 56 range. That 55 still eludes me though. Time for a break now!

Report to come tomorrow.

Pisco Sour

Just back from the doctor. Said my throat has a bad bacterial infection. On antibiotics for the next 5 days. At least it wont impact any training as I am now on break anyway.

Looking back I'm actually amazed I even managed to go sub 58 feeling like this. Makes one wonder what I could have done if feeling 100% as it was perfect sprinting conditions last night. We'll never know I guess.

Pisco Sour

The last race of the season. The whole reason why I opted to keep training hard after the disappointment of the State Championships over 3 weeks earlier. According to my coach the last 3 weeks were the hardest he has seen me train all season. Maybe it was a little too hard, as last Friday I came down with a nasty sore throat. I stayed positive, did everything I could to try get rid of it, but there was no defeating this bacterial infection and I knew I was toast.

I pulled out of Monday's race in the hope that I would feel better for Tuesday and one big effort, but I ended up feeling worse on Tuesday. I felt drowsy and uncomfortable, lacking in energy, struggling through work in an extremely unproductive manner. I considered pulling out of the race, but then thought that I didn't want to end the season like this. I wanted to see it through to the bitter end.

I decided I'd make the trip out to Knox after work and if I didn't feel ok then sure I could pull out. Made it out there early and rested for awhile. Now that I'm here ah sure I may as well warm up. If the warm up goes ok then I'll race. This process continued the whole way until I found myself on the start line.

400m:

This was the only 400m race all year that I wasn't pumped up for throughout race day. I was barely even thinking about it. All I could focus on was how I was feeling. However closer to the time I got a different type of adrenaline. The adrenaline of fear associated with running a 400m unwell. This sort of ludicrous adrenaline, despite how twisted it is, was what I needed. I wasn't particularly looking forward to the race. I just wanted to get it over and done with so I could end the season on my terms.

Warm up was a funny one. When doing my drills my leg muscles felt great. Really flexible, a by-product of a few days rest and a massage. But my energy levels were low. During my strides I felt good when doing the stride, but on the walk back I would feel a bit drained. I decided to give the race a shot. Coach said I had nothing to lose in terms of time. If I run well then great, if I don't then we know the reason.

Conditions were the most perfect I have had all year. Warm, calm, no real breeze. The opposition was also the most perfect line up I have had in one of these High Velocity meets in terms of times, with no sub 50 guys to be seen. One lad who I have had a great battle with twice this season (him beating me by 0.25 on both occasions) was in my race, along with another guy who I beat easily at a previous High Velocity meet. A few 54 guys, and supposedly some 51 runners. Sickening that on such an occasion I was not perfect!

Legs felt a bit weak before the start, possibly due to nerves. I was drawn in lane 8. Horrid lane draw. It's grand in a State Champs as you can chase the faster guys when they eat up the stagger, but in a race like this I wanted to see some of the guys near my level so I could chase. 3rd race against that lad now, and he has had the inside lane on me on all 3 occasions.

Had a brief chat to the guy in lane 7 and asked what sort of time he was going for. He reckoned it would be around 55. Gun went off and while I reacted well, I lacked the strength to really power out a good start. He ate up the stagger after about 70m. I tried to stay with him on the back straight but didn't quite have it in me to do that and he sailed away from me. At around 150m the guy in lane 6 went past me. But I saw nobody else. Where were all these 51 runners? It turns out one DNF'ed, another didnt show, and the 3rd wasn't in that type of form of late. Entering the bend I tried to up the effort levels. With 150m to go I notice the guys in the inside lanes eat the stagger on me, but it wasn't until I entered the straight before I realised where I was exactly. I actually thought I was going ok until I see myself in last place and about 6-7m down on a guy who I beat by 2 seconds a couple of months back. WTF. I pushed hard in the home straight and I did close well on him, almost catching him. The guy in lane 7 died a death at the end but was still about 12m ahead of me, as was the guy I raced twice previously. I couldn't give him a good race on this occasion.

Coach informed me that he hand timed me at 57.5, saying that all things considered was a pretty good run. Wasn't too disheartened with that, but was a bit disappointed to find the official time to be a good bit worse than that, 57.93 seconds my 8th fastest run of the season (8th fastest ever also), slowest time since early December, but also a time which would have been a PB right up to mid December.

Afterwards I felt weird. I didn't feel like I gave it 100%, but I think that was down to the fact I didn't have it in me to give it 100%. I don't think I got much out of the race except that I can say I have no regrets. Had I not run I would have wondered throughout the winter "what if". Had I been healthy would I have run a PB? I will never know. I'm pretty certain I would have nailed a 56 anyway, but I can't say I would have or wouldn't have nabbed that 55. I guess there will be a case of unfinished business entering next season.

One way of looking at this race positively is the fact that despite feeling dreadful I ran a time that was 0.75 faster than my very best time from last season. Funny when you think about it like that.

So I've since been to the doctor, been put on antibiotics, taking a couple of days off work, and feel pretty rubbish. It's a sad end to the season, but at least it was AN end.

Pisco Sour

Had one further thought. While it was frustrating that I got sick when I did it could have been a lot worse. Had I got struck down with this a month or so earlier I could have missed some very significant races and a lot of training.

I'll do a review of the season over the coming days, along with some stats, then will start to look ahead to what I want to achieve in the future.

But for now, I need some rest.

Pisco Sour

Review to come later but here's some hard stats on my second full track season.

h denotes hand time.

100m

Pre-2012/13 PB: 12.96 (+4.3)

1) 13.2h
2) 13.35 (-1.4)
3) 13.43 (-1.3)
4) 13.19 (+1.0)
5) 12.92 (+0.6) PB
6) 12.82 (-0.7) PB

200m:

Pre-2012/13 PB: 26.92 (+2.2)

1) 27.30 (+0.7)
2) 26.51 (+0.0) PB
3) 26.32 (+0.3) PB
4) 26.50 (-1.3)
5) 25.62 (+1.2) PB
6) 25.75 (+1.3)
7) 26.11 (-0.8)
8) 26.80 (-3.0)

4x100m Relay:

Pre-2012/13 PB: N/A

1) 50.69 PB
2) 49.36 PB

400m:

Pre-2012/13 PB: 58.68

1) 60.3h
2) 59.24
3) 58.01 PB
4) 58.17
5) 58.18
6) 56.28 PB
7) 56.26 PB
8) 57.26
9) 56.57
10) 56.39
11) 57.18
12) 57.56
13) 57.93

800m:

Pre-2012/13 PB: 2:27.6

1) 2:29.2
2) 2:40.3
3) 2:28.4
4) 2:23.8 PB
5) 2:19.3 PB (Time Trial)

1500m:

Pre-2012/13 PB: 5:16

1) 5:04.36 PB

Long Jump:

Pre-2012/13 PB: 4.32m

1) 4.07m
2) 4.40m PB

High Jump:

Pre-2012/13 PB: 1.25m

1) 1.26m PB
2) 1.22m

Shot Putt:

Pre-2011/12 PB: 6.51m

1) 5.29m
2) 6.02m
3) 5.97m
4) 6.13m
5) 6.21m
6) 6.18m

Discus:

Pre-2012/13 PB: 14.65m

1) 16.67m PB

Javelin:

Pre-2011/12 PB: 13.21m

1) 8.37m

Pole Vault

Pre-2012/13 PB: N/A

1) 1.30m PB

Decathlon

Pre-2011/12 PB: 2290 Pts

1) DNF
2) 2561 Pts PB

Oregano_State

that's some amount of competition!

Pisco Sour

Oregano_State wrote: »

that's some amount of competition!

Including the 4x1 (but excluding the 4x4 as I only jogged that all year) I did 34 track races during the season plus 1 800m paced time trial, along with 14 field competitions.

I think regular competition is what has brought me on. No better way of learning than by getting out and racing every week.

It probably caught up with me a bit at the end. I peaked in January and held it to mid February but sort of ran out of steam after that. If I was a national standard runner with the ability to medal at States then no way would I start racing so early in the season, but for somebody at my level it doesn't really matter if I peak too early as I'm mainly running for times anyway. Having said that the Vic Country Champs were not too high a standard for me and I wasn't that far off making the final. Doing so next year will be a goal for me, and with them being in January it's much less likely that I will peak too soon.

Although it remains to be seen how much a trip home for Christmas will cause havoc for my season and training (switching from hot to cold climates overnight).

Cleanman

When you think back to the start of last season, there are some super improvements in your training and performances - not just over 400m but also over the 200 and 800. You were struggling to break 60 secs in early season last year and you should keep that in mind now - yes you struggled a bit come the end of the season but as you say, you had a lot of competition for someone that's so new to the sport. Even though the season sort of fizzled out, you kept working hard and I believe that will help next season.

I remember a couple of things were pointed out to you at the end of last season:
1) You needed to work on drills
2) You needed to get into the gym

I think taking those points on board have really helped to bring you along. From what I can see, you've really worked hard on your strength - and you can see that come through in your 200m results. I know you worked hard on your stride length too during the year. Looking back, do you think you spent enough time on drills before sessions? I'm only asking the question as I never really remember reading much about drills on your log? Anyway, if you can take away a couple of pointers like you did last season and work on them from the start of next season, there's no reason why you can't kick on to sub 56 and beyond.

Like many have said on this log before, I reckon you should do some longer stuff for strength endurance - even if only at the start of the season to help build up a good base. I know you don't believe you need to and that you always finish strong but just adding my weight behind the arguement. ;)

In any case, you can put your feet up for a while and know you put in a very solid season. Rest up well and take encouragement from your leaps in improvement.

Pisco Sour

Cleanman wrote: »

I think taking those points on board have really helped to bring you along. From what I can see, you've really worked hard on your strength - and you can see that come through in your 200m results. I know you worked hard on your stride length too during the year. Looking back, do you think you spent enough time on drills before sessions? I'm only asking the question as I never really remember reading much about drills on your log? Anyway, if you can take away a couple of pointers like you did last season and work on them from the start of next season, there's no reason why you can't kick on to sub 56 and beyond.

Like many have said on this log before, I reckon you should do some longer stuff for strength endurance - even if only at the start of the season to help build up a good base. I know you don't believe you need to and that you always finish strong but just adding my weight behind the arguement. ;)

I do drills before every track session and before every race, so usually 3-4 times a week (twice on a race day if a big gap between a 100m and a 400m). It's just part of my warm up. I mentioned it a few times on the log when I started doing it but not after that as there's no real point in repeating it as it stays the same each time. I do high knees, 2 different forms of butt kicks, hurdle left leg, hurdle right leg, skips, straight leg run, pitter patter. No doubt I can find improvements in how I do these and indeed introduce new ones.

Haha the long v short approach to 400m is something which will run and run. It's an interesting debate. I would side with RandyMann when it comes to this but do see huge value in the endurance side also. I think I got the balance right this season between the speed aspect and the aerobic power side of things. I will do some long runs during my off season, but mainly just to keep fit. I genuinely don't see the point of running long and slow for 400m running.

An area where I can improve further is the gym. I've improved drastically since the day I first stepped into the gym, however I still need to get stronger. My leg press reps are done at 426lbs which is impressive, but the others need improving. Bench press hitting 162lbs for multiple reps at end of session, can hopefully throw another 20-30lbs on that. Deadlifts at 50kg, that needs to get higher. Squats at 47.5kg, plenty of improvement to be made there too. I'm taking a break from the gym for a biT. When I get back into it I will have to go back to it slowly, but hopefully once the winter gets into full swing I can get back up to what I was lifting last week and then kick on from that and get stronger.

Joe Hart

Deadlifts at 50kg, that needs to get higher. Squats at 47.5kg, plenty of improvement to be made there too

As an independent observer these are incredibly weak. You are definitely not pushing yourself hard enough on these. You should dead lift a little bit more than you can squat and a substantially (+60%) more than you bench press.

Pisco Sour

Joe Hart wrote: »

As an independent observer these are incredibly weak. You are definitely not pushing yourself hard enough on these. You should dead lift a little bit more than you can squat and a substantially (+60%) more than you bench press.

I know, but I'm a new comer to the gym. Last May I couldn't do free squats, could do 2 chin-ups, bench pressed about 65lbs. I was never blessed with natural strength. The deadlifts are pretty weak yeah but I only started them late on and didn't bother pushing on with them so late in the season. I'm still struggling with the technique which is another reason I stayed at 50kg. Squats I believe I can make nice improvements on over the winter. For the squats I usually do 4 sets of 10 in a session.

Joe Hart

I would definitely put a bit of work into the weights then. YOu could see huge improvements on the track when you get your "natural" strength up. This is the strength that kind of lays dormant in people from lack of use. 2 months and you'd be up to speed, after that its building muscle to increase strength.

This is a guide to where you should be, remember 1rm max in these tests.

http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.html

Pisco Sour

Joe Hart wrote: »

I would definitely put a bit of work into the weights then. YOu could see huge improvements on the track when you get your "natural" strength up. This is the strength that kind of lays dormant in people from lack of use. 2 months and you'd be up to speed, after that its building muscle to increase strength.

This is a guide to where you should be, remember 1rm max in these tests.

http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.html

Thanks for that. Makes for interesting reading. Bare in mind though that my figures I have quoted are for multiple reps Leg Press 3 sets of 8 at 426lbs, Bench Press 4 sets of 8 starting at 145lbs, ending at 162lbs (usually only about 3-4 when I get to 162lbs). 3 sets of 6 for the deadlift and 4 sets of 10 for the squats.

Saw your post on the main form. Good to see somebody else looking to get involved in sprinting. Best of luck with it.

Pisco Sour

I love a good set of stats so here's the ranking list of all my performances (excluding relays) based on the 2011 IAAF Scoring Tables. Hand times for 100m and 200m are penalised by 0.24 seconds while 400m is penalised by 0.14 seconds. No allowance is made for wind so certain 100m and 200m times have more/less points than they deserve. The Javelin and Pole Vault doesn't make for pleasant reading.

1) 400m - 56.26 – 556
2) 400m - 56.28 – 555
3) 400m - 56.39 – 550
4) 400m - 56.57 – 542
5) 400m - 57.18 – 515
6) 400m - 57.26 – 512
7) 400m - 57.56 – 499
8) 200m - 25.62 (+1.2) – 495
9) 400m - 57.93 - 483
10) 200m - 25.75 (+1.3) – 482
11) 400m - 58.01 – 480
12) 400m - 58.17 – 473
12) 400m - 58.18 – 473
14) 200m - 26.11 (-0.8) – 447
15) 100m - 12.82 (-0.7) – 430
15) 400m - 59.24 – 430
17) 200m - 26.32 (+0.3) – 428
18) 200m - 26.50 (-1.3) – 411
19) 200m - 26.51 (+0.0) – 410
19) 100m - 12.92 (+0.6) - 410
21) Long Jump - 4.40m – 389
22) 200m - 26.80 (-3.0) – 384
22) 400m - 60.3h – 384
24) 800m - 2:19.3 (Time Trial) – 375
25) 100m - 13.19 (+1.0) – 357
26) 200m - 27.30 (+0.7) – 341
27) 100m - 13.35 (-1.4) – 328
28) Long Jump - 4.07m – 324
29) 100m - 13.43 (-1.3) – 313
30) 100m - 13.2h – 312
31) Decathlon - 2561 Pts – 306
31) Shot Putt - 6.21m – 306
33) Shot Putt - 6.18m – 304
34) 800m - 2:23.8 – 303
35) Shot Putt - 6.13m – 301
36) Shot Putt - 6.02m – 295
37) Shot Putt - 5.97m – 292
38) Discus - 16.67m – 271
39) 1500m - 5:04.36 – 264
40) Shot Putt - 5.29m – 252
41) High Jump - 1.26m – 237
41) 800m - 2:28.4 – 237
43) 800m - 2:29.2 – 227
44) High Jump - 1.22m – 203
45) 800m - 2:40.3 – 105
46) Javelin - 8.37m – 94
47) Pole Vault - 1.30m - 1

Pisco Sour

Flights and tickets booked for Moscow for World Champs in August! :D Who else is going?

Pisco Sour

So it appears that the infection is behind me now so it's time to start my active break. At the moment I will aim to do 3 days of exercise a week. Nothing particularly structured.

Today I went for a jog around my local area incorporating a nice park which runs along a river. Was enjoyable as this type of run was a bit of a novelty and it gave me a chance to check out a bit of the local area. I'll go a different route the next time.

Measured out the distance I ran on mapmyrun. Did 4.15k in 19 minutes 20 seconds, around 4:39 per/km pace. Was running very comfortable the first half and then pushed a bit more the second half. Plenty of small but testing hills in there aswell. Thought I would have covered more ground in that time than I did but there ya go. Was a bit tired at the end but a good bit more in the tank.

Will look to go for a swim over the next couple of days.

Pisco Sour

Something a bit different this evening. The company I am working for have organised a personal trainer to come in every Tuesday and Thursday to do group fitness training for around 3 months as part of the WorkHealth programme. It takes place in the unused area on our floor of the building. It has been going for about 4-5 weeks now but this was the first time I have gone along.

Initially I was quite hesitant. When I think of these things I think of morbidly obese people on shows like the Biggest Loser, but in fact it was actually a very good workout. There was 10 of us doing it and the fitness levels varied hugely.

After a short warm up the first up were bodyweight exercises. 20 x Push ups, 20 x dips, 20 x jump squats, 20 x sit on the ground, lift the legs up and push them back and forth (don't know the name for it) and 20 x sit on the ground in same position, straighten the legs and criss cross them back and forth (don't know the name). The last 2 exercises I found pretty easy to be honest. All of this was done consecutively, followed by 45 second plank.

This whole process was done 3 times, with a 4th plank thrown in at the end.

There was very little break between all of this so was pretty wrecked by the end of it.

Then it was time for some boxing exercises. We were grouped into pairs, one person holding the pads, the other with the gloves, and then visa versa. Both myself and my partner had 2 boxing exercises:

1) 2 minutes of hard punching, with a quick left-right against the left pad, a left against the right pad, and a right against the left pad. This rythem was to be repeated over and over. I kept the speed pretty quick and tried to be as powerful as I could. The poor girl holding the gloves looked petrified. As soon as the 2 minutes were up, it was straight into 1 minute of straight punching, just left right left right and on and on.

2) We were positioned 10-12m away from a wall. Had to do 30 quick punches, run to the wall and back, do 28 punches, run to the wall and back, 26 punches etc etc until I got to 0 punches. Had 3 minutes to complete the exercise and got it done with about 25-30 seconds left.

Was pretty tired at the end of it all. Was definitely a good workout and was a lot of fun. Think I'll go back for more of these while I'm on my break. He mixes it up each day which keeps it interesting.

One thing I struggled with a bit was doing all of this indoors. I'm used to doing cardio type work outdoors obviously. Doing it at room temperature becomes a lot more uncomfortable than I would have thought.

Pisco Sour

Went back for another one of those work group training sessions this evening.

1) Paired with a partner. 10 squat jumps, change to holding squat position while partner does 10 squaats jumps, repeat over and over for 2 minutes. Killer. Then grouped with same partner do 10 walking lunges, then do push ups until partner lunges his way up to where you are, then back to lunges and so on and son forth.

Did the above twice.

2) Some group stuff. A rope formed a circle and we all had to hold a push up position and move ourselves for 30 seconds anticlockwise and then 30 seconds clockwise.

Then we had to lie on the ground with rope behind our heads, hold the rope and lift legs right up as high as possible, back down without touching the ground, and back up and so on for about 1 minute.

Situps where there were 2 4kg balls going around clockwise for 1 minute and anticlockwise for 1 minute. We had to pass the balls to the next person while doing the situps in unison.

All standing in a line holding a rope and squating for 1 minute, followed by holding the rope right out in front and moving into a squat position.

All holding the rope in front of us and doing a V-sit for 1 minute.

3) The most cardio related thing on the programme this evening. Rope of around 15m was stretched along the floor. We lined up one after the other, had to jump with 2 feet together from left of the rope to right of rope to left to right and so on until you get to the end. Sort of like a bunny hop I suppose except from side to side. Then when reached the end you had to sprint back to the start and immediately start again. This went on for 3 minutes straight and was exhausting and my calves were feeling it. I started first out of the group of 7 at their request, and lapped everybody in the 3 minutes around 2 or 3 times. Most people gave up running in between the jumping reps and just walked back.

There may have been something else we did but we did so much it's hard to remember everything. A lot of fun but bloody exhausting on the lower body it has to be said. The toughest thing about this is the fact that it's straight in from one exercise to the next. There's the odd 1 minute rest but not many. Coming from sprinting where I take long recoveries this can be a bit of a shock.

Pisco Sour

Went for a swim today at a 30m pool. Did 34 lengths in total (1020m) but never more than 4 at a time. I did some hard, some very easy. Mainly breaststroke, with some front crawl, a small bit of backstroke, just 1 length of butterfly and some hybrid strokes aswell (Frontcrawl arms with breaststroke legs, breaststroke arms with front crawl legs).

I got the lifeguard to time me doing 2 lengths of breaststroke flat out from a diving start. Managed 62.4 seconds. When I was 18 when I used to swim once a week I did a 50m breaststroke in 45.8 seconds. Today's time probably equates to around 50-51 if it was 50m.

Timed myself for 4 lengths breaststroke, and also for 4 lengths front crawl, both from a standing start and both at an equally very comfortable pace and my breaststroke was interestingly faster (2:50 to 3:00). Breaststroke was always my favourite stroke as a kid.

Timed myself doing one 30m length of front crawl flat out from a standing start and managed 29 seconds.

Also I had my first training session last night for the Autumn Classic Beer Mile which is in 3 weeks time. In a bar on a night out I managed 3 x Peroni with 10 minute recoveries. Times were 33, 27 and 32. Felt grand throughout. Plenty of work to be done though. My beer of choice wasn't available in the pub (Hahn Super Dry) which is why I picked Peroni instead. More on the beer mile to come closer to the time.

Pisco Sour

Pisco Sour

Background:

I enjoyed a very successful first full track season where I lowered my 400m PB from 63.9 hand timed to 58.68, my 200m PB from 28.2 hand timed (with a strong tailwind) to 26.92 (+2.2), my 100m PB from 13.8 hand timed to 12.96 (+4.3, adjusted to 13.25), and my 800m PB from 2:34.9 to 2:27.6. Gains were the result of a dedicated, if not one dimensional approach. I trained on my own, wearing road running shoes throughout, focusing on speed endurance and hills, and supplemented it all with a core strength routine consisting entirely of bodyweight exercises. The approach served me well, but I got the feeling that it had taken me almost as far as it could. To get to the next level, change would be needed.

Target:

I set myself a target of 55:9x for the 400m for the coming track season, with the hope of achieving a high 25 for 200m, 12.8ish for 100m, and around 2:20 for 800m, times which I felt would be needed to get me to that sub 56.

Winter training:

The previous season I had no winter training. I only began seriously after I got back to Melbourne from a period of travel, 3 weeks before the start of the season. This time around I would be better prepared. I was given a programme by the club's gym coach, focusing on bodyweight exercises and also weights, which I would do 2 days a week. I started off as weak as a kitten but made gains quickly. However throughout much of the winter I was still not lifting particularly heavy, and it was only really come the actual track season that the weights went considerably up.

Unknown to me last year there was actually a very good sprint setup at my club as we train with some good runners from another club. Having a training group was to provide the necessary key to kicking myself forward over the long winter months.

Another important ingredient in winter training were our weekly hill sessions to build strength and endurance. Regular 8x150m and 4x250m had the fitness levels improving in no time. A track session every week further complimented the strength and endurance approach to training in the winter, and at the beginning I also did some long runs, but not for very long.

A pre-season test:

I felt I was in good shape throughout the winter and was certain I could get close to my PB if I had the luxury of a pre-season race. Thankfully a trip home for the Olympics provided this opportunity and at the very beginning of August I took part in a very enjoyable Graded Meet at Irishtown. I ran the 200m in 27.32 (-1.1), which while very close to my PB when adjusted for wind was a bit of a disappointment as I expected better. I followed this with a 2:30.56 over 800m, nothing special at all, but a decent workout on tired legs. Plenty of work to be done yet!

October:

A couple of months of hard training followed which left me confident ahead of my first meet of the season, the Magpie Multi's Decathlon on my home track at Collingwood, a rather low key meet. I opened nicely with a 13.2 hand timed 100m, before the heavens opened for the rest of the day. A miserable wet, rainy and cold day did little to inspire as I managed a 4.07m Long Jump in flats, 5.29m for the Shot Putt, and a rather surprising, albeit modest PB of 1.26m in the High Jump. The 400m proved to be a big disappointment as I clocked 60.3 hand timed, well below what I expected. However the slow track and poor conditions didn't help and I was sure the following week would bring a fairer reflection of what shape I was in.

Round 1 of the AV Shield took us to Box Hill where I recorded an encouraging 13.35 (-1.4), a legal wind and also adjusted PB. I followed this up with 59.24 for 400m despite calf spasms with 120m to go, my 3rd fastest time ever.

Round 2 at Doncaster proved to be a disappointment but also the catalyst to what would become a great season. In the 200m I ran a poor time of 27.30 (+0.7), which forced me to really look long and hard at my stride and really try to improve that area over the coming weeks. I ran a pleasing 800m after with a time of 2:29.2.

Round 3 at Box Hill provided a breakthrough. After a 13.43 (-1.3) for 100m, I smashed my 400m PB by 0.67 seconds with a 58.01 clocking. The hard work was finally starting to pay off.

November:

Confidence now soaring, the good form continued for Round 4 at Doncaster. I knocked out another PB, this time in the 200m with a time of 26.51 (+0.0).

Round 5 back at Box Hill was a touch on the disappointing side because I built up my expectations. A nice legal wind PB in the 100m of 13.19 (+1.0) set things off well but I didn't quite kick on in the 400m as I managed 58.17, backing up my run from Round 3. A 4x100m relay of 50.69 incorporating a shocking batton changeover involving myself capped off the day.

Round 6 brought me to Ringwood and with it another PB, a clocking of 26.32 (+0.3) over 200m. With the weather being extremely hot I took it easy over 800m with a time of 2:40.3 while I managed a 6.02m Shot Putt.

December:

Round 7 at Box Hill brought a breakthrough performance in the 100m, a 12.92 (+0.6) which was a PB in every way possible. A 4x100m relay of 49.36 with a much improved batton changeover followed. However I was a bit flat in the 400m and only managed 58.18. Great consistency but the feeling of stagnation.

Round 8 at Lakeside Stadium brought the first evening meet of the season, and I battled a tough wind to record a 26.50 (-1.3) which after adjusting for wind was very close to my PB, a good result despite not feeling like I ran well. A season's best of 2:28.4 in the 800m followed before closing the evening with a 5.97m Shot Putt.

I opted to skip Round 9 of the Shield and instead took my place the following day in the 400m at the High Velocity Club Meet 2 in Geelong, my first ever appearance in a HVC meet. Hoping to go sub 58 I shocked myself beyond belief with a enormous PB of 56.28, a performance which sort of came out of nowhere. It was such an improvement that initially I had doubts it was legit, and then I feared it could be a fluky once off. I entered the Christmas break on top of the world, but also hungry to kick on with the training to prove that this low 56 was no fluke, and to hopefully kick on to 55, and to lower my other PBs considerably, as they were now well out of line with my 400m. It had been a rather nice opening half to the season.

RandyMann

Pisco Sour wrote: »

Thats the size you need to get to over the off season, I'm nearly there..;)

Pisco Sour

RandyMann wrote: »

Thats the size you need to get to over the off season, I'm nearly there..;)

Haha, to be fair the fact he is closer to the camera does flatter him a bit.

RandyMann

Pisco Sour wrote: »

Haha, to be fair the fact he is closer to the camera does flatter him a bit.

Whats the story behind this meet?

Pisco Sour

RandyMann wrote: »

Whats the story behind this meet?

It was the IAAF World Challenge meet at Melbourne’s Lakeside Stadium last Saturday. Asafa was supposed to run the 100m but got injured at the Stawell Gift the week before so he was just hanging about really to fulfil obligations or whatever. Wallace Spearman was drafted in as a very late replacement. He cruised to victory in the 200m in 20.80 without breaking a sweat, and then an hour later, against most of the same competitors went on to inexplicably come 4th in 10.29, behind Josh “The Boss” Ross (who said in an interview afterwards that he wants to reach the final in Moscow, gotta love the optimism!) and 2 other Aussies. There was a good battle in the Long Jump between Greg Rutherford and Mitchell Watt. Had a very brief chat to Rutherford afterwards. Genuine nice guy, and seemed to enjoy talking to fans, as opposed to some of the others who came across they were doing so because they had to.

Pisco Sour

Just realised it's exactly 3 years since I did the Rotterdam Marathon. Looking back on it, it was one serious plod, and really brings no sense of athletic accomplishment, but I still have a lot of very fond memories about that day and it was more of a personal achievement and life changing experience. Will be a long time before I do another though, if at all.

Just had a read back over my report. Cringeworthy!

Ok now that I've settled back home for a few hours its time to try rehash the experience as best I can.

The week leading up to the marathon was nerveracking. I was really pumped and ready to go about 4 days before the race but I had to try keep the adrenaline at an appropriate level, which I managed to do until the day before the race when I was a bag of nerves!

I met brianderunner randomly in the Irish Pub watching the Munster game and then went and got a monster feed after that. I was reasonably relaxed again, but not for long...

Woke up the next morning absolutely sh1tting a brick. I had to force feed myself my breakfast as I had no appetite whatsoever. After a long struggle I managed to stuff 4 slices of toast, 2 slices of cheese and 2 slices of chicken into my stomach.

So anyway off I went to the changing facilities near the start line. I arrived nearly 90 minutes before the start of the race. I was going to be fully organised for this. I wasn't going to train for 5 months and do something stupid like risk missing the start of the race (like that poor unfortunate soul who showed up 20 minutes late to the Dublin Marathon last year!).

I had double-checked everything before I came over. Nothing was going to go wrong, I wasnt going to forget anything. Wrong. I had set up a 4 hour marathon playlist for my IPod, and charged it up fully before leaving Dublin. I listen to it on the plane over, only silly me I completely forgot to turn the stupid thing off, and as I reach for my IPod 1 hour before the race I notice the battery is at a critically low level. SH1T. Now I'm in a pickle. I decide to save the remaining battery for the second half of the race, and try out this whole "sampling the atmosphere" stuff that everyone seems to go on about quite a bit.

So away we go! The start of the race is very crowded and I found it very tough to get into a rythem over the first 2 km's which I covered in 12 minutes on the dot, well outside a pace that would be needed for sub 4. It was at this stage that I realised that Sub 4 wasnt really on for me. I was on 4.13 pace at this stage, so the I developed a plan to try run each Kilometre under 6 minutes. If I ran one in 5.40 then fantastic, but under no circumstances was I to run any slower than 6 minutes! By following these tactics I felt I could get quite close to 4 hours and if I had it in me at the end then I could push for it. Basically the plan was to narrow the gap slowly and economically.

There was enough going on to keep me occupied as I let my IPod have a rest. The crowd was fairly vocal at times and there was good music every once in a while. However when I came towards 6km I got a bit concerned that I still hadnt passed any water station. I asked some random Greek's did they know when we would be passing it, and they said they were wondering the same thing... the only conversation I had with anybody throughout. I simply cant talk and run at the one time. Its a killer!

Ah here we go, a sign saying "DRINKS 200m". Finally!!! Except in Rotterdam 200m doesnt actually mean 200m! It was more like 500m!! Why would they do that to us!?! Its the greatest form of torture! I may not be a Haile or a Paula but I certainly am not THAT slow that I would cover 200m in 3 minutes!
I got over it though and knew what to expect for the rest of the race.

My mind then went back to the recent thread on boards about MP3's in Connemara, and everybody going on about engaging with the crowd and all that stuff. So I thought, sure I'll give this a bit of a go, why not! So I see this girl, about 6 or 7 with her hand out waiting for somebody to High Five her. So over I go and go for the High Five only for her to pull her hand away in completely embarrassing rejection and a weird look to accompany it. Felt like a right tulip. Right enough of that, back to the centre of the road and focus of the running. The crowd had their chance for a bit of banter and they BLEW it!

I managed to keep a very even pace throughout the first half of the race and came accross the mid-way point in 2:01:47. So I had pulled myself down from 4:13 pace to 4:03:30 pace. The plan was working, if I could keep that level up I could yet get close to 4 hours. I knew I wasnt going to break it, but I was confident that I could get within a few minutes of it.

After 1 hour and 50 minutes enough was enough, the IPod was woken up. I was passing a very boring spot with absolutely nothing going on, so it felt like the right time for it. And boy did it give me a boost.

My hydration methods for the race were simple. Water and gels. I wasnt chancing any of this Extran stuff. Best to stick to what I know (though I did accept a Banana off some randommer from the crowd towards the end). I took the gels every 45 minutes and it gave me a much needed boost when i really needed it at aroun 2.15. I found that time quite tough mentally, as I knew I had still so far left to run and had no idea what may or may not be ahead of me.

I started to notice at this stage that I was struggling to break 6 minutes per Km's at some stages. During the first half of the race I was doing 5.40-5.45's, now I was doing 5.50-5.55's and the occasional 6. It just gradually got harder and harder. Nothing dramatic at all, just very very gradual.

I never hit "The Wall" though. There was never at any point where I felt in utter agony and that I wanted to stop. My mind didnt go into depression of anything like that. Mentally I was right there (for the most part), I just physically couldnt quite keep up the same pace as I had earlier. I gave it a good go though, and only at around the 35km mark did I start to drop below 6 mins/km.

It was at this point that I saw the first Irish flag of the day, to which I shouted at the top of my voice "COME ON IRELAND, GO ON IRELAND", to which the randommer in the crowd screamed back identical sentiments. It was a good buzz indeed but nearly gave myself cramp in the process. Got way too excited, back to the job at hand!

Around 35-36 km was when the race reached its toughest for me and then after that it started to gradually get easier (though perhaps my split from 35-40 wouldnt agree, see below). The last 3-4 km was an incredible feeling. It was at this stage that I knew I was going to finish, and finish in a time I could be very proud of. At this moment on comes Teenage Wasteland by The Who. Its amazing what some songs can do for you! I started to get very emotional. Was close to tears of happiness, but managed to hold myself together.

I really picked it up the last 2 kilometres and was full of energy for a final sprint to the line. In I came in 4 hours 07 minutes 35 seconds. I had given it everything. I was very proud of myself and how the whole race panned out for me. The amount of people I passed at 35k onwards who were walking was astonishing. The fact that I felt (relatively) good at this stage was a testiment to how I prepared for and ran the race and I gave myself a little pat on the back.

Later that evening I went to the Irish bar and met brianderunner, Robinph, Moycullen1, KentuckyPete and Misty Floyd. Great craic was had, and a half dozen pints of Murphys were guzzled in the process. It was great to meet up with everyone (though very bizzare experience hearing everybody introduce themselves by their Boards usernames ).

So today I am in an absolute heap. I can barely walk. Climbing the stairs is borderline impossible, but it was worth every second of it.

I'll take a good week or two off any sort of running now and have a think about what I want to do next. A part of me wants to focus on 10km's for the next while but I wont make any decisions too soon.

A few extra stats:

Net split times (difference)
5 Kilometer 28:56 (28:56)
10 Kilometer 57:43 (28:47)
15 Kilometer 1:26:26 (28:43)
20 Kilometer 1:55:12 (28:46)
Half marathon 2:01:47
25 Kilometer 2:24:26 (29:14)
30 Kilometer 2:54:01 (29:35)
35 Kilometer 3:24:12 (30:11)
40 Kilometer 3:54:59 (30:47)

I covered the final 2.195km in 12:36, which was 5.44-5.45 pace. Delighted that I managed to step it up at the very end.

My first half was done in 2:01:47
My second half was done in 2:05:48

A positive split on just 4:01

Pisco Sour

So something a bit different. As I'm on a break and not doing anything structured I thought I would do this race. My thinking is that I was going to do a jog today anyway so I may aswell do one with my club mates and get a sh1t load of free grub afterwards. This is the 29th running of this annual race between the 2 clubs and before today the score was tied at 14-14. The scoring system is pretty standard with 1st place getting 1 point, second place getting 2 and so on with the team with the lowest points winning. There were 26 Richmond runners and 22 Malvern runners so the top 22 from each team are counted.

Preparation was non-existant. I have done one jog on my break, 12 days ago, and before that I hadn't run a "long run" in 10 months or so. My PBs back in a different running life were:

5k - 21:02 - Oct 09 (downhill course in Rathfarnham so astericks required)
10k - 45:24 - Jun 11
HM - 1:49:06 - Apr 09
Mar - 4:07:35 - Apr 10

However at the end of the Decathlon in Feb I ran 5:04.36 for 1500m (which I have no doubt would have been about 4:57ish had I done it fresh and not after 9 events). This was a 24 second improvement on my 1500m time in the same event 12 months previously. All this was off the back of 400m training only. It got me thinking, just how far could I stretch the benefits of 400m training along the running spectrum, and at what distance will it start to have zero benefits at all. It got me thinking it would be a cool experiment to try run a 5k under 20 minutes during my off season just off the back of my 400m training and see if it was possible. However there's no 5km race for awhile so just decided to do this 8k instead.

The course wasn't a quick one. It took place on The Tan which is a 3.827km loop in Melbourne popular for runners and joggers of all standards. Sonia O'Sullivan used it frequently in her heyday. So we did 2 laps of this plus a bit extra at the start to bring the total up to 8km. Not a quick course due to a pretty nasty hill about 600m in length about 1km into each lap, and the gravelly/ sandy surface which covers about 90% of the route. But it's not like I was going to be setting the world alight so didn't care really. It would have been nice if the distance was 5 mile instead of 8km as 8km is a pretty pointless distance but they don't really work in miles down here. Just throw another 10 secs or so on and I'd have an idea of a 5 mile time.

So off we went, a big group of us in our club singlets taking off with other joggers and dog walkers providing interesting obstacles along the way. This obviously wasn't a closed course race.

Was quite impressed with how fast the guys at the front ran the first 200m. I let them off and sauntered around for the first few minutes to try get into my groove. I decided to take the first lap easy and then kick on in the 2nd lap. I see a couple of lads ahead of me who have no business being ahead of me. I decided to leave them off as they were inevitably going to die sooner rather than later. Felt grand for the first 5 minutes or so and then I hit the hill. This was bloody tough. First thing I noticed were the heroes who went off swiftly dropping back towards me and then falling off the back. The ended up finishing around 7 minutes behind me. However there were others starting to come past me at the same time and the hill took a lot out of me. I wanted the first lap to feel easy but now I was exhausted. I got a bit of a breather on the downhill after which was long and gradual, and at this stage the order started to settle down. People were moving way ahead of me and others way behind me. At around 3k I got into a group with one Richmond auld lad and a Malvern women, but they slowly but surely opened up a significant gap on me and by the end of the first lap I was probably 20 seconds down on them. There was nobody near me from behind so I was starting to feel in no man's land and just out for a solo training jog.

Came past the end of the first lap in 19 minutes flat, which was 4.173km including the first bit at the start. This was 4:33/km pace. A quick banter wave to one of my coaches who looked a little surprised to see me running this, and off I went. On the flat km before reaching the hill for the second time I had halved the gap on the Malvern woman ahead of me. She would be the only runner for the rest of the race who I would be near so I made it my business to catch her. I sort of knew I would given the fact I have a kick due to my sprint work, but I was starting to feel really horrible and with the hill to come again I wondered would she open up the gap again.

The hill was nasty and I had brief thoughts of just wanting to give up. "Go on, step off here, you've done plenty for today". But I toughed it out knowing that once I got to the top I could take a breather. I was feeling awful going slow up the hill so I thought the only way of getting through this was to actually just increase the pace, use my leg muscles and just get this torture over with. Running slowly can sometimes be greater stress than running quickly. At the top of the hill and I'm about 15 seconds down on the Malvern woman. At this point I am constantly looking at my watch. "Ahhh, how is it still only 23 minutes, it was 23 minutes when I looked 5 minutes ago". At this stage I was hating every second of it, counting down the minutes til it would be over, huffing and puffing, groaning and grunting very audibly. I pushed on and with about 1km to go I caught the woman, stuck with her for a bit and then pushed on. She hung on for a bit but then I pulled away easily. I took 15 seconds out of her in the end.

I crossed the line in 36:33 to finish 29th out of 48. I can't say I enjoyed it very much but definitely felt good afterwards for doing it. The second lap of 3.827km was in 17:33 which is 4:35/km pace. So I was pretty even the whole way through which was nice.

Afterwards you had some people saying "well done, nice time". I don't really need the backslaps. I'm not stupid, I know how this sport works and I know full well how sh1t a time that is. But I wont lose any sleep over it.

Having said that it's probably a pretty useful time for a sprinter. I was the only sprinter there today but if the others from my group were there I have no doubt they would have been well behind me, judging by their 800m.

Our top 800m woman who I train with quite a bit was in fits of laughter at the big red face on me at the end of the race. She said she had never seen me like that before!

We lost the competition by about 90 points or so. Very friendly and relaxed race to be honest with lots of grub after.

I reckon this race gives me an answer to the "Can I run a sub 20 5k off no specific training". I reckon not. At a guess I'd probably top out at 20:30 if I was to run one next week. It is pretty clear that 400m training has no real benefits for races of these distances. This time was of the same level as I did when I was road running a few years ago and I'm about 10 times fitter now. You can bluff a 1500m off 400m training but not this sort of stuff. Although it probably doesn't help that I've been on a break for a few weeks now, but there was no way I was going to do an experiment like this during the actual track season.

I would consider myself pretty strong aerobically in terms of 400m running but speed endurance/ aerobic power type stuff is completely different to the aerobic work needed to do well at these long distances. Two completely different beasts.

Enjoyed the morning for the most part, though didn't really enjoy the race hugely. It was a nice jog to keep myself fit during the off season and a bit of aerobic work for the big Beer Mile race on the 27th April, which will now be my focus over the next 2 weeks.

Pisco Sour

Following on from my 8km race yesterday I thought I'd give a brief update on my off season. I decided to stop going to the group training sessions put on at work. Very enjoyable but that sort of circuit stuff is much too intense when I am supposed to be on a break, and leaves me as knackered as any hard session does. So at the moment I am just taking it as it comes. If I feel like doing something (run, swim, whatever) I will, if I don't then I won't. I've pushed myself hard for 11 months so now is the time to forget about it all, and wait for my mojo/ motivation to come back. It's not there at the moment and don't really have a desire to get back into hard winter training for awhile. I think we are due back on 30th April but I reckon I will take another week off before starting the gym work on 6th May, and then not begin the hill stuff probably for another 2 weeks after that, which is the same timing as I did last year. I've also got exams coming up in mid June, so using this time to get more study done. I probably will have to keep my winter training at 3-4 days a week until they are over, so won't be back up to 5 days a week until mid June, but that still gives me 4 solid months before the track season begins again.

Beer Mile to come on 27 April anyway which I am looking forward to.

Pisco Sour

With Nationals now finished the track season is officially over and our club ranking list has been closed off. The following is where I ranked in each event during the 2012/13 track season:

100m: 12.82 - 5th of 19
200m: 25.62 - 3rd of 20
400m: 56.26 - 2nd of 18
800m: 2:23.8 - 11th of 29
1500m: 5:04.36 - 15th of 29
High Jump: 1.26m - 5th of 7
Long Jump: 4.40m - 5th of 15
Pole Vault: 1.30m - 4th of 4
Discus (2kg): 16.67m - 5th of 8
Javelin (800g): 8.37m - 7th of 7
Shot Putt (7.26kg): 6.21m - 7th of 12
Decathlon: 2561 pts - 2nd of 3

As my 800m PB of 2:19.3 wasn't in a race it doesn't count for ranking purposes. There's a few hand times for sprints counted in there to the nearest 0.01 of a second which I don't agree with but overall makes for good statistics. The depth certainly varies among events. The 800m and 1500m would be the strongest, followed by the sprints, then the long distance stuff, with depth virtually non-existant in the hurdles and field events. Many of my training group are actually members of a different club.

This is definitely big fish in small pond stuff, and there were a few others who could have come ahead of me over 400m but for various things going wrong (injuries, not racing enough, poor form etc) but that's not really my problem. I wouldn't get too excited as I know well that if I was with a stronger and bigger club I'd be nowhere to be seen, but in a sport like this you gotta take all the victories you can (while realising what exactly they are and not getting carried away). But if you only ever looked at those who are 50-60m ahead of you then you wouldn't get out of bed in the morning!

Though I do feel wrong calling myself the 4th best pole vaulter in the club with a 1.30m! :eek:

I'll do the second part of my season review soon and then it will be time to draw a line under this season and begin to think about what I want to achieve next season.

I've attached the ranking list for 2012/13.