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Running Aimlessly Down Under - From 54 to 53 sec 400m
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Very good and fun day at the London Interclub Challenge. First up 12.29 in the 100m with a +0.3 tailwind. 3rd fastest time ever. Down on my PB of 12.20 (+1.8), but a marginally better run adjusting both for wind. My top 3 times have come from this season now so happy out. Then ran 25.13 for the 200m with a +0.4 tailwind, albeit with a noticeable headwind on the bend. Season's best and second fastest time ever, an agonising 0.03 down on my PB from last year. Think I got a bit lucky with the wind with my PB last year as that's 4 of my 5 fastest times now coming from this season, so hopefully patience will be rewarded in the final 3 or 4 races. Great meet, with really competitive races for everybody. Super sprinting culture here.0
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Racing well lately, keep it going.0
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Fantastic day in Ninove, Belgium. A brand new PB of 25.08 (+0.1) in the 200m, sneaking under my PB from 13 months ago by 0.02. Have been knocking on the door of it all season long so relief and delight in equal measure to finally get it. Sub 25 is still the main goal, but will enjoy this first before thinking about Nationals next weekend. Earlier in the day I ran a lacklustre 12.46 (+0.0) in the 100m, well down on my best. Great experience running in such well organised meets in Belgium. Nice conditions, everything run on time, results appearing instantly, and delicious beer. What's not to love.0
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Quick recap on the last 2 meets:
London Interclub Challenge - Allianz Park
After racing 5 out of 6 weekends, the next period would see just 1 weekend out of 4 with a race, as I went back into a block of training to lead me into the final few races of the season at the tail-end of July. The one meet was a trip over to London to run in their Interclub Challenge. They have three rounds, one at the end of June, July and August. I've planned to do the first two.
Conditions were decent, albeit it was quite a windy day, mainly coming as a cross wind, into the athletes' faces on the final bend. Around 20 degrees and dry.
100m - 12.29 (+0.3)
All the heats are graded very well so the races are really competitive. I finished 5th out of 7 in my heat in 12.29 seconds, with a +0.3 wind. This was my third fastest time ever, and although 0.09 down on my PB, once adjusting both for wind, it is marginally better. I was very pleased with this run, and it is the third time now I have been quicker than my pre-season PB.
200m - 25.13 (+0.4)
For the third 200m race in a row I was drawn in lane 2. I don't mind lane 2 really. After all I set my 400m PB from lane 2. However, with lane 3 empty, I was a little isolated. It would also have been nice to get an outer lane for a change. I chased down 2 lads outside me on the bend, where there was a headwind, and distanced myself from them coming down the straight, to finish 4th out of 6. There was a really long wait for my result to come out. The suspense was building. The winning time came up at 24.4ish, so I knew I'd be very close to the PB. Alas, it was not to be, missing out by a narrow 0.03 of a second, to run 25.13 seconds with a +0.4 tailwind on the straight. This was a season's best, and the second best time of my life. I was pleased and frustrated in equal measure.
A good day's work, and I then ate my bodyweight in Brazilian BBQ with brianderunner and rainbow kirby that evening.
Memorial Rasschaert - Ninove (Belgium)
After a great experience in Oordegem in May, I wanted another crack at the Belgium experience. I was very nervous last time, and knew this time I'd be able to handle it better now that I had that experience in the bag. I ran well in Oordegem (12.37 and 25.15), and hoped I could go better in Ninove. This was another one of the 8 Flanders Cup events, and like Oordegem was an all day meet, organised absolutely beyond perfect, with plenty of beer available for spectators. Athletics as it should be.
Stayed in the same hotel as last time in a town called Aalst. Familiarity is a great thing pre race. However I could not find any Powerade in Dublin airport after I went through security. The place that usually sells it was out of it. So I spent about an hour walking around Aalst the morning of the race looking for it. No joy. I found Aquarius which seems to be the big brand over there. Wasn't excited about trying something new on race day (I only every drink these drinks on race day mind you!). Eventually in a Subway I found a Gatorade, which I used to drink during my time in Melbourne for races. This would suffice.
Took a handy train to Ninove and walked the 2km from train station to track. As I went to check in at the international athletes desk, the gentleman got very excited when he heard I was Irish and wanted to shake my hand. Being congratulated on my nationality was a strange one! Then he told me he could count to 10 in Irish (or Celtish as he called the language). I didn't believe him, so he demonstrated. Seeing I was impressed, he uttered something I was ashamed to say I didn't understand, which was some sort of chat-up line he must have used on an Irish girl many moons ago!
Conditions were fantastic. The track was a great mondo track, there was only a light breeze around which seemed to just come from random directions, and while it got up to provide some -2 winds, in general conditions were quite still. There was cloudcover with hazy sun. It was a very settled the day. This is why Irish people come to Belgium in their droves.
Not on this occasion though. While Oordegem had 75+ Irish, this time it was just myself and Kerry O'Flaherty.
100m - 12.46 (+0.0)
There were 6 of us in my race which was heat 6 of 6. I got a cracking start, and was right up there in the early stages and forged my way into second place for much of the race. However 2 lads to my right were breathing down my neck the whole way and both snuck past me by narrow margins at the very end. i finished 4th in a time of 12.46 seconds with a still wind. I knew when I saw 12.29 as the winning time on the clock that it wouldn't be fast. I was disappointed with this time, particularly given I felt I started really well. Didn't quite have enough to beat the lads around me in the dying stages.
200m - 25.08 (+0.1) PB
I was drawn in lane 4 in the 7th of 7 races, with just 5 in the race. I got out very well and I chased down all the guys outside me on the bend. The guy in lane 5 was the only challenger, and he started well so hr provided a good rabbit, and I ate up the stagger with about 20m of the bend left. I drove hard to 50, floated slightly to 80 and then hammered it home. On the straight it was just me versus the clock. I convinced myself that he was not far behind me and that I had to push hard to stay ahead of him. The reality was that I stretched ahead of him to win the race by well over a second. I tied up a small bit at the end, dipped well, and looked at the clock to see 25.08 pop up. I threw my arms into the air and shouted "YESSS". Then I waited nervously in case it got corrected to a different time, but it remained at 25.08 seconds with a +0.1 tailwind. Basically still air. This was a PB by 0.02 seconds, beating a PB which lasted since June 2016, and had withstood a barrage of attempts this season to date. I was delighted and relieved in equal measure. Regardless of what happens for the rest of the season, at least now I'm guaranteed to have hit a PB in all 3 events this year, the 60m, 100m and 200m.
I bumped into an old athletics buddy from Australia here of all places. What were the odds of that!
Fantastic experience, and I enjoyed many Belgian beers over the rest of the weekend to celebrate. Roger Federer winning Wimbledon capped off a super weekend.
This weekend I have Nationals, then the following weekend I've planned to race in the London Interclub Challenge again. If I hit sub 25 in either of those 2 meets then the season will end after London. If I haven't then I'll have one last crack in Cambridge the first Sunday of the World Championships. Still all to play for.0 -
Any journalist/reporter races planned for the World Championships?0
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OOnegative wrote: »Any journalist/reporter races planned for the World Championships?
Oh there'll be the media 800m for sure. But even when I was a 400m runner (and so could bluff an 800 a bit better), I still never ran better than 2:19 in any media race. You'd be absolutely wrecked from eating and drinking crap, sleeping little, and being in press conferences til all hours. Now that I'm a 100/200 runner I suspect the time will be closer to the miserable 2:26 I did in runners in Amsterdam last year. Bit of craic is all it is really.0 -
WOW! What a day! This is what it's all about. 24.87 for 200m at the Nationals with a +0.9 tailwind, a massive PB by 0.21 seconds. Since the first time I ran under 26 back in January 2013, I have run 25 something on a further 27 occasions, so to finally get under is a sweet feeling. And to do it at Nationals is extra special, just like 2014 when I finally got under 55 for 400m. Huge thanks to my coaches for helping me achieve this. Also I have to mention what a fellow athlete said to me back when I lived in Australia.. Back in late 2012, after I ran a 27.3 in Melbourne, he mentioned that if I sorted out my technique I'd run 24. I didn't believe him at the time, but here we are, eventually. Even got the random approval of Jerry Kiernan and Peter Collins right after, which is the icing on the cake. No pressure now for the 100m tomorrow. Anything else from this season is a bonus now.0
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Another good day at Nationals. Absolutely perfect weather to run a PB but was just a little jaded from the highs of yesterday. Still managed 12.25 (+2.0) for my second fastest run ever, just 0.05 down on my PB. Fantastic Nationals all round with great weather and bigger crowds as a result. Time for beers!0
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3 years ago, almost to the day, at the National Championships, I finally achieved a target I'd been after for a long time, the sub 55 second 400m. Fast forward to 2017, and history has repeated itself, as another personal landmark was achieved, the sub 25 second 200m. Here's the story.
Background:
Having run 54.88 at the 2014 Nationals, I had a frustrating 2015 season, where not a lot seemed to go right, and by the end of it, my 5 season love affair with the 400m was starting to ware thin. I wasn't enjoying the training anymore. I felt I needed something fresh, and so once the season was over, I made the decision to move down in distance and focus on the 60m, 100m and 200m.
The half lap distance
My intention was to focus on all these events in equal measure rather than prioritising one over the others. However deep down, the arbitrary nature of the sub 25 goal made the 200m that bit more special. I knew sub 12 for 100m was well out of reach for the foreseeable future, and sub 8 for 60m was something I expected to get without a massive amount of difficulty, but sub 25 stood there tall and persistent, just like the sub 55 400m had done for a long time.
I was no stranger to the shorter distances. I raced the 100m and 200m frequently during my 3 seasons in Australia, where they formed an integral part of my overall 400m goals. However once I returned home, I barely raced over these distances for the next 2 seasons.
As I embarked on becoming a specialised short sprinter, my 200m PB stood at 25.42. My first season away from the 400m proved very fruitful, and I brought this time down to 25.10 (+0.5). My goal for 200m for the 2017 season was to get down into the 24 second range. I had been injured for 2 months last winter and still made good gains, so I was excited for what I could do in 2017 with an uninterrupted build up.
New approach:
I felt I needed a new gym routine as the one I used for the past 2 seasons was becoming a bit stale. However rather than spend a fortune paying a strength and conditioning coach, I designed my own programmes through a lot of research online, some advice from Oregano State (thanks if reading), and through having the confidence to put it all together given my experience of lifting weights for a number of years now. I went with a periodisation approach, starting off with adaptation phase, then strength, then power, and finally maintenance. I did this for the first phase leading up to indoors, and then repeated for outdoors.
In addition a new coach came on board, while our previous coach stayed involved in a more assistant coach capacity. She brought a lot of expertise and different ideas, which hugely freshened up things. Gone were the long reps of 250m, 300m. Gone was the absolute slog of trying to exhaust yourself in speed endurance sessions, instead thinking about technique. We did really varied hill sessions out in Killiney Hill involving step running, long distance hill running, plyometrics, downhill running. There would also be a taper week every 6 weeks, where the sessions would be pretty easy. Of course there were plenty of familiar type sessions too. Everything was mapped out to allow us to peak for National Indoors, and again at National Outdoors.
Good fortune:
Ever good story needs some good fortune. Since I started back winter training at the very end of September I have not picked up even a single cold, with the exception of 2 weeks out over Christmas with the flu (the real flu, not man flu). Other than this period which somewhat coincided with a down week of training, I have had a clear run of it this year. Very few wedding distractions (just one). No stags. I couldn't have asked for a better build up to this season really, and I consistently got my 5 days training in throughout.
After a successful indoor season where I surprised myself with a 7.80 for 60m, and ran a decent PB in the 200m with 25.47 (despite not really enjoying the 200m indoors), I was super motivated to bring this form into the summer, when it really matters. The indoors only served to raise my expectations for summer.
Consistency and frustration:
This season I have brought my 100m time down from 12.35 to 12.20, yet leading into Nationals this hadn't translated into the 200m. I kept missing out on my PB by small fractions of a second. 25.28, 25.15, 25.18, 25.22, 25.13. I was starting to doubt whether 24, or even a PB at all, would happen. Finally last week in Belgium I got the monkey off my back with a narrow but welcome PB of 25.08. With this in the bag, I entered Nationals with renewed confidence.
National Championships:
To run PBs, sometimes the cards need to fall the right way. The weather is grossly unpredictable in Ireland, and for a sprinter it can be very frustrating getting windy conditions. However the stars started to align on this occasion. It was about 18 degrees, a perfect temperature for me, it was sunny and dry, and most importantly, the wind was only light, and it was blowing at the perfect angle, going diagonally across the track, meaning it would be at my back most of the way.
Call Room:
Other than first race of the season, and my first ever race in Belgium, I've managed my nerves very well this season. However I was feeling a bit more nervous on this occasion than recent weeks. The perfect conditions sort of raised the expectations somewhat, and then there was the call room. I'm well used to it by now, but there was a delay of 10 minutes, meaning we were stuck in it for 25 minutes. I kept warm by doing a few strides, but was really chomping at the bit to just get outside and get the race done.
200m:
I was drawn in heat 1 of 4, in lane 7. This was a lovely lane draw for me as I like running on the outside lane when most of the field are faster than me, rather than get stuck on an inside lane and feel isolated. However I knew I wouldn't be out the back door on this occasion. The guy in lane 5 is a low 24 guy, and I've had some great battles with him over 400m in the past.
I drove out very well, and just focused on myself, trying to block out the fact that others were eating up the stagger on me on the bend. I drove to 50m, floated ever so slightly to 80m, and then just hammered it home. It was all a blur on the bend, but things took shape once I hit the straight. The guy in lane 5 was slightly ahead of me. I chased him as hard as I could, while trying to keep relaxed. He managed to stay ahead of me, but if anything I closed a little in the dying stages despite tying up quite badly at the very end, trying to hold form, despite the legs starting to lose balance. I crossed the line about a metre, or metre and a half down on him. I knew I ran well and just hoped the clock agreed with my analysis.
The results came up one by one on the track side clock. The nerves kicked in big time. Then I saw the time of the guy in lane 5 which was 24.69. I knew I had to be close. Then my name came up with 24.87 and I absolutely roared with excitement. My next concern was what the wind reading was. The previous race (women's heat 2) had thrown up a 3.5 reading so I was worried. A woman told me it was 3 point something. I was a bit disappointed, a little confused how to take this result. Then a familiar voice comes my direction:
Jerry Kiernan: Was that a PB?
Me: It was, though it may have been illegal?
Jerry: How illegal are we talking?
Me: I think around +3.
Jerry: Well the wind is blustering around a bit. You know what you do? You f**king take it!!!
Peter Collins also randomly offered his congratulations, and a brief discussion continued.
Jerry: You will go faster though?
Me: Well I hope so. I am 32 though, although I've only been at this since I was 26.
Jerry: Well you don't have the wear and tear that others your age have. If you started at 26, and you are now 32, then in athletics terms you're only 19.
While I didn't agree with 19, I enjoyed the brief chat, and the fact he actually took an interest, despite the stadium being full of far more talented athletes than me.
Wind legal:
The drama wasn't over however. A lad I know well was in the 4th heat and he had run a PB of 23.95, and I burst his bubble by saying the winds would be illegal. Then an idea occurred to me. Maybe I'll check my phone and look up the live results. i was still prepared to count it as a PB, but I didn't really want a glaringly massive illegal wind cast a black mark over it. +2.1 I could deal with, but not +3 or +4.
Upon reading the result I let out another massive yell. The wind was perfectly legal. It was +0.9. All the other men's heats were legal too, and myself and the other lad were now absolutely buzzing. High fives left right and centre. The woman who told me I was +3 obviously got mixed up with the women's race. I needed to find Jerry to tell him this news. He'd more than likely already forgotten about our conversation, but I couldn't have him think it was an illegal wind. I eventually find him.
Me: Jerry, it was legal!! +0.9. She was f**king with me!
Jerry: She was messing with your head!!
Reflection:
I was buzzing beyond belief for the rest of the day, and truth be told I still am, and will be for awhile I imagine. A clocking of 24.87 seconds (+0.9) was not only a PB, not only a sub 25, but it had absolutely smashed both. A 0.21 improvement over 200m is a very sizeable chunk. In addition, to finally be able to call myself a 24 second runner was something that took awhile to sink in. I have run 25.xx on 28 occasions. I was absolutely sick of being a 25 second runner.
Back in late October 2012, at the start of my second full season as a sprinter, I ran 27.30 or so in a shield meet in Melbourne, which was about 0.4 off my PB at the time. A fellow athlete from a neighbouring club said to me that he couldn't believe I could run as fast as that with the way I was running, with really short stride. He said that if I learned to run properly I would run 24. I laughed. 24 seemed crazily unobtainable. Of course I worked hard at improving my technique and I got below 26 quickly, but this conversation remained with me, and as a result running under 25 became something to strive for. It may have taken many years (albeit many of those years with the 200m only being a secondary event), but finally I've fulfilled his prediction. I couldn't have been more proud being honest. And to do it at the National Championships, just like I did with the 400m 3 years ago, makes it extra special. I had absolutely brilliant athletes congratulate me on my PB throughout the weekend, at Morton Stadium, and at the after party in McGowans. Mark English and the like. It was all a bit surreal.
Final Thoughts:
Who knows what the future holds. After I ran 54.88, I didn't get within an asses roar or running it again the next season. No point thinking to the future. Better to enjoy the present and enjoy the feeling of achieving a challenging goal. Days like this don't happen often but when they do, they make all the mundane and average days worth it.
100m Round-up:
I went out for dinner with friends, had a lovely steak and a small bit of beer (a 330ml bottle and 2/3rd of a pint). I drank plenty of water though. I still wanted to run well in the 100m the next day. I slept terribly though, my body still racing from the adrenaline rush of what had just happened. I felt shattered all day, but got on with it, and gave a good account of myself. I ran 12.25 (+2.0) in absolutely perfect conditions. My training partner beat me to run a fantastic new PB of 12.08. I was happy with the result. It was my second fastest run ever, just 0.05 down on my PB. Had I been fresh I'd have PBed, but it was a big ask to back it up the day after such a high.0 -
A bit of a damp squid (literally) to finish the season in London. 12.78 (-1.5) in the 100m and 26.00 (-0.5) in the 200m. Dry but windy for the 100m and an absolute deluge of pissing rain for the 200m. My slowest times this season in each, by a massive margin. Found it hard to get up for this one after such a high at Nationals last week, but had paid for the flights so was worth a shot. Was fun to just race without thinking of times even if the performance were rubbish. Been a fantastic season overall though. Taken down my PB from 12.35 to 12.20 in the 100m (4 times under my old PB), from 25.10 to 24.87 in the 200m (2 times under my old PB). Indoors also went really well, taking my 60m PB from 8.05 to 7.80, and the indoor 200m from 25.66 to 25.47. Could not have asked for any more from this year. A lot of great memories created, met more people from the athletics community, and brilliant experiences running abroad in Belgium and the UK. Time for a long rest now as am mentally drained from it.0
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Quick round up of my final race of the season. Back to London for the second round of the London Interclub Challenge. I had a great showing at round 1 back in June. However after nailing the 24 at Nationals last week, I was tempted to just finish the season there and then. But as I had already paid around 130 for flights, I didn't want them to go to waste, so I decided to give it a go.
I wasn't nervous at all before these races, and found it hard to get up for them after such incredible highs last weekend. It wasn't that I didn't want to be there, but rather that I felt I didn't have much left to give at this stage. I was determined to just go out and enjoy the races without worrying about times for a change.
100m - 12.78 (-1.5)
It was still dry for this race but it was very windy. I was drawn in heat 8 of 12. I finished second in what was a very soft heat, with third place outside 13 seconds. The race was a mixed race, and the winner (12.67) was a woman who had a PB of 12.47 or so on the power of 10 website, so a poor loss really. An old training partner who lives and competes in London now, watched my races and said technically it looked very good and that he couldn't think of any areas of improvement. Good to hear. I think just on this occasion I didn't quite have it in the body. As simple as that. The headwind was significant which didn't help with the time, but 12.78 was my slowest all season by a massive 0.24 seconds (also run with a headwind).
200m - 26.00 (-0.5)
After the 100m the rain came down, and didn't relent until after the 200s were finished. It was an absolute deluge. Not far off the worst I've run in. Only Tullamore at 2014 Decathlon and the 2015 Greystones meet top it in that regard. Track was soaked in deep puddles. Thankfully there was an indoor warm up track, so I only had to go outside for the race. Otherwise I'd probably have scratched it. I was drawn in lane 8 of heat 6 of 10, and my first 100m was terrible, and the guy in lane 7 ate up the stagger easily. Once I hit the straight I started to pull it together a bit and closed well on 2 of the guys ahead of me, and was only beaten into 4th by one lad on the dip. The time of 26.00 was my slowest of the entire outdoor season by over half a second. You could probably attribute half a second to those awful conditions, but even allowing for this, it was still way down on the low 25s I was consistently all season before breaking into the 24 range. In a strange way it was a bit of craic to run in such awful conditions. Probably only because the pressure was off and the time didn't really matter. Had Nationals not gone well I would not have been impressed with these conditions.
Season finished with a bit of a whimper, but it doesn't at all detract from what has been a massive personal success for me. Big PBs across the board, and the sub 25 second barrier broken.
And with all my goals achieved now, I can happily write off that backup race I had lined up for Cambridge next Sunday. I didn't want to have to grind that out during the World Championships.
Off to London on Thursday. Will be a busy 10 days. Can't wait.0 -
I'll do up my traditional season review in time, probably not until after London. There's still the matter of the 800m media race to come, but that's more craic than anything else, and I don't count it as part of my season. So I've done up stats for the entire season, indoor and outdoor.
In total I ran 30 races (10 indoor, 20 outdoor). 10 over 100m, 13 over 200m (10 outdoor, 3 indoor), 5 over 60m, 1 over 150m and a rather forgettable 4x200m relay.
The full list is below:
INDOOR:
60m:
Pre-season PB: 8.05
1) 7.99 PB
2) 7.89 PB
3) 7.92
4) 7.80 PB
5) 7.87
150m:
Pre-season PB: N/A
1) 19.15 (Lane 4)
200m:
Pre-season indoor PB: 25.66 (lane 6)
1) 26.03 (lane 2)
2) 25.47 (lane 4) PB
3) 25.84 (lane 2)
4x200m relay:
Pre-season PB: N/A
1) 1:47.95
OUTDOOR:
100m:
Pre-season PB: 12.35 (+1.5)
1) 12.43 (+0.5)
2) 12.32 (+3.8)
3) 12.20 (+1.8) PB
4) 12.37 (+1.0)
5) 12.27 (+0.6)
6) 12.54 (-1.7)
7) 12.29 (+0.3)
8) 12.46 (+0.0)
9) 12.25 (+2.0)
10) 12.78 (-1.5)
200m:
Pre-season PB: 25.10 (+0.5)
1) 25.28 (+0.6)
2) 25.45 (+2.6)
3) 25.46 (+4.1)
4) 25.15 (+0.9)
5) 25.18 (-0.9)
6) 25.22 (-0.5)
7) 25.13 (+0.4)
8) 25.08 (+0.1) PB
9) 24.87 (+0.9) PB
10) 26.00 (-0.5)0 -
800m World Championships Media Race - London 2017
Quick recap on this. Was in heat 17 of 17, so I had to wait til the end. Decided to arrive at stadium just 40 mins before my race, rather than sit through all the other races. My girlfriend was over for a few days and didn't want to abandon her for more than was needed. Had a pint at lunchtime. Perfect pre-race preparations.
Went through 200 in 34, way behind the Spanish guy who ended up running 1:59 for 3rd overall. The Lithuanian guy in 3rd stayed within a few seconds of me for first lap but finished in 2:37, so it was always going to be a time trial.
Went through the bell in 72.xx, then hit 600 in 1:50, before kicking hard and finishing strong to come home in 2:25.03 for second in my heat of 8, and 26th out of 146 competitors. Even splits, and really that was as good as I could have given in a race like that.
Over 10 seconds down on PB, but more importantly 5.3 seconds down on my media race best. Not surprised though given I'm no longer a 400 runner, and so 800m is now so much harder to spoof my way through. Given my historical difference between my 800 best in shape and my media race time (when out of routine), I can estimate I'd probably have run around 2:20 for 800 off 100/200 training during the season (not that I was ever going to run one!).
Good craic as always. Was 19th in Moscow and 14th in Beijing. Standard was higher in London though.
Body was in bits for days after. Using muscles I haven't used all year. The free massages for the media came in handy and I got a couple of them over the following days.0 -
Was this in the stadium or on the warmup track? If in stadium, is the track as good as it looks? No ALSAA, I suspect.
Good result, fair dues.0 -
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5th Annual Irish Beer Mile Championships
Event was lower key this year and my preparation wasn't what it usually was. Had a dose all week and felt crap the evening before. Woke up feeling crap on race day and was close to pulling out but felt a bit better as morning progressed so went with it.
Only prep was standing chugging. Didn't get a chance to combine it with running. Main session was 2 days before the race where I did 2 x (2 x Brooklyn Lager) with 60 secs within sets and about 30 minutes between sets. This session definitely helped prolong the cold, along with drinking with relatives the next day post Kerry match.
Ended up finishing 5th of 9, in 9:21 using Brooklyn Lager. This was 20 seconds off my Kilbogget best (never going to beat my actual PB of 8:27 by running on a gravel track).
Splits were:
Beer 1: 27.7
Run 1: 1:39.7
Beer 2: 35.6
Run 2: 1:43.7
Beer 3: 44.1
Run 3: 1:44.8
Beer 4: 53.5
Run 4: 1:31.2
First beer slower than hoped, but felt great in second beer, then struggled on last 2 a bit more. Always felt in control on the runs and pushed enough, knowing my limits, so the spewing was never a real danger. Didn't flat out sprint the last 200 as there was nobody near me and was starting to feel a bit dodgey with increase in pace so kept it controlled.
Happy enough given how I felt going in.
Great fun. Hopefully we get back to bigger numbers next year.0 -
Background:
Having spent 5 seasons as a 400m, I took a different direction in October 2015, and set about becoming a short sprinter, focusing on the 60m, 100m and 200m. My first season over these distances was a big success, after an injury hit build up. I took down my 100m PB from 12.63 (12.58 windy) to 12.35, and my 200m PB from 25.42 to 25.10. I was excited with what I could potentially achieve with an uninterrupted winter, and I set about some targets in my head.
My current PBs were:
60m: 8.05
100m: 12.35 (+1.5)
200m: 25.10 (+0.5)
Some loose targets I had in my head were:
60m: 7.89
100m: 12.19
200m: 24.79
I badly wanted to go under 25 for 200m, but thought I’d subscribe to the Sonia O’Sullivan thought process of aiming in excess of what is needed, to make that seem more achievable.
New Coach:
I followed a new gym approach of periodisation, designing the programmes myself, rather than shelling out for a strength and conditioning coach. I’ve built up enough knowledge at this stage, and researched enough online to have the confidence in putting a programme together.
On top of this, we had a new coach come on board, with our previous coach staying on as an assistant coach, the best of both worlds. She brought many new ideas to the group, including step running, hill endurance running, plyos on steps, technical endurance runs, new drills, different kinds of track sessions etc. She brought a serious amount of fun to the group, and banned any pre-training fear from the group. All this made training particularly enjoyable, even on the dark cold winter nights.
Indoor Season:
After having my 2016 indoor season wiped out due to an awful groin tear, with the exception of some awful late season performances, this would be only my second proper indoor season. Training had been very consistent, and I missed very few sessions, and most of those I missed, I made up for it by getting the sessions in by myself. So I knew I was in shape to run well.
December:
The Believe and Achieve meet in Athlone gave me an early season shakeout. A 7.99 PB for 60m set the tone for what would hopefully be a good year to come. I then recorded a 19.15 for 150m, my first time racing over this distance.
Unfortunately just as Christmas eve hit, I started coming down with something, which ended up being the flu, and I was bed ridden for the entire holiday period, not just missing all the festivities, but 2 weeks of training. Thankfully one of the weeks was a prescribed easy week on our training programme, so the damage could have been much worse. I decided to sit out any meets in Januray, focusing on regaining fitness in time for the business end of the indoor season.
February:
The AAI Games was next on the menu, in the new arena in Abbotstown. I set a big new PB of 7.89 in the 60m, already hitting my goal for the season, and followed it up with a 7.92 in the second round of races. Unfortunately I got the dreaded lane 2 in the 200m and could only manage 26.03.
Two weeks later it was the National Championships in Abbotstown, and things got even better. I recorded another big PB of 7.80 in the 60m, which far exceeded my expectations. I made it a day to remember with a 25.47 indoor PB in the 200m from lane 4, bettering my 25.66 mark from the favoured lane 6 two years previous.
I closed out the indoor season at the Leinster Championships in Abbotstown a week later, and it was an incredibly frustrating day. The clock didn’t work, so I got no time for the 60m. Thankfully I got the photo finish sheets a few days later and through that I was able to make a good estimate that my time was approximately 7.87, so I’ve taken this as an unofficial mark. I again got lane 2 in the 200m (for the 3rd time in only 6 races I’ve ever run over the distance indoors), and managed 25.84. Finally we put together an utterly shambolic performance in the 4x200m relay, with some of the worst handovers in the history of the sport, and finished a very distant last.
Post Indoor thoughts:
I was absolutely delighted with my indoor season as a whole, and was genuinely shocked at running 7.80 for 60m. However, the Leinster Championships put a bit of a sour note to the end of the winter, and I was already fully buzzing for the outdoor season, and spent little time reflecting on the indoors. As far as I was concerned, this was my chance to hit fast times, while I was in form, and May couldn’t come round quick enough.
The frustrations of the Leinsters would prove to be a massive catalyst for how my summer season would pan out.0 -
Time to look abroad:
The indoor season was a tremendous success, but I knew deep down that it was a side show to my overall goals. All it had done was raise my expectations for the outdoor season. I was incredibly motivated to kick on with training, and was kicking at my heels during the break our coach gave us for after the indoor season.
The Leinster Indoors were an absolute disaster, and after not getting a time for the 60m I was incredibly frustrated. I made a decision there and then that I would be doing some races abroad this year, races that would be properly organised. I looked at the possibilities, and Oordegem and Ninove in Belgium stood out, along with a couple of rounds of the London Interclub Challenge, which I had done at the end of last season. Competing abroad would add something new to my running, something fresh and exciting.
Training went well leading into the start of the outdoor season and I felt ready to go when May came around.
May:
I kicked things off with my traditional season opener at the Greystones AC IMC meet. I was incredibly nervous leading into this race. After so much hard work, I was now going to find out exactly what kind of shape I was in. A 12.43 (+0.5) for 100m and a 25.28 (+0.6) for 200m was a very satisfactory opening. Already I was just 0.08 and 0.18 off my 100m and 200m PBs respectively.
A few days later I made a last minute decision to take advantage of the glorious weather and ran the second round of the graded meets in Tallaght. Like many gradeds before I didn't perform great, recording 25.45 (+2.6) for 200m. It was worth a shot, but I decided after that to forget about graded meets for the rest of the season and just focus on weekend meets, when I feel fresh.
Just three days later it was time for the Ton Le Gaoithe wind sprints meet in Waterford, one of the highlights of the season, and possibly the best meet in Ireland IMO. The weather wasn't kind, with dreadfully strong illegal tailwinds spoiling the day for most. My first 100m was very sloppy and I came home with 12.32 (+3.8), under my PB but way over the legal limit. However I nailed my second 100m race, and I got lucky that the wind died down, and I clocked 12.20 (+1.8) to record a massive new PB. Then the rain came teeming down, which along with awful headwinds around the bend, ruined the 200m, and I could only manage 25.46 (+4.1).
Next up was the IFAM meeting in Oordegem and obscenely hot weather. 26 degrees for the 100m, and 30-32 degrees for the 200m. I struggled badly during the warm ups in this weather, and I was also really nervous racing in a meet as massive as this. 2700 competitors over 17 or so hours of non stop athletics. Music, BBQ, a bar. It was like a totally different world. There was about 100 from Ireland there too so this was a huge occasion, and it got the better of me a bit in the 100m where I clocked a slightly disappointing 12.37 (+1.0). However, I relaxed more for the 200m, and ran 25.15 (+0.9), only 0.05 outside my PB.
June:
The Leinster Championships in Tullamore a week later was a very difficult occasion as I had just come back from my cousins funeral in the UK, and was an emotional mess. The meet proved a good distraction though, and rather than worry too much about hitting PBs, I just wanted to run well in his memory. I managed to do this with 25.18 (-0.9) over 200m, and then 12.27 (+0.6) for 200m.
The following week took me to Belfast for the Northern Ireland Championships. The 100m was scuppered by a strong headwind, and I recorded 12.54 (-1.7). The 200m went much better and I kept my consistency up with a 25.22 (-0.5). I was getting a bit frustrated however about constantly being so close to my PB, but not getting under.
Two weeks later I was over to London for the first round of their Interclub Challenge. I had another good day, clocking 12.29 (+0.3) for 100m, followed by another agonising near miss over 200m, as I just fell short of my PB again, with a season's best of 25.13 (+0.4).
July:
A three week block of training followed leading into the business end of the season. In mid July I made another trip over to Belgium, and raced at the Memorial Rasschaert in Ninove. Conditions were absolutely perfect with mostly still air, justifying my decision to race over there rather than in Leixlip which was decimated by headwinds. I recorded a disappointing 12.46 (+0.0) in the 100m, but I more than made up for it with a new PB of 25.08 (+0.1) over 200m. The monkey was off my back, and I finally had my 200m PB, albeit only by 0.02 of a second. I still hadn't given up hope on going under that magic 25 second barrier, but at least now I would leave the season with a PB whatever happened now.
A week later at the Nationals in Santry it just all came together. The temperatures were nice, the track was dry, the wind was blowing at the perfect angle for 200m, meaning it was at my back most of the way, I got a nice lane draw out in lane 7, and I had another guy just a small bit faster than me in my race who I could chase. To add to all that I ran one of the races of my life and I nailed a massive new PB of 24.87 (+0.9). I was absolutely buzzing. I slept terribly as a result and came back the next day for the 100m and gave a good account of myself in absolutely perfect conditions, clocking my second fastest run ever with 12.25 (+2.0). The exertions and emotions of the day before got in the way of securing another PB, but the whole weekend was one of the biggest highlights of my running life.
I closed my season a week later at the second round of the London Interclub Challenge. My motivation had gone after achieving such a huge goal, and the weather was diabolical, and I finished up with my slowest runs of the year, 12.78 (-1.5) and 26.00 (-0.5).
Afterthoughts:
This was possibly the best season I have ever had in athletics. While 2014 provided me with my greatest ever result, 54.88 over 400m, the season as a whole was very average up to that point. The only other season that rivals this one in terms of consistency was 2013/14 in Melbourne when I ran under 56 for 400m on 8 occasions.
This season was right up there with that. I took my 100m PB down from 12.35 to 12.20, and ran under my old PB on 4 occasions legally. In total, 7 of my best 9 times have come from this season. My 200m came down from 25.10 to 24.87 and I ran under my old PB twice. Again, 7 of my best 9 times have come from this season. Add this to my success over 60m indoors where I lowered my PB from 8.05 to 7.80, and it truly was a year to remember.
I'd place my 24.87 at Nationals right up there with my 54.88 at Nationals 3 years ago. To run under the 25 and 55 barriers will always be special, but to do it at Nationals, when the entire athletics community is there, makes it all the more memorable. In terms of IAAF scoring table points the 400m time is better, but both these results are equally special to me. Such rare moments of pure jubilation, but when they come they make all the previous frustration worth it. I was getting congratulations all day Sunday at the track and the after party off far better athletes than myself. The whole weekend was so surreal.
In addition to my results, giving myself the opportunity to race abroad in Belgium was a great decision. I learned so much, and experienced a totally different side to athletics. Racing in Belgium got the juices flowing and it shook up my routine. It can be easy to stay in the comfort zone running the same meets week in week out. This year I wanted something different, and in total 4 of my 9 weekend meets were raced abroad. I realise that I won't always be able to race abroad to such an extent, but I thought why not do it now while I can.
Going forward:
Everything went perfectly over the entire year. Other than the flu at Christmas which robbed me of 2 weeks, I didn't even get a single cold, so missed virtually no training. I only had one wedding to negotiate, which was in the UK, and therefore finished up early. I had no stags. I literally had so few distractions and was able to focus completely on my running, and the results were a product of that.
Just how do I follow a season like that? Well it's not easy at the best of times, but with a massive amount of distractions next year, I'm facing an uphill battle. I'll miss National Indoors because of a wedding, and my outdoor season is totally decimated. Because of weddings and stags all the best meets are confined to the dustbin. I won't be able to run in the National Outdoors, the IFAM meet in Oordegem (or AAI Games if I stayed at home), the Ton Le Gaoithe wind sprints meet, and the Leinster Championships. I basically have a 7 week window where I can race, so at best it will be a half season. Weddings and stags here are full weekend affairs, so training will be disrupted too.
For these reasons I simply don't even want to think about outdoors until after indoors. Last year I was thinking about outdoors from the get go, but I think going forward I need to just focus on each half season as it comes and not look too far ahead. I'd be better off just focusing on indoors and thinking about outdoors after. It simply isn't worth investing so much emotionally into next season if I'm not going to get a proper crack at it. If Indoors goes very well, then I can see what I can manage in the outdoors, but for now it's not something I even want to think of. Better to stick to the more immediate targets rather than look far ahead.
I'll probably go back training at the start of October. I'm in the middle of a 2 month break. I was absolutely mentally fried after the season finished and I just needed a long break and wait for the hunger to come back. Hopefully it does.
Final Thoughts:
This season will live long in the memory, not just for the race results, but for the amazing experiences of racing abroad, the great fun at training under our new coach, and the host of new people I have met in the athletics community. Athletes may be defined by the numbers, but athletics itself is about so much more than that. It's the full package that counts.0 -
A massively contrasting post after my season review for sprinting above. Dipping my toes into the world of distance running today at The Lakes 10km in Blessington. My first 10km race in over 6 years, and the first since becoming a sprinter. 2 weeks of training totalling a little over 40km with a couple of long runs. Came out with a 46:24. Certainly not earth shattering but not so bad for a sprinter. Happy out. Great race and far less agony than a 5km. Might makes this an annual thing.
I suppose a race report is in order.0 -
After the track season I decided to take a long long break, at least a full 2 months. My brain was mentally fried from it all. It was a tremendous personal success, but as soon as I nabbed 24.87 at Nationals over 200m, it was like somebody had popped the air out of a balloon and mentally and emotionally I had no more to give. My work for the season was done, and I went through the motions the following week to finish up the season.
Since then I've done very little. A 2:25.03 for 800m in the Media Race in London, one swimming session and a beer mile. I thought it was time I embarked on my annual journey into the world of distance running. This is a perfect time to get involved in such experiments, and it doubles up as a good way of staying in shape during the off season. 2014 I did a Parkrun, and didn't train for it and ran 19:46. The following year I did about 2 and a half weeks training for the Rathfarnham 5K and ran 19:47.
This time though I wanted something different. It may have seemed ludicrous to do this, given that now I train for 100/200 and so don't have the 400 fitness when I tried those 5Ks above, but this time I wanted to try something longer. I flirted with the idea of the Dublin Half Marathon, but that really was silly thinking altogether and it is too close to the time I'd be starting back sprint training, so I settled on a 10K, and The Lakes 10K was on at the perfect time during my off-season break.
I started training 13 days before the race, and got 8 days of running in, including a 5 day streak. The distances were 5.0km, 7.2km, 3.5km, 5.0km Parkrun, 3.6km, 10.1km, 2.7km and 4.0km. All but the Parkrun were run easy. The 10.1km was run in 50 mins, while the Parkrun was run at 90% effort levels, in 21:53, with a good push in the last kilometre. I got some good advice off Krusty throughout on types of runs to do, so followed this as best I could. A tutor taking on a student who hadn't studied all year.
My girlfriend signed up too, so off we went to Blessington Sunday morning and we were greeted with horrific weather. Cold strong winds, and pissing rain. The car parking area looked like something out of Craggy Island, with half the cars getting stuck in the mud trying to force themselves uphill. Eventually they put straw down, which solved the problem for about 15 minutes.
We stayed in the car for as long as was possible, but we couldn't avoid it forever. Eventually we mustered up the spirit to get warmed up, get our numbers etc. I bumped into dublin runner down at the changing rooms, and I think at first he just assumed I was there to spectate or help out, until it dawned on him. "Are you running?? You f**king lunatic". I received some sound advice not to blitz the first 200m and I'd be all set.
I overheard two different people ask in the space of 10 minutes were there medals for this race. I was wondering what I had got myself into here!
This would be just my 5th ever 10k race and my first since June 2011. I ran 46:59 at the 2008 Great Ireland Run, 47:29 at the same race 12 months later, 45:32 at the Crookstown Motorway Run in late 2009, before running 45:24 at a race in Melbourne in 2011. A part of me wanted sub 45, but I wasn't all that confident of getting it. The bookies didn't see it happening either with brianderunner quoting me 4/1, while Testosterscone was offering punters a price of 6/1. The only one who had faith was Krusty who fancied a fiver at the latter odds.
I got caught out at the start a bit. I was messing about tying my shoes and taking one last pre-race piss, when I notice the they've started. There was no big countdown or anything. Blink and you'd miss it, as indeed I did. No sweat though, I didn't give a monkeys about the gun time, it was all about the chip time for me. I started further back than I should have and the first 200m was a bit annoying but once I got over the bridge it started to thin out and from there I was not impeded for the rest of the race.
I opted to wear 2 t-shirts as it was freezing at the start, but low and behold the weather changed, and the wind died down and the rain stopped. .The early parts of the race were protected my trees too, so I felt absolutely roasting and was wondering had I made a big mistake wearing two t-shirts.
KM 1: 4:39.9
I made sure to run the early stages conservatively as I knew there was a dirty hill forcasted for around 6km. I went by the 50 minute pacers at the end of this kilometre, which highlighted just how far back I started.
KM 2: 4:31.0
Second kilometre I'm now closer to the pace needed for sub 45. It was feeling a bit too nifty however, and I needed to ease off or things could get very sceptic later on. Very little memory from these early portions of the race other than there being some bloke in a Real Madrid jersey with Van Nistelrooy on the back of it, and an outrageously squeaky sound as everybody's wet runners rubbed off the tarmac on the road.
KM 3: 4:45.2
I had given up on sub 45 at this point. It was never really on. I wanted to get around in one piece, go conservatively and push on in the later stages.
KM 4: 4:52.7
I'm not sure what happened during this kilometre. Maybe I lost concentration, or maybe there was a tiny incline, but the pace was now slowing a bit too much.
KM 5: 4:47.4
I just continued in a good rhythm, moving at a pace where I was comfortably out of breath. A type of pace where I could easily have a conversation yet would rather not, if that makes sense. After hitting half way in 23:36 I received a very welcome cold bottle of water. No paper cups. I couldn't have been more thankful about this. Around this time the rain came back, and it was glorious. Pure comfort rain. Who'd have thought it.
KM: 6: 4:30.0*
I spent the next few minutes sipping the water and I threw a bit over my head and I felt very warm. However as we turned the corner I was greeted with a headwind. I must have had it at my back the first half as I never felt it once. The split time is very dubious, as at every other KM marker they had the chalk mark on the ground at the same place as the KM sign, but at the 6km marker the chalk on the ground was a good 10-15 seconds later. So this was probably more like 4:40. I had slowed a bit drinking the water and a few guys went by me here, so it can't have been 4:30.
KM 7: 5:17.6
This hill was awful. Short steep part, then it levelled out to just a long gentle slope, before kicking up again at the end. It was a real slog, a case of keeping the head down and just getting through it. It knocked the stuffing out of me, but I was glad I had gone conservatively early on as I needed this energy in reserve to tackle this. The time was slow here, but probably more like 5:07 as per above.
KM 8: 4:20.4
The last 3km was fast, being downhill and then flat, although the wind somewhat compensated against this. I took Krusty's advice to recover for 30 seconds after the summit (I took 60 though) and then kick on. I didn't feel like I had the energy to absolutely blitz it, but I gradually upped the effort levels, and I was going past a good few now. In fact after the half way mark, nobody passed me in the entire race.
KM 9: 4:14.0
Another fast KM, but I am starting to hurt now, and there's little escaping the wind.
KM 10: 4:26.1
It flattened out in the last KM and I felt spent. The first 500m of this was only 2:18.5, hardly the fast finish I would have expected. I mustered up enough strength to close in 2:07.6 for the final 500m, but I was really exhausted. I was delighted when I turned the corner and saw the finish. I was still going by plenty of people. I must have made up a good 30 places in the last few kilometres. Pure exhaustion and relief upon finishing. My second half of the race was covered in 22:48, a good 48 seconds faster than the first half.
My gun time was 47:00, but more importantly my chip time was 46:24, my third fastest 10K, and exactly a minute slower than my PB from my last outing in June 2011. I finished 103rd on gun time out of 363. If I had started a bit closer up then maybe I could have squeezed into the top 100.
I was very pleased with the time, but more so with how I raced. While I was a bit conservative early on, I think it was the right approach given the timing of the hill, and as I didn't have a big sprint finish left in me in the last KM, it shows that I probably got my pacing reasonably correct throughout. I'm sure I'd have managed a sub 45 easily enough back when I was a 400m runner and I had greater fitness levels, but I was pretty pleased to be able to come home in 46 on this occasion truth be told.
My girlfriend came home well under the hour, so it was a good day all round. Then I picked up an absolutely glorious chocolate orange muffin. This was worth the entry fee alone. Though being a complete novice to these kind of races I tried to take one of each type of muffin before the nice woman gently reminded me that it is only one muffin per runner!
Would have liked to have hung about after and sampled the post race atmosphere but the weather turned again and there was no way we were standing outside in that misery. The lack of indoor facilities was the only thing this race lacked. Other than that, I could have no complaints at all. Very well run, and I'd recommend it to others.
I actually enjoyed this 10K in a weird way. It was more fun than the 5Ks I've tried, and the fact it was a complete pressure free race for me added to this, even though I was quite nervous beforehand. I'd definitely consider coming back again next year and doing it once more.
But my brief period of being a distance runner is now over. I may do another couple of parkruns during my break, but it's time to rest up for the remainder of the off-season so I'm good to go when I resume training.0 -
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Great result - but two t-shirts is definitely a mistake! A At 10k pace if you're running at the right effort levels, a singlet is all you need, as you won't stay cold for long - particularly if you're a hairy bastid!0
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Krusty_Clown wrote: »Great result - but two t-shirts is definitely a mistake! A At 10k pace if you're running at the right effort levels, a singlet is all you need, as you won't stay cold for long - particularly if you're a hairy bastid!
Yep was definitely a case of short term pain relief. It was freezing before the race and I gave in even knowing it was the wrong decision. Once I hit the second half and had the wind in my face I didn't feel overly warm though so I probably got away with it.0 -
It's almost time to put this log into hibernation again for awhile. But before that I thought I'd post up some stats. Being a complete stats nerd I keep track of the races I've run. Turns out I have now run 191 individual track races in my track career to date. This figure does not include the following:
- DNFs (not that there are too many of those)
- The one or two club races I did in Melbourne
- Those Tuesday night Collingwood Masters meets which I was mucking around at for a few weeks during one of my end of season breaks in Melbourne, as I don't consider those to be proper meets.
- Relays
- Field events.
PBs:
60m(i)|7.80|Feb 2017|Abbotstown
100m|12.20 (+1.8)|May 2017|Waterford
150m(i)|19.15|Dec 2016|Athlone
200m|24.87 (+0.9)|Jul 2017|Santry
200m(i)|25.47|Feb 2017|Abbotstown
300m(i)|40.47|Dec 2014|Athlone
400m|54.88|Jul 2014|Santry
400m(i)|56.04|Feb 2015|Athlone
800m|2:14.98(i)|Jan 2015|Athlone
800m(i)|2:14.98|Jan 2015|Athlone
1500m|4:52.06|Mar 2014|Albert Park, Melbourne
Races by Season Type:
Outdoor|168
Indoor|23
Races by Discipline:
Sprints|163
Middle Distance|28
Long Distance|0
Races by Distance:
400m|61
200m|48
100m|43
800m|23
60m|9
1500m|5
150m|1
300m|1
Races by Country:
Australia|97
Ireland|78
UK|7
Belgium|4
Switzerland|2
Russia|1
China|1
Netherlands|1
Races by Season:
2013/14 Australia|37
2012/13 Australia|34
2017 Ireland|30
2015 Ireland|24
2011/12 Australia|23
2016 Ireland|22
2014 Ireland|15
2010/11 Australia|60 -
While V02 Max doesn't have an awful lot of relevance for sprinters, I was entitled to a free sports fitness testing (valued at €150) at the Sports Surgery Clinic in Santry under my insurance policy, so I thought why not seek the value, and do it out of pure interest.
I'm a month back into training now. Gym wise I'm only in the adaptation phase, so low intensity and high reps. Regarding running, I haven't worn spikes yet (though have been doing track work), and there's been a lot of fitness work, including 3.2km runs after the hill sessions. Haven't done much speed work yet, so this is probably a good time to do this test, with a month of fitness work under my belt.
The test was funny. It felt like I was being sent off into outer space with the amount of gadgets that were put on me. I had a bit of a cold doing it and was worried this might impact my result, but once I got into it I felt absolutely fine. Can't say I enjoyed the clothes peg over my nose though. In total I ran for a bit over 10 minutes he told me. It was very tough by the end, but mentally tough too running on a treadmill at a high effort. I'm always paranoid that I'll slip off the thing.
The test was done at 5:30pm in the evening.
Results:
V02 Max (ml/kg/min): 56.1
V02 Max (METs): 16.0
Resting Heart Rate (bpm): 57
Maximum Heart Rate (bpm): 181
Body Composition Analysis:
Height: 176cm
Weight: 68.7kg
BMI: 22.2
Body Fat %: 16.2%
The body fat percentage was taken using a scanner which I think is called a Dexa scan. I had to hold something in both hands and it did a quick scan of my body. I'm surprised it's that high to be honest, but I guess it's only been a month since I started training again after a 2 month break where I didn't lift a single weight during that time. I'm sure that would drop down to 14.x come competition season.
Regarding the V02 max results, I only really have a basic knowledge of what it means. I've no real idea how it compares to others. He said I'm the first sprinter he's ever had do the test, so he wasn't able to give me a comparison to an elite. He told me an elite professional soccer player would be 60-65, Elite GAA player a tiny bit less.
My VO2 Max places me in the "Excellent" category for my age supposedly.
Bit of fun doing something like this anyway, even if it has no real benefit to my training.0 -
For a 100m sprinter, you are right up there... http://community.charliefrancis.com/showthread.php?9079-Vo2-Max-with-Sprinters/page2
For a 400m/800m sprinter, not so much... http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=1477013&page=2
Lactate threshold might be of more utility for someone doing the long sprints. You could have this done by a sports physiology lab, or alternatively, you can estimate it yourself if you have a decent GPS watch/HRM (ie. while recording HR, run 2 laps at pre-defined pace, increment pace for next 2 laps, increment again, again, again until you can no longer maintain pace). IIRC, the lactate threshold is a point of inflection in the HR versus pace graph. It's simply a way of knowing what an ideal tempo run pace is for improving lactate threshold specifically.0 -
Yeh would be interesting to have known what I’d have got on this 3 years ago when I was training for the 400m. I was much fitter aerobically then.0
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First meet of the indoor season tonight. Training has been solid, but a bit patchy. There have been periods where I'd get a lot of good training, then maybe a week with very little, as life has had a tendency to get in the way of late. Have struggled to get many 5 day weeks in, just 3 in total since starting back training 1st October, but I've been averaging 4 days per week.
200m: 25.76 (Lane 6)
In the process of moving jobs, and not starting new role full time until January, so had the rare luxury of racing this evening having not been in an office all day. It makes a HUGE difference. I felt very fresh despite the race being at 8:50pm. Had I been working, I'd have felt shattered by that time.
Didn't have huge expectations and expected 26 something, so am pleasantly surprised with the time. It's just 0.29 slower than my indoor PB (though 0.89 down on my outdoor PB). It must be acknowledged I had a great lane draw in lane 6, while my PB was from lane 4. So overall I'm the guts of half a second down on my best, but at this early stage that's fine.
I finished 3rd of 5 in the second of four races. My start was very poor, as I felt off balance in the set position starting on a slope. My training partner in lane 5 beat me by 0.29 seconds. I've a marginally faster outdoor PB than him. He got out fast and ate up the stagger on me just before half way. I finished strong and made some of those lost metres up on him in the last 40m, but not enough.
Enjoyable evening. 8 of the 19 in the 200m were from our training group, plus 1 competing in the mile.0 -
Training has been a bit all over the place over the Christmas. I've got a reasonable amount of sessions in, but there were all on my own, given the hectic nature of the time of year. This year in particular was more hardcore than other years, with a family 2 day wedding buried into the Christmas season between Christmas Day and New Year's Day. The amount of drinking from mid November to NYE was absolutely excessive and I felt pretty horrendous and fed up of drinking by the end of it.
Not ideal preparations for indoors, but I'm off the booze now since New Year's Day. Might have the occasional beer here and there (I haven't yet), but no actual evening on the beer until Superbowl. Already feeling more energetic and have got some good training in the last 2 weeks.
Yesterday I had my first 60m races of the season. Expectations were low enough given I've only had 1 block session so far (I missed a couple by being away).
60m Race 1: 7.99
I was in lane 2 and was last by a good margin. Had hoped to be closer to the lad from SLOT AC, given I was just 0.07 down on him at Nationals last year, but he ran very strongly. I felt I ran a sloppy race, and feared what the time would be. But I was pleasantly surprised to see I sneaked under 8 seconds. I was in a really fast race, so I didn't feel so bad about being tailed off. My reaction time was 0.162, the first time I have ever got a reaction time for any race.
60m Race 2: 8.04
This time the races were graded so I was in a more even race. I was in lane 3, and thought I was closer to the guy in SLOT, and the race felt better than the first one. But my senses were deceiving me as my time was 0.05 slower than the first race. My reaction time was an appalling 0.236 on this occasion. It honestly didn't feel that bad, but there you go. I lost 0.07 in my second race compared to my first race as a result.
Overall, it's an ok result. 7.99 is well down on my PB of 7.80, but is the same result as my first 60m race from last year (albeit that was in mid December). Hopefully I can get faster in the coming meets.0 -
Im in a similar boat myself regarding coming back after a alcahol binge. The 2nd half of last year was silly. Does drink have a lesser or worse impact on sprint training as compared to endurance training or is it just the skipped sessions?Chivito550 wrote: »Training has been a bit all over the place over the Christmas. I've got a reasonable amount of sessions in, but there were all on my own, given the hectic nature of the time of year. This year in particular was more hardcore than other years, with a family 2 day wedding buried into the Christmas season between Christmas Day and New Year's Day. The amount of drinking from mid November to NYE was absolutely excessive and I felt pretty horrendous and fed up of drinking by the end of it.
Not ideal preparations for indoors, but I'm off the booze now since New Year's Day. Might have the occasional beer here and there (I haven't yet), but no actual evening on the beer until Superbowl. Already feeling more energetic and have got some good training in the last 2 weeks.
Yesterday I had my first 60m races of the season. Expectations were low enough given I've only had 1 block session so far (I missed a couple by being away).
60m Race 1: 7.99
I was in lane 2 and was last by a good margin. Had hoped to be closer to the lad from SLOT AC, given I was just 0.07 down on him at Nationals last year, but he ran very strongly. I felt I ran a sloppy race, and feared what the time would be. But I was pleasantly surprised to see I sneaked under 8 seconds. I was in a really fast race, so I didn't feel so bad about being tailed off. My reaction time was 0.162, the first time I have ever got a reaction time for any race.
60m Race 2: 8.04
This time the races were graded so I was in a more even race. I was in lane 3, and thought I was closer to the guy in SLOT, and the race felt better than the first one. But my senses were deceiving me as my time was 0.05 slower than the first race. My reaction time was an appalling 0.236 on this occasion. It honestly didn't feel that bad, but there you go. I lost 0.07 in my second race compared to my first race as a result.
Overall, it's an ok result. 7.99 is well down on my PB of 7.80, but is the same result as my first 60m race from last year (albeit that was in mid December). Hopefully I can get faster in the coming meets.0 -
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ultrapercy wrote: »Im in a similar boat myself regarding coming back after a alcahol binge. The 2nd half of last year was silly. Does drink have a lesser or worse impact on sprint training as compared to endurance training or is it just the skipped sessions?
Good question. From my experience training with a bad hangover is bad for both. For the endurance sessions you'll get through it but you'll feel like absolute death during it, while for the speed sessions you won't feel as horrific doing it, but if you haven't re-hydrated properly, then you run the risk of cramps.
Having said that, I remember back in January 2013 I ran a 400m PB just days after a Christmas where I did the dog on drink and crap food. I then knuckled down in terms of severely cutting back on my intake of alcohol and didn't drink much for the rest of the season. I didn't run faster (I did get close though). Kind of funny looking back. Makes no sense really.
Life gets in the way. It's about managing it all. Alcohol in moderation will have very little (if any) impact on performance at our level. Problem is this November and December has not been moderation. But there was so much on. The aforementioned wedding, a stag that took me 2 weeks to recover from, a trip to Bulgaria, trip to Germany, not to mention all the usual Christmas gettogethers. It really adds up.
All throughout the last season I was very disciplined with the booze. I didn't drink much. Few beers here and there, but very few blowouts. I was so sensible. Training was consistent, and the results spoke for themselves.
What I found with alcohol if drinking to excess is that it really starts to affect your mood, and that in turn can affect motivation, and you really have to force yourself to get the runners on.
Knowing what is ahead of me this summer, I'd be telling a lie if I said I was as motivated about the coming season. National Indoors and National Outdoors are both off the table with family weddings. These are the events where my 60m, 200m outdoor, 200m indoor, 400m outdoor and 400m indoor have all come from. Only the 100m PB has come from elsewhere, and even then my second best time in the 100m has come from Nationals. The occasion of Nationals seems to bring out the best in me. I've only got a half season really for outdoors this year as I've a wedding end of May, start of June, and then end of July. No dates of stags confirmed yet, but there will be at least 2, maybe even 3.
Now that I'm into the indoor season, I can feel the motivation coming back. Will focus on indoors solely for now, and enjoy the season with no pressure to run PBs.0
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