The Middle Distance Thread

Chivito550

Sacksian wrote: »

It's more the performance that's bugging me, and the fact that a 57 400m to finish was so destructive for my race. If they'd started with a 56/57 and I'd gone through in 59 behind them, it would have suited my 800 strengths (a relative term) more. I think front running an 800m is hard whatever the surface, to be honest.

I think you'll do well tomorrow - just keep concentrated and keep the effort up (rather than letting the laps click by), there's so many laps on an indoor 3000m it's easy to drift off - races definitely feel like they go quicker indoor!

Imagine how athletes at championships feel when looking for fastest loser spots, and their heat goes out really slow.

dna_leri

Sacksian wrote: »

It's more the performance that's bugging me, and the fact that a 57 400m to finish was so destructive for my race. If they'd started with a 56/57 and I'd gone through in 59 behind them, it would have suited my 800 strengths (a relative term) more. I think front running an 800m is hard whatever the surface, to be honest.
!

Good to set high standards but you are being harsh.
Very hard to negative split the 800m.
An early season 2:03 is nothing to be ashamed of.

Sacksian

Ah no, time is fine - just a new type of 800m race for me. 3rd 200, rather than the last, was where all the action was. Something to learn from, I suppose! And train for too,

How are you set yourself? Hopefully, see you at Leinsters.

dna_leri

Sacksian wrote: »

Ah no, time is fine - just a new type of 800m race for me. 3rd 200, rather than the last, was where all the action was. Something to learn from, I suppose! And train for too,

How are you set yourself? Hopefully, see you at Leinsters.

Planning for season opener at Connachts, then Leinsters 2 weeks later and masters 2 weeks after that. Still a lot of work to do.

dna_leri

Opened my season at Connachts with my slowest 800m in 4 years 2:12 for 2nd place.
Let a young lad lead off the front and ran my own race most of the way.
Finished strong over the last lap and almost closed the gap of about 30m, losing out by just 0.12s
While the time is awful I was happy with the racing and to get the first one over with.

Sacksian

I'm a bit conflicted by the scheduling of the Leinster Indoors. It looks like I won't be able to double up the 800/1500 as usual. The last schedule I saw on the Athletics Leinster site has the 800 at 10:00am, which I won't make, whereas the one on AI has the 800m and 1500m too close together to run both.

Thinking of doing the 3000m now which is my weakest PB between 400-5000, so I'd like to have a go at that, if I'm in shape to do it.

dna_leri

Sacksian wrote: »

I'm a bit conflicted by the scheduling of the Leinster Indoors. It looks like I won't be able to double up the 800/1500 as usual. The last schedule I saw on the Athletics Leinster site has the 800 at 10:00am, which I won't make, whereas the one on AI has the 800m and 1500m too close together to run both.

Thinking of doing the 3000m now which is my weakest PB between 400-5000, so I'd like to have a go at that, if I'm in shape to do it.

I'd say do the 400 but I don't want you beating me.

Sacksian

dna_leri wrote: »

I'd say do the 400 but I don't want you beating me.

Ha - not much chance of that! But if I didn't think my hamstring would separate, I'd love to try a 400 indoors - looks like it'd suit an 800m runner. I'm between niggles at the moment, so I think my hamstring would prefer I wait until 2017!

Chivito550

Ran the Connacht Championships myself yesterday too. First races since the injury, and the times were fairly rubbish, which was to be expected. I'm glad I'm not running 400m this year as I doubt I'd have been much faster than high 58 or low 59! Ran 8.33 for the 60m and 26.96 from a tight lane 3 in the 200m. Got through them in one piece which is the main thing at the moment.

Tough event to compete in given all the delays, and the crecheload of kids around.

Chivito550

Sacksian wrote: »

Ha - not much chance of that! But if I didn't think my hamstring would separate, I'd love to try a 400 indoors - looks like it'd suit an 800m runner. I'm between niggles at the moment, so I think my hamstring would prefer I wait until 2017!

Actually quite the opposite. The 400 indoors is very much more favoured by the speed based 400 runners rather than the endurance based. My old coach described it as a 200m race followed by the last 200 of an 800. The importance of getting to the break first means athletes run much quicker for the first 200 than they would outdoors, as you have no real chance of winning the race if you are not in the top 2 at the bell.

happygoose

I see the National Masters Indoors is being done on times. Probably always the case, I wasn't aware of it. Takes the fun out of it

KielyUnusual

So, a lot of the fixtures for the Summer of 2016 are now known

Dublin Graded

IMC

Nationals, AAI Games, Regionals etc

Seems to be a lot of focus on the 800m in the Gradeds and the addition of a DMR League too. I guess this is a reaction to the undoubted popularity of these events last year. I'm eager to have a more 800/1500 focus this year, rather than 1500/3000, so happy enough with having more opporuntity to race 800 at the Gradeds and then focus on 1500 in the IMC.

Any other people's thoughts? What are the plans for the summer?

pconn062

KielyUnusual wrote: »

So, a lot of the fixtures for the Summer of 2016 are now known

Dublin Graded

IMC

Nationals, AAI Games, Regionals etc

Seems to be a lot of focus on the 800m in the Gradeds and the addition of a DMR League too. I guess this is a reaction to the undoubted popularity of these events last year. I'm eager to have a more 800/1500 focus this year, rather than 1500/3000, so happy enough with having more opporuntity to race 800 at the Gradeds and then focus on 1500 in the IMC.

Any other people's thoughts? What are the plans for the summer?

Lots of options there. I am still too afraid to say that I am hoping, to begin thinking about the possibility that I could consider thinking about a track season this summer. However if I could get a few races in then I will probably concentrate on 800-1500m-3k. Hopefully the Achilles allows it. Will probably just run the Morton meets in Dublin and then run a few of the DDAC graded meets in Drogheda if they are on this year, save me travelling to Irishtown or Tallaght.

Dubgal72

Thanks for that KU. National Masters T&F is not on until the 21st August. Bit of a joke really, I would plan to use the gradeds to scaffold for a June/July peak and be building for XC by late August. Gah....

IvoryTower

Ddac will have the graded meets again(dates up next week I believe) and instead of the mile trial every few weeks they're doing 800m/3k so there will be plenty of chances to get races in

MacAttackJ

No mile in the graded meets this year that I can see which is a shame. Call me old fashioned but that was one in particular I was planning on tackling.

KielyUnusual

MacAttackJ wrote: »

No mile in the graded meets this year that I can see which is a shame. Call me old fashioned but that was one in particular I was planning on tackling.

Noticed that too.Yea, its a pity they got rid of the mile. One of my favourite races last year. Not too many opportunities to get in a competitive mile in Dublin these days.

Chivito550

Shocked that 2 of these meets are in irishtown given the current state of the track.

Sacksian

pconn062 wrote: »

Lots of options there. I am still too afraid to say that I am hoping, to begin thinking about the possibility that I could consider thinking about a track season this summer. However if I could get a few races in then I will probably concentrate on 800-1500m-3k. Hopefully the Achilles allows it. Will probably just run the Morton meets in Dublin and then run a few of the DDAC graded meets in Drogheda if they are on this year, save me travelling to Irishtown or Tallaght.

+1 for me on this, pconn. Good luck with it! Just looking at my posts last year where I was getting overexcited working out my dream schedule and ended up not getting a single track race in last summer, so I'd really love to get fit going into this season and having a real pop at a few pbs.

Dubgal72 wrote: »

Thanks for that KU. National Masters T&F is not on until the 21st August. Bit of a joke really, I would plan to use the gradeds to scaffold for a June/July peak and be building for XC by late August. Gah....

And +1 on this too. I'll be skipping the 800s either at the national masters or the start of the season, otherwise it's just too long (mid-April to mid-August). Current plan is to start at 5k/3k and work my way down, but I find it very hard to refuse an 8! Might use the graded races as sessions, doubling up or doing longer distances, and then pick a couple of IMCs for big targets.

Still seems really early to be thinking about this!

Chivito550

Dubgal72 wrote: »

Thanks for that KU. National Masters T&F is not on until the 21st August. Bit of a joke really, I would plan to use the gradeds to scaffold for a June/July peak and be building for XC by late August. Gah....

I'm guessing Masters are late because the World Championships are in Perth this year, which aren't until late October. Nationals need to somewhat work around the major championships in all fairness.

Chivito550

KielyUnusual wrote: »

So, a lot of the fixtures for the Summer of 2016 are now known

Dublin Graded

IMC

Nationals, AAI Games, Regionals etc

Seems to be a lot of focus on the 800m in the Gradeds and the addition of a DMR League too. I guess this is a reaction to the undoubted popularity of these events last year. I'm eager to have a more 800/1500 focus this year, rather than 1500/3000, so happy enough with having more opporuntity to race 800 at the Gradeds and then focus on 1500 in the IMC.

Any other people's thoughts? What are the plans for the summer?

The gradeds are good craic, but they are a bit of a joke when it comes to race preparation. Constant delays, athletes standing around getting cold etc. I never run well late in the evening anyway so will probably give them a miss entirely to be honest, and focus on the IMC (which are exceptionally well run), and National/Regional based competitions (mixed bag). There's tons of weekend events throughout the season.

Dubgal72

Chivito550 wrote: »

I'm guessing Masters are late because the World Championships are in Perth this year, which aren't until late October. Nationals need to somewhat work around the major championships in all fairness.

Fair point but the national masters are still in 'no man's land' re race prep.....If I was running in the nationals, I'd want to peak for them and then again in Oct/Nov. Bit messy, I'd leave that schedule to my coach

Chivito550

Dubgal72 wrote: »

Fair point but the national masters are still in 'no man's land' re race prep.....If I was running in the nationals, I'd want to peak for them and then again in Oct/Nov. Bit messy, I'd leave that schedule to my coach

Usually the nationals would be a few weeks before the Worlds or Europeans. The fact they are in Australia makes it tricky, as they are going to have to be on in Spring or Summer there, rather than their winter.

Dubgal72

Chivito550 wrote: »

Usually the nationals would be a few weeks before the Worlds or Europeans. The fact they are in Australia makes it tricky, as they are going to have to be on in Spring or Summer there, rather than their winter.

I know, damn them antipodeans and their upside-down-ness. Would it not make more sense to bring the nationals forward to June/early July, followed by a season's break and then a new build towards the worlds? It makes no odds to 10000m, HM and marathon being so late in the season, maybe not even the 5000m but it certainly does for anything below that.

Chivito550

Dubgal72 wrote: »

I know, damn them antipodeans and their upside-down-ness. Would it not make more sense to bring the nationals forward to June/early July, followed by a season's break and then a new build towards the worlds? It makes no odds to 10000m, HM and marathon being so late in the season, maybe not even the 5000m but it certainly does for anything below that.

Ah I think you are making a meal of it to be honest. Nationals in mid to late August is no big deal. Top athletes peak for the end of August anyway. The likes of Thomas Barr ran brilliantly at World Champs, and he started his season early May, maybe even late April. He didn't have a race for a good 2 and a half weeks before the World's. You'll be fine. If you have a 3 week gap between your last track race and Nationals you'll manage fine. To be honest I don't think our track season goes on long enough. People seem to want to shut down come August. In the UK there are meets right into September.

KielyUnusual

Ah bless the lazy Easter Monday afternoons for doing stuff like this. Having a look at the T & F fixtures and decided to put together a table of all events over the summer. Please add to this as I've just focussed on the Dublin Gradeds, IMC and AAI events. I've assumed there is an 8 and 15 at every IMC event but there may be additional events at each meet. There is a 3000m at the Belfast meet, which I have added.

Date|Venue|Event|800|1500|Mile|3000|5000|DMR
20 Apr|Santry|Dub Graded|Yes|||Yes||
30 Apr|Greystones|IMC|Yes|Yes||||
7 May|Belfast|IMC|Yes|Yes||Yes||
11 May|Tallaght|Dub Graded||Yes|||Yes|
25 May|Irishtown|Dub Graded|Yes|||||
29 May|Santry|AAI Games|Yes|Yes||Yes||
5 Jun|TBC|Leinster Champs|Yes|Yes||Yes|Yes|
6 Jun|Tullamore|IMC|Yes|Yes||||
8 Jun|Morton|Dub Graded||Yes||||
12 Jun|Various|Nat League|Yes|Yes||Yes|Yes|
17 Jun|Irishtown|IMC|Yes|Yes||||
22 Jun|Tallaght|Dub Graded|Yes|||Yes||
25/26 Jun|Santry|Nationals|Yes|Yes||Yes(SC)|Yes|
13 Jul|Irishtown|Dub Graded|Yes||||Yes|
17 Jul|Various|Nat League|Yes|Yes||Yes(SC)|Yes|
20 Jul|Santry|Dub Graded|Yes|||||Yes
22 Jul|Santry|Morton Games|Yes|Yes|Yes|||
30 Jul|Leixlip|IMC|Yes|Yes||||
03 Aug|Tallaght|Dub Graded||||Yes||Yes
07 Aug|Tullamore|Nat League|Yes|Yes||Yes(SC)|Yes|
21 Aug|Tullamore|Nat Masters|Yes|Yes||Yes|Yes|

Sacksian

KielyUnusual wrote: »

Ah bless the lazy Easter Monday afternoons for doing stuff like this. Having a look at the T & F fixtures and decided to put together a table of all events over the summer. ...

Nooooo....I need to postpone all of these by about four weeks! I might sit out May.

In terms of additions, I think Leinster Champs are the day before the IMC in Tullamore.

And there's a fancy new IMC website too:http://www.irishmilersclub.org/

KielyUnusual

Sacksian wrote: »

Nooooo....I need to postpone all of these by about four weeks! I might sit out May.

In terms of additions, I think Leinster Champs are the day before the IMC in Tullamore.

And there's a fancy new IMC website too:http://www.irishmilersclub.org/

I'm away for the first two anyway but it certainly is a long summer of racing. The list really shows the glaring lack of mile races over the summer although there should be at least one or two added in with time. I've put in the mile race for the Morton Meet but you'd need to be a s**t hot standard to get an entry in to this. Hopefully I'm at least of requisite 800m standard to get a run out in one of these races at the meet this year.

Don't think there'd be too much harm in missing out in a few races in May if you are targeting the Masters in August. The AAI games is a fairly awful meet anyway and other than that its mainly just the two Graded meets. I'm looking forward to the Belfast one though. Heard a lot of good things last year.

I've provisionally decided on the below races but will definitely be dropping a few from this depending on circumstances

Sacksian

It's times like this I'd love to have a coach to sit down with and figure out how I'm going to stop myself from trying to run 18 800s this summer.

KielyUnusual

Sacksian wrote: »

It's times like this I'd love to have a coach to sit down with and figure out how I'm going to stop myself from trying to run 18 800s this summer.

Ha ha. Too true. I know I'm going to find it difficult to pick and choose.