ARtist in the Spotlight - Oregano_State

Chivito550

While exhausting at times I enjoyed the week in the spotlight, but now it's time for somebody else to move into the hotseat. After a Brian Adams-esqe run of marathon runners I've decided to keep the sprinters at the top of the charts for at least another week.

For those who don't know him, Oregano_State is a 400m runner, and has been posting regularly here for close to 2 years now. In his younger days he hit some very fast times, including a 51 second 400m, and flirted with 800m running aswell. After some time out of the sport he has made a comeback which is documented in his log which you can find here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056748777

Oregano has provided me with lots of great advice with regards to my training, and with years of experience in the bag, would no doubt do likewise for anyone else here who may be tempted to move down to the quarter mile. To add to this he is a keen follower of the sport at elite level.

So I'll kick this week's session off:

1) What's your athletic background? What particular achievements are you proud of from your earlier years in track and field?

2) Why did you quit the sport, and what prompted the comeback?

3) What is the most horrible track session you have ever had to do?

4) Do you believe it is possible for somebody to be a 400/800 runner and still get the best out of themselves in both events simultaneously? If so, how?

5) You have recently moved to England. Can you tell us a bit more about that?

6) What's your racing plan for this summer? Have you any specific target races? Do you plan to run any meets in Ireland this summer?

7) Should the AAI try to get more adult average joes doing sprints and middle distance, or should they be left to the fun runs? If the former, how would you get more people into clubs and onto the track?

8) You have been the lucky winner of an evening of fine wine, whisky, and an unlimited supply of Oul Arthur's Finest with 5 track and field athletes of your choice. The only condition is that you must pick 1 from each of the 5 categories:

- Irish male
- Irish female
- International male
- International female
- Drug cheat (Irish or International)

Who do you choose and why? Do you see the 5 people getting on after 10 pints?

9) Have you ever competed in any field events? What are your PBs?

10) Favourite country you have visited?

Oregano_State

Thanks for the platform to pontificate, Chivito!

I've been a bit quiet in terms of posting recently due to college commitments, and I have a pretty large project due in on Wednesday, so between now and then it will probably just be this post and maybe another tomorrow night, but I will pick up the reply-rate after that. So, without further ado:

1) What's your athletic background? What particular achievements are you proud of from your earlier years in track and field? In terms of running I started out in the great pillar of Irish underage athletics that is the Community Games. I remember my parents taking me to the local qualifiers on the green near my house from a very young age, and the feeling of wet grass on bare feet as I ran, but that was the only form of organised sport I took part in outside of school until I was about ten. Being a bit nerdy by nature, at that stage I decided the best way to earn respect from the cool kids was to play on a football team, so I joined the local GAA club, and kept that up until I got to minor level. Back to the running though, and qualifying for Mosney with the local u-12 relay team was a huge achievement at the time, and when we came home from Meath with the silver we were treated like royalty by all the parents. After that I joined the athletics club that people I'd made friends with through the community games ran with, and took it from there. In terms of underage medals, I have a fair few County ones (I'm from Kerry), slightly less Munster medals, and a very select few all-ireland, all bar one of which are for relays. I can't really think of any particular achievements that stand out, but my memories of running back than are generally positive.

2) Why did you quit the sport, and what prompted the comeback?
I quit running at the start of my second year of college in UCC. In first year I'd trained pretty hard, partied even harder, and failed to meet the targets I'd set myself. I got a bit disillusioned, picked up a few niggles, and drifted away from it. When I stopped running I started going to the gym more, and played a bit of soccer with UCC's second and third teams, but I didn't get the same thrill out of it and by 4th year wanted to have another crack at doing 400s. This was September 2011, and while I was still in pretty good nick in a general sense, I was in horrible shape in track terms. After about a month of very painful hill and track-sessions, I tore my hamstring on a very cold Tuesday night at the Mardyke (now Sonia O'Sullivan) track. That put an end to the come-back for that season, as college took over, so I earmarked my return to running for after the exams in May, when I moved to Dublin for a job. I started my log in August of 2012 I think.

3) What is the most horrible track session you have ever had to do? Anything with 300m repeats is pretty awful, the standard being 6 of them. Painful track sessions go hand-in-hand with running 400m, no escaping them.

4) Do you believe it is possible for somebody to be a 400/800 runner and still get the best out of themselves in both events simultaneously? If so, how? At a professional or elite-level, I think you would have to pick one to focus on slightly more, but there is a fair degree of overlap between the two events as well. Most pro 800m runners would have very decent 400m speed. However, it does cause problems in terms of being in a training group. 800m runners are firmly in the middle-distance box, while nowadays 400m athletes almost always train with or like sprinters.

5) You have recently moved to England. Can you tell us a bit more about that? Certainly. I'm living in Leeds, doing an MSc in Engineering since last september. I'm enjoying it, although have found the workload to be very variable, which isn't the best for being in solid training routine. The past few weeks have been particularly tough, with 4 different submission deadlines over the past ten days or so. My training, as well as diet and sleeping patterns, basically my life, have suffered as a result . After Wednesday afternoon it will calm down a bit, although I have exams starting then the following Thursday.

6) What's your racing plan for this summer? Have you any specific target races? Do you plan to run any meets in Ireland this summer? no targets at the moment. I did a track session last Thursday which was my first in a couple of weeks and have lost fitness compared to where I was a month ago. First step will be to get 3-4 weeks of decent training done, before I start thinking about racing.

7) Should the AAI try to get more adult average joes doing sprints and middle distance, or should they be left to the fun runs? If the former, how would you get more people into clubs and onto the track?
I think the thought of sprinting is pretty intimidating for the average person off the street. You're pretty much guaranteed to get injured if you start doing club sessions from day one with no background. I think jogging is a much safer option for a lot of people, with the added attraction of there being the infrastructure in place for people to get into it. An AAI recruitment drive would do more good if directed at kids imo.

8) You have been the lucky winner of an evening of fine wine, whisky, and an unlimited supply of Oul Arthur's Finest with 5 track and field athletes of your choice. The only condition is that you must pick 1 from each of the 5 categories:

- Irish male
- Irish female
- International male
- International female
- Drug cheat (Irish or International)

Who do you choose and why? Do you see the 5 people getting on after 10 pints?

I like this one. It's past my bedtime now but I'll come back to it.

9) Have you ever competed in any field events? What are your PBs?
I am the proud owner of a munster juvenile pole-vault bronze medal! PB= 1.75m :pac:
Have also done a very little bit of Javelin and long-jump, no idea on the jav, and I think a little over 5m on the LJ.

10) Favourite country you have visited? Everywhere has their good and bad points. Most fun holiday I've had was a J1 summer in the US-of-A, and the gf is from there too so I'll probably go with that.
Honourable mentions go to France, Turkey, and Portugal though.

PaulieC

oregano or ohreegahhno ?

Oregano_State

PaulieC wrote: »

oregano or ohreegahhno ?

Funny you should mention that. As I said, my girlfriend is American, and whenever we're cooking together and that particular herb is required, we have a bit of squabble about the pronunciation.

For the record, it's the second one. oREGano my hole.

And my username is pretty awful in fairness.

Kurt Godel

Howdy Oregano State:

1. Describe your perfect lap in terms of each 100m.
2. How important is running form (and training for same) to you?
3. Could you run a legal 100m blindfold?
4. Do you use any mental techniques to block out the pain from 250m+?
5. Whats your best ever sprint finish battle?
6. How far can you triple jump?
7. Do you say heh-erb or 'erb?

pconn062

Good choice!

You seem to do a bit of jogging as part of your training, a lot of 400m runners I know don't do this, do you feel this gives you an advantage?

What spikes do you wear?

Are you a member of an Irish club?

Worst injury you've ever had?

Favourite tipple?

PB's over every distance?

Which is more painful, 400m or 800m?

Oregano_State

Apologies for the delay in getting to your questions guys. I'm flat out working on a project that's due in tomorrow. There won't be much sleeping done tonight I can tell you!

Tomorrow evening I've a big ole bus journey to look forward to, so I should have plenty of opportunity to respond.

Chivito550

I'll stick this one in on a separate post so you don't forget. Sticking with the important questions of course!

8) You have been the lucky winner of an evening of fine wine, whisky, and an unlimited supply of Oul Arthur's Finest with 5 track and field athletes of your choice. The only condition is that you must pick 1 from each of the 5 categories:

- Irish male
- Irish female
- International male
- International female
- Drug cheat (Irish or International)

Who do you choose and why? Do you see the 5 people getting on after 10 pints?

macinalli

Chivito550 wrote: »

Do you see the 5 people getting on after 10 pints?

10 pints each or between them? A lot of runners are pretty scrawny, not exactly built for boozing!:pac:

Chivito550

macinalli wrote: »

10 pints each or between them? A lot of runners are pretty scrawny, not exactly built for boozing!:pac:

10 pints each.

Depends who he invites. Throwers may be able to hold their drink better. And then there's the beer milers.

Oregano_State

Right, all my college work for this term is now officially in, and I've made it through the ordeal mostly in one piece, albeit minus too many hours sleep, and more than a few training sessions. I'll have a go at these questions now.

8) You have been the lucky winner of an evening of fine wine, whisky, and an unlimited supply of Oul Arthur's Finest with 5 track and field athletes of your choice. The only condition is that you must pick 1 from each of the 5 categories:

- Irish male
- Irish female
- International male
- International female
- Drug cheat (Irish or International)

Who do you choose and why? Do you see the 5 people getting on after 10 pints?

Great question, I've been thinking about how to go about answering it. The
Irish male has to be Ciarán O'Lionáird, or 'Mad Len' as he has known to go by. I follow him on twitter and have read a few of his blogs and he seems like a genuinely sound lad. I would bet on him being good craic after a pint or three. Honourable mentions to Rob Heffernan, and David Gillick.

Irish female would be Derval O'Rourke. Great athlete: keeps to herself, trains hard, and always seems to find something extra when the champs come around. I've also enjoyed her articles since she started in the examiner; she's a decent writer. I'm not sure if she's partial to a drink, but I'm sure she'd have some decent opinions to offer in actual conversation, you know, before things got into the inevitable messy territory which in my case is in or around pint 5-6.

I'm going to go with Ashton Eaton for the international male, the guy just blows my mind with how good he is at everything, and he's less than 2 years older than me. Again, I doubt he spends much of his time down the boozer, but I'd like the opportunity to meet him anyway. Christophe Lemaitre would be a very close second. A few friends of met him in magaluf a few weeks ago while on warm-weather training and said he was sound as a pound.

International female is a tough one, not too long ago I would probably have gone with Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price, although I've soured towards her a bit of late. I'll say Allyson Felix.

Last but not least, I'm going to choose Dwain Chambers. While I haven't yet read his book, I've heard it's very good and I've been impressed any time I've seen him since his comeback both in his media appearances and his perfromances on the track. He seems like a smart, level-headed guy and I'd imagine he's pretty sound too. That said, I'm not condoning what his drug-use; I'm just not letting it be the sole thing I judge him on.

I'd hope everyone would get on. Hard to tell with a bunch of people who don't know each other. Bunch of pints usually helps. If you mean that the others might be hatin' on Dwain for his past, it could happen, but I think he's had enough abuse thrown at him in the past for that reason, that it would be water off a duck's back.

Oregano_State

1. Describe your perfect lap in terms of each 100m.
The main thing in my mind is to know going into the race that I'm in good shape. This is important as it gives you reassurance that you can attack the race and know that you're not going to completely blow up after 300m.

In the race itself, I think it's important to go out pretty hard for the first 60m, getting up to almost full speed. From there, the idea is to make it to 200m staying relaxed but maintaining the speed. After 200m, it's very tempting to slack off around the bend. I think the 3rd 100m is the hardest to know what to do with really. I usually try to stay relaxed but gradually wind it up from about 160m out. Once 300m comes, it's a matter of going balls out all the way to the line and trying not to go backwards.

2. How important is running form (and training for same) to you?
I think it's hugely important. Having an efficient stride will pay huge dividends over 400m imo. I'm constantly thinking about my running technique, even when I'm not at the track.

3. Could you run a legal 100m blindfold?
I don't know. I presume mean flat-out? Most likely not, although I think I could get to to 30-50m ok.

4. Do you use any mental techniques to block out the pain from 250m+?
Not really, I think the best preparation is plenty of hard track sessions. The pain involved in those is worse that what happens during or after a race.

5. Whats your best ever sprint finish battle?
In the 400m, I had a club mate who moved up from being a 100m/200m guy when we were about 16/17. We had some great battles. One I remember in particular was the Kerry Schools, I think it was when we were both in 5th year. We went to different schools in the same town, and there was big rivalry between my school and his for the overall prize. Points were at a premium, and the 400m was on towards the end of the day. I can specifically remember John O'Keefe, legendary former Kerry footballer, and teacher in my school who was there supervising on the day, coming up to me and basically telling me he was expecting a win. Hilarious now looking back at it.
Anyway, it was a gorgeous afternoon, splitting the stones as they say, and because there was a day off school to be had, the attendance at the track was a lot more than you would get at an average club meet. We took our marks, and were off. My mate from the other school was in the lane inside me, and he took off hard.
He was up on me after 100m and I was finding it hard to get back at him. With 150m to go he still had 3-4m on me, with the two of us were clear of the field. I was pushing hard and he thought was coming back to me. I kept pushing and he did; we were neck in neck coming down the straight, cheers coming from both sides. With 30m to go there was still nothing in it, but I could tell he was struggling a little more than me and I was thinking I'd get the win. Next thing I know, about 15 metres before the line, my mate starts stumbling and crumples in a heap on the track with about 9 metres to go. I half looked around and cruised in for the win.
It turned out he'd fainted with the mixture of heat and exertion, but was ok shortly afterwards. I was actually pretty annoyed that it happened, as I thought I would have won anyway.

Wow, I went a bit overboard there with the nostalgia.

6. How far can you triple jump? No idea. Would love to give it a go though.

7. Do you say heh-erb or 'erb? I pronounce the 'h'.

dna_leri

Good choices on the T&F athletes for a few pints.

Some other questions:
What is your current training group like, how does the setup compare to what you had back home?
Are you a short-to-long or long-to-short 400m guy?
Who is the best (most influential) coach you have had? Who would be your ideal coach?
What are your track PBs?
What is longest run you have ever done?
What are your thoughts about moving up to 800m?
Talking of moving up, as a Kerryman what do you think of Jerry Kiernan?

Krusty_Clown

How many days a week do you train?

What was your longest ever run?

Was the beer mile your longest ever race?

At one point I believe you mentioned targeting a 5k, despite your obvious predilection and talent for the 400/800. Why would you target the longer distance? Purely as a tool to improve your endurance?

At times, people ask me what I'm training for, and when I respond '5k' the usual response is 'Why? Can't you already run a marathon?' Do you get the same kind of narrow-minded reaction to sprint distances or are they alien enough to be appreciated?

Do you think the forum would benefit by having a sprint/track & field sub-forum? Would it draw more posters from the athletics community who currently won't post because of the long distance running bias, or would it just alienate the few sprint/T&F posters who do participate?

How much do you like Oregano?

Oregano_State

PConn062:

You seem to do a bit of jogging as part of your training, a lot of 400m runners I know don't do this, do you feel this gives you an advantage?
I like to do a little bit to keep the aerobic base ticking over. A 400m runner doesn't need to be pounding out 50 miles a week, but the better you are aerobically, the quicker you'll recover between sprint reps, allowing better quality training. I've read that Michael Johnson used to do 4-6 mile cross-country runs during the winter so I don't think it negatively affects speed, although that seems to be the general perception out there amongst sprinters.

What spikes do you wear? Nike zoom maxcats.


Are you a member of an Irish club?
Former member of both Tralee Harriers and MSB in Dublin. Not currently paid up with either.

Worst injury you've ever had?
Probably the hamstring injury I got last year. I still get a bit of pain from it.

Favourite tipple?
I'm not too fussy in that department, but I'm partial to the black stuff. Hard to beat a Beamish from a well-used tap in Cork City. Big fan of Mojitos during the summer too, which is from the opposite end of the spectrum.

PB's over every distance?
400m: 51.3
800m: 2:03

The others are my SBs from the few races I did last year, as I didn't really keep track of times in anything apart from the 400 or 800 when I was younger.

100m: 12.36 into a wind
200m: 24.75

No idea about anything else, although have done a couple of 1500s in my time.

Which is more painful, 400m or 800m?
800m. Both are pretty bad though.

Oregano_State

DNA_Leri:

What is your current training group like, how does the setup compare to what you had back home?
My current group is probably the best I've ever had. There's at least one other guy training with me every week, usually two or three, and they're all pretty good so I have people to push me.

Are you a short-to-long or long-to-short 400m guy?
I don't really know. I much prefer short stuff, but I think I'm naturally better at the longer distances.

Who is the best (most influential) coach you have had? Who would be your ideal coach?
I didn't really have coach up until I went to UCC, I'd pretty much organised my own training for 400m from when I started doing them as the coaching set-up in my club at home wasn't great.

What are your track PBs?
Mentioned above: 51.3 400m and 2:03 800m.

What is longest run you have ever done?
I went on a weekend training trip during the winter with the UCC distance group in 2008, where I got roped into doing a 2 hour morning run around Banna Beach and the surrounding dunes near Ardfert in Co. Kerry. I didn't enjoy it much.

What are your thoughts about moving up to 800m?
At the moment, I'm not thinking about it as I want to improve my times at the sprint distances for the foreseeable future. That doesn't mean that I won't race any 800s, just that they won't be my training focus. I would consider it when I get a bit older.

Talking of moving up, as a Kerryman what do you think of Jerry Kiernan?
I wouldn't be his greatest fan to be honest. I don't think blaming the GAA for athletics problems in Ireland is a great idea, and he often comes out with some daft opinions when doing punditry on anything sprint-related.

Oregano_State

Krusty

Nice questions KC. I'll try to do them justice.

How many days a week do you train?
On an ideal week, 4-6, with stretching and mobility work every day. The break-down of that would be 2 track sessions and maybe a hills session with the rest being gym work. Lately (in the past month) my training has been far from ideal, as you can probably guess from the inactivity on my log. The worst is behind me now though, so I should be able to get back to a decent routine now for the rest of the summer.

What was your longest ever run? I did a 2hr run on Banna beach in Kerry, with UCC a few years back. I struggled badly towards the end of it and would be wary of trying something similar again.

Was the beer mile your longest ever race?
Not quite! I have two bronze medals from the Kerry Schools' XC when I was in first and second year of secondary school.

At one point I believe you mentioned targeting a 5k, despite your obvious predilection and talent for the 400/800. Why would you target the longer distance? Purely as a tool to improve your endurance?
I think I said in a 'heat of the moment' type scenario when I was doing a fair bit of easy running during the winter and was interested in seeing how fast I could do a 5k. I might still do a 5k fun run for the craic if the opportunity presents itself, but I don't see myself training seriously for the longer distances any time soon.

At times, people ask me what I'm training for, and when I respond '5k' the usual response is 'Why? Can't you already run a marathon?' Do you get the same kind of narrow-minded reaction to sprint distances or are they alien enough to be appreciated?
Athletics really suffers from a lack of appreciation by the general public. I think it's difficult for the average joe on the street to be able to appreciate the skill involved when they see athletics on TV; a track race is just a bunch of people they've never heard of running around in a circle. It's not relatable in the same way that team sports with a sense of community about them have, like GAA and rugby, or soccer in terms of constant media presence. MMA and boxing are relatable in the way that everybody on the planet knows what punch in the face means, whereas a 49s opening lap in an 800m, or sub 2hr pace for a marathon is meaningless for many people.
So to answer your question, yes I do get that type of response from people occasionally.

Do you think the forum would benefit by having a sprint/track & field sub-forum? Would it draw more posters from the athletics community who currently won't post because of the long distance running bias, or would it just alienate the few sprint/T&F posters who do participate?
At the moment there aren't enough posters on boards that are into sprinting for it to work. It would be great if there was a forum somewhere on the net for the Irish T&F community, even better if it was on boards imo. I don't know whether the reason why there isn't one currently is down to boards, or the fact that a lot of athletes like to keep their training to themselves.
I think that if the interest was there, it would be a good idea to have a separate sub-forum. Whether the existence of such a forum would draw people who otherwise would not post here is an interesting question that I don't know the answer to.

How much do you like Oregano?
Not as much as me having it as part of my username would suggest!

Timmaay

Were you never tempted much by the shorter events? Why did you pick 400 in any case?

Your 800m time is well respectable also, what do you think you could do for 800 if you really tried?

Estimated time to complete a marathon :P

Us middle distance folk tend to gravitate towards the longer stuff when we get old and slow ha, where do you see yourself in terms of athletics in like 20years ha?

Your beermile time was very good last year (despite the late start), where did that come out of ha? Was there much preparation involved, given you had both the challenge of improving your chugging and a substantial increase in normal race distance!

Do you/have you done many other sports other than athletics?

Oregano_State

Timmaay

Were you never tempted much by the shorter events? Why did you pick 400 in any case?
I would have loved to give the shorter events a go but I was never one to have that real explosive acceleration needed for them. I suppose 400m was the shortest event I thought I could get away with!

Your 800m time is well respectable also, what do you think you could do for 800 if you really tried?
That's the eternal question isn't it? If all the stars aligned and I was able to put an extended period together where I trained the way I'd like to, without life getting in the way as it has a number of times in the past few months, then I'd like to think I could make some decent progress. Hopefully now I should be able to get close to that type of scenario for the rest of the season so maybe I'll be able to answer that a bit better in a few months' time.
To answer your question, I'd love to go under 2 minutes for 800m

Estimated time to complete a marathon
No idea. 4 hours, followed by being bed-ridden for a week.

Us middle distance folk tend to gravitate towards the longer stuff when we get old and slow ha, where do you see yourself in terms of athletics in like 20years ha?
I'd like to get into coaching I think. I don't know if I'd be into competing in athletics when I get over 40, but I'd say I'd keep lifting weights. I haven't given it a whole lot of thought to be honest!

Your beermile time was very good last year (despite the late start), where did that come out of ha? Was there much preparation involved, given you had both the challenge of improving your chugging and a substantial increase in normal race distance!
My only practise was a couple of hours beforehand, chugging two corona when I came in the door after work! The beer mile as an event has a lot of similarities to the longer 400m sessions, in that it's basically a 400m interval session with short breaks, so that probably helped a bit. I'd love to have another go at the beer mile actually. My third bottle/lap let me down, not to mind my punctuality, so I'd to see if I could sort that out next time around.


Do you/have you done many other sports other than athletics?
I used to do a bit of everything when I was younger: soccer, GAA, basketball, as well as running. The only sport I didn't play much of was rugby, mainly because I was a scrawny little yoke. I still enjoy playing 5-a-side astro whenever the opportunity arises.

Oregano_State

Hi Guys,

I am overdue nominating a new boardsie for the next installment in this series of threads, but am at a loss as to who has and has not taken part so far.

Would anyone care to suggest possible candidates, or even better, put themselves forward if they have not done one already?

Thanks,
OS

pistol_75

I hope this thread keeps going. Really enjoying the responses to varied questions from everyone

walshb

Hi,

you mentioned the 800 being tougher than the 400. I think the 800 does seem to get this response across all distances. Many do rate it as the toughest track test. Can I ask, for you, what makes it tougher than the 400? How does the body feel in both?

Oregano_State

walshb wrote: »

Hi,

you mentioned the 800 being tougher than the 400. I think the 800 does seem to get this response across all distances. Many do rate it as the toughest track test. Can I ask, for you, what makes it tougher than the 400? How does the body feel in both?

Hi, apologies in the delay in responding.

I think there's a similar intensity of discomfort in both races, but you have to endure it for a bit longer in the 800m than 400m. The whole second lap of an 800m is pretty tough, whereas in a 400m the painful part is the last 100m or 150m. That's my experience anyway.

However, I think that the better the athlete gets, the amount of discomfort involved in races decreases. The old cliché of "making it look easy".

That comes down to these guys' preparation. The training involved in getting in shape for racing is the real tough part IMO, whatever the level. If you look at the pros running either race they're pretty ok shortly after the finish, able to give interviews without too much loss of breath, or doing victory laps with a big smile on their face. That's down to the extreme level of conditioning they've achieved. If you compare that to club runners, you'll usually see a lot more suffering at the finish line in the latter group.