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

Pisco Sour · 11-03-2012 06:13AM

Disappointing result today in the 200m at the State Champs. 27.13 seconds, 0.21 down on my PB of 26.92, though with a +0.5 tailwind, compared to a +2.2 when I ran that PB, so I guess they are equivalent performances. Wanted to go mid 26 though so can't be happy with that. Not even worth mentioning my long jump afterwards. Very enjoyable weekend though. Off to watch the Melbourne Storm match now and some much wanted pints!

Report on the championships to come tomorrow.

Pisco Sour · 11-03-2012 04:45PM

Results from the championships:

http://www.athsvic.org.au/cache/NewsFile/5847Full%20Results.htm

Probably the standout performance time wise would be Tamsyn Lewis winning the 800m in 2:02. Still well off that A-Standard for London though.

Our 400m Hurdler was well placed with about 110 to go in 4th place, then clattered a hurdle, lost ground, but miraculously found himself in 3rd place as the runaway leader snotted himself on the 2nd last hurdle and failed to finish. He then seemed to spectacularly run out of gas, stuttered to the final hurdle and finished 5th in a time slower than his easy run in the heat. A crazy race. Will post it up here once AV have it on their youtube page.

Pisco Sour · 12-03-2012 09:32AM

The biggest meet of the year, the State Championships, where the best athletes in the State of Victoria, population similar to Ireland, went head to head for gold, silver and bronze. The championships are open to all Athletics Victoria members, and there are no entry standards. I entered the 400m a few weeks before the championships, but then on the deadline day I made some spur of the moment entries for the 200m and Long Jump.

400m:

Up first was the 400m on Day 1 of the Championships, the Friday evening. Went straight to the stadium from work and was there in good time, about 2 and a half hours before my race was scheduled to begin. I signed in, and then relaxed for awhile, and let my light snack that I had eaten before leaving work digest properly. Warm up was a few core exercises followed by a 900m-1k light jog, some stretches, and then out to the warm up track for numerous strides at various speeds and for various distances. These were first done in my road running shoes, followed by about 6 strides in my spikes.

As I finished my warm up routine I found out that they were running behind schedule so I found myself getting cold, so went back out for another 3-4 light strides just to keep the blood flowing. Then it was time to enter the call room. It was there that I found out my lane draw: Heat 2, lane 7. Perfect!! When racing people my own standard I like to have a middle lane, but when racing a bit out of my depth I prefer an outer lane, as it means I can see the faster guys for longer. If I was in lane 1, they'd be gone off into the sunset immediately. Besides, I was no stranger to lane's 7 and 8 at this stage. It was my 4th consecutive 400m race in one of these lanes and in the 3 previous I had broken 60 on each occasion.

With a PB of 59.18 my target was simple: break 59 seconds. After breaking sub 60 (59.44) back at the Country Championships in January I made my next big target sub 59, and on each of my 3 400m races since then I had failed to hit the target: a disappointing 59.96 at the final round of the AV Shield, an encouraging 59.86 among very high competition at the Essendon Track Classic, and then a PB of 59.18 at the State Decathlon 2 weeks ago. This would be my last chance of the season to get into the 5 8 territory.

Unlike at the Essendon Track Classic when I felt completely out of place, I was extremely focused on this occasion. I knew I would come last, but I didn't care. It is an open championships so I had every right to be there and just wanted to focus on my own race. As we walked out from the call room I asked the guy in lane 8 what sort of time he was hoping for, just to get an idea, and he said 51-52. We had a bit of time to warm up before the race and I felt great when striding. I had a good feeling. I was nervous as hell though. The adreneline was pumping hard.

About a minute before we were called behind our blocks one of my competitors from the decathlon 2 weeks previously called out my name from the sidelines and said "another PB today?", I said that I hoped so but that I may be a bit out of my depth, and his response was "who cares, run your own race, get that PB". The encouragement gave me a huge lift and it was much appreciated. I simply can't speak highly enough of the camaraderie during that decathlon.

The gun went off and I got out well and pushed hard the first 80m or so. After about 10m I once again heard the decathlete shout more encouragement. I was pumped and I went out hard. As I entered the back stright I noticed that the guy in lane 8 hadn't gotten too far ahead of me. This was a great start. I was expecting him to be out there yonder, but the gap in fact wasn't massive. Of course, the rest of the field went flying past me in the inner lanes, but I barely even noticed them, my eyes were firmly fixed on my own lane and the guy outside of me. This was the hardest I ever went out in an opening 200m, and with about 170m to go I started feeling the lactic acid starting to build. I pushed and pumped. The guy in lane 8 was getting away from me now and he would eventually finish in 52.44. However inside me there was another guy that wasn't massively ahead of me (I classify massively ahead of me as being 49 seconds). Coming into the home straight I am hurting, but still pushing. Giving it everything. I know based on the distance between me and the guy in lane 8 that this is my big chance at a sub 59 and I wasn't going to let up. The guy inside me crossed the line (rather weakly in 54.51). At that moment I am the only person on the track. It is always a blur as to how long that moment lasts for. It feels like ages when you are the only one left out there, but in this case the reality was just a few seconds. Coming to the line I made my one mistake in an otherwise well run race: I let up a stride too early and flat footed my last stride going across the line. It wasn't intended, I always run to the line, but I think the fact I was well and truly bolloxed did funny things to my perception of where the line was, and I got my timing a bit wrong with the dip. In reality though it wouldn't have cost me any more than a few hundreths, but as I crossed the line I was annoyed with myself as I like to walk off the track with no regrets. However in spite of that I felt like I had to have PB'ed, but the wait would be anxious. You don't know until you see the time. It is easy to think you have ran fast and then see that you overestimated how you did.

It would be 20 minutes before the results would come out. In the immediate aftermath of the race I felt like a lump of jelly in a microwave. I felt slightly dizzy and in need of water. I went back to the stand where the rest of the Richmond crowd were and one of the coaches said he hand timed me at 58.5. Was delighted with that. Unless he bolloxed up the timing it would be a sub 59. But you don't know til you see the real electronic results. I went over the noticeboard just as the lady was putting up the 400m results and she handed me the sheet. I jumped for joy ala Sally Pearson in Daegu when I saw the result, better than I expected based on the hand time, a clocking of 58.68 seconds, a new PB by 0.50 seconds, my 5th sub 60 of the season, but most importantly, my first time under the 59 barrier, and by a comfortable margin in the end. I could not have been happier.

I was on such a buzz afterwards that I almost forgot to warm down. A nice beer (just 1) was consumed when I got back to my house to celebrate reaching my target.

A summary of the 400m heats:

27 lined up to race
2 got DQ'ed
49.78 was required in the end to reach the final
15 went sub 52

The remaining 10 results were: 52.44, 52.63, 54.23, 54.51, 54.79, 54.93, 54.99, 55.27, 56.17 and then myself with 58.68

Out of my depth completely. However, next year I most certainly want to be running in the 55/56 range, and if I can achieve that then I will be a lot closer to the back enders in a high quality field. Of course I may not be in Melbourne this time next year, but that doesn't change the fact that I want to be running those times in the medium future. That's for another time, but for now I couldn't be happier with my new PB. I entered the season with a 64.04 PB (63.9 hand timed) and have now taken 5.36 seconds off that this season.

I'll come back with my report of my 200m and Long Jump shortly.

Pisco Sour · 12-03-2012 11:12AM

So with the best performance of my athletics life behind me I had a job and a half to get myself ready for the 200m. Thankfully a few days before the championships the timetable was changed and the 200m heats were moved from the Saturday to the Sunday. I was very thankful as I don't think I would have been able to race to any sort of decent standard just 16 hours after a gruelling 400m. I went down to the stadium on Day 2 to support my club mates (already documented) and did some strides while there to try run some of that lactic acid out of my legs. I woke up Sunday morning after some good sleep and felt much better.

200m

Once I began my warm up my shins started hurting a bit. My body certainly hadn't 100% recovered from the 400m, but I just put up with it. Nothing I could do about it, so just kept up my warm-up, and did loosen up as I went on. But my legs certainly hurt more after my warm up than they did on Friday night.

I had only ran 3 200m races this season. I missed one through injury, and another I opted out of when coming back from injury to focus solely on the 800m. It is an event that I only have done previously in AV Shield meets. At the start of the season my PB was 28.2 hand timed with a significant tailwind. My first race of the year was a 27.6 hand timed PB into a headwind. Then just before Christmas I ran a poor race into a ridiculous headwind and PB'ed in 27.5 hand timed. In January I finally ran a good 200m and got a sub 27 for the first time with 26.92 with a +2.2 tail wind. Here I wanted to push on and get down to the mid 26 range.

Into the call room again, and I was drawn in heat 1 lane 6, another great lane draw. We had a lot of time to warm up around our blocks before the race. Usually I don't think much about the blocks. I just line them up quickly and dont give it much consideration. I just go with the flow. But because I had so much time to think here (dont know what the hold up was) I found myself fitgeting a lot with the blocks to try get them perfect, and then found myself never happy with it, and let it get into my head a bit. Eventually I told myself to cop myself on, and just not think about it and do what I always do.

The gun went off and I got out reasonably ok I think. I guess the reason it didnt feel like a great start is because the stagger was eaten up on me immediately (as it is a shorter stagger in the 200 than the 400 obviously). But this was to be expected. I felt a bit laboured however in the first 60m or so, and came into the homestraight well behind the field, with the exception of one lad who hadn't come up on me. Looking at him warming up I had a feeling I'd be ahead of him. I could see him with the corner of my eye coming around the bend, but after that didnt see him at all as I pulled away from him hugely in the last 70-80m. I felt I ran the 2nd half of the race pretty well, and didn't lose as much ground on the rest of the field in the 2nd half of the race as I did in the first (or so it felt anyway). But the gap was huge. I crossed the line and didn't feel happy overall with my race. I had that feeling that I'd love to run it again straight away. Did I push myself hard enough was a question that came into my head. I did of course, but in a race so short I always find myself asking myself that. A 200m is over so quickly, and you recover from it so quickly, unlike a 400m, and therefore it makes you wonder should you not feel more tired afterwards.

My initial reaction was that I didn't PB and that I would have been around low 27's, and unfortunately I was bang on in my estimation. I recorded a time of 27.13 seconds with a +0.5 tailwind. It was 0.21 seconds off my PB but in reality if you adjust for the wind that I got that day I ran 26.92 the performances are only really a few hundreths of a second apart. So I ran very very close to my best, but I can't be satisfied with it. I wanted mid 26 and I didn't manage it. I'll need to improve on my top end speed next year. I'm running 58.68 for 400m off 26.92 200m speed. If I can get that 200m speed down by 1 second, that could be enough to get my 400m down to Sub 56, or low 56.

In this event I didn't finish last overall, with one guy in my heat running 29.35. I chatted to him after the race and he said to me he is looking to qualify for the paralympics and needs a qualifying time of 26.00. By the looks of things he is a long long way off that goal right now.

Long Jump

I had 2 and a half hours between the 200m and the Long Jump so I just chilled with my friends who came to the stadium to the stadium to watch me run.

The reason I entered the long jump is a silly one. The thought would never have entered my mind under normal circumstances. However at the Vic Decathlon 2 weeks previously I jumped my one and only good jump of the year, which would have been a PB, only to be 1cm over the board. I was pissed off, and as the deadline for entry approached I made a spur of the moment decision to give the event one last shot to see if I could pull another good jump out of the bag.

I wish I hadn't entered. I had no business being there. While it is an Open competition I personally feel that I didn't deserve to be there simply because I do not train for the event. The 200 and 400 I felt I had every right to line up against the other guys, but in this event I was not prepared in the slightest and felt a bit embarrassed being there.

In any case I gave it a shot, but after each warm up jump my shins were hurting. I made a balls of my run up on my first attempt and ended up taking off of my wrong foot, yet still managed 4.20m. This was a little encouraging. If I could take off of my right foot then maybe there is more to come. However I fouled both the 2nd and 3rd attempt, about 2-3cm over on each occasion. Thankfully they didnt measure them for me this time (don't know why the measured my foul at the decathlon, had they not done so I would never have entered this competition), and to be honest it didn't feel that great.

I had a bit of fun, but left the competition with not a lot to take from it but some very sore shins! Pretty much everybody was jumping 6 or 7 metres. I was out of place. But interestingly enough when I went to check the results the guy in 2nd last only jumped 5.11m, the best of 3 clean attempts. I guess I never spotted him. Made me feel a bit better about it anyway.

The overall view

I had a thoroughly enjoyable weekend, an experience which I will really value as I go forward. I got to witness some of the finest athletes in the state and indeed in Australia not only race, but also warm up. While I was doing my warm up for the 200m, Monica Brennan was doing her routine before her 200m heats. She finished 7th at the World Youth Championships last year, running well under 24 seconds. Just witnessing her warm up routine was a sight to behold, and made me realise how much I still need to learn. She was doing drills that I had not only not considered, but also had never seen before. If you can't learn from the best in the sport and take in what you see around you then you have no future in that sport.

I have trained hard this year and am proud of what I have done. I have knocked chunks off my PB's and have progressed throughout the year, learned from silly mistakes that I made, and have overall got fitter, stronger and faster than I have ever been before. However there is only so far you can go being self coached and training solo. Next year I need to get myself down to the track more often and train with the top guys. It is the only way I'll get much faster. It isn't easy getting there. The sessions start very early and in my current job it is impossible to get out to the track in time, and not having a car makes it even more impossible. It is a huge inconvenience. Hopefully come later in the year I will have a more flexible job which will allow me to get out of work earlier on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Taking a few days off now and from here will be winding down the training a bit. The season is basically over at this stage so the training load will be lightened. The last meet of the year is 31st March where I will do an 800m and a Triple Jump.

Pisco Sour · 12-03-2012 10:57PM

Some great news! I was feeling a bit sad that the track season is coming to an end and was dreading the thoughts of winter coming and having no races for months (I don’t do the Cross Country and Road Racing season which runs from April to September). However I have found out that our sister club, whose track we use, Collingwood Harriers AC, have masters track meets every Tuesday night at their track from 7pm. While only the masters runners (30 years and over) can claim prizes, anybody can run. It goes on all year round, every Tuesday without fail, and the distances vary each week. They start off with sprint events and then distance races/ time trials after. It’s a bit different to the usual meets. They may run crazy distances like 70m, 120m, 600m etc etc. My training will be less intense during the winter months so these meets will be ideal for just keeping me in shape, and allowing me to do what I enjoy most.. race. Hopefully I could get a 300m in sometime as I’m an interested to know what I could run over that distance. It is a very informal event and the schedule for each week only gets put up 2 days prior, so they wont be goal races. Just something to keep me fit during the winter, and most importantly, to keep me interested and motivated.

Pisco Sour · 13-03-2012 09:19AM

After the thrills, highs and emotions of the State Championships at the weekend I went for my first session back. Just did 4x200m reps around the Oval. They have painted white lines around the Oval now so easier to measure and stay on track. The ground is horribly uneven though. I didn't push it at all. Just went very easy and didnt bother timing myself. My legs aren't loving me right now.

I got a hold of Richmond Harriers' list of seasons bests today. There's still 3 weeks to go before the end of the club year but my current rankings within the club are:

100m: 3rd of 18
200m: 4th of 17
400m: 5th of 23
800m: 12th of 27
1500m: 17th of 26
High Jump: 6th of 8
Long Jump: 6th of 14
Triple Jump: 4th of 12
Discus (2kg): 6th of 7
Javelin (800g): 9th of 10
Shot (7.26kg): 3rd of 7
Decathlon: 3rd of 3

There's no denying that the standard in our club is not as high as some clubs, but still happy to be ranked highly in the sprint events.

Was watching The Biggest Loser tonight, that reality TV show where morbidly obese people go on to lose weight and on tonights show they had the remaining 8 contestents run a 400m race against each other on a grass track. I guess I completely underestimated how difficult it can be for some people to run a mere one lap of a track. The times were:

1:53
2:04
2:13
2:19
2:23
2:25
2:48
3:34 :eek:

Crazy how some people let themselves get into such a state! My favourite quote went along the lines of "My legs were killing, my knees were in pain, and I still had 300m to go".

Anyway just thought I'd post it as I had never seen a 400m experiment like that before and I found it interesting.

Pisco Sour · 14-03-2012 09:02AM

Back to the Oval this evening for 4x150m strides. No times and took it handy. The body is feeling the pain from the weekend. Core session afterwards. The next couple of months is just going to be about keeping myself ticking over and lowering the intensity and volume a bit. My body needs a break, but I don't want to stop completely and lose my fitness. I also have found it a lot easier getting out there than I thought, even though the season is pretty much over. On my last log for the Rotterdam Marathon in 2010, once the marathon was over, I lost all desire to run immediately after. I'm glad that this isn't happening this time, and I most certainly wont let it happen. If I want to be running 55 next season I have to have a base over the next few months before I ramp up into serious off-season training. I think with the marathon, the fact that I had focused on that one race for months, and then when it was all over, I found it hard to re-motivate myself. I didn't race at all during my training. This time around I am in the racing mode, and have done about 15 meets with around 25 track races. The fact that there will be tuesday night meets in Collingwood all through the winter will help keep me motivated.

While the training sessions wont exactly make for exciting reading over the next couple of months I'll post them up here anyway to keep me honest.

Pisco Sour · 14-03-2012 12:56PM

For those interested I picked out a few of my favourite races from the championships:

Men's 400m Hurdles where my clubmate missed out on a great chance of a medal in a bizarre race.

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

A great finish in the women's 400m

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ2kawu0qfk

Former World Indoor Champion Tamysn Manou (Lewis) winning gold in the women's 800m

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-OL7INcXvE

Victoria Mitchell, an Olympian from Beijing, somebody who has ambitions of running in London 2012, getting beaten into 4th at the State Championships. My clubmate back in 7th place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvmMf-iSRFA

K_1 · 16-03-2012 10:23PM

Have read your log right through lately, and while I enjoyed it a lot (very informative and entertaining!) I didn't really understand the 400m times you were talking about.

Got a bit of a shock when I compared 59 seconds on Iaaf points to some longer distances! Much respect! :P

Pisco Sour · 16-03-2012 11:07PM

K_1 wrote: »

Have read your log right through lately, and while I enjoyed it a lot (very informative and entertaining!) I didn't really understand the 400m times you were talking about.

Got a bit of a shock when I compared 59 seconds on Iaaf points to some longer distances! Much respect! :P

Thanks. 58 now

Hopefully it will inspire more people here to give the event a bash, either specifically, or even just for a bit of fun at a graded meet in between Marathon programmes. I find the event a lot of fun but everyone down here thinks I'm a freak for that.

Most people detest 400m.

Pisco Sour · 17-03-2012 10:27PM

One of the few drawbacks of my training and improved fitness was experienced yesterday. I've become such a lightweight and am not able to hold my drink like I used to. Just 4 pints of Guinness in the space of 5 hours to celebrate Paddys Day. I should have been fine after that, but instead felt like crap and had to go home early.

Pisco Sour · 18-03-2012 09:10AM

After a few days off I got back training this afternoon. Legs were thankful of the rest and felt much fresher today. Did 10x35m up a steep grass hill in a local park, with 45-60 second rest between each. Just basically sprinting up a short steep hill, quick sip of water at the top, walk back down and sprint up again. Didnt time myself.

I mentioned before that every Tuesday night there are special races put on by Collingwood Harriers AC. Here is the schedule for March:

March Program
6th 100m; 400m (Don Warden Memorial Hcap); 15/30 min Time Trial (Run or Walk)

13th 70 m; 1000m; 200m; 2/4/6km; 2/4km walk

20th 110m; 800m; 300m; 3/5km (Alan Burgoyne Sealed Hcap); 3km walk

27th 90m; 1200m; 400m; 6/9/12 lap; 6/9 laps walk

I assume it is all handtimed as it isn't a very formal meet but ideal for keeping me in shape over the winter. Not sure how I feel about doing a 400m during these meets though. After the highs of running 58 it could be a bit of a downer running 60 in one of these meets. I'm taking training easy at the moment so I'm not sure I'd want to do a 400m until I'm training hard again and can do myself proper justice. In any case this Tuesday I hope to race some very odd distances: a bizarre 110m sprint, and a 300m, an event which I would love to give a bash and see what sort of time I can manage.

Pisco Sour · 19-03-2012 04:35AM

Light session of 3x200m around my local Oval this afternoon.

110m (flat, not hurdles) and 300m races tomorrow evening, which should be a nice novalty. Particularly interested in the 300m. My 400m time indicates a 41.77 for 300m, while my 200m time indicates a 43.27 for 300m. The reality will probably be somewhere in the middle, around 42.50ish, and maybe allowing for the fact that I'm not training hard at the moment, and the race isn't terribly important, I'll set sub 43 seconds as a simplified round goal. I should be able to go comfortably under that I would imagine, though have no idea how a 300m race should be run.

Pisco Sour · 20-03-2012 11:46AM

As mentiond above, every tuesday Collingwood Harriers, a sister club of Richmond (we all know each other very well) put on masters meets every tuesday. Anybody can enter but only those over 30 are eligeable to win prizes. It is extremely low key and the races are of odd distances (50m, 60m, 120m, 300m, 320m, 500m etc etc). I'm currently easing my training back a bit for the next couple of months, but want to keep myself ticking over before I go into heavy training for next season, and these races are ideal for keeping me interested. The 2 races I did this evening were 110m and 300m.

110m:

I was in the stronger of 2 heats (not that that is saying much!), with just 4 in it, including one of our coaches who was only using this meet as a training exercise. I wasn't even prepared for the start of this race. Was too busy talking about elite athletics to one of the lads from Collingwood when I realised they were about to start. There are no blocks at these meets, though you can take them out if you want (as long as you put them back). No time for that now. Gun went off, and I didnt run particularly well at all, and at half way was only barely ahead of one of the other guys (if even) but finished decently to win by 0.3 seconds. An untidy race won in 14.59 hand timed (the average of 3 hand times I believe). Not sure what that equates to for 100m. My guess is around 13.6ish if electronically timed.

300m

Got the blocks out for this one and was the only one using them. Again was in the stronger of 2 heats. I was in lane 3. 5 in the race. The guys in lane 1 and a 2 I never say once during the race. The coach at our club was again in my heat in lane 5. Gun went off and flew out of the blocks nicely. Ate up the stagger on the guy in lane 4 after about 50-60m. Was running pretty comfortably. In fact probably not hard enough at all. Ate up the stagger on the coach in lane 5 after about 150m, and never saw him again. Coming into the homestraight I upped the pace to a full out sprint. Crossed the line an easy winner by around 3 seconds in a poor race. 42.88 seconds was the average of 3 hand times. Not hugely disappointed. The time is ok, nothing special, but hard to run fast in a low key race with no opposition. My time equates to 26.7 for 200m which is better than my 200m PB, and around 60.2 for 400m, which is obviously well down on my 400m best. There's more 300m races to come in these meets over the coming months. Hopefully a better standard next time. Apparantly the standard isn't always that weak.

One of the lads from Collingwood, and one of my decathlon buddies, watched me race the 300m and he said that while my leg speed and endurance is good, there is a lot to work on with regards technique. He said to get those knees up higher to lengthen the stride length and that I'm selling myself short. Good feedback. Drills drills drills he said. Being honest I have done none of this stuff last year, due to a few different reasons. My focus was speed endurance. He said that if I cant get that technique up to scratch I can easily run 55 for 400m. What I need to do for next season is figure out a plan as to who I can train with, who can give me the coaching I need etc etc. It's exciting to know though that there is still a lot more potential in the tank. 58 isn't the pinnacle. It is the beginning.

average_runner · 20-03-2012 01:43PM

Really good log and the weather for the championships seems nice. Loved Melbourne i must say, was there 3 years ago on honeymoon, my fav city in Oz.

Krusty_Clown · 20-03-2012 02:02PM

What's the reason for the unusual distances? Is it to avoid having the typical representation at the more standard distances? Congrats on the wins btw.

Pisco Sour · 20-03-2012 08:26PM

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

What's the reason for the unusual distances? Is it to avoid having the typical representation at the more standard distances? Congrats on the wins btw.

Cheers though the wins dont really mean anything to me. I could have jogged the first 200m and still won that 300m race. Think the reason for the weird distances is to just shake it up a bit and keep the whole thing varied. These meets are very low key and are something a bit different to the more serious AV Shield and Championship meets.

Pisco Sour · 21-03-2012 09:28AM

Athletics Victoria have finally put up some videos from the Victorian Multi-Event Championships held around a month ago.

My 400m where I set what was at the time a PB of 59.18:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUAwRM9ti0k

My 100m where I ran a PB of 12.96, admittadly with a bit of a tail wind behind me. I was running against Martin Brockman here, bronze medallist in the 2010 Commonwealth Games:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQisPDyjO3Y

And for comic value here is my heat of the 110m Hurdles where I jogged to the first hurdle and stopped

The Hurdles really does seperate the men from the boys. Some questionable hurdling technique by some, even more so in the 2nd heat, though I can hardly talk!!

I've huge respect for anybody who can even finish that race. Those hurdles are fecking enormous!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay1udrq3dMg

Hopefully they will put up some more videos from the other events soon, though I'd like my discus, pole vault and javelin to be confined to the recycle bin!

Pisco Sour · 21-03-2012 01:24PM

A few pieces of bad news from Melbourne (some obviously worse than others):

Firstly, as many probably have heard, Jim Stynes passed away yesterday after a long battle with cancer.

You will not find a more popular, or more respected Irish person in Melbourne, or indeed Australia for that matter. A state funeral has been planned for next Tuesday at 11am down here, which is expected to be one of the biggest in the city's history.

One of my decathlon buddies from last month, Steve Cain, National Decathlon Champion, who had his sights set on qualifying for London has announced that he has a stress fracture which pretty much ends his hopes of making the Olympics. I'm gutted for him. Couldn't meet a better bloke. Was so supportive of everybody in the State Decathlon last month, and made a big deal of everybody's PB's, regardless of standard. No big egos whatsoever. Hopefully he'll have a speedy recovery.

And finally, while not really bad news, but perhaps slightly disappointing. The last end of season meet which was scheduled for Sat 31st March at Collingwood has been cancelled as Collingwood Harriers AC stupidly double booked themselves and they have some cross-country thing on also that day. I had hoped to run an 800m that day. I am half a second behind one of my clubmates on our season ranking list, despite the fact that I have hammered him in 3 of our 4 meetings this season (the one I lost was the one I dropped out of at half way due to heat exhaustion). I wanted to get ahead of him on the rankings as I believe I am a better runner than him over that distance but sadly the rankings wont change now. The only other meets left are the final Vic Milers Club meet where the only events available to me is a 1500m and 5000m, neither of which I have any interest in doing, and the final High Velocity Club meet all the way out in Sandringham on 31st March, where I could do a 100m or 200m. However as the standard in the HVC meets are of a high level and given the fact that I have eased off on my training, I don't feel like I would be in any way competitive at that.

So my season is effectively over now. Obviously these Tuesday night meets will run throughout the winter, but they are more just a sort of glorified training run to keep me in shape, and would be something I would consider seperate from the main season.

I'll do a review of my season once I get a chance.

Pisco Sour · 23-03-2012 03:39PM

I thought I'd stick this video up as IMO it embodies not only the spirit of the decathlon from last month but the track season in general. Watch the lane nearest to the camera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBruiCrbu0w

Pisco Sour · 24-03-2012 06:26AM

15 minute jog/run around my local area this afternoon. Have no idea about the distance. It's the longest I have run at any one time since that painful 10K race in Flemington last June. Fear not however, I wont be returning to the dark side any time soon.

Just doing something a bit different to keep the fitness levels at an acceptable level over the off-season. Tomorrow hopefully I'll get out to the pool used for the 2006 Commonwealth Games, for a bit of a swim.

I also used the run as a way of discovering a bit more of my local area, and what did I come across? A track cycling velodrome. Very random. After my run I chilled there for awhile and watched some of the guys training. They can really move, that's for sure! Had forgotten that the World Track Cycling Champs are in Melbourne in 2 weeks time. Going to book a few tickets. Great sport!

Pisco Sour · 25-03-2012 08:23AM

Went for a swim this afternoon with a mate to the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre (MSAC). There's 2 50m pools here, one outdoor, which was used for the 2006 Commonwealth Games, and an indoor one. The outdoor pool was being used for competition so I had to use the indoor one.

I used to swim once a week from the age of 7 to 19, and always loved it, but never competed or anything. I was fairly decent at the breaststroke and when I was around 18 I did a 50m time trial (2 lengths of a 25m pool) in 45.8 seconds which I recall our instructer/coach calling "respectable" (world record in a 25m pool is 25.25 which is utterly ridiculous!).

This was my first time ever swimming in a 50m pool and it felt a bit weird at first, not having to turn as often, but I got used to it quickly. The pool was very busy and so the water was a bit choppy.

Did a 200m warm up. Then I did a 400m freestyle (front crawl) from a standing start in 9 mins 40 seconds, averaging 72.5 seconds per 50m length. Tired after so took 10 minutes rest, including a 100m recovery swim.

Next up was a 200m breaststroke from a diving start. Went through the first 100m in 2:07ish, but slowed a little in the 2nd 100 to finish in 4:23, averaging 65.75 seconds per 50m length.

Warm down of 100m afterwards bringing it to a total of 1000m for the day. Enjoyed the session. I wont be the next Ian Thorpe anytime soon but it's nice to do something different every now and again, and these next few months will allow me to do a few different things.

The MSAC is a very impressive facility. 2 50m pools, diving pool, a couple of 25m pools, jacuzzi, sauna, gym, basketball courts, lots of badminton, table tennis courts etc. It's located just across the road from the Lakeside Stadium athletics track. It really is the type of facility Ireland is crying out for.

Pisco Sour · 26-03-2012 10:11AM

Background:

Having landed in Australia late on during the 2010/11 track season, and with the issues of getting settled being more of a priority I didn't take last season very seriously. I did a bit of training and ran 4 meets, but I was by no means fullfilling potential. However it gave me an idea of where I was off minimal training. During my few meets I recorded 28.2 hand timed (with a significant tailwind) over 200m, a poor 2:44 over 800m, a time which I thankfully bettered to 2:34.9. My one and only 400m race (and my first ever) was a 63.9 hand timed victory in an end of season meet, a performance which at the time I was over the moon with. Finally I recorded a 13.8 hand timed 100m into a headwind. My field event performances were: Triple Jump 8.93m, Long Jump 4.17m, Shot Putt 5.67m, and the Javelin and Discuss not worth mentioning. I had a lot of fun and was disappointed that I only got to sample a tiny part of the track season.

Why sprinting?

I then switched my attention back to the roads (an area which I took part in over the previous 3 years with a Rotterdam Marathon, an Olympic and Sprint Traithlon, Half Marathon and numerous 10k and 5k's to my name) and entered the Flemington 10k. This was a huge turning point with regards my focus. While I did manage a PB, by a mere 8 seconds (45:24), I just didn't enjoy it at all. The training was a drag, and even the race, something I used to enjoy back home, was pure torture. An 8 second PB didn't seem worth it. I realised that I was wasteing my time doing road races. I was struggling away running 45 minute 10k's, while I could knock out a 63.9 400m off not a great deal of training (though it certainly wasn't off NO training). After the dust settled on my 10k run I made the decision to end my road racing season, abandon my plans of running a 5k, and put all my focus into the 400m, and I set myself a target... a sub 60 second quarter mile!

Failed Beginnings:

I started training in mid June, and got some good sessions in, but then got struck down with a horrible trachea infection, resulting in the best part of 2 weeks lost, and antibiotics. I then left Melbourne for 2 weeks farm work and in the 2nd week got back into training and got more decent sessions in. I flew to Perth to begin my travels up the West Coast of Australia. I had intentions of training during this time, but it was a lost cause. I developed jock itch which is excrutiatingly uncomfortable when stationary, not to mention when running, and under doctor's advice I was to stop running until it was gone. After it disappeared I just never got back into training. The travel was full on. Long days, lots of hiking, arriving in the dusk and dark sometimes, located out on the outback camping, required to help with the dinner, not to mention the obligatory beers every evening. It could be seen as a list of excuses, but whatever. I knew I was going to hit it hard afterwards so I wasn't in the least bit bothered.

I intended on getting into the training when I went to South Korea for the World Championships, assuming that all the great performances in Daegu Stadium would inspire me, but it was a non runner from the start. Such uncomfortable conditions I have ever experienced. 33 degrees and 80-90% humidity! No thanks!

Time to get serious:

Upon arriving back in Australia after 2 weeks in Korea I went straight to rural Victoria, to begin the rest of my 3 months of farm work required for a 2nd year visa. It would be a tough hard slog, and with bugger all to do in the evenings, I had nothing to distract me. I focused my training on 200 and 300m reps, along with some hills. I experimented with various sessions and over a few months it developed into a regular pattern of 4x200, 3x300 and 5x100 Hill, each week along with raceday. It took some time to figure out what I was doing but the fitness levels improved quickly.

September:

After 2 and a half weeks of training I entered my first meet of the season, the Magpies Multies Decathlon at Collingwood. I recorded a 13.4 hand time into a headwind over 100m, which was a great start to the season. However I fell at the end of that race and gashed my knees badly. Patched up I managed a 4.24m Long Jump, a shocking Shot Putt of 4.89m, a High Jump of 1.15m, and finally a 400m of 61.8 hand timed, a PB by 2.1 seconds. I was delighted and was now much more confident of my ability to run sub 60.

Day 2 was a disaster as my gashed knees seized up overnight, basically rendering me useless. This was a difficult time and my training was virtually non-existant over the next 2 weeks and I was in pure pain, as I tried to undertake farm labour with such stinging wounds.

October:

Eventually I recovered and got in some good training ahead of the start of the AV Shield. At Round 1 in Doncaster I recorded a PB of 27.6 hand timed over 200m, a PB of 2:31.1 over 800m, a PB of 8.97m for the triple jump, and a 75 second jog on the anchor leg of the 4x400m, a rare appearance in the event.

The following week at Box Hill for Round 2 was a strange meet. It begun with a truly disgraceful 14.35 seconds over 100m, a 4.25m long jump, and finally a 60.90 clocking over 400m, a PB by about 1 second.

I was now feeling ready to get close to sub 60, but then disaster struck. I woke up the next day with a sore groin, which lingered. Training was very uncomfortable, and after a couple of weeks of no training I decided to visit a physio. The diagnosis was simply a stiff back, which had broken down from all the tough manual labour I had done. He said my core strength was not good and that coupled with the farm work was causing the pain, which trickled down to my groin. He gave me a proper core programme, which made my previous half hearted attempt at it seem shocking in comparison. I had neglected the importance of a strong core, and I was suffering now as a result.

Novermber:

Round 3 and Round 4 of the AV Shield was a write off, and Round 5 got cancelled due to heavy rain (I would not have been ready for that meet anyway). I finally got back training, slowly but surely, and made my comeback at Round 6 in Box Hill, 5 weeks after my previous race. I recorded a 13.4 hand time with a tailwind (though it didnt seem that fast and I think they were having problems with the gun that day or something). I was happy to be back. I wasn't ready for a 400m yet so ran the 1500m for endurance. I didn't go near flat out, until the last lap when I upped it a bit, and recorded 5:42.

December:

At Round 7 in Doncaster I did just one event, the 800m. With no 200m in my legs beforehand I went in feeling fresh and set a big PB of 2:27.9. I was very happy and now felt like I was getting back into form after the many setbacks. Round 8 at the brand new stadium at Albert Park was a memorable occasion. I was very excited to compete in the stadium as the likes of Sally Pearsin, David Rudisha, and Asbel Kiprop. Another poor 100m of 13.86 was followed by an appalling 4.08m Long Jump. However my blushes were spared by another big PB in the 400m, a 60.35 clocking after 10pm, a PB by 0.55 seconds. I was getting closer.

Round 9 at Ringwood would prove to be a significant moment and a catalyst towards a great second half of the season. Firstly I recorded a 27.5 hand timed PB into a very strong headwind in the 200m. I was pretty disappointed as I felt I should have been running under 27 seconds by now. A massive PB of 9.28 for Triple Jump followed. Then there was a spur of the moment decision to run the lead off leg of the 4x400m relay. I got my coach to time me. He made a bollox of the timing and stopped the watch at 58.5 after 395m. It was no doubt a 59.5ish 400m performance, but while at first I tried to claim the sub 60, I soon thought better of it, and used this performance rather as a springboard to some very hard training over the Christmas break. I knew I was in sub 60 shape, and was determined to hit it the next day out.

January:

The hard work pain off and at my Championship debut, the Victorian Country Championships in Bendigo, I set a new PB of 59.44, bettering my previous PB by 0.91 seconds, to finish in 13th place out of 16. Mission accomplished. The next goal was sub 59 seconds.

A couple of days later I had my worst performance of the season, a DNF in the 800m due to heat exhaustion, in excrutiating temperatures at the Vic Milers meet at Albery Park, the first race of any significance in which I had dropped out of.

Round 10 of the AV Shield was skipped in favour of the Australian Open Tennis, and I returned for Round 11 at Ringwood with another big breakthroughs: a 26.92 clocking over 200m with a +2.2 tailwind, a massive PB. I followed this up with 9.18m for Triple Jump.

February:

Round 12 at Box Hill, the final round of the AV Shield was to be my big attempt at sub 59. A PB of 13.36 with a -0.4 headwind over 100m had my confidence soaring. However, despite running what I felt was a decent race, I was left gutted with a 59.96 for 400m. I had backed up my previous sub 60 which was the positive I took from the run, but was left very disappointed overall.

My next race was a late decision to run the Essendon Track Classic, a small but very high standard meet. I was terrified to be in such company, and given this I was very happy to hold it together to record a 59.86 for 400m. However I was starting to worry that I was stagnating over the event and that perhaps I was finding my level.

A few days later was an end of season low key meet involving clubs in our region, held out in Doncaster. Here I recorded a small PB of 2:27.6 over 800m, and an average 4.22m for Long Jump.

Next came one of the highlights of the season: the Victorian Multi-Event Championships, where I competed in the Decathlon, against some very high class opposition. Day 1 was a magic day. I recorded my first ever sub 13 second 100m, with a 12.96 clocking, admittadly with a +4.3 m/s tailwind. It was still my best ever 100m run though even taking the wind into the equation. A season's best Long Jump of 4.32 followed, along with a massive PB of 6.51 in the Shot Putt, another PB of 1.25m in the High Jump, and then the biggest one of all, a 59.18 over 400m, a PB of 0.26 seconds, and finally I was away from those high 59s which I had seemed to settled into. My body was dead for day 2 and I basically limped over the line, with a DNF in the 110m Hurdles, a 14.17m in the Discuss, a no height in the pole vault, an appalling 10.83m in the javelin. I finished off with a respectable by decathlon standards 1500m, in 5:27.98. The pain I felt afterwards was possibly the worst in my life, but the satisfaction was just as high as my body was sore. I finished the Decathlon in 2290 points, around 800 more than my feable effort back in September.

March:

A 2 week gap between the Decathlon and the last meet of the season, the State Championships. It was tight. My body took ages to recover from the decathlon, but for the second week I got some great sessions in and felt confident going into the Championships. My last chance of a sub 59. I delivered on the big occasion, recorded a big PB of 58.68, a full half second better than my previous best. I was immensely statisfied. A great way to conclude the season.

I couldn't relax too much though. 2 days later I was back for the 200m, in which I ran a decent, though unspectacular 27.13, with a +0.5 tailwind. Pretty close to my best but I expected a lot more. My body just didnt recover from the 400m quickly enough. A 4.20m long jump closed out the season.

What did I do well?

I'm very proud of my performances this season. I have steadily improved throughout the year and peaked in the most important Championship events towards the end of the season. My knowledge of the event has grown expenentially, and I have learned so much about speed endurance, hills, core sessions. While I am far from a top sprinter, I feel I have put in some very respectable times over 400m this season, a far cry from my plodding in years gone by over 5k, 10k, Half Marathon and most famously around these boards, at the Rotterdam Marathon where I crossed the finish line in 4:07.

What can I do better?

The answer is so much. I trained hard, and my speed endurance is an area where I have excelled this year, however there are other areas which I have neglected. Firstly I have trained alone all year. Getting to the track was almost impossible this season with my farm work, and then my non-flexible job along with having to rely on public transport. In addition I did all my training in road running shoes. I was thinking along the lines of "if it aint broke, don't fix it". I was afraid of the injury consequences of training in spikes after finally getting myself injury free. I don't regret this. I am happy with my approach for my first full season, but come next year I will need to change things. I will need to find a training group. My club is not good for sprinting, and I'd probably be better if I was in a different club like Melbourne University. However I am happy at Richmond, so I'll make do and make the most of what I do have available to me. Hopefully later in the year I will have a job that is flexible, allowing me to get down to the track for proper coaching. My technique needs a lot of improvement and I need to be taught the proper drills. I need a programme that will help me get the best out of myself next season. I have probably taken myself almost as far as I can go with my current training method, but to get down into the 55s next year changes need to be made. That is where I want to be. I want a big 55 after my name next season.

Final words:

The track season has been a truly memorable time for me down here, something which I will look back on with fond memories. Lots of highs, a few lows, some new friends. I have got to compete against, and witness, some very very fine athletes of Olympic, Commonwealth and World Junior standard. Track running is a lot of fun. I hope when/if I come back to Ireland I can help out back home and try implement a few of the things I have seen down here with regards the organisation of track meets and the inclusiveness of it all. Finally, I hope that this thread has been in some way interesting and informative to readers. I'm a long long way from being an elite, that's for sure, but hopefully my track exploits might inspire a few others on these boards to give track racing a shot, in particular the sprints, either specifically like myself and RandyMan, or just as a bit of fun and a side venture while training for the longer stuff.

Lots more to come, but 2011/12 has been a very successful year personally.

Pisco Sour · 26-03-2012 01:18PM

After spending over an hour and a half writing that season review :eek: I thought I'd back it up a bit with some hard facts and numbers about my 2011/12 track and field season:

h denotes hand time. 0.24 added to 100 and 200 times, 0.14 added to 400 times, as per the IAAF Scoring Tables.

100m

Pre-2011/12 PB: 13.8h (14.04)

1) 13.4h (13.64) PB
2) 14.35
3) 13.4h (13.64)
4) 13.86
5) 13.36 -0.4 PB
6) 12.96 +4.3 PB

200m:

Pre-2011/12 PB: 28.2h (28.44)

1) 27.6h (27.84) PB
2) 27.5h (27.74) PB
3) 26.92 +2.2 PB
4) 27.13 +0.5

400m:

Pre-2011/12 PB: 63.9h (64.04)

1) 61.8h (61.94) PB
2) 60.90 PB
3) 60.35 PB
4) 59.44 PB
5) 59.96
6) 59.86
7) 59.18 PB
8) 58.68 PB

800m:

Pre-2011/12 PB: 2:34.9

1) 2:31.1 PB
2) 2:27.9 PB
3) DNF
4) 2:27.6 PB

1500m:

Pre-2011/12 PB: 5:16

1) 5:42.0
2) 5:27.98

Long Jump:

Pre-2011/12 PB: 4.50m

1) 4.24m
2) 4.25m
3) 4.08m
4) 4.22m
5) 4.32m
6) 4.20m

Triple Jump:

Pre-2011/12 PB: 8.93m

1) 8.97m PB
2) 9.28m PB
3) 9.18m

High Jump:

Pre-2011/12 PB: N/A

1) 1.15m PB
2) 1.25m PB

Shot Putt:

Pre-2011/12 PB: 5.67m

1) 4.89m
2) 6.51m PB

Discus:

Pre-2011/12 PB: 14.65m

1) 13.59m
2) 14.17m

Javelin:

Pre-2011/12 PB: 13.21m

1) 10.22m
2) 10.83m

Decathlon

Pre-2011/12 PB: N/A

1) 1494 Pts PB
2) 2290 Pts PB

RandyMann · 26-03-2012 09:32PM

04072511 wrote: »

Background:

Having landed in Australia late on during the 2010/11 track season, and with the issues of getting settled being more of a priority I didn't take last season very seriously. I did a bit of training and ran 4 meets, but I was by no means fullfilling potential. However it gave me an idea of where I was off minimal training. During my few meets I recorded 28.2 hand timed (with a significant tailwind) over 200m, a poor 2:44 over 800m, a time which I thankfully bettered to 2:34.9. My one and only 400m race (and my first ever) was a 63.9 hand timed victory in an end of season meet, a performance which at the time I was over the moon with. Finally I recorded a 13.8 hand timed 100m into a headwind. My field event performances were: Triple Jump 8.93m, Long Jump 4.17m, Shot Putt 5.67m, and the Javelin and Discuss not worth mentioning. I had a lot of fun and was disappointed that I only got to sample a tiny part of the track season.

Why sprinting?

I then switched my attention back to the roads (an area which I took part in over the previous 3 years with a Rotterdam Marathon, an Olympic and Sprint Traithlon, Half Marathon and numerous 10k and 5k's to my name) and entered the Flemington 10k. This was a huge turning point with regards my focus. While I did manage a PB, by a mere 8 seconds (45:24), I just didn't enjoy it at all. The training was a drag, and even the race, something I used to enjoy back home, was pure torture. An 8 second PB didn't seem worth it. I realised that I was wasteing my time doing road races. I was struggling away running 45 minute 10k's, while I could knock out a 63.9 400m off not a great deal of training (though it certainly wasn't off NO training). After the dust settled on my 10k run I made the decision to end my road racing season, abandon my plans of running a 5k, and put all my focus into the 400m, and I set myself a target... a sub 60 second quarter mile!

Failed Beginnings:

I started training in mid June, and got some good sessions in, but then got struck down with a horrible trachea infection, resulting in the best part of 2 weeks lost, and antibiotics. I then left Melbourne for 2 weeks farm work and in the 2nd week got back into training and got more decent sessions in. I flew to Perth to begin my travels up the West Coast of Australia. I had intentions of training during this time, but it was a lost cause. I developed jock itch which is excrutiatingly uncomfortable when stationary, not to mention when running, and under doctor's advice I was to stop running until it was gone. After it disappeared I just never got back into training. The travel was full on. Long days, lots of hiking, arriving in the dusk and dark sometimes, located out on the outback camping, required to help with the dinner, not to mention the obligatory beers every evening. It could be seen as a list of excuses, but whatever. I knew I was going to hit it hard afterwards so I wasn't in the least bit bothered.

I intended on getting into the training when I went to South Korea for the World Championships, assuming that all the great performances in Daegu Stadium would inspire me, but it was a non runner from the start. Such uncomfortable conditions I have ever experienced. 33 degrees and 80-90% humidity! No thanks!

Time to get serious:

Upon arriving back in Australia after 2 weeks in Korea I went straight to rural Victoria, to begin the rest of my 3 months of farm work required for a 2nd year visa. It would be a tough hard slog, and with bugger all to do in the evenings, I had nothing to distract me. I focused my training on 200 and 300m reps, along with some hills. I experimented with various sessions and over a few months it developed into a regular pattern of 4x200, 3x300 and 5x100 Hill, each week along with raceday. It took some time to figure out what I was doing but the fitness levels improved quickly.

September:

After 2 and a half weeks of training I entered my first meet of the season, the Magpies Multies Decathlon at Collingwood. I recorded a 13.4 hand time into a headwind over 100m, which was a great start to the season. However I fell at the end of that race and gashed my knees badly. Patched up I managed a 4.24m Long Jump, a shocking Shot Putt of 4.89m, a High Jump of 1.15m, and finally a 400m of 61.8 hand timed, a PB by 2.1 seconds. I was delighted and was now much more confident of my ability to run sub 60.

Day 2 was a disaster as my gashed knees seized up overnight, basically rendering me useless. This was a difficult time and my training was virtually non-existant over the next 2 weeks and I was in pure pain, as I tried to undertake farm labour with such stinging wounds.

October:

Eventually I recovered and got in some good training ahead of the start of the AV Shield. At Round 1 in Doncaster I recorded a PB of 27.6 hand timed over 200m, a PB of 2:31.1 over 800m, a PB of 8.97m for the triple jump, and a 75 second jog on the anchor leg of the 4x400m, a rare appearance in the event.

The following week at Box Hill for Round 2 was a strange meet. It begun with a truly disgraceful 14.35 seconds over 100m, a 4.25m long jump, and finally a 60.90 clocking over 400m, a PB by about 1 second.

I was now feeling ready to get close to sub 60, but then disaster struck. I woke up the next day with a sore groin, which lingered. Training was very uncomfortable, and after a couple of weeks of no training I decided to visit a physio. The diagnosis was simply a stiff back, which had broken down from all the tough manual labour I had done. He said my core strength was not good and that coupled with the farm work was causing the pain, which trickled down to my groin. He gave me a proper core programme, which made my previous half hearted attempt at it seem shocking in comparison. I had neglected the importance of a strong core, and I was suffering now as a result.

Novermber:

Round 3 and Round 4 of the AV Shield was a write off, and Round 5 got cancelled due to heavy rain (I would not have been ready for that meet anyway). I finally got back training, slowly but surely, and made my comeback at Round 6 in Box Hill, 5 weeks after my previous race. I recorded a 13.4 hand time with a tailwind (though it didnt seem that fast and I think they were having problems with the gun that day or something). I was happy to be back. I wasn't ready for a 400m yet so ran the 1500m for endurance. I didn't go near flat out, until the last lap when I upped it a bit, and recorded 5:42.

December:

At Round 7 in Doncaster I did just one event, the 800m. With no 200m in my legs beforehand I went in feeling fresh and set a big PB of 2:27.9. I was very happy and now felt like I was getting back into form after the many setbacks. Round 8 at the brand new stadium at Albert Park was a memorable occasion. I was very excited to compete in the stadium as the likes of Sally Pearsin, David Rudisha, and Asbel Kiprop. Another poor 100m of 13.86 was followed by an appalling 4.08m Long Jump. However my blushes were spared by another big PB in the 400m, a 60.35 clocking after 10pm, a PB by 0.55 seconds. I was getting closer.

Round 9 at Ringwood would prove to be a significant moment and a catalyst towards a great second half of the season. Firstly I recorded a 27.5 hand timed PB into a very strong headwind in the 200m. I was pretty disappointed as I felt I should have been running under 27 seconds by now. A massive PB of 9.28 for Triple Jump followed. Then there was a spur of the moment decision to run the lead off leg of the 4x400m relay. I got my coach to time me. He made a bollox of the timing and stopped the watch at 58.5 after 395m. It was no doubt a 59.5ish 400m performance, but while at first I tried to claim the sub 60, I soon thought better of it, and used this performance rather as a springboard to some very hard training over the Christmas break. I knew I was in sub 60 shape, and was determined to hit it the next day out.

January:

The hard work pain off and at my Championship debut, the Victorian Country Championships in Bendigo, I set a new PB of 59.44, bettering my previous PB by 0.91 seconds, to finish in 13th place out of 16. Mission accomplished. The next goal was sub 59 seconds.

A couple of days later I had my worst performance of the season, a DNF in the 800m due to heat exhaustion, in excrutiating temperatures at the Vic Milers meet at Albery Park, the first race of any significance in which I had dropped out of.

Round 10 of the AV Shield was skipped in favour of the Australian Open Tennis, and I returned for Round 11 at Ringwood with another big breakthroughs: a 26.92 clocking over 200m with a +2.2 tailwind, a massive PB. I followed this up with 9.18m for Triple Jump.

February:

Round 12 at Box Hill, the final round of the AV Shield was to be my big attempt at sub 59. A PB of 13.36 with a -0.4 headwind over 100m had my confidence soaring. However, despite running what I felt was a decent race, I was left gutted with a 59.96 for 400m. I had backed up my previous sub 60 which was the positive I took from the run, but was left very disappointed overall.

My next race was a late decision to run the Essendon Track Classic, a small but very high standard meet. I was terrified to be in such company, and given this I was very happy to hold it together to record a 59.86 for 400m. However I was starting to worry that I was stagnating over the event and that perhaps I was finding my level.

A few days later was an end of season low key meet involving clubs in our region, held out in Doncaster. Here I recorded a small PB of 2:27.6 over 800m, and an average 4.22m for Long Jump.

Next came one of the highlights of the season: the Victorian Multi-Event Championships, where I competed in the Decathlon, against some very high class opposition. Day 1 was a magic day. I recorded my first ever sub 13 second 100m, with a 12.96 clocking, admittadly with a +4.3 m/s tailwind. It was still my best ever 100m run though even taking the wind into the equation. A season's best Long Jump of 4.32 followed, along with a massive PB of 6.51 in the Shot Putt, another PB of 1.25m in the High Jump, and then the biggest one of all, a 59.18 over 400m, a PB of 0.26 seconds, and finally I was away from those high 59s which I had seemed to settled into. My body was dead for day 2 and I basically limped over the line, with a DNF in the 110m Hurdles, a 14.17m in the Discuss, a no height in the pole vault, an appalling 10.83m in the javelin. I finished off with a respectable by decathlon standards 1500m, in 5:27.98. The pain I felt afterwards was possibly the worst in my life, but the satisfaction was just as high as my body was sore. I finished the Decathlon in 2290 points, around 800 more than my feable effort back in September.

March:

A 2 week gap between the Decathlon and the last meet of the season, the State Championships. It was tight. My body took ages to recover from the decathlon, but for the second week I got some great sessions in and felt confident going into the Championships. My last chance of a sub 59. I delivered on the big occasion, recorded a big PB of 58.68, a full half second better than my previous best. I was immensely statisfied. A great way to conclude the season.

I couldn't relax too much though. 2 days later I was back for the 200m, in which I ran a decent, though unspectacular 27.13, with a +0.5 tailwind. Pretty close to my best but I expected a lot more. My body just didnt recover from the 400m quickly enough. A 4.20m long jump closed out the season.

What did I do well?

I'm very proud of my performances this season. I have steadily improved throughout the year and peaked in the most important Championship events towards the end of the season. My knowledge of the event has grown expenentially, and I have learned so much about speed endurance, hills, core sessions. While I am far from a top sprinter, I feel I have put in some very respectable times over 400m this season, a far cry from my plodding in years gone by over 5k, 10k, Half Marathon and most famously around these boards, at the Rotterdam Marathon where I crossed the finish line in 4:07.

What can I do better?

The answer is so much. I trained hard, and my speed endurance is an area where I have excelled this year, however there are other areas which I have neglected. Firstly I have trained alone all year. Getting to the track was almost impossible this season with my farm work, and then my non-flexible job along with having to rely on public transport. In addition I did all my training in road running shoes. I was thinking along the lines of "if it aint broke, don't fix it". I was afraid of the injury consequences of training in spikes after finally getting myself injury free. I don't regret this. I am happy with my approach for my first full season, but come next year I will need to change things. I will need to find a training group. My club is not good for sprinting, and I'd probably be better if I was in a different club like Melbourne University. However I am happy at Richmond, so I'll make do and make the most of what I do have available to me. Hopefully later in the year I will have a job that is flexible, allowing me to get down to the track for proper coaching. My technique needs a lot of improvement and I need to be taught the proper drills. I need a programme that will help me get the best out of myself next season. I have probably taken myself almost as far as I can go with my current training method, but to get down into the 55s next year changes need to be made. That is where I want to be. I want a big 55 after my name next season.

Final words:

The track season has been a truly memorable time for me down here, something which I will look back on with fond memories. Lots of highs, a few lows, some new friends. I have got to compete against, and witness, some very very fine athletes of Olympic, Commonwealth and World Junior standard. Track running is a lot of fun. I hope when/if I come back to Ireland I can help out back home and try implement a few of the things I have seen down here with regards the organisation of track meets and the inclusiveness of it all. Finally, I hope that this thread has been in some way interesting and informative to readers. I'm a long long way from being an elite, that's for sure, but hopefully my track exploits might inspire a few others on these boards to give track racing a shot, in particular the sprints, either specifically like myself and RandyMan, or just as a bit of fun and a side venture while training for the longer stuff.

Lots more to come, but 2011/12 has been a very successful year personally.

No doubt you will run 55 next season with the proper coaching. During your off season I think you should concentrate on getting stronger in the gym with more of a focus on weights. You need muscle for that raw speed !

Pisco Sour · 27-03-2012 12:32PM

RandyMann wrote: »

No doubt you will run 55 next season with the proper coaching. During your off season I think you should concentrate on getting stronger in the gym with more of a focus on weights. You need muscle for that raw speed !

Just wondering, how much focus do you put on weights? How many times a week do you lift? Do you do core strength exercises aswell, like planks, push ups, hip raises etc?

Have got conflicting advice about weights. Some say to bulk up, others say it is not hugely necessary and that a strong core is more important. Certainly something I am interested to research further.

dna_leri · 27-03-2012 01:13PM

RandyMann wrote: »

No doubt you will run 55 next season with the proper coaching. During your off season I think you should concentrate on getting stronger in the gym with more of a focus on weights. You need muscle for that raw speed !

@0407...

You have made good progress with your 400m time, but the next 4s will be just as tough.
To run a 55s 400, what times do you think you need for 100/200m?
I would have guessed a sub12s 100m and sub25 for 200m.
Your 100m time is probably already a bit behind your 400.

I agree with RM, to get that kind of speed you will need to get stronger and more powerful but that does not necessarily mean bulking up.

Pisco Sour · 27-03-2012 08:42PM

dna_leri wrote: »

@0407...

You have made good progress with your 400m time, but the next 4s will be just as tough.
To run a 55s 400, what times do you think you need for 100/200m?
I would have guessed a sub12s 100m and sub25 for 200m.
Your 100m time is probably already a bit behind your 400.

I agree with RM, to get that kind of speed you will need to get stronger and more powerful but that does not necessarily mean bulking up.

I'm currently running 58.68 off a 12.96 wind aided (probably a 13.1ish in reality) 100m and a 26.92 200m. I don't think it will be necessary for me to be sub 12 and sub 25, but I will need to make gains over those 2 distances. If I can take a maybe 1.2 seconds off my 200m time that could be enough as my speed endurance is my strength.

Won't be easy but there's a lot of improvement there. So much still to learn with regards drills etc.

Dan man · 27-03-2012 09:18PM

Whatever you do, keep enjoying what you're doing, sounds like the challenge of improving in this event really motivates you so bear that in mind when you go to change things up. As you say, there's still loads for you to learn, probably introducing new aspects of your training regime will be best done on a step by step process, it's important mentally to know you are making steady progress and that there's always a greater goal in mind.

RandyMann · 28-03-2012 12:25AM

04072511 wrote: »

Just wondering, how much focus do you put on weights? How many times a week do you lift? Do you do core strength exercises aswell, like planks, push ups, hip raises etc?

Have got conflicting advice about weights. Some say to bulk up, others say it is not hugely necessary and that a strong core is more important. Certainly something I am interested to research further.

Yes D is correct, bulking up is not the goal. The goal is to get as strong as you possibly can and keep your weight as low as you can. ie have a good power to weight ratio.
I have only put on about 2kg since I started sprinting and doing weights but my bodyfat has dropped to 8% from the intensive track sessions.
You will not bulk much if you are doing the track sessions. You will grow lean muscle mass but it will be useful. I am 68kg for a height of 172cms

Currently my core work is hanging gar hammers(youtube) and I have done planks, pushups and crunches on a swissball in the past.

The main area to focus on for sprinting is the posterior chain(hamstrings, glutes, back) and the compound exercises like deadlift and its variations will be most helpful. Squats are also important. For upper body, I have done stuff like bench press, shoulder press, pull ups and dips.
I have gone to a strength coach for a program recently and he has me doing what he calls a strength accumulation phase while also correcting imbalances. This is to get me ready for the olympic type lifts like power cleans and snatches etc. which he will coach me how to do. The reason I went to this strength coach is because I witnessed a rapid improvement in one of my club mates who has been going to him. If you can find a strength coach in Oz that has sprinting knowledge it would be a huge benefit. To do it safely and to learn how to do the power lifts with correct technique is paramount.

On a good week I try and get in 3 weights sessions which alternates between upper and lower body. I try and train 5 days a week with 2 track sessions and a jog over the weekend. Sometimes I do a double session on a Saturday if I dont have the time in the morning to finish my program. The trick is finding the right balance so I dont overdo it and run myself down.

While weights are important, proper coaching on the track is crucial(as you know) and this is how I am improving in conjunction with the gym.

Like I said, if you use your time during the off season getting strong in the gym, you will be improving your raw speed plus it will help with injury prevention for the increased demands you will put on yourself in training for a 55 400m

Last year a clubmate who is a 46 sec 400m runner stressed the importance of lifting over the winter and to get as strong as you can before racing season, so I followed his advice.
I do believe that if you get strong you will definitely have the potential to run a faster 100m like a low 12 next season but it will only happen with the proper track coaching.
I know you like your club and it will be a hard decision to make but as you mentioned yourself, finding a proper sprint group and coach may be the way to approach next season. I suppose it will really depend on how much you want to run a 55 400m !

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

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