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

Last gym session before Vic Championships followed by massage. Did very little this evening, just some light work to keep me ticking over.

Did some bench press at lighter weights: 8 x 125lbs, 8 x 132lbs, 8 x 140lbs

One-leg leg press: 2 sets of 8 x 186lbs (down 10lbs on the usual amount)

Goodmornings: 3 sets of 10 x 45kg, with some stomach ball crunches after each set.

What an awesome day at the Victorian Decathlon Championships. Started with 12.63 for the 100m (532 pts) with a +1.1 tailwind, just 0.05 off my PB, second fastest I have run. Then a big PB in the Long Jump with 4.77m (339 pts) with a -1.7 headwind, and apparently taking off before the board. Then a solid shot putt of 6.64m (286 pts). Slightly disappointing but second furthest I have thrown. Then a PB in the High Jump with a very modest 1.31m (257 pts). Finally at the end of a long day managed 55.34 in the 400m (585 pts) which is the second fastest I have ever run, just 0.34 off the PB. Also faster than I ran in the Vic 400m yesterday which is mental. 1999 pts in total after day 1. Things aren't going to get any easier tomorrow and I have some dreadful events to come, but around 225 points up on this time last year so on for a big overall PB.

Body was pretty sore today after a hugely intensive weekend, as expected. However I've pulled up a lot better compared to last year. I skipped the gym today and just did 20 mins on the exercise bike to loosen the legs. Got my weekly massage brought forward to today also, so hopefully tomorrow I may be good for.a proper session. But I won't rush it and if my body is not feeling right I'll take it easy tomorrow.

Suffering from the Post Decathlon Blues today. Something I seem to get every year after such an incredible 2 days.

After Friday evening's 400m I found it very hard to sleep that night. A week of controlling my adrenaline, then the rush of the race, the emotions afterwards, the importance of the race etc, I found it hard to settle down and sleep well. I ended up getting only 4 and a half hours so this wasn't the ideal way to start off 2 days of intense competition, comprising 10 events. Legs were also feeling heavy from the night before so a good long warm up would be required to get myself ready. Fortunately the start time of the first event was 12:30pm, rather than early morning, which gave me a little bit extra recovery time from the previous evening's 400m. Of all the competitors listed for the decathlon I was the only one mad enough to run an individual event the night before. Only time would tell to what degree this would affect my performance, if at all.

Event Overview:

In previous years the State Decathlon was held on a separate weekend to the individual events, but on this occasion both the Vic Champs and Vic Multi-Event Champs were combined into the one weekend. 2012 was my first appearance in the Victorian Decathlon where I scored 2290 pts, including a hugely wind assisted 12.96 for 100m, a 59.18 for 400m and a 5:27.98 for 1500m among others. 2013 saw and improvement with a score of 2561 pts, including 12.82, 56.39 and 5:04.36 for the aforementioned events. This year an overall PB was inevitable, but by how much? Could I hit 3000 pts? A very modest total, but when you have some seriously weak events and are relying on 7 of the 10 events for about 95% of your total, such a score becomes more challenging that it may appear.

Preparation:

I'd be lying if I said I trained specifically for the decathlon. I never do. I train to be a 400m runner, and as a result this helps my 100m and 1500m. We have done a fair lot of jump plyometric exercises of late which would no doubt help my long jump. I'm stronger now due to improvements in the gym, so that would have indirect benefits for my shot putt and discuss, and I have done a fair few shot putts in competition as practice. I got a last minute lesson in the javelin 2 weeks ago to help with basic technique. But as for high jump, pole vault, and hurdles I had done absolutely nothing!

Why do I do this event some may ask. Well 1) it gives me another 400m race towards the end of the season, and 2) it is incredible fun and has provided me with so many fond memories and friendships. Athletics isn't just about setting PBs. Sometimes it is good to shake things up and do something a little bit crazy. Decathlons and Beer Miles fit that bill nicely.

Competitors:

In total there were 14 entered in the men's open decathlon, along with one club mate of mine who was the solo representative in the Over 50s masters competition, so he was thrown in with us, making the group 15 in total. All bar one I had met in one or both of my previous State decathlons, and many I know well from weekly shield competition. There were also a couple of club mates of mine involved, making Richmond the best represented club in the competition, albeit at the submarine end of things.

100m:

I was in the first of the 2 heats, in lane 2, with lane 1 vacant. Beside me was the favourite for the overall competition, David Brock, an exciting athlete, just out of the junior ranks, with high hopes of Commonwealth Games qualification. In my race there was really only one guy I knew I would beat, a Glenhuntly athlete who is a seriously good decathlete, usually scoring around 4800 pts overall, but his raw speed is not his strongest point and I have his number in the sprint events. There was also a lad from Knox who was an unknown quantity, the only person in the field I did not know. I knew he wasn't going to be at the top end of things but I was unsure just how fast or slow he was.

Gun went off and off we went before a quick second fire of the pistol calls us back. One of the lads false started and we were all on a final warning now. This didn't really affect me at all. I'm used to racing where it is one false start and you are out so why is this any different?

Away at the second time of asking and I was rusty for the first 40m, and was level with the Glenhuntly athlete at the rear of the field. I got into my stride during the middle of the race however and pulled away from him and tried to chase down the Knox lad who was faster than I thought. I felt the resistance of wind in the second half of the race and assumed it would be a negative wind reading. I crossed the line about 4 metres down on the Knox lad, finishing 2nd last in my heat. Amazingly the wind reading reported +1.1. It must have been a strong cross wind that I felt. A couple of others were also surprised with the reading but I guess it doesn't lie.

My time was 12.63 seconds, which was agonisingly close to my PB, falling just 0.05 seconds short. When adjusted for wind, it may even have been a slightly better run. But overall my second fastest run ever, in my first 100m race in almost 3 months was a fantastic start to the competition.

So a time of 12.63 seconds to finish 11th out of 14, scoring 532 points.



Long Jump:

I felt quietly confident entering the long jump. My coach has had us doing plenty of standing jumps as part of our training. This would surely have some benefits for the long jump, even if that was not the intended purpose of the exercises. My last long jump competition was in December where I leaped a PB of 4.44m, albeit with a strong tailwind. On this occasion I was confident I could surpass it.

Things did not get off to the best start. My first attempt was a foul. I stood over the board by about half a centimetre. This was slightly unsettling, as when you only get 3 attempts, it is very relaxing to get a solid score on the board in the first jump to take the pressure off and eliminate all thoughts of the dreaded "no jump". I kept composed and moved my run up back by a few inches in the hope that this would correct whatever I was doing wrong. Being honest I haven't a great deal of knowledge with regards run ups and timing and all that long jump specific talk. I Just run fast and jump.

For my second attempt I was well before the board and recorded a solid 4.42m. With a decent score guaranteed I let rip on the last attempt. We were now well into the decathlete camaraderie and the traditional crowd slow to fast clapping. I decided I wanted in on this action and got a clap started. I knew once I was in the air that this was the one. While I was again well before the board, it felt great, I got more height on my jump and was able to get my arms right down to my feet as I descended. When I heard my distance I was delighted, but not surprised. I landed a PB of 4.77m into a -1.7 headwind (the strongest headwind any of us had for a scoring jump).

So 4.77m to finish 14th out of 14, though very close to my 2 club mates who are field event specialists, giving me a very welcome 339 points.



Shot Putt:

Once the long jump is out of the way it is lunch time! Why now? Because, as far as I'm concerned, the shot putt involves the least amount of movement on day 1, so I'm not particularly bothered if I go into the event well fed.

My shot putt has come on a lot of late, with a PB of 6.75m set recently at a shield meet. I hoped to break 7 metres on this occasion.

It was not to be. My first attempt was a nice opener of 6.64m, my second furthest throw I've ever managed. My second attempt was woeful. I got my technique all wrong and the shot came out all wrong, for a poor 6.02m. My last attempt was good but resulted in no improvement, as I landed it 6.61m.

I was a little disappointed but overall I was way up on the 6.18m I managed last year, so I was now 3 for 3 in terms of being up on last year.

6.64m to finish 12th of 14, scoring 286 points.

High Jump:

The only times I do high jumps is in decathlons, but there are always fun, albeit quite fatigueing to my take off leg. I usually go into the event with the intention of just taking a few jumps to save myself somewhat for the 400m, but I always lose the run of myself, get caught up in the fun of it all and go to complete town with the event. This occasion wasn't quite as bad, but still took a fair few jumps.

To conserve energy I just took one warm up jump, instead opting to come in at a very easy height and use that to warm myself into the competition. I cleared first time at 1.16m, before passing at 1.19m. A first time clearance at 1.22m was followed by another first time clearance at 1.25m. I grased the bar at 1.28m on my first attempt, but it stayed put and I had equaled my PB. What followed was my best jump, a first time clearance of 1.31m, clearing comfortably, by a few centimetres, giving me a brand new PB, and for a short period a high jump PB greater than my Pole Vault PB, which brought amusement to many. 1.34m was a step too far and I failed all three attempts. I was out of the competition long before most had started. Time to take advantage of the extra recovery time before the 400m by getting some rest.

1.31m to finish 14th of 14, scoring a solid 257 points.

400m:

Earlier in the week I had mentally written off my chances of a PB in this one. Surely if I was to run 54 it would have been Friday night, not the next day with 4 other events also in the legs. But after a phone conversation with my coach he had me believing I was going to run a PB, and why not. I was feeling tired, but I'm fit and strong so there was no reason why I couldn't hold myself together for a little longer and throw out a great performance. I was pumped up and ready to go.

The 2 heats were drawn at random but as it turned out I ended up in the heat with more of the slower runners which suited me. Of those worth paying attention to was a lad from Whittlesea in lane 2 who had a PB of 53 high but who felt he wasn't in that shape, a lad from Nunawading in lane 3, who ranges from 43 on a good day to 55 on a bad day, and has gone sub 53 once. Maybe I could catch him on the hop? I was in lane 5 and outside me was the Glenhuntly athlete in lane 6, who always runs around 57/58. This was perfect for me, and set out to eat up the stagger on him quickly.

There was a very strong wind building as we approached the starting blocks. Many competitors talked about it after, and no doubt it existed but I was so in the zone during the race that I can't recall where I encountered it.

Gun went off and I drove out aggressively, keen to eat up the ground on the aforementioned athlete outside me. After 60 strong metres I eased back and was surprised to see that I hadn't really closed on the Glenhuntly athlete. About a quarter down the backstraight the Nunadwading athlete eats up the stagger on me, but I am keeping the faith in my own race plan and continue to chase down the Glenhuntly athlete. He clearly was going off hard as I have a PB almost 3 seconds faster than him so logic would suggest I should have been ahead of him by now. At the 200m mark I finally catch him and this really spurs me on. I dart past him and I don't see him again.

I am pushing extremely hard around the bend, perhaps kicking a bit early on this occasion, perhaps getting overexcited. With about 160m to go the Whittlesea athlete eats the stagger up on me, and as I enter the straight I am about 15-17 metres down on those 2 athletes, along with another lad out in lane 7 who I wasn't paying much attention to. I chased hard down the straight and really felt like I was flying, but the lads ahead were strong and weren't coming back to me by much, if at all. With 40m to go I start to tie up badly, no doubt suffering from a very aggressive middle portion of the race. My legs are starting to feel like jelly, a new sensation in a 400m. I've had this feeling in a 200m, but never in a 400m. I just focused on staying as strong as I could and simply get myself to the line. I no doubt lost some time in this last 40m. It was so close to a perfect race.

My time was a very satisfying 55.34 seconds, the second fastest time I have ever run, my fastest of 2014 to date, just 0.34 off my PB, and amazingly, 0.22 faster than my run the night before. I hadn't PBed, and maybe the last 40m cost me that 54, but I was definitely delighted with this result. To hammer out a time like that in the decathlon, an event I have the utmost respect for, was something which brought immense satisfaction. This brought an end to an hugely successful first day.

55.34 seconds to rank 11th out of 14, scoring a very nice 585 points.



After day 1, I had amassed 1999 points and sat in 12th position overall out of 14. However with some very weak events to come on day 2 I wasn't expecting to keep this 4000 points rate up. A quick massage from one of the free masseuses Athletics Victoria arranged for the weekend (a nice touch) and it was off home to unwind as best I could and get ready for a tough day 2. Things were not going to get any easier and I was prepared to scrape the bottom of the barrel.

After a hugely successful first day where I scored 1999 points over the first 5 events, I entered day 2 up on my PB by 224 points. An overall PB was a certainty now, barring complete disaster, but I thought to myself that if all the stars aligned I may be able to reach 3000 points which would be a nice landmark to reach. A more realistic goal however was 2900 points. My day 2 contained 3 embarrassingly weak events and I knew that I would be relying heavily on the 1500m for points come the end of the day. My body was sore from day 1, but it still felt that it had plenty left in the tank to tackle day 2.

110m Hurdles:

On all my previous decathlon appearances I have never even considered attempting this event. I would run to the first hurdle and then walk off the track. However, after such a good first day, some crazy thoughts entered my head. I wanted to give it a go. Never mind the fact I have never tried this before in practice, and that the risk of hurting myself was high, for a brief spell, in my desperate search for points, thought that maybe I can do this. Maybe it is not as hard as I am making it out to be. Maybe it is all mental. So I spent all evening, and again the next morning talking myself into at least attempting it in warm-up beforehand.

So I get up extra early and arrive at the track in good time to do a long warm up, to freshen up my already heavy legs. Once ready I set a hurdle to 91cm, which is the height of the men's 400m Hurdles. If I could clear this by a lot then I would try the 99cm, and then, if still successful, give the full 1.06m hurdles a shot.

I decided to not wear spikes but instead use my road running shoes, the reasoning being that with the thicker heal it would give me more height to clear the hurdles. The logic was incredibly flawed. Yes my foot would be higher off the ground as I jump, but this ignores the obvious fact that the thick heal also has to clear the hurdle. It's not just my foot that has to go over the stupid thing, the bottom of the shoe does aswell. Not my finest moment but the brain does funny things in times of desperation. When I realised the stupidity of this it was too late as I had left my sprint spikes at home, and my middle distance spikes were in the changing rooms on the other side of the stadium.

I got one of my fellow decathletes to watch me attempt to jump (not hurdle) the 91cm. He told me I cleared it fine but not by enough to be confident over the 1.06m. Honest feedback but it was what I needed. All confidence was lost now. I set the bar to 99cm but didn't have the balls to try it. If I couldn't try one at that height then no way could I do 10 at the full height, and under a time to score me enough points to justify the risk. I decided there and then that I wouldn't be attempting this event which was disappointing. I just lack the flexibility and the fearless attitude necessary for this event. The ironic part of all this is that my coach was a top national standard 110m hurdler back in his day, so if I wanted advice, I don't have to go very far for it.

I ended up running to the first hurdle and then stopped myself by putting my hand on the hurdle. Amazingly I was originally listed as a DQ in the event for putting my hand on the hurdle which is against the rules. Then somebody must have seen sense and realised you can't DQ somebody who doesn't finish a race. It is totally stupid, pointless and makes no sense, so my result was changed to DNF. It didn't matter either way with regards my further participation in the decathlon. As long as you start each event you are free to continue.

So a big fat DNF to score me 0 points.

Discus:

I'm not a good discus thrower but in the context of day 2 this event would score me reasonable points. My PB was 16.67m which was set at last year's decathlon. I expected to better this based on throwing 16.30m in practice a couple of weeks earlier where a decathlon buddy gave me some tips which seemed to help.

On this occasion I couldn't seem to replicate what I was doing on that occasion however and I kept hooking the discus wide left in practice. This was strange as I have never fouled a discus throw before. This was a cause for concern going into my 3 throws and I tried to modify my stance to avoid fouling.

My first throw was a foul which frustrated me greatly. I hooked it wide left. I let out a curse to myself as I fouled, something which many sportspeople do. It wasn't aimed at anybody but myself, and there were no kids around to hear it. Then one of the officials asked me to watch my language. In no mood for that hollier than thou rubbish I simply didn't reply and walked back towards my seat. She took it upon herself to remind me again, as if I didn't hear her the first time. Utterly ridiculous and completely uncalled for.

I had 10 minutes to then recompose myself before my second attempt. I moved my footing which worked but I still hooked the things left and it only just stayed in on this occasion. The throw was a low 15m which was not very good at all.

For my final attempt I moved my footing more again and just stopped thinking and did what came naturally to me and the discus landed comfortably in the correct area this time. It was my best throw of the three, with 16.11m, over a half a metre down on my PB. I was disappointed overall, but at my level I'm only scoring 20 points for every extra metre gained so I only lost 10 points on last year which was no disaster. Overall it was the only event of the 10 where I lost points on last year.

16.11m to finish 14th of 14, scoring 200 points.

Pole Vault:

Last year I made a holy show of me, with a jump of 1.30m being my best effort. This occasion was destined to be not much better. If nothing else I had to ensure I scored higher than my high jump of 1.31m the day before, otherwise I'd never be able to live down the fact that I jumped higher in high jump than in pole vault.

One of the officials set the opening height to "a dollar twenty" as he calls it, specially for me. I had planned on coming in at 1.30m, but seen as he went to the effort of putting the bar down that low I thought I may as well use the 1.20m as an extra warm up jump, as I only got one in warm up due to the bar being set too high for me for most of the warm up time. I quickly refreshed the basic technique using a 5 step run up, taking off with my left foot, remembering where to put each hand on the pole. It came back to me quickly even though I only do this once a year. One of my club mates was kind enough to bring a pole for me, so I was all set.

I cleared easily at the first attempt at 1.20m, and again at 1.30m, equalling my PB. However my first attempt at 1.40m was poor and resulted in a sore gash on my right elbow. Composed myself and cleared at the second attempt, just barely, shaking the bar in the process. I have no idea how it stayed up, and had I missed it, I'm not sure I would have got it together on the final attempt, as I had very little energy left for 1.50m and failed all three attempts miserably, never threatening to clear the height.

I was out before nearly everyone had even started and had a lot of time to kill for the next couple of hours.

1.40m, a new PB, to finish 13th out of 13 (we lost one guy at this point due to injury), scoring 40 points.

Javelin:

Last year this provided one of my low points in athletics. I was an awful sight as I attempted to throw this spear out there yonder. I couldn't manage a legal throw to save my life, as the wrong end of the javelin would keep hitting the ground first. I ended up having to throw it like a dart just to score points, with a miserable 8.37m barely being worth the 14 points it gave me.

This year couldn't be as bad, and it wasn't. I got one lesson the previous week and while I couldn't throw it far, I at least had now mastered the art of getting the correct side of the javelin to hit the ground first. In practice I did standing throws, but come decathlon I started acting the boll0x and started doing run ups. I was landing them all fine, but the run up didn't seem to be adding any distance to my throws. But the run up looks better and it made me look more legit so I went with this. I used half the runway for my run up.

I managed 12.05m for my first attempt. The overall competition leader gave me some tips to improve, which I couldn't grasp so I just continued with what I was doing. My second attempt was 11.9x, so for my last attempt I scraped the run up and just did a standing throw, and it was worse again, at just 11.6x.

This was yet again another embarrassing moment in my javelin career, and amazingly my 12.05m wasn't even a PB. I somehow threw 13.21m in my first ever attempt back in January 2011, the oldest of all my track and field PBs. However I didn't draw as much attention from my competitors this time. It didn't look AS bad as last year simply because I could at least stick the javelin in the ground. I didn't foul once, in either warm up or competition, so I guess this is progress.

So a throw of 12.05m, to finish 12th of 12 (another athlete bit the dust before this event) scoring me just 58 points.

1500m:

I hadn't performed particularly well on day 2 so far so now my chances of 3000 points were virtually gone. I needed 4:37 to reach this total. In order to score 2900 I needed a 4:52. My PB was 5:04.36 from last year's decathlon. I wasn't as fit then as I am now so I knew I would go faster, but by how much? I hoped to go comfortably under 5 minutes but sub 4:50 seemed like it was asking a lot off sprint training. I asked my coach during the week to call my time and he said 4:48. I thought this to be optimistic and thought more along the lines of 4:55.

Conditions were pretty nice now. It was sunny, nice cool breeze, late in the evening. At this stage there was absolutely nobody left in the stadium as all other events finished, and clearly most athletes are too self absorbed to stick around to cheer us on after 2 hard days of competition. The AV commentator stayed however to see out the full day, and rightly so.

The 12 remaining competitors in the Open decathlon along with the one masters athlete took to the line. Hand shakes were exchanged beforehand before things got underway. I got out well and got to the middle of the pack in the first 60m or so before taking my place in the inside lane. There was a bit of jostling for positions before things started to settle around the bend.

One lad from Nunawading, who beat me in the 400m opened up a few metres on me, and I was in 7th place at this point, with a few guys breathing down my neck. The first 300m was very fast, in about 52 seconds or so, and the first lap was completed in 72ish seconds which was way too fast. At this point I eased back the pace. I expected some lads to move past me but none did. Instead I had 3 lads just sitting behind me one after the other, piggybacking off me, letting me do all the work. A gap had opened up to the Nunawading lad ahead of me and he was about 15m up on me. He slowed his pace also and didn't seem to open up anymore on me after the first 400m.

I reached the 800m mark in around 2:35ish (I can't remember the exact splits) and at this point I was getting fed up of these excellent decathletes, but poor 1500m runners sitting on my shoulder. For the entire second lap I felt comfortable while the lad behind me was breathing like crazy. I knew he wasn't going to beat me, so with 700m to go I decided to make my move and test them. I upped the effort levels gradually and surprise surprise none of them went with me. In the end the nearest any of them got to me was 4 seconds. One of them ended up 11 seconds back, and another 17 seconds adrift.



I was now in chase of those ahead of me, and they were moving well and it would be a tough challenge. I hit the bell at around 4:37, but it may have been a bit faster, I can't remember. I pushed the effort levels even more and was still 15m down on the Nunawading lad. However as I am moving down the backstraight I notice another lad is coming back to me, and is now behind the Nunawading lad. A guy from Melbourne Uni is dying, and with 150m to go I storm past him. He is spent, and he is not going to have enough to respond (although I was amazed to see in the final results he finished only 0.8 behind me, so he must have finished the last 100m well). As I enter the straight I try my best to chase down the Nunawading athlete but I can't gain enough ground and finish about 4 seconds down on him. On this occasion I didn't stop my watch at the line, like I do in many middle distance races, but instead dip. Every few hundredths of a second can matter in a decathlon for points. I glanced at my watch after I crossed the line and saw 4:52. I was chuffed. Then I threw myself straight to the ground and joined the other 5 decathletes who finished ahead of me in absolute agony.

One by one a decathlete was added to the pool of temporary misery around the finish line, before we all composed ourselves and engaged in handshakes and the type of camaraderie only found in this great event.

My time came up as 4:52.06 , a massive PB by 12.30 seconds. It was very pleasing to run this time, particularly at the end of a very intense weekend of competition. I knew that I was fit and this result has proved it. To manage this time off 400m training was immensely satisfying. It makes one wonder what I may achieve over the distance 5-10 years down the line, whenever I move up in distances. For now it's not my thing and the training doesn't interest me, but it's good to know there is some potential there. And it's also good to see just how fit one can get from 400m training. You don't need long slow runs to be fit, that's for sure.

I enjoyed the race, in a sort of messed up way, more so due to the fact it was part of a decathlon, so the competition wasn't great so I felt competitive in the race. It was also nice to beat some of the very best decathletes in Victoria in at least one event.

4:52.06 to finish 6th of 12, scoring 606 points. This was my highest scoring event of the weekend. However this is due to the 1500m points being very soft for decathlons, rather than due to the fact it was my best actual performance, because it is not even remotely close in standard to a 55 400m or 12.6 second 100m.

Overall:

My 1500m result was good enough, just about, to push me over the 2900 mark. My overall score was 2903 points, to finish in 12th place overall. No doubt the hurdles is what cost me 3000 points but this was a huge overall PB by 342 points. I was very satisfied with this result. When you don't train as a decathlete then expectations have to be modest but I feel for the most part I performed very well this weekend. For 7 of the 10 events I was on course for 4000 points. It's just a shame that the other 3 events combined scored me 98!!

The event was won by David Brock. After day 1 he was on course for a Commonwealth Games B qualifier but fell away a bit on day 2. It's great to see somebody so passionate and energetic succeed. I've seen this lad compete week in week out in shield competition, come through the interclub set up, so would love to see nothing more than for him to go to Glasgow later this year.



Aftermath

As always, the post decathlon camaraderie was fantastic. We all got our photos taken together in a big group shot, and we chatted, laughed and joked about what we had just been through. A few of us, myself included, got a free massage, before many of us headed out for dinner that evening to celebrate a weekend well done.

The decathlon is truly a unique event in this very individual sport. How many events do you make friends with your competitors, have your competitors point out mistakes and offer advice, have your competitors cheer you on, and want you to do well? One particular example was myself and another decathlete creating a handicap competition over the 10 events through the 2 days where I got a lead in each of the events (except the 1500m!) to make things interesting and create a bit of banter on the side.

This event year after year brings nothing but fond memories and creates friendships. This is what athletics is all about. It really is liberating to every now and again just do something that is a bit out of the norm. Decathlons and beer miles don't exactly fit into 400m training schedules but it can be so easy to become one of those boring athletes. Who wants to be like that? It's always good to shake things up every now and again, and this weekend was just that.

My body the next day was feeling the pinch of the weekend. When I laughed the right side of my back hurt. It says it all when it hurts to laugh, but that is exactly what I was experiencing. And lets be honest, thinking back over the weekend, there were far too many laughs to suppress.

An update from the last 2 days:

Wednesday: Gym

First gym session since the decathlon so went a bit easier than normal. Left the squats out and dropped the weight on the deadlifts.

Bench Press: 75% - 80% - 85% - 90% of max of 170lbs

8 x 132lbs
8 x 140lbs
8 x 150lbs
4 x 157lbs

One-legged leg press: 3 sets of 8 x 196lbs on each leg

Goodmornings: 3 sets of 10 x 45kg

Deadlifts: 3 sets of 6 x 75kg

Some crunches thrown in also.

Thursday: Track

Same session as Tuesday but with a 150m tagged on at the end.

300m - 15 mins - 200m - 15 mins - 150m

My times on Tuesday were pretty laboured at 43.3 and 27.7 due to the legs feeling shot from the weekend. Times were better today but still didn't feel completely smooth. The 300m felt decent, but the 200m a bit messy. I was wearing flats and there was a fair bit of wind to deal with for the first 100m of the 200m.

Times were: 41.7 and 27.6. Didn't time the 150m. Not overly happy with the times but it's as good as I could do this evening.

Day off tomorrow to get ready for the Shield meet on Saturday, my last meet of the season. I'm going to do the 100m, long jump and 400m. Hoping to close off a great year in style. One last effort to get under 55.

Final meet of the season this afternoon, and not quite the way I wanted to finish up, but perhaps a combination of the Meadowglen track and last weekend's decathlon meant that today was going to be tough to hit the fast times. 12.91 in the 100m into a strong -1.7 headwind, OK given the wind. Followed up with a PB in the long jump, 4.83m. Finally a 56.15 in the 400m, which is the slowest I've run since my only other race on this track, back in December. Despite today, I can't complain overall, and am delighted with my season on the whole.

I move back to Ireland next week and am very emotional saying goodbye to everyone, for now. It has been an unforgettable experience being part of the athletics community in Victoria for the last 3 years, being part of a great club, Richmond Harriers, making so many friends from many different clubs throughout this state, and having so much fun with the vast amount of competitions which are available to athletes of all standards. I came here as an absolutely nothing runner and thanks to so many great people who have helped me progress over the last few years I'm now running times, while modest on the grand scheme of things, I am very proud of. This is a great sport, and the setup is great here, and hopefully I can enjoy plenty more AV Shield meets in the future.

Will write up a report on today's final races later.

A week of hard training left before I head back, so coach said he is going to push me hard so I get on the plane fit. Today's session was 6 x 200m with 5 minute recoveries. Not quite at flat out, but not too far off it. Stunning morning for it. Messed up the time of the first and last reps, but the last was definitely the fastest of all. The first was around 27 high/ 28 low. Times were:

? - 28.0 - 28.4 - 28.2 - 27.7 - ?

Coach also said that he believes my run yesterday was worth a PB because where I ran the race is a horrible track. I'm not sure it was a PB run to be honest, but I agree it was a much better run than the clock suggests.

Oregano_State wrote: »

Well done on a great season. Are you moving back home for good?

The timing is decent enough athletics-wise. You could take a couple of weeks off, then start getting ready for the Irish outdoor season with graded meets etc. You could get that 54.x yet this year!

Back for awhile anyway. I'm heading off around Europe for a month travelling, so am going to use that time as both a break and a mini winter, by doing lots of hills, core work and fartlek stuff. Can't see myself getting to a gym very often when on the move so no point worrying about it too much. I'm more disciplined now than I was when I traveled in the past, so I shouldn't have a problem getting the runs in, but I'll need to be flexible with it when on the move. Then when back I'll get into hard training and hopefully get racing as soon as I realistically can.

Bit of an update from the last 2 days:

Monday: Gym

Second last session in my club gym which has become a second home to me at this stage. Winding down at this stage and didn't do a great deal, and spent the majority of the time just chatting to various club mates about athletics related stuff (an aspect of my gym session which I am going to miss dreadfully).

Session itself was:

Bench Press: 75%-80%-85%-90% of max of 175lbs

8 x 132lbs
8 x 140lbs (though acidently put the wrong weight on one side so it was only 138.5lbs)
8 x 150lbs
4 x 157lbs

Leg Press: 3 sets of 8 x 476lbs

Squats: 2 sets of 6 x 75kg. I only meant to drop the weight back by about 7.5kg on what I was doing before, but got confused and ended up dropping it by 17.5kg, so it felt a bit too easy.

Planks: 2 sets of 60 seconds

Deadlifts: 3 sets of 6 x 75kg. Slightly lower than pre-Championships but still heavy enough for a decent workout. What I meant to do with the squats.

Crunches: 3 sets of 50

Tuesday: Track

Session this evening was 2 x 300 with 20 minutes recovery. All about quality. Track was fairly wet from a downpour which didn't help with regards fast times. Wore the flats, but for some reason I never feel slippy in the feet when the track is wet here, yet the one time I ran on a wet track at Irishtown in flats I slipped easily. Strange.

In any case my performances were nothing to write home about and had a real end of season feel to them. I enjoyed them nontheless. Times were

42.4 - 43.5

Ran with the 14 year old who I beat in the 100m on Saturday. He was ahead of me by 3 metres or so in the first rep which shouldn't have happened. In the second rep I was ahead of him from the start which tricked me into thinking I was going well but it turned out he aggravated something on that rep and so was hampered towards the end.

I think a combination of end of season and the emotions of leaving have left me quite flat on the track. I'm finding saying goodbye to everyone extremely hard. This week of training is more about getting some last chances to spend time with people who have been heavily involved in my running life over the last few years than it is about actual training and focusing on specific future targets.

Had my last track session, for now, with my training group in Melbourne on Thursday. Was an emotional mess and the lack of upcoming races meant I ran fairly poorly. Session was the same as Tuesday, 2 x 300m with 20 mins recovery. No clock on it this time thankfully as I really don't want to know how slow they were. Was close enough to a training partner in the first rep, about 3-4 metres down, but on the second rep I was a good 13 metres down. I've destroyed him over 400m this year, so overall a poor session, but it's not important.

Back in Dublin now for a few days. Have a trip around Europe to come which will give me time to clear my head and figure some stuff out.

Solid improvements all round. The PB margins will get smaller each year, although I'd imagine there's plenty left to come. Taking 1.3s off your 400m PB in one year is impressive.

Background:

My second full track season (Part 1, Part 2) was a great success. I took my 400m PB down from 58.68 to 56.26, my 200m from 26.92 (+2.2) to 25.62 (+1.3), my 100m from 12.96 (+4.1) to 12.82 (-0.7) and my 800m dropped from 2:27.6 to 2:19.3 (time trial) and 2:23.8 (race). Unlike my first track season when I trained alone and had no winter build up, my second season I joined a training group and settled into a better routine. I started doing gym work for the first time over the winter, along with hills which made a huge difference to my strength and keeping me injury free. Having a knowledgeable coach telling me what to do also helped with my improvements hugely, as well as having faster people to train with, and finally I raced more than I did the first year which I believe helped with the confidence and race day experience. In the 400m I had missed my target of 55.99 but the season as a whole was immensely satisfying as I ran in the low to mid 56 range on 4 occasions, a level of consistency which I was proud of. However come the next season I wanted to push on significantly from this level.

Target:

I set a target of 54.99 for the 400m for the coming track season, with the secondary goals being 24.99 in the 200m, 12.49 in the 100m and 2:14.9 in the 800m.

Winter Training:

The previous season my winter training started from zero. I had never done proper gym work during my first season, just core bodyweight stuff, so I started off very weak indeed. It was a slow build up all winter and I didn't start lifting heavier stuff until the track season was in full flow. On this occasion I would be starting from a much bigger base which would allow me to lift heavier, in a quicker time frame. Within a few weeks I was back in full flow, lifting almost as heavy as I did at my peak the previous season and I kicked on from this and got stronger as the winter progressed.

Our Tuesday evening hills session was moved from our old location to a longer but less steep hill outside the MCG. This time we trained a lot with the 800m group which did wonders for my fitness, with typical sessions being 8 x 300m with jog back, 6 x 300m with walk/ jog back 4 x 300m with walk back, 8 x 200m with walk back. In no time I was feeling fit, arguably fitter than at any stage during the previous season.

Our Thursday evening track sessions started with awful winders/ fartlek sessions with a truly truly horrible but were a good way of improving aerobic fitness, before moving onto proper sessions. The most popular during the winter was the 500-400-300 with 10 minute recoveries. In addition at the weekend I would do some "long runs" on my own, sometimes 1 mile time trials, and sometimes longer slower jogs of about 4-5k.

Winter training had its challenges though. Being on a temporary visa sponsored by an employer was never a secure situation and there was always that worry about the inevitable time when the work dries up I would be out of work and at risk of having to leave the country. This played on my mind a lot and I had to battle this to stay motivated. It can be hard thinking about a track season over half a year away when you have no security whatsoever in the country. Fortunately I had something more immediate to help me stay motivated in the shorter term, Moscow.

A pre-season test:

I traveled to Moscow for the World Championships and as I was a member of the media I was entitled to run in the 800m media race inside the Olympic Stadium. Looking at the results from Daegu and a 2:13 nabbing a bronze I thought that perhaps I could challenge for a high placing, but the standard proved to be much higher this time around, with 2:00 taking the gold and 2:05 sneaking the bronze. Unfortunately I picked up a nasty infection a week before the race which I couldn't shake. This combined with the running around all week chasing interviews and staying up late to write articles, a lack of any sort of running, and a couple of benders including a session with Rob Heffernan and about 30 other Irish people in the Irish Pub until 3am the night before the race, put paid to any hoped of running in the 2:15/2:16 range which I had targeted. I felt jaded during the second half of the race and could only manage 2:21.77 which was a race PB but not the fastest I had ever run. I placed 19th out of about 120 which was decent, but the standard at the middle and bottom end of proceedings was awful. A thoroughly unique and memorable experience however.

More challenges:

Then the moment I had hoped wouldn't happen, but which was inevitable to occur, the work which I was hired to do had dried up and my services were no longer required. Athletics wise I was a bit stuck, and at first considered giving up on the entire season, but then thought more about it and I legally had 90 days to find a new sponsor (a very tough ask in this economic climate in Australia), so this would at least take me up to Christmas, so I would get half a season. Athletics would prove to be a hugely important aspect of my life during a frustrating period. So after 2 weeks of no training in Moscow, and a week and a half of very little upon my return I regained my motivation to push on and get as much out of the next 3 months as possible.

Changes:

The whole set up of the AV Season was changed. Previously 9 of the 12 AV Shield meets were before Christmas, and the Shield final was in February. Now only 5 of the meets were pre-Christmas, and the Shield Final was insanely slotted for mid April, a week after the National Championships. The season was stretched out over a longer time frame. In addition the regions were changed completely, and we were no longer competing against many of the clubs, and many friends I had got to know over the previous 2 seasons. Finally due to the resurfacing of Doncaster, only 3 of the meets would be here, 3 at Albert Park, and an astonishing 6 were slotted for Epping, a shocking venue and track which doesn't deserve to hold an egg and spoon race, not to mention inter-club athletics. With these changes I would need to fill in the gaps. I could only commit to the first half of the season and wanted to race every weekend, so I looked long and hard for races outside of Melbourne, and fortunately I was able to find quite a few.

October:

The season begun with the traditional curtain raiser, the low key Magpie Multis Decathlon at my home track at Collingwood. I recorded 12.5 hand timed (+0.9) in the 100m, which I wouldn't count as a PB because of the hand time element. I followed this up with a 4.17m (-2.4) long jump, 6.41m in the shot putt, and a PB of 1.28m in the high jump. Finally I managed a 57.4 hand timed in my first 400m race of the season, a very pleasing start on a poor track. The next day I threw the discus 16.59m, but took no further part in the decathlon.

Next up was a Pre-Shield meet in Ballarat where I recorded a race PB of 2:19.75 in the 800m, just outside my overall PB. Less than an hour later I followed this up with a surprising 25.77 in the 200m, althought there was a very strong tailwind aiding me, although the wind reading wasn't recorded.

At the first round of the AV Shield at Doncaster I recorded a PB in the 100m with a clocking of 12.58 (+2.7), and followed this up with a very pleasing 56.45 in the 400m, a good sign of things to come.

November:

Round 2 took me back to Doncaster where I recorded 25.66 (+1.0) which was just 0.04 outside my PB, which frustrated me greatly. I had suffered food poisoning a few days before so I lacked the energy or will for the 800m and ran a disgraceful 2:30.4. I threw the shot putt 6.20m, which was the worst I ended up throwing all year.

The following week I traveled down to Geelong to compete on both the Friday and Saturday. First up was their Shield meet where I ran a 200m in 27.41 seconds into a hurricane -7.1 head wind. A ridiculous experience and a race which was worth nothing to me and was consigned to the dustbin. The next day I came back for the Geelong Championships where I recorded a hugely disappointing 56.70. A half an hour later I ran 100m in 12.80 (+2.3) on very heavy legs.

Round 3 was a psychological breakthrough. After countless failed attempts at that 55 second 400m I finally got under 56 seconds at Albert Park with a 55.91 clocking, a huge result for me. Earlier in the day I recorded a good 100m, running 12.67 (+0.8), my fastest legal wind time.

I continued this good form through to the Vic Milers meet 5 days later at Albert Park where I recorded a huge PB over 800m with a time of 2:15.2, a sign that my fitness levels were much greater than the previous season.

At Round 4 of the AV Shield at Doncaster I continued my PB form with new numbers over 200m, a clocking of 25.44 (-0.3). I had now recorded PBs over all 4 distances.

December:

The next day my run of PBs ended as I could only manage 56.39 from lane 1 at the High Velocity Club meet at Albert Park. The 200m the day before took more out of me that I anticipated, and an evening of standing around in a bar for a friend's going away probably had an effect also.

A week later I was back to Geelong for Day 2 of the Geelong Championships where I recorded my second fastest 200m ever, just missing my PB with 25.45 (+1.9) into a dreadful headwind for the first 60m. Soon afterwards I managed 2:18.00 in the 800m. Overall a good day for training purposes in what was a low key meet.

Round 5 of the AV Shield took us the appalling track at Epping which we soon learnt was not a place conducive to fast running. Strong headwinds and a rock hard track were the order of the day. I managed 13.56 into a stupid -4.3 headwind, followed by 56.48 battling an even stronger headwind down the straight, a result which was a sign that a big breakthrough was waiting to come out given the right environment.

A few days later I competed in a club event at Collingwood comprising a handicapped 300m, a lighter weighted shot putt and a mile race. I won the Morrison Mile in 5:29.

The big breakthrough arrived on my last meet before Christmas. We eased back the training to be fresh and ready to peak for this race, the High Velocity Club meet at Knox. The weather was perfect. Barely a breeze, temperatures warm, sun blocked by the cloud cover. The competition was also perfect with a few guys a bit faster than me to chase, and a couple slower than me to keep me on my toes. The end result was what felt like a perfect race and a 55.00 clocking, a PB by 0.91 seconds, one of those moments where everything clicks and the results months and months of hard work finally surface.

My search for a new sponsor proved unsuccessful with companies unwilling to go through the red tape required to hire a temporary visa holder, so my visa expired at Christmas time. However I had decided in November that I wanted to see out the season after putting so much into it, and I would return on a holiday visa for 8 weeks to race the business end of the season.

After a day exploring the stunning city of Siena I managed to get down to a gym in Florence, paying the extortionate fee of 15 euro for the privilege.

Session was the following:

Bench Press: 8 x 50kg, 8 x 55kg, 5 x 60kg
Leg Press: 8 x 100kg, 8 x 110kg, 8 x 120kg
Squats: 6 x 76kg, 6 x 78.5kg, 6 x 81kg
Goodmornings: 3 sets of 10 x 46kg
Pull-ups: 3 sets of 5
Stomach Ball Crunches: 3 sets of 30
Planks: 2 sets of 60 seconds

Happy to get this session in. My feet are feeling worse after a week walking in Italy than they did from an entire track season. No matter what shoes I use, new or old, they seem to hurt in their own unique ways!!

First run in a week. My right heel is still sore but when leaving the shoe tied very loosely it is much more bearable. I couldn't face the stress of trying to find a track here in Vienna, and I have't noticed any hills near me which would be suitable for a session so I decided to just do a fartlek session around the streets of Vienna's centre. I figured this would be more beneficial for me than regular jogging. In total I ran for 15 minutes on the button. Have no idea of the distance. I reckon I was running slow for much longer than I was running fast. Not sure if I was doing this right but I finished up absolutely knackered so I guess it did the job. I was starting to feel it about 10 minutes in. At a guess I probably had approx 15 fast bursts during those 15 minutes. I felt I was running really slow during the slow parts, which I'm not sure whether I was doing too slow or not.

I must have looked like a muppet at points running on busy streets having to dodge people, but better to stick to the areas I know, rather than get lost in a foreign city.