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Running Aimlessly Down Under - From 54 to 53 sec 400m
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Did 3x300m on the gravel road with a 3:30 walk back break between each rep. Did them at 75% and this time I felt much better and between 200m and 300m I actually felt like I was going at 75%.
My times were 57-58-56
Much happier with todays session. Will look to get those times down while still maintaining a 75% effort rate. The next day I do 300m reps I'll hopefully be able to up it to 4x300m.
Of course a training session always becomes that bit more interesting when a kangaroo hops past you in the nearby field
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Very pleased with my session today. After spending the day shovelling for the 3rd muscle acheing day in a row it could have been so easy to skip the session but I managed to get myself out there. I went for 5x100m Hill with a 2 minute rest between each rep.
The hill I ran on was out at the back of the house, on the pathway that seperates some of the fields. While the surface was far from perfect and quite uneven, it wasn't gravelly and so I could get a lot more spring and bounce off it. I messed up the timing of my first rep, so I have no idea how fast it was, but it was probably the slowest of the 5. I did the first 2 a bit within myself, and then pushed it more and more after that, going close to all out by the end.
My times were:
? - 19(mid) - 18(low) - 17(mid) - 17(low)
Definetely happy with those times. 0 -
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Did a 3x300m tempo endurance session on the gravel road this evening with 4 minute walk back rests between each rep. Was going at about 80%, and maybe about 85-90% for the last rep. My times were:
56(low) - 55(low) - 54(mid)
Those times would probably equate to about 49-50 on a track. I feel I am in good shape, and hopefully I can get close to the PB for 400m and knock out a good low 13 second run for 100m.
Expectations for many of the other events are not too high 0 -
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Today was a day of some serious thrills and spills. This is a long report, just to warn you all.
Firstly to answer RQ's question, the event is set up by a neighbouring club, and a few of the locals clubs (my club included) are invited along to compete.
So bright and early this morning at 10am the Magpie Multi's Decathlon began:
100m
In my heat there was just 3 of us. One of the guys is my club mate and has gone sub 13 before I think. I got out of the blocks ok, and although I lost a bit of ground to him early on, I reeled him in between 50-70m and won easily in 13.33 seconds. However when leaning for the line I lost balance and landed heavily on my knees, gashing them quite badly in the process. No serious damage, but very very sore, and lots of blood. To make things worse, my lean was a waste of time. I found out after that the finish line was actually 10 metres before the REAL finish line on the track. Very odd, and nobody informed us, so the 3 of us were basically sprinting all out for 110m, which probably helped towards me losing my balance.
I was delighted with the result though. The time was what I was hoping for and it was actually into a headwind also. I finished 5th out of the 11 in the senior decathlon event, and more importantly scored 365 points (because it was hand timed, this was taken into the equation when calculating the points).
Long Jump
Maybe the shock of severly grazing my knees didn't help, but I don't want to make excuses, I simply didn't jump to my best. I was hoping to go close to my PB of 4.50m, but it just didn't happen. Last week in training I fouled quite a bit, which I let get into my head a bit, and I fouled 2 of my 3 warm up jumps today. So I was a bit concious of getting points on the board. Things started off reasonable. I was perfect on the board and jumped 4.24m with a 1.9m/s tailwind. Points on the board. This should have been the springboard to some bigger jumps but on the 2nd attempt I fouled, and come the 3rd attempt, I was so fed up of fouling I was actually more focused on hitting the board properly, rather than actually jumping well. I hit the board fine, but the jump was just 4.08m. No good.
So 4.24m was my results and it scored me 245 points.
Shot Putt
To say that this event was a disaster would be an understatement. I can be annoyed all I like (and indeed at the time I was) but in the end of the day I can only blame myself for my complete ignorance towards the event. On my first attempt, I was judged to have fouled, as apparantly I moved the shot away from my neck before releasing, therefore making it more of a throw than any actual putt. I've no doubt that the ruling was correct (who am I to argue), but I observed about 5-6 others get away with doing the exact same thing, which definetely annoyed me. I guess I was more blatent in my foul.
For the 2nd attempt I was a bit unsettled by thsi but one of my competitors had been kind enough to give me a 2 minute crash course on what to do. I threw the shot fine this time, probably a good bit over 5 metres, but stupid me, I walked out of the throwing circle from the side (You have to go out the back), and so they fouled me again. Again, it's my own fault for being so ignorant, but it's a seriously pedantic rule. What benefit did I gain from walking out of the circle from the side rather than the back, AFTER I had already thrown the shot? But the rules are the rules.
I was feeling the pressure for the 3rd attempt big time, but held it together to get something on the board, albeit a pitiful 4.89m, which was good enough for just 185 points, less than I was hoping.
High Jump
I had no expectations going into this and had planned to just hurdle the bar as far as I could go, but low and behold, when I started doing a few warm ups, I was actually clearing the bar via the Fosbery Flop method (albeit at very low heights). So I started at 1.00m and cleared first time. I then cleared 1.03m, 1.06m, 1.09m, 1.12m and 1.15m all at the first attempt. My confidence was soaring. However, most people weren't entering until 1.40m-1.50m (and indeed some didn't enter until 1.75m) so I felt a bit bad about taking so long at such tiny heights and ended up passing at 1.18m and going straight for 1.21m. I don't know what happened, but the first 2 attempts were just not there. Poor efforts. I think I thought about it too much. My 3rd attempt wasn't bad and I nearly nailed it, but it was not to be. When I jumped 1.15m, I was told I was a good 10cm above the bar, but I couldn't reproduce this when it mattered. Still though, I surprised myself and got a good buzz when clearing all those heights (even if they are very very modest indeed).
So 1.15m and an unexpected 159 points from this event.
400m
The big one! The one that mattered the most to me. A bad run here would make it a bad day, a good run would make it a good day. I was drawn in lane 4 (of 6 lanes, lane 1 empty), but with 2 slower people on my outside and 2 fast 59 second runners on my inside, one of them being my coach. I paced myself well the first 200m. Both of them inside me ate up the stagger on me in the first 150m, but I didn't panic. I knew how fast they would run (around 59-60) and knew if I could stay close to them I'd be on for a good one. I sailed past the guy on my outside at the 200m mark (he ran 66 secs in the end), and felt good. I pushed on, and I noticed the 2 lads not getting too far away from me. Coming into the home straight I felt great, and pushed as hard as I could, and if anything I may have closed a small bit on the 2 in front of me, eventually finishing about 10 metres behind them. When I saw the winning time of 60.2 secs, I knew I was on for a PB. But when I saw my time I was over the moon. 61.80 seconds, in my first race of the season. I did not expect that, but to be honest, I felt I was in good shape, and the last 3 weeks work of tempo endurance reps have done wonders for helping me not to tire in the last 100m. In fact at the end of the race I wasnt out of breath as much as I have been in previous races, a clear sign I am getting fitter.
A massive PB, a solid 2.1 seconds faster than my previous best. I know now that the sub 60 seconds is definetely on. But that's for another day. For now I am going to savour the result.
Incidently, that performance gave me 350 points.
So at the half way mark, I am on 1304 points. I am well on my way to my modest target of 2000 points, but I am not counting my chickens yet. I have a LOT of weak events tomorrow, and I may need a good 1500m to get me over the line.
But today has very much been a good day 0 -
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The wheels certainly came off today, in spectacular fashion. I didn't sleep particularly well due to the pain of the huge grazes on both my knees and my right elbow, but I didn't for a second think it would affect my performance. After all, I had run a 61.80 second 400m a few hours after the fall. However, my knowledge of the human body is not up to scratch, and what I should have done was put some sort of moisturiser on the wounds before going to bed. When I woke, part of the wounds were forming a scab, and consequently this began to restrict my movement. When I would try to bend my knees it would hurt unbearably at times. It got worse throughout the day and no matter what I tried nothing would work. One of the women from the Collingwood Harriers club who were running the event bandaged me up, and for awhile I felt better and thought it could get me through the last 3 events, but the relief was temporary. I was simply in agony all day. The stinging was extremely uncomfortable.
Day 2 started off with the hurdles, which I basically didn't attempt. In order to be allowed to continue the competition you have to start the event. So that required the rather pointless exercise of me drawing a lane, getting set in my blocks, and jogging for about 10 metres as far as the first hurdle before stepping off the track. Pretty silly, but if I didn't start the event I wouldnt have been allowed to continue with the decathlon so that's the way it is. I had allowed for zero points in the 110m Hurdles so nothing lost, and I entered the last 4 events confident.
However, the discus didnt go to plan. I had thrown around 14.5 metres earlier in the year, but this time my best was a poor 13.59m on my first attempt which gained me just 155 points. Still though, with just 541 points to get from the final 3 events, the 2000 point target looked to be a formality, given the fact that the points in the 1500m are very generous.
However, this is when I really started to feel uncomfortable (as described above) and the physical pain, and the emotional frustration and worry that went with it basically scuppered my chance of doing anything in the pole vault. I was very hesitant when trying to run fast because of the stinging pain of the gashes on my knees. I seemed to forget literally everything I learnt in training last week and everything I had done so well, and basically couldn't clear a height if my life depended on it. Last week I cleared 1.75m on my one and only attempt at that height. This week I failed all 3 attempts at 1.50m (the opening height). Not only were they fails, but they were awful fails. I wasn't even close. Zero points, and with my body basically in a heap at this stage I knew the 2000 points was pretty much now out of reach.
Entering the Javelin I had pretty much lost heart and didn't want to be at the track anymore. I didn't bother warming up. I just wanted to sit down and not move a muscle in my legs, in order to minimise the pain. I fouled attempts 1 and 3, and with my 2nd attempt got around 10.5 metres, scoring 45 points I think.
I now needed over 500 points in the 1500m, which equated to 5:15ish, which would basically be operating at a pace right on my PB. I wouldn't be able to run that now even if I was feeling healthy (given the fact I am now focusing on sprints and not middle distance), but with my body in a heap, it was absolutely impossible. I literally saw no point in running around the track in over 6 minutes, in absolute pain, and risk doing myself longer term damage, so I made the sensible decision to pull the plug on the whole thing. In order for my points to count I had to start the 1500m (same deal as the hurdles). I wasn't bothered but a few people convinced me to, so that at least I would get a final score in the decathlon (not that the score meant much to me at this stage), so I went over to the start line, and walked about 400m and then stepped off the track, just to guarantee I wasn't DQ'ed from the entire event.
So today really has been a day to forget. 1304 points yesterday, something like 190 today. Of all the events to have an accident in, I would have thought the 100m would have been the most unlikeliest of the lot, but there ya go. It certainly made life hell for me on day 2, but even if I hadn't had this accident, there's no denying that a decathlon is tough going. Just because you aren't doing a lot of running for most events doesnt mean it doesnt take a lot out of you. Sebastian Coe once described the Decathlon as 9 Mickey Mouse events and slow 1500m, but in reality that is just Seb being an asshole. The event is gruelling and I have the utmost respect for the elite guys who do it. They may not be world class in any of the 10 events individually, but bloody hell, they are world class athletes. To train for 10 very different events and to perform at a high level in each (well, excluding the 1500m, which usually sees slow times) deserves respect.
Feelings at the moment are a bit of disappointment that I couldn't finish off this competition the way I would liked to, but I PB'ed in my main event so in the end of the day that's what matters the most. My main concern now is to get these damn wounds healed up so I can get back training. I'll probably have to wait 4-5 days before running again (could be less, could be way more, have no idea), as right now it is too uncomfortable to bend my knees. The pain is currently excrutiating. This is extremely frustrating as after my great run in the 400m I really want to push on in training, but there isn't a lot I can do about this at the moment. Just have to be patient. But definetely not in a good mood at the moment over this pain
A lot of ups and downs over the 2 days, but it certainly was an experience anyway. That's for sure.0 -
I forgot to mention I am currently working on a sheep farm to get my 2nd year visa. Started on this farm today. It really isn't the best way to help heal these wounds! Just gotta keep them covered when working to avoid infection. But bloody hell, each living second of the working day is agony! 0
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Sorry to here it went a bit pear shaped at the end, but fair play for giving it a shot. Very, very interesting. Hopefully you'll be for another shot at this ?
Ah I'll give it another go, but probably will limit myself to one a year, or if there's one at the end of the season when everything is winding down then I may do one. At this stage I'm better off sticking to what I'm good at, and leaving stuff like high jump, pole vault and the throwing events to the freaks who are able to do that stuff so well.
Ugh, these gashes are going to take an age to heal. Could be another week out of running. For the moment I'm going to do some heel raises, morning and night, each day until I can run again (to build up strength in my calves and to keep me sane!). I should be on top of the world given the fact I ran 61 seconds on saturday, but instead my knees have me a bit down in the dumps! 0 -
Ah I'll give it another go, but probably will limit myself to one a year, or if there's one at the end of the season when everything is winding down then I may do one. At this stage I'm better off sticking to what I'm good at, and leaving stuff like high jump, pole vault and the throwing events to the freaks who are able to do that stuff so well.
Ugh, these gashes are going to take an age to heal. Could be another week out of running. For the moment I'm going to do some heel raises, morning and night, each day until I can run again (to build up strength in my calves and to keep me sane!). I should be on top of the world given the fact I ran 61 seconds on saturday, but instead my knees have me a bit down in the dumps!
Having fun is the main thing, seemed like a good day and if your going to target 400m then no need to be doing the 1500m.
High jump is a funny event 1.15 seems really easy(but its not), but I was once called the worst high jumper in ireland by a fairly wll known coach.0 -
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