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

Chivito550

dna_leri wrote: »

Well done.
Are you sure if there will be electronic timing at the Connachts ?

Well, she said to me there would be, when I was talking to her over the phone. There didn't seem to be last year though for the 400m. But she did say to me there would be. How much I can take from that, I don't know.

Chivito550

Sunday: Track

I went back down to Athlone on Sunday to watch the second day of Nationals, so opted to do my session there instead, as it would be far more convenient, and would also give me easy access to a track. Coach told me to do 6 x 200m on the outdoor track, with a slow 200m jog recovery. He said to make them fast, so around 30-31 seconds.

Weather was fairly grim outside so I did my full warm up inside, at the same time that everyone was warming up for Day 2 of Nationals. Nobody would have had a notion that I probably shouldn't have been there, so it worked out pretty well.

It's pretty overlooked, given the indoor track is right beside it, but Athlone has a pretty great Mondo outdoor track too, although it is very exposed to the elements. On this occasion there was a strong headwind in the homestraight, rain drizzling down consistently, and track absolutely soaked.

Times were:

31.0 - 30.7 - 32.2 - 31.3 - 31.8 - 32.3

Average was 31.5

Recoveries were:

1:34 - 1:45 - 1:49 - 1:54 - 1:51

Very happy with those times, especially given the strong headwind, the wet track, and the fact I was doing this session on my own, which made it really tough going. There was only one other person on the track, a middle aged female jogger, running in the other direction, who shouted encouragement at me every time I passed her, which was much appreciated.

I wore the distance spikes for this. This is the first time I have done a session like this on a track since last August, so my body was full of aches the next day as a result.

Oregano_State

That's a nice session. Well done.

Chivito550

Monday: Gym

After a long phase 3, it's time to start phase 4 of my gym programme.

A: BB Back Squat w/ 2 sec pause (with very low depth): 3 x 6 @ 40kg, 42.5kg, 45kg
B: Snatch position exercise w/ lightest bar: 4 x 6
C1: Split Squats, both legs on ground: 2 x 8 on each side @ 5kg, 6kg
C2: Romanian Deadlifts: 3 x 12 @ 25kg, 27.5kg, 27.5kg
D1: Flat DB Press: 3 x 8 @ 20kg
D2: DB Bent Over Row: 3 x 8 on each side @ 20kg, 22.5kg, 22.5kg
E: Glute Complex Series Hip Thrusts (Narrow, Wide, Single left, Single right): 3 x 12,12,12,12

Tuesday: Massage

Wednesday: Grass

Same session as last Wednesday. 5 laps of GAA pitch, sprinting widths, jogging straights. 10 x 90m. Didn't time these. This session is feeling tougher each week.

Thursday: Gym

Another new set of exercises. For the leg based ones I only did 2 sets because of the race on Sunday, rather than the intended 3.

A: Front Squat w/ 1 second pause (with very low depth): 2 x 6 @ 30kg, 35kg
B: Snatch Jumps (from below knee) 2 x 6 @ 35kg, 37.5kg
C: DB Side Lunges: 2 x 6 on each side @ 5kg, 6kg
D1: 30 degree incline DB Press: 8, 7, 7 @ 20kg (was supposed to be 3 x 8 but couldn't manage the last rep in the last 2 sets)
D2: Chin-ups: 8, 8, 5 @ bodyweight (was supposed to be 3 x 8, but was absolutely shattered by the last set and could only manage 5. The recoveries between each set during this superset are only 90 seconds).
E1: Bench Double Leg Glute Thrusts: 2 x 15
E2: Dynamic Clam: 2 x 12
E3: Heel Raises: 2 x 8 on each leg @ 14kg

Chivito550

Track session this morning. 80-60-40 5 mins 40-60-80, all flat out, from a three point start, in the sprint spikes. Was a bit rusty the first couple, but felt I was moving better after that.

Connacht Championship 400m tomorrow, the last race of the indoor season.

Chivito550

A race too far today. 56.93 at Connacht Indoors, 0.9 down on last week. Found it hard to get fully up for this one after Nationals last weekend. Lane 2 didn't help. Overall though, happy to get to within 1.16 of my outdoor PB in first ever indoor season, and run all 5 400m races between 56.04 and 56.97. Decent consistency. Goodbye Athlone for 9 or 10 months! Sort of over the trips down here now.

Chivito550

After putting so much into the Nationals last weekend, both physically and mentally, and falling just shy of my sub 56 target, I opted to have one last 400m race before ending my indoor season. I had hoped I would have nailed the 55 at Nationals and thus would have been able to skip this one, but given the fact I didn't quite reach my goal, I felt that it was better to give this one a shot, so I'd have no regrets.

Unlike all other indoor meets this season, where I'd have some of my club mates down in Athlone with me also racing, on this occasion I was the only one from the group racing. Everybody else finished up last weekend. In fact there were very few people I knew at these championships full stop. One of the lads from last year's National Decathlon was running the 400m, as a guest like me, so it was good to catch up with him briefly. But overall, not too many familiar faces.

I took the train down that morning and then walked for 25 minutes in fairly miserable conditions out to AIT. I arrive at 9:50am, well in advance of the 11:30 scheduled start. Lots of time for my pre-race routine, which includes chilling for a little bit in the arena, watching a few races, before starting my warm up.

I go to check in, and ask about call room procedures etc. At this point I'm told to be ready to go at any time, to forget the timetable, and that the programme will run ahead of schedule. Not really what you want to be hearing.

So I get myself changed, pin on my number, and go straight upstairs to warm up. The warm up track was like a school yard. Kids everywhere. They were well behaved to be fair. But there was really very little space to do strides safely. At this point my enthusiasm for this race was beginning to wain a bit. Then my decathlon buddy says he heard we will be on in 20 minutes. I didn't like the sound of this, so checked with an official, and thankfully he heard wrong, but was told to expect to be called ahead of schedule. So I get fully into my warm up, not willing to take any chances.

I managed to get the warm up done, but it was a bit of a pain having to swerve past 10 year-olds while doing fast strides.

I'm towards the end of my warm up when I hear an announcement for all 400m runners to check in. I continued on with my warm up, as "check in" to me means checking in, i.e. getting your number. But it turns out when he said "check in" he actually meant "call room". I head down, only to be told 3 minutes later, to head back up, and that they aren't ready for us yet. I was glad as it meant a few more strides, but overall I wasn't feeling the event like I did in previous weeks.

Back down in the call room, and there are 12 of us, and she is about to do up two heats of 6, when a random 13th lad shows up, and saves the day. No 3 heats are required, meaning no lane 1 for anyone, and only lane 2 for one of the heats (or so I thought). Rather than attempt to seed the races based on expected times, like at the Leinsters, she opted for the more entertaining approach of pointing at each of us saying "1 - 2 - 3 - 1 - 2 - 3..." to determine who was in what heat. A few of the guys were confused, so she did it again, meaning that a couple of guys who I started chatting to thinking we were in each others heat, we suddenly in different heats. It was all rather funny. But when things are done like this it can be very hard to get fully up for such an event.

Next was the lane draw. There were 4 in my heat, which was heat 3. I thought, well the worst I will get is lane 3 here. I go to pull out my card, flip it over, and it says 2. Unbelieveable. I ask her very calmly why lane 2 is being used in a 4 man race. She said the inside and outside lanes get eliminated when there are two empty lanes. Clearly she was not experienced with indoor sprinting, and was applying outdoor logic to an indoor meet. It was crazy that somebody had to run in lane 2, while the fastest lane of the lot was left unused. I tried to explain to her (very calmly, as it really wasn't worth getting uptight over it) how it works. She took the card out of my hand, and said to me "do you want to run?". I knew it wasn't worth my while engaging in any discussion, so I just said yes and shut up.

I was strangely calm before this race, chatting away to others. I really was not as focused as I should have been. I did have some nerves, but I wasn't channeling them in the right way.

400m:

In lane 3 of my heat was a lad from Ulster who had recently ran his first indoor 400m in 56 seconds. He was hoping for 54. In lane 5 was a Crusaders guy who runs 51, and then in lane 5 was another Ulster lad who would be well out of the running, with low 60s being the likely result.

Gun went off and I reacted ok, driving hard into the tight bend. I sort of got pushed out towards the edge of the lane due to the extreme tightness. I drove hard down the backstraight but I didn't get the nice downhill boost from this lane. I eat up the stagger on the guy in lane 5 after about 100m, and he wouldn't be seen again, finishing in 63 seconds. I try to push it hard around the bend, but the tight lane made it difficult to build up the level of speed needed for a fast opening 200, and as I hit the straight, the guy in lane 3 has opened up a 10m lead on me, with the Crusaders guy about the same further ahead.

As I reach the break I start my short cruise phase, but going from lane 2 into lane 1 doesn't feel like much of a break, and I miss out on the slingshot effect that the outer lanes get of running downhill off the bend. I reach half way about 12m or so down on the guy ahead of me. I see 27 seconds on the clock which I knew was not a good sign. I'd rather have not seen the clock, but coming in from lane 2 you are more likely to notice it.

I up the effort levels coming around the bend, and as I hit the straight, I make a concious effort to try stay tall. I like this part of the race, as I find I tend to make back some ground here, and I am starting to edge a little closer to him now. I reach 300m in 41 seconds, and am emptying the tank at this stage. I hit the home straight and I am still closing on him up ahead but I knew I wasn't going to catch him, so I stayed in lane one. I finished about 8m down on him.

I hoped that I may have closed in 14 seconds, or that the 41 seconds at 300m was a low 41, but deep down I knew it wasn't going to be a great time. It wasn't a great run. Workmanlike I guess, and no more. The time confirmed this, 56.93 seconds, 0.89 down on last weekend, and my second slowest of the indoor season, just 0.04 ahead of my season opener in Cardiff, also from lane 2. That track was tighter than Athlone though, so this was definitely the poorest run of the indoor season. Overall I finished 9th of the 13 runners.

I'm a little disappointed with myself. Not so much for the actual performance in the race, but for not being able to get up for this race like I should have. Mentally I didn't give this 100%, and maybe physically I left a small bit out there too as a result. I was very tired afterwards, but not like I was last weekend. But to be honest this is perfectly normal. It is very hard to get back up for a lower key race, after such a big event the week before. How many times has Derval O'Rourke run absolutely rubbish in Zurich only 1 or 2 weeks after killing it at a major championship.

Overall though this indoor season has been a valuable learning experience. I'm disappointed not to get closer to my outdoor PB of 54.88. I entered the season feeling like I was in great shape, but really underestimated how difficult even getting under 56 indoors would be. Funny enough the IAAF Indoor Scoring Tables gives me 591 points, a total which equates to 54.94 outdoors. This works out at bang on a 2% differential, which seems to be the case across the board, from 43 seconds, all the way to 80 seconds. I'd have to take these figures with a grain of salt of course, but if nothing else, it shows I have run well this indoor season, and that my results are better than I was giving myself credit for. My 54, and rakes of 55's outdoors have got me into the mindset that 56 is a poor result. It takes awhile to adjust this way of thinking for indoors.

I've enjoyed the indoor season a lot. I've managed 5 and a half 400m races, along with races over 60, 200, 300 and 800. But I'm happy for it to be over now. This one was a race too far, but I'm happy I gave it a go.

I feel like I can take some good chunks off the PB comes the outdoor season, but to get to 53.9 there's still a fair bit of work needed to be done I think.

Final word on the Connacht Championships. Despite everything I said above, the event was actually pretty decent. It was run better than I thought it would be, and the atmosphere at this meet was easily the best of the indoor season, with a large number of spectators, probably due to the fact there were so many parents there watching their kids. If they can iron out the easily fixable mistakes then this event can go from strength to strength.

Netwerk_Errer

Cracking report as always Chivito!

Just curious about a few things. How big is the advantage on the outside lane compared to the inside? obviously the tighter the track the better lane 6 is but I've always been intrigued since the IAAF removed the 200m from the world indoors for being unfair. Does that unfair advantage still hold true for the 400?

Also, what are your thoughts on a heavy indoor season and what benefits do you feel you get from it? I haven't a clue so excuse any stupid questions here, a lot of sprinters avoided the indoor season or raced sparingly over the early season prefering to focus on mostly training for the outdoor season. Pavel Maslak being the only one that comes to mind in recent history who put together both strong indoor and outdoor seasons in one year.

Not critising your approach but I'm genuinely interested in your thoughts on both your approach and a more focused outdoor mindset and why you chose one over the other.

Chivito550

Netwerk_Errer wrote: »

Cracking report as always Chivito!

Just curious about a few things. How big is the advantage on the outside lane compared to the inside? obviously the tighter the track the better lane 6 is but I've always been intrigued since the IAAF removed the 200m from the world indoors for being unfair. Does that unfair advantage still hold true for the 400?

The outside lanes are a huge advantage in both the 200m and 400m. Obviously it is so unfair in the 200m that the IAAF and EAA have scrapped the 200m about 10 years ago, but there is still a big advantage in the 400m also, albeit not as damaging, as everybody has to run the second lap in lane 1. But if you are in lane 6 you are starting on a downhill. You also have the highest net drop in elevation of all the lanes, and you also get the least tightest bend. I ran in lane 6 for the 200m and it was an absolute dream. I felt like I was flying.

Not complaining about the fact I got lane 2. I've had my fair share of decent lanes this season. Just the fact it was being used in a 4 person race.

Netwerk_Errer wrote: »

Also, what are your thoughts on a heavy indoor season and what benefits do you feel you get from it? I haven't a clue so excuse any stupid questions here, a lot of sprinters avoided the indoor season or raced sparingly over the early season prefering to focus on mostly training for the outdoor season. Pavel Maslak being the only one that comes to mind in recent history who put together both strong indoor and outdoor seasons in one year.

Not critising your approach but I'm genuinely interested in your thoughts on both your approach and a more focused outdoor mindset and why you chose one over the other.

Ah yeh, but that's top level elite sprinters. I can't think of any club level sprinter in Ireland who would skip indoors. Virtually everybody who will be running outdoors have ran throughout this indoor season, and a lot of the same faces were there week in week out.

The benefits are that it breaks up the long winter, gives an opportunity to see where you are fitness wise, get race experience, rather than go 9-10 months without a race, get an opportunity to run at race pace in a real race environment (racing is the purest form of training), and because it is fun and different. I reckon I'd be very bored just training away while all my training group are down in Athlone most weekends.

We aren't targeting indoors, and we still are only on one track training day a week (though that's down to the unavailability of Irishtowan). Outdoors will always be the main target, but I reckon indoors will definitely benefit my outdoor running. We are getting 2 weeks off training after this weekend, so that will give my body a good chance to recover before getting stuck into hard training again.

Chivito550

With the indoor season finished, I thought I'd update this list. My best of 56.04 (twice) ranks as my 13th fastest run. However, given it was indoor, in reality the strength of these runs are worthy of being much higher up the list. How high exactly, I will probably never know, as it is a little subjective to determine the difference between indoor and outdoor, as it differs from person to person. Certainly no worse than top 5 though, probably higher.

It's funny looking at this, and seeing how many times I've now gone under 57 seconds, 28 in total, with 23 of them being below 56.5, and thinking back to the very first time I managed this. I dropped close to a 2 second PB to run 56.28 back in December 2012. I was over the moon, and it is still one of my fondest memories from my time in this sport. Now, I am running faster than this on an indoor track, and am disappointed not to be faster.

|Date|Competition|Season|Time||Venue|Country|Rank|No. Participants|Age
1|12 Mar 11|End of Season Meet|2010/11 Victorian|63.9h|PB|Collingwood|AUS|1|5|25
2|24 Sep 11|Magpie Multis|2011/12 Victorian|61.8h|PB|Collingwood|AUS|3|5|26
3|22 Oct 11|AV Shield Round 2 - East Region|2011/12 Victorian|60.90|PB|Box Hill|AUS|4|8|26
4|8 Dec 11|AV Shield Round 8 - East Region|2011/12 Victorian|60.35|PB|Albert Park|AUS|5|8|26
5|14 Jan 12|Victorian Country Championships|2011/12 Victorian|59.44|PB|Bendigo|AUS|7|8|26
6|4 Feb 12|AV Shield Round 12 - East Region|2011/12 Victorian|59.96||Box Hill|AUS|7|8|26
7|21 Feb 12|Essendon Track Classic|2011/12 Victorian|59.86||Moonee Ponds|AUS|5|5|26
8|25 Feb 12|Victorian Multi-Events Championship|2011/12 Victorian|59.18|PB|Albert Park|AUS|4|6|26
9|9 Mar 12|Victorian Championships|2011/12 Victorian|58.68|PB|Albert Park|AUS|6|6|26
10|6 Oct 12|Magpie Multis|2012/13 Victorian|60.3h||Collingwood|AUS|3|4|27
11|13 Oct 12|AV Shield Round 1 - East Region|2012/13 Victorian|59.24||Box Hill|AUS|6|8|27
12|27 Oct 12|AV Shield Round 3 - East Region|2012/13 Victorian|58.01|PB|Box Hill|AUS|6|8|27
13|17 Nov 12|AV Shield Round 5 - East Region|2012/13 Victorian|58.17||Doncaster|AUS|8|8|27
14|1 Dec 12|AV Shield Round 7 - East Region|2012/13 Victorian|58.18||Box Hill|AUS|6|8|27
15|16 Dec 12|High Velocity Club Meet 2|2012/13 Victorian|56.28|PB|Geelong|AUS|6|6|27
16|6 Jan 13|High Velocity Club Meet 3|2012/13 Victorian|56.26|PB|Knox|AUS|2|4|27
17|20 Jan 13|High Velocity Club Meet 4|2012/13 Victorian|57.26||Knox|AUS|3|5|27
18|26 Jan 13|Victorian Country Championships|2012/13 Victorian|56.57||Geelong|AUS|5|7|27
19|9 Feb 13|Victorian Multi-Events Championships|2012/13 Victorian|56.39||Albert Park|AUS|4|5|27
20|21 Feb 13|High Velocity Club Meet 5|2012/13 Victorian|57.18||Albert Park|AUS|2|2|27
21|1 Mar 13|Victorian Championships|2012/13 Victorian|57.56||Albert Park|AUS|8|8|27
22|26 Mar 13|High Velocity Club Meet 6|2012/13 Victorian|57.93||Knox|AUS|6|6|27
23|5 Oct 13|Magpie Multis|2013/14 Victorian|57.4h||Collingwood|AUS|3|4|28
24|19 Oct 13|AV Shield Round 1 - Red Zone|2013/14 Victorian|56.45||Doncaster|AUS|8|8|28
25|9 Nov 13|Geelong Championships|2013/14 Victorian|56.70||Geelong|AUS|3|4|28
26|16 Nov 13|AV Shield Round 3 - Red Zone|2013/14 Victorian|55.91|PB|Albert Park|AUS|4|8|28
27|1 Dec 13|High Velocity Club Meet 1|2013/14 Victorian|56.39||Albert Park|AUS|7|7|28
28|14 Dec 13|AV Shield Round 5 - Red Zone|2013/14 Victorian|56.48||Epping|AUS|6|7|28
29|21 Dec 13|High Velocity Club Meet 2|2013/14 Victorian|55.00|PB|Knox|AUS|3|5|28
30|25 Jan 14|Victorian Country Championships|2013/14 Victorian|55.59||Ballarat|AUS|5|6|28
31|1 Feb 14|High Velocity Club Meet 5|2013/14 Victorian|55.43||Albert Park|AUS|3|3|28
32|7 Feb 14|AV Shield Round 9 - Bendigo Zone|2013/14 Victorian|55.58||Bendigo|AUS|5|5|28
33|15 Feb 14|Geelong Unofficial Meet|2013/14 Victorian|55.7h||Geelong|AUS|4|6|28
34|28 Feb 14|Victorian Championships|2013/14 Victorian|55.56||Albert Park|AUS|8|8|28
35|1 Mar 14|Victorian Multi-Events Championships|2013/14 Victorian|55.34||Albert Park|AUS|4|6|28
36|8 Mar 14|AV Shield Round 11 - Red Zone|2013/14 Victorian|56.15||Epping|AUS|8|8|28
37|25 May 14|AAI Games|2014 Irish Outdoor|57.00||Santry|IRL|7|7|29
38|28 May 14|Dublin Graded Meet 3|2014 Irish Outdoor|57.33||Irishtown|IRL|1|5|29
39|11 Jun 14|Dublin Graded Meet 4 - Dublin Championships|2014 Irish Outdoor|55.88||Santry|IRL|6|6|29
40|14 Jun 14|GV Ryan Crusaders AC Meet|2014 Irish Outdoor|56.06||Irishtown|IRL|5|5|29
41|27 June 14|Le Cheile International|2014 Irish Outdoor|55.82||Leixlip|IRL|3|4|29
42|9 Jul 14|Dublin Graded Meet 6|2014 Irish Outdoor|56.32||Irishtown|IRL|5|6|29
43|16 Jul 14|Bertie Quinn Memorial|2014 Irish Outdoor|DNF||Tullamore|IRL||5|29
44|19 Jul 14|Irish National Championships|2014 Irish Outdoor|54.88|PB|Santry|IRL|7|7|29
45|2 Aug 14|Irish Combined-Events Championships|2014 Irish Outdoor|58.36||Tullamore|IRL|4|7|29
46|9 Aug 14|2eme Meeting National de Courses|2014 Irish Outdoor|56.03||Lausanne|SUI|7|7|29
47|24 Jan 15|Welsh Indoor Championships|2015 Irish Indoor|56.97i|PB(i)|Cardiff|GBR|2|2|29
48|31 Jan 15|National Indoor League Round 2|2015 Irish Indoor|DNF||Athlone|IRL||4|29
49|01 Feb 15|AAI Indoor Games|2015 Irish Indoor|56.04i|PB(i)|Athlone|IRL|4|5|29
50|15 Feb 15|Leinster Indoor Championships|2015 Irish Indoor|56.60i||Athlone|IRL|5|5|29
51|21 Feb 15|Irish National Indoor Championships|2015 Irish Indoor|56.04i|=PB(i)|Athlone|IRL|4|5|29
52|01 Mar 15|Connacht Indoor Championships|2015 Irish Indoor|56.93i||Athlone|IRL|3|4|29


A small side-table counting the amount of times under certain times:

Sub 54|0
Sub 55|1
Sub 56|11
Sub 57|28
Sub 58|35
Sub 59|40
Sub 60|45
Total|52

Chivito550

Monday: Gym

A: BB Back Squat w/ 2 sec pause (with very low depth): 3 x 6 @ 45kg, 47.5kg, 50kg
B: Snatch position exercise w/ lightest bar: 4 x 6
C1: Split Squats, both legs on ground: 2 x 8 on each side @ 7kg, 8kg
C2: Romanian Deadlifts: 3 x 12 @ 27.5kg, 30kg, 32.5kg
D1: Flat DB Press: 3 x 8 @ 20kg, 22.5kg, 22.5kg
D2: DB Bent Over Row: 3 x 8 on each side @ 22.5kg, 25kg, 25kg
E: Glute Complex Series Hip Thrusts (Narrow, Wide, Single left, Single right): 3 x 12,12,12,12

Wednesday: Grass

Last running session before we go on a 2 and a half week break. 2 x (4 x 80m) with jog back recovery within sets, and 5 minutes between sets. Felt good during this, and was actually getting up more onto the balls of my feet during these short fast reps. It can be hard to do this wearing road running shoes on grass.

Thursday: Gym

A: Front Squat w/ 1 second pause (with very low depth): 3 x 6 @ 35kg, 40kg, 45kg
B: Snatch Jumps (from below knee) 3 x 6 @ 35kg, 37.5kg, 40kg
C: DB Side Lunges: 3 x 6 on each side @ 7kg, 8kg, 8kg
D1: 30 degree incline DB Press: 3 x 8 @ 20kg
D2: Chin-ups: 8, 8, 6 @ bodyweight (was supposed to be 3 x 8, but was absolutely shattered by the last set and could only manage 6. The recoveries between each set during this superset are only 90 seconds).
E1: Bench Double Leg Glute Thrusts: 2 x 15
E2: Dynamic Clam: 2 x 12
E3: Heel Raises: 2 x 8 on each leg @ 15kg

Chivito550

Friday: Gym

S&C coach was back briefly from the UK so he went through the next phase of my gym programme with me, which I will begin in early to mid April.

Saturday: Marlay Parkrun 5K

I'm now on a post indoor season break. My next running session will be two weeks next Wednesday, and my next gym session two weeks next Monday. So I have 2 and a half weeks off. I've been told to do absolutely no training during this time, and to give my body a chance to recover from a tough indoor season, and all the tough training that came before it. I was told though that it is fine to do some jogs and swims, and whatever exercise I see fit. Just activity that wouldn't be considered training. So I'm thinking of something along the lines of 2 swims and 1 jog per week.

So this morning I decided to get a jog in by doing the Marlay Parkrun, as it is just up the road from me, and it is far less boring running with hundreds of others than running solo.

I left my house at 9:22pm for the usual 9:30pm start. However when I get there I see very few runners. I assumed it was called off. However in the distance I saw a few runners talking to some stewards. I go over and they tell me the start/finish area has been moved over to the playground area. It was now 9:30 so I thought no chance of getting to do this now. I went off jogging towards the start line, and the plan was to just jump in wherever I saw a bunch of runners. What should have been a 600m warm up was now over 2km.

I was lucky however as the start time seemed to be delayed, and I got there in the nick of time, with probably no more than 20-30 seconds of taking my place at the start, before the gun or horn or whatever it was, sounded.

The new start is a lot more congested. I liked the old start where everybody was in a wide line, so it was harder to get caught behind people. As I arrived late I ended up a bit further back than I would have planned.

It didn't matter though as I would not be racing this. To race it would go against the advice of my coach to not train. So the plan was to cruise around at a comfortable pace.

Not a big fan of the start of the new course I have to say. Straight into a big filthy hill before you have even gotten into your groove, and the hill is much longer than on the previous course. I took it very handy up the hill and covered the first kilometre in 4:59. I can't say I'd be too interested in ever racing this course, as that hill would just knock the stuffing out of you before you have even started.

After this point I got into a rythm, but because I started a bit back and because I didn't push hard up the hill, I was passing a lot of runners. This ended up happening right throughout the race right until the end. Split for the second kilometre was 4:10, on a downhill km. I missed the 3rd marker, so I overed from 2 to 4km in 9:13, and then for the last km I stretched the legs a bit, but nothing too hectic. The competitive side of me couldn't help passing some people ahead of me throughout this run, but in the final 250m stretch, there was a fair distance to the next guys ahead of me, so was going to finish at the pace I was going at. Then some lad tries to sprint past me, and my competitive nature wouldn't have any of it, and I started acting the bollox and unleashed a sprint, and not only got rid of him, but caught about 5 others ahead. Silly carry on, but sure it got the lungs working. Final km was 4:07, and overall time was 22:31, a good 2:45 down on the time I raced this Parkrun.

I enjoyed it, and the weather was actually pretty warm, despite the wind, so 2 layers was probably too much. Just seen the results and I was 74th overall. Will hopefully run this again next Saturday, and maybe the one after.

Vito Andolini

Just reading thru your log to get an idea how "lazy sprinters" train, didn't realise there was as much gym work on it. Your not as lazy as I thought!

Chivito550

Vito Andolini wrote: »

Just reading thru your log to get an idea how "lazy sprinters" train, didn't realise there was as much gym work on it. Your not as lazy as I thought!

400m runners train damn hard.

Chivito550

Now that I'm on a short break from training I thought I would reflect slightly on my first indoor season and put together a list of my races, and rank them based on IAAF points.

Each of the 10 races I finished (I'm excluding my DNF in the 400m at National League Round 2) are given a score from the 2014 revised version of the IAAF Indoor Scoring Tables. After this, I thought I would see how such a score stacks up against the same score from the 2014 revised IAAF Outdoor Scoring Tables. Obviously in the case of the 60m indoors, I compare it against the 100m outdoors.

It is not clear whether the Indoor tables and Outdoor tables are supposed to be compared against each other. However, it is very interesting that the points for the field events for indoor are exactly the same as they are for outdoor. This makes sense, as these events are pretty much exactly the same in both formats. So if, for example, a 6.00m long jump indoors compares to a certain time for the 400m indoors, and this 6.00m indoor long jump is considered the same as a 6.00m outdoors, then it stands to reason that whatever this outdoor long jump equates to for an outdoor 400m, would be the same as as what the indoor long jump equates to for indoor 400m. Confused much? Hard to explain, but does make sense.

I've also listed the time difference between my indoor performances and their outdoor equivalent, and the percentage differences also.

|Event|Distance|Time|IAAF Indoor Pts|Outdoor equivalent|Time difference|% difference
1|AAI Games|400m|56.04|591|54.94|1.10|2.00%
1|National Championships|400m|56.04|591|54.94|1.10|2.00%
3|Leinster Championships|400m|56.60|565|55.47|1.13|2.03%
4|Baseline Meet|300m|40.47|554|39.80|0.67|1.68%
5|Connacht Championships|400m|56.93|549|55.81|1.12|2.00%
6|Welsh Championships|400m|56.97|547|55.85|1.12|2.01%
7|Leinster Championships|200m|25.66|538|25.20|0.46|1.83%
8|Baseline Meet|60m|8.05|481|12.58|4.53|36.01%
9|National League Round 1|800m|2:14.98|474|2:13.07|1.91|1.44%
10|National League Round 1|60m|8.16|442|12.76|4.60|36.05%


My two best 400m runs equate to a 54.94 outdoors, which is extremely close to my 54.88 outdoor PB. Does this mean I would run sub 55 outdoors now? I have no idea. Probably not yet, as I haven't run long track reps, and bends outdoors yet in training this winter. The difference between outdoors and indoors would differ for everyone also. Somebody like Paval Maslak, seems to be the type who excels indoors, while somebody like Brian Murphy never seems to replicate his outdoor times indoor. But statistically, perhaps this pair of 56.04s, equates to a sub 55.

Looking at the differences over the other distances and it doesn't seem far off. 0.46 for 200m seems spot on for me. That 200m indoors felt like the best 200m I've ever run, and yet it was only 25.66, so it being worth a 25.20 outdoors makes a lot of sense. And having watched a lot of 800m running from Prague this weekend, a 1.91 second difference over 800m seems about right. Hard to know with the 60 to 100m conversion, but 12.58 is my outdoor 100m PB, so for 8.05 to equate to 12.58 means this conversion can't be a long way off.

This is all just a bit of fun, and I'm sure it's not 100% accurate. Feel free to disagree.

Chivito550

menoscemo

BTW they had to change the marlay course because too many people were parking in the front car park and taking up spaces from people going to the market. The Parkrun crew were constantly telling people to use the college rd car park but despite persistence the only solution was to move the start line.

Chivito550

menoscemo wrote: »

BTW they had to change the marlay course because too many people were parking in the front car park and taking up spaces from people going to the market. The Parkrun crew were constantly telling people to use the college rd car park but despite persistence the only solution was to move the start line.

That's a shame. People who get up early on a Saturday morning to exercise surely shouldn't be so lazy to not want to walk/jog an extra 1km. Sure it would serve as a warm up.

Chivito550

Tuesday: Swim

36 lengths in total (900m) including warm up and warm down. About 50/50 in terms of front crawl and breaststroke, with 1 length of backstroke thrown in.

Saturday: Marlay Parkrun 5k

Back for another parkrun. Again, like last week, I would do this at a comfortable effort and pace and nothing more. Weather was pretty good for it. A bit cold at about 4 degrees, overcast skies with no threat of rain, and no wind. This time I decided to start right at the front. Bumped into a club mate of mine, who made the national 800m final in Athlone last month, and had a brief chat. I thought to myself it was fairly obvious he was going to win this race by a street, as the quality is not good, and indeed he did.

I decided to take advantage of the few seconds of free energy and ran hard for the first 5-6 seconds. I was amazed that so few others employed this tactic, and I found myself in 4th or 5th place after about 100m. From there I settled into a rythm I was comfortable with, and for the next while, rakes of runners came past me. This didn't bother me. Some would stay away, while others would clearly come back to me later on.

Going up that long hill, I opt to put more effort in this time, as I feel I took it way too easy last week. At the same time, I was still moving at a very comfortable pace. I noticed one guy with headphones come past me and he was puffing like there was no tomorrow. I thought to myself, it;s a bit early to be in that state. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he was using this race to do a fartlek session.

I hit the first km in 4:23, which was over half a minute faster than by lazy effort last week. Once I got to the top of the hill, less people were going past me, and I was now going past others. As we approach the end of the second km, a teenaged boy and his father pass me. The boy is shrieking with agony. I felt like saying to him to ease it back and pace himself, but it was none of my business, so I moved past them again. As we cut into the woods I am feeling pretty good, and feel I am getting quite a lot of ground off each stride, with not a lot of effort investment, and am going past a few people. 2nd km is 4:03, a more downhill km.

During the 2nd km I noticed a girl up ahead who was not much more than half my height, and 12 years of age tops. I decided to keep an eye on her, as while I was not racing this, I still did not want the embarrassment of being beaten by a 12 year old girl. I catch up to her during the third kilometre. For the next kilometre or so I was filled with admiration for the true grit she was showing, and what was an exceptional performance for somebody so young. The third kilometre was completed in 4:13. Throughout the 4th km I would go past her, only for her to hang in there doggedly and go past me again. She obviously wasn't racing me, nor was I racing her, but I couldn't help but notice this level of performance. It stuck out head and shoulders above everyone else around IMO. She finished up only about 20 seconds down on me. I still question whether children of that age should be racing 5kms, but that's a different discussion entirely.

I complete the 4th km in 4:17, and decide to stretch things out a bit in the last kilometre. By this time I have dropped her now, but had no doubt that she'd run strong to the end. I go past a few more in the closing kilometre. Coming into the final 500m, and there is one guy about 50m up ahead. I knew I'd get this guy, but the gap to the guy after him is about another 50m. I go passed the first guy with about 250m to go, but there was no chance I could catch anyone else. I sprinted the closing stages, but far from flat out, doing enough to stay ahead of anyone behind me, and ensuring I got under 21 minutes. Final km was 3:51.

I finished in 45th overall, with 20:49, which was 1:42 faster than last week, for what felt like a fairly similar effort. I was 1:03 down on my PB. I'm actually amazed I ran this fast running so comfortable. At no point in that race did I feel in any way out of my comfort zone, so to run that time was very pleasing. About 5 and a half years ago I ran 21:02 in a downhill Rathfarnham 5km, when training for 5km. Looking back, my training was absolute rubbish, but to run faster on a slow course, while not jogging, but certainly not getting out of 3rd gear, is something which shows just how far 400m training can benefit you up the distance spectrum.

The run today got me thinking how fast I could have gone racing it properly. The 19:46 would have come under serious threat, and I feel a lower 19 would have been in store. But I can't lose sight of the main prize. Running low 19, or even sub 19, is not going to make any difference with regards me going 53 in the summer. I need to respect this break from training, and not act the maggot. I haven't decided yet whether I will do it again next week. It all depends on whether I am doing anything on Friday night to be honest. But if not, then I'll have one more run before proper training resumes.

Chivito550

3 weeks seemed like too long of a break, so we started back training a week earlier than planned, which was a good call I think. Overall I had about 12 days off training, from my last gym session, before starting back. Any more than that at this time of the year is too much I think.

Wednesday: Grass

2 x 3 laps of sprinting widths, jogging lengths of GAA pitch, with 3 mins recovery between sets. So basically 12 x 90, with about 75 second jog recoveries. Bit of an easy session, but a good one to start off on, and I pushed it quite hard, and my hamstrings were very tight afterwards as a result.

Thursday: Gym

A: Front Squat w/ 1 second pause (with very low depth): 2 x 6 @ 40kg, 45kg
B: Snatch Jumps (from below knee) 2 x 6 @ 35kg, 37.5kg
C: DB Side Lunges: 2 x 6 on each side @ 8kg
D1: 30 degree incline DB Press: 2 x 8 @ 20kg
D2: Chin-ups: 2 x 8 @ bodyweight
E1: Bench Double Leg Glute Thrusts: 2 x 15
E2: Dynamic Clam: 2 x 12
E3: Heel Raises: 2 x 8 on each leg @ 15kg

For first session back, just 2 sets of everything, rather than 3.

Saturday: Track

Legs were aching badly on Friday, and still very stiff on Saturday morning. Session was 3 x 300 with 7 mins recovery at 85%, with the goal being to run the 3 times very close together. Times were:

43.9 - 45.4 - DNF

Unfortunately my left calf spasmed at the very start of the third rep. This didn't surprise me at all. I haven't been on the track in 3 weeks, but mostly because I have not done any 300m sessions on the track all winter, due to the fact Irishtown is closed. As a result all our track sessions have been short sharp speed stuff, while longer stuff has been on grass. So my calves are not used to multiple long efforts on the balls of my feet.

Sunday: Hills

380-230-380 5 mins 230-380-230

Times were:

73.5 - 46.2 - 74.6 - 44.6 - 75.2 - 43.4

The stretch from 380 starting point to the 230 starting point is completely flat, and the hill doesn't really kick in properly until about 130 to go.

Some pretty difficult challenges and uncertainty have cropped up the last few weeks. At the moment I'm kind of only taking it one session at a time. But today's session in absolutely glorious weather helped lift the spirits a bit.

Chivito550

Monday: Gym

A: BB Back Squat w/ 2 sec pause (with very low depth): 3 x 6 @ 47.5kg, 50kg, 52.5kg
B: Snatch position exercise w/ lightest bar: 4 x 6
C1: Split Squats, both legs on ground: 2 x 8 on each side @ 8kg, 10kg in each hand
C2: Romanian Deadlifts: 3 x 12 @ 27.5kg, 30kg, 32.5kg
D1: Flat DB Press: 3 x 8 @ 22.5kg in each hand
D2: DB Bent Over Row: 3 x 8 on each side @ 25kg
E: Glute Complex Series Hip Thrusts (Narrow, Wide, Single left, Single right): 3 x 12,12,12,12

Wednesday: Grass

2 x 3 laps of sprinting the lengths and jogging the widths of the GAA pitch. Because of a headbanger of a female GAA coach who deliberately put some bikes on the sidelines to stop us running down the sides of the pitch, even though the GAA club has rented it out to us, we had to go over to the other GAA pitch, where the grass isn't as smooth.

Lengths are about 140m and the widths are 90m. So pretty much 12 x 140m with around 45-50secs recovery, with 5 minutes at half way. We recorded the total time taken, with the hope of improving on that time over the coming weeks. Weather was absolutely dire, with strong cold winds, and rain, so beating it shouldn't be tough in normal weather.

Set 1: 6:28
Recovery: 5:10
Set 2: 6:45
Total: 18:23


Thursday: Gym

A: Front Squat w/ 1 second pause (with very low depth): 3 x 6 @ 45kg, 47.5kg, 50kg
B: Snatch Jumps (from below knee) 3 x 6 @ 35kg, 37.5kg, 40kg
C: DB Side Lunges: 3 x 6 on each side @ 10kg in each hand
D1: 30 degree incline DB Press: 7, 5, 5 @ 22.5kg in each hand
D2: Chin-ups: 8, 6, 6 @ bodyweight
E1: Bench Double Leg Glute Thrusts: 3 x 15
E2: Dynamic Clam: 3 x 12 on each side
E3: Heel Raises: 3 x 8 on each leg @ 16kg

Not a lover of the side lunges. Tough going.

Chivito550

3 x 300 with 7 min recoveries. Wore the distance spikes again for this. Times were:

44.4 - 44.7 - DNF

I got a very light spasm in my left calf about half way through my second rep, but I kept running because it was very mild, and it didn't come back. I did however probably ease the effort levels as a result, which probably helped me to stay more relaxed. Was surprised to see the time pretty much the same as the first rep.

For the last rep, due to what happened on the second rep, I opted to play it safe and give myself a better chance of finishing the session, and run it more flat footed, rather than with a forefoot strike. It worked to an extent. I got through a little over 240m before the left calf spasmed and I stopped. Hard to know the exact pace I was on. I stopped the watch at 37.9, but this was probably a second and a half after I actually stopped. A guess would have been about 45 mid for the last had I finished it.

The wind was incredibly strong in the homestraight, so that would have had a strong impact on our times, so the average I'm sure would have been at least 0.75 faster in more still conditions.

Hard to know how I feel about the session. A lot of positives in that it the first 2 reps had a quicker average than last week, despite far inferior conditions. In addition I got 80% through the last rep, as opposed to 0% last week. On the flip side, I didn't finish the session, and it is annoying that the first signs of the calf spasm cropped up in the second rep, which is earlier than expected. I'd also like to be going faster than this, even allowing for the wind, but it is only my second one of these sessions on the track since last August, so it takes time.

The hard Mondo surface with spikes is probably causing more stress on the body than a normal track would. Seems like we have access to Tallaght on Sundays going forward, so I look forward to hopefully doing these speed endurance sessions on that track instead.

Oiriallach

I used to get cramp in my left calf from time to time back in the day when I was training for the 400m. I reckon there was some sort of weakness there.

I remember once asking my training partner if we could switch our planned session of 6x200m with something like 5 mins recovery to 4x200m with maybe 2 mins recovery (I can't rememebr the exact recovery times). I knew I was at high risk of getting a cramp in my left calf in the 6x200m session with a relatively long (but not full) recovery, and hence would be unable to finish the session and get little benefit out of it. But I would be very unlikely to get a cramp in the 4x200m session with the shorter recovery. My theory was that if the 200m times were approximately the same for the two sessions, then that they would have a similar training effect. Don't know if that theory is valid though!

Nor did I generally get cramps when doing speed sessions with longer/full recoveries. The problem seemed to be largely in track sessions with "intermediate" recoveries.

Chivito550

Sunday: Hills

130-230-130 5 mins 130-230-130

Weather wasn't the best for this. Grass was fairly soaked, and it was raining on and off, and the temperature was a little on the chilly side. It was a great session, with many former members of the group coming back to join on a one-off. An emotional session and one that will live long in the memory, For the record, times were:

21.4 - 40.7 - 24.0 - 23.3 - 42.0 - 22.2

Monday: Gym

A: BB Back Squat w/ 2 sec pause (with very low depth): 3 x 6 @ 50kg, 52.5kg, 55kg
B: Snatch position exercise w/ lightest bar: 4 x 6
C1: Split Squats, both legs on ground: 2 x 8 on each side @ 10kg in each hand
C2: Romanian Deadlifts: 3 x 12 @ 32.5kg, 35kg, 37.5kg
D1: Flat DB Press: 8, 7, 6 @ 22.5kg, 25kg, 25kg in each hand
D2: DB Bent Over Row: 3 x 8 on each side @ 25kg, 27.5kg, 27.5kg
E: Glute Complex Series Hip Thrusts (Narrow, Wide, Single left, Single right): 3 x 12,12,12,12

b0son

You don't deadlift anymore?

Chivito550

b0son wrote: »

You don't deadlift anymore?

It hasn't been on any of the training programmes the S&C coach has designed for me to date. I just follow what I'm told to do.

Chivito550

Chivito550 wrote: »

Wednesday: Grass

2 x 3 laps of sprinting the lengths and jogging the widths of the GAA pitch. Because of a headbanger of a female GAA coach who deliberately put some bikes on the sidelines to stop us running down the sides of the pitch, even though the GAA club has rented it out to us, we had to go over to the other GAA pitch, where the grass isn't as smooth.

Lengths are about 140m and the widths are 90m. So pretty much 12 x 140m with around 45-50secs recovery, with 5 minutes at half way. We recorded the total time taken, with the hope of improving on that time over the coming weeks. Weather was absolutely dire, with strong cold winds, and rain, so beating it shouldn't be tough in normal weather.

Set 1: 6:28
Recovery: 5:10
Set 2: 6:45
Total: 18:23

Wednesday: Grass

Same session as above, with the goal to cover it all quicker than last week. Conditions better than last week. It was still quite windy, but nothing like last week. But the ground was very wet and slippy, so still not idea.

Set 1: 6:21
Recovery: 5:00
Set 2: 6:19
Total: 17:41

Thursday: Gym

A: Front Squat w/ 1 second pause (with very low depth): 3 x 6 @ 47.5kg, 50kg, 52.5kg
B: Snatch Jumps (from below knee) 3 x 6 @ 35kg, 37.5kg, 40kg
C: DB Side Lunges: 3 x 6 on each side @ 10kg in each hand
D1: 30 degree incline DB Press: 8, 8, 6 @ 22kg in each hand
D2: Chin-ups: 8, 7, 5 @ bodyweight
E1: Bench Double Leg Glute Thrusts: 3 x 15
E2: Dynamic Clam: 3 x 12 on each side
E3: Heel Raises: 3 x 8 on each leg @ 16kg

Used a different gym to normal. There were no 22.5kg weights for the DB Press, so used 22kg instead.

Saturday: Track

Didn't feel absolute 100% the morning of this one. Energy levels a little low. But I got through it. 3 x 300m with 7 mins recovery. I used the distance spikes. Ran the first 2 as normal, but for the third rep I ran with a midfoot strike to make sure I finished the session, after not being able to see the whole thing through the last 2 weeks. Times were:

44.3 - 44.5 - 46.7

The first 2 were slower than the effort levels should have resulted in. I felt I was pushing it quite hard, so disappointed with the times. I felt awful going into the last rep. Stomach felt dodgey. Then about 100m into the last rep it started to feel more dodgey, and coming around the bend it started tightening up. The rest of the rep was a complete struggle. I was in a heap after for about 15 minutes, trying to vomit, but nothing would come up. Eventually I recovered and we did a core workout after. Happy to get through this when not feeling brilliant. Weather was beautiful for this. Warm and sunny, with very little wind.

Sunday: Track

Felt much better for this one. 6 x 150m, with slow walk back recoveries (about 2:30 to 3:00). At half way I walked around 250m back to the 150m start, so took around 4:30. Wore the distance spikes for this. Didn't time them as wanted to do 3 point starts. Idea was to attack the first 60-70, and then when on the straight relax and try keep good form. Felt good during this and got through the full session. My start was a bit laboured on the last rep due to fatigue.

AuldManKing

The gym stuff you do - is that prescribed for you??

Chivito550

AuldManKing wrote: »

The gym stuff you do - is that prescribed for you??

Sure is. I have a Strength and Conditioning coach, who is also a 400m runner so knows exactly what needs to be worked on.

b0son

I'm feeling your frustration at the moment... pulled my left calf tonight at the end of a 2.5km run.

Your stomach discomfort is a regular thing for me, I get a tight stomach from around 250m onward. At this stage, my fitness is still quite poor, so my legs get lactic long before it gets bad enough to need to vomit. I'm actually looking forward to a time when my legs hang on and my stomach gives in, if that makes sense.