AR/tist in the spotlight, This week: Timmaay

pconn062

So I thought I would re-start this thread for another while because I always find it to be one of the most interesting. This weeks participant is Timmaay who very kindly agreed to step up for the week. Timmaay is one of the most impressive middle distance runners on the forum with PB's of 2.01 for 800m and 4.08 (I think!) for 1500m. So hopefully we can learn something about his training and how be a successful MD runner. I'll get us started!

When and why did you start running?
How long have you focused on middle distance?
Are you coached or do you follow a particular coaching system?
Favourite distance to race?
Favourite track in Ireland?

Get your questions in now!

Netwerk Errer

What's your favourite racing memory?

What are your favourite sharpening workouts?

What spikes do you currently wear?

If you could race against one athlete dead or alive, who would it be and why?

Edit: If you were to recommend a training plan for newly aspiring MD runners, who's principle's and idea's would you recommend?

davemcmahon

Most of us long distance/endurance runners have no problem running 400/800/1k/1500 reps in training but why do you think a lot of us have reservations about trying middle distance or just don't try middle distance? What can be done (if anything) at club and AAI level to encourage more participation?

TFBubendorfer

Great stuff. I love those threads!

- very few fast runners are posting here for the benefit of us "competitive joggers". What do you get out of boards yourself?

- anything we could do to attract more national elite runners to drop by?

- middle distance running in Ireland is never going to take off as long as there are few proper facilities around the country. Would you hope to see that changed? If so, how would you go about it?

RacoonQueen

What is your favourite flavour of crisps?

What is your best distance?

Favourite training session?

Training session you dread the most?

How many sessions do you do a week? What sort of strength and conditioning do you do?

Have you ever raced the longer distances? think you've done 5k?

What does a typical training week look like?

BeepBeep67

How much fun was yesterday ?

Break 2 for 8 or 4 for 15?

What your PB for carrying a lamb under 1 arm and bail of hay under the other across the field in hailstones?

UCD or Slí Cualann?

Will you ever run a marathon?

Have you done your treasurers report for tomorrow night yet? :pac:

Timmaay

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pconn062 wrote: »

So I thought I would re-start this thread for another while because I always find it to be one of the most interesting. This weeks participant is Timmaay who very kindly agreed to step up for the week. Timmaay is one of the most impressive middle distance runners on the forum with PB's of 2.01 for 800m and 4.08 (I think!) for 1500m. So hopefully we can learn something about his training and how be a successful MD runner. I'll get us started!

Firstly thanks for resurrecting this thread, I've enjoyed reading it in the past, and hopefully can do it some justice this week and that we keep things going in future weeks!

Just on your introduction to me, I suppose I better set one thing straight, I'm very much so a MD athlete now, but have done countless distance races from 5k to 1/2m, and everything between including xc and hill running, so any of yas distance folk feel free to contribute!

When and why did you start running?
Hmm aside from the odd few community games like every other kid, It properly started when I was about 22, in 3rd yr of college. I had given up rubgy about 6months before, and was living it up as a typical student, out the whole time and all that ha, me and another friend agreed long term we couldn't just be lazy messes ha, so we joined the college club (UCDAC). Very 1st run they had a beginner group, and took us out for 2 or 3miles handy. Afew of them (sone of Irelands top distance athletes ha) then said they were off for another 5 or 6miles, and if you considered yourself able then come along also! Me and my friend like totally idiots thought yep, thats us, lets go!!! We hung on for another 2 or 3miles at their insane pace (they were jogging still...), before we were utterly bet and had to put up ha! My friend stuck it out for 2 or 3 other runs and gave up then, I was hooked though!

How long have you focused on middle distance?

3yrs now, so 1st 5yrs or so was largely all distance. I did do some mid distance back when I started running, but attempts were painful I will fully admit, well I did very very few 8s, any 15s I did were I would go out at a pace wayy above my level, and crawl home pumped with lactic. The likes of road races, and hill running offered a much more appealing alternative back then!

Are you coached or do you follow a particular coaching system?
Yep have a very good coach who has thought me alot and always been there for me! I'm part of a group of 3 or 4 athletes all in a similar level, and we get a monthly training program done out by our coach. I'll admit to be flexible enough about the monthly program, I certainly wouldn't follow utterly everything on it, but it is invaluable to have it as a template, and the training group to help push me, motivate me, and just as a social outlet and make training more enjoyable!

Favourite distance to race?

God thats a hard one! I can't say 800, even if its probably my best distance! Because its just so fast and painful ha! 1500 is certainly up there, long enough to let tactics play out in it, and less pure torture ha! An outside race would be the steeple actually, I have not focused on it enough, but always really enjoy racing it (Ecoli being a huge competitor of mine at it ha!), its a race you need to relax in, keep loads in the tank early on, stay out of trouble, keep your form over barriers, and then to top all that off, last lap there usually will be carnage, tired athletes trying to sprint finish with barrier thrown in the mix! Ok I'll go with steeple!

Favourite track in Ireland?
You can't beat the magic of Santry, whether it getting to race at nationals with a full crowd in the stands, or just watching events like the Mortan mile and seeing the Irish lads put it up to top international athletes! [B/]

Chivito550

1) Would you call yourself a speed based or endurance based 800m runner, or somewhere in between?

2) Have you run any 400m races? What's your PB?

3) Do you incorporate gym/ weights/ strength/ core work into your routine? What types of exercises?

4) Do you do hill sessions? What types?

5) Do you believe it is possible in this day and age for an elite athlete to take on the 400/800 double at the highest level and have success in both (assuming no scheduling conflicts at major championships)?

6) Cross Country - Is it really necessary for an 800m runner?

7) Jerry Kiernan - Hero or vilian?

8) Your Beer Mile performances have not been good. Where are you going wrong? How do you plan to turn this around come next year's event?

9) You get to spend a night on the sauce with 3 convicted drug cheats, who do you pick and why?

10) Have you attended any international athletics events?

11) Favourite Irish and International track and field moment?

12) Have you attempted any field events? What's your best and what's your worst?

13) Thoughts on the Irishtown resurfacing debacle?

Timmaay

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Netwerk Errer wrote: »

What's your favourite racing memory?
God I'm lucky to have loads of them! The 4.08 1500m was sweet, it was an IMC race in Greystones (home turf), early in the season. Fairly stacked field, including a club mate who would usually be ahead of me, and the one and only Fionnuala Britton, so no pressure there ha! Anyways I was in tidy shape and the aim was in around 4.10. I tracked my team mate for the 1st 600m, who then mysteriously just pulled up, however I could hear the crowd cheering for Fionnuala who just behind me. I annoyingly let afew flashes of doubt into my mind over the next lap with her behind me, I'll die a death etc, however thankfully I quickly closed them out, and also the legs said lets go at the bell, and I came charging back into life to chase down and pass out afew more lads ahead of me! At the finish I had zero idea what time I was, but a very reliable official who I'm good friends with had all the splits on his stopwatch, he knew my position, flicked through the watch and told me 4.08! I didn't believe him, and told him to recheck ha, when the official results came through I was over the moon, one of them utterly perfect races, that I both enjoyed and pushed myself beyond what I thought I could achieve!


What are your favourite sharpening workouts?

Keeping it short and simple, ya can't go wrong with 200s, if I'm sharpening for 800 I might do 6x200 at 30s, if its longer maybe 10x200 just under race pace


What spikes do you currently wear?

Saucony Endorphin, light as a feather, I save them almost exclusively for racing, bit of a mental placebo throwing on lightweight spikes just before a race like that!


If you could race against one athlete dead or alive, who would it be and why?

Sonia O'Sullivan, use her to help pace me through 1500m under 4mins! That and what she has done to keep Irish athletics on the map!


Edit: If you were to recommend a training plan for newly aspiring MD runners, who's principle's and idea's would you recommend?

I'd straight up suggest forgetting about trying to do yourown, find your local club with afew athletics of a similar ability, let their coach decide the sessions and enjoy having people around you to push you, alongside the social aspects

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Timmaay

davemcmahon wrote: »

Most of us long distance/endurance runners have no problem running 400/800/1k/1500 reps in training but why do you think a lot of us have reservations about trying middle distance or just don't try middle distance? What can be done (if anything) at club and AAI level to encourage more participation?

Great question! I guess ultimately the problem is middle distance has a sort of stigma of not being beginner friendly, for people starting out its all about couch to 5k, once 5k is ticked off on to 10k, 1/2m and full marathon (disregardless in some cases of if your body is able for the distance, that's a whole other bugbear of mine though ha). Anyways tying to answer your question about what can be done, loads to be honest! We in Sli Cualann regularly have a track 1mile as a fit4life race, they are extremely easy to organize, no stewards etc required, just a simple and efficient registration system, and then 2 or 3 clued in timekeepers (We are lucky to have about 10 of them to pick from here in Wicklow!). You have several grades, likes of sub5.30, 5.30-6, 6-7 etc etc, people pick theirown grade, prizes are based on overall times so no advantage in sandbagging. Most the feedback we have got is quite positive, you always got some athletes who will avoid the track like the plague, but that's down to personal choice, at least we are offering the choice!

So in my view it would be great if Athletics Ireland tried to push the idea more, maybe offer some basic training courses for how to efficiently time and record race results like this, explain to clubs how it can be a simple and easy way of fundraising (it requires alot less effort than any road race!). I suppose expanding it out alittle more from the track, quite a few of our fit4life races are the likes of 2miles or 3k around local parks or say cyclelanes, theses are very easy to organize and are the perfect introduction to shorter events, if participants really enjoy the shorter stuff then they can seek out options to train with local clubs who have a suitable group.

ThePiedPiper

1. What would your longest training run be? Is there value in long runs of 90+ minutes for middle distance?

2. Who is your favourite athlete of all time?

3. Who is the most famous person you've ever beaten in a race?

4. What do you think of the standard of elite ladies steeplechasing?

5. What position did you play in rugby and do you miss it?

6. Do you regret not getting into running at an earlier age?

7. What're your pb times for 3k, 5k?

8. Do you believe that arm sleeves have any purpose?

Timmaay

RacoonQueen wrote: »

What is your favourite flavour of crisps?

Salt and Vinegar, has to be Tayto also obviously!


What is your best distance?

On PBs it would have to be 800. However I still feel as if I have more to give in every distance, so come back and ask me in like 20/30yrs time when I'm definitely over my peak at all distances


Favourite training session?

Hmmm got quite a few, doing stuff at 800 pace is always fun (during the session, not afterwards when the calves are in shreads!), likes of 2sets of 400,300,200, or maybe 6x300m, all done in around 59sec/lap pace, but then again I would enjoy longer sessions also, a very common one in our club is called "fu*ked up Ks", basically you do 1km in total of running, but its broken up into two 400ms and a 200m done at a quicker pace, usually 5 sets in total, it would look like this:
400,400,200
400,200,400
200,400,400
400,400,200
400,200,400

5k in total so long enough session, your always thinking also, you got to pace your 400s right or it will be very hard to pickup for the 200s. Its sort of a benchmark session for us actually, and there a month ago we did one with the Ks going from 3.03 to 3.13 (3.03 being my friend going mental ha), that compared well to last summer when we were in proper track shape!

Anyways sorry gone offtopic there almost ha, to properly answer your question, and this conclusion I drew after stepping off the track last tue after our 1st middle dis session in several month, I just simply love doing any middle distance stuff on the track, the session doesn't hugely matter once it pushes me well!



Training session you dread the most?

The very short stuff! We have this session called speedmakers, basically an 800, you sprint flatout for 60m, gradually decelerate for 40m, 100m jog, then repeat, 4times to make up the 800m. Usually only do about 3 of them, with a decent recovery between each, but I'm always in bits during them!


How many sessions do you do a week? What sort of strength and conditioning do you do?

At least 2, sometimes 3! One would be a pure lactic session, one would be a pacing session, where you are running short enough reps at race pace, the 3rd session if I do one would usually be a longer tempo session, I tend not to do the 3rd session too often. Outside of track season, 2 long runs a week also, Sunday run would build up to 80mins, Wed run of 40 or 50min, during the track season these would be the 1st to be dropped I'll admit, however very easy recovery runs of 20/30mins get put in ad hoc!

In terms of Strength and conditioning, I'll admit not a whole lot! Having said that my dayjob is quite physical (farming), so I certainly dont think I am lacking in that. Core would be the only real weakness, its an area that I do not pay enough attention to, and really do need to get the finger out about it!


Have you ever raced the longer distances? think you've done 5k?

Yep Yep Yep, loads and loads. I've done countless road races by now, and still would do plenty of them in the off season! Before my track days I was huge into hill running also, I remember doing the likes of 10 hill races over 8weeks some summers! I 100% plan on going back hill running properly some day, I feel as if I'm a better athlete now, and have targets at hill races most certainly, however there is just no crossover between hill running and middle distance. I jumped into 2 hill runs this year in the off season, and did dire in both of them ha, my quads and calves are built for speed now, not lugging myself up mountains!

What does a typical training week look like?

Its the XC season now, but I guess the basic days don't change hugely for track either.

Sunday: long run(70/80mins) or race
Monday: rest
Tue: session
Wed: 40/50min run
Thur: rest or very easy session with my local local club!
Fri: session
Sat: rest

Timmaay

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

How much fun was yesterday ?

Ugh hmmmmmmm! 8k xc in the wet and cold on a mucky slippy course. The fun word doesnt come into the equation ha! However I was delighted to have got Leinster medals out of it, mentally I had quite a good race, 8k is well out of my race spectrum at the min, and I knew I would always stuggle towards the end, I died bad enough with a lap to go, 2 lads pipped me off here, but kept the head down and working to avoid letting them pull too far. Last km I was physically suffering bad enough but told myself to cop on, live the moment, keep fighting etc, and I dug that bit deeper, got the head up and started moving again. I reeled in one of the lads quick enough, he didn't even try keep with me when I passed him, the next lad wasn't letting me have it as easy, I had to work every inch of the way to keep him behind me. I was close enough to throwing in the towel and letting him by but stuck with it, then last 200m I could see my clubmate ahead of me, so I really start working hard, probably too soon for a sprint finish but sure f*ckit, ya got to throw caution to the wind sometimes. I was in full flight reeling in my teammate last few meters but the legs were just buckled by that stage, and I came up 2seconds too short on him. However reeling back in the other two lads were what needed to be done for the team, and the race in total was a very positive step forward in pushing myself mentally, I'm looking forward to giving afew road races a shot over the next few weeks, and hopefully having a crack at my 5k pb


Break 2 for 8 or 4 for 15?

4mins for 15 on paper would be the far better achievement! I'm certainly due a break with 800 though ha, and as we were discussing over on the mid distance thread it really needs to happen for me before I can properly focus on sub4


What your PB for carrying a lamb under 1 arm and bail of hay under the other across the field in hailstones?

Ha, havent come across that yet, but trying to cart a newly born calf in a wheelbarrow across a field in a heavy shower of rain once ended up in utter disaster after the fcuker kept standing up, losing his balance, and tipping over the wheelbarrow! I ended up utterly covered in muck! True story and all!! Hmmm I guess I could invent a new sport there, freshly born calf wheelbarrow surfing!


UCD or Slí Cualann?

Ah now, that's a hard one! Thankfully there wasn't too much conflict of interest in terms of teams, the only place it really was an issue was the hill running, where I stubbornly stuck with UCD for a good while, the SlíC lads use to lose the rag at me when I'd win the team prize for UCD and not them :P. But no, going back to the more important comparison, both actual clubs! As we all know college days are the some of the best days of your life, its hard to beat the craic that we use to have, training groups came together much easier due to the shear numbers and standard of athletes, I wouldn't swap it for anything in the world! However all good things must come to an end, and I'm happily back strongly involved with the SlíC setup, the one thing I do try emphases to some of my younger training partners who are starting out in college is to make the most of it but never forget their local clubs as it will always come full circle and its in their interest to keep the home club alive


Will you ever run a marathon?

I honestly don't know. It's certainly not on the radar at all now, I wont rule one out in the future, but lets put it this way, I've a hell of alot of other items that I would like to tick off my bucketlist 1stly


Have you done your treasurers report for tomorrow night yet? :pac:

We have a club meeting tomorrow??? Ughhhhhhhhhh. Treasurers report will be the usual, an email of the bank balance in about a weeks time when I get this months statement in the post! I certainly have got off lightly with this treasurers job :P

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Timmaay

Loads of questions, I'll get around to the rest of yas tomorrow! Still feeling the effects of that xc yday so need sleep ha!

jfh

hey Timmaay,

what kind of time would you do a 10k in? know it's not your distance.

Do you run all year round or take time off completely?

Do you think, you'd run better with a deskjob or farming?

whats the diet like?

Did you always have speed or do you think someone starting late in life can develop speed(can someone who has never played sport take up track in their 30's)

Krusty_Clown

You're still only a youngster Timmaay... 10 years from now, what would you like to have achieved in running circles (pardon the pun!)?

As a county, do you feel we should be targeting specific events or disciplines or is there room enough for everything?

Probably a difficult one to answer, given your direct involvement, but do you feel the umbrella club structure works, and is it something that should be adopted by other counties with similar profiles?

If I'm not mistaken, you've done some motocross, a bit of skiing, rugby, and possibly other sports. If the doctor told you you could never run again, which would you choose?

How would you rate athletics facilities in the Wicklow county?

Any chance of getting the beer mile added as a fit4life event?

Timmaay

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

Great stuff. I love those threads!

Sorry I missed this before!


- very few fast runners are posting here for the benefit of us "competitive joggers". What do you get out of boards yourself?

Ha hmmm, I hope you weren't referring to me as the very fast runner, (wait at least until I run sub2 and sub4 ha), but nay what your ultimate level is doesn't mean much to me, I guess back when I started reading boards and posting up here my 5k pb was in around 17.20, now its a minute faster at 16.19, great to be making the progress I know but in the grand scale of things I'm no real different to the person I was back then other than I've afew more yrs experience!

But anyways I'm heavily enough involved in one of the local juvenile clubs, and indeed alot of my training partners are older teenagers, I don't coach these in any official capacity, but get a great kick out of showing them the ropes, teaching them the tricks of the track, pacing properly, pushing themselves, race tactics, avoiding getting boxed in etc etc, and I guess here on boards its alittle the same, life is as much about getting a kick out of giving something back and seeing a person progress as it is just consistently looking for help yourself! That and in fairness, your education never ever stops, I still got lots and lots to learn about within athletics and boards is a great place to keep up to date!


- anything we could do to attract more national elite runners to drop by?


Hmmm, I guess the news sections are great, Ecoli always has stickies on the likes of the XC states side, or during the summer on the international T&F, the likes of elite athletes should certainly be interested in threads on them, moreso than say threads with pure beginners asking quite basic questions. Of course the beginners absolutely have the right to ask their questions, but maybe one possible option would be to create a "beginners questions" subthread? And then attempt to expand out some of Ecolis stick threads, and create new threads based on individual events, rather than lumping it all into together in one thread?

Ok that whole idea is largely just me playing out a possible option to give you an answer to your question ha, would it achieve anything, I don't know, would it alienate beginners from posting, if it does then that's not a runner at all!


- middle distance running in Ireland is never going to take off as long as there are few proper facilities around the country. Would you hope to see that changed? If so, how would you go about it?


New tracks are always welcome, however the economics of ones currently out there do not stack up very well at all unfortunately! The majority of tracks are in sports centres with loads of astroturf pitches etc, and in many cases its the income from the astroturf that keeps the whole place open, the athletics track will just barely break even, and would never have a hope of paying back for its capital cost. However thankfully we have seen several new tracks pop up the last few years, mostly down to incredibly hard work from clubs. Clubs with tracks certainly do see a big increase in juvenile numbers however, having a nice shiny track is definitely a big attraction. That's really only 1/2 the battle however, its still a hell of a battle to retain the kids with decent potential right the way through the system, its usually all down to a small number of hugely committed club coaches.

Going back to your question, having the facilities alone will not allow for a huge middle distance boom, its more down to having a good club structure in my opinion, and whatever Athletics Ireland can do to aid any of the club officials and make their lives easier is very welcome in my option. If I was given free rein in Athletics Ireland, I'd double or triple the number of RDOs. I'd then attempt to cash in on the whole running boom within the country, relaunch the whole fit4life scheme, have a huge national advertising campaign for it, this in turn would directly benefit all the club coffers. Actually the only thing I would say, I don't just want to see a middle distance boom, I want to push all areas of athletics forward, all T&F, XC, Road and Hill running, and that all starts at club level.

Timmaay

Chivito550 wrote: »

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1) Would you call yourself a speed based or endurance based 800m runner, or somewhere in between?


Based on my history I really should be endurance based ha, but it doesn't look that way, I'm not short on speed and I tend to have trouble the last 200 in most 8s (where endurance is really kicking in)! The only thing that would make me hesitant to admit to being speed based is I'm crap outa the block and the 1st bend ha, I'm usually feeling a 28sec 1st 200, which should be a jog for me, maybe down to poor pre race routine or something, it's something I'm aware of at least and want to fix.


2) Have you run any 400m races? What's your PB?


None officially, have done afew 4x4s, and hand timed I'd be in around 55. I can't say I've ever put in training specifically for them ha, I'm usually just making up the numbers on a national league team ha! It would be interesting to see what I ultimately could run for 400, but that would come at the total expense of 1500/3k, I'm not that interested to find out 2bh ha!


3) Do you incorporate gym/ weights/ strength/ core work into your routine? What types of exercises?


No gym or weights, some strength/core work in the off season (now), but not a huge amount, maybe once every 2wks. However I wouldn't really be lacking in overall strength (dayjob is physical enough), however am I targeting the right muscles, unlikely I guess!


4) Do you do hill sessions? What types?


Yes, but moreso before XC season. The likes of 2sets of 5, with the rep distance varying from 60-80seconds. They are tough ha! Back when I was in UCD, 10x1min hills was a very common session, I'd go as far as saying they were what made me the athlete I am today, I learnt all about pain and pushing myself to the limit on them ha!


5) Do you believe it is possible in this day and age for an elite athlete to take on the 400/800 double at the highest level and have success in both (assuming no scheduling conflicts at major championships)?


It's an interesting debate. Taking Mark English as a good example of a speed based 800m athlete who has achieved success at the Europeans, his 400pb is 46, could he break into the 44s to medal at 400 with, unlikely enough 2bh, esp not with all the heats required for both!


6) Cross Country - Is it really necessary for an 800m runner?


Absolute not. Some sort of winter base is important, however I'm not at all the sort of person to sit down and "relax" for the winter plodding out miles, I'm happy being out in the thick of it, even if that's killing myself slipping around a mucky wet field for 8k or so.


7) Jerry Kiernan - Hero or vilian?


Ha, I was coached by James Nolan for a while... But nay I actually got nothing huge against Jerry, he has his unique ways and means, but ultimate is still up in UCD week in week out putting in the effort with a very talented bunch of athletes so I'll give him respect for that!


8) Your Beer Mile performances have not been good. Where are you going wrong? How do you plan to turn this around come next year's event?


Well they aint for a lack of speed (I do believe I won an award for the fast single lap this yr), but my simple problem, I cannot force myself to burp! If I'm to turn it around then I really need to practice my chugging alot more, even if its with just softdrinks. However in any case I'm not hugely concerned, its a great event, if you didn't have people like me and ecoli to do utterly piss poor then 1/2 the entertainment value of it would be gone :P Like Ecoli ffs, a granny with a dodgy hip would have make a better attempt than he did ha, and he was the one who was the experienced alco of a student who did it yr in yr out at UCD!!!

9) You get to spend a night on the sauce with 3 convicted drug cheats, who do you pick and why?

1)Martin Fagin - Why, I guess mental health is a topic that I take a decent bit of interest in, My opinion on Martin would be still quite open, yep he cheated, he admitted it, I guess it would be interesting to dig abit deeper and try see how he has actually moved on.
2) Lance - Why, just to smash a glass over his head!
3) Stuggling to think of anyone, and like its 1am here, need sleep :P


10) Have you attended any international athletics events?


Diamond league in Birmingham in summer 2013. Managed to get hold of a VIP pass and all! That was a brilliant weekend! And Kim Collins is a total hero, utterly doesn't give a fcuk, thats the only way to be!


11) Favourite Irish and International track and field moment?


Hmm god I got afew of them! But the standout would have to be the Morton Mile this year, utterly suicidal pace 1st 2laps, few of the Irish lads in the mix for the lead, could they hang on, didn't happen, but still I was delighted to see Travers have a fantastic race and smash out a huge PB!


12) Have you attempted any field events? What's your best and what's your worst?


Attempted: Javelin, discus, shot, HJ, TJ, LJ.

Best LJ, at something around 5m.

Worst, hmmm god, which of the rest, TJ I prb didn't make the plank, HJ, 10yr old girls in the local club use to beat me at like the 1.30m mark ha, Discus I got shafted with at the Nat. League one year, got one out of the cage, only went 11m ha! Javelin about 20m, again short on people for Nat. League, 20m didn't make the cut for the team ha. Shot, all I can remember is nearly breaking my wrist!

13) Thoughts on the Irishtown resurfacing debacle?


Boils my blood. Having a basic contract that has a time limit and after that the build gets fined is fairly standard practice now, however obviously didn't happen here. But I guess things could be worse, at least we got a free to use track down the road in UCD, even if its alittle slippy when wet. Or oh wait no they needed even more f£cking parking spaces there didnt they?

Timmaay

I'm taking my time to get through these, sorry, Training and athletics meetings took up my full evening last two nights!

ThePiedPiper wrote: »

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1. What would your longest training run be? Is there value in long runs of 90+ minutes for middle distance?


Miles in the legs will help no matter what in my option. Every time you run your optimizing your body to build muscle where its needed, and lose muscle/fat where its not. Thats one benefit. The other more important benefit is to building up a high level of fitness which will let you last a long and hard track season that will probably be packed full of races, and have very little time to do longer runs to build back up your fitness. Thats the main value I see in them. At the very worst, a few long easy runs in the off season cannot hurt in the slightest, they are a good social outlet and useful team/club spirit building!


3. Who is the most famous person you've ever beaten in a race?


Fionnuala I guess, I explained about that in one of the previous threads.


4. What do you think of the standard of elite ladies steeplechasing?

When they introduced it I'll admit it was quite low, but ya got to start somewhere! Its improving every day, I'll admit some of the Wicklow girls who got the to Olympics before with it unfortunately wouldn't make the cut now. Actually don't they say for men, 2miles and 3k steeple should be roughly comparable, both WRs are fairly comparable at around the 9min mark for women, although wait, womens barrier heights are lower, I guess that would suggest the Steeple WR can go lower!


5. What position did you play in rugby and do you miss it?

One guess and you should get it, what position do almost all distance athletes play ha, Wing back! Well also my ball handling skills were rubbish ha. However I had bucket loads of fitness, I covered every inch of the field, our defense was often a shambles so I'd be darting across to plug holes in it ha, I remember afew times the opposition making a breakthrough on the far wing, I'd set off diagonally across to the far touch line, and punting their winger out into touch before he got in for a certain try ha!

I still watch alot of rugby, the win against SA the other day was very sweet, even more sweet was seeing Hook eat his words ha. Anyways 2bh it was literally only during that game, and thinking about O'Discoll, O'Gara etc, they are only mid 30s and fully retired with bodies in tatters, would I be looking down a similar road now if I kept up the rugby? Instead with athletics I can look forward to hopefully be competitive for afew more decades ha!


6. Do you regret not getting into running at an earlier age?

Hmm yeh I guess it would have been interesting to know ultimately what I could have achieved, would I be running the likes of 1.50, 3.45 by now ha??? Then again I've done alot of other stuff outside of athletics, would I sacrifice all that? But ultimately whereas I'm a hugely driven person, I still take everything day by day and once I'm building on the previous day then I'm winning, it wouldn't ultimately matter if I started as a 12yr old, 22 or even 32, once I'm making progress and getting the best out of myself that's good enough for me, I certainly don't ever get hung up on what ifs etc ha.


7. What're your pb times for 3k, 5k?

3k 9.34, that race was a nice victory over KC ha, I utterly rocketed off for the 1st KM and left Krusty in shock ha, the tactic just about paid off, I was swimming in lactic last 500m and he was catching me quick, but I knew I had the middle distance fueled afterburners in reserve for a sprint finish ha! Having said all that, 9.34 is a very soft time, Give me some specific training and a nice paced track 3k and I should be aiming to break 9mins.

5k is 16.19, which I have ran twice ugh ha, also ran 16.20!!! Sub16 there for the taking also, soon hopefully!!!


8. Do you believe that arm sleeves have any purpose?

Do they claim to have any purpose other than keeping your arms warm??? Why not just wear a longsleeve if your cold?

Timmaay

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

.

You're still only a youngster Timmaay... 10 years from now, what would you like to have achieved in running circles (pardon the pun!)?


Sub2, sub4, sub9, sub16 anyways! That and just still be running ha, 10yrs is along time, who knows what I'll be at then!


As a county, do you feel we should be targeting specific events or disciplines or is there room enough for everything?

Ha, yeh I'll admit to been frustrated with yous marathon men in particular being always unavailable for SC teams just when we could really do with ya to fill a team at some other event! Of course ultimately it's down to the individual, do they see athletics just for theirown personal gain, or (and this would certainly be me), are they interested moreso in the club/social side of things, and taking on the challenge of getting together a team, helping them train to the best of their ability, and then getting them to push to their utter limit, not for themselves but for abit of team spirit and pride. That's what made the likes of the Wicklow way relay a sweet victory for me this year!


Probably a difficult one to answer, given your direct involvement, but do you feel the umbrella club structure works, and is it something that should be adopted by other counties with similar profiles?


Very interesting question. 1stly, no its definitely not perfect, and it never ever will be. Some athletes and indeed committee member just don't warm to the whole idea, and are alot more loyal to theirown local juvenile club, this creates tension within the whole camp, and is not at all healthy. However lets look at the alternative, which was the case before SC was setup! We had a large number of small clubs, mostly made up of kids, and afew adults. I remember Newtown (small village in Wicklow) had a tidy enough group of kids/teenagers, two of the older teenagers were good, but decided the club didn't offer enough, up'd ship and went down the road to another club who were only too glad to have them. This unfortunately pulled the heart out of the Newtown club and it ended up folding not long after. Only there very recently, We in Greystones inherited a very tidy 16yr old, whos dad has ran 1.50 and uncle ran 1.47!! However the kid has spend his childhood playing soccer and gaa, both of which Newtown have a club in, but no athletics. If the club there had not folded all them yrs ago, the odds of picking up kids like that would hugely increased.

My basic point, I think no kid should have to travel very far to join an athletics club. That basically means every town or village in the country should have a kids club! We all know the dropoff rate is quite large, that's where the umbrella clubs really come into their own. Instead of one kids club becoming huge, and sucking in better athletes from all the other clubs, which can quickly fold as a result, you get the spread the resources out alot better.


If I'm not mistaken, you've done some motocross, a bit of skiing, rugby, and possibly other sports. If the doctor told you you could never run again, which would you choose?


Ugh now thats a hard question ha. I'll be blunt, athletics isn't a patch on motocross ha! I basically gave up athletics for motocross for 2 yrs, however in that space of time I broke my humerus (upper arm), scapula (shoulder blade), wrist and fractured my hip, all in separate accidents!!! I was back out on the bike this summer afew times, and loved every second of it, but I got to be realistic about it now, I got a full time business (the farm) to run, and my athletics, so got alot more to risk now!! Skiing, I could definitely see myself doing that competitively! Rugby, I've sort of been there done that by now! Other sports include mountain biking, I so nearly totally gave up athletics to go mtbing properly, I still get out and love the challenge of that now. Then there are about a million other sports I'd love to try. I really can't answer your question of what sport I'd choice, but all I'll say is I wouldn't be long replacing athletics!


How would you rate athletics facilities in the Wicklow county?


Not too bad in fairness! Only 1 proper track I know, but we got countless fantastic trails all over the county, not many other counties that within say 1/2 hour of your door you could pick a different location to run in for your sunday run every single weekend of the year!! Maybe put a proper surface on the Arklow track, although I'd get the club structure in place properly down there firstly!

Any chance of getting the beer mile added as a fit4life event?

Ha, come onto the committee next year please, and go suggest it to everyone there. I double dare ya to :P

Timmaay

jfh wrote: »

hey Timmaay,

what kind of time would you do a 10k in? know it's not your distance.

Do you run all year round or take time off completely?

Do you think, you'd run better with a deskjob or farming?

whats the diet like?

Did you always have speed or do you think someone starting late in life can develop speed(can someone who has never played sport take up track in their 30's)

Ugh missed this one also, sorry! I'll get around to ya tomorrow, some good questions!

RayCun

no questions, just to say I'm really enjoying the answers!
(ha!)

Krusty_Clown

Great answers Timmaay!

Of course ultimately it's down to the individual, do they see athletics just for theirown personal gain, or (and this would certainly be me), are they interested moreso in the club/social side of things, and taking on the challenge of getting together a team, helping them train to the best of their ability, and then getting them to push to their utter limit, not for themselves but for abit of team spirit and pride.

I'd be interested in getting a marathon team together to take on the national masters title! Hopefully 2015 is that year!

Chivito550

Timmaay wrote: »

4. What do you think of the standard of elite ladies steeplechasing?

When they introduced it I'll admit it was quite low, but ya got to start somewhere! Its improving every day, I'll admit some of the Wicklow girls who got the to Olympics before with it unfortunately wouldn't make the cut now. Actually don't they say for men, 2miles and 3k steeple should be roughly comparable, both WRs are fairly comparable at around the 9min mark for women, although wait, womens barrier heights are lower, I guess that would suggest the Steeple WR can go lower!

Not sure I'd agree here. Roisin McGettigan ran 9:28 which would comfortably secure Olympic and World qualification these days. Maybe the depth in steeplechasing has gotten a bit better since 07/08, but it is still fairly muck in comparison to other events, and the world leading times are much slower now, since those mysterious Russians have dropped off the radar. No chance on any of the current crop beating Galkina's 8:58.

wrstan

Timmaay wrote: »

Ha, come onto the committee next year please, and go suggest it to everyone there. I double dare ya to :P

Now there's an answer and a half - no further questions your Honour! :D

ECOLII

Hypothetically times were wiped from the memory of the sport and you could assemble a three way race between athletes of any generation at any distance who would they be and who would come out on top?

Why would you ever think Irish Car Bombs were a good idea ?

Warm weather training, pro's and cons?

Most anticipated T&F race next year?

Single greatest training tip you would give anyone?

wrstan

OK only kidding, I do have further questions.

You have said that you don't coach in any formal capacity, but you do seem to spend a good bit of your time mentoring and encouraging younger athletes, so:

- How did you first get involved in helping out with juvenile/junior athletes?

- Do you have any aspirations to get into coaching in a more formal sense in the future, senior athletes as well as juveniles?

- If so how far would you like to go?

- Any thoughts on how do juvenile clubs get over the hump of 14 - 16 year old athletes leaving the sport?

Thanks

Timmaay

Chivito550 wrote: »

Not sure I'd agree here. Roisin McGettigan ran 9:28 which would comfortably secure Olympic and World qualification these days. Maybe the depth in steeplechasing has gotten a bit better since 07/08, but it is still fairly muck in comparison to other events, and the world leading times are much slower now, since those mysterious Russians have dropped off the radar. No chance on any of the current crop beating Galkina's 8:58.

I did say some! Ro well deserved her spot, and the indoor medal she only got this yr!

Timmaay

jfh wrote: »

.

what kind of time would you do a 10k in? know it's not your distance.


Hmm my PB is 35.15ish, from down in Enniscorthy, maybe Ecoli and KC were at that also? Anyways I'm not at all doing myself justice with that time at all, based on my 16.19 5k I should be low 34s, and I think a 33 is well there for the taking, but again, zero plans to focus on it for now. Actually back the year I first properly did MD, I had started out the season aiming for a low 34, and to do afew 5ks, I had largely wrote myself off as having no speed. my only proper outing at 10k that year was on the track and was a disaster of a race. I was doing a far bit of shorter sessions while coached by James Nolan in UCD at the time, and was enjoying them. In a moment of "madness", I was signed up for a 3k at a graded, but an hr or so before it I decided maybe do the 800m (totally uncharted waters for me) which was on before the 3k also for the craic!! I pulled a 2.04 outa my ass, was totally over the moon. The 3k was on about 20mins later, that didn't happen as I was still caked with lactic, but I didn't care in the slightest, I knew I had found a new distance. So in the space of 2months I had gone from focusing on 10k to focusing on 800m ha!


Do you run all year round or take time off completely?


I always take some sort of break after outdoors, likes of 10days off in August, and not much racing in Sept. Aside from that, no planned breaks, my weekly mileage isn't crazy and whereas I do tend to race quite a bit, a far few races are moreso tempos for me, so I don't see the need for any other planned break. Regular enough chest infects have unfortunately given me afew forced breaks!


Do you think, you'd run better with a deskjob or farming?


Interesting question! I'll admit straight out my athletics has suffered the last 2yrs as a result of the farm! However the farm business needed substantial time and effort, and as anyone who is self employed knows, your business comes number one to everything else. Training starts officially at 7pm, with the warmup finished at 7.20, it use to be a case of if I made it for the end of the warmup I was doing well, I could just never ever escape the farm early enough. Also BB/KC both have witnessed afew races where the starter had to hold the gun because I was only tying my laces on the line ha, far from ideal race prep!! Contrast that to my old office job as a research student, I could spend the afternoon watching motivation videos, clock off early and be in plenty of time for a race ha! I have made progress on the farm in fairness, simplified alot of tasks, and am finally able to relax abit about it, last few months I've made the effort not to let athletics suffer, I plan on keeping that up moving forward.

whats the diet like?


Not bad at all, sugar and too much snacking are my only real downsides, alot of snacked I think definitely did result in 1/2 a stone going on, pushing me to 12stone, again I can put some of that down to being busy on the farm, you find it hard to fit in consistent mealtimes, so end up snacking instead. For the XC I put the foot down and kept as much as I could to 3 regular meals, and back down to 11 1/2 stone, 11 would be ideal but I'm not going to starve myself to get there ha!

Did you always have speed or do you think someone starting late in life can develop speed(can someone who has never played sport take up track in their 30's)

Hmmm put it this way, with say a solid year of focused training definitely everyone can gain a decent bit of speed, just by say building up proper muscle groups and all that. But certainly some speed is down to genetics, probably moreso that distance athletics, to be at the top level of course you got to have natural speed and work very hard, but if a mid 30yr old came to me and asked me should they try out sprinting/MD despite never ever having played sport I'd tell them to give it a shot definitely (well to a point, if it appeared that it would be dangerous for them to jump straight in due to say obesity etc I'd send them on a coach-5k instead)

Slogger Jogger

One of running's nice guys is Timmaay. I think one of the first races I noticed you was at Croagh Patrick about 8 years ago when you were a country mile ahead of me (which was a trend that would continue to be set in races since!).

What was your most memorable hill race?

You've dabbled in and out of hill races over the years. Has hill running been a serious focus in any year or is there some unfulfilled potential there? You could be too busy just enjoying it

Timmaay

ECOLII wrote: »

.

Hypothetically times were wiped from the memory of the sport and you could assemble a three way race between athletes of any generation at any distance who would they be and who would come out on top?

Trying to think up of possible combinations, but really struggling to beat what we had with Coe/Ovett/Cram back in the day ha! Actually did all three ever race eachother at their actual peaks, I guess that would make for a very interesting race, hmmm actually lets make it an Olympic double header, 8 and 15, all 3 at their utter peak, that would be well worth the watch. Who would come out on top, hard to know, would be hard to bet against Ovett, but I just never was a fan of him ha, so lets give the 800 to Coe and 15 to Cram :P


Why would you ever think Irish Car Bombs were a good idea ?

Hahahaha, that was the barmans idea, I just asked for the strongest shot he had! It was your idea to buy the 2nd and 3rd rounds!!!


Warm weather training, pro's and cons?


Pros:
Sharing hot tubs with unbelievably hot Swedish athletes!
Warm Weather!
Even irrespective of the weather, just the mentality that you go over with, that its going to be a week which will revolve around your running.
Social side!


Cons:
Social side!!!!!
Lunatics like you who can't handle their Irish carbombs!
(small) risk of rain!

But all in all, I'm 100% a fan of them, I'm hoping to get away this spring if I can.


Most anticipated T&F race next year?

Hmmm hopefully the Irish lads will be all in the mix at the 1500 final for the Europeans again, the race this year was carage, but even still we were unlucky not to come away with anything in that, my dream would be for both O'Lin and Robinson to medal!

Single greatest training tip you would give anyone?

I regularly tell the lads I train with this: Above everything else, make sure ya enjoy it, if you don't, find another sport!!!

Timmaay

wrstan wrote: »

.

You have said that you don't coach in any formal capacity, but you do seem to spend a good bit of your time mentoring and encouraging younger athletes, so:

- How did you first get involved in helping out with juvenile/junior athletes?


I think I can put it down to one random day ha, when I was doing the Wicklow championships, I was down for the senior 1500m and there was a fairly tidy 16/17yr old kid doing the junior 1500, we both knew we'd be around the same pace but neither would have a race in our separate age groups, so we got both races lumped in together. I was starting to writeup my masters from home then so training in UCD didn't suit as much, the kid was well ahead of any of his other clubmates at the time so it made sense to slot in with him. The group just grew from that.

I get a decent kick out of it all now, seeing the kids hugely improve, plenty rivalry also, loads of smackdown talk before big races at training, and more than once I've been written of and am the one who is getting my ass handed to me in training by up and coming hotshots, only for me to have the edge in terms of experience/utter doggedness etc when it comes to the race, and I keep them at bay for another day ha!

- Do you have any aspirations to get into coaching in a more formal sense in the future, senior athletes as well as juveniles?

At some stage yep, but I guess the current arrangement that I have with myown coach (who is over the whole group), and me helping the kids along works perfect for me now. If I was to coach formally, simple as is I wouldn't have the time to commit to it at the level that I'd be happy with, the farm is totally unpredictable, and I end up having to bail from the odd training session last minute, which you just cannot do if you are a proper coach.


- If so how far would you like to go?


In terms of what level with an individual athlete, as far as whoever I am coaching wants me or needs me to take them, well to within reason. In terms of time ha, which is the main measure of how deeply involved coaches are, time and time again I see coaches getting it horribly wrong 2bh, they get sucked in way too deep, end up getting lumped like 3 kids groups and an adult group, their lives get swallowed up by it all and they end up pulling the plug and totally resenting it. That's not good at all for anybody in the club, it has to be all about sustainability. So answering your question, definitely not that far ha!


- Any thoughts on how do juvenile clubs get over the hump of 14 - 16 year old athletes leaving the sport?

Going back to my last question with Ecoli, its all about making sure they enjoy it. That enjoyment comes in two forms. The 1st thing is the social side of it, at that age training should be as much about heading out for a chat with friends as it is about the training, for this to succeed you really really need a decent enough group, if your down to a bare handful then you are fighting a losing battle often. The likes of team building trips etc are also fantastic tools to help the social side also .

The 2nd thing is keeping everything real in terms of targets, the dream might be the Olympics etc etc, but we all know life is about setting out smaller achievable targets, by doing this its easier to keep them positive and committed. Actually another common phrase of mine is when consoling someone when they haven't achieved what they wanted after a race, "your bad days make the good days even sweeter". The final thing I try to push is that you need to be able to brush off and joke about almost anything, if someone is feeling like crap after a poor performance being able put it out of their head asap is important and what better way than just going back to ripping the piss out of your friends!

Ok the above is far from a 5point action plan on how to reduce the dropoff rates that I think you were looking from me ha, but I guess I'm trying to put across a feel for the environment that I think is important for clubs to have. Hmm actually one specific thing I do is if I see someone has fallen off the bandwagon and hasn't appeared in a while, ask a friend of their to specifically go ask them why have they stopped training. Sometimes they have a valid reason, other times they have just drifted or too busy and a gentle reminder as such can be just enough to convince them back!

Timmaay

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

I think one of the first races I noticed you was at Croagh Patrick about 8 years ago when you were a country mile ahead of me (which was a trend that would continue to be set in races since!).

What was your most memorable hill race?

That couldn't have been 8years ago ha? I did Croagh Patrick at least twice, that was always a highlight, bucket loads of fitness needed, alongside insane downhill skills, the quickest way down was basically skiing down the scree ha!

Anyways most memorable, Brockagh, my 1st (and maybe only?) IMRA win, and making it sweeter again it was an utter dogfight against Mick Byrne (for anyone who doesn't know him, hes a 50yr old hero of Wicklow athletics ha), I'd never properly beaten Mick before, he'd rarely venture up the hills but the under footing in Brockagh would be quite good so would have suited him. At the summit I was shocked to find myself still within only afew metres of him, so I knew it was my one big chance, as I was tidy on the downhill. When we turned I passed him quick enough and put the foot down (well no other way on the downhill ha). I had some bit of a gap built until we got back down onto the fireroads, advantage back to him, we traded places several times, I was not giving up my 1st possible IMRA win that easy. It came down to the last 20m, when my yet undiscovered middle distance speed helped me over the line 1stly. I still annoy Mick about that race now ha.


You've dabbled in and out of hill races over the years. Has hill running been a serious focus in any year or is there some unfulfilled potential there? You could be too busy just enjoying it

Ah now, I'd say I more than dabbled in and out ha! Well I guess the motocross did see the hills and indeed all athletics go by the wayside. But I completed at least 2 Leinster Leagues, and afew winter leagues also, I'd be regularly doing hill runs for training also. But yep, most certainly I think there is plenty unfulfilled potential there, however there is just no overlap between the hills and middle distance. I did 2 hill runs last year, and 2bh got on rubbish enough in both, partly a lack of hill fitness, and not enough downhill practice. I 100% do plan on getting back at the hills at some stage, that could be 2yrs, could be 10yrs. And in terms of too busy just enjoying it ha, the only thing more enjoyable than being at the end of a race and in bits is being one place further up the field and in even more pain, that will never change, I have to get the most out of myself!

pconn062

Last day to get questions in for Timmaay, who has been a great candidate all week and has gave some really interesting answers. New candidate lined up for tomorrow and it's going to be a good one!