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

Delighted for you my man, welcome to Drogheda

4 days after running a PB at Drogheda, I was back racing again, on a Wednesday night....in London!! At the start of July, knowing I was in shape to run well but with so little left in Ireland, I searched Power of 10 in a desperate search for races in London. There was nothing at a weekend that suited me but I found the Lee Valley wind sprints meet for a Wednesday evening. Work half day in the morning, 35 euro flights, fly out at 3:30pm, arrive at 5pm, train to Tottenham Hale, taxi to the track, race, head back to Tottenham Hale by taxi, train to airport, stay in hotel out near Stansted, up at 5am, on the redeye at 6:30am, back into work for 9am.

Sounds like madness…….and it was!

Despite warm conditions and guaranteed tailwinds, I did not run fast.

I’ve never liked racing on a weekday evening, so I’ve pretty much (except in a very rare circumstance) written off Graded Meets for the last number of years. However, I thought given I’m only working the morning that this would be different. I’d only be sitting on a plane and train. How tiring can that really be right? In addition, this would be a fantastic huge meet, organised impeccably, unlike the utter farce the graded meets often are. Apples and oranges. So I convinced myself I wouldn’t be my usual sluggish self in an evening race and I’d race well. I was really up for it after all.

The meet had around 22 100m races for each of the 2 rounds (everyone got 2 races), with men and women mixed and everything graded on PBs.

I arrived at 6:10pm with the meet not starting til 7pm. I had arrived in plenty of time. In the end I didn’t race until 7:55pm (I was in heat 15), with my second race at 9:05pm (heat 16 on this occasion), the latest I’ve raced in about 7 years.

When collecting my number, there was a familiar face in the queue behind me. Dwain Chambers. He ran 10.6 in the C race, but was there mainly because he had a huge amount of young athletes that he coaches competing. Still not sure how I feel about him. He’s a disgrace to the sport, but he’s also shown genuine remorse, which is not the case for most returning drug cheats. I guess if he coaches young athletes and hammers home to them from an early age the importance of staying clean, then that’s as good a way to make amends as any.

100m Race 1: 12.49 (+2.1)

Not an excuse for a slower than hoped run but the blocks I was given seemed faulty. They weren’t firm under foot, but rather quite squishy and hollow. My blocks for my second race were normal, as were the ones I used in warm up. These should not have been used for a race. I was in lane 7. Wasn’t pleased with my start at all, and I was never in contention with the leaders. I finished 7th in my heat, which was won in 12.00. I knew my time wouldn’t be good as I was a few metres back. At the same time, it was good to be in a competitive race where there wasn’t a huge amount between 1st and 8th. Sadly in Ireland we do not have the depth so I don’t get to enjoy these kind of races.

100m Race 2: 12.47 (+2.2)

I was out in lane 8 on this occasion. For races at home I don’t care what lane I get in 100m, but in competitive races like this I’d have liked to have had a centre lane and felt closer to the action. I got a much better start and overall this felt like a better run. I felt closer to the business end of things, but the race on this occasion was only won in 12.14. I thought I was 4th but ended up being 6th. But you could throw a blanket over us and I was just 0.06 off 4th and 0.01 off 5th. I was disappointed to see that despite what felt a much better race, it was almost identical in time.

I was 0.3 down on my PB from 4 days beforehand. I guess the travel and long day (work etc) took it out of me. I really now know that my thoughts about the graded meets are not just excuses on my part. I really am not at my best at this hour of the evening. I was fully up for these races, and very excited to be part of a great event. Despite this, I was still below par.

Having looked at the results on Power of 10, I see that the majority in my races were well down on their PBs and SBs too. Not really sure why. Conditions were warm and we had tailwinds (slightly illegal). Maybe Londoners are used to better conditions but compared to Ireland it was bliss. Maybe the track isn’t the quickest. Who knows.

Delighted I attempted this. The meet is great and is part of a whole summer series of these Lee Valley wind sprint meets. There was a good buzz about it and the organisation of it was an example of how things should be done. When heat 9 are in their blocks for example, those in heat 11 get called over a loudspeaker. It’s all done by number, no names are announced at all. It runs like clockwork.

There was also a BBQ running throughout the night. The most bizarre part of the meet was when all the races were over, some athletes blasted up the gangsta rap music and started having a dance for about 20-30 minutes or so at the side of the track. Definitely the last thing I expected at an athletics meet. Not my kind of music though. Awful stuff in my opinion.

By the time I got a taxi, caught a train, and got to my hotel, it was 11:50pm. It was 12:30am by the time I showered and was ready to turn out the lights. I was up at 5am. I was in bits all the next day. Pure sleep deprivation.

I really enjoyed it, was delighted I tried it, and I will never ever do it again.

Great report!

My 5th National Seniors. It has been the event that has brought me my greatest personal achievements in the sport. At my first one in 2014 I ran 54.88 for 400m, the only time I ever got under 55. 2015 and 2016 saw solid but unspectacular performances (56.65 for 400m in windy conditions and 4.95m in the long jump in 2015, 25.37 (+2.1) for 200m and 12.71 (-1.1) for 100m in far from ideal conditions in 2016). 2017 was another high point, three years after the first; my only time to date sub 25 for 200m with a 24.87 (+0.9) and 12.25 (+2.0) for 100m, at the time my second fastest run.

Missing out last year due to family commitments made me all the more excited to be part of it again this year. There really is no event like it. The indoor warm up track is a cauldron of tension. The call room and registration zones cut off a sizeable portion of the warm up zone. That coupled with the large numbers competing, makes the place buzzing with activity. I absolutely love it. I could have warmed up outside and had so much more space, but then I’d be missing out on the uniqueness of the occasion. This is the type of stuff that this event provides that no other meet here can. This is what it’s all about. There’s nothing like the buzz in the warm up zone and the pure tension of the call room at National Seniors. At most meets, the warm up is just something you do to be able to race. At Nationals, I actually love the whole warm up and call room process. There’s just something different about the whole occasion.

The last week or so I’ve started to feel I’ve been hanging on a bit. Not mentally, as I’ve been very strong in that regard this year and haven’t been hanging on for the end of the season like I have in some seasons in the past. However, physically the niggles were starting to appear and I was beginning to feel tired after the exploits of the past month. I had a niggle at the back of my left knee the week leading into nationals, but once warmed up fully I would no longer feel it. I just had to remove a few drills that appeared to aggravate it (e.g. high knees).

Conditions were very nice. It was sunny, a nice temperature and there were tailwinds. For the 100m it was absolutely spot on, but for the 200m the wind was blowing straight into our faces for the first 60-70m of the race, definitely not the perfect tailwind I got 2 years ago.

100m: 12.45 (+1.1)

I was in lane 5 in heat 1 and it took 3 attempts for us to get going. The first time we were asked to stand up. Not sure the reason why. Then Simon Essuman false started and got DQ’ed. A real pity for him, but he’ll have many more Nationals to come. At the third time of asking, I felt I got away well enough. Maybe the pick-up wasn’t what it could have been. There were a couple of lads near me out in lanes 9 and 10, and I felt I crossed the line close to them, but the fact they were a few lanes away from me made the gap a bit deceptive. They were a bit further ahead than I thought. Eanna Madden in the lane to the left of me pulled up with an injury late on, which I noticed. I actually crossed the line just before him as he had slowed to a jog for the last 25m of the race. A few people joked that I can say I beat Eanna Madden, but you’d want to be fairly sad to go claiming that. Nobody likes seeing athletes injure themselves. He’s also been in great form this year. It’s nothing majorly serious I hear so hopefully he’ll be back soon.

As for my run. I thought it went well. I did the best I could on the day, but it just wasn’t good enough on this occasion. It took while for results to come up, so I watched the video from the stream back and handtimed it at 12.05, so based on that I thought I’d be around the 12.30 mark, which I’d have been very happy with. Alas it was not to be. 12.45 with a +1.1 wind. Adjusting it to +1.8, it would still be 12.40, which is 0.22 down on my run in Drogheda which had a +1.8. I was disappointed with the result, and had to take a bit of time to process it before getting my head back in the game for the 200m.

200m: 25.45 (+0.8)

I was in lane 8 in heat 3, and the heat I got was absolutely stacked. All the other heats had at least one 24 second guy or at the very worst a high 23 guy. My heat had Leon Reid burning up the tracks with the next slowest to me running 23.2, I was in a completely different race to everyone else, which was a pity, but that can happen sometimes at Nationals. I really had to focus on my own run. Again it took 3 attempts to get going. The first time the stadium announcer (won’t mention his name) stupidly started talking the moment we were sitting in our blocks and we had to stand up. This isn’t the first time he’s done this! Same thing happened before the men’s 60m final at National Indoors this year. Then there was a false start which seemed to go unpunished. At the third time of asking we were away. I felt I moved well out of the blocks and went flat out to 50, and then floated for 30. I felt perhaps I was a bit heavy with my footing, almost as if I wasn’t quite light enough. Once I got into the straight I felt better though. I’m definitely a better straight runner than bend runner these days. I finished miles down on everyone else andwas worried the time would be 26 which would be a sickener at Nationals. But the time was actually very pleasing. 25.45 (+2.8) is just 0.09 down on my season’s best from Drogheda, so I have to be pleased with that. Despite the +2.8 wind, it doesn’t tell the full story. We were running into a very strong headwind at the start of the race. Likely close to -4. Definitely not ideal conditions.

So that’s the end of my 9th season as a track athlete. I’ll do a review later. Nationals this year didn’t have the glorious highs of 2014 and 2017 but I loved being part of it again, and I hope I can manage a few more of them. I don’t want to be competing in it when I’m running poorly, but as long as I’m running well it will always be the number one meet of the season for me. That won’t change next year when I become a master athlete.

Nationals is a great weekend with fantastic finals on the Sunday, the craic in the Clonliffe Bar after and then the after-party in McGowans. One thing is certain though, all that other stuff is far more enjoyable when you’re actually competing in it. Competing at Nationals trumps spectating at Nationals any day of the week. Bring on 2020.

Chivito550 wrote: »

So the season is now officially finished (other than a media 800m in Doha at the start of October!) and here is a list of all races I have run throughout 2019, both indoor and outdoor. In total I ran 31 races – 5 over 60m, 12 over 100m, 11 over 200m (7 outdoor, 4 indoor), 1 4x100m relay and 1 4x400m relay.

INDOOR:

60m:

Pre-season PB: 7.80

1) 8.17
2) 8.13
3) 8.03
4) 8.12
5) 7.95

200m:

Pre-season indoor PB: 25.47 (lane 4)

1) 27.32 (lane 4)
2) 25.84 (lane 6)
3) 27.12 (lane 2)
4) 26.19 (lane 6)

400m:

Pre-season indoor PB: 56.04 (lane 4)

1) 60.97 (lane 3)

OUTDOOR:

100m:

Pre-season PB: 12.20 (+1.8)

1) 12.81 (-1.2)
2) 12.54 (+2.3)
3) 12.59 (+1.2)
4) 12.50 (+4.2)
5) 12.42 (+3.1)
6) 12.75 (+0.1)
7) 12.73 (-2.1)
8) 12.72 (-3.2)
9) 12.18 (+1.8) PB
10) 12.49 (+2.1)
11) 12.47 (+2.2)
12) 12.45 (+1.1)

200m:

Pre-season PB: 24.87 (+0.9)

1) 26.05 (-1.5)
2) 26.32 (+2.3)
3) 25.88 (+3.1)
4) 25.80 (-1.0)
5) 26.19 (-1.8)
6) 25.36 (+0.8)
7) 25.45 (+2.8)

4x100m:

Pre-season PB: 47.96

1) 49.82

4x400m:

Pre-season PB: N/A*

1) 4:12.20 PB

*I have run in a few 4x400m relays in Australia but other than one of them where I ran the lead-off leg flat out, I only ever jogged around to score my club points. In addition, all my teammates were either doing similar or were incredibly slow, so all times wouldn’t have been far inside 5 minutes, if even. I never classified these as actual races that I ran, and as a result I never recorded any of the times. This run from Leinsters is the first proper 4x400m that I’ve run.

Thoughts:

I’ve already gone into the specifics of the story behind my PB in my Drogheda race report, so I won’t repeat myself. But my main thoughts are that I’m absolutely delighted with my season, and to come away with a very unexpected but very welcome PB in the 100m. I thought my PB days were gone, and I was losing motivation last year and into early this year, but the last 6 months or so my enthusiasm for the sport has returned. I was probably a lot more relaxed about it too, not putting huge pressure on myself. Running this PB has reinvigorated me further, and I’m actually not even emotionally and mentally drained from the long season like I usually am by the end. While the 200m was decent in the end, I’m still half a second down on my PB. There’s a bit of work to be done there, but if you said to me at the start of the season that I’d run a PB in one event, and average in the other I’d have bitten off your hand.

This PB also gives me belief that I can still run PBs. I’d like to give the 60m a real go in the indoors next year and try break my PB of 7.80. I’d also like to try shave a bit more off that 100m PB. Both won’t be easy but at least they feel possible now, even if I will be a year older by then. I still don’t really believe I can break my 200m PB. Maybe in time that belief will come.

Regarding my training last year, once I settled into consistently getting 4 days a week in, things started to come together. I think with other life commitments the whole 5 days a week is unlikely to return on a consistent basis, and there is a lot of wisdom out there that the older you are you are better off doing less days well than more days mediocre. I’m happy with 4 days a week (1 day gym and 3 days running) and will aim for that next year (with the odd 5 day week thrown in when time allows). I’ll likely start my winter training with 2 days gym to build up strength, and will also likely do some gym work towards the second half of my break. I’ll be in Doha for 10 days too not long after we start back training, so will focus 100% of the gym during this time as I’ll have a gym in my hotel (I’m not planning to go running in 40 degrees!)

Here are some stats on my training this year compared to 2017 when I had serious tunnel-vision and was consistently getting 5 days per week in.

All sessions:

Autumn/Winter:

2017: 104
2019: 73

2017 as % of 2019: 70%

Spring/ Summer:

2017: 82
2019: 72

2017 as % of 2019: 88%

Gym sessions:

Autumn/Winter:

2017: 38
2019: 15

2017 as % of 2019: 39%

Spring/ Summer:

2017: 25
2019: 17

2017 as % of 2019: 68%

Running sessions:

Autumn/Winter:

2017: 66
2019: 58

2017 as % of 2019: 88%

Spring/ Summer:

2017: 57
2019: 55

2017 as % of 2019: 97%

The amount of running sessions were very close to the amount I managed in 2017, but the gym numbers were down considerably in Autumn/ Winter. Overall my winter was not consistent enough and that’s something I’ll look to improve on this winter. I had a lot of trips abroad last winter and I’ll have a few again this winter. I just need to make a better effort at fitting my training around it this time. With renewed motivation that hopefully won’t be a problem.

Finally, I've updated the below table to include my 2019 outdoor performances. It's very satisfying to see a red figure so far over to the right of the table.

Event|2008|2009|2010|2010/11|2011/12|2012/13|2013/14|2014|2015|2016|2017|2018|2019
60m|||||||||8.05|8.19|7.80|7.97|7.95
100m||||13.8h|13.36|12.82|12.63|12.97|12.68|12.35|12.20|12.45|12.18
150m|||||||||||19.15||
200m||||28.2h|26.92|25.62|25.44|25.42|25.45|25.10|24.87|25.47|25.36
300m|||||||||40.47||||
400m||||63.9h|58.68|56.26|55.00|54.88|55.61|58.35|||60.97i
800m||||2:34.9h|2:27.6h|2:23.8h|2:15.2h|2:19.70|2:14.98|2:26.73|2:25.03||
1500m|||||5:27.98|5:04.36|4:52.06|4:53.84|||||
1 Mile|||||||5:29.0h||||||
5km|21:46|21:02||||||19:46|19:47|22:36|21:53|22:38.91|
10km|46:59|45:32||45:24|||||||46:24||
Half Marathon||1:49:06|||||||||||
Marathon|||4:07:35||||||||||
4x100m relay||||||49.36||||50.71||47.96|49.82
4x400m relay|||||||||||||4:12.20
Long Jump||||4.17m|4.32m|4.40m|4.83m|4.20m|4.95m||||
Triple Jump||||8.93m|9.28m||||||||
High Jump|||||1.25m|1.26m|1.31m|1.29m|||||
Pole Vault||||||1.30m|1.40m||||||
Shot Putt||||5.67m|6.51m|6.21m|6.75m|5.95m|||||
Discus Throw||||14.65m|14.17m|16.67m|16.59m|15.31m|||||
Javelin Throw||||13.21m|10.83m|8.37m|12.05m|14.66m||17.53m|||
Decathlon|||||2290|2561|2903|2546|||||
Beer Mile||||||8:19*|8:27|9:07|10:36|8:43.37|9:21|9:53|


EDIT: It must also be acknowledged that 2019 had far less distractions compared to 2018, and was much closer to 2017 in this regard. In 2017 I had just one wedding. In 2018 I had 5 weddings and 3 stags from November to July. This year it's just been the 1 wedding and 1 stag. 2020 currently has 2 weddings and 2 stags on the horizon. The sheer volume of them in 2018 made it very difficult to run well.

That marathon time is an easy one for you to beat

Training for Dublin?

jaggiebunnet wrote: »

Been following your log with great interest after getting involved in the Masters sprints / LJ this year myself. Training for Dublin now but will go back to gym/sprint work after that with a view to the track again. What gym sessions helped you most?

Dublin Marathon and long jump is a wild combination.

What age group are you in? I'll be a master myself next Summer.

For gym try do a periodisation approach. 4 stages. Adaptation, then strength, then power and then maintenance. Do 6 weeks of each from autumn into indoors, then repeat the cycle for outdoors but with a shorter adaptation phase. Plenty of info on Google.

lets just say it doesn't really make sense on the performance side of things but do whatever you enjoy

So it's time for a bit of an update.

After last year's outdoor season which turned out to be a surprising success, with a 100m PB of 12.18, I was very excited about this coming indoor season, and a possible tilt at my 60m PB of 7.80.

Long break

However, I took far too long a break. Usually I'd take 6-7 weeks, but with the World Championships in Doha being so late, my break ended up being 11 weeks! I saw little point in starting back training mid September (when I usually start back) when I'd be heading off a week after that to Qatar. So I decided to leave it til I got back. After arriving home, I had a week or so full of a crazy amount of job interviews to prepare for and do, so again that pushed back the start of training. So it was the middle of October when I finally started back training, having finished my season at the end of July.

I got 2 solid weeks of training in, and then I came down with an awful dose and I was on the sidelines for 10 days. November and most of December was very inconsistent. Some good weeks, some terrible ones. Then come Christmas, when I had a bit more time, I got a good lot of training in. The winter ended up mirroring last winter, with the exception of a later start to the training cycle. Once again, I would have to race myself into shape, rather than hit the ground running in January.

Training

I started a new job at the end of October, which is quite mentally demanding. I really like it, but I find myself wiped every evening. As a result I've decided to training only on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings during the week, and take Monday, Thursday and Friday off. I find it such a drag to get the energy to do these sessions after work. I've also moved out to Co. Kildare, so that poses logistical issues re some sessions I used to do. Thankfully I have a licence now, so I've access to the car on a Saturday to get to Irishtown. The train is handy for getting back on a Wednesday evening from Irishtown too.

So my training looks like this:

Monday: OFF
Tuesday: Gym (at my local gym)
Wednesday: Track (Irishtown)
Thursday: OFF
Friday: OFF
Saturday: Track (Irishtown)
Sunday: Hills (on my own, near where I live)

I live in the flattest county out there, and there's only one hill near me. It's a good one, but only 80m long. It's perfect for sprinting though.

Is 4 days enough? I got consistent with 4 days a week last year and it resulted in a 100m PB outdoors. If I can keep this consistency up then I think I'll run well in the summer. I just don't have the time and energy to do 5/6 days a week anymore.

Goals for indoor

I decided to focus solely on the 60m and to try break 8 seconds again. If I can manage it, it would be the 4th season in a row that I'll have managed it (2017 - 7.80, 2018 - 7.97, 2019 - 7.95). I've no expectations to get near my PB.

I've decided not to target the 200m indoors this year. I've made my opinions on the event perfectly clear on a number of occasions so I won't repeat myself.

National League Round 1 - Abbotstown

60m Race 1: 8.19 (Reaction 0.172)

Not a good performance but not entirely surprising having had an inconsistent winter, and only being a week after the Christmas festivities winded down.

60m Race 2: 8.21 (Reaction 0.183)

More of the same. Back to the drawing board and hopefully 4 good weeks of training before the next meet.

AAI Games - Abbotstown

I got 4 good weeks of training in and started to feel I was moving better about a week out from this race and anticipated I'd be around the 8.05 mark, and so it proved.

60m Race 1: 8.06 (Reaction 0.187)

I was pretty happy with this run and it was around what I expected based off recent sessions.

60m Race 2: 8.05 (No reaction recorded)

I was particularly pleased to go slightly faster in the second race. It's a sign that the fitness is there.

Leinster Championships - Abbotstown

I had trained well in the 2 weeks since AAI Games and had hopes of going sub 8. However, I came down with a sore throat on Thursday and have been battling it since.

60m: 8.04 (Reaction 0.180)

Mixed feelings. I wanted sub 8, but I've got to be happy with a season's best given I haven't felt great the last 2 days.

I was going to run the 200m for a bit of fun and for a bit of training benefit, but decided to scrap it given I have the sore throat. The focus now is to recover, knock this cold on the head, get a couple of easy sessions in next week, and give the sub 8 one final big crack at Nationals next Sunday. No better occasion to do it.

A quick recap on the indoor season. Only 6 races this year, down from around 10 that I usually manage. This is mainly down to the fact that I didn't race the 200m this year and I didn't do any NIA meets either, which are too much of a struggle to get to from work.

60m:

Pre-season PB: 7.80

1) 8.19
2) 8.21
3) 8.06
4) 8.05
5) 8.04
6) 8.02

With the indoor season finished, it's time to update the below table with 2020 so far, along with some late year results in 2019 over beer mile, 800m and 5K (Parkrun).

Event|2008|2009|2010|2010/11|2011/12|2012/13|2013/14|2014|2015|2016|2017|2018|2019|2020
60m|||||||||8.05|8.19|7.80|7.97|7.95|8.02
100m||||13.8h|13.36|12.82|12.63|12.97|12.68|12.35|12.20|12.45|12.18|
150m|||||||||||19.15|||
200m||||28.2h|26.92|25.62|25.44|25.42|25.45|25.10|24.87|25.47|25.36|
300m|||||||||40.47|||||
400m||||63.9h|58.68|56.26|55.00|54.88|55.61|58.35|||60.97i|
800m||||2:34.9h|2:27.6h|2:23.8h|2:15.2h|2:19.70|2:14.98|2:26.73|2:25.03||2:37.24|
1500m|||||5:27.98|5:04.36|4:52.06|4:53.84||||||
1 Mile|||||||5:29.0h|||||||
5km|21:46|21:02||||||19:46|19:47|22:36|21:53|22:38.91|22:44|
10km|46:59|45:32||45:24|||||||46:24|||
Half Marathon||1:49:06||||||||||||
Marathon|||4:07:35|||||||||||
4x100m relay||||||49.36||||50.71||47.96|49.82|
4x400m relay|||||||||||||4:12.20|
Long Jump||||4.17m|4.32m|4.40m|4.83m|4.20m|4.95m|||||
Triple Jump||||8.93m|9.28m|||||||||
High Jump|||||1.25m|1.26m|1.31m|1.29m||||||
Pole Vault||||||1.30m|1.40m|||||||
Shot Putt||||5.67m|6.51m|6.21m|6.75m|5.95m||||||
Discus Throw||||14.65m|14.17m|16.67m|16.59m|15.31m||||||
Javelin Throw||||13.21m|10.83m|8.37m|12.05m|14.66m||17.53m||||
Decathlon|||||2290|2561|2903|2546||||||
Beer Mile||||||8:19*|8:27|9:07|10:36|8:43.37|9:21|9:53|11:00|

First time ever racing at this venue. It's definitely the most intimate and coziest track in Irish athletics. It's in the middle of nowhere, is a 4 lane track, the lanes are narrower than normal, and there's fencing pretty close to the edge of the track most of the way around. There are also cows sitting in the field beside it, literally just metres away from the athletes. I absolutely loved the place. What a unique venue.

There was a small warm up track which was handy as it was raining on and off and we weren't allowed onto the track other than just before competition.

100m: 12.60 (+1.4)

I was in lane 4, the outside lane for this. I felt I came up way too early and didn't stay low for long enough. Other than that it felt good. I was only about 5m down on a lad with an 11.0x PB. However, he was simply not in his best shape as he won in 11.98. I thought my time would be better so I was disappointed when I got the time later that evening. It's a season's best, but when you adjust both this time and the time from Wednesday to zero wind, this run was 0.15 worse. It was raining during my race, and being honest, the track is very spongey so certainly not as designed for sprinters as Morton stadium is.

200m: 25.86 (+1.2)

I was floored after the 100m, and even though I only had 45 mins between races, I needed to take 15 mins of that just to sit down. I then got back into staying warm, just ticking over. I felt drained of energy for a lot of the warm up, but felt my energy come back closer to the time of the race.

Felt my start was poor and the two lads inside me were up on me in no time. Others felt the bend was very tight, and I guess it was a bit, but I didn't find it as bad as the others. I was lucky to be in lane 4. The narrower lanes do make you feel a little cramped though. Other than the start I felt I ran well. I thought I was closer to the other two runners than I actually was. In the end my time was slower than what I would have expected, but it's nice to get under 26 in my first 200m in exactly a year (I didn't run any indoors). I was pretty nervous beforehand given it had been so long since I ran one. Conditions were much better for the 200m. The rain had stopped and the track was dry.

Great meet. Really enjoyable to be part of. Organised really well within the guidelines while at the same time making it still feel relaxed and fun.

Leevale meet in Cork is next on Thursday night for a couple of wind assisted 100m races, and then Wednesday week I have the 200m at the graded in Tallaght after I got my entry in at 6am this morning! Then it's fingers crossed that we get the green light for Leinsters and Nationals.

career move wrote: »

I'm glad you liked our facilities:) It's a tough track on a windy day and unfortunately the weather was against us on Saturday. The wind picked up throughout the afternoon and that did affect the times in the later races. Hope to see you back next year though

Wind wasn't an issue for the 100m and 200m. It was blowing in the right direction. Was probably an issue for 400m and up though. You built the track with the 100m straight running with the prevailing wind. I wish all tracks did that!

Was watching back the stream and couldn't figure out from it where the long jump pit is located. Where on the track is it?

The races are coming thick and fast now. After almost 10 years racing on the track, this amazingly was my first ever competition in Cork.

Took a day off work and drove down and back in the one day.

Conditions were ok. It was dry and intermittently sunny. It felt warm when the sun was out but a bit chilly when it wasn't. The two 100m races were being run with a guaranteed tailwind so that was the appeal for me, which would make the trip much more worthwhile. Unfortunately the wind was a bit too strong and the winds were mostly illegal.

100m Race 1 - 12.45 (+3.2)

I got left in the blocks by those around me. I was in lane 2 and the lad in lane 1 had a significant lead on me in the early stages. I spent the rest of the race trying to claw him back, and just got by him in the nick of time to take him by 0.05 and another lad out in lane 7 by 0.10 to come 5th out of 7. I was very happy with the rest of the race, but I probably threw away around 0.05 with my start. Fastest time of the season, albeit illegal, and 0.04 faster than Moyne when adjusting both for zero wind.

100m Race 2 - 12.69 (+2.9)

Usually I go better in my second 100m when doing two in one meet, but not to be this time. This was an absolute distaster. I tailored my warm up based on the timetable, which had been running like clockwork up to this point. However something happened to the automatic seeding equipment and they had to redraw all the second 100m heats manually. People dropped out which meant the heats had to be redone, which didn't help things. I was ready to go, before only hearing about this 5-10 mins before I was due to race. It took an age to get going, and even after getting the women's race and the first men's race done, there was another 10 minute wait for my race. Then even after we got our lanes, we were standing behind our blocks for another few minutes. This was polar opposites to the first race which was run with ruthless efficiency. Overall my race went off 25 minutes late. I wouldn't have minded the delay if you knew in advance, but only finding out about it when you're ready to go is very difficult. There was a lot of hanging around trying to stay warm. The result was poor. A quarter of a second down with an almost identical wind. Race ended up being a bit of a waste of time, and had I known this would happen I'd have done the 200m instead of a second 100m. Ordinarily I'd be pissed, but in this year I'm just happy to get a chance to race, so I've drawn a line under it straight away.

I scratched the 200m as 3 races at that time of the evening was too much of an ask.

Next week I have two 200m races planned: Wednesday in Tallaght and Friday in Leixlip. It's a case of taking every race opportunity that pops up with open arms. This is not ordinary season.

I'm a bit disappointed after running 12.67 into a -1.1 in Santry that I haven't translated that into a much better time with these tailwinds from the last few races. Time to think about the 200m for the next week now.

Murph_D wrote: »

Fair play, despite your disappointment. I can see why you'd want to correct race times for wind conditions. How reliable are the tables or calculators you use for this?

Adjusting times is more just to compare performances. I'd never count a wind adjusted time as a real PB.

I use this one for the 100m. It's well regarded.

https://jmureika.lmu.build/track/wind/index.html

I don't bother correcting times over 200m as wind readings don't factor in the direction of the wind on the bend, so it's a waste of time

Great that this meet popped up so quickly to give athletes another racing opportunity. Each athlete was limited to just one event, which was reasonable in the circumstances, so I opted for the 200m, knowing there would be a headwind (there always is in Leixlip), so the damage over 200m because of a headwind isn't as significant as over 100m.

200m: 26.00 (-2.1)

This race was an hour earlier than the race on Wednesday and I worked an hour less, so I wasn't as drained. I was still feeling tired but I definitely had more energy. Conditions were very nice in terms of temperature. Quite warm and humid. The only problem was the wind, but in sprinting wind is the biggest factor.

My first step or two out of the blocks wasn't up to scratch and I definitely lost a bit of crucial time there, but overall my first 50m was much more energetic on this occasion. I was in lane 6 and was initially closing slightly on the guy in lane 7. But then he opened up a gap on me coming off the bend and into the straight. I assumed I would take him on the straight, only the gap never changed. The gap didn't open or close. He frustratingly held on by 0.31 seconds, and there was nothing I could do to get up to him, despite my best efforts into a strong wind in the homestraight.

The run felt much better than Wednesday, in tougher conditions, and I hoped I'd dip under 26, but with the winning time showing up on the clock as only 24.20 I wasn't hugely confident. I finished 7th of 8, but it was a good competitive race.

I was sickened to find out I missed out on sub 26 by 0.01. I've a goal to run sub 26 for 200m on 50 occasions. I'm on 43, and missing out on another one here in such a limited season could prove costly, particularly as they are becoming harder to achieve into my mid 30s. I find that when I break 26 I usually do it comfortably, while when my time is near that 26.00 barrier, it tends to just fall the wrong side of it. With a bit more luck I'd almost be at 50 now.

We were very lucky to get this meet in, as with it being in Kildare, if it was on today then it would have been cancelled (though horse racing is still allowed continue, no surprises there).

It's hard to know now whether I will have any more races. I had a real feeling yesterday that it could be my last race for a long long time. With all these local lockdowns appearing, the situation is becoming very volatile, and nobody knows what will happen in a couple of days, let alone a couple of weeks. It is making planning a season really stressful. I remain hopeful that National Seniors will go ahead so I'll keep training as normal until told otherwise. I've also got National Masters too but I remain even less confident of that happening, but I very much hope I'm wrong.

It's a bit of an empty feeling finishing a race like that and then thinking that could be the end of the season. The prospect of races kept me going during the lockdown. I need races to be motivated to train. I'm not great at the whole "exercising to keep fit" thing. I'll do it obviously, as I don't want to get fat, but I'm not as disciplined when there's no goal.

Frankly I don't see an indoor season happening. Outdoor can work within 200 numbers, but not a hope of indoor meets working with just 50 people. Forget about seeing anything like a Phase 4 during the winter. If I can spend Christmas with my family I'd very much settle for that. So it could end up being 9-10 months before I've another race. It could be 2 weeks though. It's too hard to know. Just have to keep training away on the assumption Nationals will happen.

On a positive note, even if I didn't get another race, I'm thankful that I got 7 races (from 5 meets) in. That's 7 races more than so many people on this forum said anybody would get. I found that negativity tough to deal with during the height of the lockdown and pretty much resulted in me ditching this forum for awhile. I'm so glad I stayed positive and ignored the naysaying and got some races in. Times haven't been great, but on the plus side I got under 26 once, and ran a decent wind assisted 100m time of 12.45. Modest achievements compared to what I hope, but given the difficult year we've all had, I'm thankful for any sort of achievement.

Time to crack on for the possible end to a season which may already have ended.

*PART 2 OF 2*

So after running a nice season's best at Nationals in the 200m, my confidence was sky high that I'd manage another good run in my first National Masters.

First year of Masters

Pre-COVID, the National Masters were not on my radar. I turned 35 after indoors finished, so outdoors was to be my first foray into the world of masters running. However, the National Masters were due to be held the day after I flew home from the Tokyo Olympics, and a good month after my previous race I had planned. So the goal, in masters terms, was to run the Leinsters. Obviously with COVID, everything was changed completely.

I assumed National Masters wouldn't happen, and then to everyone's surprise, AAI announced the event would happen. Each athlete was only allowed to enter one event, which resulted in virtually everybody who entered getting a medal (outside of some distance events). With the fields watered down, I saw this as an opportunity to win a medal. I chose the 200m as I felt at the time it provided a better chance for me (as it transpired only 2 people finished the M35 100m!).

Competitors

In total 4 people were entered in my event, which pleased me, as I wanted to have to beat somebody to win a medal. There was one lad who had a high 22 PB, but I knew was more in 24 second range these days, a lad who is running 23s, and then a lad from Gowran AC, who on paper looked slower than me. I'll admit to looking up these athletes times online to see what I was facing. I've no shame in saying that. The Gowran athlete had a best of 26.8 that I could see, and had a couple of recent 100s which were around 13 flat. I genuinely couldn't see how I could lose to him, provided I ran well. There was the first problem, I was already too focused on beating somebody else, rather than just focusing on my own race, which I've always been good at doing, after years and years of senior races.

Preparation and race day

I tapered off nicely over the last week and had a good foam rolling session a few days out to ensure the legs were loose and I was well rested.

The event itself was organised pretty much in the same fashion as Nationals last week with the same call room procedure. Running last week was a big advantage as I knew exactly the drill, while lots of other runners were stressing away about call rooms etc.

I warmed up fine. Felt a little heavy legged at times, but otherwise I felt good. I was very nervous. More nervous than last week. But I was excited. I was very fixated on winning a medal, and was battling some negative thoughts saying 'what if this goes to pot'. Negative thoughts are natural before a race. Overall, I was feeling very positive though. I did not see how I could not finish third, even though I was a bit concerned that my focus wasn't 100% on myself.

The weather was pretty good. Sunny at times, though nippy with the stiff breeze that would be in our faces on the bend.

200m

I was in lane 7 and the Gowran AC athlete was in lane 8. At the time I thought this was perfect. My plan was to beat him early by attacking the bend. My bend hasn't been great this year and I usually come good in the straight, which is the better part of my race. I didn't want to have him ahead of me in the straight. I wanted to throw down the gauntlet early.

In hindsight, if he was running inside me, or if I was in lane 3 and he was in 8, I probably would have run my own race much better. As it transpired, I pushed hard from the gun, got out well, and when I lifted my head, I saw him close to me, and I felt I was eating the stagger up on him, but the race video shows that I hadn't really. I kept pushing, and when I got to 80m in I realised I never did my usual cruise from 50m to 80m. It's all instinct then and you don't have time to think. I should have had a delayed cruise from 80m to 110m and then kicked, but there was no time for such sensible thoughts, and my instint said KICK at 120m to go.

I rounded onto the straight and I was ahead of him. I couldn't see him in my periphery. I felt like I had him, but the video shows I wasn't very much ahead of him at all. Maybe 2 metres max. Then I heard somebody give him a shout saying "you're not far away", and I momentarily glanced my eyes to the right, which was an appalling error for somebody who has sprinted for 10 years.

I couldn't see him, and I kept driving on. I was still in a good position. Then with about 40m to go or so, my legs completely buckled from under me and I started to lose my balance. It was like a lightswitch had caused it. No warning. I had to work really hard to stay on my feet. I thought I was going to hit the track at that point, but I somehow stayed standing and pushed on, now feeling like I was in a dream where you try to run, but the legs just don't cooperate. I was writing cheques my legs just couldn't cash.

Amazingly I was still ahead of him. I thought I had completely lost momentum with the stumble, but maybe I was still moving ok (this part of the race wasn't in the camera shot on the live stream). Then with about 10m to go, my legs went again and this time I couldn't stay standing. I fell forward to the floor as he came up along side me, and fell over the line in a Shaunae Miller-Uibo/ Paul Robinson-esqe dive for the live which was definitely not intentional. I sensed I was beaten on the line, but had forlorn hope that the fall took me ahead of him at the death. Perhaps if I fell a few metres later it would have.

I smacked the floor hard, but thankfully suffered no injuries. My hip took the brunt of the impact and there is a bad bruise there. Other than that it is mainly just sore cuts and scrapes along right side, mainly knee, elbow and shoulder.

I was absolutely sickened as I lay on the track. I knew I had blown it. The paramedics attended to me but I said I was fine, but I went back to them 10 minutes later for a more detailed assessment to make sure I was ok.

Medal presentation

As suspected I missed out by fractions of a second. He ran 25.96 and I finished with 26.01, with a +0.8 wind, which doesn't reflect the strength of the wind into our faces on the bend. I lost out on third place by 0.05 of a second. In ways I was amazed the time was as fast as it was, given how ugly the last 50m was. I later learned that the Gowran AC ran almost a 1 second PB, a fantastic performance. I didn't expect that, and I don't think he did either.

Just after he was awarded his bronze medal, they handed me one as well because of the fact there were just 4 in the race. Given I was feeling totally despondent, my reaction was "I don't deserve this". But she wanted me to take it, so I did out of politeness, threw it in my bag, and didn't look at it.

The medal meant nothing to me in the immediate aftermath. I didn't win it. It's a token participation medal. After getting home, my fiance made me feel better by saying that I am being way too hard on myself, and that I totally deserve that medal for all the hard work I have put in during such an awful mess of a year, and for not giving up the training when so many just packed it in. I guess, in time, when the wounds (both physical and metaphorical) heal I can look at that medal as a tangible momento for training so hard during lockdown.

The last 6 months have been the hardest I have trained since 2017, and over the 9 races I have run, I don't really think I got what I deserved for it all, but I'm proud of the efforts. I seriously lacked motivation in 2018 after such a good 2017, but there's no doubt the motivation is truly back these days. I think I suffered mainly from not being inside a gym since March and for doing DIY foam rolling rather than getting proper massages, both situations that were unavoidable this year.

Two days on

I'm still absolutely gutted. It's an absolutely gut-wrenching feeling. I feel like I choked badly, and didn't run my own race. Had I done so, I probably would have beaten him. Had I been the one chasing down the straight with plenty of energy left in my legs, I would have fancied myself. I'm annoyed that I abandoned the tried and tested method of cruising for 30m before kicking again - a terrible error given I have run over 70 200m races in my life and should know better.

Instinct in the heat of the moment can be the difference. I remember Sonia O'Sullivan talking about the Sydney Olympics, and how if she waited until the home straight to kick, she might have beaten Szabo. Her instinct told her to go with 200m, as that's what she had perfected so brilliantly on so many occasions, and she ran extra metres on the bend. Metres that were the difference in the end. Not comparing a M35 masters race to an Olympic final, but I feel I can relate a bit to a momentary lapse in judgment.

This year's National Masters were incredibly soft due to the 1 event per athlete rule and I absolutely blew a big opportunity. A national medal in a sprint race in my age category will probably never be easier. I felt in absolute disbelief immediately afterwards and it sort of feels like a bad dream. I will learn from it all though. This is without doubt the most disappointed I have ever been after a race in 10 years of athletics, and I suspect will take some time to get over.

Too focused on medals

Despite the immense disappointment, it was quite an entrance to the world of masters athletics. I gave the commentary team on the live stream a great laugh and it got a disproportionate amount of coverage.

One thing I've realised is the obsession about winning medals isn't healthy. I'll be honest, for years running in senior races where I hadn't the remotest chance of ever winning a medal I sort of envied all the medals the masters athletes would win. The level of competition at senior level is on another stratosphere to masters and it was absolutely impossible for me to ever win anything other than some Leinster relay medals. Last week I had Marcus Lawler in my heat! It was a bit hard to take being compared to masters achievements.

I really like the idea of being competitive against other guys in my age group. Racing people is what athletics is all about and I love it. Medals, however, are a consequence of who and how many show up. I was unlucky that my event was one of the few that had more than 3 in it and so I didn't take a medal by default. On the flip side, had 2 other 23/24 second runners shown up, myself and the Gowran AC athlete would have been battling for 5th, and medals wouldn't even have been a factor. I've learnt a lesson to not be so focused on them.

Aftermath

Body is still very sore and am taking a few days off to recover from the fall. I hate that this happened in my last 200m race of the season and I've no chance to make amends. I suspect this will stay with me for quite some time. Who knows if there will be an indoor season at all, so it coud be 8 months before my next 200m! I've a 100m at Morton Live on Friday, with truth be told, very little at stake, particularly given there is a forecasted headwind. I've also entered the M35 pentathlon at the combined events for a bit of end of season fun. Ironically, there are only 3 in my category, so will likely get a medal for it. I think getting a medal in it will teach me that medals aren't always the big deal they are made out to be and it's just one part of the bigger picture of this great sport. Sometimes one just need to figure that out for oneself.

I connected with the Gowran AC athlete on Twitter and Facebook and gave my congratulations. Despite the anguish, it's great to be part of races like that. We have both agreed on a rematch, hopefully come indoors in January. He ran a brilliant race and really put me under immense pressure down the straight. Would be great to have more races.

A snippet of the live stream coverage can be found here:

https://twitter.com/J_Sullivan_Aths/status/1303035256061276160

Murph_D wrote: »

You’re right about the unhealthy medal focus - if your report was a drinking game where I had to down a shot every time you said ‘medal’, I’d be very drunk indeed.

I came fourth myself in my one previous Masters. I didn’t care because I ran a big PB, and they certainly didn’t give me a medal, even though I’d already started the transfer process to Raheny and Pat Hooper was handing them out. :pac:

It’s probably unintentional, but your account kind of suggests that masters athletes are delighted with themselves for winning uncompetitive medals. I don’t agree. I had entered myself and was out of town. I was the only one in my 800m age group and could have rushed home and made the meet and taken a gold for jogging around. I found the prospect unmotivational - offputting really - and stayed away.

Feel your pain, but the video gave me a great laugh. You absolutely did make a dive for it, don’t care what you say!

By the way, why would you feel bad about looking up a competitor’s times?

Not intentional. I train with some masters athletes and their focus and discipline is top notch. Some have performed brilliant at World and European level. And they throw themselves into competition against seniors. You do get some masters athletes who only appear for masters competition though, and you never see them at any other time, and perhaps are overly medal focused regardless of the difficulty in achieving it. I came across some lad who guested at Leinsters last year get thick with the officials for not having a medal for him, and then proceed to tell him that he's got a press full of medals at home anyway and doesn't need it. Like any pursuit you get all kinds.

I wish I could claim that I meant that dive but I genuinely just fell over. It does look well executed on the video though I'll admit.

Good question. Not sure. I guess in ways it feels stalkerish Googleing people I've never heard of before and have never met. Think we all do it though, whether we admit it or not.

It's an interesting point, whether Masters run non-Masters-specific events. Certainly any of the graded meets and NIA indoor events I've been at would have plenty of people over 35, but perhaps not many over 50. I did enjoy a chat with a St. Coca's athlete in his 70s after my last race on the track, but I suppose that would be rare enough.

It would never have even occurred to me to enter senior track events, to be honest. I don't mind coming last, but the gulf in times at the events I've run, 800 and 1500, would be a bit embarrassing! Gradeds and Masters, yes - I find I can be reasonably competitive at the D grade and in my AC!

Clearlier wrote: »

Miller-Uibo was actually who came to mind when I was reading your report. I was at the stadium that night about a third of the way down the finishing straight and she looked so comfortable and in control I was trying to work out who would finish second. I couldn't believe it when she stumbled.



With respect to your own race the main thing is that you seem to have learned from it. Racing against others is a different skill to racing against the clock and like any skill you have to practice it to get good at it. Hope you get a solid block of training in and that there is an indoor season where you do yourself justice.

Agreed. It's a different skill. I just wish I had more opportunity to practice it. There's not enough senior athletes at my level in sprinting in Ireland. Sometimes I get great competitive races (where I'm still predominantly racing for time), but many times I'm towards the back in senior races. I'm really good at running my own race in these scenarios and have run PBs in races I've come last in many times. But it doesn't help me in these scenarios. I think I was more race hardened in Australia than I am here. I was in competitive races a lot of the time there and would have certain people I'd see regularly who I'd be determined to beat. That hasn't happened enough here.

After the disappointment of the National Masters, I made a last minute decision to compete in the M35 Pentathlon at the National Combined-Events Championships, and got my entry in just before the deadline. I wanted to finish the season with a bit of fun after what had happened in my 200m race.

When I lived in Australia I completed the senior decathlon at the Victorian Multi-Events Championships on 3 occasions (2012, 2013 and 2014) and are among my fondest memories in the sport. My best result was 2,903 points in 2014, with the vast majority of my points coming in the 100m, 400m, 1500m and Long Jump.

I then did the National decathlon in Ireland in 2014, and while I had some great laughs doing it, I decided after that to finish up attempting decathlons.

However, now that I'm a master, the prospect of a pentathlon is a lot less intimidating than a full 10 events, so I decided, given this would be the end of the season anyway.

Conditions were nice. It was a sunny day for the most part, and temperatures were nice at around 15 degrees. There was a stiff breeze however.

There were just 2 in my category, so a medal was guaranteed provided I finished. Not a hard medal to win, but the day's work itself was anything but easy.

3 days in advance of the session I did a long jump and shot putt session with the club as it's been a long time since I've tried either, so I needed to remember a few aspects of each event.

Long Jump: 4.46m (308 pts)

There was an element of fear trying the long jump. Back in late 2015 I decided to train specifically for it, with the hope of going over 5.50m in 2016. I ended up tearing my groin one evening, which resulted in 7 weeks without any running, and 3 months before I was back training properly, which pretty much destroyed my indoor season. I've been too terrified of it to try it since.

Before this, I used to do a lot of long jump competitions, probably about 20 in my life. I've never had any problems in competition. It was the actual training that caused the issue. So, the session last Wednesday was to help me get over my fear and bring back confidence, so that I wouldn't be entering the competition with fear. It worked.

I wore my sprint spikes rather than my long jump spikes, and I just focused on running fast and jumping, rather than doing anything funny with my hips on take off (which was part of the cause of the injury). Lower risk, lower reward, but I was ok with that.

My 3 jumps were as follows:

4.39m (+2.9)
4.46m (+1.8)
4.46m (+3.7)

The second was probably the best jump. The first one I was way before the board and the third I was reaching for the board. I was probably reaching a bit on my second attempt too.

I held a narrow lead over my competitor for most of the competition, but he managed a 4.53m in his last jump, so overtake me. It was the only event of the 5 that we were very close in. I knew, given hurdles were next that I was never going to have a realistic chance of beating him.

110m hurdles (99.1cm): 24.93 (74 pts)

In all my previous decathlons I never attempted the hurdles. The fear of falling was paralyzing. However, now that I'm a master I don't need to attempt the 106cm ones anymore, but rather the next highest. 99.1cm (or 3 ft 3 inches in old money) is still ridiculously high, and I had pretty much written off my chances of getting over them, and I was probably going to DNF them again and accept the 0 points.

But the stubborn side of me couldn't let it go. I got to the track early, and before my long jump warm up, I put a hurdle by the pole vault mat and tried to jump it. The mat was my security in case I fell. I got over it ok. I then asked one of the competitors (a M40 competitor) for advice, and he encouraged me to try it on the actual track. I had a lot of fear but I got over it comfortably. I did this a few times, and now I was considering giving this a go.

However, I needed to know I could get over 2 or 3 hurdles in a row before I could be confident about attempting 10. In my warm up I got over 2 a couple of times, then I attempted 3 and was successful, and I had figured out a rhythm in between the hurdles that would ensure I wouldn't run into them. This consisted of a stride pattern of 7 small stuttery steps. The goal was to get over the hurdles, so I was happy to sacrifice running quickly between them.

I kept the runners on, as at the speed I was going at, there was no added benefit to having spikes on, and I wanted as easy a landing after each hurdle as possible. I knew having cleared 3 in the warm up that I could do this, if I kept the head and didn't get distracted and stayed concentrated on one hurdle at a time. The concentration needed was intense. One lapse and I could be on the floor. I cleared each hurdle fine, but grazed the 9th hurdle withe sole of my foot. The hurdle didn't fall or anything. I got over the final hurdle fine and roared before I even finished, and then fisted the air as I crossed the line. Finishing this and getting over a crippling fear was very satisfying. I was absolutely buzzing afterwards.

The wind reading was -4.3 but at the speed I was going at, I doubt it made too much of a difference! Having said that, I still felt quite gassed after the race.

My 110m hurdles PB is slower than my 200m PB. I'm sure I am part of a select few that can say that!

Shot Putt: 6.27m (278 pts)

As is often the case with shot putt I performed better in my practice on Wednesday night than I did in the competition. In practice, I got all my throws out to around 6m and beyond, with one being around 6.30m. However in competition, I only got one solid throw out, which was my first, which went out to 6.27m. This should have been a platform to bigger throws, but I got my technique so wrong for the second and third attempts and could only manage 5.65m and 5.45m. Still better to get one solid one in than none.

High Jump: 1.31m (276 pts)

I hadn't attempted this is 6 years, so not knowing how good or bad I would be I sold myself a bit short and went in at 1.10m, which was far too low, but I didn't want to get 0 points. I ended up easily clearing the following heights at the first attempt: 1.10m, 1.16m, 1.22m, 1.25m and 1.28m.

I then cleared 1.31m at the first attempt, although I grazed the bar on the way over. I had 3 attempts at 1.34m with my final attempt being the best, but I don't think I was close enough, and I was feeling tired by this stage. Given I was in at such a low height I wasn't getting much rest between jumps, as I was the only one jumping til we got to 1.31m, and I didn't want to hold up all the senior decathletes.

This was an equal PB, the same as what I managed in Melbourne in 2014. Was happy with how this went.

1500m: 5:36.76 (381 points)

All masters from the 3 categories (M35, M40 and M50) were put together for this, so there were 11 of us racing. I put on the distance spikes for this, the first time I have worn them since the London 2017 media 800m.

By this point my body is in bits. The 4 events have taken a lot out of me. I had no idea what kind of shape I would be in. Back in 2014 I ran two 1500s at the end of decathlons and ran 4:52.06 and 4:53.84. I was training for 400m then and was very aerobically fit. I didn't expect anything like that now, but from looking at the points calculator a 5:20 or so would get me over 1400 points overall, so that's what I wanted to run.

I got out well and to my surprise I was in the lead for the first 250m to 300m. It felt ridiculously comfortable and I covered the first 300m in 60 seconds, at which point 2 lads come by me. Looking back to my reports to the aforementioned races though, I covered the first 300 of those in 52 and 55 seconds respectively!!

I'm on for 5 minute pace here, but once a few people went by me it became clear that I wouldn't be sustaining this, and things started to hurt a lot more. A good 4 or 5 went by me in the space of a lap and I was now settled into a comfortable 6th of 11 which I held for the rest of the race.

I didn't keep splits but when I got to 900m in I was at 3:20. I incorrectly thought I was at 1000m in and still thought I was on for 5 mins flat. When I got to the bell and saw 4:05 or so I was then very confused. I couldn't understand how I got my maths so wrong!

I was really suffering and was not enjoying this at all. I got a shout out from one of the heptathletes at 450m to go, and got a shout out from my coach, and this all helped. I wanted to up the effort on the last lap but I was hating every second of it, the spirit was weak, and there was not much to gain from doing so. All hopes of 1400 points were gone, and I hadn't a hope of beating the guy ahead of me in the pentathlon.

With about 50m I could hear a training partner, who was in the M50 category, get close to me. Initially I tried to kick to stay ahead of him, then said to myself, "ah feck that, I don't care if he beats me". Then a second or so later I realise he's not closing fast enough, and I kick again to make sure I stayed ahead of him in the final 30m, and did so by about a second.

I threw myself to the floor and was in agony for a minute. After that I recovered quite quickly. I can't say that it was a 100% effort. It was probably more like 90%, and I could have maybe got another 5-10 seconds out of it, but I struggled mentally with the distance just as much as I struggled physically. The aerobic fitness of my 400m days is long gone that's for sure!

Overall:

I finished with 1,317 points overall, with the following breakdown:

1500m: 381
Long Jump: 308
Shot Putt: 278
High Jump: 276
110m Hurdles: 74

I was a good 600 or so points behind the guy ahead of me. Way too much ground lost in the hurdles to make it a contest going into the 1500m, which he ran 4:57 in anyway.

My body was put through severe punishment over the course of 6 and a half hours, and I was beyond shattered for the rest of the day, and every muscle in my body was in agony the next day, and I still have some DOMS, 4 days on. Combined-events are tough, but since my time in Australia they've always had a special place in my heart. I thoroughly enjoyed this event. It was a lot of fun, and it was great to meet some new people and have the craic in the process of competition. Multi-eventers are a sound bunch!

I'll definitely consider further pentathlons in the future, but the timing of the events need to suit. If they are too close to the likes of Nationals or other important races then I'll be giving them a miss. The timing this season was perfect as it was literally the last meet, so there was no risk at all really. There were no further competitions to risk missing.

Overall, a nice way to end a weird but rewarding season.

Oiriallach wrote: »

That pentathlon that the AAI put on for masters men is a strange event. The standard event for masters outdoors is still the decathlon. World Athletics and World Masters Athletics also recognise an outdoor pentathlon for men, but the events are completely different to the AAI version - it's LJ, Javelin, 200, Discus and 1500. How would you fancy that combination?

Yeah, it's strange alright. Also odd that AAI don't allow hurdles for over 50s and so they do a quadrathlon.

Hmmm, I think that pentathlon wound suit me better. I'd score a load of points in the 200m, WAYY more than my high jump. My javelin would be bad, but it would still be at least double my hurdles points. My discus would score about 50 points less than my shot putt. Overall, this pentathlon would suit me so much more.

EDIT: Plugged my LJ and 1500 scores from weekend into calculator, put in seasons best for 200 and estimates for discus and javelin based on prior performances and I'd be at around 1600 points, almost 300 more than this pentathlon.

Now that the disappointment of National Masters has faded, I can look objectively at my season.

While my times were not as quick as I hoped this summer, the COVID-19 restrictions made training normally virtually impossible. I did my best to work around the challenges of having no gym access for 6 months, no track access for 3 months, and having to train solo, but there's only so much you can do. There's just no substitute for a normal training environment.

What I'm happy with:

1) Training harder than I have since 2017 (see below)
2) Running 25.68 season's best for 200m at Nationals, the biggest meet of the year. It's always satisfying to run well at Nationals.
3) Getting under 26 seconds for 200m twice to bring my total to 44 times sub 26, bringing me closer to my goal of 50.
4) Indoor feels an age ago, but running so consistently over 60m after a shocking first couple of races. 8.06, 8.05, 8.04 and finally 8.02.
5) Dropping my weight from 75kg in winter/indoors to 71kg.
6) Getting in 10 races (from 8 meets) and a pentathlon, when so many naysayers were writing off the entire track season back in March/April.
7) Staying motivated over such a long period. Usually there's 2 months between end of indoors and start of outdoors. This year 4 and a half months! That was challenging.
8) I have a couple of medals which, while not hard won, are nice momentos to have from all the training in such a rotten year.
9) Getting over my fear of long jump (due to previous injury related to it) and high hurdles (general crippling fear) by successfully competing in both at the National Combined-Events Championships.
10) Being properly motivated again towards my athletics. I was always highly motivated up to and including 2017. I lost it in 2018 and it only came back mid way through 2019. I've been very motivated since. I genuinely worried back in 2018 that I'd never get it back.

What I'm not happy about:

1) Getting beaten for 3rd place in the M35 200m at National Masters by 0.05 of a second, getting my race execution all wrong, and falling badly while crossing the line.
2) Two of my 200m times were 26.00 and 26.01. This is very frustrating as I could be a lot closer to reaching my goal of 50 times sub 26. I could have been 4 away from it, but instead am 6 away from it, and it makes it a much bigger task to hit that target in 2021 now.
3) Narrowly missing out on sub 8 seconds for 60m for the first time since 2016 when I was coming back from an awful injury.
4) Not getting the opportunity to compete in Leinsters and NI Masters in my first year as a masters athlete.
5) I'm not particularly satisfied with my 100m results. 12.45 was my fastest wind assisted time, and 12.60 was my fastest legal time. This was a big drop of 0.42 from my 12.18 PB set last year. Over 200m I was only 0.32 off my 2019 season's best despite it being double the distance.
6) I found the season a bit emotionally draining. You just couldn't relax and plan anything with any sense of confidence or security. Every race had to be treated as your last race, as there was always that anxiety that lockdowns and restrictions would appear out of nowhere and the entire season would be pulled at a moment's notice.
7) The structure of the season was tough too. Usually I would race on weekends only and the races would be spaced out enough that you could train in between them. This year my first 7 races were on top of each other, within the space of just 16 days, meaning I was just racing and recovering. Then I had a big gap before the conclusion of the season.
8) 6 months out of the gym has had a negative impact on my explosive power, which would explain the drop in 100m times this year. I did sessions at home, but with a lack of equipment, it just wasn't the same, and I ended up hating it, so the sessions became more and more infrequent as I got closer to competition season. Some gyms did open back up around July from memory but by that point I felt it was a waste of time, as I didn't fancy going through all sorts of DOMS so close to competition, and without my local gym allowing non-members in, I'd have had to grind out a 20 minute drive to and from a Flyefit and deal with the hassle of making bookings in advance etc. It sort of takes the joy out of it.
9) My consistency was not good enough during winter training leading into indoors, for the third winter in a row. This is becoming a challenge for me, as I struggle for motivation early on and have to balance training with lots of distractions in November and December. Those distractions probably won't exist this coming winter though with Covid, mind you.

Masters disappointment

My National Masters disappointment is well documented, but with the benefit of hindsight the time I ran wasn't as bad as I thought. I was just 0.33 down on my time from National Seniors, and had to contend with a very strong headwind on the bend, which wasn't the case at Seniors. In real terms, my performance wasn't really that far off. I just got the pacing wrong, and the legs buckling were a result of running right to my limits too early in the race. I'd love to know what I would have run had I got my race execution right. It may have only been a couple tenths faster, but that would have been enough to take third place of course. The Gowran AC athlete ran a 1 second PB, so you've got to hand it to him. If I had run to my best, it still would have been very close thinking more about it.

Training numbers

This has been a season like no other, and I'm delighted to have got a meaningful one in. The below highlights how much training I did in 2020 relative to 2017 and 2019. Of course the season went on for 6 or 7 weeks longer than usual so that has to be acknowledged, and the intensity of many of the sessions weren't as high due to not being in gym and being away from the track for 3 months, which allowed me to train more as I didn't need as much recovery time.

All sessions:

Autumn/Winter:

2017: 104
2019: 73
2020: 64

Spring/ Summer:

2017: 82
2019: 72
2020: 135

Gym sessions:

Autumn/Winter:

2017: 38
2019: 15
2020: 21

Spring/ Summer:

2017: 25
2019: 17
2020: 23 (only 1 in an actual gym)

Running sessions:

Autumn/Winter:

2017: 66
2019: 58
2020: 43

Spring/ Summer:

2017: 57
2019: 55
2020: 112

Final words

After my 2018 season I said I had to go away and dream it all up again. 2017 was my The Joshua Tree. I was in the form of my life over 100m and 200m and was consistently running fast times, which culminated in a 24.87 at Nationals. 2018 was more like Rattle & Hum, I was still running well, but well down on the highs of the year before, and growing a bit tired and fed up.

2019 was Achtung Baby, a PB in the 100m aged 34, something I never thought I'd see again. 2020 ended up more like Zooropa, a very experimental season which I will look back on more fondly as time goes on. It's a season I'll never forget.

For 2021, I'll try skip Pop and go straight to All That You Can't Leave Behind and hopefully have a few more beautiful days.