Things will come to those who wait...

tang1 wrote: »

Well done on the new position, great appointment(arse licking)!!

Ha, thanks!

I regret it already, help me!

Thursday: Drogheda Graded Meet 800m

Result: 2:13:XX

This was the definition of a "meh" race. I felt a little bit flat on the warm up and in particular when I was doing the strides. The conditions didn't help, was very warm and extremely windy, especially down the back straight, so pretty crap for 800m running. Was drawn out in lane 8 and after the break I was back from the main group alongside my brother and another guy. Fighting the wind down the back straight and was working hard, hit the bell after 66 which was too slow if I'm honest. Kept it going and got a meter or two over my bro and the other guy dropped off completely. The wind down the back on the second lap was horrific and I could myself slowing. The guys in front were coming back to me and I got within a few meters of them after them being 10 meters in front. Round the top bend and I could see my brothers shadow right behind me. Kicked with everything I had and kept in front of him and nearly caught the next guy, just ran out of track.

Not very happy with the time but the conditions just weren't good enough. Again I'm happy that I kept the pace steady, was talking to the winner afterwards who ran 2:00 recently and ran 2:07 tonight so all the times were well down. I am still struggling with the pace of these races, I just can't get comfortable with 800m pace, it just feels very fast. I know it is meant to be fast but I never seem to settle in. Whereas with 1500m pace I can cruise through the first two laps feeling strong. I have two more 800m planned this summer so I hope to get under the 2:10 mark. I know it's there, just need the right race. Physio tomorrow. Have a video of the race which I might stick up later.

Sunday: 80 minutes easy on grass

Absolutely glorious morning out in Oldbridge, took in a few of the hillier routes. Good company and warm weather made the miles fly by. Legs were tired at the end, two tough days in a row on the grass left its toll.

Good weeks training, two good sessions and a race. The plan for the next week is to get a good 1500m session on Wednesday, then I will run our club's four mile road race next weekend. I wouldn't normally run a race like this during the summer but it's our home race and we need a big team. The following week then is our County T+F champs which was the target for the summer, will run the 800m and 1500m hopefully.

Chivito550 wrote: »

My personal opinion would be to look after number one first. Athletics is an individual sport, and if the 800m and 1500m at Louth Championships are the target for the season then I don't see the purpose of running a 4 mile road race just 4-5 days beforehand. You won't gain much from it that close to the target race, and only risk doing damage IMO. Club is very important of course, and I loved to help out my club in Melbourne and get involved in certain club events when it suited, but if they had their way they would have had me throwing javelins and running relays before my 400m week in week out.

I'd also be completely against clubs staging road races smack bang in the middle of track season. It completely takes away from the track, which should be the focus for most athletes this time of year. This is obviously something which is not unique to your club, and something which seems widespread (club road races on at weekend's in summer, while track meets gets thrown to midweek). I suppose that's a discussion for a different thread though.

Just wondering, for interest sake, why are the Louth Championships on so close to Nationals? Are they not anticipating many seniors competing?

I'm not too sure why the county champs are so close to the nationals. Louth is quite a small county and the county champs wouldn't be as revered as the likes of the Dublin champs, so anyone who was giving the nationals a go would just skip the county champs (especially the top guys in the county).

With regards to the four mile race, I appreciate the concern. The county champs are on the Thursday so I will have a few days to recover before them. Running the four mile shouldn't take too much out of me as it won't be a 100% effort, but rather a run to make up numbers. The 1500m is the only race I am really concerned with on the Thursday (the 800m is just fro fun, and I might not even do it) and I feel I should have adequate recovery time. However I will review the situation with the coach during the week and get his opinion, I haven't informed him that I plan to run the road race yet so his opinion might be similar to yours!

10 mins W/U, 4 mile in 23:51, 10 mins C/D

Ha, I'm not a sprinter, my off season is also known as cross season and lasts about 5 months! :pac:

A quick update here:

Louth T+F Champs Senior 1500m, Silver Medal (4:31:XX)

800m Senior, Gold Medal (2:13:XX)

Happy with the 800m, not so much with the 1500m, made a bad tactical decision.

Will do a longer report later and a bit of an overview of my track season which I think ended with a bit of a whimper.

tang1 wrote: »

You just won gold & silver at your county track championships over what are regarded the two premier distances in middle distance, how the fook is that a whimper?

I realise that might sound a bit funny alright! It looks better than it sounds, there was only two seniors in the 800m so not a lot of competition and a bad decision in the 1500m might have cost me a gold. Also, the times are not much to write home about, both slower than I ran 6 weeks ago.

Might as well throw up a report while I can remember. Headed out with the intention of running the 1500m and maybe the 800m depending on how much time there was between the events. Big field in the 1500m, about 17 I think. Conditions were not the best, after a glorious day a big band of fog rolled in making it quite cold and the wind picked up with the arrival of the fog.

Off we went and I settled into about 7th place. I wanted to try and run as steady as possible, hit 400m in 70 seconds and 800m in 2:23. I was feeling a little fatigued at this stage but not so much that I thought I was going to blow up. We were gradually closing in on the group in front just as we hit the bell. At the 300m mark my brother went around me and the next group and here where I made a mistake. I could have went with him but I thought it was too far out. I got by the group with 200m to go but my brother had ten meters on me by this stage. My clubmate was roaring at me that the guys were catching but with 100m to go I kicked again and got well clear, and even caught one more guy just on the line. Time was average enough, about 4:31 or so, my brother picking up the senior gold about 4 seconds ahead of me.

I was a bit pissed, happy that I passed 3 guys in the last 300m but I should have had the balls to go with my brother. Plus it hurts even more when my little brother beats me! Felt OK after the race, none of the usual heaving and coughing so I obviously had something left in the tank.

Had about an hour off and I decided to give the 800m a go seen as I paid for it. They split the races and the field was quite large so my race had the seniors (all two of us), the juniors and the o/35's. Legs felt a little heavy for the first 200m which we hit in about 33 (too slow). I was in 4th at this stage and hit the bell in 67 (again, too slow). The other senior runner was getting lots of shouts from his club and passed me with 300m to go. I didn't panic and tried to stop the gap growing. With 150m to go I knew he was hurting and got back up to him, 100m to go and I kicked and got away from him, finishing in about 2:13 or so. Again no lying on the ground at the end and I was happy with the last 200m (the brother had me clocked with a 31 second final 200m).

I thought that was it but managed to get roped into a 4x100m relay which was fun, I ran the second leg and we managed somehow to get a silver medal even though we only had one real sprinter in our team. Good fun, although I'm sure legs will pay for it tomorrow.

So please bear with me while I do a little self-indulgent self reflection. That's pretty much it for my track season as I am away from the start of August. I'm going to run a mile race next Wednesday which will be my last race. Overall I think it went pretty well, especially at the start of last month where I set my 1500m PB of 4.27 at the Leinster championships. Since then I have struggled a little with the sessions and never managed to better that time. I think I peaked too early, which is something I will have to address for next year. I still haven't manged to come up with a good strategy for the 800m. I know I have a faster time in me than 2:12 and I need to be a little more aggressive when racing it, especially in the first lap. The positives are that I managed to get a full track season in without any serious injuries and I learnt a lot about racing and training. For next year I am going to try and get the top middle distance runners involved with our little group to help us structure the training for the season a little better. I really want to try and move up to the next level and get my times down closer to 4:10 and 2:05, which I hope is possible with the right training.

Anyway, that's enough moaning, back to training.