Sunday 27 January 2013

Competitive edge

The competitions have started now and they're going to be coming thick and fast for the next two months. This past week I've competed at the Newham Indoor event and the London Indoor Games at Lee Valley. Both of these events have taught me a lot, and it's been a real eye opener to see the way in which so many athletes dedicate themselves and prepare for events. Having never competed at 60m before, it's a steep learning curve that I'm currently on, and there is plenty to take away from very aspect of the meet. As I've alluded to in previous posts, my start is the area of my race that needs the most work, and this has been brought to bear in both events so far. I've managed to make a steady improvement over the course of the two meets (0.03s reduction in my 60m time) which is pleasing, as the entire race is decided on such fine margins. I've got 5 more events around London and one in Birmingham over the next 7 weeks, so balancing my training with this is going to be essential. One thing I've noticed in particular is the condition the best guys are in. Despite losing a good bit of weight and toning up quite considerably, I still look and feel like a pudding next to the best sprinters. As such, I'm going to focus on stripping away the remaining fat so that I can be in the best possible shape for the 24th March when I compete in Birmingham. There is still a lot for me to learn in terms of technique, preparation, diet: basically every aspect of being a top athlete. Luckily, I'm hungry to learn and hopefully this appetite for improvement will stand me in good stead over the coming weeks and months.

Sunday 6 January 2013

Down to business

After a 10 day rest over Christmas, I'm now fully back into the swing of training. The first session back was with Rikki Fifton up at Lee Valley, and it was gruelling; when it came to the plyometric exercises (bounding, jumping etc.) I was about as springy as a rhinoceros! We did some short sprints using block on Thursday which was really good, before doing endurance work in the form of 300m runs on Saturday and then an hour of core work with the medicine ball this morning. The savage hills runs have come to an end (which is a blessing) and all the work will be track based now to ensure our speed and endurance is as good as possible for the start of the season. I'm gong to really step up the training from now, upping it to 9 times a week for the next 2 weeks, as the following week sees me run in my first competition in the 60m indoor at Newham. I've got 8 indoor events between January 23rd and March 24th which should give me a pretty good indication of how much progress I've made whilst making it abundantly clear what I need to work on. I'm pretty excited about the prospect of running this distance as it's not one I've ever been timed at before, so the first time I do it I'm guaranteed a personal best! There are also 5 outdoor events from April to August where I'm hoping to improve on my PB each time. I'm hoping that come August I'll be touching 10.75s and feeling fit. I'm down to 13st 10lb now, having started at 14st 4lb back in September, so I'm definitely getting there, but could probably still stand to lose another 4 or 5 pounds, which would see my power to weight ratio improve even further. For now, I'm going to keep working hard and hope that I can reach the high standards that I've set for myself. It's far from easy but I'm really enjoying the hard work and dedication that it is requiring; fingers crossed the self discipline will be enough. If anyone is around and would like to come and see me compete at any point just let me know and I'll give you the event details!