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Far to early break.
For the last few weeks all I wanted to do was stop training as I was mentally done for the year and my performances where getting worse and worse and they did not start very well. Now I am in my break and I kind of want to start running again, I am essentially really bored. I have come to realize I do nothing and running gives me a purpose. Luckily I am in sunny Hastings and have some great friends to hang out, so I am spending my holiday at home. But I do not think I would rather be anywhere else. Filling my days is not too difficult and I always have football manager as my fall back so always have something to do. Tuning Aston Villa into the power house they deserve to be is my main job right now, I put in a 9 to 5 shift most days. If only it was real. I just need to tell Alex McCleish to go out and sign a few choice young players and we will be Premier and Champions League winners in five years.
Hastings is by the sea and the last two years has an annual pirate day. This is a simple but brilliant idea. Thousands of people dress up as pirates and head towards the old town and seafront. Last year ended with me saying I will not be here next year as I will be getting ready for the World Championships. That obviously did not materialize but I made the same statement again this year. I am officially ruling myself out of pirate day 2012 as it is during the Olympics. You heard it here first. I am retiring my pirate hat for a while.
I am currently taking at least 3 weeks maybe more of training to recover from the season and hopefully fix whatever has been my problem this year. Its extremely frustrating now that my 2011 season is over I am really anxious to get the 2012 campaign under way. I cannot wait to get back out to America and put in some miles, some tempos and probably some hills if Ron gets his way (which he of course will). This year of underperformance and disappointment has made me really focused and determined to get things right next year and achieve what I think I am capable of and represent GB at the Olympics. It has hit me how huge it is t have the Olympics 60 miles away from where I was born and spent the majority of my life in. In the words of Brandon Bethke ‘im super pumped’.
The Trials
Figured I would get the old blog back on as I have nothing else to do. I am running out of ways to fill up my days. Last weekend was the Uk world championships trials. This year did not go well, for the first time ever I did not make out of my heat. After being in the top 5 the last two years I was really disappointed with this. But I just had nothing, I executed my race well put myself in position but just had nothing when it came to it at the end of the race. Extremely disappointing but I am kind of just glad it is all over and I can regroup and get ready to run fast in 2012.
All in all the weekend was actually really enjoyable other than the racing. Team New Balance where there in fall force and NB set up a hotel for all of us. Was good to see all the boys, despite the fact that the guys are all essentially my rivals we all get on great and consider all of them friends. New Balance with the help of Kimbia athletics are producing a British Miler documentary series following the British milers with their build up to London 2012. It is really exciting to be part of this project. Hearing about it in a meeting up in Birmingham got me really excited for the 2012 campaign. I am looking at my early season finish as a potential bonus as it means my base training for the Olympics can start a few months earlier and I am really determined to make next year my best ever.
Not making the final for the first time freed up my Sunday, my Mum and Dad where up watching so instead of being in my room sleeping all day getting ready to race I could be a tourist. The highlight of the tourist day was a trip to the home of the greatest football team in the world Aston Villa fortress k Villa Park. The intensions of this trip were to go to the club shop bud unfortunately it was closed. So just did a lap of the stadium. Saw an open gate and just wandered on to the pitch. I have had a thousand day dreams about playing for the Villa at this ground was great to be pitch side. Did no look anywhere near as big as I thought it would be but a great ground with a lot of history. I am hoping to get up there before I head back over to the States for a home game. No sport in the world can rival live premiership football.
Running, running and more running.
Since racing in Melbourne. A race I was far from happy with we have been putting in some hard work. After a few days of being a tourist in Melbourne we all came back to Lower Hutt, Lower Hutt to get into a period of high mileage, harder runs, and hillier runs. We started with a bang and began with the hardest run of my life. The other members of the group were slightly more excited than I was and started smashing it up the first hill. This hill was very steep and very long. It was going up this first hill when I realized I was on my own for the rest of the run luckily i did not get lost. After that run I thought the intensity of the others going ‘mongrel’ might be too much for me. But I manned up and have not been dropped since. Think it may have been because the others slowed down a bit rather than being able to class my self as a mountain man. Wellington has some great runs, and in the main I have enjoyed running here. I must admit I have been moaning at the bottom of some of the inclines but most of the time I have got on with it and made it up there. And have only stopped one and a half times.
This week we took a running camp vacation to Lake Taupo to see some more of New Zealand which was a four-hour drive up the road and the drive included my first but hopefully not last visit to a town called Bulls. A great place which carried on the tradition of most New Zealand towns by having a large monument of something stupid, we saw a bull, and a wellington boot on the way up but sadly did not make it to the giant carrot. Next year!!
We stayed on a lake and ran in some real nice spots. I do not normally get that excited for runs but we saw some natural wonders such as a waterfall, redwood forests, some hot springs, and Will Leer’s moustache. One of the runs also took us to some thermal springs where sulphur gas is produced naturally. I have all ready declared that it was the worst smell I will ever come in contact with. Like rotten egg but worse, it was steaming as well which added to the pain. Other than that 10 minutes the running was real good and the trip was fun.
Track Meet for Chrsitchurch.
Unfourtantley as many people will know their was a major earthquake in Christchurch last Tuesday where many people lost their lives, and many more there homes. We are situated on the north of the two islands and the quake was on the South so we did not feel the earthquake. Are whole training group was due to fly out that week to race in Christchurch so are plans had to change.
My training partner and local hero Nick Willis with the help of many people decided that it would be fitting to continue with our intentions to race and do it in Wellington with the idea to raise some money for the earthquake appeal. With a lot of hard work from many people the meet got put together and took place yesterday evening. The event included Nick receiving his silver medal from the Olympics and some other events climaxing in a mile that are training group was to run. The aim was to go sub 4 and give the crowd a spectacle and hopefully encourage them to donate more. The medal ceremony was great and made me realize how incredible Nick’s achievements have been. I have never seen an Olympic Medal before. Want to get my own now.
The race day was very windy, Wellington is renowned for its wind and it did not let us down. Me and Will Leer decided it was only right that Nick ran sub 4 for the crowd if nothing else so we were prepared to take the wind if need be. We had pacers for the first 1k, Alan Webb was the man for the day coming back after his 800 pretty good for a guy that only arrived four days ago. The wind seemed to pick up if anything before the race and of we went, we where on it, and the pace was good. Alan did his job I took over with 600 to go and got us to the back straight where the wind was awful. Nick and Will took over and I was hoping to cruise in with them and run sub 4 as a group. The plan was going perfect untll we got in a mess and I went down. The hardest I have ever fallen. Got cuts on my kness, elbow, hip and shoulder. I was pretty frustrared as I felt good but I had done my job. My main aim was to help entertain the crowd and help the race go sub 4 and every one loves a good fall.
The meet was a massive success and has so far raised $20,000 NZ. And hopefuly that will coninute to rise. The atheltics community of Wellingotn are a great bunch and really excelled themsleves in making something positive out of such a horrendous incident in Christchurch and I was very proud to have been a part of it.
Down Under Part 2 (Lower Hutt, Lower Hutt)
New Zealand in a beautiful country with big hills on almost every horizon and there are some amazing views at the top of them here in Wellington looking over the city and at the harbour and coastline. The first four days of are trip where paradise, the weather was great. The running was really good, we did some great runs and on Tuesday night we stepped up and did are first real workout of the trip which was a success. Two mile tempo, 200, 800, 300, 400, 600, 300 done and done very well. Back to the house for diner and then to bed. Things where great. Then I realized I did not feel to good. I realized I was going to have to jump of the top bunk bed run to the toilet hitting my head on the door on the way and to put it nicely be sick for a while. Waking up the whole house, the smell was incredible. The next day was not a good one and I was barely able to produce the energy to drink. luckily the bug only kept me down for a few days and I was back healthy and fully fit five days later.
The sickness kind of helped me as I had come to the conclusion I was carrying a bit. Every one I train with is stick thin and there ribs glisten in the sun light. For me not so much. However I came to one of the worst places to lose weight as the food is very similar to the food in England so the cakes and sweets that I grew up eating are available in dairy’s (shops) on almost every corner. I managed to hold back pretty well, only lost my head a few times and think I look thinner. The scales have suggested that at least. Hopefully the proof will be in my results.
