November 24th These past 3 weeks have been pretty good. I am officially finished my first phase of winter training and am fully back in the swing of things at this stage. Today was the first day of the second phase. The main changes are that I start to bring in speed endurance sessions (like repetition 120s/150s etc) and I start to lift weights a third day a week.
These next two phases will be hard work but this is the time of year that I really earn any improvements next summer. This phase lasts till early January. I have a lot of goals that I hope will bring me on a good deal. Firstly, I recognise that I need to work very hard on my strength endurance (400m-type training). This is where Brian Doyle and Paul McKee in particular will be of huge benefit to me. I did a good hard session with Paul in the rain in Dublin the morning after the sports awards and hopefully there will be many more between now and the summer Also, my speed endurance can always get better and my sessions with Nick Smyth and Allan Scott will be high quality. I know also that I can make gains in the gym and I am working hard with my weights coach Aileen McGillivary. She is giving me some new exercises that are helping my stability and overall strength. Finally, I plan on seeing my physio in Scotland more often this phase to help me iron out a few ongoing problems that I think will be a big help looking towards next summer.
It was a busy time with awards last weekend. Firstly, I had the Athletics Ireland Awards dinner in Dublin last Saturday. I was nominated for the track athlete of the year along with David Gillick, Joanne Cuddihy and Roisin McGettigan. I was lucky enough to win it and had a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Normally I am not a huge fan of awards ceremonies…they’re not normally my kind of thing and can be a bit of a distraction. However, I think Athletics Ireland did a good job with it and it would be great to see a night like that eventually make it onto the television. Eileen O’ Keefe won the overall athlete of the year and it was clear how much it meant to her, which was great. It’s a sign of the state of Irish athletics that any one of about 6 athletes could have won the award. It was a healthy year for most of us and hopefully we can all build on it towards the Olympic Games. The second awards ceremony was the Galway Bay FM awards on Monday night. It’s always nice to be recognised locally as well as nationally.
I’m in my Scottish training base as we speak. I have my whole time planned right up till the New Year. I’ll head home in a week’s time for a week or so as I have an Olympic Council conference to go to before I return to Scotland for a couple of weeks of training before Christmas. I really like having things structured and planned well in advance like that. Structure is one the most important things that I have really instilled in my programme since joining Stuart in 2005. He has really drummed into his athletes the importance of planning and that you have to stick to that plan. He always says that he never does something without a reason. The important thing when you are training is to look less at what other people are doing and more at what you are doing yourself. Sometimes this is difficult but you’ve got to have faith in the plan that you and your coach have set out or else you will get side-tracked. Hopefully, we haven’t overlooked anything and we have the right programme going forward that will keep me injury-free, faster and stronger. “Never-Ending November” is almost over…but I have a funny feeling that this year it might be “Never-Ending December” instead!
Today was the first day of the second phase. The main changes are that I start to bring in speed endurance sessions (like repetition 120s/150s etc) and I start to lift weights a third day a week.
These next two phases will be hard work but this is the time of year that I really earn any improvements next summer. This phase lasts till early January. I have a lot of goals that I hope will bring me on a good deal. Firstly, I recognise that I need to work very hard on my strength endurance (400m-type training). This is where Brian Doyle and Paul McKee in particular will be of huge benefit to me. I did a good hard session with Paul in the rain in Dublin the morning after the sports awards and hopefully there will be many more between now and the summer Also, my speed endurance can always get better and my sessions with Nick Smyth and Allan Scott will be high quality. I know also that I can make gains in the gym and I am working hard with my weights coach Aileen McGillivary. She is giving me some new exercises that are helping my stability and overall strength. Finally, I plan on seeing my physio in Scotland more often this phase to help me iron out a few ongoing problems that I think will be a big help looking towards next summer.
It was a busy time with awards last weekend. Firstly, I had the Athletics Ireland Awards dinner in Dublin last Saturday. I was nominated for the track athlete of the year along with David Gillick, Joanne Cuddihy and Roisin McGettigan. I was lucky enough to win it and had a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Normally I am not a huge fan of awards ceremonies…they’re not normally my kind of thing and can be a bit of a distraction. However, I think Athletics Ireland did a good job with it and it would be great to see a night like that eventually make it onto the television. Eileen O’ Keefe won the overall athlete of the year and it was clear how much it meant to her, which was great. It’s a sign of the state of Irish athletics that any one of about 6 athletes could have won the award. It was a healthy year for most of us and hopefully we can all build on it towards the Olympic Games. The second awards ceremony was the Galway Bay FM awards on Monday night. It’s always nice to be recognised locally as well as nationally.
I’m in my Scottish training base as we speak. I have my whole time planned right up till the New Year. I’ll head home in a week’s time for a week or so as I have an Olympic Council conference to go to before I return to Scotland for a couple of weeks of training before Christmas. I really like having things structured and planned well in advance like that. Structure is one the most important things that I have really instilled in my programme since joining Stuart in 2005. He has really drummed into his athletes the importance of planning and that you have to stick to that plan. He always says that he never does something without a reason. The important thing when you are training is to look less at what other people are doing and more at what you are doing yourself. Sometimes this is difficult but you’ve got to have faith in the plan that you and your coach have set out or else you will get side-tracked. Hopefully, we haven’t overlooked anything and we have the right programme going forward that will keep me injury-free, faster and stronger. “Never-Ending November” is almost over…but I have a funny feeling that this year it might be “Never-Ending December” instead!
