“Did you just say 100m Indoors?”

It’s been a good few days. have done a lot of travelling in the last week, taking in races in Belgium and Finland. First up was Ghent. Training went reasonably well in the run-up to going away and we got a chance to blow away as much of the rustiness as possible by concentrating on my first 20m for a couple of sessions. I also decreased my weights down to an easy week which helped me feel a bit more sharp and rested.

I went into the race not really knowing what to expect, although I suspected things were going reasonably well because of the sessions I had been doing with Nick. When I got the start-list for the meet I realised that it would be very tough to make the final and get a second run. There were quite a few decent sprinters in the field with most of them putting their final preparations together before heading to the World Indoors in Valencia. I was drawn in Lane 6, alongside 2003 World 100m Champion, Kim Collins.

I ended up placing 5th in 6.77. This was good enough for 10th overall and unfortunately not enough to get to the final. As you could have almost predicted, my start let me down a bit. I lost almost all of my ground in the first half of the race and actually finished quite strong. This was quite encouraging and, even though I didn’t make the final, my last 20m showed me that my top speed is in good shape which is good looking forward to the summer. In fact my time wasn’t so bad because last year I actually opened with 6.78. Considering my preparation I was satisfied. And so onto Finland!

This wasn’t as easy as you might have thought. I was competing in Tampere which is not the easiest city to get to and it ended up highlighting one of the things that we athletes encounter every year….the journey! The best (i.e. relatively cheapest!) way to get there from Brussels was to take 3 flights. First I had to go to Frankfurt, then Copenhagen and finally arrived in Tampere at close to midnight. It was grand though and I must say that most of me was just enjoying travelling around to races again. I really like to travel to new places and have become quite accustomed to airports!

When I got the race in Finland originally I thought I was going to do a couple of 60m races as normal. However, over the weekend I learned it was going to be a 60m followed by a 100m. It is very unusual to run a 100m indoors and so I was very intrigued as to how it would go! You sometimes get these races in Scandinavia.

This is because they have full indoor 300m and 400m tracks. Frankly, the facilities in Finland are mind boggling and the interest in athletics is just something that the general public in Ireland will never understand or come close to. The track in Tampere was a full 300m indoors and it really was an experience to just stand in the middle of it and take it all in! At the European Cup last year in Vaasa (smaller than Galway!) we saw they had a 400m track indoors. It is just amazing that, for such a “rich” country with a relatively poor climate, we have indoor facilities that practically every other country in the world would laugh at. We really punch above our weight at world level when you see what everyone else has at their disposal.

The races went really well for me. The race in Ghent had helped considerably to get me tuned in to the competition environment and I really got up for it this time. My start was a good bit better and I ran decent race to come 3rd in 6.71. I was really satisfied with it and looked forward to the 100m. I approached the 100m in the same way and had a solid last 30m to win the race in 10.36.

To be honest, I was absolutely delighted with the time. It ranks up there as one of my best ever runs at that distance, besides my national record of 10.18. Outdoors you are allowed to get a certain amount of help from the wind which is obviously not there indoors; so to run under 10.40 in February was better than I expected and gives me loads of confidence looking forward. I managed to see the races on Finnish telly that night and I was happy with the way it looked, particularly at the end. Of course it was also an Irish record as this event is rarely run and puts me number one in the world this year…don’t worry I don’t think I will be getting carried away too quickly!!

So now on to the Scottish Championships on Saturday for my final 60m in this short race period. My main opposition is Nick, my training partner, so it is as much a squad championships as anything! I will probably be the underdog as Nick has run 6.69 this year but it should be a close race and I’m sure I’ll enjoy it!
Training went reasonably well in the run-up to going away and we got a chance to blow away as much of the rustiness as possible by concentrating on my first 20m for a couple of sessions. I also decreased my weights down to an easy week which helped me feel a bit more sharp and rested.

I went into the race not really knowing what to expect, although I suspected things were going reasonably well because of the sessions I had been doing with Nick. When I got the start-list for the meet I realised that it would be very tough to make the final and get a second run. There were quite a few decent sprinters in the field with most of them putting their final preparations together before heading to the World Indoors in Valencia. I was drawn in Lane 6, alongside 2003 World 100m Champion, Kim Collins.

I ended up placing 5th in 6.77. This was good enough for 10th overall and unfortunately not enough to get to the final. As you could have almost predicted, my start let me down a bit. I lost almost all of my ground in the first half of the race and actually finished quite strong. This was quite encouraging and, even though I didn’t make the final, my last 20m showed me that my top speed is in good shape which is good looking forward to the summer. In fact my time wasn’t so bad because last year I actually opened with 6.78. Considering my preparation I was satisfied. And so onto Finland!

This wasn’t as easy as you might have thought. I was competing in Tampere which is not the easiest city to get to and it ended up highlighting one of the things that we athletes encounter every year….the journey! The best (i.e. relatively cheapest!) way to get there from Brussels was to take 3 flights. First I had to go to Frankfurt, then Copenhagen and finally arrived in Tampere at close to midnight. It was grand though and I must say that most of me was just enjoying travelling around to races again. I really like to travel to new places and have become quite accustomed to airports!

When I got the race in Finland originally I thought I was going to do a couple of 60m races as normal. However, over the weekend I learned it was going to be a 60m followed by a 100m. It is very unusual to run a 100m indoors and so I was very intrigued as to how it would go! You sometimes get these races in Scandinavia.

This is because they have full indoor 300m and 400m tracks. Frankly, the facilities in Finland are mind boggling and the interest in athletics is just something that the general public in Ireland will never understand or come close to. The track in Tampere was a full 300m indoors and it really was an experience to just stand in the middle of it and take it all in! At the European Cup last year in Vaasa (smaller than Galway!) we saw they had a 400m track indoors. It is just amazing that, for such a “rich” country with a relatively poor climate, we have indoor facilities that practically every other country in the world would laugh at. We really punch above our weight at world level when you see what everyone else has at their disposal.

The races went really well for me. The race in Ghent had helped considerably to get me tuned in to the competition environment and I really got up for it this time. My start was a good bit better and I ran decent race to come 3rd in 6.71. I was really satisfied with it and looked forward to the 100m. I approached the 100m in the same way and had a solid last 30m to win the race in 10.36.

To be honest, I was absolutely delighted with the time. It ranks up there as one of my best ever runs at that distance, besides my national record of 10.18. Outdoors you are allowed to get a certain amount of help from the wind which is obviously not there indoors; so to run under 10.40 in February was better than I expected and gives me loads of confidence looking forward. I managed to see the races on Finnish telly that night and I was happy with the way it looked, particularly at the end. Of course it was also an Irish record as this event is rarely run and puts me number one in the world this year…don’t worry I don’t think I will be getting carried away too quickly!!

So now on to the Scottish Championships on Saturday for my final 60m in this short race period. My main opposition is Nick, my training partner, so it is as much a squad championships as anything! I will probably be the underdog as Nick has run 6.69 this year but it should be a close race and I’m sure I’ll enjoy it!