Usually I am not the type of person who looks back. Most of the time I am looking forward…to the next race, the next session, the next camp. The only time of year where I can really take a breath and look back and take in what I have done is this time of year. The season is over and the pressure is finally off, at least for the 3-4 weeks of a break I take. 2007 was a big season for me. I consistently ran well from the indoor season right through to the end of a long outdoor season. My hope is that 2008 is as much fun and that I continue to perform well on the track.
Running a full indoor season over 60m set the tone for the year. 60m was a distance that I was normally not very good at through the years. This was partly due to not having a great start and partly due, I suppose, to not having the confidence that I was good enough over 60m. To run 6.61 and get to the final of the European Indoor Championships was great. It gave me confidence coming into the summer that I was doing the right thing and that I would go well. I also had 2 important training camps in Spain and Portugal in April and May that were a success.
The summer started well and in the middle of June I ran 10.18 for the 100m at the European Cup in Finland. I have been a fan of sprinting all my life, ever since watching the Barcelona Olympics back in the early 90’s. The 100m is the blue riband event and the one that everyone wants to see. The final of the Men’s 100m at the Olympics is the biggest event of the whole 2 weeks (maybe a lot of you will dispute this!). To run so fast for the 100m, probably faster than I ever thought I could go, was a real buzz and it also caught a lot of people’s imagination at home. Again, it was a huge confidence boost especially as I saw the 200m as my better event.
I broke the national record in the 200m for the first time in rainy Sheffield in July by running 20.44 and quickly followed it with a 20.30 at the National Championships in Santry. To say I was shocked is not an exaggeration! It’s not that I never expected to run that fast after Sheffield, it’s just that to do it in Santry of all places was a surprise. Usually the Irish weather is not conducive to fast sprinting but I got lucky and was really motivated to put on a show.
The world championships in Osaka were good in many ways and slightly disappointing in others. I have to be satisfied with 12th place and coming in as 3rd best European, but still I would have been happier to have run a bit quicker. My coach and I learned so much though and next year we should get it right. I’ve got to work on my ability to last the rounds (4 200’s in 3 days is tougher than you might think!) and I’ve got to tighten up my race programme even more so I can peak at exactly the right time. It’s good to know where you can make your improvements instead of just blindly doing the same stuff every year and getting nowhere.
After the Worlds, I was wrecked as it had been a long season but I kept racing and got into some amazing races, like the Golden Leagues in Brussels and Berlin. I didn’t run great as I had nothing left in the tank for either but the atmosphere was superb (over 70,000 people in Berlin!!) and I learned a lot. These are the types of races that I’ve always wanted to race in and now that I have I don’t intend on giving them up! I also got in the World Athletics Final in Stuttgart. In order to get into this race you have to gather points throughout the season in the top races and the best people get invited. It was a nice cherry on top of a good season and I even ran okay despite coming 8th as the standard was very high.
After Stuttgart I took a three and a half week break from training (including a trip to Italy which was great!). I’m just back training as I write this – 2 days down, 294 to go till the Olympics!
So there you go. Now that I’ve got all that out of my system I can really look forward. It’s going to be a journey! I continue to put my medical studies on hold so there is nothing holding me back and I’m going to try to enjoy every minute of it!
The season is over and the pressure is finally off, at least for the 3-4 weeks of a break I take. 2007 was a big season for me. I consistently ran well from the indoor season right through to the end of a long outdoor season. My hope is that 2008 is as much fun and that I continue to perform well on the track.
Running a full indoor season over 60m set the tone for the year. 60m was a distance that I was normally not very good at through the years. This was partly due to not having a great start and partly due, I suppose, to not having the confidence that I was good enough over 60m. To run 6.61 and get to the final of the European Indoor Championships was great. It gave me confidence coming into the summer that I was doing the right thing and that I would go well. I also had 2 important training camps in Spain and Portugal in April and May that were a success.
The summer started well and in the middle of June I ran 10.18 for the 100m at the European Cup in Finland. I have been a fan of sprinting all my life, ever since watching the Barcelona Olympics back in the early 90’s. The 100m is the blue riband event and the one that everyone wants to see. The final of the Men’s 100m at the Olympics is the biggest event of the whole 2 weeks (maybe a lot of you will dispute this!). To run so fast for the 100m, probably faster than I ever thought I could go, was a real buzz and it also caught a lot of people’s imagination at home. Again, it was a huge confidence boost especially as I saw the 200m as my better event.
I broke the national record in the 200m for the first time in rainy Sheffield in July by running 20.44 and quickly followed it with a 20.30 at the National Championships in Santry. To say I was shocked is not an exaggeration! It’s not that I never expected to run that fast after Sheffield, it’s just that to do it in Santry of all places was a surprise. Usually the Irish weather is not conducive to fast sprinting but I got lucky and was really motivated to put on a show.
The world championships in Osaka were good in many ways and slightly disappointing in others. I have to be satisfied with 12th place and coming in as 3rd best European, but still I would have been happier to have run a bit quicker. My coach and I learned so much though and next year we should get it right. I’ve got to work on my ability to last the rounds (4 200’s in 3 days is tougher than you might think!) and I’ve got to tighten up my race programme even more so I can peak at exactly the right time. It’s good to know where you can make your improvements instead of just blindly doing the same stuff every year and getting nowhere.
After the Worlds, I was wrecked as it had been a long season but I kept racing and got into some amazing races, like the Golden Leagues in Brussels and Berlin. I didn’t run great as I had nothing left in the tank for either but the atmosphere was superb (over 70,000 people in Berlin!!) and I learned a lot. These are the types of races that I’ve always wanted to race in and now that I have I don’t intend on giving them up! I also got in the World Athletics Final in Stuttgart. In order to get into this race you have to gather points throughout the season in the top races and the best people get invited. It was a nice cherry on top of a good season and I even ran okay despite coming 8th as the standard was very high.
After Stuttgart I took a three and a half week break from training (including a trip to Italy which was great!). I’m just back training as I write this – 2 days down, 294 to go till the Olympics!
So there you go. Now that I’ve got all that out of my system I can really look forward. It’s going to be a journey! I continue to put my medical studies on hold so there is nothing holding me back and I’m going to try to enjoy every minute of it!
