http://www.athleticos.org/rss/recent-blogs http://c0179261.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/574138_9wyO7bOr6soCNH22v5S1_m.jpeg http://www.athleticos.org/rss/recent-blogs en-us Sun, 05 Feb 2012 01:47:55 GMT Sun, 05 Feb 2012 01:47:55 GMT http://www.athleticos.org/blog/40949-2012-Indoor-Season
My indoor season started about 2 weeks ago at the South of England Indoor Championships where I ran my first 60m races for nearly 3 years. The two rounds I did there went well for me, with firstly breaking my PB in the first round running 6.74 seconds before then reducing this again to 6.73 in the quarter finals. My coach and I decided to leave it there as we had a big race the following week in Glasgow to prepare for, and this proved to be the correct decision to make.

I arrived at the Aviva International Match very excited, but also with a lot of nerves with it being my first 200m of 2012 and having to do it against a great field which included last year’s 100m World Championships silver medallist and sprinting great, Kim Collins. Also, the fact that it was at Glasgow, albeit with fantastic support from a great audience, Glasgow is not renowned for being a fast track so I knew that the time here would not be close to challenging my indoor best so it was all about winning, which is again added pressure.
The race went brilliantly for me and I performed exactly how I wanted. I managed to get the win for the team and also beat the time that I ran at the same time last season on the same track, 21.17 compared to 21.38 seconds from 2011. All of this is seemingly good news for me and I’m pleased that I have shown clear progression to where I was at this time last season. Hopefully I can continue this progression at the UK Indoor Championships and build on it into the outdoor season!

Danny]]> Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:00:00 CST http://www.athleticos.org/blog/40949-2012-Indoor-Season http://www.athleticos.org/blog/40895-The-2012-Update 'Sup!
Sooo, we're at the end of the first month of 2012, so far, so good! Training has gone well over the past few months. I’m excited to be in this new phase of speed. Everything will start coming together a bit more over the next few weeks which is great as I will be opening up my season early March in Loughborough. Followed by my first ever indoor Discus meeting in Vaxjo, Sweden. It has pulled in some big names since starting only a few years ago so excited about that! Then I will be looking towards potentially competing in Montenegro for my 2nd European Winter Throws Champs, although this is yet to be confirmed.

The body seems to have held up nicely over the gruelling months of winter. I can feel my adductors working a bit harder now with the increased intensity of throwing. This just means I need to stay organised and get in enough recovery work so I don’t over do it and create an injury. Easily managed- in theory!

I now have a little page on my sponsor’s website- www.tudorwholesalefoods.co.uk. If you click on the RED writing, it'll have some info on what I'm up to, how to support etc. I'm also making some headway on getting support from other companies too, of which I am very grateful for! I think it’s really good to see so many athletes (including myself) trying to make the most of the Home Olympics and get so many local people/ companies involved in supporting them! I've never seen so much effort from people to help out athletes as positively and enthusiastically as this! The Olympics has put a good vibe across the nation!

That’s all from me for now. I'd like to say a quick thanks to Sarah Hewitt who is my training partner and has trained eyeballs out with me since August when we started winter training. You've been a massive, massive help and I definitely wouldn't have got anywhere near as many PB's in the gym (or anywhere else for that matter) if you weren't there! -Also my rep counting is rubbish so without you, I well may have turned into an endurance athlete by accident had you not been there to count for me!!

Speak soon!
@JadeNichollsT69
]]> Sun, 29 Jan 2012 06:47:00 CST http://www.athleticos.org/blog/40895-The-2012-Update http://www.athleticos.org/blog/40552-Baxter-The-Raging-Bull
Hope everyone has had a great Christmas and New Year and that the main man St. Nicholas had you all in his good books, not unless you’re me of course and you get an orange in your stocking… but then again least it wasn’t coal! I’m kidding my mother (oops I mean Santa) spoiled me! Which means two things this year really, she either misses me because I’ve barely seen her since September or she feels sorry for me for not having anything, either way though, I’m not complaining. I did get an orange though, every year I get one! What’s the crack with that!? Someone please tell me, I mean most people get like sweets and chocolates, shampoo, smelly-stuff and basically a load of random things that you look at and go ‘Oh.. Wow… Thanks’ as you mutter under your breath ‘what the hell’s this, never gonna use this, how old does she think I am!’ etceteraaa etceteraaa . But still, better than an orange wouldn’t you say..?

Anyway, it’s been a while since my last blog and I’ve not disappeared of the face of the earth, or put on any excess weight over Christmas, or even went in to hiding, so do not fear... although some of you may wish to see me disappear of the face of the earth, but keep that to yourselves, not unless you seriously do hate me and have the urge to say it to my face, then do, but it will most likely back fire! It’s just been that time of the year when you can sit down, relax and chill most days watching The Grinch or for me, as much as I love Jim Carrey and how much he hates Christmas, I’m a Home Alone boy… Safe to say as much as I’ve been chillin’ this has not been the case for me, as I am currently only a few weeks away from my first Indoor race of 2012. Also delighted to inform you all that the ice cold frosty mornings, stormy winds, torrential rain, and the occasional spell of snow, along with the radge Scottish ‘Hurricanes’ we’ve been under attack from lately has not been able to stop me training hard, or even miss a day’s training for that matter, despite feeling like an Extra in an episode of Frozen Planet!!

As I’m on this topic I’ve had a few encounters with mental animals recently during training too, this takes my tally up to 3 on severe near death attacks this month! The first came about only a few weeks ago when I was minding my own business, running along the path of the River Tweed, taking in the fresh air, the beautiful scenery, staying well clear from the raging bull in the field literally two feet to my right with the only thing separating me from the enemy was a 3 foot crumbled wall and a deactivated electric wire.. I knew it was deactivated because as I was plodding along minding my own business, I heard this ear drum bursting screech from behind, so, frightened, what does any runner do when in this situation, RUN FASTER and don’t look back until you’ve reached a safe zone… What do I do, stop, turn around and scream back, standing in complete shock as I see this nutcase of a Swan hissing with this huge, disgusting black slimy tongue, white feathered wings outstretched like an Archangel protecting his stretch of the track! Knowing I couldn’t out-run a psychopathic swan, there was only one thing for it, hand on the wire, thank God it was deactivated, [I would tell the Farmer at a later date but who cares in this life and death situation], I leapt over the ginormous 3 foot wall and pegged it as fast as possible up the extremely steep incline of Baxter’s Field! Out-sprinting the snorting Baxter and his squadron of heifers is no mean feat– no need for a Mondo track in this part of the world!! Luckily making it to the top of the field managing to scramble my way home, legs full of lactic, whole body burning and heart pumping! If there’s a Baxter in this year’s Indoor Trials I know I’m in with a shout!

However, this did leave me to wonder how David Attenborough is able to get amongst so many animals of the world and not get attacked..? When it suddenly came to me, he’s the real Dr. Dolittle, he can talk to any animal, creature or insect without fail, we can’t. Simples.

On a serious note I hope some of you have been watching the World Darts Championship, most who are not fans just assume that it’s fat sloth-like men, getting drunk throwing pins at a board, which is most likely true, if the only Darts you’ve seen are in your local pub. The real McCoy’s are extremely talented, and for the first time ever I have actually been inspired to succeed from these men. Now I’m not saying they look like Adonis, have perfect muscular physiques or go out for 10 mile runs every morning, but they are athletes, like us. And yes you may say that all they do is throw darts at a board, but all we do essentially is run around in a circle, I, only twice to be exact, Usain Bolt only runs in a straight line for less than 10 seconds and he’s a multi-millionaire. The perseverance I have seen from these players the past 2 weeks was incredible, the will to win, the desire, the courage, was second to none. Once it reached the semi-finals, there was 4 men who stood out beyond all the rest, the skill, the coordination and the determination, to never, ever, give up, even when you feel it’s all over, Adrian ‘Jackpot’ Lewis came back from losing 5-1 in sets and to win the match 6-5 after playing till 1 in the morning and then went on to win the Final and a £200k winning prize! It seriously was inspiring and with Darts you get the enjoyment, the laughs, the banter, as well as seeing fantastic, dedicated athletes who train and practice 10 hours a day every day putting on a performance which exceeds so many things I’ve seen in sport during my life time.

On that note, I’m going to have to love you and leave you... Oh and the word ‘Radge’ will most likely not be in the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, for you who don’t know what it means it’s just a Scottish term for mad or crazy! See, you get a bit of culture reading this too, move over Shakespeare.

Here’s to 2012 everyone, hope you all have an amazing year!

Guy 
]]> Wed, 04 Jan 2012 09:42:00 CST http://www.athleticos.org/blog/40552-Baxter-The-Raging-Bull http://www.athleticos.org/blog/40133-First-Mccain-Cross-Challenge-win-in-Bristol-and-European-qualification-for-Slovenia-
I also won my first UK cross challenge race in Bristol which was a great belated and long overdue birthday present! It was a very challenging course and not devoid of the odd pot hole! The grass was very overgrown and there were plenty of steep hills and long uphill drags. In fact it was a climb all the way apart from the obvious decents of the hills. It was a daunting task coming down them though as the mud was churning up and it was getting increasingly slipperly on the slopes! In fact it was quite tretcherous in parts. Health and safety was of paramount importance and spikes were essential! I started off in the pack for the first half a lap and then tried to test the others out such as Justina Heslop and Andrea Whitcombe who are both expereinced runners. I managed to break away in customery style and get a gap which I extended to the finish to 40 seconds. I was pleased that it was a proper cross country course and a true test of stamina. It took me back to when I used to run in the Derby Runner Cross country league not so long ago at a local level but I have come a long way since then!

My next race was is the European Cross country trials at Liverpool so I hope that it would stand me in good stead for that. My hopes were to qualify for Slovenia which I am pleased to say that I have ticked that box at the time of writing this report by finishing a close 2nd to Hatti Dean. So far we haven't had any snow like last year which made it very difficult to train so my preperations are going very well. In contrast to Alberfeira I have heard that Velenje will be similar to British weather which should suit me a lot better. 
]]> Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:17:00 CST http://www.athleticos.org/blog/40133-First-Mccain-Cross-Challenge-win-in-Bristol-and-European-qualification-for-Slovenia- http://www.athleticos.org/blog/39844-Honour-the-past-but-look-to-the-future
It's a cold winters night and most likely going to get worse, and I don't believe that anyone is enjoying the weather, so no jokes about how 'i should be used to it' because I’m from 'up North' as the people say down here, I hate it!! The weather that is, not the people!

Anyway, just another wee update on what's been going on recently, not a lot if I’m going to be honest... I'm joking. Been quite busy lately actually! Shortly after being made a Flames Ambassador, thanks to the British Heart Foundation and Chris McGeorge, I was asked to attend their 6th Flames Festival as a 'VIP'... A Very Important Person that is (sound's good that like!) Alongside the like of Liam Tancock, World 50m swimming Champion and World Record Holder in 2009 & Tommy Godwin who won two Bronze medals at the 1948 Olympics! Yes I did say 1948 there!! He's 91 and still going strong! So, as you could tell I was very nervous, not because I have an extremely high reputation to live up too.. but because I had to re-cite the Olympic Oath alongside Tommy in front of around 200 children, teachers, coaches, the local newspapers and a whole lot more! Nevertheless, I didn’t choke like Eminem on 8 mile and felt I delivered my part very well if I must say so myself.. Also hope Eminem isn't reading this.. may be being a bit optimistic there though!

So, think I should tell you what Flames is really about.. It's an Olympic and Paralympic value driven programme, delivered by young leaders, centred around physical activity and health. When Loughborough College's Olympic heritage began in 1948, Commander Collins was instructed to organise the Olympic Torch Relay and manufacture the Olympic Torch. Therefore, with the motto "Honour the past but look to the future" Loughborough College and the British Heart Foundation formed a partnership to contribute to an Olympic inspired legacy for children and young people. With this in mind the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) has formally recognised the programme and it's sought after the London 2012 Inspire Mark. What Flames and I as an ambassador try to achieve is to inspire, motivate, and encourage young people to be more active using Olympic and Paralympic sporting values, to increase physical activity levels of children and young people and to establish a sustainable legacy for physical activity in the UK.

The Flames festival was again, extremely successful and I am honoured to be a part of this programme and I hope I can live up to the quality of the other Ambassadors, learn from them and encourage the children as much as possible. This programme will not end after 2012, only keep growing from strength to strength using 2014 & 2017 and whatever other events our country may hold as a focus to keep children motivated, inspiring them to stay physically active.

That was a mouthful eh? Don't think I even write that much for my essays.. Just scrolled up, gutted it's only three paragraphs, felt like a lot more, even my fingers hurt, think I’ve got blisters from typing so much, must be the big words - like 'and', 'up' and 'to'! Now I know why I struggle in lectures, and in life. (I'm jokingggg by the way - hopefully a few months down the line you'll understand my sense of humour.. for now I’ll tell you when I’m joking!!)

Anyway, as soon as the festival came to a close I had to rush off to run Beacon Hill, the joys! To then rush back, pack and jump on a train to London for an On Camp With Kelly Education Day, of which I arrived 1 minute before my train arrived!! However, I was beaten to this fashionably late ethos by Mr Schofield who strolled down the platform, oblivious to what was going on as the doors to the train were virtually closing! Buttt, he used his 800m experience and knowledge to wrestle his way through the exodus of people, elbowing old lady into lane 2 and knocking out a Loughborough N.E.D (called chavs down here) to smash the train doors open with his ridiculous core strength and make it on to the train! Nah, I’m lying there actually, we got on the train last minute but wasn't as exciting as that and Robbie doesn't have any supernatural powers.. Well as far as I’m concerned.. he may surprise us all one day.. Or not. Jokes aside, the day spent on the 23rd floor at Aviva Offices was very beneficial and I learnt a lot through the workshops in Financial Planning and CV & Interview skills. On top of this the views overlooking the majority of the buildings in London and the London Bridge was incredible!!

Now then, a great weekend can only end/start with some cracking training of which happened. Following my return back from London I smashed out some hill reps (well quite a lot and they we're pretty fast!) followed up by a beasting session on the track on Tuesday night which was one of the best sessions of the year so far! Things are looking good, so fingers crossed this continues!!

For now, Goodnight! Or Eminem if you're reading this bruuu, Good Morning.. I'll beat you in a rap battle.. Easily!!
]]> Mon, 28 Nov 2011 22:51:00 CST http://www.athleticos.org/blog/39844-Honour-the-past-but-look-to-the-future http://www.athleticos.org/blog/39738-Winter-Training-phase-2
So, training has been going well. Stronger than even before, maintaining speed and flexibility despite being a bit heavier. PB's are coming out of everywhere in both the jumps and lifting :-) Great times ahead! I am however coming to the end of my strength block now. Couple more weeks to go and we'll be into the phase of Mission: 2012, which will be specific strength. Exciting times!

In other news, my attempts to spread the word about my potential Olympian status is on the up! Been doing a number of award evenings, school visits and other things. Getting quite a lot of requests now so am finding myself having to turn down a few! So juggling and prioritising my time is becoming increasingly important. God knows how the likes of Jess Ennis and Mo Farah do it! I'm some way off that and feel really bad when I have to say no!

Other things in my life, I've been informed that my training venue in Horsham may be demolished next year in December! Bad news for everyone that trains there in all sports! Hopefully there will be enough people to change the council's mind! Please sign the petition and help me save my (and others) training venue! http://nicky.epetitions.net/

Thats been the majority of my life so far, to stay updated, follow me on Twitter @JadeNichollsT69 for daily posts and updates. ]]> Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:13:00 CST http://www.athleticos.org/blog/39738-Winter-Training-phase-2 http://www.athleticos.org/blog/39411-Charnwood-are-champions-again-in-National-x-country-relays
It was a bit of a shock to the system after a season of road running let me tell you but it was all part of the fun and isn't that what cross country's all about anyway? I don't mind getting my spikes dirty now and again. It was all in the spirit of tradition! We we're defending champions after all and this was to be our 4th title defence in a row and i'm glad to say that Charnwood kept the flag flying for yet another year with a 5th consecutive win! What a tradition we have in this event and to anchor the team home on last leg was such an honour as I have been on first for the past two years so it was great to go through the tape on the glory leg for the first time! :)

It was a great team effort as Juliet Doyle got us off to a flying start and Sarah Maude kept us in contention with a strong run not too far off 3rd place. All that was left for me to do was chase the 3 in front of me. I just had to reel them  in and stay on my feet of course and keep my shoes on my feet this time. I didn't even have any duck tape on and there will always be that niggle in the back of my mind after losing both of my spikes at the National Cross country at Parliament hill (2009) where it was ankle deep in mud after the first 800m! I carried on to finish 17th on that occasion which was a great effort to even keep going and stay on my feet! Anyway with this to the back of my mind I went round the corners really well thanks to my 15mm spikes and Lee for putting them in for me! I took the lead just entering the wood and then just pretended I was doing a rep around the outwoods in Loughborough where I have often trained. I must say it is a very short distance for me 3000m but on that course it is enough as it has some very testing hills and inclines. I must say the part that starts to really bite is just coming out of the main wood over the grass towards the little spinney on the right. It was very water logged and with lactic starting to build up I had to work really hard up there before I could even think about the run for home! Soon I was out of the woods and the danger of blowing up was gone. Emma Pallant from Aldershot (our main rivals) was 15 seconds behind by the finish so it was a decisive victory in the end I breathed a sigh of relief and then it was off to do a long cool down 'phew'! Job done.

Thats 8 national gold medals now which I am very proud of since I joined Charwood 3 years ago so thats quite a collection displayed on my rail at home all in a line! They are all the same but with different meanings and acheievements. 3 for the national cross country champs, 1 for the 6 stage relays, 3 for the cross country relays and 1 for the quickest time of the day in the 4 stage road relays. My split incidentatly of  9.49 was quickest time of the day and bettered my time from last year by 11 seconds which in those conditions was an achievement in itself ! Can't wait for the next race now that i've cut my teeth on the cross country curcuit again. Its given me a taste of things to come and its looking good into the European trials :)]]> Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:58:00 CST http://www.athleticos.org/blog/39411-Charnwood-are-champions-again-in-National-x-country-relays http://www.athleticos.org/blog/39296-The-fruits-of-my-labour-pay-off-with-the-help-of-a-top-banana
The past few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind and sureal to say the least. Especailly when you find yourself in a race with the greatest runner of all time 'Haile Gebresaile' and being paced by a human banana en route to victory in the Great Birmingham half marathon it makes me wonder if I was actually dreaming!

I did my first interview for channel 5 before the race and was a bit like a deer caught in the headlights for a start but after a few takes I managed to come across as quite natural. I was actually more nervous about that than the race but again it something I have to get used to and when I heard the voice of Stuart Story who wanted to interview me I recognized it straight a way as the commentator on the BBC who covers the Great run series and was thrilled that he actually wanted to get to know me and find out in his words 'what makes me tick!' which was great as well.

When I found out Haile was in the same hotel as me I was in 'Stalker mode' ready to pounce for an autograph or 5 but he was late from an awards evening and retired to his room for the night with room service which I don't blame him for especailly when he had the honeymoon suite. I got what I wanted in the end anyway! 

Anyway the race went without a hitch. I didn't intend to lead from the off but found the support on the streets of Brum fueled my adrenaline. I was joined for the first 3 miles by Louise Damen as we went through 5k in 17 minutes. A lot of people came out of the houses to watch the Great man grace thier pavements and I got alot of support too at this point running beside some 'fast food' which became the focal point for some media attention! He was regularly referred to as banana man and he was prooving to be my main opposition and pace maker for the time being. One man said to me glad you didn't slip on the banana! what a punch line! He was hot on my heels for the next few miles and tried to spit from the bunch at 10k but I reeled him back in put my foot down and shook him off just after 10k going down a gradual hill! I went through 10k in 34.15 which was even splits anyway but for now it was bye bye banana man!

I was sorry to part company as it was quite a lonely run from then on through 8 to 9 miles through the park and reaching 10 miles in just under 55 minutes I was still going strong and had gathered momentum. However the worst was still to come! At 11 miles there was the most aweful hill which is never a welcome sight in a half marathon just when it starts to bite! I grited my teeth and hoped my legs would carry me which they did luckily. It lasted for about 800m but seemed more like a mile and what was referred to as a grudual incline was more like a mountain! Those hills payed off at Bradgate Park anyway! Even Gebresasase said he was crying going up that hill which is saying something! The trademark smile was definately not present going up that one! Coming off and feeling slighly jelly legged I still had 1 and a half miles to run which doesn't sound a lot but after that hill the finish line could not have come quick enough! With 800m to go my friend Claire had kindly made a banner saying 'go Gembo!' which really spurred me on and gave me that sprint finish to smash my PB by 1 min 10 seconds! It was hard on my own and with the wind in my face for the last 7 miles but I did myself proud to come in over a minute in front of Louise who I respect had a lot of mileage in her legs but never the less it was another good scalp as she is an Olympic marathon hopeful and has already ran the time for it. I was glad she beat the infamous Banana man as well as that could have been a bit embarassing! We are good friends from the European Cross country chamionships where we were room mates so it was nice to see her and wish her luck with her endevours before she does her next marathon.

After the race I did a live interview for channel 5 which went well and Brendon Foster said weldone. The first thing I said was 'I was glad I beat the Banana which was the main thing!' Aparently he knows me and has been in the same races a few times but I wouldn't recognise him without his banana suit. Anyway thanks to him and Gebresalase it really was a memorable event and he certainly kept me entertained- Top Banana! :)]]> Mon, 24 Oct 2011 11:55:00 CDT http://www.athleticos.org/blog/39296-The-fruits-of-my-labour-pay-off-with-the-help-of-a-top-banana http://www.athleticos.org/blog/38710-A-bend-in-the-road-is-not-the-end-of-the-road
For those of you that know me, you’ll know that last season was a very frustrating one for me. During the indoor Birmingham Games, I pulled my hamstring. 6 weeks later it was finally better and I was ready and excited to start training properly again to get myself ready for the outdoor season. However unfortunately my body had other ideas. I then seemed to get injury after injury which caused me to miss several competitions including the England Athletics U23 and European Trials. This was devastating for me as I thought my chance of competing at the U23 European Champs in Ostrava was over. However thanks to the UKA futures programme and my physio, Shane Kelly, I managed to come back from the injury and run a few quick 150m’s. This gave the selectors confidence that I was ready to compete and compete well. So finally it started to all turn around. The fact that I managed to run a personal best of 23.41s between injuries was also a factor that helped me get selected for this competition. If I had not gone to Geneva that weekend and run a decent time, then my 2011 season would have been completely different.

Unfortunately it turned out that I was not quite ready to compete in Ostrava and I didn’t manage to qualify for the final. This was the first international championships that I had not made the final, and understandably I was completely gutted. However all the team coaches in Ostrava were extremely supportive and had alot of faith in me that I would be able to go back to the UK, train well for 2 weeks, and come back strong at the World trials in Birmingham. However, again my body thought otherwise and the day after returning to the UK I got a bug. I found it difficult to pick myself up after knock down after knock down and was considering whether to call it a day for the season. However, I’m not the quitting type, and I decided that I did not not want to get into the habit of being afriad to compete incase I didn’t run very well. I turned up at the trials with the attitude that I had nothing to lose and to just see what I could run. I ended up coming 6th which wasn’t too bad considering it was my first senior champs.

A few weeks later I was told that there was a possibility that I could get selected for the World Student Games in China, however it was only a slim chance. I found myself having to pack everything still without knowing whether I would be flying to China later that evening. I ended up getting a phone call at 2pm to say that I was needed to fly to China, and I had to get to Heathrow airport (I was in Bristol at the time) by 5pm. Luckily because I was practically sat by the front door ready to go once I got the phone call, I managed to get to the airport in time and make it to China.

China was a great way to end my season before the London Olympics. The weather was exceptionally hot out there so it took a while to get used to. I was quite nervous when out in China as I was unsure how I was going to run. I still hadn’t been running very quick in my races leading up to the Games, so my confidence was pretty low. However after my heat of the 200m, with my new Nike spikes, it all changed. I ran the race much better and it felt like I was back to my normal self. It may have taken a few months but I eventually got there. I ended up qualifying for the final which was going to be my 4th 200m race in 2 days. Although I had never done this before and found it quite challenging, it was the perfect learning experience, in the lead up to the Olympics. I came 8th in the final and ran my 2nd fastest time of the season. Considering I was in lane 1, I was very happy with this and felt I had remembered how to run a 200m again!

I was then in the 4x100m relay team along with Amy Harris, Margaret Adeoye and Ashleigh Nelson. We came home in the horrible position of 4th, however we beat the Russian team which was a great result as they were one of the favourites. I was then told after the 4x100m final (30mins before the 4x400m final) that I was needed to run the anchor leg. I had only ever run 1 400m leg before so the thought of having to run my 2nd ever 400m infront of 61,500 people was terrifying. I think running under a mixture of fright and adrenaline is the way to go though. I ended up running a split of 51.93s in my 7th race in 4 days. I couldn’t believe it. Not only did I get a good split time, but we also got the bronze medal. This was my first international medal and the experience of standing on the podium in a stadium of that size was indescribable. I will certainly never forget that moment.

My 2011 season just goes to show that you should never give up if you get a few set backs. I almost finished my season prematurely and I am so glad that I decided to keep going, as I would not have gone to china and realized my new found love for 400’s!!

I then enjoyed a couple of weeks rest on holiday in France before returning to training to get myself ready to achieve my goal of qualifying for the Olympics next year.

I started my winter training last week. Luckily i’ve got 2-3 weeks of general strength work before getting into the difficult sessions on the track.

At the moment I’m doing general circuits which are followed by a tempo running session on the grass. I am also doing some light weights sessions too. New to my training this winter are ‘rope drags’ and sled pulls as well as a few kettle bell circuits. My new Nike free shoes are perfect for this kind of training as they are comfortable and light. I’m looking forward to do a standing long jump competition in training tomorrow as it’ll be a nice break from the usual stuff we do.

Em

-x-
]]> Mon, 10 Oct 2011 12:41:00 CDT http://www.athleticos.org/blog/38710-A-bend-in-the-road-is-not-the-end-of-the-road http://www.athleticos.org/blog/38410-Winter-Training-phase-1 'Sup!
So, I've done my first block of winter training, 4 weeks in the bag already. Was a shock to the system to say the least when I started on that first day. But I'm glad I've had the opportunity to get started earlier than everyone else who went to Daegu. I'm off to Cyprus today which will be a nice rest week. I'll probably just be doing some light stuff, active recovery type training whilst I'm out there, but nothing more. Mostly just tanning it up ready to come back and hit it hard again!

Outside training, things have been moving along in terms of publicising myself and trying to get some additional sponsorship. Aside from my current sponsors- Tudor Wholesale Foods, I have been trying to gather more interest to help me get to the London Olympics. I have also cut down my work hours to just 16hrs per week. Means living on a bit more of a budget but if that's the difference of making the Olympics and not making it, it's a small price to pay!

So that's pretty much everything. Nothing else major is coming up. Next milestone will be Christmas as we go into the new year. But between now and then, quietly keeping my head down and getting ready for the biggest season to date.

...Next blog will be when I'm a bit browner!

 
]]> Sat, 10 Sep 2011 07:14:00 CDT http://www.athleticos.org/blog/38410-Winter-Training-phase-1 http://www.athleticos.org/blog/38122-Deagu-World-Championships So I've arrived in Korea!! The journey wasn't that enjoyable but I'm here now and thats all that matters :) The hotel is really nice and im going doing my first session down at the track this afternoon. :)

Went swimming in the hotel swimming pool yesterday, and on my way found a driving range in the hotel, so im definatly going to be on that to keep myself from being bored, theres not much to do but we've got free internet, big TV's in our rooms and an athlete lounge with all sorts of games :PP

Will keep you up dated on how things are going out here :)

Holly
]]> Wed, 17 Aug 2011 19:47:00 CDT http://www.athleticos.org/blog/38122-Deagu-World-Championships http://www.athleticos.org/blog/38079-Post-UK-Champs-and-World-Trials Hey,
Sooo...news was not so great when the World announcements came out! Can’t say I never saw it coming though. Unfortunately I didn't get my second B standard so I could not be considered for the World Champs, even after guesting at 2 competitions of which I was begging to be part of!

So the Trials were nothing more than 'OK' for me. I won which was half the job, but did not get that 2nd 59.50m I needed to secure my place on the team. Although conditions were not great, I was pretty unhappy with my distance that day (56.19m) and felt it should have been further. The following weekend (last chance to qualify), I guested at Lee Valley at a UKWL where the wind is likely to be helpful. But again I fell short of the qualifying mark and threw 58.7?. Just not good enough. To take my mind off the selections, I went to Helsingborg in Sweden to compete at another venue where the wind is known to be good for Discus throwers. Warmed up around 59m+ but only managed 57m in the comp. Just not meant to be this year!

Upon reflection, although I am disappointed with the inconsistency this year, my top 5 throws are better than last year and I did manage to break the 60m barrier. So there are a few positives that have emerged. As for the Worlds, well I will be watching from my sofa at home and using the time to my advantage. Me and my coach (Andy Neal) have had a conversation and decided to start winter training on 15th August 2011. Much earlier than ever before but for good reason. These will be my most important winter months to date. Traditionally I hate winter training but this year, were training for the Olympics. This is a whole new ball game! I’m actually looking forward to it and we will be trying a few new things this year which I'm very excited about. Also I estimate that I will have approx. a month if not more before the rest of the world starts winter training. Not going to the Worlds could prove a blessing in disguise.

I have one more scheduled competition this year in Birmingham which is the UK Challenge but would have started winter training by then so not too sure what will happen at that! Going there to win. Any prize money will be added to my '2012 fund' that I am saving myself.

Wish me luck!
]]> Tue, 16 Aug 2011 01:13:00 CDT http://www.athleticos.org/blog/38079-Post-UK-Champs-and-World-Trials http://www.athleticos.org/blog/38039-European-U23s-UK-Trials-and-World-Champs This has without doubt been the best season I have had to date and really have been grateful to everyone that has contributed to it and supported me throughout this year and previous years. After the season started so well for me back in May, I have had a few hamstring problems which interupted my training and competition plans slightly but have been fortunate enough to still be able to compete how I wanted to and be competitive at the big competitions for me.
In July I went to Ostrava for the European U23 Champs, I went there with the aim of winning but unfortunately I finished in the 'dreaded' fourth position, just 0.04 secs off a bronze medal. At the time I was gutted, so disappointed not to get the medal, however, looking back it was probably a better run than my personal best earlier in the year when the wind was taken into account and I had lane 8, 20.71 into a headwind of -1.4 m/s is far beyond my performances from last year. I was then included in the team with Andrew Robertson, Kieran Showler-Davis, Richard Kilty and Deji Tobais, who ran in the heats, for the 4x100m where we came away with a Silver medal. This was my first International medal and as a result I was very happy with the Championships, especially as I will be young enough to compete in the Champs in 2 years time!
Two weeks after Ostrava we had the UK Champs and World trials in Birmingham. In the final I came 5th in a time of 21.06 secs into another strong wind and this time from lane 1. This was again a huge step forward when I compare it to the Champs last season. This led to selection for the Crystal Palace Diamond League for the 4x100m relay where I was in a GB team that equaled out seasons best time of 38.60 secs. The Diamond League was one of the best experiences of my life and to run in front of that many people for Great Britain is a moment that I will NEVER forget. A couple of days later (Aug 8th) I was all packed and ready to go to the airport to fly to China for the World Uni Games, then I received a phone call from Tony Lester saying that I had been selected to compete at the World Championships for the 4x100m relay. I still can't believe it and it hasn't yet sunk in. To be selected for the World Champs at the age of 20 is my proudest moment and biggest achievement of my life and I am so appreciative for this opportunity with London just around the corner. Hopefully the team can go out there and be competitive with the rest of the World.
Sorry that this has turned into a bit of an essay!
Danny]]> Wed, 10 Aug 2011 12:30:00 CDT http://www.athleticos.org/blog/38039-European-U23s-UK-Trials-and-World-Champs http://www.athleticos.org/blog/37852-European-U23s-and-Aviva-Trials
Had a very fun media day yesterday in Birmingham ahead of this weekend, first press conference, very exciting :)

Catch how I do on Sunday at Aviva Trials and Champs, on BBC2 :)
]]> Fri, 29 Jul 2011 07:42:00 CDT http://www.athleticos.org/blog/37852-European-U23s-and-Aviva-Trials http://www.athleticos.org/blog/37848-Pre-UK-Champs-and-World-Trials
Prep for this comp has been good. Weather has been decent recently and I have been training well at the elite training camp that is Maplehurst Farm (field in West Sussex that my training group throws at in the company of sheep but more recently, alpaca). 'tis fun! Had a rest day yesterday however work was crazy busy and a had some photos done straight after my shift so didnt really feel like a rest day at all! Never mind. Today is a proper rest day just with a visit to my Chiropractor and the drive to Birmingham. Then compete tomorrow at 4.38 precisely! Should be a good comp tomorrow. It'll be another head-to-head with Eden Francis- both of us have 1 'B' standard for the Worlds and will be looking to get the all important second qualifier of 59.50. Also Philippa Roles is down to compete which, to my knowledge, will only be her second comp of the year. Phil has been winning medals at this Championships for the past 15 or so years so I will be expecting a battle from both of them.

Have to big up my training partners Chris Scott and Dave Coleman who go in for a much improved level of competition that is the mens Discus on the Sunday. 4 guys with the 'A' standard, 1 with a 'B', only won can win...ladies and gentlemen, place your bets!

Other than that, all is well in my camp and I am ready to go! Should be a good one to watch so watch this space. Saturday coverage on the BBC starts at 6pm :-)]]> Fri, 29 Jul 2011 03:16:00 CDT http://www.athleticos.org/blog/37848-Pre-UK-Champs-and-World-Trials http://www.athleticos.org/blog/37648-GB-123unfortunately-not After initially being severely annoyed and upset, i realised that i ran the race i wanted to run and for 350m it was spot on, just i just lacked that little something extra that i needed towards the end. On the day i just wasn't good enough and i will make sure that next time the same thing doesn't happen. Fair play to the rest of the guys, they all stepped up and all 5 non-british guys pb'd. I had vowed to make sure that if anyone wanted to beat me they were going to have to run very well, and i feel that is what happened, its just a shame i couldn't run better myself.

Im looking back now and thinking of the disappointment of last year and failing to make the world junior team, and seeing it as a massive positive that i have been able to come back this year and just make the championships. So i will move on now and hopefully it won't be too long until i am pulling on the gb vest once again.

No excuses.

Ciao]]> Mon, 18 Jul 2011 02:39:00 CDT http://www.athleticos.org/blog/37648-GB-123unfortunately-not http://www.athleticos.org/blog/37591-Eastern-Europe-is-the-place-to-be
The trials went really well after getting the conditions that everyone was craving and to run another pb to just inch the 3rd selection spot was very satisfying. But to be involved in that race was a really good experience, especially with nathan and jack going out and running equal national records. And for the four of us to all go sub 50 was quite ridiculous, and it created a bit of history in the process.

So after getting the phone call, there was only one thing i had to think about, and everything was focussed on me being in perfect shape when the champs came around. The two races i had planned to have between then and now wern't great, one just being slow and the other one with me not even getting past the second hurdle. But since then physios have been working their magic and getting my back, back into proper working order. So hopefully after another physio session later today, i should be good to go for my heat tomorrow, even after a ridiculous 12 hour journey to get here.

Conditions out here look like they are going to be good, the track looks and feels great, and the rooms are good and we are managing to eat the food which is always a bonus. Although a tesco trip is probably needed, even if i did manage to fill my suitcase up to 29kg mostly with food. Sharing a room with the main man himself Mr. Lawrence Clarke does mean that there is some Team Dakin/Team Arnold integration, but sometimes these thing have to happen, il keep him in check though don't worry.

I will keep you updated while im out here, and thats a promise this time.

Ahoj (I am reliably informed this is how to say bye, in czech, im probably wrong tho).]]> Thu, 14 Jul 2011 01:40:00 CDT http://www.athleticos.org/blog/37591-Eastern-Europe-is-the-place-to-be http://www.athleticos.org/blog/37557-Great-Start-to-July
My first comp was a league match for Shaftesbury Barnet at the home track of Copthall. I produced a new SB of 58.17m and broke the divisional record. Also went to the top of the rankings :-)

Then couple of days ago we had throwsfest. Oh throwsfest.....!!!!! Wow what a great, great day and we couldn't of had better conditions. This was a big comp for me as I was going against Eden (Francis) who is the main British rival for me right now and also I had Diammond League the next day. Eden started off really well and opened with a PB (59.72). I had 2 no throws for the first 2 rounds :-/ which wasn't exactly my plan. Then round 3 came and I PBed with 59.60- an Olympic and World B standard although 12cm behind Eden. Then round 4 I threw the magic distance of 60m! 60.76 to be exact! I can finally say Im a 60m thrower! whoop whoop! Great feeling although I didnt show it. I think I've become one of those miserable people that never look happy, even when they've hit their first Olympic standard!! I need to work on that. Round 5 was 58 something (over my previous best of 58.38) and the final round was 59.70. All 4 of my leagal throws were PB's. What a good day. Really happy with my distance and happier about my competitive response.

Yesterday was the Birmingham Diamond League. As I currently have no sponsor, I wore the GB kit. Showers were predicted and I assumed it would rain whilst I was throwing. (Not because I'm a pessimist but because I have not worn the British vest in dry weather since the U23 Europeans in 2009!!). However, to my surprise, it was dry!! Well mostly, it was really light spitting but nothing to worry about. I was ranked 8th, was 6th up to round 3, then the Olympic Champ over took me-damn, but finished 7th. So not too bad. I threw 58.65 (I think) which would have been a PB had I not competed the day before. So cant complain. Series was rubbish but it only takes one throw to win, so Im happy I had a decent throw early on.

Overall, that weekend I had a total of 12 throws, 5 were PB's, 3 were Olympic and World B standards and 1 was 60m. Not bad considering I dont know what Im doing technically! When I get some good feelings about throwing, I'll be very excited!

Next for me is English Champs in Bedford, then Trials.

Quick well done to Lawrence who set a new British record of 67m, my training partners Chris Scott who also got the Olympic and World B standard and a PB of 63m, Dave Coleman new PB 56m and Simon Cooke 56m. Also well done to Emma Jackson who ran so well last night! ]]> Mon, 11 Jul 2011 06:27:00 CDT http://www.athleticos.org/blog/37557-Great-Start-to-July http://www.athleticos.org/blog/37502-National-Record I had such a great time, everything felt good, the track was amazingly quick, weather was perfect, slightly winding but not enough to bother me! I was vaulting against some of the best germans and it really helped me along to jump the big heights :)

I have been waiting for this moment all season, its only my 4th competition and i still think theres more to come, i need to get the timing right so this comes in the Worlds in Dageu :)

Ive had two amazing vaulting session this week, getting 4.70 has just been a massive confidence boost...also something in my technique has just clicked!
Look out for my results in the diamond league this weekend in birmingham :) ]]> Sat, 09 Jul 2011 02:01:00 CDT http://www.athleticos.org/blog/37502-National-Record http://www.athleticos.org/blog/37458-European-Under-23-Championships My last race was the trials for the European U23s which went very well for me, the time wasn’t anything great, however, to win my first National outdoor title was a fantastic feeling. I've been back into training down in Bath now as I look forward to going out to Ostrava next week to try and challenge for a good placing (hopefully a podium position) at the European u23s. On a personal level, I am hoping I can challenge the best in Europe and be in contention to win Gold at the championships, and if a good time follows then that would be great, but the main focus is position for me. Also, we have a great chance of winning Gold in the 4x100m relay where I will be joined by five great sprinters (James Alaka, Richard Kilty, Deji Tobais, Kieran Showler-Davis and Andrew Robertson), I truly believe as a country we have some real talent in the sprints and hopefully this will show in the results.
Furthermore, we have real good opportunities across several events so I think this could be a great Championships for Great Britain, and one which we will all aim to achieve big things and represent our country well!
Danny
]]> Thu, 07 Jul 2011 10:45:00 CDT http://www.athleticos.org/blog/37458-European-Under-23-Championships http://www.athleticos.org/blog/37265-U20-european-trials
Training in the past fortnight has been very different, week before last, John gave me a pretty tough week volume and session wise, but ready to easy down this week.
So after racing at watford, John gave me a session on the wednesday so i decided i would go watch the Stretford BMC on the tuesday, mainly to go and see Ryan Mcleods face on the last lap, as he was up for hitting it hard in the first half.
I ended up doing a bit of filming for athleticos as well which meant it turned into quite a nice evening, even if it did mean i had to film Chris Warburton run quicker than me this year over 800m, safe to say he gave a bit of stick for that especially after the stick i gave him after Sports city, so good job chris!

Wednesday was not quite as nice a day as John had set me a rather horrible session, i ended up having to do it on my own in the end which made it worse, it was 3x4mins on the grass, followed by 6x200m on the track then back out onto the grass for 6x1min. It was actually quite a nice change doing a volume session. It did feel like a saturday morning in the winter though. I didnt do much for the rest of the day, not by choice, more from the fact i was shattered!

Last saturday it was back to a speedier session in preperation for the 800m at the trials, it was great weather and great group of lads all running well, the session itself was 1x400m, 2x200m, 1x400m then 1x300m. I hit all the desired times without being in a world of pain at the end which is always nice. I felt really good and ready to go this weekend.

Saturday afternoon was spent at Rob Whittles Birthday party, was a brilliant afternoon and we even found out what Alisdairs favourite drink is ... beer and chilli sauce, so if you ever find yourself in a bar with him, he would be very grateful for one ...
This past week has been very much tapering for the trials at Bedford, so tuesday nights session was just 5x400m followed by 5x200m, i didn't feel great and a little flat, but that was probably due to the heavy week previously.

Other than that session it was a very quiet week and didnt get up to a great deal besides the numerous visits to the Snooker hall, not that our game is getting any better. Although i am better than Morrow, and the possibly the only person in the world worse than him is Ryan, in one frame he missed the desired ball completely more times than he hit it!

Saturday rolled around very quickly and it was time for the trials at Bedford, Bedford was of course living up to its reputation for being incredibly windy! It was just the heats on saturday. I said to John before my race that 1.52 should get you through quite easily. So I just went out and front ran 1.52.5 to qualify as fastest qualifier. I did feel a little flat again just like on tuesday but was hoping that was just the fact it was just the heats and the start of the weekend.
What a difference between saturday and sunday in terms of the weather, it was incredible on sunday! John Beattie was even offering two free tickers to a gun show ... It was very very hot and very little wind, so pretty much perfect for 800m running. Not quite so much for distance runnning ie the 5000m, so congratulations to my housemate Stevie for winning the u23 5k on her 5k debut running the qualifying time, could not have been pleasant out there, not that 12 and half laps could ever be pleasant!
My final rolled around and the weather was still brilliant. John had told me to wait until 200m and see if anyone was going to take it on and if not then just do it yourself and make a truerun race. Turned out that I ended up taking it out in 54.9 at the bell so not quite as suicidal as last years 52 high. I pushed on, on the second lap and managed to take the win in 1.49.19 winning by just over a second. It was my first outdoor national title so i was rather pleased as you could expect!
Thanks to everyone who cheered me on. :)

Last night ended with the return of sunday night games night, to the athlete house. Been way too long since it has happened. Nice to know my team havent lost their touch though as we showed a truely dominating performance. :)

Next stop for me is at the Cork City games next weekend, where i shall be doing the 1500m, against Nick Willis which should be interesting!
I shall keep you all updated with my lead up to the European Juniors in 4 weeks time, and until then you can always follow me on twitter ... www.twitter.com/adamcotton92  :)

"A lot of people run a race to see who's the fastest. I run to see who has the most guts." - Pre
]]> Mon, 27 Jun 2011 08:31:00 CDT http://www.athleticos.org/blog/37265-U20-european-trials http://www.athleticos.org/blog/37264-Bedford-U23-Trials What a day :) The weather was crazy hot, felt like i was in Spain not Bedford! I am so happy with how well my competition went and not just about clearing a personal best. My warm up didnt go to plan, the track is amazingly quick, so was struggling a bit to get to grips with what mark i should be on. Once the competition started and i had corrected my mark, everything felt great.
So happy to clear 4.53m new PB, National U23 record and CBP. also first time outdoors ive had attempts at the National Record, i had a really good second attempt at it, only needing to adjust my stands, but then couldnt have a third attempt due to bailing out at last minute and going over the planes of the stands, cauing a no jump!
I know i have it within me to jump that high just need to have another opportunity :) Next week is Manhiem and i shall keep you posted on how i do! Hopefully, good news!!
]]> Mon, 27 Jun 2011 06:37:00 CDT http://www.athleticos.org/blog/37264-Bedford-U23-Trials http://www.athleticos.org/blog/37205-Euro-Teams-Champs However it was a great experience being part of a team that strong and that elite. I don't quite consider myself elite so it was a real honour to be picked, especially as there is only space for one athlete per event. Unfortunately as we know, my day of competition was on the wet day which was a bit annoying, although I did see it as a chance to redeem myself after the week before having thrown poorly in the wet at BIG. It wasn't to be though and I only managed to produce 53.85m which was about 80cm better than I had produced in the week previous. However despite being disappointed with my performance, CVC was happy with my performance as I did bag the points I was predicted to get. I'd like to say that it was my first time meeting CVCand I thought he was a really nice guy! He's got a bit of bad press recently and has a bit of a reputation for being harsh. But I think he's very fair in his comments and just tells it like it is, nothing wrong with that!

Goal still remains to be qualifying for the World Champs. These next 5 weeks are so important now and I'll need to get my head down and get in some good training. Hopefully with some better conditions than recent times, I can throw those all important distances. 

This weekend I have no competitions- which is the first one since I started competing this year at the beginning of May! So the next meet is July 3rd in copthall, league meet. Wish me luck. Fingers crossed for sun and a nice head wind! ]]> Fri, 24 Jun 2011 05:40:00 CDT http://www.athleticos.org/blog/37205-Euro-Teams-Champs http://www.athleticos.org/blog/37072-Team-Champs Really happy to have come 5th, high points for the team which is the main thing about this comp!! slightly disappointed with 4.40m but cant PB all the time so its a solid great performance!
Looking forward to cheering on the rest of the GB team tommorrow...get watching BBC1!!
Cant wait to get back into training, get some speed work in my legs then bring on the European Trails this weekend coming up!!
]]> Sun, 19 Jun 2011 03:08:00 CDT http://www.athleticos.org/blog/37072-Team-Champs http://www.athleticos.org/blog/36915-The-sun-was-shining
Safe to say I've had a pretty good week, despite the fact I think I'm slowly turning into a 1500m runner, anyone care to let me know when this happened?

I was granted an easier week from John this week following on after a tough/ big one last week, which is always nice to hear. Mainly to practice tapering slightly for the championships, and so I could attempt to run a decent 1500 at Watford.
So I did a power based S&C session on Sunday evening with Lewis Moses, which will be my last power session this summer as I am now 6 weeks away from the European juniors, and with that being my main target for the year.

Tuesday nights session was quite a nice one, weather was perfect and there was a big group of guys doing the same session, which made it even better. The workout itself was just 6x300m build-ups, (1500m pace, 800m pace, 400m pace) off 500m jog recovery, I felt really good, and was slightly spurred on by the fact I got told just before the session I would be in the A race at Watford, which at that point I was rather scared about, not going to lie, 1.54 at 800m doesn't sound to pleasant!

On Thursday I just did 6x150m stride outs at 1500m pace with Lewis, as he is racing this weekend too but out in Sweden, luckily he is racing this evening so gave me a chance to have a crack at his pb before he got a chance to improve it. Training with Lewis seems to be working really well for me and it is hopefully for him too! It's really good to have a training partner who is doing the same sessions and in very similar shape, as it just a that little push you really need in training.

Time to race ... Saturday rolled around quite quickly and I was feeling really good and up for the race thanks to a bit of Ed Sheeran on the way down. If you haven't heard this guy, check him out, he is incredible, and if your Stevie I will stop playing his songs around the house, one day ... maybe. The main target for this evening was to run a pb and to get as close to Lewis' pb of 3.42.6 as I could. The race itself, didn't go off as quick as expected as I was only 61 through 400m so everyone was bunched together which was a nice experience for me even if it wasn't for my shins... I couldn't believe how different racing in a 1500 was to an 800, just so many more people around. I actually really enjoyed it despite thinking at one point when I was boxed in rather badly and getting my shins shredded, what am I doing here? Let's just stick to 8s, this doesn't tend to happen in them. But I actually felt really good all the way through and hit the bell and wanted to push on but got a bit stuck but managed to get out with 300m to go and the rest as they say is history, or in other words I can't remember what happened. I ended up finishing first brit in 4th place in 3.41.33 which was another big pb, a BMC junior record and puts me 7th on the all time list which was a nice surprise to hear. Especially as it was only my 2nd proper 1500 and I'm still very much just learning the event and don't class myself as a 1500m runner at all. Hopefully some more to come!

Does put me in a bit of a dilemma of what event to go for, for European juniors though, (unfortunately not quite as interesting a dilemma as wills but never mind ...) but will speak to John about that this week and see what he thinks.

Wasn't quite a nice easy day to relax and think about my race today as I had a session this afternoon, was just 5x2mins on the grass to get used to the feeling of running hard on tired legs. The main annoyance wasn't the legs in the end, they actually felt pretty good, it was actually the weather, what is going on? I got absolutely drenched! Although as they say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger ... except polio.

Other great runs at Watford last night; the always warm Joe Mac didn't quite live up to his favourite name but still ran an impressive 14.04, congrats Joe! I can't list everyone else that ran well, so I shall just say I'm very sure there were a lot of happy cars heading back to Loughborough last night. Great running everyone :)

Life goes on here in Loughborough.

'It's at the borders of pain and suffering that the men are separated from the boys.' Emil Zatopek 
]]> Sun, 12 Jun 2011 13:07:00 CDT http://www.athleticos.org/blog/36915-The-sun-was-shining http://www.athleticos.org/blog/36753-Bring-on-Summer-European-Team-Champs Will keep you posted how trainings going!!


]]> Tue, 07 Jun 2011 02:44:00 CDT http://www.athleticos.org/blog/36753-Bring-on-Summer-European-Team-Champs