Irish Running Matters: Where have all thejuveniles gone?In the interests...

Irish Running Matters: Where have all thejuveniles gone?
In the interests...: Where have all the juveniles gone? In the interests of transparency and positivity the AAI have in recent months been publishing updat...

A 40 week and a 3 Year countdown - My Visit to London

On a recent visit to London I noticed that it was 40 weeks to next years Virgin London Marathon 2010 and there was also some events on in the city which were marking 3 years to the London 2012 Olympics.
In the past I would normally use dates and coincidences like this to motivate me to start a new training regime. However, now, I think I am a bit wiser and realise that there is a much more controlled and unemotional approach required towards planning the achievement of a goal. Obviously I won't be entirely unemotional about attempting to achieve my goal in my specific passion of distance running but my main mistake in the past in my approach to planning and executing my training was to allow emotions to influence m actions and plans in ways which were in overall way unproductive.

Therefore this is the reason I've decided to start this blog. Hmmm, yes..... my writing may sound pretty unemotional as well, but my idea is to start in a very controlled safe way and as time passes I hope I can open up more and explore my blogging abilities.

The week also involved a stop off to watch the London Athletics Grand Prix which was the last big meet before the Athletics World Championships in Berlin in August. Usain Bolt was the main star there. It also reminded me of when I last visited the stadium in 2000 before travelling to Chicago for an athletics scholarship... a time when I met some world class athletes in the stables of Kim McDonald in Teddington. I was very fortunate to have some friends expose me to the scene of International athletics at the time and it will always be a great memory for me of an enjoyable weekend. Thanks Gerry and Andrew :)

The 9 year gap since I was last in London reminded me that time goes by quickly in an athletic career and my failure to advance my PB's in some of the shorter distance events is an ominous reminder that its make or break time with my athletic career. Life has been interesting and challenging in those 9 years with travelling between America, Spain, England and 3 years in Australia where I served an apprenticeship in the Australian school of Distance running in Canberra. Its now time that I really start to put those lessons to work and achieve at least some of the potential that I know is within me.

More on this later, time to train!