Sprint Lab
Hosted by Kieran Gillespie (@sprintscience) and Alex Rodrigues (@arod_running), we discuss the scientific principles of sprint performance.
Sprint Lab
2023/24 Season review
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In this episode, we talk through the critical points in our 2023/24 seasons: what went right, what went wrong, and what we can learn from it overall.
We discuss some training techniques and science in the second half of the pod too. Enjoy!
Okay. Hi again, everyone. Welcome back to sprint lab, episode four now and. Cause today we're just going to be discussing our sort of season reviews from season just gone. Classic little topic that you can just go into a minute. So just gives us a chance to talk about ourselves as runners. Because I guess we don't really do that. We do both run. so we don't just chat about running. We do both do it. Yeah,
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739yeah. So, uh, my season started off very optimistically indoors. I started out in December of 2023 competing. Uh, I'd finished the previous season like late August. So it was a quick turnaround really to get back into competition, but you know, I felt ready. Um, I came out and ran like a decent 300 meter time that set me up to run a really big 400 meter PB I PB by, um, like 0. 7 of a second compared to my outdoor time. So, you know, equating that to indoor performance using like NCAA converters, whatever that that was going to be about a second and a half off my PB, um, right away. And then, um, I started to get. A little bit of a nagging pain in my back and that nagging pain turned into something a bit more serious that I didn't really address early enough. And, uh, I had to finish my indoor season and shortly after that. Um, that nagging pain became like a genuine injury and it ruled me out for probably two months between sort of mid February and mid April. Um, and obviously that really took my momentum away heading into outdoor season. Um, so that was probably the main event that summarized my, uh, my season really. Cause then I spent the whole of outdoors trying to get my fitness back, but, you know, struggling through competition density and all that kind of stuff. It's just difficult, isn't it?
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Yeah, I think we actually got very similar stories by the sounds of it then, because I guess so my season as well started December 2023. I had a couple races in December, actually, um, some 300s, which. Then led me on to run a nice 400 in January, 2024. So indoor PB and an outdoor PB, it would have been. And like you say, with the NCAA conversions. That would have been like a 50. 8 or something. Um, which would have like my PB 52 zero. So big PB on good form. I mean, I've got a good winter training in me and the original plan was to actually just not do an indoor season. I got to, November, everyone started opening up and I fought. You know, I actually really want to ride indoors now because I just feel good. And there's no guarantee that you're going to feel good in the summer. And looking back, it was the best thing I did because for some reason, and from February as well, I just. all of a sudden like the tendinopathy in my Achilles just flared up, which has been a problem for me a few years back, like never really had issues with it this bad since, but that was just, it took me a while to get over that and when I finally got over that it would just be a case of Managing to do one or two weeks of training and a race maybe when I shouldn't have raced and then I just flare up, you know, like people racing for, for the team
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739yeah,
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739you need to
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739yeah, that was me as well.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739yeah, just step in whenever you can. And then, um, yeah, I think, I think I worked out in 2024. I completed more races in Spikes than I completed hard sessions in Spikes, which is stupid, so,
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739brilliant.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739that's why I ended up stopping my season a lot earlier, uh, in July. I was planning to have a little break in July and have a late season in August, September, but yeah, I ended up calling it, calling it at the start of July and then move on to indoors again next year.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739Yeah, yeah, that's fair enough. I mean, I think this, I think those two stories will probably resonate quite a lot with people listening. I think everyone that's trained hard will have gone through something similar. Um, there's, there's something to be said for, you know, a good program and good coaching and whatever will prevent most injuries from happening. But if you're training quite close to the line, if you're pushing yourself quite hard, then you're going to accumulate some type of, um, roadblock along the way at some point, no matter how good your judgment is, I think. Um, and yeah, unfortunately, uh, well, I mean, it just happened both at the same time for us. Um, both part of the same club, aren't we? So we compete alongside each other. And that was something we were both aware of, but yeah, it's just, it's just tough, um, with Achilles and, and then lower back for me, there are two big, like problem areas, if you've got problems there, then you can't do anything.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Yeah, yeah. Well, that's interesting. The lower back and spine and stuff is like, if that, if your body isn't comfortable with that, because that's like how your nerves get transmitted through spinal column. If your body's not confident in itself, it's just not going to send signals properly. so it's just, That's like, I'm fortunate that I've never really had
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739yeah.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739issues. Mine's any issues I've had a below the knee. So like ankles and Achilles. So, I mean, I probably highlight the weakness in me, which is something I'm working on, but I always feel like I'm glad I never had a back issue because that is that's just seems like an important integral part of the body. Yeah.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739Um, I went to like, this was probably 80 percent of the way through my rehab. So it was early April. Um, I went to play badminton, um, and literally like shot would get, I don't know why I was playing badminton at this point, but I was, um, shot would get played to the back of the court. And I just think to myself, like. No, I'm not running for that. Or, you know, there'd be so many examples in like general life that I'd just, I'd see like something that, Oh, I wouldn't think anything of doing that. Like if I was fit, it just, you just can't do it. You know what I mean? It's so debilitating having that kind of problem.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Was yours, uh, like a acute injury or was it like a, just woke up one day?
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739Um, it was as a result of the previous year, really. So, um, I went through a transition in the season 2023. Um, this will make more sense to 400 meter hurdler. So my approach to the first hurdle went from 23 steps to 22. Um, and so my block set up changed slightly, uh, in that, and I had to actually work quite hard to, um, to make that approach work. I had to do a lot of, a lot of reps, um, to ingrain it as a rhythm and I had to adopt quite an aggressive setup. So. basically just overuse, inflamed, um, one of the joints to the side of my back. And then it just became an issue one day, um, with acceleration at first. And then it just became an issue overall when running.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Yeah. It's like something you don't realize until too late.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739Yeah. Yeah. I mean, It's it's, it's annoying because I did have time to realize and to address it. Um, I just thought I could like load manage my way through it, but sometimes you do need that external intervention. Like I, I ended up getting shockwave therapy for it. And that. Dramatically helped right away. If I'd have got that, um, like four months earlier when it was barely an issue, um, I don't think I'd have had any time off whatsoever.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Yeah.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739So, you know, just a lesson in that to maybe, yes, you can, you can manage stuff yourself with, um, you know, reducing training load and, and adapting stress and whatever, but sometimes external interventions are really helpful and they can, um, they can work magic really alongside those intrinsic. Uh, interventions.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Yeah.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739yeah. So I was actually listening to, um, an audio book the other day. I've been listening to this for a while, to be honest. It's a long, it's a long book. Seven had seven habits of highly effective people. You heard of that one?
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739No. Seven habits of how,
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739Highly
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739how highly effective people. Yeah. Yes. Okay. Thanks. I might have that book, like, the actual book, hang on.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739have you
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739I might have it, yeah. I've got something similar. Look at that. I'll actually read it.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739got into your library here? There you go. Yeah. That's it.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739I've not read it. yet, though. I have to,
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739You've not read it Okay. Okay.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Is it worth one?
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739I won't spoil the whole, you know, like layout of the book, obviously, but there was a really interesting, um, like fable as an analogy attached to one of the, um, points that were made in the book. So this fable is called the goose and the golden egg, which sounds a bit odd to start off with, but it's a fable. So it involves animals. So of course it's
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Yeah.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739sounding a bit weird. But anyway, this, this like really resonated with me as it applies to like an injury situation and why I didn't want to stop training, um, in the first place. Right. So there's a poor farmer, um, struggling to make ends meet. He owns, um, some geese on his farm and he sells the eggs at a market. Right. One night, uh, one morning, sorry. He comes down and finds one of his geese has laid a golden egg. Right. And obviously, you know, a solid gold egg is going to be worth a lot of money. So he sells it at market and he makes a load of money. And the next morning he comes down and there's another one in the basket. And he goes and sells that one. And all of a sudden he's a rich farmer and he's not struggling anymore. And, and this carries on for a few, few mornings consecutively. And then one day he comes down and he thinks. I want to know the secret to this production process. I want to know why, um, or how to manufacture these golden eggs. I want more. So he kills the goose and cuts it open and inside he didn't find anything. No gold, nothing. the next morning he comes down to no golden egg. And the morning after and the morning after and the morning after eventually the money dries up and he's a poor farmer again. Now the farmer, basically the analogy goes, the farmer chased this prize. Um, he chased the golden egg cause it was giving him what he wanted and he wanted more of it. He got greedy. Um, and he ended up destroying the production process that supplied him with a golden egg in the first place. And. The, that maps onto how I was thinking, um, in the, I was going really well. I was in good form. There was no reason for me to stop in terms of my running. So I just kept chasing the improvement and I was improving, but I was improving at the cost of my own physical wellbeing. Um, and eventually that production process just stopped because I ended up taking a massive step back into the outdoor season. And, you know, I, I performed way, way slower outdoors than I did indoors with a lot more effort put in. So, you know, it wasn't worth it in the end. Um, I should have just taken a step back, you know, addressed it and moved on. But, um, I chased the golden egg.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739That's, yeah, I like that. I like that one. I guess mine's similar in a sense then because I mean based on my indoor season my outdoor season should have been a lot, a lot better. And I, I don't know, I changed footwear to a brand I'd never worn before, just after Christmas. And I didn't wear them until after Northern Champs, um, but then as soon as I started wearing those consistently, then a lot of issues started happening, and I got rid of them pretty quick after. I don't know if that just happened to, like, correlate with it, but it's similar to, like, why are you changing, like, your clothes? Like a winning formula sort of thing. Um, just, I don't know. Um, thing is, like, my mum always tells me, like, you should be able to run in any sort of trainer. And I kind of agree, like, like, if you're strong enough, you can run in anything. Um, my coach will say, just keep the same thing all the time, because, I don't know.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739I suppose it's better to be strong and running footwear that suits you.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Yeah.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739you know, there's some, there's something in both statements in there.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Yeah, yeah, yeah. These ones were very, very stacked at the heel, like distant sort of trainers. Um, so when I'm doing my drills, like I am like on my balls of my feet so much more, like just because otherwise the heels land on the floor and you like do an A skip for the heel strike and you're like, that's wrong. So maybe it was that extra bit of aggression contributing to it. Um, Which if I'm, if you're strong enough in the calf, like. Shouldn't have been an issue, but I guess I just wasn't. Um,
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739Well, it's a, it's an interesting one. You say that because I literally just read today, um, a post by Alex Natera. Um, who he is,
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739yeah, I've heard of him.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739the isometrics guy. So, uh, well, he's not just the isometrics guy, but that's a lot of his brand
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Is he the zero rep max one? Has he come up with them?
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739Yeah, that's the one. Well, you know, he's, he's like an ambassador for the company As I am. Get your, get your zero RM straps, by the way, guys,
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Yeah. Nice.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739code sprint science. Um, anyway, so Alex made a, Alex made a post literally today, uh, analyzing the differences between force output. minimal dorsiflexion and then a neutral ankle. Um, so literally 20, 30 degrees of dorsiflexion, um, and how, how much force you're able to produce through a force plate, um, in a maximal, like overcoming isometric and you can produce, well, he found 23 percent force increase from a minimal dorsiflex position compared to neutral. Um, And I think there's something in that when you say about, you know, a stacked heel and you're forced into kind of a plantar flex position, when you run, if you run too far up on your toe and you're going to bias the gastroc way more than you are the soleus, um, when you run and the soleus is probably. I mean, it's, I think it's the most highly activated muscle when you sprint or it's, it's up there, certainly, um, up there alongside, you know, glutes, hip flexors, the soleus is, is up there by way of contribution to the actual sprint action. So, um, that there's something to be said for, you know, not, not a completely full footed contact, obviously, but having that like credit card distance between the ground and your heel, as opposed to like an up on your toe position when you run.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Yeah. That is like also when the highest demand is apparently on the Achilles as well. Is that that, like, late crown contact, excuse me, um, rather than, like, the top of a car phrase, for instance, is actually less on the Achilles, even though that's when a lot of ruptures will happen. It's quite an interesting, um, dynamic, but,
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739Yeah. Do you know, do you know why that is? Why there'd be more ruptures when there's less demand? Is it because it's not an optimal kind of angle to
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739I think, I think there's so much, like, that people don't understand yet about ruptures, because some people rupture Like, you'll hear the odd story of someone rupturing their chest from walking. Like, it's just like, I think the best explanation right now is it's like a, uh, like a calibration sort of issue. Like, if your muscles are switching on and off at the right times, like, which you just do without thinking. Then you're probably not going to rupture it, even if it's really like degenerated. Um, and obviously you see some, so let's say like a lot of the like worst tendons they see will never rupture. Like tendons all got like holes and stuff in them, um, with collagen, like breaking down and stuff, and it just builds around it. Um, some of the worst looking tendons apparently will never rupture. And it's probably because they're so used to switching on and off muscles at the right times. It sort of helps, like, it's like a calibration sort of thing, like everything's fired at the right times, which will prevent it from rupturing. It's when it's on a day where maybe you don't drink enough water, you don't get enough sleep the night before, um, or two nights before even, and all of a sudden, it's not calibrating at that right time, and then a little rupture happens.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739Yeah. Okay.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739I think that is, I mean, that kind of makes the most sense without that, which explains most cases.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739No, you're a hundred percent, a hundred percent. Um, cause I'm just thinking of parallels to like support systems in general, you know, you know, like even like a chicken egg, right. You, you try and like squash a chicken egg and crack a chicken egg at the right with pressure evenly distributed around the shell. It will never break. Um, but if you concentrate the force in one particular point, it just smashes. So it's easy to see that, that comparison, um, if the support system is built one way in it and you apply force in a different way, then, then that's just going to exploit a lot of weakness.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739yeah, tendons. I feel like I've having, so this first happened when I sprained my ankle when I was younger. I just became obsessed with looking up ligaments in the ankle. And then as soon as you get injured, you just like research it loads. At least I do. And then the same with tendons, I've, I've read, read so much, listened to so much on tendons and, um, honestly, like, the amount of knowledge out there from some people have is crazy, but it's so interesting. And it's also still so unexplored as well. There's so much contributing to it that people don't know. Or like, unexplained stuff, whoever's rupturing in Achilles while walking, it's it just doesn't, like, it explains so much of it, but not everything. And there have been some dodgy studies done, like, unethical studies, where people are deliberately giving horses tendinopathies and then killing them. Yeah. And then they like, they kill them all so that they can open up the tendons and see what happened. Like, yeah,
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739my God.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739it's toshy. It's sort of research that I could never do. Um, but someone's done it and they've learned so much about tendons
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739Some like Russian study back in the
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Yeah, but it's so unethical to do, like the best thing is with tendons, they love load and they found that given like a horse tendinopathy that they were so unlikely to rupture it because they're just active all the time. And you get holes in the tendons and that's why I say like when people do like an MRI or whatever, a scan of their tendon. Don't worry if it looks bad because sometimes the worse it looks it means collagen is going to build around it better because it's going to respond to that and just by being active all the time you're going to keep building collagen around it and then like I was saying about the calibration issue like it's probably not going to rupture it. If you're just constantly building around it, but yeah, it's, these
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739always got to build in the right way though, haven't you? So you've got to build, you've got to build strength through the muscle. You've got to build, um, like resilience to the muscular tendon junction and everything like that, you know,
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739having a strong, strong muscles around it helps for sure. And well, isometric is massive for tendon health because that's how. That's like the quickest, yeah, I guess the quickest way to induce that collagen synthesis. Either very, very slow eccentrics or isometrics, just,
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739Yeah. Yeah. The, um, positional holding isometrics, that they're so big for it, they cause, they cause more structural damage obviously, because there's an eccentric, like failure to the motion. Um, once you push to a certain point, then you're, you're going to sink a little bit. So there's that eccentric, uh, loading, but yeah, um, holding isometrics where you're, you're causing like tendon creep and. And those types of, I mean, we'll, we'll probably go into these principles in a later isometrics deserve their own, their own podcast in and of themselves. Um, but yeah, like healthy and controlled exposure of vulnerable areas of the tendon is, um, is big and giving them load in weaker positions because obviously like, I mean, that's a principle everywhere. Loading progressive overload in weaker positions to strengthen and bring it, but bring it up to a norm is just. That's, you know, rehab and training one on one.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739I mean, we've drifted away from our season review of it here, but,
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739Yeah, we have. Yeah,
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739I don't want to steer that, steer the conversation back to that for a bit. Um, just out of curiosity then, so, What sort of times were you aiming for at the start of the year versus what you achieved?
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739right. So, I ended 2023 with PBs of 53 9 1 and 58 1 5 in the 400 and 400 meter hurdles, respectively. Um, I mean, everyone says this. I think I had a bit more to give at the time, but just on the day, it didn't really happen. then came out and PB'd in December of that year, um, in the 400 metres indoors, 53 2 8, so 53 9 1 to 53 2 8. Um, and then obviously outdoors that translates to, I don't know, like 52, four, something like that. Just just as a direct, um, translation. So I was hoping for, you know, a 52 time fairly early and outdoors, uh, never happened, but then I never actually got to run a 400 meter hurdles at my, you know, full 400 meter potential, which I think would have been another big, um, big margin. Cause I think margin margin improvement happens quicker in the four hurdles. When you, when you make that jump in the 400, like. Great fitness levels, everything like that. They just have a bigger impact and that differential reduces. Um, if you do your training, right. So I wanted to realistically get, you know, a 52 and probably a 56 low clock in, in the four hurdles this year, um, ended up not actually PBing. I got close, but I didn't PB in the hurdles this year because I basically just got back to where I was at this time last year in the 400 flat. So I got back to where I was at this time last year in the hurdles as well. so kind of disappointing, but. Looking into this indoors, I've got like a roadmap towards a big improvement again, because I did it last year. And, you know, I know that if I tick off those, those landmark, um, training session targets in certain times and certain distances, then, then I'll get to, you know, X number of seconds in the four flat, which is, you know, it's, it's encouraging when you have that roadmap there.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Yeah, yeah, but you also had some good races like this season. I remember um, You still got you meddled at northern champs outdoors, right? So was that silver or bronze?
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739Uh, that was a silver. Yeah. So, um, shout out Ben Schofield running away with it on that day. It was a, it was a rainy, rainy day in Gateshead. but yeah, it was a good battle that day, actually. It was, um, it was a really close race between me and Tom, for second and third and, you know, coming into the last, last hundred meters, if you have someone right next to you, especially in the hurdles, like it makes such a big difference and, uh, coming over hurdle 10, we literally did it at the same time. And I got in with the, with the old like shoulder crease, um, armpit dip. Uh, in the end, I think I won it by like 0. 05 of room. So yeah, that was a good race, but that was by far my
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Yeah, I hate gateshead now Was it Gateshead? I feel like
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739It was. Yeah.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Gateshead is a bigger stadium than that. Wherever it was.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739everything's a bit smaller when you go about far north.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739No, it wasn't Gateshead. I swear it wasn't.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739It was, it was, I promise you, it was
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739was Middlesbrough. It was Middlesbrough. It was Middlesbrough. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was Middlesbrough. Yeah, I do not like Middlesbrough. That was, uh, it was the windiest track ever, wasn't it? Yeah,
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739either. It wasn't springy. It wasn't, it wasn't like a good track. Um, but you know, you've got it, you got to move around the championship a little bit, location wise, haven't you?
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, my season was like after indoors. Last season in 2023, I ended up running 52 0 outdoors. Um, and then come January, I was running 51 7 indoors. And I always seem to get the worst lanes indoors. I've literally only ever been lane one, two or three,
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739Oh, don't start me
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739and lane three that was, was for like a 300. So it was like, you only get it for like a little bit, but yeah, so having run a 51. 7 from like lane two indoors, I was like, boom, okay, that's like a 51 outdoors if, if I
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739Oh, a hundred percent. Yeah.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739So I was ready. That was like my goal for. outdoors was to like run as close to 50 flats possible. Um, unfortunately I had like three months of just not being able to train, like at all, and then after those three months it was just constant trying to train and failing.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739You went warm weather training, didn't you? Just did a skips the whole time.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739oh my day, what a waste of time. But I loved it though,
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739Yeah.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739it probably did bits of my recovery as well, just the fact that I didn't have to like wake up, go to work. And then I was on my feet all day, like, like I was saying, like, tend to just like load and easy load and stuff, walking on the beach and stuff like that was probably good for it. Anyway, then didn't end up opening my season until Northern Champs, which I wasn't fit for,
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739No.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739fitness wise, I was healthy enough for, the body wasn't hurting. but the wind absolutely shafted me and that, I think I ran 52. 9. Which was
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739I remember it. Yeah.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739the slow, ah, that last, I think I went through it like 37. 5. So you can imagine that last
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739So you set yourself up for a good time and
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Oh god. I was, I was like, again, I was like in the inside lane, so everyone was outside of me. And I was like, I was sending it on that back straight and I thought I'm going for this. And everyone's getting further away. It was big demoralizer, but, um, yeah, that last hundred killed me off, but it was like,
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739You've all been there.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739it's the worst I've run in a long time, but it's also going to be the worst I ran for a long time. It's the fourth thing. Um, I ended up. Managing to run another PB like a month later. So, I mean, I only really had like three or four races outdoors in the end,
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739outdoor PV, outdoor
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739ended up running a 51, five, I think 51,
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739Oh, you PB'd overall. Did you?
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Yeah. Yeah. So that was just at some random York open, um, again, which I. Didn't really decide I was going to do until like a week before I thought you know what while I'm healthy Like while the body's not broken. I might as well do as many things there. Again, like 51 it's a good it's nice pb But it's like it doesn't tell the full story of what I was aiming to get based on indoors Um,
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739a hundred percent
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739which is like why it's low key kind of annoying i'd rather just run a lot slower And being like properly injured But I don't know like the fact that i've been You Like, I've got to just take it as a positive, really. Like, the fact that The season being that disrupted, I'm still able to PB. So just going forward then, hopefully, we'll get some consistent training in again. And next year will be even better. Like, knowing what I know now, I should, like, I should not make the same sort of mistakes as I did before.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739Yeah, that's why I keep thinking, you know, any kind of mistake or situation you get yourself into like that, you just got to take something from it.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Yeah.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739Like it will be worth going through as long as it never happens again, or like it's much less likely to happen again. Um, so,
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Yeah.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739this, you could, you could wallow in the fact that it was, you know, six or so months where you didn't make any progress beyond, or like a couple of times progress beyond where you were indoors. But I don't think there's any point. Because,
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Yeah.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739I'm 24, you're 23, 24 as well,
alex_3_08-29-2024_13173924, yeah.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739yeah, so it's, you know, we've got years, it's um, there's no point, even if we were 34, there wouldn't be any point.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Yeah. No, you're right.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739We're at now, I don't know how much waffling we've done or how much we're going to cut out,
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Um.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739I think it's been a decent episode.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739I will as well say, we, as Lincoln Wellerton Athletics Club, like, all of that filling in we did.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739Yeah.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739ended up saving us by the skin of our teeth because we ended up staying up in the league. So it was kind of worth it. It means we get, we get another four free races next year with electronic timing, which is good.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739The way we're scrapping over electronic time races. There's no point. There's open meetings we can do.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739I have heard, I have heard that Lincoln, Wellington at Yarborough, we're hoping to host Some athletics meet soon, on like a Tuesday or Thursday evening.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739Right.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Um, it's because we don't have to pay for the track on those days because we already do it. It's just, if we can get hold of an electronic timing system. Because they have, they host like Say again?
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739if you're in the Midlands, get yourselves down.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Yeah, yeah, yeah.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739in the East, but
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739No, it's fine. I reckon I could run a PB there.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739It's a good surface. It's a good surface,
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739It's a nice track, But yeah,
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739winds sometimes.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739sometimes, yeah.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739That's just the UK though.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739In general, yeah.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739way I see it, it's just, it's just a blessing that we don't have to travel that far for competitions relatively. I coach a few guys out in the U S that they have to travel four plus hours if they want any type of decent comp.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739What?
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739It's ridiculous. Like Midwest and America, they got it rough.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Yeah.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739I had somebody travel for eight hours. Like they took a plane. To go to a competition, um, yeah, it's sometimes, sometimes it's, um, very extreme, but we are blessed that we can get competitions literally under an hour away consistently throughout the year.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Yeah. Yeah,
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739know, just got to get back healthy for them.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739yeah, yeah. Exactly. The, the only bad thing is they're all in the same conditions. It's all cold and rainy. Yeah.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739oh, well,
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Yeah.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739you can, go to America one day and take off the American tax. I mean, like a 45. That'd be.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739America tax bro.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739Yeah.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Yeah.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739Right. Should we wrap it up? I
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Yeah,
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739everything about the seasons that need to be said. it. was
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Another decent episode, I guess.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739think we should do isometrics next. Um, I think that'd be a good pod.
alex_3_08-29-2024_131739Yeah, Isometrics. Cool. Speak to you guys. In episode five, we talked about isometrics. Keep sharing the podcast, giving it a good ratings, get in contact with us. Any questions you have for other topics and yeah, chat to you soon.
kieran_1_08-29-2024_131739See you in a bit.