Athletics season ends

As March draws to a close, with Easter taking up next weekend, the summer athletics season came to an end yesterday.  With the fire brigade running season finishing on the previous weekend, I turned my attention back to the athletics track, resuming training the day after getting back from Mildura, when  everyone else was still recovering, and putting in some tough 400m fitness work on Thursday, an areas I was forced to neglect for nearly 2 months.

Anyway, for my final meet of the local season, I entered the 100m, 400m and long jump.  First up was the 100 metres.  First challenge was adjusting to the athletics start style and getting re-acquainted with blocks, a piece of equipment I hadn't used since the end of January.  My start was a little slower, but I was able to call on some extra speed in the latter half of the race, allowing me to take the heat and a new PB of 13.51 seconds.  One of the guys who helps coach me noticed I'm still far from my potential, so there's a lot of technique to work on over the winter months.

Next up was the 400m.  I was hoping for a run around 65 seconds, around my PB, maybe a slight improvement, but I had no idea how I would go.  The longest sprint I do with the fire brigade is around 20 seconds (admittedly with a lot of weight in tow!), and I needed around 3 times this length of effort.  Furthermore, although I ran good times, I found Thursday's speed endurance work tough.  Anyway, I got off to an excellent start this time, reaching top speed and passing the two competitors staggered ahead of me, before settling down to race pace in the back straight.  I managed to maintain pace and finish first with a new PB of 63.35 seconds, well over 2 seconds faster than the old PB!  Obviously my 400m fitness hasn't fallen off. :)

Straight after the 400m was the long jump.  After taking a rest for 10 minutes to catch my breath, I started my jumps.  First one was a bit shaky, but still a PB, somewhere around 3.4 metres.  Second jump was a bit over 3.9m, so I gave it all for the final jump to try and break 4m, which I did, with a new 4,14m PB.

To end the day, myself and another club member teamed up with 2 members of another club to run a 4x100m relay.  I enjoy the relays, so this was a great way to end the official season.

With the heavy period of competition now over, I've pulled up really well.  Even the minor niggle I had in recent weeks has almost gone away and had no impact on my performance in the past 2 weekends.  I'm feeling strong and ready to take on other competition, though I will take the opportunity to do some recovery in between training days, now that things have slowed down a bit.  The next couple of weekends also have some social opportunities, now that most of my weekend time has been freed up.

Now that athletics is over, the focus will be on cross country.  For me, cross country is more a way to get endurance training, any wins or placings I get are incidental, but I will be using my GPS to track progress through the season.  I'm sure this work will give me that extra endurance to break the 60 second barrier in the 400m, especially now that is only a few seconds away.  Winter will also be a break from regular blog posts. :)

However, athletics won't go away entirely.  Next month, I have the Victorian Police and Emergency Services Games.  I've entered the 100m, 200m and 400m sprints, and with 4 more weeks to train for the games and in good form, I'm looking forward to pitting myself against others in the emergency services.  Additionally, there is the prospect of a couple of off season athletics meets through the winter months, which I will also have a go at, if only to monitor my progress.

Stay tuned! - Tony

End of the fire brigade season and the 2016 Victoruan Urban Fire Brigades State Championships

In the past few weeks, a lot has happened.  Firstly, there was the Junior Urban State Fire Brigades Championships over the Feb 27-28 weekend.  I'm only about 30 years too old to run in these competitions, but I do attend, firstly to help out with looking after the kids, but most importantly, I'm one of the officials for the weekend, either judging runs or assisting with preparing the equipment for each run.  Turned out to be a fairly easy weekend this time around, with many officials available, so I was only assigned 4 events over the weekend.  It's always nice to help out, as well as compare notes with other officials between runs, which helps sharpen one's knowledge of the rules.

The following weekend was the twilight competition in Echuca.  This was not one of my better days, with a few minor hiccups all day, and gastric issue complicated matters a bit.  However, I still pulled up reasonably well, with only a minor niggle that had developed in training a week earlier.  After a hot (40C) day, we relaxed with a BBQ.  The season results were also presented, and our team won the C Section aggregate for the second year in a row, due to consistent performances earlier in the season, despite our day's placing only being third.

Last weekend (12th - 14th March) was the 3 day Urban State Fire Championships.  These were hosted in Mildura, a 400km drive away, which we undertook in a bus on the Friday.  The long bus trip gave me a chance to read a book (by an autistic author, no less!).  We arrived around 4 in the afternoon and after dropping some people off at our accommodation, proceeded to the track to weigh and measure our gear, to make sure it met the legal specs for competition.  This is one of those rituals that forms part of the State weekend that I enjoy, it sets the atmosphere of anticipation up.  After measuring the gear and setting the hydrants, we headed back to our accommodation and settled in for the night.

Day 1 was the Saturday.  The first part of the day was the official parade and opening, followed by the Discipline contest, a competition of dress presentation and marching drills.  I didn't take part in the Discipline, but I did take video of both our teams as they marched around the course.

After the Discipline was the ladder race, my first event.  Unfortunately, a couple of slips ended my competition in a heat I had the potential to win.  Saturday turned out to be my bad day, as things didn't get any better for me in the C section 4s.  I was running hydrant and managed excellent track speed, but didn't have it straight enough when setting it, which cost too much time to recover from.  These were my only two runs for the Saturday, but I did borrow a uniform and take part in the evening's Torchlight procession, where teams march through the streets in uniform carrying kerosene fuelled torches.  I did get a few positive comments about my marching ability, so perhaps I might get to march the Discipline one day. :)

Day 2 - Sunday.  This was to be my busy day with 4 events.  First was the pumper and ladder event, which was first up on the day.  This run went together quite well.  On the way up the ladder, I had time to notice that the particular ladders at the venue were a type I found a little more difficult to climb, so I was able to adjust my technique to make sure I got up (which I did in plenty of time).  Everyone else got their part together, and we ended up taking third place.

Next was the hose and reel sixes.  We hadn't been able to run or train this event as much as previous years, due to injury or unavailability of other team members.  However, we did make it through to the finals, though didn't place. 

The afternoon saw the second of the pumper events, the pumper 4s.  This is an event we've never really done well in, and is particularly challenging for the pump operator, who must perform a precise sequence of adjustments to get a clean run.  My position was hydrant, where I set the hydrant in the ground, deliver water and call out to the pump operator that the water is available to draw on.  This run went together very well, and we placed 4th, which was a bit special, considering our history with the event.

My final event of the day was the Y8.  Here, I was back in familiar territory with the grueling role of pole, assist and ladder, which I have run for the past few years.  After pulling the reel almost all the way down the track and helping the third length back, I had a strong ladder climb (thanks to improved fitness!).  We finished third in conditions that saw many of the top sides unable to complete a clean run.

Day 3 - Monday.  This was the quietest day, with only one event - the ladder 5s.  All of my preparation of the past year, especially my foray into athletics was for this run.  Last year, I had worked out that a state win would be almost impossible, and a place difficult, based on my track speed.  I have put in a lot of training to address this, and this year, for the first time, we had a real chance at taking the event, though it would push me to my limits.  My warmup went particularly well - I took the time to do a full track warmup, which takes 20 minutes or more.  Unfortunately, a problem elsewhere in the run meant I wasn't able to put my speed to use, and we weren't able to get a good time.  One of those things, I'll just work hard and get myself easily able to make the time for next year. :) 

Some of the other team members did get a win in the 4 man Y with their best run of the season a little later in the morning, which went a long way to making some of the others feel better.  I certainly was happy for them, as one or two took the previous bad run a bit hard, and really needed the lift.

So the end result was quite good after a rocky start to the weekend.  As always, I am looking ahead.  My new training regime has proven itself through the season (even if I didn't get to fully utilise my speed at the State), and my new area of attention will be skills, to try and improve both my hand coordination, as well as general agility - my straight line speed is now excellent, but changing direction isn't as quick for me as it is for others.  I'm also going to focus on 1km cross country events during the winter season, which will give me a bit more stamina in the longer runs.

Kerang (14/2) and Echuca (21/2) competitions

The peak of the fire brigade season rolls on, with another two weeks in a row on the track.  Both competitions involved some travel, a bit over 100km.  On the 14th, there were only a small number of teams, which made for a short but very busy day, because each event was over quickly, with the small number of teams.  As a team, we did well, with clean, consistent runs for the most part, and placing well against higher ranked teams.

Yesterday, by contrast was a much bigger competition.  However, having our A team present and mutually helping out another team meant that I had 4 extra runs.  Events won were the C section hose and ladder 5s, and the C section 4s.  I was back in pole for the 4s and ran well.  I also ran in the ladder race (where a slip put me out of contention), 2 man marshall (had a good run), 4 man Y, pumper and ladder 5s, and ran pole in the A team for their hose and ladder 8sfor the morning.  During the morning, I had a scare with my right hamstring showing signs of stress.  However, putting myself through some sprints revealed no issues, but I did have some tightness in the lower back and glutes, which I was able to manage with some stretching.  That set me up for the afternoon.

After lunch, were the C section 4s, which we won, as previously mentioned.  I was back in pole, to get the reel down as fast as possible.  Next were the A section hose and reel 8s.  This was an experience, because I was put in a position I've never run before.  However, I had a good run, because I understood the role reasonably well.  Following the 8s were the sixes.  Because us and another team were short of runners, we exchanged one each way.  I got to run with the other team in pole and assist.  It's always interesting running with someone else, because each team has a slightly different way of doing things.  This run went well, with some complimentary comments from the other guys about both cart speed and the run back to the hydrant, both of which I had a key role in.  Several minutes later, we had our own run (with one of the guys from the team I helped filling in).  Again, I ran assist with a near identical performance.

After the 6s were the champion 4s.  For this, I ran hydrant, with a good, fast run.  This gave me plenty of time to be setup, before the others came along with the reel.  We had a good, solid run, but not fast enough to win our heat.

The final event was the Y8.  Our run was good, but didn't place.  I later filled in for the A team, running second branch.  By this time, the long day was having an effect, and I had a brief mement of sensory confusion, before realising which hose I had to put the branch on, just in time, before the water arrived, and managed to hit my target.  It was almost a reflex, once I was able to find my space. :)

Yesterday was a generally good day, with a few minor hiccups.  My fitness is holding up well in the face of repeated demanding weeks - this is probably the highest workload I've ever had.  The athletics training that I did up until the end of January is really agreeing with me.

This coming weekend is a rest from competition with the junior state championships.  Although way too old to compete, I will be attending, both as a junior leader, helping to look after the kids, as well as to officiate all weekend.  I'm one of many judges who will be required.

Fire brigade PB!

Sunday saw a return to the fire brigade track for the first of 3 competitions in a row.  Since the end of January, I've focused my training purely on the fire brigade events.  This has reduced my training load considerably for the rest of the season.

On Sunday, my day started with the first event, the hydrant race, which I normally don't run.  However, I ran a reasonable time in the 14.30s range.  Next event was the ladder race.  My heat time was 8.06, equal to my post comeback electronically timed PB.  In the final, I easily beat this with a 7.88 run and narrowly missed out on a place.

The day ended up being one of my busiest ever, with a total of 13 runs in 10 events, 3 of which were filling in for the A side, as they were short one person, and I'm one our fastest and most experienced.  Highlights of the day were second in the hose and reel 8s, despite a few hiccups elsewhere in the run, as well as running our first 6 for the season.  And in the final event, the Y8, I ran twice - once with the A team and again with ours.  The A side won the Y8, and we finished 5th, which effectively meant I was represented in two placings! :)

The other thing to come out of the day was that despite a very heavy workload, I was still performing at my best and without any niggles at the end of the day.  The extra training with the athletics club over the past 6 months has not only given me more speed, but also better capacity to handle a heavy workload.

Last athletics meet for a while.

On Thursday evening, I competed in my last athletics meet for around 7 weeks.  This long break was always planned and is due to the bulk of the fire brigade competition season falling within this time.

I entered my usual events for this program, namely the 200m, 60m and triple jump.  First up was the 200m.  With a successful country championships behind me and a fairly well rested week, I was confident in my fitness.  I went all out from the start, into a stiff headwind for the first 70-80 metres, before getting only slight assistance from a near cross wind in the main straight.  Although wind conditions were nowhere near as good as last week, I ran a PB of 27.19 (down from 27.47).

Next event was the triple jump.  This time, I couldn't get my step right, and only managed a best jump of 7.95m, well short of Saturday's 8.27m.  Immediately after the triple jump was the 60m sprint.  Yet again, I narrowly missed out on a PB, running 8.76 seconds.

Due to a lack of entries, there were no relays, so that was the end of the meet.  I doubt I will compete in athletics until the middle of March, after the fire brigade season ends, as that is my focus from now on.

Some action replays.

I don't get the opportunity to do this often, but a good friend was kind enough to come down and shoot some video of the Victorian Country Athletics Championships with me in action.  I've setup a playlist.  5 of the 6 videos are of the mens 40+ events, which I was taking part in, the other one was an extra one with some of the womens 4x100m relay.  Enjoy.



https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHUwx6R4chyATV2JwqTPcTtWhz7Ilv2Bj

And so you know which one is me, here's a pic from the weekend. :)

Victorian Country Athletics Day 3

Day 3, the final day of the Victorian Country Athletics Championships started with packing all my gear up and checking out of our cabin, then off to the track.  My first event, the 200 metre heat was scheduled for 11:31, but as luck would have it, 4 out of the 10 entrants withdrew, which meant that the heat wasn't needed, and I would instead be running in the final at 3:45 PM.  So most of the day was spent watching the competition, cheering on club members, chatting and keeping up to date on Facebook. :)

Finally, my 200m final came around.  I was a little concerned about my left hamstring, as there had been some tightness there all day, but it didn't seem to be too much of an issue during the warmup.  However, I did take the start a little slower than I might otherwise have, knowing that the relays would follow soon after.  However, once up to speed, everything felt good, and my second half was probably the fastest second half of a 200 ever.  Finished in 27.48, missing out on a PB by 0.01 seconds.

Next was the 4x100m relay.  I had the second leg, down the back straight and into a stiff breeze.  This went well with a fairly clean change to take the baton, a strong sprint into the wind, and a quick batton change to the third runner.  We narrowly missed out on a medal, finishing 4th.

My final event for the championships was the 4x400m relay.  With the longer distance, I knew I would have no issues with injury, but I was concerned that my endurance might not hold, after the preceeding 2 events and the previous day.  The day before, in the 400m events, I did struggle to maintain pace for the last half of the race, and conditions were identical for the relay.  Again, I ran in second position, taking the baton in a clean change in my lane, then ran my usual 400m strategy of accelerating hard for the first 40-50m, before settling down into my cruising pace.  Around the back, I had to cut in to the inside lane.  By the halfway mark, I felt surprisingly good, and became aware of someone not too far behind my from the noise of the crowd, so I pushed hard and maintained my pace.  Unlike the solo race, my pace held right to the end, where I passed the baton on.  We finished with the silver medal and proceeded to the dais for presentations after the race.  That was a good note to finish the weekend on.

As time was tight, I headed home as soon as the medal presentations were complete, after saying a quick goodbye to club members and others I knew that I encountered along the way.  Since getting home, I've contemplated the weekend, savoured the weekend's successes, reflected on how far I've come and how much further I have to go, and started looking at what I need to work on to gain more speed.  However, other than a local meet this coming Thursday, athletics now takes a back seat, as the fire brigade season is about to hit its peak.

Victorian Country Athletics Day 2

OK, so where did day 1 get to, you ask?  Well, yesterday was basically a travel day.  I drove the 180 odd km from home to Geelong, checked into the caravan park where the club is staying, and then proceeded to the track.  As I had no events, I simply watched some of those that were on.

After a lousy night's sleep due to too much stimulation combined with not enough exercise, I arrived at the track in plenty of time for my first event, the triple jump, which started at 9:00.  My first jump was off to a good start of a clear PB of 7.99 metres (previous 7.24).  Being so close to breaking 8 metres, I gave my next jump a bit more effort and achieved 8.06, which was bettered again in the third jump with 8.27m.  I had 3 extra jumps, but none of them beat my third jump.  Off to a good start with a massive PB, and not bad for an event I only started 2 weeks ago! :)

Next up was the 100 metres heat.  Felt good after the warmup, though a little sluggish.  Race went well, with a PB of 13.57 (prev 13.68) with neutral wind conditions, but not quite enough to qualify for the final.

My final event was the 400 metres.  By now, the wind had picked up and also turned to be a tail wind down the home straight (a serious headwind around the back).  In these tough conditions, I easily qualified with a 66.37 run.  Just under half a second shy of a PB.  The strong wind really played havoc with my race tactics and energy reserves.  4 hours later, at the end of the day, the final was ran.  The wind was still difficult, and by now I was completely exhausted.  Managed to finish in 67.73.

Returned to the caravan park for a BBQ dinner and some conversation, before heading off to the beach with one of the other guys for a recovery session in the cold water.

Feeling pleased with today and quietly confident about tomorrow, with my strongest events to come.  Now to get a good night's sleep. :)

Victorian Country Athletics Championships - 1 day to go...

Tomorrow, one of the major athletics meets for the season commences - the Victorian Country Athletics Championships.  As well as being my biggest meet for this summer season, it will be one of my last for some time, due to fire brigade commitments taking precedence for all of February and the start of March.

The Countrys as they're known informally will be a totally new experience.  Until this year, I had never been to an athletics meet bigger than inter school sports, and none outside of a school setting since I was a young boy.  This year was also my first running on a synthetic track.  However, the Countrys will involve a 3 day meet with dozens of clubs involved and unfamiliar procedures.

This year, my events will be the triple jump, 100m, 200m and 400m.  I am also representing the club in my age group in the 4x100m and 4x400m relays.  I'm looking forward to competing and experiencing the event, and will endeavour to blog each day.

Fire brigade season resumes

On Sunday, the fire brigade competition season resumed after the Christmas break with a competition in Mooroopna.  This was a small gathering, with only 8 teams entered.  I was expecting to run in 4 or 5 events, hoping to take it relatively easy, so I could save myself for a bigger target a week later - the Victorian Country Athletics Championships.

Instead, due to a combination of shortages and injuries across both of our teams, I ended up running in 9 events.  First was the ladder race.  In the heat, I ran a PB (post comeback) of 7.88 seconds (hand timed).  For some reason, I was getting on the ladder better, with the only change in recent times being the commencement of triple jump training at athletics in the preceding week.  Although narrowly beaten in my heat, I got into the final on the "fastest losers" rule.  In the final, I ran 7.93.

Following the ladder race was the C section hose and ladder 5s.  My run was a bit ordinary, as I missed grabbing the coupling at the start and had a hiccup getting onto the ladder, but we still ended up with a reasonable time (25.70) and a win.  I managed to recover strongly to get up in plenty of time.  Following the 5s, I was substituted into the A section side for the hose and ladder 8s.  In this event, I ran pole.  Nothing too dramatic happened with my part, and we ended up with second place.

In the dry events, I ran the 2 man marshall, where we got 4th place, and the 4 man Y (no places there).  Then the pumper events, where I was in the pumper and ladder event.  Ran my usual ladder position, with a slow start to the climb.  Still made it up in time, but we just missed out on a place.

After a short lunch break, it was time for the reel events.  My first event was the C section 4s.  This time, I ran branch, requiring me to hit the back of the reel (with someone else) to get it moving, then pushing it almost to the branch line, where I got off, attached the branch to the hose and hit the target.  The time was good and we had another win.  Following the 4s I substituted in the A side again, this time for the hose and reel 8s.  Had a good run, and we ended up with a second place.

We didn't field a team for the 6s, but the A side did.  They had enough to run it, but they needed a 7th person to "catch" the reel.  This requires standing just behind the targets during the event pretty much in the path of the reel.  As it comes past, I have to grab it, so the last person in the pole can get out and finish the event.  While I don't often catch these days, I am actually very experienced, mostly from my earlier days in the sport.  Following the 6s was the champion 4s.  With the only other available person injured earlier in the day, I had to run pole in this event.  Although I was starting to get some muscle tightness from the multiple runs (and now hauling the cart), this was completed without incident.  We didn't win our heat, which meant the end for us in that event.  We also didn't run the Y8, due to insufficient injury free runners by this stage.

Finally, I had to substitute for the A team in the Y8.  Here, I ran second branch, with a fairly routine run.  Unfortunately, there was a problem later in the run after I hit my target, and our time wasn't good.

Since Sunday, I have been endeavouring to taper down for the Victorian Country Athletics Championships, which start tomorrow.  On Tuesday, I just did the warmup, then spent a little time working on my triple jump.  At fire brigade training, the hot weather and other factors saw us doing a lighter than normal session, focusing on dry work.

Happy New Year. Time to get serious.

Since the last athletics meet, 3 days before Christmas, I maintained my training schedule.  This was one of my key goals, because in previous years, the interruption to training over Christmas caused issues.  I was able to work on sprint endurance, top speed and starts/acceleration, making good progress in all areas.  In addition to normal competitions, I am preparing for the Victorian Country Championships, which are held in 2 weeks on January 22 - 24.

Yesterday (9/1), athletics competition resumed after the short Christmas break.  My troublesome hamstring has been holding up well to training, and I was interested to see how it would go under competition stresses.  Unfortunately, I had a heavy pair of sessions on Tuesday and was still feeling the after effects.  With the Victorian Country championships in 2 weeks, I didn't want to take too many risks.

First event was the 200 metres.  The first 80m felt a bit slow off the mark, but there were no issues and my form was good, so I gave it everything at that point, and reached top speed very quickly.  I was able to maintain top speed for most of the straight and finished with a PB time of 27.47 seconds, 0.81 seconds than my previous PB.

There was a long wait until my next event, the 60m.  Again, the start felt slow, and I didn't get up to top speed.  This was partly due to caution, and I suspect due to the odd timing of the day causing my to mis time and under do my warmup.

My final event was another that I hadn't done for 30 years - the triple jump.  I had two good jumps, with the best being 7.24m.  It's early days, and I need to do a lot of training to get better distance.  As I need to reduce my training volume significantly for the country championships, this might be a good opportunity to focus on the triple jump.

Next week, it's back to the fire brigade track for a regular competition.

Last athletics meet for the year.

Had my last athletics meet for the year last night.  It was supposed to be on Saturday, but with forecast temperatures of 42C, the Saturday meet was cancelled, and last night was organised as a cut down replacement.

With my leg now healed, I entered the 100 and 400 metres, as well as the long jump.  The 100m was first, and although healed, I needed to take things a bit cautious.  Despite taking the start slower than normal, and taking my time to reach top speed, I ran a PB of 13.68.  I pulled up a bit tight in the left hamstring, but still able to run.  My technique wasn't as good as it has been at training in the last month, so there's plenty of room to bring that time down.

Next was the 400m.  With my hamstring now a bit tight, I took the start very cautiously, before settling into the rest of the race.  Finished well, with a PB of 65.76.

My final event was the long jump.  I still have a lot to learn with any of the field events, but it was fun taking part.  My first jump ended up being my best at 3.51m.

It was good to back running sprints.  I plan to train through the Christmas break to keep my fitness up, and fine tune my technique for the country championships in late January.

Change of pace (literally!)

Back on the athletics track this week.  Unfortunately, I picked up a minor niggle on Thursday, which was sufficient to rule me out of the sprints.  As a consolation, I decided to run the 800m, which would cause less stress on my legs. 

Unlike the other week, I had sufficient leg strength available to perform a near normal start, then I settled into the rest of the race.  First lap was completed within 1:18-1:19, significantly better than any previous attempt at this distance.  During the second lap, I was passed by a couple of other runners.  However, in the last 100m, I was able to surge ahead and overtake one of them, finishing third in my heat, with a PB time of 2:45.25, 6.03 seconds better than any previous race.

While I'm not a middle distance runner, I was happy with my performance today.  Hopefully, I'll be back to sprints next week.

Fire brigade season begins!

Yesterday was the start of the fire brigade competition season for me.  This was the first competition since I started athletics training, so it was always going to be interesting to see how I went.  The weather was hot and overcast, but with only a slight breeze for most of the day.

First event was the ladder race.  Because the sprint part of the race is only short, and I haven't been able to work on my starts, it was difficult to tell if there was any effect on my performance.  However, due to a lack of ladder training (as our training track is under repair), the climb wasn't as smooth as normal.  Following the ladder race was the hose and ladder 5s.  Here was the real test, and the reason I took up athletics.  After collecting my gear off the reel and starting the sprint stage, I took off.  For the first couple of seconds, I had to be a bit careful, due to hose near my feet, then I could open up to top speed for a few seconds, until my assistant needed me to slow down (about 15 metres short of where I normally would).  The final part, was the climb, which had a bit of a slip near the top.  However, the run still finished in around 26 seconds.  I estimate that the short burst at top speed took a good 1/2 second off the time it took me to get to the top.  A combination of sprint and specific skills training could take another second off.

Next event was the 2 man marshall, one of the dry events.  Here, I'm at a disadvantage, because I'm not as quick at the turns, and there's no long sprints.  Unfortunately, a loose coupling put us out of that event.  Following the marshalls was the pumper events.  In the pumper and ladder 5s, I ran my usual ladder position.  By now, I was getting my muscle memory back and the climb was smoother.  However, a technical fault prevented the run from being completed, and we were granted a re run.  In the re run, everything went well, and we got a time of just over 18 seconds, which was enough for a 5th place, and less than a second slower than our 2014 state winning time.  Following the 5s was the pumper 4s.  In this event, something didn't go quite right, resulting in a "miss".

The rest of the day was hose and reel events, starting with the C section 4s.  There were only two C section sides, so we got to race against each other, instead of running singly.  This made the event more exciting.  I was running hydrant - a position I haven't run for some time.  However, with our pole only able to run on the right hand side of the reel due to injury, the hydrant person has to cross over in front of the reel, after picking up the hydrant, and my speed is a huge advantage here, not only allowing me to safely cross over well in front of the reel, but also have plenty of time to be setup.  The run went well, I got to the plug in plenty of time and was setup just as the coupler came to couple the hose on, allowing me to turn the water on immediately.  Not only were we first to hit the disc, but the other side was given a miss, meaning either way, we had won the event.

After the 4s, the A side asked me to fill in as first assist for their hose and reel 8s.  I had a good run here as well, though the guys on the opposite side of the reel to me had some sort of major hiccup.  Despite these problems, we actually won the event in a surprisingly good time (29 seconds)! :)

Due to a lack of training (because of the track maintenance issue), we didn't run in the hose and reel 6s.  This event can be very dangerous if not run properly, and half the team has never even run in a 6 team.  Following the 6s was the champion 4s.  We fielded a different team to the C 4s, and I was back in pole for this event.  I had a good run, though by this stage, I was being a little cautious not to overstress my hamstring (it didn't give any trouble).  Unfortunately, there was a miss somewhere.

The final event was the Y 8.  We didn't have enough people to field a team, and we hadn't been able to train it either.  However, another team was also short and asked if we could provide 2 extras to make up their numbers.  I ran pole and third branch - pull the reel to the far end of the track, hand it over to the catcher, then put the branch onto the hose and clip onto the ladder runner.  I used to run this position a few years ago, so I knew what I was doing, and only had to learn the specific way the team ran their Y8 (there's _many_ ways to run this event!).  Had a good run, with everything going well.  It's certainly not the first time I've filled in for another team, and I always enjoy that experience.  It's good to get a feel for how others run things.

So in summary, it was a very successful day.  Both our A and C teams won their respective sections, with the A side winning the grand aggregate and the C side getting 5th overall.  As for myself, the hard work of the last few months is bearing fruit, with significantly faster track speed when not on the reel, helping in the ladder 5s and when running the hydrant position.  The next competition is not until January 17, so my focus will switch back to athletics for the next several weeks.  I plan to keep training right through the Christmas break, and there are only 2 weeks without athletics meets.  The plan is to run athletics until the bulk of the fire brigade season, then focus there until the state championships in March.  A fortunate coincidence is that my last week of athletics will be the Victorian Country championships in late January.

Athletics week 7 - a rollercoaster ride

Been a bit slack posting this update.  Since my previous post and success, I had put in a good week of training.  Some technique improvements that significantly increased my top speed at training.  Later that week, I was also running 200m even faster than the PB I set 5 days earlier.  So, with my 100m having been around for over 2 months, I was pretty confdent of setting a new time for myself.  However, around 30 metres into the race, my left hamstring gave out, and I was unable to maintain speed.  I did finish the race, in a time of 20.95. That ended my day there and then.

3 days later, I had already entered in a Masters meet.  After the hamstring issue, I changed my entry to include the 800m event.  I don't normally run the 800m, it's a bit long for me to be really competitive, but it is a good one when I don't have power available.  Despite a (deliberately) very slow start and being unable to push into the wind on one part of the track, I finished with a PB of 2:51.28 (previous was around 2:55).  I also competed in the long jump, taking it easy, with a best jump of 3.20m.

The rest of last week was light training sessions and some massage.  The massage revealed a lot of lower back/upper glute tightness, which is likely to have contributed to the hamstring problem.  Last Saturday, there was no local meet, and I took the opportunity to mostly rest, but did some walking, running, strength work and stretching in the hydrotherapy pool at the local gym.  My last day of work for the year on Friday also helped recovery, as I do quite a bit of walking and light to moderate physical work on the job.

Returned to training last night.  This was my first real test since the weekend rest.  At athletics training, we were doing 400m starts.  I did take a couple of precautions to avoid overstressing my hamstring.  Firstly, I did a "rolling start", instead of a normal block start, and I did slightly limit how much power I used in the first 7 seconds, especially in the early acceleration phase.  After several starts, we finished the session with a full 400m run.  I completed that in 67 seconds, which is comparable to my 66.65 PB. 

A 15 minute drive across town and it was fire brigade training time.  Because we were time limited, we trained the dry events, known as marshalls.  On the positive side for me, there are no long stretches where I would be likely to stretch out too far, but these events require you to stay low, which does increase stress on the hamstrings.  However, I had no issues during this session either.  With a bit of care, I'll be 100% for the weekend.

This weekend is the first of the fire brigade competitions, so I'll be putting my sprint training to the test, especially in the wet events, where there are relatively long sprints required.  More news as it comes to hand! :)

Athletics week 6 - 200m magic and a nasty headwind

An interesting day on the track today.  Conditions were mild, but with a headwind starting at least as strong as last week and increasing from there at times.  This week, I entered the 200m and 60m events, same as last week.

Now that my injury issues are behind me, I could focus on running at my best.  The 200m started well.  Around 70-80 metres into the race, I felt the headwind take effect on the final part of the bend.  I noticed I was somewhere near the front of the field, so I gave it everything from there until the finish and hoped that my fitness carried me to the line, which it did.  End result was a new PB of 28.28 seconds (0.33 seconds off last week's time).  I also won my heat by 0.38 seconds.

The 60m sprint was run in difficult wind conditions, as the wind had picked up by this time.  Unfortunately, official wind readings weren't available, but by feel, it was probably in excess of 5 m/S.  I got off to a good start, but took a bit longer than normal to settle into rhythm (pity it wasn't a 100m event!).  Ran a solid 9.11 seconds, which was still OK, given that everyone else's times looked around 1/2 a second slower than their normal times too.

This week's relay was a 4x400m event.  There was no chance of a record this time around, as the existing record was set by a combination much faster than ours.  However, it was a great experience, as I had never run one of these relays before, but had watched them on TV.  I ran the second leg, which meant that my first change to receive the baton was done in lanes, then I was the runner to cut into the inside lane on the back straight.  Had a good run with a reasonably clean change to receive the baton, a smooth transition to the inside lane and passing another team on the home bend.  I finished my leg strongly, before passing the baton on to the third runner.  I really enjoyed this experience and look forward to the next opportunity to run a 4x400m relay.

Next week, it's back to the 100m and 400m sprints, as well as the 4x100m relay.  I'm also looking at competing in the long jump for something different.  Training wise, I still have to work on my starts to get out of the blocks faster, as well as more repetition, and managing the balance between my various training sessions.

Athletics - Week 5

So where was week 4 you ask?  It was on, but I had to pull out of all events due to injury.  Anyway, I came back this week, almost fully recovered from my injury, and now armed with a pair of spikes.  I had hedged my bets, entering the 800m, in addition to the usual 200m and 60m events.  The plan was to run the 200m, see how everything was holding up - if good, run the 60, otherwise run the 800, which wouldn't stress any weak areas.

First event was the 200m.  Conditions were tough, with a stiff headwind (later measured at 3m/S), blowing almost directly up the home straight.  This was my first actual race in spikes..  Anyway, I took the start a little easier than normal, so any acceleration issues didn't overstress my groin.  About 120m from home, I felt the full force of the headwind and felt it was safe to open up and hold that to the finish.  My energy held up and I finished strongly with a PB time of 28.61 (down from 28.96) seconds. 

Next event was the 60m sprint.  This would be a test of my recovery, as there's no room to take it too easy over such a short distance.  Got away to a good start, and cautiously accelerated to near top speed, finishing in a PB time of 8.70 (down from 8.91).  As is common for me, the effect of the headwind was hardly felt in the shorter race, doe to the excess power I have.  In both sprints, the spikes were certainly responsible for a significant portion of the improvement, as well as improved fitness, especially in the 200m.

To finish the day, we ran a "Swedish relay", which consists of 4 legs - 100m, 200m, 300m and 400m.  The teams were mixed together in age and gender, rather than tuned to win specific age groups, as this was more of a fun event, rather than a serious one.  I got the 300m leg in my race, which is towards the longer end of my range.  However, this run went better than I expected.  The whole 300 metres felt good, even the upwind in the home straight, just before passing the baton to the 400m runner.  This was my first experience with a "400m" style of changeover ever, which went well.

Anyway, a good day in all, I'm back on the track with a vengeance, and ready to build on this success.  Next project is to (carefully!) work on my starts and sort out the issues there.

Back in form. :)

Just about recovered from my injury.  Athletics training was cut short tonight, because of a thunderstorm which arrived just as we finished the warmup.  So, it was on to the fire brigade training.  Tonight, after the warmup, we had two 75 yard (68.55m) timed sprints.  My best time was 9.58 seconds.  Even allowing for this being hand timed, it equates to a time marginally faster than my 60m PB, nearly 2 weeks ago.  However, I was being a bit cautious, especially at the start and early acceleration phase, only opening up (and keeping that to 95%) relatively late in the run.

I'm looking forward to getting back on the track on Saturday.  - Tony.

And now for something different.

Last weekend was a bit of a mixed bag.  My groin was still causing issues, and I was forced to withdraw from Saturday's track sprints.  However, on Sunday I had a 5k run, which I had entered ages ago.  In the longer, slower race, my injury wasn't an issue.  I had good results, running a PB of 25:37, just a fraction slower than my goal of 25 minutes (5 minutes/km).  As this was around 90 seconds faster than my previous PB, I was happy with the result.

Meanwhile, training goes on, and I'm steadily recovering.  Also had my first test run in spikes, which was quite successful.  Looking forward to when I can return to pushing the envelope. :)

Getting off on the wrong foot! (or Oops, I just discovered a major bug!)

Had an interesting night at athletics training tonight.  As is normal for Tuesday, we focused on the shorter sprints, working on pure speed, rather than sprint endurance.  After the warmup and a couple of standard drills, we did 5 flying 30m sprints - these involve building up speed in the first 30 metres, then going all out for the next 30, and then for the final 30m, relaxing, while maintaining as much speed as possible.  In this drill, I performed quite well, with good form and high speed.

Next, we were given a choice of activities.  I decided to work on my starts, because I haven't spent much time on them.  That's when the fun started.  It turns out that despite having quite a fast start, I actually had a number of significant issues, and I was achieving my performance on brute force in the legs, and possibly losing in the acceleration phase too.  My arms and legs just wouldn't coordinate.  Further investigation seemed to indicate I was starting on the wrong foot, so with guidance from one of the other guys, I swapped feet around on the blocks.  This got  the arms working right, though things were still a bit rough, as the unconscious mind was still trying to do its thing, and on one attempt, this conflict resulted in a minor groin strain.

So where to, from here?  firstly, recovering from this strain, which will hopefully only take a few days, and from there, sort out the issues with my starts.  It's going to take a lot of repetition and some guidance, with the promise of significant improvements in my times. The experiment continues... :)

Athletics Week 3 - 2 PBs and a hand in a record!

Had another successful day on the track today.  This week was the alternate program, for the first time this season.  I entered in the 200m and 60m sprints.

The 200m was first.  Conditions were warm, with a stiff breeze that was a full on headwind on the bend, and a slight headwind (1.2 m/S) in the home straight at the time.  Had a good run, able to maintain top speed for most of the race.  Despite the challenging wind, I ran a PB of 28.96 - 0.19 seconds faster than the previous PB from September.

The next event was the 60m.  With over an hour between events, I had to spend a bit more time warming up.  Had an excellent start, got out of the blocks ahead, and finished with a time of 8.91.  As my previous 8.8 seconds was hand timed, this would be a PB.

My last event for the day was the 4x200m relay.  As in previous weeks, I was part of an over 40s club team.  This week, I ran in second position, which meant taking the baton from someone else for the first time in 34 years! :)  This run went well.  With much easier wind conditions by now, it felt at least as fast as my individual 200m race, over 2 hours earlier, and both baton changes were reasonably smooth.  We were going for the track record, which we managed to break by 2.7 seconds, as well as beating another team in our age group, who also broke the old record. :)

So, another successful day on the track, finishing on a high note. :)

Athletics - Week 2

Today was quite different conditions to last week, with cooler temperatures and the wind starting out as almost a cross wind and turning into a headwind as the day progressed, but the draw was the same, so I entered the 100m and 400m events.

The 100m went well, felt like my best ever, and I had plenty of power right up to the finish.  However, the clock told a different story.  14.00 seconds, just short of my PB.  However, this is the first time since starting training that I've run with a headwind (1.7 m/S officially).  A quick analysis of the results shows that the headwind affected me much less than most of the others, which I did expect.  My time was slightly faster than last week, though last week I was being a bit cautious.  It is also only 0.13 seconds slower than my PB, which was set with a tail wind.

Again, 400m was next.  Conditions were tough, with the wind having now changed from more of a cross wind to a near headwind in the final straight.  For the first half of the race, I took full advantage of the tail wind on the back straight, before taking on the headwind for the last 150m or so.  Finished with a time of 66.65, 1.22 seconds better than last week's PB.  This run also took everything I had, which made it double as an excellent training run to build fitness.

My last event was the medley relay.  This involves 2x200m legs, then a 400m leg and finishing with an 800m leg.  I ran the first 200m leg, starting into the wind (where I had a power advantage), before turning towards the back straight with a tail wind.  This went well.  I had recovered from my previous all out 400m run.  Overall, we did OK, except one of the guys had some soreness, and a rough changeover later in the race (long after my stage finished).

Overall, I was pleased with the day.  My 400m performances continue to improve, far beyond anything I had anticipated when I started.  However, 100m improvements remains a challenge, and I am taking extra steps to try and improve my form in this event.

Next week is the alternate program, which means I will be entering the 60m and 200m sprints.  It will be interesting to see how I go in these events.

Track season begins.

Today was the official start of track season.  I had entered the 100m and 40m sprints, but due to an injury 11 days ago, there was some uncertainty about the 100.  However, I decided to go ahead with that race, as my injury appeared to have come good by Thursday.  So, I headed to the track on a hot and humid afternoon.

The 100m was my first event.  Not wanting to cause further injury, I took this race a bit easier than I normally would.  The start was my usual fast start, but after that, I eased into the faster parts of the race, only pushing things in the last 20 metres.  The time was 14.04, slightly slower than my previous 13.87 PB.

400m was next.  At this distance, I didn't need to reach quite the same speeds, so the risk of injury was very low.  In this race, I ran my usual race plan, allowing a bit for the headwind in the back straight.  Finished strongly in 3rd place in my heat with a PB time of 67.87.

After the 400m, I was asked to run a leg of the mens 40+ 4x100m relay team.  My position was first, to take advantage of my fast starts.  Like the 100m, I took this one carefully.  Once I was up to speed, I eased into the race.  At the 60m mark, I felt good, so I decided to push the speed up to near my top speed, before passing the baton to the next team member.  Together, we completed the event within 1.5 seconds of the track record, and all of us were running well within out capabilities! :)  Looking forward to having a real crack at the track record. :)

A couple of hiccups

This week hasn't been one of my better weeks.  Firstly, on Tuesday, I pulled a muscle in the left of my groin early in a series of short (30m - 50m sprints).  That ended the night's planned training, and it was off to treat the injury with ice. :(

Yesterday, I did manage two light training sessions.  I'm already capable of around 1/2 of my top speed and 2/3 of my 200m pace.  My best 200m interval was 42 seconds (compared to 29 second race time and 33-36 second training pace).  I also did well in the fire brigade training session afterwards.  Unfortunately, I had a cold come on suddenly late yesterday afternoon, so I'm now out of action because of that. :(  The silver lining is that it might be a good opportunity for a proper rest and possibly some targeted rehab training in the gym.

Athletics season starts on October 10.  I've entered the 100m and 400m events, and hope to be at least capable of the 400 (which is a lot less stress on muscles), but would like to run both.

Encouraging early signs

Training has been going well at the athletics club.  Those who have been following my posts on this blog will recall that I initially started training with the athletics club to improve my sprint performance for the fire brigade competitions, and I later decided to compete in athletics as well.

Anyway, last night, the local fire brigades held a "winter comp" (yes, it's Spring now, this is the tail end of the series).  Last night's events were the 2 man marshall, in which we ran just over 19 seconds in our best run.  This time is at least a second better than anything I ran this time last year, yet, I felt I could go significantly faster.  The next event was the 2 man Y, which only juniors (under 17s) run in the main competitions.  Our best time was good enough to get 4th place.  In these two events, the distances between each piece of work are very short, so the improvements aren't due to increased sprint speed.  I suspect that training has subtly improved my overall gross motor coordination, giving me slightly better agility.

In the final event, I had a chance to try out my sprint capabilities, as after I finished my work, I then had a sprint of around 20 metres to the finish.  The sprint did go well, and I had to pull up much harder to slow to a safe speed, before I ran into the fence at the end of the track! :)

In the meantime, training has been going well.  Speed and sprint endurance are still gradually improving.  Ran some hill climbs on Thursday, which brought out my power - I don't slow down that much going up hill.

So, early indications are promising for the coming summer on the fire track.  Time will tell, when the season starts in early December.  In the meantime, athletics season starts on the 10th of October, which will give me plenty of opportunities to test and improve my speed.

- Tony.

Success on the track!

Today was the "Spring Special" athletics meet, which finished just under an hour ago.  This is the first real opportunity to test how my training is progressing.  I started intense training around 6 weeks ago with the local athletics club, but the effects of training are already clearly evident.

Today, I entered 3 events, namely the 3 sprints - 100m, 200m and 400m.  My previous PBs for these events were:

100m - 14.68 seconds, set July 12
200m - 31.62 seconds, set July 12
400m - 74.55 seconds, set August 6

The July times were before I commenced training, and the August time was within the first week or two of starting, so they are baseline figures.

Today, I ran 13.87 in the 100m.  This is a 0.81 second improvement, due mainly to improved technique from training.  However, there is a lot more room for improvement, as I push my neurological limits further.  I have very high power available, from the fire competitions, but still have to convert more that to speed.  My starts, where the power shows, are as good as anyone else.  Today's gain represents approximately half of my goal to achieve by March (in the order of 1.5 seconds over 100m).

In the 200m, I ran 29.15, which beat my previous mark by 2.47 seconds.  Here, a small part of the improvement was technique, with the bulk being improved sprint endurance and better race strategy.

400 metres was the big improvement.  I used to always struggle with this distance in my school years.  I ran 68.09 seconds, which is a massive improvement of 6.46 seconds.  Here, the bulk of that improvement comes from a combination of improved sprint endurance, as well as applying pace management techniques I've used for years in longer distances (1km to marathon) to the shorter race.

Overall, I'm really happy with my gains, and there's more to come.

- Tony

A breakthrough, and a test to come!

Made a breakthrough this week in training.  With the help of the coach, I was able to significantly increase my stride length, which in turn increases my top sprint speed.  Now, I just have to practice that technique consistently, to make it ingrained.  It took a few goes to find a way for me to understand the instructions, then sense and make the necessary changes to my technique.

Good timing too, this Sunday I will be competing in a track meet.  I have entered the 100m, 200m and 400m sprints, and look forward to seeing how much progress I've made against my previous performances.

Also, the fire brigade training starts in a couple of weeks, which will be another opportunity to review my progress.  Looking forward to this summer! :) -Tony

Making good progress...

Already at this early stage, I am making steady progress in my track training.  The longer sprints are showing the biggest improvement.  On Sunday, I ran a 73 second 400m training run, and that was after slowing down, because I was targeting a specific pace, so I'm capable of a significantly faster time.  3 weeks ago, I ran 74.55 in a race, so I'm easily beating recent race times now.  At 200m, my 31.6 second race time from last month has been bettered by steady training runs around 30 seconds, again with plenty in reserve.

100 metres is more of a challenge.  While my natural power suits this event, improvement here relies on improving coordination, rather than sprint endurance, which is where the gains have been made in the longer sprints.  However, I feel that I am gradually adopting better form.  In addition, my starts are among the fastest in our training group, being able to gain almost a metre in the first few steps.  I feel as though I'm expending less effort to maintain the same speed, though with a mild groin strain from Sunday, I wasn't able to really push my top speed.I will have an opportunity to see how much my race time has improved next month.

Looking forward to seeing what the summer seasons (both track and fire brigade) bring.

More training

Another training session.  This one consisted of 6 x 200m sprints with decreasing rest between them (5, 4, 3, 2, 1 minutes respectively).  The aim is to run each of these at a 400m or 800m pace.  Given that this was likely to be a tough workout, I was initially conservative, with my first run being around 38 seconds, which corresponds to a time of 76 seconds for 400m.  My time for the 400 was actually 74.55 a few days ago, and I was surprised that the first 200 was so fast.  The next 4 sprints were in the range of 33 - 36 seconds, all faster than my 400m pace, and the final 200m run, which took place after only a minute's rest after the previous run, was still around 38 seconds.

I enjoyed this session and surprised myself at how well I performed in this training session.  I thought I knew myself well, but I'm discovering my capabilities are well in excess of what I had thought.  I'm really looking forward to competing in the coming track season.

And the athletics club have been showing interest in having me run in the 4x400m relay in my age group. :)

- Tony

Breaking new ground - conquering a tough distance.

Made a major advance in my sporting pursuits last night.  I attended a small twilight athletics competition after training last night.  Because it was a small meet, event choice was limited - 1500m, 400m and 2 miles.

I am a sprinter by nature, but have always struggled with the 400 metres, and to a lesser extent with the 200, so I didn't expect any miracles with the 400 and was doing it more as a training run and to participate in the program.

During my training session, I did a number of 400m runs with a break (usually a lap of walking) in between.  The first run was like so many 400m runs of the past, a good strong start, fading around the 200 metre mark, but it was still around 80 seconds - among the faster ones I've done.  I did several more 400m runs, but eased back a bit, as well as some run throughs on the main straight to keep warm.

So, race time comes, I got off to a good start, then eased back - 100m, 150m, 200m and I'm still feeling rather good.  Hit the 300 metre mark, still feeling good, much to my surprise, so I decided to give it everything for the run home, and instead of running out of steam, I actually got faster, finishing strong.

The final time was 74.55 seconds, somewhat better than expected, but more significantly, with what happened, I feel I will improve on that dramatically, because it's as though I've unlocked an energy system that until now has been largely inaccessible (but most people have).

For the future, I will work on my 400 metre race more and see what I can do with this new found ability, and I will experiment with 800 and maybe 1500 metres to see what effect this has in the middle distance range, which has always been the most difficult for me.  Another benchmark will be my 3km cross country runs, where my performance is now well studied, with a couple of recent PBs among them.

- Tony

A new strategy, and two new sports!

After a successful 2014-2015 season, I took the chance to review my performances and looked for areas of improvement.  I feel I can improve.  Firstly, my strength preparation wasn't as good as it was the previous year, which may have contributed to injury issues.  Secondly, I haven't been satisfied with my top speed and have been looking for training options in that area.

To address these issues, I've stepped up the gym work to deal with the strength issue.  This has been going extremely well over the past 2 months, with good gains all over, and key muscles are as strong as they've ever been.  Resistance training has proven in previous seasons to be effective in both injury prevention, as well as developing the power required to haul the reel down the track.

To improve my speed, I decided that coaching by a sprint coach would be the way to go.  Through contacts, I was put in touch with the local athletics club, and have commenced cross country running (for a bit of stamina, as well as social interaction and networking), and have just started training with the club at the local athletics track.  Coincidentally, the week after I started cross country, there was a winter athletics meet, so I entered in the 100 and 200 metre sprints.  Despite being at the end of a 4 month break from any sprints, not having spiked and the weather being wet, I did quite well ib the 100m event, especially in the start, where my power worked to my advantage.  The 200m was a bit more of a struggle, but I've never been particularly good at this distance.  Definitely need a lot more work there.  Anyway, I've got the athletics bug, and though the season overlaps the fire competition season, I should be able to compete in a number of meets over the warmer months..

So I've now started training.  Tonight was particularly well suited to me, being focused on speed work.  I think the process of rewiring my motor pathways is already beginning, I felt a noticeable improvement as the drills progressed, though there's still a long way to go.  My goal is to take more than a second (preferably 1.5+) off my 100m time, which will give me the time I need in one of our key events to get down the track and up the ladder in a time that would give us a State win.

Anyway, the big experiment has begun, how successful it is, I won't know until at least the summer.  Pushing this boundary is something I have seen no documentation on for autistic people.  However, I have noticed one side effect, my mood in general has improved, even in the middle of the coldest winter I've experienced for over 20 years.

- Tony

autismwalk 2015

The weekend of May 23-24 saw the second autismwalk fundraiser.  This is a walk that takes place around a circuit in a park over a 24 hour period.  This year, 5 core walkers, who are all on the spectrum took part.  I was one of those walkers, this being my second year.

For the event, I walked a total of 119 laps of the park, which equated to 95km, some 14km more than in the previous year.  Interestingly, I spent less time actually walking, a bit under 16 hours.  The rest of the time was rest breaks, plus an estimated 1 hour stopping each lap to record the lap count! (119 times an average of 30 seconds ;) ).

As a fundraiser, it was a huge success, raising a lot of money for iOS devices for people on the spectrum.  In addition, it engaged the public, who joined in throughout the 24 hours to support us.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to next year, when I am planning to break the 100km barrier.

- Tony

From one extreme to the other!

Once the competition season ends in March, the next major physical event on my calendar is the 24 hour autismwalk charity fundraiser.  This year, the walk takes place on the weekend of 23 - 24 May.

Training is interesting, because up until the second Monday in March, my focus is entirely on speed and power.  The longest run I have there is a little over 100 metres (admittedly often much of that is with 150kg in tow), and the longest event takes less than 40 seconds.  So somehow I have to transition from that to walking for at least 18 hours in 24, in a 10 week period.  In addition, time for long walks is limited.  For some reason, this year has been socially busier than normal since the state championships.  Normally it goes fairly quiet, but not so much this time.

Last year proved that I could make the transition, and this year I am taking a similar approach.  The trick for me is to incorporate walking into my daily routine as much as possible.  I normally cycle or drive everywhere, but the majority of those trips have been replaced by walks.  It just means I need to allow a bit more time to get to places.  These short (2 - 10 km) walks tend to be done fast.  In addition, I try and schedule a few 3 - 4 hour walks, taking advantage of the network of shared walking and cycling paths around town here.  These usually end up being in the 20 - 30 km range, and are taken at a slightly slower pace.  This year, I seem to be a bit ahead of where I was this time last year, with both maximum average speed and "cruising speed" somewhat higher than they used to be.

At just over a month out, I'm feeling confident of both making the 24 hours and achieving the 100 km goal I've set for myself. 

After the walk, the long campaign to transition back to speed and power begins, and I will attempt to rewrite my motor neurology yet again. :) - Tony

Highlights from the last year

The past 10 - 11 months have really flown by, and not much activity on the blogs.  Thought I'd better give a brief update.

I took part as one of the "core walkers" in the inaugural autismwalk charity fundraiser last June.  This walk is a 24 hour event that takes place in a local park around a walking track, and as a core walker, I was expected to be out on the track for the majority of the time.  I logged 16 hours out of the 24, and covered 81 km, which is among the top contenders for the longest walk I've ever done in 24 hours.  However, one or two rogaines in years gone by are in a similar ballpark for distance, though I didn't have access to the same level of technology to log those accurately back then.

After the walk, it was back to basic fitness training in the gym for the rest of the winter and early spring, into October.  I also did some outdoor fitness work with some of my teammates once a week during this period.  As regular training ramped up during October, my self directed work tapered off.

In late October, I was awarded "Runner of the Year" in my team for the 2013 - 2014 season at the fire brigade's annual awards presentation dinner, which capped off a good season.

The fire brigade competition season started on the last week of November, through to early March.  This year, we ran quite well, managing to take out the season aggregate in our class.  I had a fairly good season, though some hamstring trouble took the shine off it.  The first time was in late January, but fortunately, I was taking the next competition off to participate in the Pride March for the CFA's first official involvement, and the following weekend had no competitions, which gave me plenty of time to rest.  The second time the issue came back was in my first home and reel event at the state championships in March.  Somehow, despite my injury, and that of one of my teammates in the same run, we kept up with the opposing side and even won the heat!  Being the first day of competition, this had a significant impact for all of us, as it meant we were a couple of people down, and I was not available for the usual heavy workload.  

Initially, it looked like I was out for the weekend, but I was able to run my usual position on the ladder in the pumper and ladder event, because the only physically stressful part was the vertical climb, which wasn't affected.  I also managed to run the Y8, but in a different position, again where I could avoid some of the stresses.  Turned out I still had quite a bit of useful power, despite the injury.  Finally, on the last day, probably the riskiest event being the hose and ladder 5 event, I had to sprint the entire length of the run, before climbing the ladder.  Despite some soreness, the sprint went well.  Unfortunately an unrelated slip on the ladder cost us a place.  In the end, we came up with a couple of minor placings for the 3 days, which was good, given that the team was severely disrupted, missing one key runner altogether (the other injured person was out for the weekend), and myself being limited in what I could do. 

In the end, I identified a couple of key issues to address for next season.  Firstly, it looks like I have to pay more attention to hamstring strength during the summer months, especially over the Christmas break and the weekends where there's no competition.  Secondly, I'm not happy with my speed.  With the power I have, and other traits, I feel I should be able to go faster in a sprint.  I also need to pick up a second or two for the hose and ladder event, to ensure I can get to the top in sufficient time to win the state championships.  Something isn't coordinating quite right, and my running form is a little unusual at higher speeds.  A couple of weeks later, during a Street parade march, I did notice that while my legs were in perfect time to the band, I had trouble with sensing where my arms were.  Past history suggests I can find ways to compensate, if I find the right way to train.  This is still under investigation, stay tuned! - Tony

I wasn't a born sportsperson!

On the eve of a 24 hour fundraiser walk for autism, I have been contemplating my relationship with exercise and sport, and how I got to where I am today - healthy, happy and active, despite significant early challenges.

This blog post is a departure from the last several years.  Instead of talking about achievements, I will talk about challenges and overcoming them - the story of the unlikely sportsperson.  That person just happens to be me.  I didn't always have the strength, power or the winning edge, in fact,as a kid I could barely make the finish line, let alone win, and I was the classic nerd who was last choice for any team sport at school.  So what happened?  And how can this benefit others?

Let's go back to the start.  My first memory of sport was Little Athletics, a great program to get school age kids into track and field.  This was around the start of my primary school years, and to put it bluntly, I finished dead last in every race, well behine the next kid.  After a summer or two of this, I basically quit.  There was a part of me who liked the idea of being good at some sport, like the athletes on TV, but I had resigned myself to the "fact" that it would never happen.

Through most of my primary school years, I never really gave much thought to sport, it was simply something I was never good at, though surprisingly, I did enjoy school sports day, as I preferred being outside to being in the classroom, despite being a good student academically, with a number of As.

When I was 10, a friend got me interested in judo, and I decided to give it a go.  Spent a couple of seasons in the club, and enjoyed it, but making progress was slow.  A year later, I joined the local junior fire brigade, and started training for their competitions.  Again, at that time, progress was slow, though steady.

My teenage years could be described as the time of "accidental therapies".  What I didn't know, but now strongly suspect is that I actually have some level of movement issues, which weren't known or understood at the time.  The first of these "accidental therapies" was, surprisingly, football, specifically Aussie Rules (now often called AFL).  The year I turned 13, I decided to try playing for a local club.  As a footballer, I was a disaster, but what really did work was the intense training.  The coaches were old school, and I took to the hard training regimes like a duck to water.  By the end of the season, I still couldn't play football to save my life, but my fitness, especially strength, speed and power had improved out of sight, so much so that my role in the fire brigade events had to change the following summer, to take advantage of my new found speed, and I became a consistent placegetter in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and triple jump at school athletics, and always picked for inter-school competitions.  I also found that intense training also helped me mentally, I felt good after the footy training, and the world seemed a better place.  I had an interest in developing my strength and speed further, though opportunities were limited at the time.  Already, exposure to the right environments was having a huge beneficial effect.





At this time, I played cricket too, which I enjoyed, but again totally sucked at! :)

The next "accidental therapy" came a couple of years later, and I blame my younger sister! :)  At the time, she was in the local gymnastics club, and would often practice at home.  Being a visual person, I noticed imperfections in her practice and started helping her with her form, so she could rol and tumble with more grace.  One night, while helping her, the coach dropped in and saw what was going on.  She invoted me to come down to the club and become a coach.  Of course, that meant _doing_ gymnastics, which I hadn't contemplated until that moment.  I joined the club, became a part of the older boys' class and quickly studied to be a coach, coaching the boys.  Turned out much of gymnastics suited me.  I had the strength for rings, and the power for the vault.  Floor was the hardest, because my late start meant I lacked flexibility, especially in the upper body.  My flexibility did improve (even today at 46, it's still somewhat better than average).  But the big thing that I noticed is a lot of my clumsiness has since gone.  There are traces of motor coordination issues that sometimes crop up, but the bulk that I had as a kid became insignificant after gymnastics.  In any case, I stayed with the club until my early 20s, when I left home.  For many years, my Saturday would start with coaching the younger kids, one or two of whom were referred to the club by a paediatrician to help with coordination issues, and later working with the older, mostly teenage boys, as a coach and role model.  I also had to give up the fire brigade competitions, which I had enjoyed a fair bit of success with, especially after playing football and starting with the gymnastics club.

After leaving home, I drifted away from sport for around 10 years, but remained active, mostly walking.  That was until my mid 30s, when I discovered the various forms of orienteering.  I had a lot of success with Amateur Radio Direction Finding (ARDF), a form of orienteering that involves using radio direction finding techniques to locate controls, instead of having them marked on the map provided, at international level.  I also did reasonably well at other forms of orienteering, particularly street orienteering and rogaining.  I also joined the Melbourne Frontrunners, a GLBTI running and walking group, and ran with them most Saturday mornings, and from there, ran the occasional fun run, up to and including my first marathon in 2008.  This period reminded me of the psychological benefits of exercise.  I enjoyed pushing myself to the limit, and with distance running, you're really competing against yourself for that PB, or to finish a new distance (the feeling of completing a marathon is well worth the pain! :) ).  However, I also knew distance running wasn't where I'd be competitive on a wider scale.  Running for me became a social thing, the Saturday run and coffee, and the camaraderie of running races and comparing notes after the event.  After the marathon, I decided to take up gym workouts.  I had tried when I was younger, had built some strength then, but not much muscle mass.  However, now 40, I found both strength and muscle mass easier to come by.

In 2010, I left Melbourne and rejoining the fire brigade became a distinct possibility that was not lost on me.  As it turned out, that process started only 3 weeks after moving.  I got back into competition, as described elsewhere and have had a lot of success, as I have written about over the past few years in this very blog.  No need to say too much more here (it's been said elsewhere in this blog), other than to say I am in a sport which suits my traits perfectly, and despite having a number of coordination issues as a kid, I've managed to find a niche that I enjoy, and have found the benefits of exercise and competitive sport have been a major contributor to my life. 

I am pleased to see that I am not alone, and others on the spectrum have actually started selling training programs designed to kelp kids on the spectrum improve their coordination and self esteem.  I benefitted from a number of fortunate events and choices, and I wonder what would be possible with further specialised training to meet my specific needs - despite my successes, I still have some performance limiting coordination issues that I believe I can work on.  Similarly, I wonder what might have been possible, had these programs been available 40 years ago.  I am sure I would have enjoyed them as a kid, as my history suggests I would, but I'll never know how much more I would have been able to take my sporting interests.  I hope the kids who are benefitting from these programs come to enjoy being active and develop a passion for sport, or at the very least, for active recreation.  For me, exercise has been the only antidepressant I've needed to rely on, but it's been a good one with many beneficial side effects! :)

While encouraging adults to be more active probably faces more barriers from years and decades of learned aversion to exercise and sport from negative experiences like constantly being picked last for teams (and as I said, I've been there, done that!), bullying, teasing and the like (yep, all familiar), I believe it is still worth trying to encourage adults on the spectrum to at least partake in some form of non competitive exercise, and exploring from there.  I am not aware of anyone targeting adults with exercise programs, but I believe there could be some significant benefits.

Are you an adult on the spectrum reading this?  Why not give exercise a try.  You may need to find a mentor to help you keep the motivation up - someone who is supportive, but firm and fair.  Don't under estimate the benefits of a daily half hour walk, or a few strength workouts per week.  Gamers and tech heads might relate to something like nerdfitness.com.

Or are you the parent of a child on the spectrum?  In this case, see if your son or daughter would like to try one of the specialised programs out there, or if there isn't an autism specific exercise program, there might be something for children who don't fit into mainstream sport, or a gymnastics class with an understanding coach and management.  If the child takes to the program, fantastic!  if not, you might need to find something different - non autism specific programs may have unexpected sensory issues or other things adversely affecting the child.

I hope my story has been some form of inspiration.  I am far from a child prodigy, and I've had to work hard to get to where I am, but I've come to enjoy the journey and am thankful for the side benefits that have come as a result of my active life - health (both physical and mental), happiness, fitness, friendship and camaraderie, and a lifetime of self knowledge.

- Tony

Another season finished, and an amazing State Championships

This past season was rather unusual.  After my early success in December, it got tough actually being able to compete.  Due to an unusually hot summer and severe fire conditions, a number of competitions were cancelled.  We had one in late January with good results, then the next was in mid February.  Unfortunately, a groin injury 3 days early put me out.  I barely managed to run my first event, then was rested for the day.  I spent the rest of the day as a judge, making aure the other runs were completed properly and disqualifying teams that didn't do the part I was judging within the rules.  The following week was the junior state championships.  I went away with the kids, as one of the judges for the weekend and enjoyed being an official.

Another week later was our last competition before the state chapionships.  By this time, my groin had healed and I was back in action. Had another reasonably successful meet.

This weekend just past was the State Championships for 2014.  This year it was held here in Bendigo, so there was no need to deal with travel and accommodation.  I have stepped up and was in a total of 10 events, which is up from the 6 events of previous years, or all but two of the events that we run.

Many of the events have been explained previously, do here's the summary.  Saturday was a bit of a tough day.  Didn't manage to get through any hears in the ladder race or C section hose and reel 4s.  However, that would change dramatically on Sunday.  First event was the pumper and ladder 5s, which we won with our best run ever.  Next was the 2 man marshall, which was a bit rough and we didn't place.

The third event for the day was the hose and reel sixes.  This is the first year we have run this event.  It's another one using the hand drawn hose reel.  In this event, two lengths of hose are carried down and unwound after the hydrant.  The disc is hit with water from the first length, and the second length is brought back to the hydrant, coupled on (often while the water is turned on fully!) and the disc is hit again with the second length.  My job is to pull the card down to where the end of the first length flies, then help the second coupler get the second length back to the hydrant.   Our run wasn;t bad for our 4th one in a competition, but not good enough to get through our heat.

After that was the pumper 4s.  I hadn't often run this event previously, but this time I was running on the hydrant.  Had to set the hydrant, help couple the hose on, then signal to the pump operator that I was turning the water on, while actually turning it on.  Our run wasn't bad, but not good enough for a place.

The last event for the day was the Y8.  I ran the same position as last year - pole (pulling the cart), assisting the third length back, and ladder.  This turned out to be our best run at this event ever, and was good enough for a third place! :)

Today (Monday) we started with the hose and ladder 5s.  Our run was good, but just missed out on a place on the day.  In previous years it would have placed.  Next was the 4 man Y, where we missed out on a place by 0.02 of a second!  Last event was the Champion 4s, which is an open event (all sections).  We happened to draw against one of the top A section sides, who easily beat us.  But they ended up coming third, so it was a tough draw!

Anyway, to sum it up, it was a fantastic and successful weekend.  I have had the experience of being in a winning C section team back in 1986, but this one, despite only being 6th overall) was sweeter, because I had a hand in our victories this time around, rather than being a minor player.

Just finished up a celebration at a local pub - a few drinks with both of our teams, coaches and some others from the fire brigade and partners, etc.  Was a great evening, good to recap a fantastic weekend.  The guys (and girls!) are a great bunch of people.  We talked about a lot of things, including the uniqueness of our sport - both the extraordinary precision with which we must work, and the fine line between pulling off something awesome and having things go totally wrong, especially when trying to push the envelope.

Sadly, words and even videos don't do our sport justice.  I was hooked as a kid after I was taken to a state championships by Dad when I was 6.  People I've taken or invited to the track have been impressed or even amazed at what they've seen.  If you're ever around these parts when there's an urban fire brigades championships on, especially the State championships), do yourself a favour and take a look.

Start of the season - and the power of the unconscious.

Started the competition season on Sunday, had a really good day.  Won the hose and ladder 5s and got 5th in the Y8.  Also substituted into the A class side for their Y8 and won that with them - first and 5th in the same event, not bad! :)  And my ladder race time was only 0.19 seconds behind the PB I set at the state championships in March, which is good for this early in the season.

Even more significant that this is what's been happening in the 4s.  Late last year, I was moved from the front of the cart to the back to get more speed off the start.  This season, we've all been swapping positions, and last Monday at training, the first run was with me on the back, which worked reasonably well, except the guy on pole was pushed around a bit by the unbalanced forces on the back.  The next run, I was put back on the front.  This time, the cart was even faster, and for much of the run I was pulling it pretty much single handedly, according to those who were on the back.  We stuck with this arrangement on Sunday, again with similar results.  It seems sometime in the last couple of weeks, my unconscious mind has completely reprogrammed how I pull the cart, giving me considerably more power, and enabling us to go around 10% faster - around the same speed as our A class team.  The change was sudden, like it didn't happen until this "reprogramming" was complete, then it caught everyone off guard.  I have had similar quantum leaps of performance since my teens, but it's only recently that I'm starting to understand what's going on.  The mysteries of the autistic mind never cease to amaze.  Now to find more efficient ways to harness the unconscious power within.  This is only the tip of the iceberg of what's possible. :)

The 2013-2014 season approaches

It's a little under 2 weeks to our first competition for the 2013-2014 season.  As usual, I've been working on fitness throughout the winter.  This year will be complicated by the need to build endurance for a fundraising event in April (stay tuned!), while working on the speed and power required for competition.  With the help of a sprint specialist, I have been able to significantly improve my starts and have a few more clues into my top speed issues (still working on those - ongoing project).

Looking forward to the season! :)

End of the 2012-2013 season... And a trip to Perth!

The rest of the season went well, with a couple of event wins, numerous minor placings and coming second overall in our section at one competition.  My roles underwent some changes, the most significant being in the 4s, where I was moved from the pole to branch.  This move was done to increase cart speed and take advantage of my power over a wide range of speed, especially near the start.

The state championships were held in Warrnambool, around 200km SW of Melbourne on the coast, during the March long weekend.  This year, I again had 6 runs.  First up was the ladder race, where I made it through 2 heats and ran in the final against time.  I narrowly missed a PB (since the comeback) in the second heat, and a slip in the final cost me a PB after a good start.  My next event was the C section 4s.  First heat was a disaster, but the opposing team was disqualified, so we got through.  Second heat was a fast run, good enough to get us a spot in the final round against time.  Our final run was also good, actually a team best, and narrowly missing out on a placing.  Day 1 ended up with a change of clothes into a dress uniform to march with the team in the evening torchlight procession, which we did well in, though didn't score a placing.

Day 2 saw me running 3 events, starting with the pumper and ladder.  Our initial run was good, but the officials had set the truck up incorrectly, so we were given a re-run.  The re-run was also good, and gave us a 5th place in the event, out of 28 teams. :)  Second run for the day was the 2 man marshall, one of the dry events described in a previous post.  Managed one of my better runs for the season.  The last event of the day was the Y8.  My role in the Y8 changed this season.  I ran pole almost the length of the course, then assisted the third length back to the middle of the track, before climbing the ladder and hitting the final target.  A hiccup cost us a place in this event, but that's the way things go.

On the third day, I ran my last run for the championships.  This was the hose and ladder 5s, and as usual I ran the ladder position.  We managed to score 4th place in this event, which was a satisfying end to my state campaign! :)

Normally, this would be the end of the season, but this year we travelled to Perth, Western Australia to compete in the W.A. Easter Championships.  This was the culmination of a year's planning, fundraising and saving.  The 3 weeks between the Victorian state championships and the WA competition were spent learning new events that we don't run over here.

The Perth trip started with a 2:30AM wake up, to meet the bus for a 3:30 departure for Melbourne Airport to catch the flight to Perth.  Once in Perth, we set the gear up for the weekend's competition and got an early night.

Day 1, and my first event was, as usual, the ladder race.  Got through the first round with a post comeback PB time, but beaten in the second round.  The next event was the hose and ladder race, which was the first of the unique Western Australian events.  In this event, you run to a hose lais out on the track, break the coupling and run back to a hydrant and connect the host to it.  Run back to the centre, connect the branch, then put the end of the hose over your shoulder and climb the ladder.  Again, I got through the first round, but not the second.  However, in the second round, I ran the best time of any attempt, including training.

My next event was another of the events unique to WA, namely the 3 wet hose event.  This event is a little like the Y8, except the hoses are laid out on the track, and no cart or ladder is used.  My role was to break the first length, couple onto the hydrant, then run down to the other end of the track, fit the third branch and hit the final target.  Once I had finished the first coupling, there was plenty of time to get down to the third branch.

During the afternoon, I ran the 1 man Y.  This event used to be run by juniors in Victoria until the mid 1980s, and I'm one of the few people still running who have prior experience with this event.  It is a dry event, involving 3 hoses laid out on the track near a Y dividing piece.  One quirk is that the Y is placed on the track upside down.  The aim is to connect the 3 hoses, so that one hose from the hydrant leads to the Y (and remember to turn the Y over!), and then 2 hoses from the Y to branches.

The following event was the disabled wet hose.  In this event, two hoses are laid out on the track.  The first one is connected to the hydrant and the target is hit, then the first length is replaced by the second length, and the target is hit a second time.  I had to run second coupling, which has to break the second length, bring the coupling back to the hydrant, wait for the first coupler to uncouple and then connect the hose to the hydrant.  

I also ran a 4 man Y, which uses the same hose layout as the 1 man Y, except that the Y is placed the right way up before the run, and the branches are 3 feet apart, instead of 1 foot.  This event is also run in Victoria, but I don't normally run it.

My final event for the day was the 4s.  Again, I was on branch.  This time, things didn't go quite as well as planned in the heat, which ended our day.

On Day 2, I started with the hose and ladder 5s.  Had a good run down the track, but got beaten by the water to the top, and for some reason, had trouble directing the stream to the target, which cost a few seconds.  However, we still managed to get 5th place in the event.

I also ran a 2 man marshall, with one of my best runs of the season. :)

Finally, I had a shot at the firefighters sprint.  This is a simply 100 yard (91.4m) race down the track.  Wasn't as quick as I hoped - I actually perform better under load, and I suspect some of my lingering coordination issues start to become significant at those speeds.  I want to try to see if one on one coaching can help iron those issues out and unlock my potential.

So now it's back to fitness work.  Moving house in April has delayed my program a bit, but the heavy lifting involved no doubt has helped! :)  Hoping to get back to normal weight and cardio training next week.  I'm also going to explore the possibility of getting coaching with a local athletics club for sprinting, to try and improve my speed on the track.

And on to 2013/2014! :)

2012 - 2013 mid season update

So far, competition has been going well.  A couple of wins, several minor placings.  Fitness has been fairly good for the most part, aside from a minor hamstring strain 2 weeks ago which slowed me down a little but didn't stop me competing completely.  I just had to choose my events and be a little more careful than usual - Still managed a win and a third on that day! :)

Looking forward to going all out now that the injury is pretty much healed, and taking on more events, and working towards the state championships in 5 1/2 weeks time.