A quicky with Aussie sprinter Matt Davies

RT: Matt, thanks for your time. What’s news post Daegu?

MD: Surprisingly in the two months I’ve been home, not a lot! I had a few relaxing weeks off and am now back in the routine of working and training, then living in the little free time that is left. Sundays being almost the only day, weather permitting, I can escape down to the beach! I also have a new training program incorporating more technical & science aspects this season which is looking to lead to some exciting progress!

RT: How did you find the 4 by 100m relay Daegu experience?

MD: Awesome! Daegu was my third relay at the top international level, and as a whole I can quite confidently say the best I have been involved in thus far! The environment and atmosphere in Korea certainly felt different - much more like a top level meet than I have previously experienced. Everything was well organised, facilities were more than adequate for athletes and not to mention the village, which was quite impressive in itself.

RT: You guys ran a season best of 38.69. You needed another 0.2 quicker to make it through the heats. Were you guys happy with the team’s performance as a whole?

MD: For the most part yes - we did have a few simple errors that could have easily made that .2 difference, but 38.69 is still the fastest the Australian team has run in the last five years. It was definitely the fastest from a team I have run in! The heat was the first time we had raced since Japan in May, we were experimenting a little with preparation leading into this meet. While it may have been a little blind, in the sense we had no lead up races, we as a relay team meshed incredibly well and when it came time were ready to run quick. I’m sure with the foundations now fairly stable, we’re ready to take another crack at low 38s.

RT: What did you take away from it?

MD:  An awesome experience and a lot of confidence in the relay team! While the individual events are still in the plans for most Aussie sprinters aspiring to qualify, given the calibre and depth of the sprint events in the world at the moment, our best medal chance lies with the relay. Knowing both the relay components & individual’s speed has a few tenths we can find, it is exciting what we could be capable of come London!  The biggest thing I learnt this year in regard to relays is that if the team gets on well, we will perform well!

RT: How much improvement do you think the team has in it come the London Olympics?

MD: There is definitely room for tidying up in its current make up. Being the ‘big’ year of the four year cycle, most will peak and look for PBs this year, which hopefully means the relay will have more speed to work with. A medal chance is definitely an enticing prospect, and definitely not out  of our reach!

RT: What are your personal goals leading into London?

MD: As most athletes know, there’s something about this year that definitely stands above the others. I have known since I started running that this is what I wanted to do.  Personally I intend to consolidate  the work I began with the past two seasons, I have changed technique, strength and approach quite dramatically since my first international team and it has all been with the intention to qualify (and be competitive) in the individual sprint events in London. I have also developed a very strong motivation to offering as much utility to the relay program, as it is the best medal chance I could have! Basically, I intend to make this season as memorable as I can!

RT: Will you be racing a full Aussie season?

MD: I enjoy racing! One of the big Aussie athlete’s once referred to it as the “reward for all the training”.  So provided I stick to plans training wise, I hope to be rewarded by competing in as much of the tour as I can. I am quite excited about the new track in Melbourne and will be looking forward to racing there, as well as the ever-fast western capital Perth. Priority will be on the qualifying end of the season though, so will start racing locally a little later to get some work in before.

RT: What sort of training have you been doing since getting home from Daegu?

MD: Since I’ve been back I have mainly been concentrating on base and fitness work. I am soon to get into refining the technical side of things, and hopefully my favourite block, speed! Gym/strength work has also been addressed, with the majority of that work done last year, we are now looking into transferring that into usable power on the track.

RT: Can you give us a day to day breakdown of a typical weeks training at the moment?

MD: Mon/Tue/Thu are Track days, Wed/Fri are Gym. Sat is usually fitness or other interesting sessions. Had hoped to start stacking double sessions, but work commitments have made it difficult to fit into the timetable.

Usually the pattern would roughly be:

Mon- Accels,  sled/vest/technique – quite a bit of load lately.

Tue- Tech/Speed – am yet to get the ‘speed’ component but have been doing a lot of feel or rhythm running

Wed- Gym – about 2hrs, 2-3 leg exercises, core, upper as required (curiously much more required around Summer…)

Thur- Volume – often the longer work or shorter recovery sessions. Squad’s least favourite day!

Fri- Gym – Similar to Wed, though usually only 2 leg exercises and bounding components. It can be quite a competitive day amongst the training squad!

Sat- often hills or tempo, sometimes depends if I’m racing or other specifics that need to be caught up!

RT: How many hours a week are you spending in the gym?

MD: My training circle would find this quite amusing. Quite a few! The QAS gym is my second home these days, though actual gym work is two sessions a week of about 2 hours. I warm up for most track sessions in the gym and often warm down there - mostly for the ability to crank music through the place and on wet days it is much easier to motivate and get my body prepped to cope with the conditions!

RT: Post work-out, what sort of nutrition do you take?

MD: At the moment, a quite basic protein recovery shake & whatever healthy snack I remember to bring along! Usually a muesli bar, though I do try have a meal within an hour of finishing training . Hydrating is also quite important! 

RT: You were ranked number 1 in Australia for both the 100m and 200m for the 2010/2011 season. What do you think it will take to get your 100m time down near the 10.00 second barrier? Do you think it is possible?

MD: Finishing the season on top again was good, especially with how frustrating I found the domestic season. Though like a few sprinters last year, times were not as fast in either event that I know I am capable of. I will be looking to make them a little more impressive this season! In regard to 10.00 - I believe almost anything is possible, it’s finding a way to do it that matters! In the past couple of seasons, and particularly last season I have done quite a bit of work ‘getting to speed’. Analysing my fastest times we found that to be where we could get the most gains. While the progress we made in training last year hinted at something quite exciting, I had the season most athletes will experience where they ‘just can’t put it together when it matters’. The focus now being on confidence in my ability and execution to get it right - it could just take the right day, right conditions and pinch of luck to give it a good crack!

 RT: 100m or 200m for London?

MD: If I have my way, both! The 200 has been my strength previously, but neither is in stone yet so it’s head down and fast feet to get the qualifying done! Either way, recent times have shown that both events are going to be quite exciting in London and having a few Aussies parading some green and gold down the straight will only add to the spectacle!!

Thanks for your time

All G! Enjoyed it!