Jeff Riseley Blog: Back on Track

 It’s been a while since I’ve raced and one in which the pre race routine didn’t involve strapping tape to hold my foot together and ice directly after to stop it from blowing up. Followed by a night spent in a night splint so I could continue to train the next day. It’s great to know that those days are well behind me.

I ventured to Hobart for my first race since tearing my plantar at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia. I’d come down from two weeks at falls creek on Friday and flew out to Hobart on Saturday afternoon. I’d only been on the track once since December so it was a welcome sight. I was actually pretty nervous, I hadn’t done anything in training that indicated what shape I was in and it had been a long time since I’d raced last. However id done things at falls creek that I’d never been able to do before. Things like 15.40 for quarters and 6x1k running 3.04’s with a 2.53 and 2.52 thrown in for the 4^th and 6^th rep. Nothing spectacular, but great for me.

Saturday night in Hobart was like the calm before the storm, I said to a few guys that we need to be running tonight because Sunday was going to be 40km winds. I knew once I got to the track with the wind that the opening few laps were going to be slow and I’d have to get to the front by at least 400m and wined it up because a number of the athletes had done a few races and with Symmonds in the race I didn’t want to leave it to a sprint finish. I got to the front at 400m feeling great and surprised myself with the way I was able to finish considering the work I’d done. It was a great way to start the season and my return to the track off with a win and gave me great confidence knowing that I can still do it after the surgery and a horrible year.

Hobart was merely a tune up for Melbourne so I didn’t go in completely blind as I knew Kiprop was just waiting for his VISA and Nic had said to me it could be a great opportunity to run fast if the race went right. Nic was not wrong as Kiprop had planned to run 1.52 through 800m and 2.50 through 1200m – he didn’t come to Melbourne to muck around after stumbling last year.

Training had continued to go well and being down from falls allowed us to do the same type of training but just a bit faster as we were down from altitude and back on the track. Training was still geared towards the longer 5k/cross country training, however at the end of Saturday’s session Nic lined us up for a 400m handicap. A group of us were all set off at different intervals chasing each other down and were told to just run strong. I didn’t look at my watch through 200m and ended up running 48.6 just rolling along. It was at this point that I was confident that I was fit enough to keep up and fast enough to finish strong if the pace slowed.

I remember lining up in some of the biggest meets in Europe in 2009 and being really nervous and questioning whether I can do it. That feeling is probably only natural but having sat out the whole year in 2010 I got on the start line in Melbourne against a quality field and just wanted to get amongst it. It might have been because of the absence, or because I was racing in my hometown or maybe because I’d done it the year before. But I know that I need to carry that feeling into the European season later this year.

The race at Melbourne pretty much went as I expected early on, I knew the pace would be on but I knew that they wouldn’t go 1.52 because its March and were in Melbourne not Rome in June. As soon as the starters gun went off I knew I just had to find Kiprop's back and go with whatever I had left in the last 100m. Thankfully I had enough and the race turned out exactly as I had hoped. It was good to get my third straight win over 1500m in Olympic Parks final year, the track has been great to me and it will be missed but I’m sure we’ll create our own history down at Albert Park.

However more importantly I got another win over the Olympic Champion. I know that come July & August he will be a different athlete, but it’s given me the confidence that I know I can do it. For me its back to those long miles, ticking them of and writing them in the training diary each week, so that come July & August I’m a better athlete and can replicate what I did in Melbourne a week ago! There is still a long time to go but these two races have shown that I can still do it, the body can handle it and now its time for some more training.

The year could not have started off any better for me and I have a great feeling that it will continue throughout the year.

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