Jeff Riseley: No rest for the wicked

There is no rest for the wicked and so it was back to training following my win at the Melbourne Track Classic. The weekend following consisted of 1k, 2k, 1k, 2k, 1k up the hills and a long run of 105min, of which I actually felt great because I hadn’t done much training in the few days leading up to race so was quite fresh.

Training was what influenced my decision to miss the Sydney Track Classic, I’d done some good training at falls but I hadn’t done much since my surgery and still have a lot to get done and improvement to be had. August being a long way from March it was important to get back into the routine of hard training to ensure ill be running my best when it really matters. And so it was 3 weeks of Dendy Park (grass track, very slow, draining workouts), long threshold and long reps in the hills.

The training was tough but because we had not done any work on the track and running 72’s on the grass track felt like we were running 68’s, which made it hard to know how well the sessions were going. By the end of this three week period I was starting to feel a bit banged up through the hips. But with the decision to compete in Perth as a tune up for nationals meant that I able to have a few easy days and absorb the training I’d done.

Perth was a good result for me and great to continue winning. However it was a bit disappointing that no one really had a go and it turned into a tactical race, especially seeing as the conditions were perfect to run fast. I went there with the intention to run fast and have a crack however with the training I’d done I wasn’t confident going through in under 52 and really getting after it. Rather wanted to keep the pace going hard in the last lap.

After the race I realised that I hadn’t done the training I needed to run fast and required a little bit more race specific training and hardened racing. All of which I hadn’t done and its not the appropriate time of year for me to do so either. So had it been a fast first lap I’m not sure how I would have fared. In saying that you can not underestimate the importance of endurance in the 800m event because even off a slow lap I was strong enough to lead the second lap and hold off guys who have performed very well this season.

For me now it is back to a week of tough training before getting ready for nationals where I hope to go one better then last year and win my second national title. I have Tristan Garrett and Jack Bolas staying at my place in the beautiful rural town of Harkaway! So there should be some good banter and epic games of NBA 2k11.

Thanks
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