 Taoiseach Enda Kenny with Geraldine Finegan There is great news for Irish athletics, the Irish Prime minister, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has appointed The Irish miler legend and one of Ireland’s most famous Olympians Eamon Coghlan a Senator. The Taoiseach Enda Kenny broke an old tradition by selecting people from non-political backgrounds to sit as Senators. The three times Olympian double gold medallist Eamon Coghlan can now bring the needs of athletics to the fore. Well done Enda Kenny for selecting such a well known and much liked athlete. I won a 5km race in America a few years ago and got the privilege of running the first part of a 5km race with the Legend himself. At the end of the race I was presented with a beautiful Eamon Coghlan 5km crystal award .It is pride of place in my trophy collection. What a lovely down to earth man a natural communicator. I am delighted at his recent achievement and recognition for the sake of sport and athletes in Ireland. We need a fair voice and what greater athlete and sports personality than Eamon Coghlan to do that job.
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 Today in Bush Track outside Carlingford in County Louth was the second day of the County Feild events. The Athletes from my coaching squad did not let me down,and all of them bar none, won gold medals and some even broke more County records. Lydia Jein won the shot putt, javelin and long jump with personal bests in all events. Thats a total of eight medals over the weekend in the Junior ladies and under 17 events quite a feat for a thrower only back this year to full training in all events, she promises to follow in my footsteps as I am the only athlete to also do eight track and field events. Keep following my example and soon you will overtake my results as I am not getting any younger.
I won all the field events today and the 100m 200m 400m and 800m yesterday;making the total gold medals I won to eight. The other senior ladies athlete I coach came second in the shot and Javelin events was Diedre Duffy from Dundalk who concentrates mainly on her talents in badminton. Diedre played all day yesterday and so missed her chance to take more medals this year, Its always hard to decide between competitions when you are good at both, but I think Diedre made the right decision as she also was presented with an award last night at the Badminton Annual Dinner dance for her badminton league results. Well done for being able to do both. Rory Kirwin the star of the throws events won the shot putt with a throw just under 12 metres a personal best with the senior 7 kg shot. Rory broke the County record for the Javelin senior 800gram event with a throw of 50.79. He was pushed by my other javelin under 18 thrower, Kevin Murray although under par with the strong winds and two javelin events in two days, he threw 47 +metres which was one metre better than yesterday and another gold in the Junior event. Kevin is working hard this year to win the schools javelin event in a few weeks time. What is great to see is that all the athletes who have worked hard and committed to the intensive training during the last year have reaped their just rewards. It did not go unmissed as several new athletes have now requested to join the daily sessions held all over Louth and Down. All new athletes are welcome to attend as all ages, levels and abilities are catered for. Email me for more details.  I would like to congratulate all the athletes that attended my spring camp and those who attend my training sessions on their magnificent performances at the County Championships in Louth today. This includes Chloe Finley from Glenmore A.C. winning double gold and silver medals her brothers Aaron and Daniel both breaking personal best performances in the High jump by 15 cm also winning and breaking their own P.B in the shot Putt event by 1 over a metre. The Javelin event was another great event for this very talented family with two more gold medals and P.B.s. By the way congratulations to their Dad who is setting a good example by taking part and winning bronze in the 100m Masters event.
The next champion athlete who trains hard in my group and broke county records was Little Katie O Connor breaking the county record in the ball throw and the long jump and won the 600m in fine style with 30m to spare. Connor Durnin from Glenmore another talented sprint jumper broke the county record in the Long jump under his best but still better than all the rest on the day with 5.89 and an easy win in the 200 also. The senior men’s sprint events where dominated by the tall new kid on the block, Mark Garland. He won the 200m which was a tight finish and closely fought all the way to the line with his first gold medal in the pocket and confidence high Mark ran a comfortable and safe first 200m then unleashed the speed over the last bend striding to another victory. The 100m was not his today with winds very high and against all the athletes Mark conceded to take a silver medal. The final gold for him was in the mixed relay with the junior 100m runner leading out of the blocks and Mark taking the baton to run the longest leg of the relay handing over to the Junior Ladies 100m winner Lydia Jein who held off the Drogheda male runner to hand the final baton change over to me, And we the Dunleer team helped Mark win another satisfying gold medal performance. In the Ladies events Junior athlete Lydia Jein won 4 gold medals and a questionable bronze as late entries were being accepted on the line by the officials which was against the county rules as printed on the county web site. Lydia achieved 3 personal best performances in the 100m 200m and shot putt events and promises that there is more medals to come tomorrow when she hopes to regain her title as the best up and coming javelin thrower in Louth. I myself won the senior 100m 200m 400m and 800m and hope to win another 4 gold tomorrow in the field events of shot Javelin long and High Jump. Well done to all the athletes that broke personal best and County records I am very proud to be the coach of such fine talented and dedicated athletes. Roll on the Summer for more records.  Benefits to Physical Exercise
Below are listed some health benefits that will come with physical fitness: Longer and better quality of life, reduced risk of disease, (better immune system) lower blood pressure (stronger heart), control of body weight (obesity), “feel good effect” (confidence). It is my opinion that all children should have some opportunity to achieve all of the above, but these can only be achieved with regular and safe physical activity. This is why sport development is such an important growing industry because this will help in the development of a healthy generation. Most of the exercise children get at this present time is in school with structured, regular physical activity in class time. Compare this with 15 or 20 years ago, when computer games or mobile phones television, video games and all the latest computer games where not so popular, children played in the street with each other or hop-scotch, skipping, football, tag etc If the above advantages are not reason enough to get yourself out to exercise why not exercise with the children by walking, playing football, basketball, trampolining, or even attempt to jog for a short distance together in a park. Make it interesting by running from lamppost to lamppost or corner to corner at different paces. A simple session is to walk 30 seconds, jog 30 seconds and run 30 seconds for as long as is comfortable. Always remember to prepare your body for exercise by doing a short warm-up.  Whether you are a sprinter, a marathon runner, thrower, jumper, or somewhere in between –or just a fan of the sport, I aim to keep you entertained and informed. Part of that is letting me know what you are thinking about the posting I make - if it is great, I’d like to know, and equally if there is something you don't like I can take constructive criticism.
Many of the athletes I coach are now turning their attention to upcoming races, It is important to me that we stay abreast of the latest in training methods and anything else (from across a range of sports) that might help my athletes to run faster. Obviously, there is only so much that can be done for an athlete, as much of the determination and drive comes from within, and that drive needs to be focused in the right direction and supported as much as possible by the coach, family and friends with advice or assistance in nutrition, physiology and medical back-up. My tip for today is talk to those people who you feel can help you reach your goal and can give you the help and advice you need and want. Don’t delay; post a comment if you need my advice with training programmes, sports injury or nutrition. Enjoy the blog.  The definition of Motivation is the activation or energisation of goal-oriented behaviour. Motivation may be intrinsic or extrinsic.
Motivation is an internal energy force that determines all aspects of our behaviour; it also impacts on how we think, feel and interact with others. In sport, high motivation is widely accepted as an essential prerequisite in getting athletes to fulfill their potential. Intrinsic motivation This is motivation that comes from within. Intrinsically motivated individuals engage in activities that interest them, and they engage in them freely, with a full sense of volition and personal control. Intrinsic motivation is believed to be multidimensional in nature 3 aspects of manifestations of intrinsic motivation are toward knowledge, toward accomplishment, and toward experiencing stimulation. Toward knowledge – reflects athlete’s desire to learn new skills and ways of accomplishing a task. Toward accomplishment – reflects athletes desire to gain mastery over a particular skill and the pleasure that comes from reaching a personal goal for mastery. Toward experience stimulation reflects the feeling that an athlete gets from physically experiencing a sensation innate to a specific task. People readily participate in activities that they perceive to be interesting and unthreatening. Most children start this way. Coaches need to study the sport experience and focus on those activities that would cause a child to retain his intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic Motivation This is Motivation that comes from an external rather than internal source e.g. Money, trophies, and praise. Least self determined form of extrinsic motivation This is a behaviour that is performed, only to obtain an external reward or to avoid punishment. Interjected regulation Practicing to please coach or practicing to get better. Believe the motivation is their own. Present when an athlete engages in an activity that he does not perceive as being particularly interesting.
The Need achievement theory —Murray “ people differ in their need to overcome obstacles, to exercise power, to strive to do something difficult as well as quickly as possible” The need to set and achieve challenging goals. TAT test to measure the need for achievement Attribution Theory; First advanced by Fritz Heider (1944, 1958). More cognitive approach to psychology. According to Heider “ behavioural inferences may be causal attributions or dispositional attributions. Causal attributions are inferences about why something happened. E.g. Tennis player may attribute success to his or her own capacity for teamwork. Dispositional attributions are inferences about a quality or trait that an individual may possess. The athlete who plays at a level generally above his apparent ability is said to be a winner or over achiever. Both causal and dispositional attributions represent attempts by laypersons and professionals to explain their behaviour and behaviour of others Basis for model is that people strive for prediction and understanding of daily events in order to give their lives stability The attributions that athlete’s select to explain their outcomes reveal much about their motivational structures. Coaches should not disregard the kinds of attributions athlete’s use to explain their outcomes. Instead coaches should analyze them to understand the athlete’s basic attribution structures What this means is that when an athlete is asked to explain how they won or are so good, the answer to this question is the secret to their success.  Plyometric training places a high level of stress on joints, connective tissue and the neuromuscular system. Without a well-developed strength training programme, stress related injuries are much more likely to occur. Plyometrics is simply drills designed to stimulate the elastic component over and over again preferably during movements that mimic those in the athlete’s sport. The long-term benefits of practicing plyometrics training has a positive effect on the body and performance.
A wide variety of training studies shows that plyometrics can improve performance in vertical jumping, long jumping, sprinting and other sports like sprint cycling.With only a relatively small amount of plyometric training the athlete can improve dramatically their performance. Amount of plyometrics Just one or two kinds of plyometric exercise workouts 1-3 times a week for 6-12 weeks can significantly improve motor performance. Additionally, only a small amount of volume is required to bring about these positive changes i.e. 2-4 sets of 10 repetitions per session or 4 sets of 8 repetitions. While upper body plyometrics needs less attention, three sessions of plyometric push ups a week has been shown to increase upper body power as measured and tested by medicine ball throws. Using a variety of plyometics exercises such as depth jumps, counter-movement jumps, leg bounding and hopping etc., can improve motor performance. While the majority of studies have focused on untrained athletes, trained athletes such as soccer and basketball players have all improved their performance with plyometrics. The overall program should be carefully planned as heavy weight training and plyometric training are not recommended on the same day . One way around this is to alternate upper body and lower body exercises. Depth jumps are a popular training mode for improving strength, power, and speed. The strength and conditioning professional should try to include plyometric depth jump training as part of the athlete's overall program for improving vertical jumping ability and concentric contractile performance. In an experiment, it was found that when rebound or counter movement is possible, the effectiveness is considerably higher than when no rebound occurs. This is similar to triple jump raining when the athlete has to rebound from a hop to a step then a jump. Depth Jumping Depth jumps are a popular training mode for improving strength, power, and speed. The strength and conditioning professional should try to include plyometric depth jump training as part of the athlete's overall program for improving vertical jumping ability and concentric contractile performance. This is important for all sports people needing spring and height.  In the middle to latter part of workouts or competitions, if you find yourself losing focus start attacking and refocusing on your goal. Keep thinking of the pain during the workout as short term. Tiredness is a short term feeling compared to the hours that you do training and working out. When you know during a race that the opposition is usually better than you, don't worry about it or have negative thoughts but instead use a mind workout to get the best out of yourself and your performance.
If you can stay with your opposition for as long as possible you will have a better chance of doing well as they can motivate you. Control your thoughts to concentrate on your technique; be relaxed from head to toe, including facial expression, bottom jaw, shoulders down, chest up, abdominals in, hips held high, push off the ball of the foot and relax the arms. If you focus on your arms and legs and get them to move efficiently it will distract from the fatigue at the end of the race. In the final part of the workout or competition in the last few seconds whether it is 30 seconds or 3 seconds, use your will power to give 100% of what energy and mental strength you have left. Say to yourself I'm going to run as fast as I can and give 100% too achieve the best workout you possibly can on that day. Balance your body and mind in your workouts. Remember that 60% of a competition is mental preparation. So don’t just concentrate on workouts for the body, workout your mind. Keep your eye on your goal perhaps it's the prize, or your time is important, you're finishing place or the prize in your category that you want to do well in. Keep thinking positive thoughts and don't allow yourself to have one negative thought. This can be helped by visualizing your run into the final stretch of a race being fast, strong and powerful with perfect technique and style, and all of this with an air of confidence and self-belief. Having confidence is the key, so remind yourself of all the training sessions you have done before in training. Think of the hill Workouts, the workouts in the gym, the sprint drills, the technique practices and the long endurance runs. All of this will remind you that you deserve to have the best competition workouts ever. Practice doesn't make it perfect but it does make it permanent. So when it comes to doing your speed drills and technique training why not create excellence, it's not an act but a habit. Athletes we learn that we become what we repeatedly do. Workouts improve flexibility and range of movement. Workouts increase strength, improve cardiovascular function and thus burn calories. Workouts reduce stress levels and provide a feeling of well-being. Particular workouts like Pilate’s Yoga, warm-ups and cool down exercises improve flexibility and freedom of joint movement. Workouts create calmness and a great sense of achievement. Workouts increase self confidence and boost endorphin levels which in turn make you feel good and have been known to help reduce feelings of depression. By participating in regular workouts this can improve your lung capacity which can help people suffering with asthma and breathing problems. Athletics Ireland supports all levels of participation in sport. There are local athletic clubs all over Ireland who offer Fit 4 Life Group sessions offering something for everyone. This is for people wishing to improve their lifestyle meet new friends and improve on their personal best performance.  Summary
Geflex running training camps are both Winter and warm weather training camps where we develop running training schedules| Coaching athletics ireland, All year round athletics coaching ireland The distance is 2 x 5K at an increasing pace. Pace: Keep a 10K pace for the first two miles, a 5K pace for the third mile, and a sprint pace for the final 0.1 miles. Repeat the entire process after resting for three minutes. 5K Long Run Progression Long Runs are not exclusive to marathon training. Given below is a long progressive run for a 5K. The training involves running for 12 miles at increasing pace. Pace: Keep an easy pace this is known as stamina 1 pace, for the first eight miles. Increase your speed to 10K pace this is known as stamina 2 pace for the following two miles. Then speed up to 5K pace this is known as stamina 3 pace, for 1.5 miles and complete with 0.5 miles at 3K speed or around 10 to 15 seconds per mile faster compared to your 5K pace. The recovery time is none except for hydration breaks. 5K Speed Progression The 5K requires speed and toughness. This is a training that improves both . The training includes running 5K at increasing pace. Pace: Keep a 10K pace for the first mile. Then increase your speed in a gradual manner during the last 2.1 miles from 10K speed to 800 meter speed. The recovery time is none for this routine. To be successful in 5K running, you should have the ability to run negative splits and accelerate to near sprint speed in the last 400 meters when you really feel exhausted. Progressive training runs are a very effective in training for negative splits and running strong when you are a feeling exhausted. Given below are a few progressive training runs designed for a 5K. Classic 5K Progressive Training Run This is a simple progressive run that is based on the classic progression use for every race distance. It involves running for 6 miles or 10K and steadily increasing pace during the run. Pace: Start with an easy pace. After warming up, increase your pace in a gradual but steady manner throughout the remaining run so that you are at 5K speed for the last mile. No recovery time is required with this run. 5K Negative Split Progression This is a good option to training yourself for negative splits (running the second half of a race faster than the first) without risking over training. It involves running for 4 miles at an increasing pace. "When Ronaldo da Costa broke the marathon world record at Berlin in September 1998, he justified a racing tactic I've promoted for a long time. Da Costa ran negative splits, which means he finished the second half of the race faster than the first half--a full 3 minutes faster, in fact." Pace: For the first two miles, run at 10K pace, then increase speed to 5K pace for the last two miles. The recovery time is none for this run. 5K Race Simulator Compound Set This 5k progressive training run combines negative splits and a fast finish for simulating an actual 5K race. The distance is 2 x 5K at an increasing pace. Pace: Keep a 10K pace for the first two miles, a 5K pace for the third mile, and a sprint pace for the final 0.1 miles. Repeat the entire process after resting for three minutes. 5K Long Run Progression Long Runs are not exclusive to marathon training. Given below is a long progressive run for a 5K. The training involves running for 12 miles at increasing pace. Hill Runs Speed and Power Hills "this includes". short, fast runs up steep hills with ample recovery between reps to promote explosive speed Downhill Sprinting or Strides - short, very fast runs down a moderately sloping hill to promote fast leg rhythm Stamina Hills - longer, steady paced runs over moderately steep hills to promote endurance and strength You need a long hill for this workout. If you don't have an appropriate hill in your neighborhood you can do this one on your treadmill. Description: 3 miles or 5K at increasing pace on a moderate to steep hill or a treadmill at up to 10% incline Pace: Begin this run at an easy pace. Gradually increase your speed to 5K pace so that you are running the final 800 meters at 5K pace. Jog down the hill as a cool down. The problem with the way many people do Stamina Hills is that too much recovery is taken between reps. If you run up a hill hard and jog down it, then you are going to be doing a 1:1 work/rest ratio at best (and probably more like 1:1.25 or 1.5.) This is too much rest. A better way to do hills to build stamina is to have about a 1:0.5 work/rest ratio. So how do you do this short work/rest thing.You could get a lift in a car back to the bottom of the hill. Note, the key is running in a staggered (zigzag) incline. This is done by finding a hill that will take you about a 1 to 2 minutes to climb. Run hard for 30 seconds in a direction 45 degrees from the up hill, then turn left and run up the hill, then turn right and run 30 seconds at the top of the hill. Now jog down the hill back to the start. This should result in about a 2 to 3 minute hill rep with about a 90 second recovery between reps. Recovery: None except for the easy run down the hill. This can be repeated 8 times or more if necesary dependant on the race and time of year. When Hill running should be done: Marathon Training - From Week 12 to Week 7 in a 16-week marathon program. Cross Country - During the entire cross country running season with the exception of the last two or three weeks. Track or Road Racing - For 6 to 12 weeks in the late base or pre-competition phase of training Four Times World Champion, European Masters Champion and National Senior Champion.  This is a good time to take note of your diet and what not to eat at all costs. We as athletes need to have a balanced diet we need to ensure that we take in the correct foods to create that balance and prevent future ill health and physical weaknesses. Most athletes push their bodies to the limit in training and competition they burn excess calories but also risk tissue injury and weakened immune systems through lack of nutrients minerals and vitamins. The athlete therefore must eat a balanced diet to correspond to these needs. There are a lot of fad diets that have a high this and a low that but the best diet is a balanced diet with no highs and lows. The food an athlete eats must provide energy and nutrient balance. These include the following:
Proteins – for growth and repair of muscle and other body tissues Fats - a source of energy that is important in relation to fat soluble vitamins Carbohydrates - the main source of energy Minerals - inorganic elements in the body and which are important to normal function. Vitamins - water and fat soluble vitamins play important roles in chemical processes in the body Water - essential to normal body function – it carries other nutrients (60% of the human body is water) Roughage - the fibrous indigestible part of our diet that is important for the digestive system Daily energy requirements Personal energy requirement = basic energy requirements + extra energy requirements Basic energy requirements For every Kg of body weight approximately 1.3 Calories is required every hour. (An athlete weighing 50Kg would require 1.3 x 24hrs x 50Kg=1560 Calories/day) Extra energy requirements An athlete who trains hard has to take into consideration each hours training that you require approximately 8.5 Calories for each Kg of body weight. (For a two hour training session 50Kg athlete would require 8.5 x 2hrs x 50Kg=850 Calories) An athlete weighing 50Kg, who trains for two hours, would require an intake of approximately 2410 Calories (1560 + 850) of course that’s a light athlete you can adjust the weight accordingly for yourself.  The best way to shift yourself out of patterns of self sabotage is to take on a new programme in your life. That is, the way you stand, the way you move think and shape yourself needs to be different in a whole new way. Identify a focus point that supports and helps what you want and helps create that powerful new image, and then use new language to assist that imagery. First think about the old methods of training, what overwhelms you, frustrates you, what delays you or holds you up. Take a moment to think about your physiology just planning the next session, you may notice your breathing pattern is shallow; your shoulders round forward and head drops forward your legs may seem heavy and tired almost stuck in mud. Your focus may be on not knowing what to do next. Your internal language of doubt and external language of negativity often reflex’s your self- belief. This can drain your power away. If you catch yourself doing this stop and think about this pattern of disempowerment. Confidence in your abilities and self-belief are so powerful it takes away 60% of the training work if you have these tools on your side. Think of a race or training session when you knew exactly what to do what your body needed and what sessions and movements followed each other. Think of that perfect performance think of that memory and right away you take on a new body frame your whole physiology changes to take that positive performance frame. Your shoulders rise, your chest lifts as does your head and your breathing quickens with excitement and happiness at your confident, successful performance. You moved with ease and wisdom it was a great feeling, a great day, so keep it in mind, keep these achievements and successes in your thoughts and do not allow your mind to dwell on inadequacies and failures. What we focus on will expand, therefore keep focusing on positives and better results will follow. To create energy, excitement and enthusiasm in training use the right language in your thoughts. Practice positive thinking about training sessions and races. Think how great and satisfied you will be after the session, how nice it is to get a shower after sweating and training perhaps even in the rain, turn negatives like hard winds in training to mean you will be stronger when there is no wind. Visualise your opposition struggling with the same problems of weather, time, facilities and you having no problem deciding to make do with what you have, by adapting the session rather than giving up. There are two things you can do blame or take responsibility. You can blame the weather, work, family, finances, or any circumstance you want for the lack of outcome. These are all external conditions that you cannot control but you can control how you respond to them. You can take responsibility of your life you can change yourself. To achieve success in life and in competition this will take 100% responsibility of everything in your life including what you eat and drink, how much rest you get, what training and preparation you do for each event , the how, when and where. 99% of people fail due to excuses, blaming and complaining. Eliminate them all. Take the blame for the past mistakes and accept new thoughts, create new feelings and CHANGE. |
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Hi everyone and welcome to my new blog. I will try and keep you up to date on all my future Events, plus results from students competitions and training progress. 
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