Deja Poo

I thrashed out two reasonably ugly 400m races last year. The first of which was done in 52.0 and the second, a few weeks later, done in 52.03 from an outside lane. So, a reasonably promising start, followed by a few weeks of speed development -followed by a slight regression caused by premature acceleration.

Fast forward to this season. A season opener in 51.8 followed by, 2 weeks later, a second 400m from the outside lane in a hugely wank 52.4 in saturday's Southern Mens League match. Given the 51.8 was run after a hard 800m this was bitterly disappointing. I suspect I went off too quickly but that is a purely circumstantial conclusion due to a crappy time and vigorous water treading in the last 40m. The pea under the mattress is that I felt, at the time, the first 200m was about right.

Some competitors theorised that the wind affected times, but this would be similar to the lightweight at school who threw up after 2 cans of Crucial Brew and from his puddle of puke claimed "I had some wine with my meal".

On the bright side I won maximum points from my 'B string' 400m (beating everyone but our own A string) and the 400m relay and our team swept the meet by a massive 43 points. However, technically sufficient performances are small consolation if you're a selfish bastard whose principal concern is his own glory.

I have 5 weeks to go before the true competition period starts and I have eliminated all racing apart from the first British Athletics League meet on the 5th June. This is the last opportunity to squeeze out some meaningful training.