Clutterbuck Targets Olympic Trials Final

I’m back home in Essex now training on my own with Rob timing me in the cold. That personal best really gave me the confidence I needed to crack on with my training and I stopped being so reserved when it came to sessions.   I got the hunger back to hurt myself in sessions without being worried about not holding it together.  I have raced three times since my opener including a 1min52.8sec 800m in Brighton which I wasn’t happy with at the time but once my coaches reminded me I had done no speed work I wasn’t worried.  I did a session of 1 x 1200m in 3m00sec and then 4 sets of 300m/200m in 42/43secs and 27secs a week prior to the 800m race so I knew I was in good shape.  

Since the 800 I was in the 1500m C race at the Watford Grand prix 9th June,  I only clocked 3min47secs but I won the race which is always nice and I have showed my worth to be in the B race at the Trafford Grand prix.  I think we went through 800m in 2m03/04secs and I was boxed in until the bell which is when I made a frustrated move to the front and lead from then on.

Lastly, I also raced again at Watford on Wednesday the 13th June. I had a shocker in my eyes, I felt flat and I felt like I was sprinting the whole way round to keep up with the front runners fading away with 250m to go finishing with 3m48secs.  I don’t know what happened, on the Monday prior to that race I did a 600m in 1min22.2secs feeling relaxed and it made me feel confident for the race two nights later.  I felt awesome on the warm up and ready to get stuck in. Maybe the 600m and the race a few days earlier was still in my legs or maybe I just had a bad day, I don’t know, but what I do know is that race is now behind me and I am getting some more good training in ready for the Olympic trials.  My expectations of that race are, I don’t have any, I just want to enjoy the occasion, gain the experience, run hard and leave everything on the track. If I make the final then great, I will be over the moon.

I have my last session this Monday to prepare for the trials which will be:

200m, 300m, 400m, 600m, 600m, 400m, 300m, 200m off of big recoveries, so I will be hitting this session hard!

If I can run all of the reps at sub 60sec per lap pace, especially the two 600s which I think are key then I know I’m ready to run well. I decided not to compete at the U23 champs this weekend and my main reason for this was there is no international vest to gain. Some people might think I’m wrong to pull out for that reason but with my ankle not being the best I don’t want to overdo it and I would rather gain the experience of the trials.

After the trials I will be just getting loads of good racing trying run as fast as possible before I go on holiday on the 10^th of August for 30 days to Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Florida and finishing off with a week in Jamaica and back just before freshers week at university. In my opinion, there is no better way than that to end a track season!

Other than running I’ve just been chilling with the lads and my little sort.

Cheers for reading,

Dale