TITS

Because Rugby is 800m training.

I trust in you for life to live, and air to breath.
Purity fills my lungs.
I no longer live in solitude.
No longer bound.
My heart beats with great devotion.
This is the start to a new beginning.
On my knees praying for mercy.
Hands raised high, humble and broken. Wanting your grace.
Wanting your security.
Memories of laying facedown, motionless, with such a hollow feeling inside.
Soon I would end this life I was living.
I am just a man with a heart and sinful hands.
I am a fallen victim.
Lord, show me the way. I ask of you Father, let my words be your words.
Let my thoughts be your thoughts.
To you, I give my praise.
Show me the way. Take me in your arms. Never let me go.
Lord, show me the way, as I give myself to you.
Never let me go.
Hold me with your everlasting love.
Be my strength. Be my voice. Be my glory. Set me free.

You really need to stop getting so excited about your mates times. The training for Rugby, Hockey, AFL, Soccer etc are all suited to 800m running. Any sport which has endurance and speed as key components can produce the odd 800m athlete without 'specific 800m training'. 1.57 is solid running, just forget the lack of specific training. Anyway, i'm pretty sure there is another U/15 GPS kid that didn't run the 800m, who won the open 1500m, and will run 1.55 this year.

AUGUST BURNS RED FOR LIFE!

Michael Todd is a quality runner with a 407 last season as a 14 year old. He just won national XC u15 comfortably and 2006/7 All schools silver in the 800 and gold in the 1500. No mean feat by Bannon even though Todd just returned from National XC.

I found out about Bannon a few days ago when Todd himself told Alex Rowe whom i coach. Its a pity Bannon is such a free spirit because 157 off (to be fair) a high level of fitness anyway, aerobic and lactic from surfing, explosive from rugby. He is obviously strong.

9 months of specific training took Alex Rowe from 213 as a 13 year old to 153.8 as a 14 year old. From football to athletics. Is there someone that can get into this kids head somehow?

SUP

Good pick up lcc, enterthezone keeps forgetting Johnson. He led the whole way, the pack caught him, then he kicked again from 2 800m specialists plus the all rounder Todd.

BTW Yes Michael Todd is a quality runner and a quality young man, but, i think he was actually 4th or 5th in both 800 and 1500 at All Schools? Pretty sure James Connor was 2nd behind your boy Rowe in the 800m and won the 1500m in a long kickdown off a slow pace.

damn i should have checked. You seem to know Michael's performances well. I guess you might actually know him in person. Alex is away at the moment doing some commando training in the mountains too toughen him up a bit more mentally so i can't check with him but i was pretty impressed with Michael's 1500m in February.

I have noticed this Mark Bannon for a while and he sounds like a bit of a freak. But natural talent will only take him so far. James Connor ran a 1:58 by himself after a 1500m at CCC so I think he will be the one to watch this year. James is a great bloke and an awesome athlete so expect him to do great things this year.

National All Schools Sydney December 2006
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boys 800 Metres Under 15 Finals
Section 1: 1, Alex Rowe, VIC, 1:58.25. 2, James Connor, NSW, 1:59.37. 3,
Hamish Wagner, QLD, 1:59.66. 4, Sam Martyn, NSW, 1:59.97. 5, Michael Todd,
NSW, 2:02.56. 6, Anselm McManus, ACT, 2:05.31. 7, Kane Mentz, QLD, 2:05.50. 8,
Dean Asonitis, NSW, 2:06.29.

Boys 1500 Metres Under 15
Section 1: 1, James Connor, NSW, 4:15.38. 2, Sam Martyn, NSW, 4:15.47. 3,
Dean Asonitis, NSW, 4:16.80. 4, Michael Todd, NSW, 4:17.98. 5, Joshua Johnson,
NSW, 4:24.59. 6, Phillip McConnon, TAS, 4:24.83. 7, Jordan Cross, QLD,
4:31.05. 8, Matt Axford, SA, 4:34.66. 9, Ethan Heywood, WA, 4:38.20. 10,
Jordan Nelson, VIC, 4:38.54. 11, Andy Axford, SA, 4:43.03.

Boys 3000 Metres Under 15
Section 1: 1, Joshua Johnson, NSW, 9:16.51. 2, Kane Grimster, VIC, 9:20.62.
3, Ryan Geard, VIC, 9:22.67. 4, Lachlan Rayner, VIC, 9:37.97. 5, Dylan Dudley,
NSW, 9:43.52. 6, Jeremy Lim, QLD, 9:47.83. 7, Ethan Heywood, WA, 9:49.41. 8,
Jordan Nelson, VIC, 9:59.54. 9, Matt Axford, SA, 10:07.45. 10, Liam Moore,
QLD, 10:13.87. 11, Andy Axford, SA, 10:14.20.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
National Cross Country Perth September 2007

Boys 4k CC 14/15 Years
1 Joshua Johnson NSW 12:48 1
2 Sam Martyn NSW 12:49 2
3 James Connor NSW 12:51 3
4 Michael Todd NSW AC X12:54
5 Corey Biczo NSW 12:56 4
6 Lachlan Rayner VIC AC X13:01
7 James Davidson WA 13:02 5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Josh Johnson the longer man who apparently rarely loses races.
Mark Bannon the freak who doesn't train.
Michael Todd who knocked 10 seconds off the above 1500m time last season.
James Connor the 800/1500 guy.
Alex Rowe the 400/800 guy.

These are all NSW guys except Rowe. Add in Sam Martyn silver in 8/15 in the above results and second to Johnson in the Nat XC and its a bit overwhelming from north of the Murray.

From the 3000m above some updated info on the Victorians.

Kane Grimster from Vic trains with Mitch Frey and recently ran 415 on his own. He is in the agegroup above for XC and interclub athletics. Ryan Geard only lost to Rowe in state XC in the final sprint. Lachlan Rayner beat Geard in the national XC and his brother Johnny ran 153.31 last season as an u16.

I reckon this is a cracker agegroup.

enterthezone why don'y you just go push over some more young kids ay?

Please do me the courtesy of telling me what your real name is JR1500

why so you can come push me over? Your just a big bad bully

Your quite right there enter the zone, it does look to be a cracker age group. The NSW boys will have a good battle at their state nxt weekend though. Should be good to see who comes out on top. Also Hamish Wagner from Queensland should be up there this year and expect Harry Wilson who was the National champion in the 800m in 2005 to make a return from an injury last year who is also from Queensland. but Alex Rowe should be a dominating figure in the 800m this year. Will be hard to beat!

thanks for the tip Marto. I've done some research.


2005 National All Schools December 2005

Boys 800 metre Under 14
1, Harry Wilson, Qld Mountain, 2:05.01. 2, James Connor, Nsw John The, 2:05.51. 3, Michael Todd, Nsw The King, 2:07.01. 4, Sam Martyn, Nsw Lumen Ch, 2:08.37. 5, Dean Searles, Qld Barcaldine, 2:10.04. 6, Dean Asonitis, Nsw Rooty Hi, 2:12.91. 7, Jordan Cross, Qld Benowa S H, 2:15.70. 8, Anselm McManus, Act Marist C, 2:15.81.

Boys 1500 metre Under 14
1, Michael Todd, Nsw The King, 4:18.53. 2, James Connor, Nsw John The, 4:18.82. 3, Harry Wilson, Qld Mountain, 4:20.59. 4, Sam Martyn, Nsw Lumen Ch, 4:21.46. 5, Ryan Geard, Vic Westbour, 4:26.13. 6, Keith Gregson, Nsw Northhol, 4:27.85. 7, Aaron Bernard, Qld St Colum, 4:29.31. 8, Jeremy Lim, Qld Nudgee C, 4:29.88. 9, Dean Asonitis, Nsw Rooty Hi, 4:33.14. 10, Jye Thomas, Qld A B Pat, 4:39.19. 11, Anselm McManus, Act Marist C, 4:41.54. 12, Matt Axford, SA Heathfiel, 4:44.80. 13, Lachlan Rayner, Vic St Berna, 4:47.70.

It shows the same guys basically. Wilson wasn't present as you said and Rowe wasn't into it yet. Todd won the 1500m and i'm wondering if he wasn't at his best last year in December. I couldn't find the 3000m so no idea about Johnson. Wagner bronze in the 800m also very fast at 52.38 in the heats at NatAS, fading in the final to 52.75. Not sure if this was before or after the 800m.

Another 800m guy from Melbourne is Knight. He ran 159 last year in October and didn't continue. He is in excellent shape at the moment and was clocked at a 51 flat relay split recently.

I saw these the other day:

Men 800 Metre Run 15 years
=======================================================================
Meet Record: M 2:06.65 25/09/2004 Garth Small, NT
=======================================================================
1 Dean Searles BAR 2:02.62H
2 Grant Dilger TNS 2:11.12

Men 400 Metre Sprint 15 years
=======================================================================
Meet Record: M 54.52 5/10/2002 Matthew Wills, LGR
=======================================================================
Section 1
1 Dean Searles BAR 52.74M
2 James Male TNS 54.05M

and looked up this to see Searles 4th ahead of Wagner

Boys 400 Metres Under 15 Finals
Section 1: 1, Nick Shaw, WA, 51.66. 2, Rory Nolan, VIC, 51.82. 3, Josip
Jadric, ACT, 51.96. 4, Dean Searles, QLD, 52.45. 5, Hamish Wagner, QLD, 52.75. 6, Steven Pallotta, SA, 52.77. 7, Taylor Mills, VIC, 52.95. 8, Matthew Bailey, QLD, 53.17.

Furthermore at the recent meet (ANQ champs) he also ran 11.76 +0.5 3f, and threw the discus 45m to win.

Does anyone know more about Dean?

Well last year in the 1500m at Nationals it was a very slow, tactical race. Most of the nsw boys were in good shape to go sub 4:10 pretty easy. But what happened to Michael was that he and Josh Johnson pretty much had a wrestling match on the track therefore tiring them physically and mentally towards the end of the race. In 2005 Josh Johnson ran the 800m but did not make it past the heats. Did not run in the 3km either. I have known of Dean for a while ever since we raced at nats in 2005. He is a pretty tall strong figure and his results over those various events do not surprise me.

cheers Marto. What sort of race was national XC for you guys? Can you give a rundown of the race and conditions etc?

Also i'd love to know any more info about yourself or any of the other NSW boys.

cheers

No worries enterthezone. It was a hot pace right from the start and evryone was everywhere for the 1st km or so. Eventually the field began to slim out and then the contenders came to the front which included the 5 nsw boys, 5 victorians and a guy from the act. Then when we hit the hill Josh Johnson went to the lead, i followed and then the next minute the nsw boys had broken away. Then for the last km it was Josh Johnson, James Connor, Michael Todd and myself fighting it out in a very tight bunch. Then when we hit the straight for the last 400m Michael Todd dropped off 1st, James dropped off with about 200m to go and it was Josh and I fighting it out to the finish but he just had that little bit more to get him over the finish line. Quite an exciting race!

YOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOY

YAH

jr1500 u are a coward. u probably dont even know peter and to say something like that is a disgrace. if u want to attack someone like that at least have the guts to tell us who u are. i cant express my anger in this post but i wouldn't mind if someone could smash ur face in.

GAGAGOOGA

GOGOGAGA

hey there alex calm down, it would seem to me that your coach is a coward, pushing over young kids what a disgrace

are you serious? what fact are you basing this fact on? there is no way that johnson can run a 1.55. his pb for the season is 2.03. i know he ran that easily but the 2 stenmark twins that came 2nd and 3rd to him got told by their coach not to beat johnson so they didnt. there is no way he will even beat bannons 1.57.7 let alone do a 1.55

cheers Colonel. So Johnson lacks the basic speed for the 800m. A pity to hear that. However if he only beat Sam Martyn in the final sprint at National XC i'm wondering what Martyn's pb's are for 800/1500 so far this season.

JR1500, who are you? I'm open and honest about what happened in the incident you keep bringing up. What more do you want me to say? I lost my cool at an arrogant year 11 schoolboy who had been repeatedly hitting another athlete with a baton in a 4x800m race. I don't think its the most serious offense in the world. I think i've paid enough penalty already without having self-righteous people like yourself continuing the tirade.

Now who are you or i think i have to agree with Alex in that you are a bigger coward than myself!!!

Alex Rowe, good to stick up for your coach, but you're over reacting arent you? Surely aggressive behaviour is not an answer for anything. I'm sure your coach can look after himself

Enterthezone Josh Johnson is actually quite quick and can hold a fast pace for a long time. In summer of this year even though i was doing little to nothing training he still had an amazing turn of pace on him. Will be one to watch in the 1500m this year.

Colonelklink, one day you'll learn about Johnson's speed the hard way. He has genuine low 11sec 100m speed, and is fit enough to do it off any pace. That's my last post about 15 year old boys, it's a pointless discussion. The results will do the talking and the only thing that really interests me is to see who is running well when it counts...as seniors. Good luck to all in this age group, hope you can stay focussed enough to continue racing into your late 20's.

cheers Marto and Mr Wariner. I am happy to hear he has speed. I figured he had some because he tends to win all his races. Also noted that he has entered the 800/1500 double at the NSW All Schools, along with Michael Todd, yourself Marto and James Connor. After their top 4 finish at National XC i reckon these two races at states would be awesome to watch. If anyone is going to video the race could they put it on youtube afterwards so we can have a look?

Cheers

Event 142 Boys 800 Metre 15 yrs Heats
=============================================================
Sunday 14/10/2007 - 12:40 PM
Name Age Team
=============================================================
1 connor, james 15 John Therry
2 Hogan, Alec 15 Rouse Hill AC
3 Johnson, Joshua 15 St Ignatius
4 Jones, Henry 15 Oakhill-CIS
5 Lammiman, Hayden 15 Trinity Gram
6 Marcel, Daniel 15 Oakhill Coll
7 Martyn, Sam 15 Eden Marine
8 Mason, Cameron 15 Redlands-CIS
9 Munro, Alex 15 Gymea
10 O'Reilly, John 15 St Pius X Ch
11 Oey, Julian 15 Macarthur An
12 Pettigrew, Alex 15 Barker
13 ricketts, xavier 15 SJT
14 Smith, Michael 15 St Patricks
15 Spriggs, Blake 15 SXA
16 Todd, Michael 15 The Kings Sc
17 Waetford, Dean 15 Westfields S


Event 22 Boys 1500 Metre 15 yrs
=============================================================
Saturday 13/10/2007 - 11:10 AM
Name Age Team
=============================================================
1 Attwood, Lucas 15 Abbotsleigh
2 borwick, cameron 15 Trinity Gram
3 Brooks, Charles 15 Kincumber Hi
4 Bruton, Daniel 15 James Sheahan
5 Chaffey, Thomas 15 Blue Mountai
6 connor, james 15 John Therry
7 Cotten, Chris 15 Orange
8 Hogan, Alec 15 Rouse Hill AC
9 Johnson, Joshua 15 St Ignatius
10 Jones, Henry 15 Oakhill-CIS
11 Klarich, Benjamin 15 St Aloysius
12 Lammiman, Hayden 15 Trinity Gram
13 Martyn, Sam 15 Eden Marine
14 Nelson, Ryan 15 Blue Mountains
15 Oey, Julian 15 Macarthur An
16 Pettigrew, Alex 15 Barker
17 Smith, Michael 15 St Patricks
18 Spriggs, Blake 15 SXA
19 Todd, Michael 15 The Kings Sc
20 Waetford, Dean 15 Westfields S

Agreed with you Marto! Wariner can keep his cliche'd comments to himself. Parroting the commonly made statement that juniors aren't important. Well Mr Wariner i wonder how fast you are! Are you an example of an athlete who has 'made it' in seniors? What are your pb's to be making such and ignorant and arrogant statement?

boys - Wainer is quite welcome to comment about training even if he is not a fast athlete, refer : Seb Coe's coach was his dad - he trained him from schoolboy to best in the world and is not a runner himself.

Asking for evidence or more details is quite ok but just lay off the bad-mouthing.

No, you missed my point, i haven't 'made it' by my definition, but i'm still competing...that's my point. Runners for life or schoolboy glory? I know this is a big issue with Athletics Australia, a huge percentage from the previous Youth Olympics have already dropped out of the sport. I guess enterthezone is well aware of this. What is your definition of making it? Hopefully one day i can satisfy your criteria. Did you make it? Some people may suggest you have to medal at Olympics or World's, some may suggest a Comm Games gold medal, some will suggest 3rd on the all time national list, some may suggest competing but not finishing at the Olympics is making it, some will be crazy enough to suggest giving your best is enough, everyone's definition will be different. I'm racing 400's this year, will i have 'made it' if i break 50, 49, 48, 47, 46, 45, 44 or do i need to run 43.17, tell me what i need to run to be good enough to warrant competing and commenting on running threads???

My goodness what did i write? The post has been removed or something? Now you've exposed my biggest issue in life Mr Wariner.

I'm sorry mate but 'making it' is something i hadn't thought much about and writing posts when i am in a bad mood is not a good idea.

For the people i coach i don't really think about them 'making it' although achieving goals is a part of the process. 'Making it' may well be simply achieving a goal that is presently beyond you but by following the process of self-development can be achieved. For me i don't know a point where i thought i had made it. It's all about relative levels anyway. I made Olympic level of performance. That's one level. Cathy Freeman made the level of best in the World and Olympic Champion. That's another level completely. There are so many levels.

I'm sorry for putting that distinction out there. To understand this sport doesn't require the ability to be an athlete. It definitely helps but an individual can gain skills from elsewhere and cross-apply them to athletics in order to understand for fully or more deeply.
Peter Coe had the gifts and skills and work-ethic to be a master coach even though he wasn't a runner himself. Arthur Lydiard the same although he became a runner. Cerutty also not a runner. Stampfl was a javelin thrower. I'm sure the list is very long.

As for World Youth's - i wish it didn't exist but it does. So these young athletes i coach already know about it and want to train for it. Some are 14. I have to counter some of this enthusiasm and re-direct it into developmental stuff all the time. It's annoying I would not like to see some of my athletes suffer mental-burnout from it by 20.

As for me - Olympics - stuffed it. And then let it gradually tear me down. But i'm not dead yet so i may as well get on top of it all again.

peace

I guess what it all comes down to, is that enterthezone is coaching the best runner Australia has ever seen and was a all time great decathlete and he even pushes little kids over.

well i hope James CONNOR comes out and smashes everyone this year becasue his surname is the same as mine!!
so JC if you read this...........Goodluck Bro!

JR1500, i dont understand, y are u taking pot shots at my coach?

I'm coaching an extremely talented runner and i'm sorry for your jealousy. I went pretty well in my career but i am not completely to terms with my failure at the highest level i achieved. C'est la vie. In terms of pushing little kids over this guy was almost 17 and as heavy if not heavier than me. It won't happen again, next time i'll put in a protest and consider whether assault charges should be laid on him for bashing another 'kid' with a baton repeatedly. I think that fact should be put out there to counter your senseless attacks.

You know who i am yet you refuse to tell me who you actually are. Pleas stop being a pussy.

I don't consider myself as a talented runner and there are thousands of people that can beat me so it's doesn't bother me that ur kid is super human, and that you were a super cool decathlete.

So the problem is?

ps i'm more geek than cool man;)

i have to agree wif ben here,

i train wif james and he has the biggest set of guts i have ever seen in a runner and i guarantee that at nats if james is in wif a sniff, then alex rowe will go down, because nothing will stop james from winning, his heart is set in the right place and he knows what he wants, and with the training he is doing he will get it

JR1500 ur a champ mate and funny as hell, keep up the hard work

Question 1 is James capable of running 151 or 49 low? But thats besides the point because Alex has a stress fracture and won't be competing. I would encourage James to enter the u20 Nationals in mid-march because we are planning to wrap Alex's 800m season up there.

Now i've said that Marto thinks Connor is tough and the photo i have of him looks damn tough.

well obviosuly alex cant run those times atm!!! james is more than capable of running those times. maybe not at this very moment but in resonable time this season, definately yes.

apart from the fact that he is an 8, 15 runner i dont think the 49 has very much to do with anything. so if we're looking at it like that, ask yourself the question, can ur kid run a sub 4 1500? works either way deosnt it!

these kids will meet over the 800 distance and i'm sure we can both agree that it will be a blinder of a race. who wins is not for us to decide, but, as an athlete you've probably experienced this, people will lift a mile when there is something as big as a national title for the taking, or even just the pride of winning. watching james over the past few years (even away from nats), he awlyas lifts. i'm sure that next year on the gold coast for 20s nats will provide us with the answers to all our questions. one of those being, has your kid peaked too early? its not a stab at him, its just an honest question, do you think he can go faster, because everyone out at c/town (and nsw) knows that james' best is still to come and in march he will be on his game and producing some quality times

oh and btw, what was your 2nd question???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhppQerClIY
In this race Alex ran 1:53.40. It is very close to even splitting, he was not pushed the slightest bit and his last 100m was the quickest of the race and did not experience lactic. This was run while he was still quite flat and shows that sub 1:50 by March is quite attainable, I believe that Connor's personal best is 3 seconds off this. Alex has not lost an 800m race this season and that was the closest anyone has been which shows he is capable of a lot quicker times. Oooops, i forgot to mention that he also got checked along the backstraight.

haha i guess i never got there as i thought question 1 is enough.

The truth is that Alex was in sub 49 sub 151 and well under 4 mins when he had to stop. By mid-march well into the 48s sub 150 and around 350. I appreciate James Connor is very gifted. Without Alex he would be number 1 in the agegroup. As it stands with Alex around James is a distant second. Alex has all of the u17 runners covered nationally already as well. I know these are big confident words but i'm just saying how it looks. With peaking too early or too late. Yes, it's a possibility of course. Not that likely though because if i make an error in this way it is measured in days, not weeks or months.

1 James Kaan Nsw 1:49.67
2 Alexander Rowe Vic 1:50.63
3 Michael Whitehead Nzl 1:52.17
4 Lee Berry Qld 1:52.56
5 Peter Mondello WA 1:52.72
6 Christopher Stapleton SA 1:53.48
7 Johnny Rayner Vic 1:54.99
8 Adrian Plummer Qld 1:56.28

i think ppl underestimate alex rowe he is not from this world LOL
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=_JwSYXmDUug




TOOOO FASt FOr JAMES

Huh! Lydiard ran and learned to coach from his experience.Cerutty won marathons and was a Centurion.Maybe not as fast as some runners but runners they were.

Jimboy - getting stuck into the archives there. Just refining your craft are we?