Latest Blog post from Tokyo 2020 hopeful, Jonny Davies

Blog 2- November

Hey guys! Hope everyone is enjoying the winter grind and still remembers what the sun looks like! In this blog I give a summary of the month as well as describe my current training schedule.

November has been a big month of training for me where I headed out to the French Pyrenees for 3 weeks of altitude training (from the 30/10- 20/11). Upon returning to the UK I competed in my first Cross Country race in 2 years at the Liverpool Cross Challenge alongside a number of fellow club mates. From this performance, as well as the summer track season, I was selected for the Mixed Relay at the European Cross Country Champs in Lisbon for Great Britain on the 8th of December, which I am incredibly proud and excited for!   

Altitude training is now commonplace among British endurance athletes with various groups going out from the UK each year. Font Romeu is a popular destination due to cheap flights, accessibility and abundance of good running (including a freshly laid track). I went out on camp for a few reasons; running and living at altitude stimulates the production of red blood cells which is beneficial for endurance running. Additionally, being away on camp creates a unique opportunity to focus on your training without the normal distractions you get back at home. These factors culminated in it being an ideal time for me to kick-start my winter and start laying the foundations for next summer’s track season.

My training at the moment is geared towards volume and base work. This means a lot of time on my feet working the sub-maximal zones, trying to improve my aerobic threshold. During November I was running around 80 miles per week. While I want to move this on to around 90-100, 80 was enough to gain the aerobic benefit I needed. Mileage is an important factor in endurance running but is by no means the only aspect and it’s always a compromise between training benefit and injury risk. A lot of the supplementary training I am doing right now is centred on reducing this risk. I will use a foam roller for around 20 minutes per day as well as going through a mobility routine both before and after every run/session. I am also doing Strength and Conditioning (S&C) twice a week which has a dual purpose of building power and strengthening weaker areas. On top of this I always have a full rest day in a week to relieve the load on my body. For a bit of further insight, below is a summary of a week’s training I undertook in Font Romeu: 

I returned to the UK on the 20th of November and raced the Liverpool Cross Challenge 3 days later. I finished 13th which I was reasonably happy with. I felt a little race rusty having not raced this season but I really enjoyed being back out on the mud and mixing it again. Gaining the GB vest for Lisbon was a huge boost and I can’t wait to represent my country again!

I am looking forward to cracking on with some more base work through December before starting to gear up for a few indoor races in the New Year.

Thanks for reading!

JD

TRAINING WEEK COMMENCING 4th NOVEMBER

Monday- AM easy 7 miles, PM easy 5.5 miles

Tuesday- AM track session (10x600m, 2 mile tempo), PM easy 4.5 miles

Wednesday- AM easy 10 miles, PM S&C

Thursday- Rest

Friday- Tempo/hill session (5 min tempo, 5 x (30, 45, 60 second hills), 5 min tempo), PM- easy 5 miles

Saturday- AM easy-steady 16 miles, PM S&C

Sunday- AM easy 9 miles, PM easy 4.5 miles

(82 miles)

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Reading AC Boys Perform Admirably at the National Cross Country Relays

Reading's U15 boys finished in a very good ninth place in difficult conditions at the National Cross Country Relay Championships at Mansfield on Saturday 2 November 2019, with our U13 boys securing a highly respectable 19th position and the injury-hit U17 men coming 58th.

Although the morning's heavy rain had eased somewhat by the time the U15 3x2km race got under way, Reading's strong team were undaunted by the challenging Mansfield course which had been made more difficult by stretches of mud churned up by previous races. A peculiarity of the Mansfield course is that because the starting point is different from the handover position the first stage is some 40 metres shorter than the other two, probably worth eight seconds or so. Ollie Craggs coped well with the jostling on the start line, and proceeded to run an excellent first leg in finishing 16th in a time of 7.00. Oli Snoxall then managed to gain four places with a good 7.21 clocking, and Chris Parker with a fast 7.13 on the final stage took Reading to a fine ninth place at the finish, only 25 seconds behind the winners. For Reading's B team, Aidan Marshall opened with a good 7.53 effort for 86th place, and Adam Methven's determined 8.06 on stage two took the team up to 64th before Adam Tivey's gutsy 8.39 gained another two places for a finishing position of 62nd.

The U13s in their 3x2km race earlier over the same course ran bravely in what was probably the worst of the weather. Samuel Lindsey-Halls competed well on the first stage to finish 27th in a time of 7.31, and Josh Smith hung on doggedly to 28th place, recording 8.10. Maddox Gillas's excellent effort of 7.38 then brought Reading through to a very good 19th place at the finish. For Reading's incomplete B team Jacob Sheikh ran well on the opening stage, recording 8.08 for 67th place, and George Godfrey's resolute running with a time of 8.55 left the team in 72nd place at the end of stage two.

Reading's U17 squad was hit by injury and unavailability, but Mattie Raynor competed well on the opening stage of their 3x3km race with a 10.10 clocking for 48th place, before Laurie Baker's determined 11.10 and Rohan Brooks's encouraging 11.22 gave the team a final position of 58th. Meanwhile inexperienced Isaac Mileham ran the opening stage for an incomplete B team, finishing 103rd in 13.00.

Report by Keith Whyte
Photos by Russell Gillas, Hannah Lindsey-Halls and Jon Snoxall.

Forty-Six New Reading AC Club Records in 2019

A total of forty-six new club records were set during the Winter 2018 to Summer 2019 track and field seasons .

The A1-sized posters are being printed and will appear at the back of the main stand at Palmer Park shortly.

All club record holders receive a certificate

Well done to all athletes who did their best during the season.

Clicking on the table below will take users to the club records section of the website.

Frantic Sportshall Season Opener (and victory)

The first Sportshall League Match of the season took place in Egham on Sunday 27 October with U11 and U13 teams in action for Reading AC

The U11 Boys team competed bravely with only 4 athletes and achieved 10th place. The U13 boys, also with a partial team managed a very good 5th place.

The Girls had a great start to the season for both U11 and U13. There were victories for both the U11 girls (who won their match by 12 points) and the U13 girls blue team (16 point ahead of nearest rivals Slough Junior).

There were great performances too by the U13 Girls red and yellow teams in 7th and 10th places respectively.

Thank you to John Bayley, Charlotte Webb and Laurie Baker for organising the teams, and to all the parents who helped run the teams and officiate during the day.

Follow Jonny Davies on his journey to make Tokyo 2020

Our International athlete, Jonny Davies, has agreed to share his journey with us as he aims to qualify for the next Olympic Games in Tokyo. This is the first of what will hopefully be a series of blog posts showing what it takes to be an international. Now over to Jonny:

Hey guys! 

I was invited to write a little blog for the club to document my journey to try and make the Tokyo Olympics for the 5000m. Hopefully, people may find at least some of what I say interesting and may give a little bit of insight on what it takes to make an Olympic games. I have a huge amount of affection for the club who gave me a pathway into the sport and allowed me to chase my dreams and seeing my athletic potential. The coaching I received by Rob Mckim and others, laid solid foundations and I still quiver with fear thinking of some of the brutal, yet carefully calculated sessions, I used to do around ‘The Stadium of  Dreams’- aka Palmer Park.  

I intended this first blog to be a little bit of an introduction to myself and my goals and potentially pave the way for future blogs.  For a little bit of context/background, I am a lifelong member of Reading AC and competed for the club throughout my school years and continue to do so today. I am a middle to long distance runner and have competed for Great Britain on a number of occasions, most recently at the world indoor championships in Birmingham, where I am currently based.  I studied Biology at the University of Birmingham for my undergraduate degree and am lucky enough to still be supported by the university as a graduate scholar. I also work part time within the Metallurgy and Materials department with an incredibly flexible job which I can work around my training and also allows me to train abroad when necessary. 

The Olympics is the pinnacle of our sport and the idea of being part of it is incredibly exciting but making the team is no easy feat. I narrowly missed out 3 years ago as a 21 year old to make the Rio team- running the qualifying time but suffering from injury and illness running into the trial and eventually falling just short. Since then my running career has taken a series of ups and downs with some incredible moments, such as winning two medals at the world student games in Taiwan, but also long term injuries and illness. The worst being an almost 6 month layoff with a back injury last winter- our sport is always an adventure!

As in life, athletics is a constant learning experience. I have made countless mistakes throughout my running career, but as long as you are able to learn the lessons and apply them in the future; you are already halfway there. I am hoping I have learnt from the past!  I currently have an amazing training group and team supporting me and feel in the best place possible for taking 10 seconds off my PB to run under 13:13.50 and book my spot to Tokyo. It will of course need a lot of hard work and no short supply of good fortune but I am excited for the journey to come.

Best of luck to everyone just starting their winter training!

Up the Ding!

JD

Ps-- if people would like me to cover anything particular I’d be more than happy to do so. Equally, if people have any questions or would like any advice on anything feel free to message me on facebook etc.  


National Gold for Reading AC Athlete

Reading ACs Sammy Ball has won the gold medal at the English Schools’ Junior Boys’ Pentathlon on 21 September 2019. Representing Berkshire Schools, Sammy started the championships with a solid 11.45 secs in the 80m hurdles 0.05 secs off his personal best and leaving him in third place overall. A fantastic performance in the second event, shot put, saw Sammy throw 12.82m surpassing his previous best by 44cm and placing him in first position in the overall competition. In the third event, long jump Sammy achieved 6.09m, 21cm below his best but left him entering the fourth event,high jump, with a seventy point lead.

Sammy knew, however, that his fourth event would be critical. Although the fourth event is high jump, Sammy also had to take into account that the final event is 800m and his closest rival is English School’s champion in that event with an ‘on-paper’ thirteen point (or 215 pentathlon points) advantage.

In the high jump Sammy’s previous best of 1.81m gave him an eleven centimetre (or 92 pentathlon points) advantage over his rival. It was going to be close. When his rival cleared 1.74m, Sammy dug into his experience and resilience to clear 1.86m (a new Reading AC club record).

Going into the 800m, Sammy had a 193 point (or about 11 seconds) advantage over his rival. Through determination and ‘grit’ Sammy managed to run over four seconds faster than he ever has before to keep the distance between them at five seconds and finishing in 2 mins 07.09 secs.

With an overall score of 3,356 points Sammy claimed gold and goes into the UK all-time record books as the second highest scoring U15 boy outdoor pentahlete and complementing his indoor all-time record attained in March 2019.

Sammy’s performance also contributed to the Berkshire team winning the overall bronze medal in the team competition.

Additionally, Sammy now qualifies by right to compete for England at an indoor international pentathlon in Glasgow on 30 November 2019. Well done.

Alder Valley Victory for Reading AC Girls

Reading AC young female athletes were in action in the Alder Valley final at Eton on Saturday 14 September 2019.

The first 3 matches over the season gave Reading AC wins in the U13, U15 and U17 age group categories, and the good form continued in the final with a victory to retain the overall trophy. Well done girls!!

Thanks once again to our judges: Jason Gilder, Natalie Ercilla, Lynda Bayley, Tim Richardson, David Noble, Paul Herrington and Bharti Dhir. We appreciate your help.

Photos to follow.

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