On Completing My First Indoor Heptathlon

Finished my first indoor heptathlon.

2981 points, finished 28th out of 31 who completed the heptathlon (of which 35 started).

Once again, the individual performances are a little disappointing, training was going really well and I felt that I was in really good shape for the competition. However, I just don’t seem to be competitive as of yet, everything’s just missing a thing or two.

On the positive note, I know that my training’s working and in another 12 weeks I’ll be getting decent scores and in 24 weeks it’s going to be boom time baby.

So on with the individual event breakdowns:

Day 1-

60m: 7.84s 607pts.

My fustrations of block starts continue, warmed up really well but when it came to the race, I stumbled out of it. But I managed to drive on and made up a bit of ground, however what’s a lot more worrying here is that I seem to have a problem reaching top speeds from the 30m-60m mark (I lose so much ground to the rest as you can see). This is definitely something I need to investigate and work on for the next phase of my training.

Long Jump: 4.95m 373pts.

Went off a short approach of 12 strides. This is the least worked on event so far and it definitely shows. To be fair it’s not far off my pb (5.02m), but I know I can jump way further than this when I actually start carrying some speed in and take off properly. Next 12 weeks should sort this out.

Shot Put: 11.70m 588pts

As you can see, fell out the first two rounds which I got a big hit on (definitely over than 12m throws). Felt the crunch time on the third and final round but I made a decision to go for it still. I did however snatched the last throw a little (guess subconciously I was holding back at the finish to stay in) but hey ho, 11.70m off a last attempt? I’ll take that. =)

Realised the problem was that during training we’re not that concern about fouling and it’s showing in the comp. Will have to work during training to stay in the circle for every hit from now on.

High Jump: 1.59m 457pts

My most disappointing result. Was jumping well to start, finally feeling that I’m jumping off a curve, but then when I clipped 1.62m I suddenly found myself jumping like how I used to and then it messed up my head and the next thing I knew all 3 attempts were gone. I was really hoping to get 1.7m at least as I’ve been jumping well in training, but this shows how a little self-doubt can creep in and ruin everything.

It’s like my old self is struggling to come out at the slightest opportunity. Got to learn to let go of my old self, who got me thus far but is not going to get me any futher, and allow the new me to take me to greater heights from here onwards.

Day 2- One thing’s for sure, my training has certainly conditioned my body to 2 days of competition. Even though there isn’t a 400m at the end of day 1 as compared to a decathlon, I know that I am in much better shape than last year as day 2 felt no different from any other training day of the week usually, I was a wasn’t fresh but could go ahead easily.

60m Hurdles: 13.66s 66pts.

Another oh-so-close event. For the first time in my life I was clearning full height hurdles at full distances during warm up well and I actually felt competent about it.

Come to the race, I got a little too excited at the start and ended up too close to the hurdle, clipped it and it twisted me a little. Because I was actually carrying some speed I carried forward but was stuck being too close to hurdle off 5 stride but in the wrong position to hurdle off 3, next thing I knew, I was standing still with the hurdle against my waist.

But still, I very positive about this as it’s a definite improvement for my hurdles, a few more weeks ahead and I’ll be able to get a clean race in.

Pole Vault: 3.05m PB 369pts

Finally, a PB.

Up till now it has all been quite disappointing in terms of results, but I managed to turn it around a little for the vault. Pole vault is another event that I haven’t done that much off, was struggling in the lower heights off the stiff pole (180lb 13.5ft) so I decided to switch to a soft pole (160lb 13.5ft). Managed to work my way into it and hey ho, finally over the 3m barrier.

Watching the video I know there’s a lot more to be done. I didn’t realise I was taking off massively under the pole which was why I couldn’t complete the vault action at the top of the pole. Also I’m only off 8 strides short approach, will aim to go up to 12 strides in 12 weeks time and get a proper bend in the pole. Will have to consider buying a pole myself as I’m stuck with a slightly too soft pole and a too stiff pole at the moment.

1000m: 3min 15.41s 521pts

Well it’s no secret I’ve always struggled with my 1500m runs and I’ve put quite a bit of work over the past 15 weeks. Was quite happy with the run actually, I was originally aiming for a 3min 10s finish but I stopped checking my watch from the 3rd lap onwards and didn’t realise I was dropping that much pace. Also hated the part where I was overtaken by the guy I overtook. When I realised it was happening I tried to pick up speed but nothing quite happened.

Still I know my fitness is improving and I will continue to work at it till I run a 5min 1500m by summer.

So to conclude, I know I’m on the right track. I just got to keep working on things and use this experience to refine my training and address the problems I’ve identified.

I would have loved to finish higher up in the rankings, but that hurdle event really hurt my score. But in the grand scheme of things, scores are irrelevant for me now. It’s another valuable experience in my development as a multi-eventer.

I’ll stay the course, put my head down and keep going at it.

I thank whatever gods may be, for my unconquerable soul.