Sally McLellan BLOG

Well I am sitting here in cologne writing this blog after my second diamond league of the season.

I went to Birmingham, England on the 9th july in really good shape, although, I did leave a very big week of training behind me and to me a not so good hurdles session on the the july, I did however feel in really good shape and ready to run fast. I went into the competition very relaxed from the words of my husband. I said to him I may seem to be relaxed but on the inside I am going crazy. I guess I have learnt to hide my feelings when I am “on the job”.
Race day comes and yet I do tend to feel rather relaxed and just “comfortable” when I tend to feel like this is when I know I have something special to do.
I ran the heat in a season best and also a stadium record of 12.57. I was very happy about that but didn’t want to get to excited or waste to much energy knowing that I still had the final to come and wanted to produce a better result. I warmed up a little different for the final to how I usually warm up, Because I had just run really well in the heat I knew that my body had just worked very hard, so, my coach wanted to make sure that I didn’t do too much to tire it out for the final. I didn’t do any block starts at all all I did was run throughs over the hurdles. Doing block start can really fatigue your neural system. We wanted to make sure that I was going to be as fresh as I could be going into the final.
It was time to head out to my race. The crowed was noisy. The stadium had so much atmosphere in it I felt like I was already at the world championships. We went into our blocks on the starters request and then one of the other athletes put her hand up and I think i over heard her saying to the official about the noise and being held for too long. I tried my hardest to allow the atmosphere and the noise of the stadium to help me get through the race. I believe if you cant beat it join it. So, what I didn’t was try and draw the crowed into me and use their energy for a fast race. we were finally off and I was racing out of my skin I could believe how fast I was running, I still had Danielle Curruthers on my tail and I couldn’t seem to shake her. I wanted to make sure I was in good shape by the sixth hurdles and make sure I was in front. I knew if I was in front by the sixth hurdle that I was going to win the race. I got to the sixth hurdle perfectly in front, all I had to do now was stay focused and grit my teeth all the way to the finish line. I crossed the line and saw 12.48. In my head I could believe it. I knew I was in that shape I knew I could win that race and I just broke my australian record by 2 hundredths of a second. I didn’t get overly excited for some reason, I just felt at ease. I didn’t jump around or get to emotional I just smiled.

I think when we get to this stage of our careers that when you tick something off your list you don’t have to show boat around, you can keep it to yourself and give yourself a pat on the back for doing something great. Until you reach your ultimate goal, which for me is winning the world championships.

WEll that is it for now. My next race is in Monaco on the 22nd of June.
talk to you after that.

Sal