Thought for what it’s worth I would put my hat in the ring regards Ian´s article and the fact the other boys had commented.  I have mixed views, firstly I like IS and although he is a little frank, I like that.  I have always preferred people who just tell you what they feel, good or bad.  Having said that for me its not quite so much of an issue as I am an 800/1500 m runner.  Do I need to do more miles? I’m not sure.  For instance I know that Tony Whiteman used to do quite a few miles with a long 90 min run on a weekend.  In contrast Mike East never ran over an hour, he didn’t see the point and they both ran very similar times of 3.32, which is competitive on today’s World scene.  My only issue sometimes is that it is always easy to have a pop once you have got to a certain level and forget where you have come from and how tough it is, so instead of moaning, then a constructive program needs to be implemented, which we have none in Britain.  I have never thought that lottery funding is the right way forward, in terms of giving people money, especially some youngster who hasn’t really proved themselves.  That might be because I never got any :-) but the fact is putting a few hundred quid in someone’s account does not make them a better runner.  I have one story from a few years ago.  My coach who was just the local guy, coached me to 1.45 and 3.41 at the time and I had been running for Great Britain for about 5 years and been National Champion and run the Commonwealths.  There was also a young lad in the group who was a 400m runner.  He was good don’t get me wrong, one of the best u20´s in the country.  Anyway he hadn’t even represented England or GB and yet he started getting money put into his bank, granted not a lot but it was enough, it included a warm weather training allowance and the best bit was expenses for MY coach to travel to the odd race with him.  That really got on my wick, not because he was getting something, but because a senior International was getting nothing, no support, no phone calls, nothing.  By the way he is no longer running, he quit a few years ago, whereas me for my sins, well I guess I’m a glutton for punishment!  The point is that I don’t want the money, that has never been the issue, but a level playing field would be a start.  If you look at my performances over the years I have been largely inconsistent, running some great times and not so great times.  Money would not have made a difference but someone taking me aside, with my coach and telling me what was good what was bad might have helped me peak at the right times.  I have been self coached for the last 8 months or so and have had a great indoors.  I know that Badders and Tom didn’t race indoors but at the moment I am still the fastest we have, yet still no one has dropped me a line to ask how training has gone, or if I need any advice, so has anything changed since we made any changes?!

So, my over written point is that I would prefer to see more communication between athletes, coaches and the federation.  In 12 years running for my country I can count on one hand the amount of time the federation has spoken to me on the phone, and that was to tell me they were not taking me to a Championship for one reason or another.  I have always thought that there is institutional favoritism, be that if you are at the right Uni, or in the right training group.  and yet it could be very black and white, performance based incentives and rewards based on individual races and events.  Why they just can’t have a simple list of guys and girls, (say the top 10 in each event) and once a week, or once a fortnight give them a bell to ask how things are going.  The odd training camp would at least make you feel a little part of the set up.

Back to IS point of training harder, I remember having a long call with Steve Cram, I rang him for advice and to be fair he rang me back for a chat.  He told me I wasn’t doing enough quality miles, which I accepted but he also said that the track work was "bananas" in his own words.  Basically, no wonder you get to races tired as you are doing far to much quality track work.  I have tried to take this on board and now do more miles and less track work.  Last year I had a few weeks up towards 100miles, but I felt that although I was string in the summer, I missed my basic speed, and just felt when a race went off really fast I got into lactate and started to struggle.  So at my event its about getting the right balance, which I am still trying to get lol!

Just one last point for the long distance guys, remember even the older generation, although they were running quicker than you are at the moment, they would not be competitive in today’s climate and African dominance.   I think it was Athens when they ran the 2nd half of the 10k quicker than our 5k British record (although sure Mo will beat that soon) The world of athletics has changed and I hope that someone can step up and be successful.  Waxing Lyrical about how good they were in the past (which wouldn’t have got near medals in the longer distance events now) is not the way forward, so come Ian, lets get together, get motivated and move our sport on.

Cheers,

Sp8y