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James McIlroy
James McIlroy initially represented the Republic of Ireland before changing his nationality. When he was 21 years old he showed great promise by finishing fourth over 800m in the 1998 European Athletics Championships.
He has the 10th (equal) fastest time ever run by a British athlete over 800m, and 6th on the indoor all time list. James McIlroy represented Great Britain at all four major championships (Olympics, Europeans, World and Commonwealth Games) and is the fastest Irish man, North or South ever at 800m.
Personal bests
| Distance | Time |
|---|---|
| 600m | 76.52 (74.6 hand timed) |
| 800m | 1.44.65, 1.46.65i |
| 1000m | 2.15.57, 2.18.84i |
| 1500m | 3.42.00, 3.39.73i |
| Mile | 3.59.48 |
| 5 Miles | 26.07 |
| 10 Miles | 54.33 |
| Marathon | 2.41.54 |
Questions
Easy runs
Q. Did you ever do them?
A. Yes
Q. What would be easy pace?
A. Heart rate at sub 145, easy runs are important as they speed up recovery.
Steady runs
Towards the end of my career when I had learned correct training, I would run very hard and very easy. It was more black and white, no grey area as it's not relevant to 800m runners. None of the required energy systems are engaged and in short, your just tiring yourself out with exercise that isn't relevant. Physiologically speaking I would either run below 145 (beats per minute) or above 169.
Group Training
Sometimes depending on the person, better concentration on my own as you can analysis what's going on as your doing it. Utilitarian approach required, as you will find top runners usually train individually as their always following a very specific tailored programs. Also it's not always great to train with company as they can pick things up which isn't conducive to winning races.
Think of running as a card game, where you don't ever want to reveal your hand! The maxim 'never complain, never explain' is a good rule of thumb. I have done both in my time and prefer to meet up for pre competition where maybe two of us are doing the same program, this can be very effective but equally at home training by myself.
Interval work
Q. How many times a week?
A. 3 times but not Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Better to have an extra day, e.g. Monday, Thursday and Sunday.
Q. Can you give examples of important/key sessions?
A. If someone is interested in key sessions, it's a key sign that they've got no direction.
For example if I shut my eyes right now I could list every session for a year that's required to A: a run a personal best or B: to break a world record. If your a casual runner its fine to put an eclectic mix of sessions together for fun and run them at a sub maximal effort, however if running is your business, and its a hard, hard business then you need a business plan. Training should be functional, for example there should be purpose with a desired outcome.
A year should look like this...
BASE 1:- 4 - 6 WEEKS
BASE 2:- 4 - 6 WEEKS
PREPARATION PHASE:- 4 WEEKS
PRE COMPETITION PHASE:- 3 - 4 WEEKS
Race 6-8 races, repeat for indoor and outdoors.
Pre competition phase is the most important but each phase lends itself to the next, so you can't start one effectively until the previous one has been completed. The base phases and preparation phases stay the same in terms of a structured week; pre competition is structured very differently. In a normal week for example the first week of BASE 1 would look like so:
| AM | PM | |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Track. | |
| Tuesday | Weights | Long easy run (Sub145hr) |
| Wednesday | circuits | Olba run |
| Thursday | Track | Weights |
| Friday | Run drills/Plyo | Rest |
| Saturday | Rest | |
| Sunday | Hills/Forest | Easy Hr 145 |
Long track Monday and short track Thursday. The whole week is geared towards these two days. Two track sessions stay the same for the entire block! Weights circuits and plyometrics should be supplementary and help you get through the track sessions in one piece, as well as power, strength mobilization and range maybe equally or more important. There for repeatable, simple and hard.
This structure would more or less be the same across the board, in terms of 800m running the sessions are also very important and the recovery in sessions as it's more a chemistry experiment as that's what you're trying to manipulate.
For example.. to run 800m fast at BASE 1 level a 800m session which would NOT be relevant would be 10x400m with 1 min recovery, where as 8x400m with 4 min recovery bringing the times down from 60 to 55 is much more relevant and from personal experience much harder. Anyway I won't go on to much, but if you need a specific session, you're in trouble!
Q. Did you change surface dependant on the time of year?
A. You should be conditioned to train on any surface. Historically if you break down then use a grass track, however intensity goes and that's what you're trying to capture.
Q. Did you use races as training, instead of doing a session?
A. Yes this is an important one. Once you've done the required blocks with no set backs and after pre competition phase any individual would be extremely confident and the best way to encourage this mental state to grow is to race. In sporting terms fodder: Race over and under distance before zipping into your first main event, this is as old as the hills approach and pretty well documented. Most people train like this; however you should know exactly what time you're capable of running from your pre competition phase.
Mileage
Q. What sort of mileage were you doing in training phases?
A. I have done over 100 miles when I didn't no what I was doing and when I would count miles. Don't know how many I was doing when training properly could be anything from 40 miles in base phase's to about 15 in pre competition.
Q. What was your longest run of the week?
A. Regeneration anything up to 75 minutes, but a few European 800m guys would run over 2 hours at walking pace.
Q. Did you run big mileage when racing?
A. When I learnt how to train properly then no definitely not!
Q. So is it better to run less but higher quality?
A. Whatever suits, always thought mileage irrelevant track work dictates everything.
Cross country
I loved x country and would always rather do it compared to an 'obla' run but it was always deemed a day out, and not really relevant to running 800m or 1500m for that matter.
Strength work
Strength work is very, very important. Strength work, circuits, and running drills should all blend into the background of your week but they are so important.
Weights have especially moved on in drastic fashion. 'Range and mobility' develop them and the world will be your oyster! For sake of simplicity say (per week) 2 x weights, one focusing on explosive power and range the other conditioning and form, again focusing on range of movement and mobility and finally one body conditioning session per week. Everything should complement everything else, so its fluid.
Massage
Q. Thoughts on massage?
A. I have used massage but in my opinion it is over rated, I think it is better to get your back and hips corrected.
Diet
Q. Any special diet?
A. I have tried them all, found over time it's more important when you eat. There are certain windows of time before and after exercise, but you need another chapter on diet and would be quite a lot to go into, maybe another time.
Altitude / Warm weather training
Yes I used both, and not relevant for middle distance. It really is a mixed bag to be honest, at altitude you must:-
1. Take longer recoveries.
2. Race days 1-3 when returning or after day 10.
3. Very hard on your body chemistry.
This doesn't include you have to eat a large amount, make sure you sleep enough, and usually get a cold with moisture in atmosphere from warm and dry. Lastly you have to get used to different people, different food, and different conditions. Too many variables for me (altitude) even with a disciplined structured program, and never really found any physiological benefits than say training in Cyprus. So my view in short is that the risks outweigh the benefits, but it's only my opinion from past experiences and the highest I went up was 1852m.
Q. Was there a reason you changed for Irish athletics to GB athletics?
A. Yes, I wanted to run from Britain.
Q. Would you change anything if you could?
A. Yes lots of regrets but no doubts.
Q. What was the best race of your career?
A. Don't know
Q. What was your worst race?
A. Got lots!
Q. You ran 1.44.65 in 2005; do you think you could have gone faster in different circumstances?
A. Of course you always feel you could have gone faster. My last 80metres in that race was terrible but it took me 7 years of trial and error from initially breaking through to learn the event, so I think I could have been dangerous in the early part of my career.
Q. What was it like to be part of Sydney Olympics and run in front of 112,000 people?
A. Fascinating and different from other races, it was a very high stadium. I can remember a wall of people when walking out to the race, but other than that it could of been anywhere in Europe as it was the same faces, same countries and the same 2 laps.
2008
Q. You got to the world indoors and then retired; do you regret not going for the Olympics in Beijing?
A. No, after the run up to the world indoors that year I'd had enough and it was time to leave.
Q. Do you miss athletics?
A. No
Q. Do you still run?
A. Yes I plan to run London and Chicago marathons with friends.
Q. What's you're thoughts on British current middle distance running?
A. Britain is every bit as good as other countries in the world; obviously drug abuse is a big issue!
James McIlroy
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