Decathlon Blog

Aktia GP 3. Veikkola

Matti Vesterinen — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 19:21:21 +0000

Now I have run all the official distances from 100 meters to marathon this summer, excluding hurdles and steeples. I still have two competitions left, so I can still improve my times on 400 m and 800 m. Today I run 5000 and 400 meters in Veikkola. I was not fully yet recovered from the Sunday’s 10 km but was able to run a decent 5000 m on 18.24,39. I was not as exhausted after the run as on Sunday but exhausted enough to make the 400 m run difficult. There were 30 minutes between the races, which felt like long enough time but after the first 200 m it did not feel like it any more. It felt like my hip was 20 cm lower than normally; so like running in a swamp. The time 54,70 I hope to improve in this summer’s last competition, which will be on Monday in two weeks.

Finnish combined events championships Huittinen

Matti Vesterinen — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 20:18:57 +0000

The summer as a heptathlete coach is finally over. The first two and a half months, from April onwards, went better than what I could have expected. Then knee started hurting and the rest of the summer I was mostly hoping that the summer would end. There is so much that I want to fix that I do not think it can all be fixed before the next summer. Hopefully there will not be too many misfortunes on the way. Staying healthy is almost a prerequisite at this point. Starting to coach someone in April is not the most perfect time. Still, it was good to see how she can be trained and how she performs in competitions. I am sure this will be an interesting journey. Next summer we can already tell whether my coaching methods have been functional or whether I should find something else to do on my spare time.

The past weekend I spent in Huittinen where my athlete won silver in the Finnish combined event championships in U23 class.

Kansalliset XVII Hervannan Juhlakilpailut

Matti Vesterinen — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 19:48:06 +0000

Yesterday I run 10 000 m on 39.22,35 in Tampere. Aim was to run below 40 minutes; so the trip was a success. Nevertheless, it was not that easy to keep up the pace after the first five kilometres. This was the longest distance I have run after the marathon and the orienteering competitions. I have not been that exhausted at the finish line in too many competitions in my career. Next stop tomorrow in Veikkola to run at least 5 000 m and maybe 400 m only 20 min after it.

SFI-serien distriktsfinal Leppävaara

Matti Vesterinen — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 07:52:46 +0000

Yesterday, my club Esbo IF once again won the local qualification for the SFI-seriefinal by a clear margin to the second; 147 points against 119 by IF Sibbo-Vargarna. My task was to do high jump, 800 m and in the Swedish relay 400 m. This was the first time I competed in a field event this summer. I started high jump at 165 and cleared still 175 on the first attempt (see the video below) but I started to hassle too much at 180. There were couple of showers during the evening. It was not the best place to run the 800 m behind another runner since all the water felt quite cold. But, it was good tactics as I was able to overtake him in the last 100 m. Time 2.03,65 is once again a new record. The relay run felt okay and I got to chase my team-mate Oki, which made the run easier. My lap time was 52,2 so not too bad.

KU-58:n kansalliset Hiekkaharju

Matti Vesterinen — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 20:30:41 +0000

Enjoyed competing today. Already the fact that it did not rain as was forecasted made me feel good after spending yesterday evening coaching under an umbrella. I had two targets for this evening: 100 m under 12 s and new PB on 1500 m. I met both the targets with clear margins. First I run 11,84 (-0,5) on the 100 m heats and half an hour later 4.30,63 on 1500 m. Most likely I could still do a lot better on the 1500 m if I started faster. Today the first 1000 m was 3.04 while it could well be 2.58, it was that easy today. After the 1500 m I had some 15 minutes time to recover for the 100 m final. I did surprisingly well; meaning 12,12 (-0,4) and it felt like I had the run better under control compared to what I had in the heats. This gives me confidence to aim for good times in the competitions still left this summer…

Tähtikisat Hämeenlinna

Matti Vesterinen — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 13:06:11 +0000

I was supposed to run my first 400 meters this year yesterday but instead got my career’s first disqualification. I moved in the starting blocks before the starting shot, which caused the disqualification. Should have had a bit more patience. Funny that it happened on 400 meters since I rarely took false starts even when they were still allowed. Luckily 400 meters was not the last event they had yesterday so I went to ask if I could run the 800 meters. I got the permission and a moment later run new PB 2.03,95. So, four more seconds to go to the target. The 400 meters came a bit faster than previously, meaning exactly 60 seconds, but still need to run faster.

Kalevan Kisat Kajaani

Matti Vesterinen — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 10:40:09 +0000

Arrived to Kajaani on Friday just in time to see the last two events of the decathlon. My teammate Antti Miihkinen put up an awesome sprint in the 1500 meters and took bronze. A well deserved medal for him!

Heptathlon started on Saturday. My athlete lost the game on the most unexpected event, namely on the 200 meters. She fell some seven meters before the finish line and had to kiss goodbye to the medals. I am happy that, despite the bruises, she did continue the heptathlon and finished fifth. She said that her legs simply did not hold any more due to the amount of lactate. Be the reason whatever, falling on 200 meters certainly is not just bad luck. The way she runs is still far too anaerobic, which is in my opinion the main reason for the accident. I do not know how much one can change in one year, but I hope to see a totally different kind of image next year on both the 200 and 800 meters. She cannot afford to loose so many points in those two events.

Picture below is taken a moment before the unfortunate 200 meter heat. Pole vault final ongoing (Jarno Kivioja 525 X) while heptathletes run 200 meters.

Preparations before Kalevan Kisat

Matti Vesterinen — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 06:11:20 +0000

Different year, different athlete but Hannu, the physiotherapist, still remains the same. Last year I got treatments to my right achilles tendon before the Kalevan Kisat. Well, we got the pain to go away from the right achilles, but the left one got hurt in the high jump during the Kalevan Kisat decathlon. This year I had to call Hannu again to see what is causing the pain in Miia’s knee. Seems to be all the training done during the years that is now causing the pain. Luckily Hannu was able to relieve the knee from most of the extra strain and Miia is back on the track without pain. We had a month long pause in all the fast running, hurdles and long jump, but as usual, rest is not enough in these cases where the pain is caused by strain that has lasted for years. Heptathlon starts Saturday and target is to improve the PB once again.

Tilastopajacup 5 Turku

Matti Vesterinen — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 20:16:53 +0000

Went to Turku yesterday to follow my athlete’s last competition before Kalevan Kisat (Finnish championships), which will be held next weekend. I thought, why go that far just to watch one run. So, I myself run the 800 meters. Unluckily there were two heats and I was in the worse one. I won it, but the first 400 meters were far too slow; around 62 seconds. Time was 2.05,90 while I was hoping to run 2.02. Running did not feel too bad at any point, so I must be able to run faster. Still hoping to break that 2 minutes barrier one day…

European Championships Barcelona

Matti Vesterinen — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 20:01:49 +0000

Had a quick trip to the European Championships in Barcelona. Barely long enough to follow the decathlon from start to finish. What a great competition it turned out to be. Naturally, we had our little competition as well in the night time…