Part three of Storey's Stories covers George's July competition diary, three open meets across the month, a breakthrough performance at Willesden that had been a long time coming, and another windy day at Lee Valley. Here is what George said about his activities in July:
JULY
TRACK ACADEMY OUTDOOR COMPETITION
My first open meet of July was the Track Academy Outdoor Competition in Willesden. For the past several seasons, this open meet always jinxed me as I was either recovering from injury or from an absence of training. As a result, my times were always depressingly slow. This time, however, my performances were far more successful. In the two 100-metre rounds, I ran 12.64 and 12.70, respectively, and in the 200 metres, I won my heat and ran a respectable 25.68 into a -2.2 headwind. The spectators at Willesden are always very enthusiastic and loud when cheering on the athletes, which, along with the music, creates a very lively atmosphere!
STRATFORD SPEED GP
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At Stratford for the first round of the 100 metres, I annoyingly only ran a 12.70, which, for me at Stratford, definitely wasn't good enough. I was frustrated, but when a run isn't as good as I would have hoped, I remind myself that a bad run doesn't mean a bad meet. So, I prepared myself for the second round. Fortunately, in the second round, I was seeded with people I had raced with many times before. I managed to win my heat and in a much better time of 12.46. There was a delay running the 200 metres, and I was pretty tired by that point, but I managed to push through during the race, overtake several athletes, and ended up running a decent time of 25.49.
BFTTA OPEN MEET
There were several other Momentum athletes attending the BFTTA open at Lee Valley, including Daniel and our coach Pat, Ryan, and Basit. It was an extremely windy day, so many heats were far above the legal +2.0 tailwind, and several of us ran in over +4 or even over +5. Daniel and I ran in the same heat, where I was able to run a time of 12.66 with legal tailwind. The second round was very close, but I managed to overtake the athlete in first and run my fastest time of 12.25. Reality came back a few seconds later when I looked at the tailwind, and it said +5.9! I was still very chuffed to have run so fast for myself. Ryan, Basit, Pat, and Daniel all ran very good times as well.
In the 150 metres, I was seeded with several extremely fast athletes, so I just decided to focus on my own form. I ended up running a wind assisted 18.59 which, when adjusted, was one of my fastest 150 metre times.
Storey's Stats — July: Track of the Month: Lee Valley. Competition of the Month: BFTTA Open. Moments of the Month: 1) Finally breaking the streak of poor performances at Willesden. 2) Watching my coach, Pat, run some of his fastest times this year at Lee Valley and some of the fastest for his age group. Performance of the Month: My 12.25w and 18.59w at Lee Valley.
Part four of Storey's Stories will follow as the season continues.