60 seconds with Israel Olatunde

INTERVIEW 60

SECONDS WITH ISRAEL OLATUNDE

If you don’t know who he is, you haven’t been paying attention. Teen track section, Israel Olatunde made a blistering start to 2022 by running a new Irish under-23 60 metres record of 6.67 seconds during the National Indoor League round one at the Sport Ireland Indoor Arena in Abbotstown earlier this month.

Still only 19, Olatunde is also the reigning Irish senior 100m champion - a title he pocketed in Santry last June in a personal best of 10.49 seconds. His 6.67 at Abbotstown puts him well within reach of the qualifying time for the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade in March. But could he also be the guy to beat Paul Hession’s 15-year-old Irish Senior 60m Record of 6.61?

We caught up with the UCD runner and computer science student to find out a little more about him. Hopefully being fast and being a good guy.

What is your greatest achievement to date?

Representing my family, community and country on international stages.

Biggest regret?

Being shorter than 6"0.

Who/what is your biggest inspiration?

My family/my faith.

What scares you most?

Spiders and having regrets.

What’s your best memory?

Visiting Nigeria when I was 10.

One word that describes you best?

Sporadic.

What’s top of your bucket list?

To get sponsored by whoever makes Jaffa Cakes / visit as many countries as I can.

Something you’d tell your younger self?

We never get any taller.

Who is Israel off the track?

A guy who likes Jaffa Cakes and wants to be happy.

Israel Olatunde poses for a portrait. Photo by Eóin Noonan/ Sportsfile

TECHNICAL Training for injury prevention

Top exercises you can do any time, anywhere

By Brian Keane

Online Fitness Coach

Online fitness coach, nutritionist and best-selling author Brian Keane talks to us about training for injury prevention and shares his top exercises that you can do anywhere!

01

The Swiss Ball

Work on your core with planks off a swiss ball or chair. Training isn’t solely about getting fitter, stronger, faster. Yes, they are key in any fitness regime – but it’s also important to train to factor in a strength programme to build kinetic strength.Let’s face it, most runners just run. And what is wrong with that you might ask?

You need to build-in additional strength training to help yourself develop, and to prevent injury. Gym or home-based exercises can help reduce repetitive strain, but obviously they can’t stave off sporadic injuries like going over on your ankle or tripping and falling. Although, if you are stronger and therefore becoming less fatigued, your chance of other injuries reduces.

Building your core, hamstrings, calves, and glutes helps you improve style, form, and biomechanics (essentially, the mechanics of movement). And that should lead to overall improved performance. Every time you head out for a run, your risk of injury increases because of the risk of fatigue under an increased load. But if you build muscular strength, in the gym or at home, your risk of injury goes down.

HOW DOES THAT WORK?

A stronger core should mean no drop-off in speed because you aren’t slumping forward, therefore better results. A secondary benefit is that since your risk of injury should reduce, you won’t be side-lined and missing training.

THE SCIENCE BIT

It may seem bizarre to the less seasoned runner among us but runners (the advanced ones at least) fatigue first through their core, not their legs, meaning their shoulders drop forward, and that slump increases the risk of injury. The weakest kinetic link comes in the shape of the core because it controls our alignment - and that’s why you need to focus on strengthening it.The injury can manifest itself anywhere in the body, but the root cause lies in your core! A weaker core puts extra strain on your quads, glutes and hamstrings so exercises to build muscular strength, such as squats and deadlifts, are a major benefit. Yes they are lower body exercises, but they build core strength to help prevent injury, while also helping increase your speed and endurance. Result!

SO WHATS THE PERFECT TRAINING MIX?

The 80/20 rule is a good one. Running 80% of the week and working on resistance-based training for 20% of the time. And although it may seem obvious, don’t under any circumstances run when you are injured. Over-training can be just as serious as undertraining, especially if you are doing the wrong training or have bad form. But if running is your thing, look at resistance training as a support. That will change depending on the time of year as you will want to focus solely on running if training for a marathon, but can spend more time on resistance training in December and January for example.

02

The Sumo Deadlift

Sumo deadlifts focus on the lower body.

1. 2.

And when it comes to your resistance training, a variation of squats, deadlifts, and an isometric exercise – like a plank hold or something that’s core specific – is the perfect mix.

Squats and deadlifts focus on the lower body and you can work on your core with planks off a chair or on a swiss ball. (See 01

exercise)

To make it more advanced, try adding in side lunges and sumo deadlifts for example. (See 02

exercise above).

Using heavier weights means a better yield in strength whereas lighter weights but more reps improves muscular endurance.

THE PROGRAMME

I suggest one of two as a general approach, but please note: If you choose heavier weights, you must have perfect form.

Heavy weights

5 sets of 5 of each exercise (squats and deadlifts), with a 2-minute rest in between each set. Follow this with 3 sets of planks.

Lighter weights

3 sets of 20 of each exercise (squats and deadlifts), with a 2-minute rest in between each set. Follow this with 3 sets of planks.

You can then work up to increasing weight and adding in more advanced exercises.

03

The Side Lunge

Use this to make your workout more advanced.

TECHNICAL Distance or time?

Which should you run for?

By Nick Moloney

For a lot of us, our approach to training can become very routine leading to overtraining, boredom and a loss of motivation. With marathon season behind us and a long winter in full swing, now is a good time to look at your training schedule to see how you can make some easy changes to keep it fresh. W e typically measure our workouts using distance, time or a combination of both. What you choose to go by can be down to your preference, schedule or a specific goal. When evaluating whether to do a run based on time alone or the more conventional method, distance, there are some subtle differences. When running to time, you’re more likely to maintain an even pace throughout your run, adjusting your pace to meet how you feel as you have no specific distance in mind.

On the other hand, you tend to run faster in distancebased workouts, motivated to by maintaining splits and typically picking up your pace towards the end of the workout. This is explained by research that shows our minds process distance and time differently, with a higher interest in distance. Distance offers more feedback such as a finish line, which can spur us to accelerate. For a lot of beginners, their relationship to training often reflects the carrot and stick approach, with distance the stick and carrot as time. But pushing too far, too fast will lead to burn out or injury. So when do you choose one method over the other?

Working both methods into your schedule can be done quite naturally by tweaking typical workouts such as tempo runs and intervals: Use time-based efforts to fit in your tempo (e.g. 15 minutes at threshold) and steady runs (e.g. 1 hour easy run). Then use distance to plan your long runs (e.g. key sessions such as 30-km runs during marathon training) and interval training (1,500m x 3).

A lot of us are in a habit of running to distance and that can be hard to break away from as our GPS watches and fitness tracking apps use it almost exclusively to provide feedback. While there is nothing wrong with tracking your running progress, it is all too easy to get wrapped up in our weekly distance and our average split times, even when we are supposed to be taking it easy or getting in slow miles.

Some coaches will encourage runners to move away from their watches or tracking apps for a certain period to help stop them obsessing over the stats. While coaches understand that seeing progress is a strong motivator, tracking every run like it is your last can lead to overtraining and take the joy out of your running. using the winter months to ditch the GPS and to focus more on your form and breathing.

Harry Wilson, coach to Steve Ovett, a former mile world record holder, would have used the winter months to train his athletes using timebased, steady-state runs at varying levels of intensity. The idea was to spend a lot of time building a strong aerobic base in preparation for the more intense speed work and competition in the summer.

Ultimately, there is no one approach and finding the balance will be the key to getting your training right for you.