Different ways to hit 800m training goals

ISABELLE BOFFEY AND GUY LEARMONTH TELL MATT LONG ABOUT HOW THEY HIT THEIR TARGETS

- MATT LONG

FRANK DICK, the director of coaching for British athletics during the golden era of the 1980s and early 1990s, once said: “The difference between winning and losing is small; it’s the consequence that’s huge.”

While there is some contestation over the origins of the concept of benchmarking – it may actually have entered common parlance when shoe-makers made patterns for shoes from the purchaser’s feet centuries back – in a sporting context, the idea of benchmarking is now totally accepted. It’s seen as a necessity in order to achieve continuous performance improvement. However, this being said there is a divide between what has been termed formal benchmarking and informal benchmarking.

Real world benchmarking Boffey and Learmonth

I want to take two international 800m runners in order to look at the two benchmarking methodologies as these determine the “measuring” process. I will also focus on the winter period as this is a time when there are fewer competitive opportunities in the periodisation cycle.