Craig Pickering

[mastermulti]

no sorry, have been waiting for your reports on him.

The European Athletics site hasn't mentioned him

 

[white lightning]

Ok guys. I got an answer to my question. Craig will open up next weekend in Birmingham. Among a long list of competitors is Dwain Chambers. I'm suprised that Pickerings new coach would want him to face a guy that can run in the 6.40'sin his first race. Nota good way togive confidence to a guy that your trying tochange his running style! Chambers is probably going to humiliate the whole field. I wish this drug cheat would retire. I give him credit for maturing some, but a cheat is still a cheat in my book.

So next Saturday both Craig and Christophe will be starting their indoor seasons over 60 meters! They will be in different meets but it will still be fun to watch. Most of the top european sprinters are not even running indoors this year because of the world champs in august. Good luck to both of these guys.Edited by: white lightning

 

[white lightning]

I forgot to tell you guys that Craig opened up his season in a small meet in London a few days ago. He ran a very modest 6.74 for 2nd place. Didn't get to see the race but I'm hoping that it was the result of a very bad start, slip or just taking it easy. I think this weekend we will get a better idea of how is he progressing when he races on Saturday. There are alot of 6.50's guys in this race so Craig better bring his A Game!

 

[jacknyc]

I just checked on this, and it's worse than mentioned.
Craig ran 6,74 for 2nd in his heat, and then ran 6.80 in the 'final', and came in last.
Really bad sign for the season, although it's his 1st race.
I guess we'll see next wkend if he is progressing or regressing.

 

[trackster]

Yikes. This is coming off an atrocious 2010, as well. I wonder what's going on.

 

[albinosprint]

I wonder if Craig suffers from over training. I really hope he does a 180 this weekend.

 

[white is right]

Pickering ran a 6.6X over the weekend which is a tenth better than his best time last weekend. Also considering the awful season he had last year it might be good sign for the future as he could be running 6.5X times in March.

 

[albinosprint]

well its not where I wanted him, I would have like to see him in the 6.58-6.61 range, but its better than last week.

 

[white lightning]

The latest news from Craigs blog. He sounds confident!


<DIV id=Blog1 ="widget Blog">
<DIV ="blog-posts hfeed">
<DIV =date-outer>
<H2 =date-er>Monday, 7 February 2011</H2>
<DIV =date-posts>
<DIV =post-outer>
<DIV ="post hentry"><A name=7575523222978825153></A>
<H3 ="post-title entry-title">Races </H3>
<DIV =post-er>
<DIV =post-er-line-1>
<DIV ="post- entry-">So I began my competitive season with a fairly poor run a couple of weeks a go at the London games, running 6.74, which is actually my equal slowest opener since I was 18! But, to be fair, I had just come back from training in South Africa, and so I was clearly a bit rusty.

I more than made up for it the weekend just gone though, where I had a competition in Germany. I ran 6.67 in the heats, and 6.66 in the final for fourth place, beating the current European 100m Champion in the process. Whilst I am still quite a way off my PB over the 60m, my new coach believes I am setting up the race better, so I might actually run faster over 100m.

Big race this weekend with the UK Championships in Sheffield. My aim is run the European Qualifying time (6.65) and finish in the top-2. Fingers crossed!

 

[white lightning]

Craig is getting some confidence back. I would love to see him get his swagger back that he had in 2007. That will only come with his times getting back into the 6.50's range and a few wins under his belt. I like his progress so far though and I'm hoping for the best. I have alway thought that Craig is very powerfully built. Alot like Shirvo. If he can get his times back down, I have a new nick name for him. Craig "the pitbull" Pickering! Haha. It has a nice ring to it and it fits him. The way he stares people down and gets into their heads. Good luck this weekend Craig!

http://www.iaaf.org/WIM11/news/newsid=59263.htmlEdited by: white lightning

 

[mastermulti]

I see Craig nows trains under Michael Khmel, Shirvo's old coach. Also in the squad is Mark Lewis-Francis, James Dasaolu (PB 10.09 from last year and 23 years old) and Richard Buck (24, 400m amd just about to go 45s).

Can see some fast and furious 100m training happening there. Seems a good thing for Craig then.
Khmel is also Britain's relay coach I believe

 

[white lightning]

<H2 =date-er>Monday, 14 February 2011</H2>
<DIV =date-posts>
<DIV =post-outer>
<DIV ="post hentry"><A name=3203273739360827700></A>
<H3 ="post-title entry-title">Nationals </H3>
<DIV =post-er>
<DIV =post-er-line-1>
<DIV ="post- entry-">Had the National Championships and European Selection Trials this weekend. It was a pretty mixed bag for me. I came 3rd in 6.67, which I am not sure if I am happy with or not! On the one hand, I finished in the top-3, but on the other, I missed the qualifying time of 6.65 again. I have one final chance this weekend at the Birmingham Grand Prix.

One thing I am pleased with is that the "old" me is back when it comes to racing - I am highly motivated, and fighting for the results. Ok, I am running slower, but I have made big changes this winter, and I am learning a whole new running technique. I feel I have mastered the technique, its just a case of adding speed to it now. One thing is for sure, if I am beating people over 60m, I will be beating them over 100m too!
<DIV style="CLEAR: both">

 

[albinosprint]

well it sounds like his head is in the right place.

 

[white lightning]

http://www.athleticos.org/video/462951-Craig-Pickering-Ahead-of-the-Aviva-Birmingham-Grand-Prix

 

[jacknyc]

Pickering bombed out in Birmingham.
Last place, and a time of 6.68 which is not great.
So 2 lousy races so far this season, and one decent race.

 

[mastermulti]

he barely qualified.....slowest qualifier with his 6.71.
No excuses.Reaction times were good, just not fast enough.

 

[white lightning]

I saw the race just today. It seems to me like Craig has very little drive phase. Even when he stays down low like he is supposed to, he is just not generating very much power. He does seem to be reacting a little better and his speed is good once he is upright. He usually gains some ground on the other sprinters but it's his drive phase in my opinion that is hurting his times. If I were his coach, this is what needs to be fixed and soon. Good luck to him and his coach.

 

[white lightning]

Another new post from Craigs Blog. It looks like he is done indoors for this year.


<H2 =date-er>Monday, 21 February 2011</H2>
<DIV =date-posts>
<DIV =post-outer>
<DIV ="post hentry"><A name=3868094531047404609></A>
<H3 ="post-title entry-title">End Of The Indoors </H3>
<DIV =post-er>
<DIV =post-er-line-1>
<DIV ="post- entry-">So, its all over. In the end I was 0.01 seconds away from making the European Indoor team. The concept of that is difficult - 0.01 seconds is such a minute period of time! But there you go, sometimes things don't always go as planned!

There are plenty of positives to take from the indoors - my technique held up under the pressure of big races. Now I just have to add more speed onto that technique. I also feel like I got some of my killer instinct back, which was missing in 2010 - I feel much more race confident. I also feel like my top speed was very, very good.

I feel like I need to work on 0-30m, which again I guess is a positive, because without doing the indoor season, I wouldn't have known that.

Overall, I feel pretty good. On the face of it, it may seem silly that after my slowest 60m season for 5 years I should feel happy, but I feel like my top speed is better than ever, and 100m is about who has the best top speed, not who gets to top speed first (which the 60m is). So if I have to be 0.1 seconds to 60m to be 0.1 seconds quicker to 100m, I am happy to do that!

 

[waterbed]

he already showed he can run the last 40 meters in 3.40. But he wasn't as fast the last years.

 

[devans]

What is also disappointing for me is that his place has been taken by a sprinter called Joel Fearon, whose best ever 100M time is 10.44 and unlike the luke warm attitude that most other British sprinters both white and black have towards drug cheat Dwain Chambers, Fearon sees Chambers as...
"an inspirational figure for the nation's up and coming sprinters. I'm just happy to be rubbing shoulders with Dwain - to be part of his team would be a huge accomplishment"

It is even "Dwains team" rather than the UK or British team.

 

[white lightning]

Check out the latest two posts on Craigs Blog to see how much pain and rehabiltation he had to go through just to get back to his first race of 10.39! I hope his body continues to heal and he has a very good summer season leading up to the World Champs. Come on Craig. Good luck.



<H2 =date-er>Sunday, 15 May 2011</H2>
<DIV =date-posts>
<DIV =post-outer>
<DIV ="post hentry"><A name=6653416308242287021></A>
<H3 ="post-title entry-title">The First Week </H3>
<DIV =post-er>
<DIV =post-er-line-1>
<DIV id=post--6653416308242287021 ="post- entry-">
<DIV =Msonormal>

<DIV =Msonormal>The first week post-injury was also fairly difficult. The first couple of days were focused on helping the disc settle down as much as we could. To achieve this, I wasn't able to flex my spine at all (i.e. no sitting down), and couldn't do any real exercise. I was able to do some very slight rehabilitation exercises, with the focus being at regaining control of the muscles in and around my core I also managed to get hold of some prescription painkillers which helped it all settle down.<?: PREFIX = O /><O></O>
<DIV =Msonormal>

<DIV =Msonormal>Three days post-injury I went for an MRI scan, and I got the results the next day. The injury was diagnosed as a disc protrusion between the L4 and L5 vertebrae. This was the sight of my existing protrusion â€" however, it had got significantly worse. I was given a time frame of around 8-10 weeks until I was back to full fitness. Immediately, I formulated a goal to beat that timescale, and to facilitate this goal I entered myself in a competition nine weeks down the line.<O></O>
<DIV =Msonormal>

<DIV =Msonormal>The rest of the week was just treatment to get rid of the spasm, and rehabilitation exercises four times per day. Finally, at the end of the week, I had an epidural injection to settle down some of the spasm that myself and the physiotherapists couldn't get rid of. For those of you that don't know, an epidural is an injection into the dura that runs alongside the spinal column. It's certainly an interesting experience, but it did really help settle down the muscle spasm, and I awoke the next day feeling much better

 

[white lightning]

<H2 =date-er>Thursday, 19 May 2011</H2>
<DIV =date-posts>
<DIV =post-outer>
<DIV ="post hentry"><A name=668447725965649224></A>
<H3 ="post-title entry-title">The Next Steps </H3>
<DIV =post-er>
<DIV =post-er-line-1>
<DIV id=post--668447725965649224 ="post- entry-">

<DIV =Msonormal>So now that the spasm was settling down, I was able to start to sit down for controlled periods of time, in order to get some spinal flexion back. I could also progress my rehab on to much more challenging exercises, and for the second and third weeks I was doing up to four hours of these exercises every day. This really wasn't fun, but I was pretty motivated to achieve my goal of beating the doctor's timescale of comeback. There were times where I didn't want to do the rehab (it was insanely boring), but I forced myself to do it.<?: PREFIX = O /><O></O>
<DIV =Msonormal>

<DIV =Msonormal>Exactly two weeks after my injury, I was allowed to do three very slow jogs over 30m. This might not seem like anything, but for me it felt like a huge breakthrough! Week three I was allowed to do some form of gym work, although not much at all. I also started to do slightly more structured running sessions, although no spikes as of yet. I was allowed to do 50% of my reps in spikes 4 weeks post-injury, and again this felt like a big breakthrough. Five weeks post-injury I was able to start doing some runs from a four-point start without blocks. Blocks were the last thing to be added in, coming 8 weeks post-injury. Nine weeks post injury; I competed in my race, running 10.39 seconds. To put this in perspective, it is only 0.01 seconds slower than I ran last year. In addition to this, it was in a very small competition, and I usually run my best times in big competitions when the adrenaline is flowing. So, all in all, I am fairly happy with how things have progressed.<O></O>
<DIV =Msonormal>

<DIV =Msonormal>So that is where I am now. I still cant do power cleans or squats, the two mainstays of my lifting programme. Instead, I have had to get creative with how I set up my lifting sessions. I can't lift any weights off the floor, or take any large loads on my shoulders in order to protect my spine. One day I might be able to do these again, but for now I just have to accept my limitations!<O></O>

 

[Observer]

If he has had back problems for some time, this would partially explain why he has had so many problems transitioning out of his starts.
For pretty much being a mandatory couch-potato, a 10.39 is impressive, I think.

 

[white lightning]

It's a very solid opening time for him. He races again this weekend in Loughborough.

 

[trackster]

The Pickering stories just make me sad. If he were juicing like the Jamaicans (and give me a break, Jamstar! Just because they love their mothers, give to charities, are kind to children, and cry at sad movies doesn't mean those top sprinters--male and female--aren't the most juiced human beings on Earth right now--it's fantastically obvious in every photograph to all but the most naive of chumps ), he'd be doing fine. And he knows it. Juiced, he'd be sub-10 and running alongside Chambers. But there are plenty of other struggling runners out there, black, white, and every color in between, who are refusing the juice, and some of them, like LeMaitre, simply seem to have more talent or at least more luck than Craig.

But I hope Craig gives it one last go. The thing is, if you bet horse races, you'll see that the favorite rarely wins, and a longer shot wins more often than not. That almost never happens in track and field. The difference is that human athletes know when they are underdogs, and they're psychologically beaten before they take the mark. Maybe if Craig could just forget for a moment that he's not supposed to win...