Goldie Sayers

It feels like only yesterday that Mo Farah galloped clear to win the 5,000m at the IAAF World Championships, but athletes are already making their way back into training.

Goldie Sayers is one of those who has had her annual leave and will soon be back in the gym. And despite what some may think, it is nothing special because of the London Olympics.

"I’ve had 10 days off and I’ve got another 10 days to go, so I’m back training on October 10," said the 29-year-old Cambridge javelin thrower.

"I get a few days off over Christmas and then all the way through, but that’s the way it always is though.

"I think that’s the key this year in not trying to change anything. It is another major championships, you don’t want to build it up too much, and just do the same things you normally do.

"Generally I have three or four weeks off at the end of the season, some people will have started back already because they weren’t at the world champs or didn’t compete in Zurich.

"After an Olympics you tend to have a few weeks longer than that off just because it’s such a big climax and then a huge anti-climax. So it’s general practice really."

Sayers was disappointed with 10th place – with a best effort of 58.18m - at the world champion¬ships in Daegu, and she has had time to reflect on the performance.

"I’m still asking questions," she said. "I’ve done a debrief on the season, there were some positives. It’s taken me a little while to get over it but I’m sure I will.

"That’s the thing with athletics, you just move on anyway, whether you’ve done badly or well."

And she feels she can pinpoint where it went wrong in South Korea. "I think I made the mistake of looking at the opposition and noticing there were a few injuries," she said.

"The first round wasn’t very big so I really went all out to try to throw far in the first round and tried a bit too hard in rounds one and two. And in the third round you either go for it or you don’t, and for some reason it didn’t come off.

"You can track it back to the knee surgery (in May) and I didn’t have the time off a full run-up but unfortunately you just have a bad day on exactly the wrong day.

"I still thought me throwing badly would be over 60m at least. Sometimes you can reflect too much on it, and you just have to get over it and move on."

source:cambridge-news.co.uk