Jigsaw pieces falling into place for in-form English

For Mark English the 800m is like a jigsaw, and it’s one he’s been trying to piece together for several years, often with varying results.

At times he’s been brilliant, most notably in 2014 when the Donegal man won a European bronze medal and rose to national prominence. But other times, English has been little more than a spectator at major championships, watching athletes he knows he can beat ascend the podium as he cursed the ill-timed injuries that derailed his plans.

For glass-half-full types, his career to date has been an unqualified success – European medals, indoors and out, and he’s also run the second fastest 800m ever by an Irishman: 1:44.84.

But his doubters are not shy of ammo to fire his way, noting how that time was run almost five years ago and despite a few coaching changes since, he’s never run a step quicker. But how far is he from realising his potential?

“I don’t know,” he said. “I’d like to think I don’t know my ceiling at this point and I can just keep racing and getting faster.”

In many ways, this is a pivotal year for the 24-year-old, and it began in promising fashion last weekend. At the National Indoor Championships, English answered any questions about his form in supreme fashion, coasting up to rivals Karl Griffin and John Fitzsimons with a lap remaining and kicking away from them with the effortless swagger of the truly gifted.

And these were no ordinary athletes: Griffin has a swift personal best of 1:47, while Fitzsimons is a 1:48 man and a European junior bronze medallist last summer.

The signs had been there a week before, English texting his coach Steve Magness after training one day with a simple message: the speed is back.

“I had to work on speed a lot over the winter because I didn’t have it last summer, so I made sure beginning in September, October, we were doing some sprints and then building on it,” he said.

“You need endurance [for 800m], need to be able to run 10K or even a half-marathon in a decent time and to run fast over 100m so it’s combining all those elements.

For the past two years, English has been coached remotely by Steve Magness, the head cross country coach at the University of Houston. English had long been aware of Magness’s scientific approach to training, and as someone unafraid to voice his concerns about doping in the sport, the American had the kind of personality English could get on board with.

But with more than 4,000 miles between them, how can such an arrangement possibly work?

“He sends on the schedules by email and I follow them,” said English. “I’ll send videos of my training and he’ll critique them and we talk two or three times on the week. It’s not ideal, but it’s not unprecedented either. You just need to be aware of the work that needs to be done.” English is now in his fifth year of medical studies at UCD, and hasn’t yet decided yet where the path to Tokyo 2020 will take him once he finishes next year.

“Steve has been able to look at that big picture and make sure that I’m getting something out of each training session instead of just hammering all the time,” he said. “I’ve always had an awareness of my own strengths and thankfully it’s all coming together nicely.”

Tomorrow night, he’ll get a better idea of where he’s at as he takes on more accomplished rivals at the AIT Indoor Grand Prix in Athlone, his final stop before the outdoor season. It’s not that his winter training has been anything exceptional, just steady work, all the time building to something better.

“There is no secret to the sport,” he said. “It’s just consistency and not getting injured.”