Former SPAR star and now top-class 400m runner Martyn gave us this exclusive interview earlier this year.
Here Martyn talks about the pressure of competing, and provides some tips for up-and-coming athletes...
You’ve had a really good year so far – has it gone entirely to plan?
Yes, it has. I’m quite happy with how it’s coming through at the moment. I’m in the shape to run fast and be confident that I can go into a race and win it, which is pretty much the hardest barrier to get past, so I’m in a good place.
Is that a mental barrier – trying to win it?
Yes, once you get into this winning mentality it’s quite easy, you just know how to win races and that’s the toughest thing. If you don’t know how to win a race you can’t win a championship.
What do you mean by ‘know how to win a race’? Do you block everything else out?
No, it is just confidence in your own ability and running your own race rather than trying to run somebody else’s race. I’m in a good place at the moment.
When you’re running, are you aiming for a personal best? What are your goals?
Just to win. I know if I go into races and win races then times will come. It’s not what time you run it’s who wins it.
You were part of the SPAR Sprints Programme – can you tell us how SPAR supported you?
I’ve been very fortunate. As a youngster, at 14/15 years old, I went to the SPAR Sprints Initiative. I went to my local one, which is in Eton – I was invited – and it was just an awesome opportunity to meet with some of the best sprint coaches in the country and some of the best sprinters in the country. To be meeting up with them and doing some training with them you just learn, and learn so much more about athletics. I came from a small club; at that time I was just doing a lot of cross country and a lot of the longer-distance stuff and I’d done a couple of 400 metres and not really taken it that seriously, but it kind of opened my eyes to what the opportunities were. It was very important to my development as an athlete.
You do the 400 metres now but over the years you’ve talked about going back to the 800 metres – are you still thinking of doing that?
I think so, yes, but I think probably it’s still a long way away. There are still a lot of things I’d like to do with the 400m and I want to have reached those goals.
What are those goals?
It’s the simple ones – every athlete wants to win an Olympic medal or run a certain time so I’ve still got those things in my head.
So you’d reach those goals on the 400m and then you’d aim to do the same for the 800m?
Yes, definitely. I think I’ve got the same potential over the 400m as I do over the 800m. The 800m is an event that excites me so we’ll see in the next couple of years.
Britain’s got quite a good record on the 400m – do you feel daunted or encouraged by that?
Encouraged. I think it’s great that we have this tradition of 400m runners who’ve run well so I’m going to try and pick that up again and we can push on. We’re in a really good period at the moment where there’s 400m guys coming through, young guys who are pushing me on. Then there’s myself and Michael Bingham who are the two guys who are really pushing on the world stage. It’s only going to help sport in this country.
Do you think sport is doing well in this country at the moment?
I think on the European stage we’re doing very well. It’s quite exciting and on the world stage there are some guys who are pushing through and over the next couple years I’d hope to be one of them.
Obviously you have the 2012 Olympics in your sights. How are you preparing for that or are you just taking it competition by competition?
Every year you’re building towards it. To be able to compete for a gold medal at the Olympics you have to have won a Championship beforehand. I’d like go into the World Championships next year in Daegu and compete for a World medal. Everything’s just building towards it, all the training we’re doing at the moment is a progression so it’s coming closer.
Are you excited that the Olympics will be in London?
Oh, massively. I’m from Croydon, I’m a London boy, so to be competing on your home turf in front of your home crowd – it’s just a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I’ve got to prepare for it as best as I can and take advantage of it when it comes to it.
Do you have any superstitious rituals before you run a race? You always wear your sunglasses…
Yes, I always wear my sunglasses – it’s kind of a confidence thing, I can hide behind them. It makes me quite cocky as well which is kind of necessary in an event so I wear them all the time, mainly because I’m blind as well – if it’s sunny I can’t see! There are no real superstitions, we just warm up, we have a normal routine – I’m quite chilled out as well when it comes to it.
How many hours of training do you do a week?
During the winter I’m often in here [Athletics High Performance Centre, Loughborough] for most of the day, so Monday to Saturday we’re in, Sundays it’s from 10.30 till 4.30 so you’re in for a long time although obviously it’s split up with breaks. I wouldn’t want to put a number on how many hours but I’m in every day. Sundays we come in and we do a recovery session so it doesn’t really count but we’re still doing something.
Are you on a special diet?
It’s just generally healthy. With athletics you can go to an extreme where it’s almost rabbit food and I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing that so I stay away from it. I try to eat healthily and try not to snack on sweets too much. I try to just stay chilled out about it. I know what’s bad for me and I know that I can’t go out drinking and stuff like that, so I just do what’s right for me and what makes me feel comfortable. But I’ll sometimes have a pizza – a Meat Feast – as a treat.
Do you do other things that help your training?
Yes, we have a Pilates instructor who comes in once a week. We’re in the gym twice a week. It’s just general conditioning. It’s a full-on lifestyle choice rather than just what you do on the track. But it’s also the stuff that you do behind the scenes – prehab and rehab – so you do stuff to stop getting injured and obviously if you do get injured you’re in rehab. It’s like a Formula 1 car, you have to be constantly repairing it and looking after it if you want it to compete at the highest level.
Do you mind making those sacrifices?
No, I’m doing something I love. Athletics is something that I love and it’s something that I wanted to do as I was growing up – I’m still growing up, I’m still only 23, so it’s still something that I love doing. I wouldn’t change my lifestyle for anything.
You’ve won quite a lot of medals – what do you do with them?
Most of them are at my parents’ house. I’m more about pictures than anything, so if there’s a picture on a podium, that reminds me of the moment more than a medal. I’m hanging some medals up in my house, just in my room and out of the way. I’ve got a lot of photos in my house – my house is covered in photos, but not many are of me. I put those in an album.
How do you relax when you’re not training?
I just chill out with my girlfriend, socialise with friends – just normal things. Relaxing is half of training – if you don’t recover properly you can’t train well the next day so it can’t be too strenuous and it’s got to be what’s right for your athletics, but you just try to be as normal a person as possible.
Are you and your rivals all friends or is it quite competitive?
I get on really well with most of the guys. There are no personality clashes or anything. The 400m is quite a friendly event. We respect each other and we all know how hard the event is. Athletics is an individual sport but we get the opportunity to come together as a relay and that’s just fun, I really enjoy it. It’s something that works for me, training in a big group and it’s something that helps me train better and compete better.
Who was your athletics hero when you were little?
I never really had an athletics hero. I had a cousin who played football for Republic of Ireland Under 21 and that’s who I looked up to – if he can do it why can’t I do it? Going into athletics I just look at the guys who work hard, people like Paula Radcliffe, Christine Ohuruogu – these guys work hard and they get the results. You know if they can do it, why can’t I do it?
Is your mental attitude something you’ve worked on or is it something that you naturally have, do you think?
I’ve had to be more selfish, I think. When I first came to Loughborough I was always a bit of a pushover, so my coach sat me down and said, “You need to look after yourself more and do what’s right for you rather than what’s right for everybody else.” Maybe I’ve taken it too far! I do 100 per cent what’s right for me and I don’t really care what everybody else thinks – but that’s athletics. You have to be selfish and you have to do only what’s right for you. If it’s not right for you, don’t do it. And that’s something I’ve had to work on, but it helps with the confidence. You know if you’ve done everything that’s right for you, you’re going to be confident.
Lastly, do you have any tips for any up-and-coming athletes?
Yes, be selfish! Looking after your body is the most important thing, your body’s what you use to run. If you don’t put the right stuff into your body it’s not going to compete well, it’s not going to train well, and if you don’t let your body recover it’s going to break down. And if you train too hard it's going to break down. It’s simple – your body is the most important thing to you; it’s your livelihood.
