InsideWAIS Feature: Mickle’s Mark – Part 1
At 30 years of age, Kim Mickle rates her career to date as a seven out of 10. She’s achieved things in athletics that most could only dream of, but as the javelin star enters the peak of her career, she has goals written down for the next 18 months that would render that scale obsolete. If you think it’s bravado, you don’t know Kim Mickle.
In a wide ranging interview with InsideWAIS over three-parts, Mickle outlines her plan of attack for this year’s World Championships and how she defied a surgeon that told her she would never throw again. She reveals her pain from underachievement in London, and discusses her drive to ensure history doesn’t repeat in Rio.
Less than a month ago, Kim Mickle won a tenth national title at the Australian Athletics Championships in Brisbane. By her standards, the 61m winning throw was underwhelming. What that doesn’t tell, is that it was just her third competition for 2015, after over-coming a combination of an Achilles strain and fatigue that had hampered her domestic campaign.
It also followed just a week after the Perth star launched one of the best throws of her decorated career. A 66.57m effort at the IAAF Melbourne World Challenge, which was contested in the middle of a training block.
“To not have had the build up that I would usually have, and then throw 66 was incredible,” she said.
Her 10th title in Brisbane, secured her selection onto the Australian Flame team that she co-captains with Sally Pearson which will see her compete at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Beijing in August.
“To throw an A-Qualifier and win was fantastic for me – even though it looks like it wasn’t a great throw – in terms of 66m one week and 61m the next,” she said. “But in terms of where I was at, I thought that was really good.”
Assisting Mickle’s world championship campaign is a shift into the new WAIS High Performance Service Centre, which she says has altered her preparations and presented a unique opportunity.
“I reckon if this new facility wasn’t here, I probably would’ve stayed away (overseas).
Instead, Mickle is planning three Diamond League excursions, in Shanghai, Paris and London, and will base the majority of her training in Perth, inside the most modern facility of its kind in Australia.
“I’m going to do Shanghai on May 17, but literally fly in and fly out and not even change my training regime. We do things in blocks, so Shanghai is literally a bonus, I’ll go up compete, come back, and stick with my block of work.
“When you travel, it’s just hard to get what you need, so when I come home and I know what I’ve got, it’s just such a better prep. That’s our plan for this year.
“The fact that I can actually come home and throw indoors, or do any other session indoors at this new facility is amazing.”
Ahead of the World Championships, Kim’s coach at WAIS, Grant Ward, will travel earlier for national commitments with the Australian Flame. Mickle said the new facility will also assist in this regard, through the help of WAIS Biomechanist Andrew Lyttle and the new WAIS facility’s biomechanic lab capabilities.
“To have the biomech stuff there will really help, because Grant’s away for part of it. Knowing that we can just dropbox some video into his email and he can just go in and watch it while he’s away and while I’m still here, it’s just kind of the perfect combo,” Mickle said.
She said the importance of being able to limit her overseas travel will help her fine tune her world champs campaign, with her only overseas stretch at this stage, two Diamond League meets in Paris and London within a three week stint.
“From the end of July through to mid August, I’ll be home again. And that’s the important bit, me coming home for those three weeks before a major, because in years prior, I tended to get really stale by the major champs because I’d been away from home for so long and away from my routine.
Whilst the performance elements are instrumental, Mickle said it was also the familiarity of structure.
“It’s things like having my food, my shopping, my gym, knowing everything, what I’ve got – the track, the facilities that are open. When you travel, it’s just hard to get what you need, so when I come home and I know what I’ve got, it’s just a better prep. That’s our aim.”
And she believes this set up, is the key that can unlock big throws in Beijing.
“I wrote my goals last year. I want to throw at least two throws over 67m this year and hopefully at world champs, and that’s minimum … so hopefully more than that.”
“And I want to medal.
“I’ve got no control over what the other girls are going to throw, so I’m not going to put a colour to that medal, but I definitely want to throw an Aussie record again, and throw consistently over that mark. Not a one hit wonder,” Mickle said determinedly.
“That’s going to be the best prep for the following year (Rio).”
They’re no empty words. Mickle knows what needs to happen to get there, and she and her team are planning all steps.
“To achieve our goals we just need to be smart,” she said.
“Not getting injured. Pretty simple. If I can get the blocks of work in, like I’ve said, we’ve already nutted down what we’re doing.
“It’s like a recipe, you put the right ingredients in, you’re going to get your outcome.
“We know how to have a great throw, we just need to make sure we don’t skip any plans because of an injury. Recovery is a huge one, knowing the body – like this whole fatigue thing that I went through earlier – that was a tricky one because I was going backwards fatigued, but not injured.
“It was then really hard to understand that I needed to take a step back, and say hang on then, let’s treat this like an injury. I found that really hard, because I wasn’t sore, I wasn’t injured.
“I think now I’ve learnt that, and I can learn the signs. I’m now 30, and I’ve gone through years of knowing what’s a good hurt or what’s a bad hurt,” she said.
In Part two, Mickle reflects on the highs and lows of her athletics journey, through injury and success and how that has shaped her athletic philosophies.