Hession's hard work pays off

FOR sprinter Paul Hession, national champion, new Irish record holder, and the country’s most improved athlete of 2007, this was never going to be just another year.He had a new coach, a new nutritionist, he had relocated to Scotland to avail of better training facilities, and he had taken a year out from his medical studies at NUI Galway. More importantly, he was determined that the hamstring injuries and food poisoning which hampered his 2005 and 2006 seasons at key stages would not get a look in this year.He was focused and determined. Hession wanted to see how well he could perform as a full-time athlete, without any distractions or off-track worries. The Athenry man moved to Fife back in the Autumn. He took just two and a half weeks off after his disappointing ’06 campaign and he was back in the gym, with a new voice in his ear, doing the hard Winter work which brings little glory or satisfaction.“From the word 'go’ I was trying to step up more and more,” he told Tribune Sport this week. “I wanted to get straight back in because last year had been so frustrating. I wanted to get my nutrition right and to have a better team around me.”With highly-regarded coach Stuart Hogg in his corner, he worked hard behind the scenes . . . short sprints and reps on the tracks in Dunfermline and Grangemouth, outside Falkirk, and tough workouts using the weights in the gym.“It is very tough, high intensity stuff, and I would never run more than 350 metres in one go,” he said. “I do the endurance stuff in the Winter, building up my strength with weights. I have target times going into every session.”Everything was down to six week plans, when targets were updated and re-examined by the 24-year old and his Scottish coach. “I wanted one year where everything went right,” he said. “The timing of it was right and I needed a change. There is nothing like being a full-time athlete. You really can get your focus right.“This year I would have been going into fifth year of medical studies. It would have been difficult, nigh on impossible. But now I’m doing something I love.”With funding from………