Daz Does Tri

After feeling a bit sore after Sunday I X-trained Monday & Tuesday and stretched like a bastard. Finally got a run in today. 8 miles @ 7.10/mm. HR was a bit high, in fact I didn't really believe the readings as it felt really easy. No sore legs afterwards so happy with that. Met up with DC, Ian, Ed & Wayne tonight to discuss our VO2 max test readings. What really hit home was that the results are only going to help you if you are getting specific for your event. For me, I am targetting a marathon and need to adapt the training to a marathon schedule. Plan for now though is to get fit for Bedford Half, which I guess will follow roughly the same plan. T - Road Reps F - 8 Mid Endurance S - 5 w/3 tempo S - 20 Endurance M - 6 & 5 Low Endurance T - 12 LT W - 10 Mid Endurance T - Road reps F - 8 Low Endurance S - Rest S - Race Basically the plan is to run hard/easy up till Thursday before the race and then back off. No idea what pace to start at yet, k

After Thursdays road session, Fridays long run attempt was a struggling 8 miles @ 7.59/mm over the hilly trails. Felt so tired! Good thing was it was done and dusted by 10am. Rested up Saturday and Sunday went out for a long run with DC. Aim was to push it to just above LT effort. Started nice and steady and reeled off the miles. After 8 miles DC called it on to go for 15! I thought we would be doing 10 and at that stage the pace was dropping to 6:06/mm ! Splits were (approx Garmin took ages to pick up signal so some from DCs) 6.37, 6.27, 6.24, 6.22, 6.20, 6.10, 6.11, 6.09, 6.22, 6.27, 6.20, 6.21, 6.15, 6.18, 6.24 For 1:34.52 @ 160 bpm. Half marathon in 1:23 feeling good. Was only wind in face last 2 1/2 miles that pushed HR up to half marathon effort. Felt really good the whole run, running with DC always feels easier for the pace! Big improvement on previous long runs and a good start at an attack on Beford Half next weekend. Unfortunately woke up this morning w

When I came back from my family holiday in France, I decided that I was going to have one last crack at running some half decent times again. 2011 has been horrible, my races thus far have gone - Feb 26 5k Parkrun 18.45 2nd. Ouch, got lost and ran like a proper bum. Mar 6 5.4 Frostbite 6.16/mm 17th place. Weakest Frostbite field ever and I had a real shocker. I actually barely managed to overtake someone walking up hill with a mile and a half to go. Mar 27 10k Thorney 36.30 Pretty good considering but could not run any faster than 5.50 pace May 30 10k Hatfield Broad Oak 36.30 Same again, was hoping to pb and got into pretty good shape after losing fitness through illness Jun 4 5k Leeds Parkrun 18.03 5th Ran quicker that evening on a steady run. Legs did not want to work Jun 22 Eye 5k 17.11 Pretty good after everything I had been through and an improvement on the years performances Jul 6 Peterborough 5k 16.49 Good run, fast course & erfect conditions but cr

VO2 Max testing today. DC arranged for myself, Ed & Iand to go and have a test at University of Hertfordshire. Really looking forward to seeing where I really am as I have always used 145 bpm 160bpm 170bpm as a guide for Easy, Steady & Tempo runs. Started off with testing out weight (10st 6lbs), height & body fat. Have to wait for the last 2! Warmed up 10 mins on the treadmill @ 10.5 kmph and eventually got hooked up to the gas mask. After warm up did 20 mins lactate test starting at 14kmph (6:40/mm) on 1% incline for 4 mins then incremented every 4 mins or so by 0.5 kmph. Got to 16 kmph or 6/mm before the test ended as lactate soared. Felt pretty tough and HR got to around 170 bpm at this pace so no surprises after Sundat that LT is probably between 6:05 - 6:10/mm 5 mins recovery and it was time to get Max HR for the VO2 max test. Ran starting at 15 kmph increasing incline to 3% and pace to 17.5 kmph before I bailled out at around 9 mins for 185 bpm. Ver

Bedford Half in 3 weeks. Time to start planning, got to think big if I am going to run a decent time. 'A' target is obviously 75 mins. Maybe a bit ambitious but it's out there and I've been close before. Probably a bit far-fetched but considering I am shit at hills, I held back and I have been under the weather maybe with a good run I could go close? Aim for the starts and all that! 'B' target has to be sub 6/mm. 1:18.30 I think that would be. Good stepping stone going into London preperation and more than realistic based on the issues above! 'C' target would be running same as today but much more comfortable. Good hard honest training run. If it doesn't go well in the lead up then it would be a good back up for today. So, got to get back on it. First step is to recover from today. Legs are pretty hammered and I am tired. I will try and run easy Monday - Wednesday this week just banking some good easy miles. Thursday hard road in

After a topsy turvey week of training going from Monday & Tuesdays awesome tempo work to Thursday and Fridays lazy & tired runs I was hoping for a decent performance today. Saturday I rested all day and recovered nicely. Spent the day doing family things with the kids (football training, bike riding & cinema) and generally taking my mind off of racing - which has gone BADLY all year. Woke up today feeling good. Slept all right and legs felt happy. Resting HR though was 49/50 bpm - still way too high. Little girl has had high temperature for a few days and I've felt a little chesty so guess it's still in the system. Decided to just throw it down and have a crack. Foggy as hell this morning and bloody cold. Got to St Neots rec and jogged a bit after getting my number and felt nice and warm. Kept myself to myself at the start only catching up with Ian & DC on the way to the start line. Decided to switch GPS off and run to feel. Would lap the Garmin

Meetings overran today so my breakfast protein power shake that should last me for my 20 miles was well out of my system by the time I set out (1.45pm instead of 11.30 am) ! Started and felt OK but HR through the roof - 157 bpm for 7.30/mm. Got to 4.5 miles and just thoght best to turn around. Dropped the HR to sub 150 bpm for the second half. 9 miles in 1.08 ish for 7.38/mm. HR far too high for that pace. Bit pissed as was hanging around and HR was just up because of lack of food. Never mind, binned it but to be fair 9 miles didn;t even feel like I had touched the sides! Will probably do 10 tomorrow at decent HR then it's all about the rest up for Sunday. Not overly confident racing at the minute but training is going well so signs are there that it should be OK. Fingers crossed about time a race went to plan !!

Session tonight at the track with the boys - was on the road so decided to come along. Still not ready for track and the way I am building my foundations in training everything seems to be coming into shape so best stick with the plan. So, got to the track and DC declared it would be mile downhill, 2 x 3k loop around St Ives and then mile up hill. 5.6 miles of intervals - wowsers !! Mile warm up on the track at a decent clip - 6.45 pace, bit of stretching and strides. Good group tonight, DC, Ian Turner, Ed, triathlete Mark & myself. Set off for the first mile and nearly get run over about 1200m in. The joys of road reps! Finished in 5.20 and found it pretty hard work and seemed to take forever. 3 mins standing recovery went in no time and into first 3k rep. Stayed with DC & IT for 2k (6:48) and slowed slightly on the last k as it was around town with lots of turns and first time I had done this route. Finished up 1.82 miles in 10.00. Didn't realise everyone e

Saturday night on the tiles. Stayed out far too late and drank far too much. Sunday was a total write off so finished the week with 59 miles in 5 days. Good return, miles OK but could have been much better. Set out for work this morning, dropped the boy into school and approaching Bassingbourn there was a big crash in front of me. Hit the brakes heavy and stopped just short. Then BANG, van smashes into the back of me followed by another BANG as a BMW convertible smashes into the van. Luckilly noone was badly hurt but 7 cars involved and at least 4 were a write off. Managed to untangle the car (luckily I drove Anges X5 into work rather than my 911) and get it home. No front damage but plenty in the back. Sorted all that out today so no work. Decided to do a decent 8 tonight so set off at a good pace feeling pretty strong. Garmin didn't pick up till just before the first mile marker so no idea of pace. Was shocked at what I was seeing for the rest of the run as it did

First 20 miler of 2011 !! In the bag and boy does she look pretty !! Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday I had run plenty of miles but eased off the pace to keep my HR down as my resting HR was up to 53 bpm (from 43 last week - a significant climb). I decided there and then I would either run 16 miles Thursday or rest Thursday and run 20 miles Friday. Thursday morning I felt good but just pissed that my resting HR was still 53 bpm. Runnning (even though I felt like a coilled spring) would just prolong it so I rested up. I was home all day bored so was perfect opportunity to get a long one in but just one of lifes bad timings! Went out in the evening for a couple fo sherberts with a pal whose quoting up some building work at home but nothing major. Woke up this morning, did school run and into work. Few bits and bobs, charged the Garmin and tested resting HR. Got to 48 bpm with concentration but was settling around 50. Not perfect but good enough. Kitted up then out the door

As the Rocky song goes!! 14 miles yesterday in an 8.5 / 5.5 stylee. Evening run went very well, 7:30 pace felt like tripping over my feet and HR at 143bpm is right where it needs to be right now. Woke up this morning with sore throat though, kids all ill, Mrs ill and resting HR of 53 is 10bpm too high. Will run very easy HR until this is back down. Nothing over 145bpm. Want to go for 15 mins tempo ASAP but it's not going to happen today. Will probably do 4 at work then 8 tonight to top up but like I say all easy until I'm healthy again. Have felt on the cusp of being ill for some time now and managed to get some decent training in. Think when this all clears up I will be running much much better. Also a convenient excuse for poor race at Fenland 10 !!

After Frodays not-so-great run, got out Saturday morning not sure what to do. Resting HR was too high at 48 bpm, confirming I'm not 100%. Have been around so many ill people recently it's to be expected ! So set out and warmed up at 8:20 pace for the first mile. Felt still bleugh but stright into 3 miles tempo. Tempo pace for me is 6:20 so thats the danger zone. It's not a great pace but off my base and lack of basic speed that where I need to be working. Tempo miles reeled off at 6:08, 6:08, 5:57 with HR at 164 bpm avge which is pretty low. 169 bpm for the 5:57 mile. 6:08 was pretty comfortable but the 5:57 was far too pacey this early in the morning! Warm down mile at 7:10 ish pace feeling good. Got out again in the evening for 4.5, reelled off progressive miles at 7:25, 7:11, 6:54 & 6:10. Picked up the pace on the last mile as part of my master plan. Pace this week has felt quite quick, it's been a good week but tough and not feeling as relaxed a

Rested Thursday. Diet was a bit all over the place as I was trying to do it on my own. Mr P was staying at a friends house. They have just had their first baby and my pal was away on business so Mrs P went to help doing the night feeds and stuff. So I had all 3 kids on my own. Nursery run for Sawyer & Lola then school run for Jacob. Miltary operation getting them organised but got it done! Friday (after dumping the kids in their relevant education establishments) set up for my run. Plan was 16 miles steady but with the rain I really didn't fancy getting wet for 2 hours as I've been feeling under the weather for a week or so. So dropped plan to 10. As I had on long sleeve, hat, jacket etc. etc. I binned the Garmin and ran to feel. really CNBA with this run. After 7 I just decided I wasn't enjoying it, first run for a long time I just wasn't happy running. Pace was OK, no niggles just really didn't want to be out there. So ran a mile route home to

As I said yesterday, Mrs P has had me on the Abs diet now since Saturday and since my stomach issues 10 days ago I have generally been eating much healthier. Aside from my shite race performance I have to say my running in general has improved dramatically. Pace is well under 7/mm avge and I feel much stronger. Not only that but the high protein content of the diet has left me recovering much quicker and I'm not walking like an old man first thing in the morning. The diet is mainly based around having a protein and fruit shake in the morning, a mid morning snack (almonds & raisens), lunch of say tuna & sweetcorn on wholemeal bread, another snack, helthy dinner (salmon & rice) and a final snack of same sort of thing. I have been topping up levels in the evening with a hot choclate but I have laid off the fried food, beer, sweets & chocolate and to be honest I haven't missed it much. We get one 'cheat' meal a week so one takeaway on Friday ! May

Yesterday ticked the boxes - groundhog day, 6 & 5 done and dusted and in the bag. Today, spoke to DC this morning. His VO2 max test had told him the same as me - he needed to do more work at LT pace - or for me much faster. Intervals, although I love them more than any other kind of run are just nowhere near relevant to any race pace at the moment. So, emailled DC a session I have been doing it and when we got to the track we adapted it. Myself, DC, Ed & Superfast Paul set off for a good warm up, followed by 10 mins tempo effort. Then we would recover and choose an interval each and whoever chose had to lead out. This was great fun and the pace varied with whoever led and the time they chose. Then we would recover and do a final 10 mins tempo before running home easy. The first 10 mins came in at 5:36/mm for 10 mins - that was what I wanted for the whole session this morning and it felt pretty good! Then the intervals were 1:45 (5:23/mm) for DC leading, 5:23 for 6