Daz Does Tri

So, this week went completely wobbly. Monday was an easy run, Tuesday a rest day, Wednesday a very lazy run, Thursday decent miles with an OK tempo, Friday rest day for decorating, Saturday surprise Park Run & Sunday very (very) short long run. On the beers Wednesday & Saturday, Football Friday and 500 mile round trip to Blackpool for booze on the weekend! 38 miles for the week after 63, 61 & 65. Decided very late on Friday to run Park Run Saturday morning. As we were driving to Blackpool it made sense to get a decent tempo in. Turned up, warmed up and off. Ran hard from the start, never felt amazing but worked nonethe less. Leader ( This guy ) ran away early. Al and myself (that's us in the picture) worked hard pushing each other. I ran off the front, felt a little flat feeling the 3.27 first k was hard work. I just tried to keep ahead of Al for as long as possible and to be honest I expected him to push on. Gave Al a call at 3k as I felt we'd catch

Hip a bit grumbly today, only had one rest day in Jan and on a 13 day streak so think it's a good time to have a day off. Planning this week, I think it will be a cut-back but plenty of easy running and a hard 6 tempo should be the order of the day. Off to footy Friday and on the beers Wednesday so best take that into account! Mon - 5 easy Tue - REST Wed - 15 easy / steady Thur - am) 8 mimble pm) 4 steady Fri - 13 steady Sat - 6 easy Sun - am) 6 tempo pm) 4 easy For around 60 miles. Easy pace should be around 7:30 now, steady 6:50 and tempo sub 6 fingers crossed. Going to enjoy today, feet up and relax and hopefully feel really strong on tomorrows 15. Aim for the week is to keep the strength up and get a solid tempo in. 2 solid mid long runs should set me up nicely for next weeks race.

Running is possibly the most selfish sport in the world. Even at a modest club level the time commitment that you steal from your family for your own gain is amazing. Races take the best part of a Sunday so your family can't really get anything done until your back and then you want to get back, bath, eat & put your feet up before getting another run in! Training in a group you have to put your shift in and help others out. Running in a very decent group as a kid in my Enfield days I had to sacrifice some sessions to take my turn at the front of the group. Some days things aren't going your way and you need some help and today was that day for me. Maybe feeling plenty of recent miles in my legs or just under the weather but everything felt hard today. Plan was 10 mile tempo - roughly 164-170 bpm for me (half marathon pace). Running with DC & Ian T we are all roughly in the same ball park so would be a steady state run for DC and tempo for Ian too. We started

So after a great surprising race on Sunday have managed to get a nice boring week in this week. Nothing amazing, no surprises, no shock runs, no mad sessions just good honest steady marathon training! Monday did a very gentle 10k with Andy at work on the usual route. Monday nights are busy for me so I didn't get out for a second run and was happy just to bank the 6 miles. Tuesday met up with Wenny & Ian at Milton country park. We did 6 miles out and back to make 12 with Wenny then did a long loop on the park to bring up 13.2 miles @ 7:02/mm avge feeling very comfortable and conversational. Great run with great company. Wednesday just did the same 10k with Andy slightly faster. Was always going to be a recovery run but wanted to get slightly further (8 miles) but pushed for time. No plan to double day this week. Thursday Wenny came round nice and early for a 16. Nice and steady, bit slopp on the trails and went arse over tit at 13 miles on the park! 7:20 ish avge

Caz & Al picked me up for this mornings race. After a few 'navigation errors' we made the start in plenty of time after panicking earlier! Quick jog, late poo & touch toes before the off. Interesting on the start line that this fixture is traditionally the weakest event with almost everyone choosing to miss it. Not today however, a scan of the start line and there are plenty of big hitters including 'Mr Frostbite' himself Pete Galpin! Set off at a reasonable pace. Feel OK but get caught by surprise at the first corner. Hate being so far down the field in a race at the start but sensible pacing and all that. Work up just behind a good group - Al, Brian Corleys & 3 other BRJ guys. Surreal moment having 4 BRJ runners all in a line! First mile up in 5.33. Long way behind the leaders but push to front of group with Al and crack on. Start dropping the group and catch and drop a few. Pretty soon it's myslef and Al with Jonhathon from C&C wo

Have just entered a few races, more in the hope of getting some long training runs in as my 20's are non-existent! So my racing schedule looks like this - Jan 15th - Frostbite lge XC 5 miles Feb 5th - Frostbite lge trail 5 miles Feb 19th - Sleaford Half (training run with tempo in the middle) Feb 26th - Tarpley 20 (all at LT) Mar 5th - Frostbite 5 miles road Mar 18th - Ashby 20 (harder 20 mile effort) Mar 25th - Victoria Park 5 miles (big target) I have targetted Victoria Park 5 as my biggest race pre-London. Would like to have a go at an OAPB (26.47) as it's the course I set my lifetime best (24.10) way back in 1997 !! Frostbite leagues I will race as hard as I can but will train through each one, even if the day before is a recovery run. Tarpley & Ashby will run at LT with hopefully a mile or two either side to make a good hard long run. Sleaford will run pretty much flat out but will train through and do a few miles either side however slow! That take

After dropping the P&D this week for a replica week of 2 years ago (same stage, same fitness, same races) I dropped off this schedule also by binning Wednesdays long run which was the keystone of fitness 2 years ago. Wednesday runs have been horrible - 7.40 odd pace for well over 150 bpm last few weeks. This week aimed for a decent 20 but felt awful, bloody hoprrible. Yesterday I got a few easy miles in early doors then made it up with my standard HR test. The test was a struggle through 140 & 150 bpm but the 155 bpm felt pretty good. Moving up the gears to 160 bpm bought a really nice pace - 6:14/mm which is only 15 secs down on best ever when marathon fit but what was really great was the warm down - 151 bpm for 7:01/mm (and was 6:48 at half way !) Last week or so have felt something in my system, the HR and percieved effort has just not felt right and todays run bared it out. Got out lateish for a steady 8. Wanted to crack something out with pace so something aro

Normal Monday today. Have binned the P&D for now, enjoy getting the easy double day Monday to get some miles in the bank. With the way the week is laid out (Wednesday off work, Sunday race) it suits a replica of 2 years ago when I went from 5:50 pace over 10k to 5:40 pace over 5 miles and stamped my mark on the Frostbite. 6.2 miles with Andy at work this afternoon, around 50 mins. Legs a bit tired but eased off later on. Love this route, nature park & river. Run went by pretty quickly. Busy day at work, home for a pit stop then take the oldest boy swimming in Cambridge, back home, chat with the sparky who was changing some bulbs then back out for another late run. 4.3 miles @ 7.13 pace. HR settled further into the run and felt pretty easy at 7.0x pace. Well needed rest day tomorrow, give the legs a chance to recover for Wednesday. Will have a go at first 20 of the campaign. Was 7.30 pace a couple of years ago but targetting around 7 - 7.15 pace this time out.

2nd week of marathon training on the P&D scedule. Monday - 6 miles recovery Tuesday - 8 miles steady (6:47/mm) Wednesday - 10.64 miles bonk Thursday - 4 miles recovery Friday - am) 11.26 miles LT (6:47) pm) 3.5 recovery Saturday - 5 miles recovery Sunday - am) 6.67 miles XC race pm) 8.5 miles recovery 63.62 miles, no idea of avge pace as don't bother with recovery (7:25 prob?) Highlight was a really easy 8 on Tuesday but no long run and pace dropped. Decent race performance but terrible long run. Not sure about following P&D, think I may have a go at doing exactly what I did a couple of years ago and see what happens? Frostbite next week, need a real marker. Got to start beating some folk out there

Off to the races today !! First time I have toed the line in anger for a long, long time. Last 5/6 races I have known things havn't been great although hoped for much more. Today I was in decent shape with a marker to set down. Church first thing, then dash to St Neots. Warm up, stretch then off. No Garmin today and no mile markers. Race was advertised 10k but ended up 6.67 miles or so (depending on whose Garmin you believe). Start off way back. Run with CovBaldy for a while and settle into a good rhythm. Ian T from Riverside is away as are half the BRJ mob! Half way round lap 1 (of 4) work up the hill and get a sense of where I am. Rich Holland up in front, Jeff from Werrington (he's been flying), Baldy and a few Nene Valley kids. Mike Moore, John Herbert, Kye & the usual suspects have all fucked well off MILES in front !! End of lap one into 33rd behind a bunch of Nene Valley Kids. Work through them and catch Rich Holland and Jeff after the woods. The

A big part of the P&D schedule - arguably most important is the midweek medium long run. When I was fit in 2010 running 12-16 miles comfortably midweek at MP + 1 min probably made me tougher than the long runs. Early doors the big improvements come from long runs but these runs are key to getting a big engine ready to run a marathon. Todays plan was 13 miles. I'm working to my LT testing HR zones so 142-151 bpm basically. Started off reasonably with a 7:45/mm then 7:10 (was sub 7 until last part of mile) feeling really easy into wind. Route I went today took me from the office into Hertford - 4.5 miles dead into the wind which sapped me. HR wasn't silly but was 7:30+ for 150 bpm. Lap of Hertford park and I knew it wasn't great when I was running just under 8's without wind. Started feeling lethargic so decided to bin the 13 off and come directly home making it 10.5ish. Came back with wind behind and hip was grumbling. Think not having any carbs fo

8 miles 'general aerobic' today. According to P&D that's the HR range 138 - 155 bpm. Anywhere between 8:30 & 6:60/mm depending on how I am feeling! Having had a VO2 max & LT test I know really that these runs need to be around 150 bpm. However I couldn't find my HRM strap so fucked it off and went old skool tonight. Wenny called up an hour earlier to ask if I was coming to the track. Said I was binning it and doing a steady and he decided to come along. Nice to have company for a change and also nice for the legs to feel fresh for a change! Off we set at a decent clip feeling very easy. 6.46 first mile and then a good wind behind 6.29. Into the wind with 6.43 & 6.41. Wenny was pretty fucked so stopped so he could have a piss. Felt awesome at halfway and would normally have picked up. Wind behind for 6.57 & 6.55 before a slow 7.05 into the wind and up the hill. Last mile 6.37 giving 54.15 for 8 miles feeling very comfortable. 13 m

With a 6 mile recovery run. Binned the Garmin and felt pretty good tonight. Wore new Kinervas, old ones were battered and covered in chicken shit from the garden! Legs a little tired from yesterday but hopefully get a good session in tomorrow. Stuffing my face with unneeded food tonight so earlyish night I reckon! Nice to se the Arsenal get stuffed in the last 5 mins as well hahaha

First week of the P&D 70-85 mile 18 week plan done! I know I'm a week behind so I will drop one somewhere along the line, just see how it goes. Scores on the doors - Monday - 6.2 miles @ 7.25/mm Tuesday - 9.27 miles @ 6:53 (4 miles @ 6:28 LT) Wednesday - 12 miles @ 6:54 Thursday - 4 miles recovery Friday - 10.06 miles @ 7:19 Saturday - REST Sunday - 17.05 miles @ 7:11 58.58 miles @ 7:08/mm Most efficient run was Tuesdays LT run. Pretty pleased with this week, back up to the longer distances and only running 6 times for the week with plenty of recovery. Lacking strength and tired as the week went on. Next week is a decent mileage hike so need to hit it hard. Dropped a 6 recovery Saturday to make the long run better and dropped Thursdays recovery 6 to 4 as I was battered. 2 new pairs of trainers to kick the campaign off and a lot more stretching / conditioning than usual. Pace wise I am really happy with this. Usually takes a couple of months to get this q