Daz Does Tri

Back on glute watch today. My left glute is starting to twinge, regular followers (there are zero, well, just me !) will know that I've had several hip problems over the years and they usually signal the injuries that halt me in my tracks. Plan is - 1) read back over the blogs and see where and when I've sorted them (when I have). 2) get on the trigger point tennis ball (this has helped) 3) foam roll 4) stretch out lower & mid back (that's really tight right now) I'll hopefully manage it out and continue as I am ready to push onwards now. Training wise, I'm not an awful lot fitter at 40 mpw than I was at 30 ?? Maybe it's not enough and I need a bigger block (the less fun route) or just switch back to where it was - that felt like a safer route in terms of injuries. Some strava stalking required I think

This week my focus is concentrating on getting enough protein in at the right time. This is something Ange is great at but I always let this slip. I'm going back to tracking and making sure I get 30g Protein at each meal and getting at least a shake in immediately after finishing a session. I'm a bit concerned that whilst I am nailing the sessions I am not building back and recovering. Last week I was just hammered after Tuesday and never felt like I recovered from that session. Tracking food allows me to see progress but also I can see when I need a top up with protein powder. This morning I had 3 poached eggs on toast and that came in at 20g so I topped up with a protein shake (water not milk). I'll also hit a protein shake after each session just to get that in straight away. Ideally this week is a cut down (of intensity) to focus more on tempo so all being well i should start to feel stronger as the week goes on. I felt lethargic constantly last week and that's a fr

Continuing the theme of a training diary ... Monday - rest. Really need it, this schedule is fairly punishing and feels like I am sailing really close to the edge. Tuesday - speed work. 8 x 60 / 60 this time at 21 kmph. Really hard session, not sure I'd say I was in control of this one. It's 3 weeks of progress and I think I may actually not do this one next week and repeat on week 5. Starting to get the leg speed where it needs to be. This is bordering on lower than 800m pace. If I can control this pace then I think Thursday sessions will become a piece of piss. Wednesday - coke club plus a bit extra. Tired this week, ended up with 9.6 miles @ 7.27/mm which is fine but more concerned with how battered I felt after yesterday. Checking Stryd, power was really high for yesterdays session from previous hence the fucked legs !! Thursday - economy reps. Laughable title at the minute but the aim is to start relaxing on this session. This week 3 x 4 mins @ 5/mm on the treddy. Was real

What a difference a week makes! After stewing on that terrible Parkrun this week went so much better. 16.49 at Storys. To be fair it was set up perfectly. Zero wind and I had Ty to chase for the first mile and a half and then Jacob to about 1k out. Still have the same problem that I can't run too fast in the first mile but turned out progressive splits - 5.30, 5.27, 5.22 The week went much better than the previous week. Full rest day Monday just does wonders. Last week I was trying to push the distance and just built too much lazy fatigue. The idea this week was to strip the fat before parkrun and do nothing that wasn't productive. Tuesdays session was a progression to 20.7 kmph and starting to get the early signs that there is some degree of relaxation there. Short cool down this week rather than throwing in nearly 3 miles like last week. Cokeclub was so much easier and over a minute per mile faster at 6.56/mm and the NB fuelcell just feel insanely comfortable. So pissed that

First week of the new schedule done. Wow, I've been through a few this year !! In fairness it's all just a continuation of a theme but last week I think I actually got it kind of right in some ways, and massively wrong in others. The plan was (is) to build leg speed by doing fast, short reps. This has paid off previously. Then build in a longer session at faster than race pace to learn to relax (lactate buffer). Add in hills for strength. Finally hard tempo Parkrun. All of these I did.  The 60 / 60 session was done at a much faster pace than usual. Starting at 8 reps the idea is to build this session over winter to move from 8 - 12 reps. It's a long game ! The longer reps are probably the weak link right now. I won't be building that up too much for some time as it's tougher but as it progresses this will be key session. Aim right now is to relax at pace rather than just layer on more reps / intensity. But ideally get these to 4 x 5 mins from 3 x 3.30. Right now th

Absolutely gash - that's the honest outcome !!! To be fair, I guess I had a bad one coming. It's been 8 weeks since I last left some out there on the course and that was a 19.03 Parkrun so a bad 17.44 is a step in the right direction. Not sure where it went wrong. We'll I guess I am, I just don't want to admit it lol  Decent week training banked. That's definitely heading in the right direction as far as big picture is concerned. I've been fairly disciplined with food too and weight down to 10 st 6.9 lbs this morning so 3 - 4 lbs down on where it was. Changed up the shoes this morning so ran in the NB Fuel Cells. Now I LOVE these shoes and can't say enough about them as a daily trainer. By far the most comfortable shoes I have in my rotation. They are quick and I wanted to give them a tester over 5k - I've only run hard in them for intervals on the treddy where they have held their own. The biggest (the only) issue with these shoes is that they do not w