Daz Does Tri

Finally, I have to admit I was absolutely fucked by the last run of the base training block. It didn't bite at all until the last few days but slowly increasing intensity and hitting correct gym sessions finally drained me. So this week is a cut back week. The aim is to recover from the miles and get plenty of rest whilst keeping the intensity high. The plan looks something like rest - intervals - easy & gym - intervals - rest - light tempo & gym - threshold. Unlikely to exceed 40 mile this week and I am basically favoring recovery over junk. Monday 3rd February  Absolutely shredded. Back and upper glutes in bits. Lots of stretching and sitting around. Tuesday Feel much, much better, still a few aches but no real pain. Aim tonight is to keep session under control and just get rolling. Will wear Vaporfly. Back on the Gamin & HRM as want to see where I am at and start thinking about correct 5k effort for Seville. Hoping that's going to be sub 17 (5.25s) Got to Eddy wi...

So 2024 is done and the reality is it was a complete and utter bust. I actually think my first and last races of the year were actually the worst 2 of the bunch but overall it's a bitter pill to swallow to realise that a DQ in Torun was my best performance - lol The year basically went like this - January - Started in a bad patch then slowly ground out some fitness. February - Back to back races that were OK. Got pretty fit and worked hard. March - hit form. Best races (indoor 1500m and Torun). Possibly best shape of vet career but injured straight after Torun (during?) and out for several weeks with knee issue. Closed out the 1500m in 65. April - restarted, struggled and had an awful race at vets 3000m in Peterborough. May - return to fitness. Best completed race of year at Watford 1500m in seasons best 4.22 closing out quick again (67). Tight achilles and risked it all in training and re-injured myself. Never fully recovered from this. June  & July - Injured August - back on ...

And that was that. 49 and done. After Battersea I trained well Tuesday. Wednesday run with Dan but ankle sore. Hit the gym. Bought some superblast 2 and re-tried a test run on the 12th. Season done. Missed the 800 indoors and Olympic Park 5k. Jake ran 2.03 and 16.05. My 49th year has ended and my best race was a DQ (2900m pb lol). It's been a washout. Started hitting the gym and crushing legs and arms. New year, new me. The plan is now to get back on top. Ankle issue is now not achilies (seems fine) but the stabilising tendons around the side. Should be OK to run under precautions. Strength wise. Bench is 45kg for 3 reps. 100kg calf raises. 12.5kg for 12 on the triceps. Not squatted with bar yet so need to benchmark this. Plan is to spend 4-6 weeks getting strong. Run wise just back to moving well. From the start of the year I plan to attack from speed/strength and see how that rolls out for races. Finally do the work required to break 60 for 400m and see where we are at. Either wa...

Winter training - that's a wrap (ish). Race week this week so taper in to Battersea. Bang out a week before the 800 and then it's 5k Wednesday and then just existing until I go on holiday. Come back and indoors ! Really not feeling it right now. I'm in OK shape but I am still not healthy and I can't shake this. Feels like I have had it from pre-Town and Gown. I do feel like there is some good fitness there and my HR is good on steady runs but when I am feeling shit I just cannot get the effort out. PE feels waaay higher than actual effort. The plan this week is to try and stay relaxed and prey that it just goes. I'll taper correctly and arrive at the race ready to rock and roll but right now I am expecting breaking 17 mins to be a challenge. Shame as it's been a target race but it is what it is. One of life's curve balls. Average of 43.6 miles for the last 9 weeks. It's not terrible but not amazing. Long runs have been lower but quality has been good. Ju...

Starting to head into a focus and target race block now. Frustratingly coming off illness last week and starting Monday morning with a lot of shit on my chest. Not a lot I can do about it except try and eat, recover and sleep - as well as massive doses of medication. I don't feel like I have lost a lot but I know that I haven't moved forwards right at the point I needed to.  Last week was survival, minimal amount of effort and a distinct lack of s&c. Ho-hum, I can't get down on it. At least I am not injured! HR on weekends 'efforts' was capped but very encouraging. The issue is I don't feel like I can seriously rev the engine off the back of that. I fully expect to slowly improve through this week and the plan is to add a bigger week with some solid sessions. I also made the descision to use Battersea as a platform to hit a harder 5k at Olympic Park on 11th December.  The plan now looks like this - big week this week. Taper week  next week into Battersea (le...

Finished last week and feel like I have had a nice, consistent block of training. Just about getting on top of everything I need to in terms of sessions, strength & steadies. Now it's time to up the ante a little over the next couple of weeks and push onwards. Well, that's the plan anyways !! Coming off a block where I have been feeling rough, have a tight calf and incorrect footwear I am hoping that this week I start to gain a lot more confidence in where I am at. Lots of positive signs but I really need to start turning up on race day feeling pinging even if the race is very much a C/D event! Plan for this week is to feel healthy, hit paces on Tuesday and then relax into a good weekend of hard / steady running. If Tiesday goes well I'll most likely back off more on Thursday but the plan is to make sure Tuesday's push session is on point and Saturday I feel strong. Monday Feel OK this morning. Not quite 100% and have DOMS still but better than it has been. Just hop...

Blimey, where has the time gone ??!! Nearly 2 months into winter already. Time to recap and take stock where I am and where I need to be ...  Fitness and conditioning are bubbling along nicely. I feel like I could run 16.20 (ish) freshly tapered. Body feels good. Right calf still tight and needs attention - one to watch. I'm hitting session targets on pace and it's time to slightly lift them now towards targets - 69s for 1500m - 3.05 per km for 3k and 3.12 per km for 5k.  The 5k feels a stretch to be honest but it's not a million miles off (a) what I have been doing and (b) where I should be. I need to keep up the S&C work. At least 1 x per week functional and 3 x upper body / core. I'll not worry about plyos specifically right now but I will use it dynamically in warm ups and s&c. Speed work feels closest to target . I feel pretty confident running sub 70s for reps and have been pretty consistent with that for a couple of weeks. Threshold is on point . My longe...