Daz Does Tri

Race today, Southern Mens League Division 2 N at Cambridge. My first track race since the GRE Cup final in 2000. Preperation didn't go great. After a hard track session and bike on Tuesday, I did a hard swim (mile) and bike on Wednesday. Thursday managed 4 very tired miles running and was absolutely shattered at around 7.45 pace. Friday again was tired but went out for my brother in laws 'tame' stag do in the evening. Had a curry & 3 beers after a big pub lunch. Wasn't 100%, had an afternoon nap and lots of sleep Thursday / Friday night. Not sure what was wrong but was feeling wiped out both days. So to race day, wokr up fine. Got to the track at 3pm just in time to see the 5000m. The C&C boys all had cracking races. CW, BrotherJohn from fetch (a storming 16.38) & Al (17.02) all running great guns. Alex from Hunts AC / BRJ clocking 18.06 after a fast start. So all revved up to have a crack at a decent time. Warm up fine feeling ok. Until I...

Wednesday after track I decided to do a cross training day. Legs were ruined, tendons not used to going over barriers. Muscles fine, just not done that explosive kind of exercise for a LONG time !! Swam at lunch time, Manor of Groves again so 80 lengths of the pool in 33 mins which is a 4 min pb for the mile. Ached a lot beforehand but kind of just got into it. Tried to glide more which I think helped get the time down. Bike session in the evening, same route as Tuesday morning with a slight bit added on. Felt very tired on the hills and was a good workout keeping the speed roughly to 17.5 mph again. Today was a very tired run. Wanted to get something long done but my legs are just trashed. Got a tired 3.9 miles in 30 mins. Not great but got to thinking that running on legs so tired must be worth a lot more than running on fresh legs. Racing Saturday and I certainly want the legs to be fresh by then so I am going to shut down till then and get my legs feeling 100%. Ve...

After a good ride today, needed to buy some spikes for Saturdays race. Combined it with a trip to the pub with the family for tea and made the mistake of buying the extra large burger. Got me spikes from Advanced Performance in Cambridge. Loverly aren't they !! Not much choice to be fair, when I were a lad I used to pore over magazines for the best spikes, usually Bourne Sports in Stoke or Knight Sports in Chingford. Now I am just happy to own a pair !! It was always Nike Air or Asics back in the day. So to the session. Pace judgement for 3k SC on Saturday. Aim was to run 3 x 1000m @ 3.20 pace for a target time of 10 mins. We laid some hurdles out on the bends in lane 3 and a barrier out on the back straight so with not much work being done in lane 1 it was probably working out closer to 1025m (the extra 3/4 secs is important !!!) I know there is no water jump so the distance is probably fair. New guy Paul turned up, he's got some shit hot PB's and was happy ...

After doing not much last week (Mrs Birthday Tuesday and Brother in laws stag do Saturday) I got out for a steady / hard 6 on Sunday night @ 6:30 avge pace. Felt pretty good which was nice for a change! Monday was a long day at work and din't get a chance for an afternoon run and ended up getting out for a tired 5 @ 7/mm avge in the end. Felt really good on the run, pace felt easy and was holding back for the best part of it. Legs were a little stiff and I think it's just them gettung used to running less miles at a quicker pace. Went out on the road bike for half hour today - just under 10 miles @ 17.5 mph. All good training as I'm still considering the half iron man in Sept. Track tonight, hoping I havn't left too much fitness on last weeks beer / CBA week. Just one of thise things where life gets in the way but hopefully pick up where I left off and march on to a 5k pb before too soon. Pace wise, starting to crack well under 7/mm for steady runs now. Go...

Friday I decided to have a rest day. We were taking our youngest kids to Gullivers Land in Milton Keynes and then having friends over for dinner in the evening. My window to run was pretty narrow and I only wanted to get a 6 mile recovery run in, so went for the rest as the legs were still feeling weary. Ended up having waaayyy to much booze in the evening (17 bottles of beer, 3 bottles of Rose and a large dent in my bottle of Mount Gay Rum between 4). In bed by 2.30am and then up at 7.15 with the kids. Narrow window to run in the afternoon was missed in favour of a doze on the sofa. Out to a friends BBQ in the afternoon and decided to swerve the booze as I was still feeling a bit sensitive and wanted to get some kind of run in. Out at 9pm on the dot, decided to just run pretty hard as I will only get 2 short runs in this weekend so wanted to drain the best out of both. First mile up in 6:45 and feeling way too hard and a bit long compared to usual beep point! Eased back for...

Felt a bit bleugh today, really couldn't face 2 runs but knew I had to get it done. Plan was 10 this morning then 5 HR test this evening. Was going to run with Andy at work which would have been c 9/mm pace but he darted off early doors so I was on my own! Set off and legs felt terrible. Not sure if it was the swim yesterday but I never felt great at all on the run. Garmin was also giving stupid readings - not sure if it was trees on the trails or what but I was 6 mins into the first mile at 7:20 pace and without slowing I ended up with 7.30. The second mile started at 8:20 pace !! Then half way through it was 7.35 pace before going up to 7.50 pace. I understand that pace is all over the shop early doors into a mile but half way through to change that much! So it all made the run even harder to get through. Winded it up at 8 miles, could have gone on but couldn't face it. 8.11 miles @ 7:58 pace. Ate well in the afternoon and got out for the HR test this evening af...

Plan for today was always to take a day off running and get a long swim in. Having entered a half ironman back in April (when I hadn't swum for years or even own a bike) I always felt that I would do it if I could get a distance swim and bike in. Today wasn't the full distance swim but I could easily have done it if I needed to. Unfortunately the pool at John Warner was busy so I had to go to Manor of Groves. The MOG is only a 20m pool which meant I needed complicated maths to work out how many lengths I needed to do !! No dramas, got in and hit straight off for 80 lengths. Did an extra couple at the end just incase I had miscounted but I'm sure that I did more if anything as if I wondered (54 or 56 for example) I made sure I called it the lower number. Swim time was 37 mins. Happy with that as I got a few turns messed up but I felt very strong throughout and could have gone much further. Technique isn't brilliant but off just 5 swims I think that is pretty ...

Track session tonight. Long day at work with meetings, late home, stuffed down a quick dinner and then straight out to the track. Warmed up with Ian, 2 miles on the road in just under 15 mins. Good to have him back! 3 x 100m strides feeling tired and noticed the wind blowing a gale. Legs feel ok but just feeling a bit lethargic. Set off in groups, I started at the back with DC. 72 first lap, 76 second for 2.28. Bleugh, not great. Never is on the first rep but must admit I know this is going to be a striggle tonight. 2nd rep and I feel much better on the first lap, 71 secs and bunch on the back straight into the wind. Feel pretty good but around the bend onto the home straight I just don't have the legs to lift the pace. 2.28 again but feeling marginally better. Last rep set off again at 71 feeling a bit off the pace. Catch Ed half way down the back straight but again feel like I can't lift the pace on the home straight but lift it very slightly to 2.27. Prett...

Very easy run with Andy at work today. 6.16 miles @ 9:19/mm for 130 bpm. Resting HR was 52 bpm compared to 44 yesterday so a little tired still. Will go on HR test tonight but not expecting fireworks. Like to get these double days in to bump the miles up a little. There has always been something unnerving about running less than 50 miles per week for me. I know in marathon mode I want to aim at 70 and I may even do a big week next week in preparation for 5 races lined up in less than 3 weeks of August !! Looking forward to track tomorrow night, should be in good shape so excited to see how it comes out. Little surprised than I am still a bit tired after Wednesday's race. Could be coming down with something but will just try and drink plenty of water and get plenty of sleep this week. Will see how it all works out.

Friday I managed a half hour on the turbo, was still a bit tired from Wednesday's race and had to baby sit the kids all day so no chanvce to get a run in. Up bright and early on Saturday and headed out for an easy/steady 7 depending on how I was feeling. Felt a bit rough and being on the trails the pace was slow as usual, ticking along at 7:40-50/mm. Got to the park and along the back trail near the A428 and bang, I go down like Robert Pires in the box. Ankle rolled. Have rolled my ankle many times without any problems (apart from drunk at Boogie nights once but thats another story!) Took shoe off and massaged and knew immediately it was not right. Limped back home, tried a coupe of times to jog but it just wasn't right. Went out to see Take That in the evening, was an unbelivable show. Not a big fan of the music (honest!) but really enjoyed it. Think a skin full of booze helped though !! Had a great steak at Gaucho Grill in Hampstead and finished the night off wi...

Legs were pretty tired yesterday, managed to get out for an easy 10k jog at work, Garminless. I didn't need a watch to tell me how slow I was going and the first mile or so - was way over 9/mm pace as I eased into the run and probably just below 8's by the end. Felt OK afterwards but knew that my legs needed a rest. Woke up this morning and legs still ache, it's more in the tendons than the muscles so probably just where they have been stretched out to run at a speed I havn't gotten close to for any length of time (1k reps is furthest). I probably was striding out a little far in the last km of the race to try and get the pace back up and on tired legs that are not quite used to it yet! Reminds me of when I used to go to the gym and do weights after a long layoff, feels painfull for a few days but after that you become more resiliant. Missus is out all day so it's me and the little one until 3 then off to pick the oldest up from school and then at 5 off to p...

5k tonight at Ferry Meadows (as the title suggests!) The skinny is 5k in 16.49 for around 16th place (no clue yet). Racing for me starts in the prep. The day before a race I like to get an easy run in with some strides and drills, basically a pre-race warm up within a recovery run. I try to get a good nights sleep and look afteryself. My diet is appalling so I try and eat better and drink plenty of water and stay off the tea/coffee/snacks/alcohol/junk. That in mind I still ate a bacon baguette for breakfast and had a couple of freddie frogs !! I took today off work (the benefit of being your own boss) and had a nice relaxing day. Good breakfast, good lunch, plenty of water and was ready to roll. Prep went very well even though my legs ached a little but I was still confident that I had got myself to the race in the right condition. Picked up DC and Kye and headed down to Peterborough with a good hour to spare. Met Ed on route and the gang were all registered and shitted o...

Nice easy 10k with Andy around the nature park and along the canal at work this afternoon. Very relaxed pace - 8:56/mm ish and felt fine. Good to get out of the office! Even though I'm racing Wednesday I fancied doing something with a bit of pace in it tonight to get the legs moving. Was going to be HR test but on the fast mile I bumped into a pal and had a minute chat. First mile mark (Garmin took agest to register) came up at 7:35 for 141 bpm, Then into 6:46/mm @ 151 bpm which is really nice. 6:44 for 156 bpm in the next mile, mainly into a head wind and with a little uphill bit. Fancied putting the foot down in the next mile so worked it down from 6:31/mm to finish up with 5:56/mm so nicely done. Finished off the last 1.15 mile @ 7:03 ish pace feeling really good. HR wasn't too bad tonight and I really felt like I was holding back which is nice. Probably the best I've felt for a while. Will go really easy tomorrow with plenty of stretching and keep my diet ...

Feel a little aimless at the minute. I had originally set out with the intention of doing some Triathlon stuff, some track races & some 5ks this summer. Want to enjoy running quick before the more serious stuff starts when the weather turns cold! With niggles/illnesses/family stuff/work stuff/ lack of mojo etc.. etc.. this year, things have always been a little behind where I want to be. One thing that help me get my head straight is planning, I feel like I have an aim and this is all going somewhere. My blogs & logs are full of intended races and schedules but having a target gives me the motivation I need to get out the door. We have booked a family holiday driving through France to see my sister & nephews at the end of August and I think I'll take that opportunity to have some downtime and recharge my batteries. It will let me concentrate on getting my 5k time right down before I go and then when I am back I'll move into half marathon training. Races ...

Friday I managed a proper test on my arse. 6.2 miles @ 6:49/mm avge. HR was a bit high at 156 bpm but pretty decent affort and happy to have a good workout on the bag. Started very easy and worked the pace down a bit. Went to a comedy night at the Belfry in the evening and managed to sink about 8 pints - ouch! Saturdays effort session was squeezed in to collecting the car as we had friends over coming over so only 25 mins to do a session including warm up! 3 x 3 mins with 2 min walk recovery over the trails. Switched GPS off and run to feel. Goood hard workout and worked up a proper sweat so know even though it probably wasn't dirty fast it was worth it! Today got out for a gentle 90 mins on the HR at lunchtime. Kept to recovery 145 bpm and pleased with the result - 7:34 avge. Had to come home after 2 miles as the flies were a nightmare today and needed shades. Couldn't find my Oakleys (until I got in the bath after the run!) so ran in normal shades! Had a bit of...