Daz Does Tri

Started to finally feel a lot looser around the hip today. It's amazing once you give in to the injury it all starts to fall to bits. I'm convinced if I had kept running I'd be patching myself up but getting sessions done. This week it's been the worst I have felt it and I haven't done a stroke since Saturday (well, apart from a gingerly tester on Tuesday).  Yesterday I went to see Jenny for a deep tissue massage and it really helped. I think that the trauma of running just tightened up everything so she loosensed off my back mainly but also my hammys and glutes. The outcome was that it was clear to see how tight my hammy left was at the top by the insertion to the hip. This is probably what's causing the gip now. This morning all felt much better, back is looser (still needs work) but hip is generally much better. Giving myself an extra few days I am finally confident that I should be clear when I start again - well, scratch that. It won't be clear but it...

I'm already tetchy. There's a bit of me that wants to just keep trying to jog BUT on the whole I feel like taking an end of season break actually makes me feel like I am controlling the situation! Many (many) years ago, after my last track race of the season (usually GRE Cup final or last league race) I took a couple of weeks completely off. Usually went away on a lads holiday and ate / drank myself at least a stone in weight. I'd come back and start training fairly half arsed all the way up until New Years Day. After an all nighter for NYE I would wake up on Jan 1st and think shit, only 4 months until track season. Then I'd be completely focussed to getting fit. During my 2 weeks off I had no issues not running, there was no part of me desperate top get out for a jog, in fact when I came back from October to end of year I would do every session but they would be pretty lazy efforts. Get it done but no way I was killing myself out there.  Oh to have today's attitude...

Holiday time ! OK so today I tried a jog. From the first step it wasn't right. It's FUCKING annoying because it really does not feel like there is much wrong, there is no pain just a nagging ache. When I think back to June, I literally could not walk upstairs. Now I  Decided on the way home that it's time to call it. Just take a break, no pressure. I had a good 4 month block from Feb to June and then 5 months from July to now. I figure if I can stay reasonably in shape (i.e not put on a stone) for the next 7 - 14 days off running then I'll be good to go when I start back. It's actually been many, MANY years since I took a break from running that wasn't an injury. I always took a break end of track season. I guess nowadays I figure time isn't on my side in terms of performance so there is always pressure to get stuff done before it's too late. But this time, it really is just accepting it for what it is and making the most of having some time away from r...

Up to take Jake to Frostbite this morning. Usual aches and pains. Little bit of stretching and to be honest it's just not much fun managing this niggle. I can run, it's just taking longer to get myself ready to run and harder sessions and races are making it harder to recover. It's still not painful, more of a tooth ache kind of grumbly, naggy pain in the hip.  So on the way home from Frosty (Jake 3rd with a so - so run) decided to call it until I have this niggle completely under control. It's definitely heading towards some kind of full on explosion so best to stop now before that happens and hopefully retain some kind of fitness. The issue really seems to stem from my back being incredibly tight. I have a kind of spasm that needs releasing off but generally my whole back is tight. First thing was to change my pillow, I know that's often been the cause of back issues - change them and then end up getting issues weeks later. The key will be loosening off the lumba...

In a word. Shite. Ok, that's a little harsh. It could have been better, a decent start but just went too hard on the middle of the first lap which left me tired on the second lap and dropped maybe 15 secs. The issue is the lack of strength. I know even in great shape currently I would not be quick enough here to be competitive.  What do I need?  1 - Healthy - no niggle just free reign to train 2 - Strength - yeah those long rep sessions can't progress quickly enough !! 3 - Better endurance. Can't hide behind the fact I need a long run That's about it. Simple mix. Just plan better, recover better and you'll train better. That'll give me the right result long term. Just need to stay in the game. Piriformis - that's only going to rehab by doing the S&C which is primary focus right now. Forget the race plans from now to new year, just get stronger and lighter and stay healt hy. Do better Daz Man /rant

I guess I kinda knew it was likely to be something like this.  Phyiso Simon diagnosed it pretty quickly so guess it's a likely candidate.  Either way it's nice to know what it is so I can manage rehab. Good deep massage and later today my back is tight so stuff is happening. Decided to take the planned rest anyway as still looking to race tomorrow. I'll do lots of stretching and focus my S&C more towards core now as I think that may be where the weakness is creeping in. It's not directly affecting running yet as pain is mostly nagging rather than painful but I'll also need to take more ibro to manage levels. Frustrating that it's always this time of year that I seem to get injured (Nov / Dec) but hoping that this one just passes without causing a big full stop. Plan will be to keep to 5 days running, keep a lid on things and try to do my long reps session as focus and race hard(ish) if all good once per week. I'll do S&C on my 'off' days and ...

Interesting one, and certainly contentious at the minute. Does weight loss affect running performance? Massive problem in the athletics world (mainly for female athletes) who feel they've been bullied into feeling self conscious about their appearance and feeling pressure to take drastic measures to loose weight. Mainly from old school male coaches who have limited skills on dealing with the modern athletes feelings!  Most obviously less excess weight means less to carry around so for the same effort you will run quicker. I use the rough formula of 3 secs per mile per lb of weight you loose. Disclaimer time - again a fairly obvious one - you have to get enough nutrition in ! Loosing weight needs to be done in a healthy way without compromising your training and / or health. Starving yourself and not getting enough nutrition will 100% NOT make you faster in the long term. Also, there will be a minimum limit you can achieve where you simply are not going to loose weight. I am a...