Daz Does Tri

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...

Moving week !! I'm calling this one as the time I finally feel like a runner again !! Motivation pretty high, just need to capitalise on some good training. Nothing and noone on the horizon this week so focus is good just need some execution. Monday FFS - headed to Lower Mill to fix a broken door handle. Guests are bloody annoying at times. & hour round trip for 10 mins of work but got it done. Rest day anyway but not how I planned on resting! Tuesday Session day. Bag lots of mobility in the morning. Track tonight as Eddy has works on the path. Warm up & cd standard. Session was swapped so faster stuff tonight and longer on Thurs. 4 x 1km at 3k-5k pace off 90 jog and then 4 mins and 4 x 400 at 1500 pace off 2 mins. Initially the kms were at 3k pace and off experience I knew that wasn't happening haha Set off for rep 1 and immediately effort feels high for pace. 3.14 and I am off the back. Hold another 3.14 on rep 2 off a faster start (75) then feeling the pinch on rep 3...

Autumn training is flying by. Race at the end of this week so time to take stock of where we are at at what's cooking under the hood. Monday Rest - day of re-grouting patio and my back and hammys are absolutely shredded! Wanted to hit gym for core but think this was better as I'm feeling it! Tuesday All day chill to help my body come back. Hit Eddington for session. Nice long warm up and cool down helps keep the volume active (2.6 & 2.4). Taper set with Jake, Andy & Matt. 2 sets of 4 x 400 and then 1200 tempo. Plan is first set at 5k and then second set at 1500. Pace is always easier at Eddy but knew from the gun of the first set we were going to be shifting today. 77,77,75,74 on the first set. Felt good. 67,66,67,66 on second set. Pushed but under control. Tempo 0.78 miles in 4.22 @ 5.36/mm was very relaxed. HR got to 166 bpm on that but most part sat at around threshold. 9 miles for the day. Decent workout, legs not feeling over done and everything under control. Feel...

It's been a strange block. 4 weeks of winter in the can now since Battersea and doesn't feel like it. To be fair it's been so stop-start that I haven't had a chance to really think about progress and it's been much more trying to maintain some kind of form. The plan from here (I'm sure I have banged on) is to slowly and surely raise the bar each week and get into a consistent routine. I'll try and use Ange to build up some shakeouts and the plan is to make sure I am hitting strength work each week properly with a focus on core and flexibility. Seem to be over holidays, nights out, illness and weird niggles now so hopefully build fairly fast from here. Monday Up and atom with Ange. 5k in 31ish mins shakeout. Loads of stretching as still have gym DOMS. I plan to focus on hitting daily stretching in the morning now. Weight down to 66.3kg this morning so holiday weight gone. Now Heinz don't do sausage & beans I need a new lunch staple. Prob beans tbf. Hi...

Week starts with a 4 day break with Ange, Vanessa and Paul to Sorrento so this is going to be damage limitation !!! Monday Up early and meet Dan for a CC loop. Nice and relaxed, legs better than expected for 8 @ 7.47/mm. Then head to Sorrento. Tuesday Nope Wednesday After a day of walking around Capri and an absolute killer of a hangover I hit the hotel treddy. No aircon, jesus this one was a grind. Really, REALLY did not fancy it. Decnide to do slightly less and slightly slower than target pace just to get my head into it. Session was 7 min [2] 5 min [2] 4 min [2] 2 min [2] 1 min [1] 1 min with 5 either side as warm up and cool down. Really short and sweet. First rep start at 17.6 kmph but after a minute I am bang in trouble. Finish up at 17 kmph and hang in and basically do each rep at that. I was absolutely dropping with sweat after that. 38 mins and I'd guess 5 miles with 20 mins at effort (and it was effort) Thursday Nope. Travel home, back at midnight. Friday Up and time for ...

Last week was all about getting back into a full routine and closing in on mileage. This week it's about starting to get on top of things. Main issue last week was starting to create and then carry larger amounts of fatigue through the week. Didn't help I had a lot on over the weekend as well as 2 tough volume sessions so finished the week incredibly knackered. Monday Wake up today and my left hip flexor is very tired and sore. Andy messaged overnight to say probably best to miss the speed work tonight and that makes sense. Rest day in order, I need to recover and feel fresh for the week ahead. Lots of rehab and a full recovery today. Good nights sleep and hopeully I be ready to go at it tomorrow. Fingers crossed if I get everything right the paces should feel slightly easier each week now and I have around a month to really relax on those paces. Again, as an older athlete listening to your body is key. When I was younger I could ride the lightening for weeks feeling exhausted,...

Back home, nice to be back but still hanging out of my arse. Time to get serious again and start to increase things and get back on pace. Monday Morning weight - 68.8kg - ouch. Met Andy & Jake up track for speed work. Calfs tight but knocked out 2 x (40m/50m/60m off 3 mins) & 4 x 120m @ 400m pace. This session is key this winter. Tuesday Track, no Eddington yet as Marks group ironed someone out last year.  1600m - 600m - 1200m - 600m - 1600m - 400m - 400m off lap jog on longer reps and 200m float on shorter ones. 5.26 - 1.57 - 4.06 - 1.56 - 5.26 - 71 - 67 Nice session. Led all the longer efforts and felt good tonight like I could push onwards. Looking forward to cracking these out on the roads rather than track tbh. Wednesday Early run as out tonight at Bingo! 7.12 miles keeping HR bellow 140 bpm. Felt tight, hammys very tight but eased in. New session is taking it out of my whilst I adapt so need to stay off the lower legs and plyos until that settles down. Thursday Nothin...