Daz Does Tri

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 Nothing in

Aaaand straight into winter training mode. Serious racing is done, it's all light now up until I prep for Masters 5k on December 1st. That again will be my winter main target. Also likely to be my last v45 race! Plan this week is to train very hard up until I go away with the lads on Thursday and then just do whatever I can while I am away (it could genuinely be 0 miles lol) Monday Speed session 1. Legs ached today but I really wanted to make a start on this. Jogged to the cricket pitch and then 6 x 60m (95% effort) starting on 3 mins and then 4 x 120m (400m effort) off walk backs. Felt really good and enjoyed it. Long old session for what it is but jogged back to cool down and 5.8 miles banked. This session is a must as is the 2 sessions and hilly long run. I need speed and strength. Tuesday Took the easy route today and just rested legs up. Pretty beat up from Sunday so rest and reload this morning. Track pm. Andy & I paced Katie round for a session. Mile thresh, 4 x 400 @ 3k

On to Battersea this week. Final race of the block and last time I race in a semi serious manor until December. Focus this week is just staying on top of current fitness and getting to Friday night ready to roll. Monday Rest day from running but did some plyos, some bodyweight mobility and upper body weights just to stay active. Tuesday Track. 6 x 400m at around 5k pace with Andy & J. Led a rep each and 200 jog in around 70 secs. Absolutely hammered down with rain, first time warming up and cooling down in leggings since about March. 77, 76, 76, 76, 76, 73 Last one felt pacier after Sunday but the others felt absolutely fine. Wednesday CC. Standard 8 @ 8.08 pace with Dan, Wayne & Rich. HR much lower this week. 125 bpm finally conditioning starting to appear. Nice run, felt relaxed. Time to recover. Thursday Golf in the morning as picked up a new driver. Rest from running, all about getting body and mind in the right place now. Friday Good nights sleep. Thoughts heading to race

Wow, 14 weeks after pinning a number on its finally time to race! Have to say, very nervous and I hate being in a position to question what sort of shape I am in with no real idea of what to expect. Peterborough threw my confidence last time I came in untested and expected better. This time I am cagey.  I've been chasing fitness so much this summer I have forgotten what it feels like to roll. Monday Rest. Chill and keep on top of the body. Feels better after an easier finish last weekend. Tuesday Hit track with J and joined group warm up / cool down and just did 4 x 200m strides in spikes. 39, 37, 36, 30. 39 felt like 3k pace - ouch. 37 was OK but felt much faster than 3k pace. First 2 in Dragonfly. Switched to Victories for last 2. Felt much faster. 36 was good then pushed the last 200 in 30 but was surprised how relaxed that was. Can run a 28 I reckon in these spikes which is amazing. Achilles was slightly sore so decided to wear the Dragons tomorrow and stay safe. Wednesday Shak

Week before the race block starts. Plan for this week is to dig in early and then start to relax towards racing. Monday Plyos - started back at week 1. Bascially need to focus on these so loop back and re-do properly. On seated jumps I got Sawyer to do some and he got to the top of the chair! I am basically half way. This is a big reason behind my lack of explosive sprint speed.  Tuesday Busy morning then track. Point to note - I was tired all day, didn't sleep great and routine was way out of whack with golf and a house viewing. Track. From now on assume warm up / cool down is standard 2 miles each! 4 x 600m (3k) 4 x 300 (1500m) 4 x 200m (800m). Target paces 1.54 / 52 / 33 Reality - [1.55, 1.54, 1.55, 1.56] - [52, 52, 54, 52] - [32, 33, 32, 31] So basically 1.55 on the 600s, Just outside 52 on the 300s, 32 on the 200s. Felt far too tough, there wasn't much relaxing going on. Disappointing. Was dropped for 2/3 secs per rep BUT closing the gap. The build into this made it tough