Daz Does Tri

And so to the last race of a pretty solid racing block!  In fairness, feeling a little underwhelmed about this one.  I had aimed to start lifting up the training with a view to train through the race, however feeling a little tight around glutes / hips on Friday means a rest day instead of a session so I knew I would be going in a little fresher than expected. Arrived at the venue, was really nice to see so many familar faces today. Run Through events have totally lucked out in this new World order. Putting on events from 5k to 10k, half marathon, 16 miles, 20 miles and full marathon in a random motor track in Bedford turned out to be the hottest ticket in town. And everyone that rocked up was not disappointed. Cool conditions and ZERO wind! Warm up OK with Griff. Possibly longer than normal and faster - went for the Adios Adizero Pro - possibly the best decision of the day. Race start was single file, socially distanced and one by one. Everyone going off a second or so behind...

After missing last weekends mile it felt an age since I last raced!  This weekend was off to Bromley for a stab at 3000m and a head to head with Jake.   I haven't raced here since probably 1995/96 or possibly as long as the very early '90s for a young athletes league meeting. I digress. Quit a late start (6.02pm) and quite a long drive (1 hr 40 mins) but we arrive with no drama. Warm up felt pretty good, only down side was the khazi was quite literally an absolute shit hole !! First race goes off and it's clear the times are quite a way off predictions (race was 8:45 - 9:31 against predicted 8:22 - 8:55). I am in the 2nd race with Jake.  Entry times are 9.05 up to 9.35 (me!).  Line up where we like and bang we are off.  Settle in, I'm slowest on paper so sit towards the back. A dude and I assume his Mrs settle in behind me. Pace feels pretty strong. Through 200m in 38. Shit. I was hoping to feel like I was tripping over my feet for the first km. 400m in 76 ...

Nope, not that way ... summer to autumn training !! I've decided to blow off the mile race on Saturday. Mainly just to give Jake a better shot at a decent 800m. He's going to have a bucket load of waiting around if not (probs 2 hours + travel time) plus it's going to be wet and miserable! So it gives me just the (unlikely to happen) 3,000m next weekend to close out my track season. What it does mean is that I can kinda start to progress towards Autumn training slightly earlier. More threshold and less speed work!  I can also get some good quality in before the 3k. I have entered the Bedford 5k on the 18th October though - unfinished business after Milton Keynes and should be a great indicator if things are progressing, remaining static or regressing! Coming from a late track season it's a lot less rest required - I've hardly had a tiring series of stressful races - so a gentle transition is all that's really needed. The plan is to move from current ~36 miles per...

Getting older has it's obvious drawbacks when it comes to running. What I find difficult is comparing times that I run now to times I ran in my youth. Clearly it's depressing (and totally unrealistic) to think about lifetime bests. This is why I always quote OAPBs !! There are a few good tools and indicies to use out there. WAVA is a great one for comparing times by age grading. The older you get the less fast you have to run to get a comparable time! This year is actually my fastest Age Graded year for many years! My best results this year are - (distance, time, age grading, age) 1500m 4:28.3 = 84.3% 45 5k 17:02 = 83.43% 45 800m 2:13.85 = 83.18% 45 Comparative to my 'best' performances as an OAP - 5M 26:47 = 80.6% 35 5m 27:10 = 80.25% 37 5k 16:37 = 79.81 35 Clearly my 35 - 37 year old self was faster BUT relative to my age my new performances are much better!  I like WAVA as a tool, it also shows that my runs are consistent this year even when (in the 5k) I didn't ...

... or the one with all the wind! Looking forward to this one, a chance for a decent 5k and from recent training a slim chance of an (OA)pb! Training has gone well. Raced Thursday night in Harrow over 800m and then an easy 9 on Friday and a shakeout 4 on Saturday. Early start - that never goes down well with me - to wake up the legs and collect Nic at 8am for the 45 min drive to Milton Keynes. Started to feel a bit under the weather in the last few days but nothing serious. Few early nights and I've been holding together but I am definitely on the verge of getting ill (if I'm not sensible!) #excusenumber1 Today's wind was pretty shocking too. 17 mph with 33 mph gusts forecast. I'm pretty surprised how many people turned out considering! It was going to be pretty exposed for several longish sections #excusenumber2 The course when warming up (and confirmed in the race) had some pretty tight turns to navigate. The Alphafly do not like going around corners !! #excusenumber3...

Tired is best way to describe going in to today's race! Easy 5k leg opener this morning and felt OK but after a crap nights sleep I have been feeling tired all day. It's possibly just apprehension about the race but def not feeling 100%. HR at 49 bpm (just ticked under 50 for the briefest spell) at 4pm after coffee and morning so not bullet proof but either way I am racing! Set off for the long journey to Harrow. Scene of many training sessions in my youth as I lived down the road for 2 years whilst at uni. Track in a bit of a shit state with building work going on. Nowhere to sit and mud everywhere. I digress. Warm up feeling OK -ish. I'm fairly apprehensive if I am honest as I have no clue what to expect. In my head I think 2.12-2.15 but anything under 2.15 will be great. Try not to get carried away thinking sub 2.10 lol Line up and we are off. 11 in my race, a mixed bag. Boys and girls, young and old, even another Preston in the V45 category! Start is quick but settles a...

Almost perfect week in the bag for this stage of training. 38 miles with a race, a tempo session, a speed session and a hills session. It's been a push this week as we build towards the next few races, hopefully capitalise on some good form and consistent training next week. The potential lockdown is a bit of a scare. It could kick in before I have a chance to bank anything else ! But we can only go on the information we have and right now it's all systems go (spoiler alert - it's not !!)  Legs are almost ok this week. Obviously I wake up like a 90 year old man but they come back to life fairly quickly. Need to continue with the s&c - it's a bit of a focus this week to make sure I stay healthy. That needs priority Mon, Tue & Friday! The idea is to pep the legs daily now to make sure I feel really, really good every day. Thoughts of how to continue to build fitness without taking risks are always at the forefront. This week will be pretty relaxed outside the 2 ra...