Daz Does Tri

Woke up feeling much clearer today. Still a little chesty, throat much better, head clearer it's 100% a run day but no idea how that will go yet. Weight 10st 6.8lbs so far from  ideal but the elastic hasn't broken yet. If I can run with no major problems and continue to improve then I reckon I'll be fine next week at some stage. Need to take my time returning to action here or at my age something will definitely fall off. Ran less than 5 miles in the past 7 days - ouch. I really, really need a following wind here. Main thing now is to try and keep gettiing healthier every day. The fitness should slowly return. If I look at Friday (last run) was a solid session. Rest Saturday after a tough session will help and then from Sunday I am missing runs then in reality I have missed 3 days so I should only be 6 days to return to that level. These things are never straight forward and I am not expecting plain sailing. Just keeping fingers crossed that it's a clear systems check t...

Slept well last night but up early - for me (5am)  ! Resting HR down to 41 so finally seem to have broken out of this bug. Now it seems the issue is going to be clearing the shit off my chest which means - lots of coughing agghhh. It's actually not too bad at the minute but it's 'productive'. Throat is slightly sore, ibro and decongestant seems to work best with lockets. Lemsip / strepsils don't really bring much to the party. Will delay return to running until tomorrow as planned. Today I'll stretch out and do some activation type S&C just to see what's going on with the muscles. Looking back, I'm guessing that I'll be coughing and not feeling amazing for I guess a week or so. Fingers crossed that's the case as it'll give me time to pull something out of the bag. Worst I have been ill for years, certainly over a period of time as it's close to 7 days. I don't really get ill much and when I do it's usually over quickly. This o...

Better night sleep but still really not at all well. Weigh in for first time since Friday - 10st 6 - so as to be expected the body will retain water and fat while I'm cattled. Resting HR 48 bpm - same as yesterday so 5 bpm over normal. Feels like maybe I am at the bottom now so fingers crossed things start to improve from here. It's actually been 5 full days since I felt rough and most likely 6 as Tuesdays session did feel unnaturally hard work. Almost ironic now looking back last week and being thankful of timing of illness that it was perfect. 95% sure that Battersea is a non starter now and Telford will just be a day trip.  12 weeks of focus for 2 races that now seems just totally written off. Even worse is that over the Christmas period there's no real back up alternatives to fall back on. Going to need some real DC positive moments to try and process this !!  Not sure I have felt this ill for a period of time for many years? It's not Covid (tested) and I've had...

So Daz Man, was it worth it?? Short answer is no. Yesterday took a turn for the worst, started feeling really ill - brutal sore throat, chesty and aching. Flu. It hit me HARD. Ended up in bed at 7pm. Didn't really get much sleep and woke up today feeling better once I was up but far from 100%. Previously wrote a blog about resting up when you feel ill at any stage and not risking it. I should have heeded my own advice. This one is for the search in future and the answer is just take the hit early, do not try and run through. Last Tuesday I really started to feel it (session was way too hard), Wednesday was bad but ran. Thursday rested. Friday feeling better and ran. Saturday fucked. Sunday fucked. So right now, there is no way I'll run today. Not considering tomorrow yet but whatever happens next weekend as an A race target is out the window. Plan B - there's always more plans - I'll look at once I'm healthy but right now plan A is to get myself healthy again. Not e...

Rest day yesterday, trying to break out of this illness. Today, decided to gamble on doing the session even though I am not 100% healthy. I feel about 80% during the day and if I wasn't racing next weekend I would take an extra day or two. Frustrating as I am in really good shape but I kind of need to start seeing improvement each day. Right now, I'm pretty much ticking along and not improving. Session was supposed to be 12 x 75/45 but I called a very low improvement on last week to compromise - 12 x 60/30 but taking the pace from 18.6 to 19.9. Felt really good during the session. Wore the MetaSpeeds and the power was pretty low. HR slightly up on last week but to be expected. Bit of a coughing fit after the session and post run feeling very lethargic. Still hoping that sleeping well tonight and resting well will give me 85% tomorrow. If I feel better at least I can get through next couple of days training and then rest Monday. All being well this does not head to my chest and ...

Woke up yesterday morning with the dreaded sore throat and feeling pretty rough. Managed to get out for 8 yesterday evening and actually felt pretty good with a really low HR BUT today woke up with that lingering feeling so just carded a zero for the day. Frustrating, but illness at this time of the year is going to happen. In terms of next weekend, it really could not have happened at a better time. Banked Tuesday session which was the last hard work out and it's pretty easy to move things around to accommodate an extra rest day.  Feel ok - ish today, not great but happy to bank the extra rest. Will rest up, eat well, drink well and sleep well tonight and hopefully be back on it tomorrow feeling better. Plan now is to do the speedwork session tomorrow, run a steady 8 Saturday and long easy on Sunday. If I can get those in the book I'll start to navigate next weeks taper as it happens !! Looking back over my blogs and fetch I've had loads of periods like this over the years...

Tough, tough session today, a step up from the last sessions in target pace. Truth be told this session I'd only use when I have a race coming up. Decided on Stories Field as the venue just to get some realistic testing in. Still think Battersea Park is worth a few secs / mile.  This session is the last big session in the lead up to Battersea so hopefully it pays off with some improved fitness !! Warmed up, from the car park on the usual Parkrun warm up loop. 2k at 7.09/mm and feeling really good. HR was 137 bpm for that which is really strong and a positive sign that conditioning is getting much better. Few drills, felt a big bleugh about the 24 odd minutes coming up. First rep. 2km at 10k pace. Started and got the power locked in early. Felt good but last 400m or so was a little draggy. Decent wind for the 2nd half which was a shitter. 2k in 6.53 (5:31/mm) 159 bpm avge 165 max 313w. 90 sec recovery. Second rep. 1 mile @ 5k pace. Started strong, had wind behind first 200m then got...