Follow

Sunday 28 September 2014

Learning to race

Over the last two and a half months I have really enjoyed racing at shorter distances and I mean really enjoyed it.

Since I wrote this post (http://smoker2triathlete.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/whats-next.html) I have raced at the following events.

Doncaster 5k where I set a new "official 5km PB

Hatfield Sprint where I set a new course PB


London Triathlon Sprint which I had a really good race at and finished in the top 10% of all racers


Swim With Other Teams Championships which Doncaster Triathlon finished 4th at


National Club Relay Championships where I beat all my times from 2013 and finished as the quickest member of my team


Leeds Triathlon Relay (swim) which we won again and where I was #firstoutthewater

Doncaster Parkrun where I set a new PB by nearly 4 minutes


Brigg Sprint where I set a new course PB by 11 minutes and finished 37th overall and 7th in the 30-34 age group.

At Brigg I came to a realisation that maybe I am capable of racing so I have decided that in 2015 I am only going to concentrate on sprint triathlons and running 10k road races.

The aim is to learn how to race properly and see what I am really capable of.

I have three races (one sprint tri, one 7 mile off road run and one 10km road run) left this year before I plan on putting in a good winter's base training ahead of 2015. Who knows what will happen next year?!?! I need to come up with a plan for which races to enter and with the help of my new coach and #runboss, I am sure it will be a good year.

I am going to learn to race as I really enjoyed pushing myself at Brigg. The fact that I was only 32 seconds off my 5km run PB in a triathlon shows how much I have improved in recent months. I'm really looking forward to 2015.

Thanks for reading,

Michael

Monday 8 September 2014

A public thank you

About five weeks ago I contacted #runboss of Blizard Physiotherapy about my increasing weight (following Ironman Austria) and the fact I had lost my running and training mojo.

We sat down (via the medium of Facebook Messenger) and formulated a plan to put an end to my weight gain and help me rediscover my running and training mojo,

The plan revolved around structured training and a structured diet where I have been monitoring what I am eating.

Fast forward to today and my weight has started to come down, in fact recently I have weighed less than I have in as long as I can remember. People are even commenting on the fact that I look thinner.

And as for my running. Wow!

My running has improved so much in the past five weeks.

Five weeks ago today, on a recovery run, my pace was 10:30/mile, tonight on the same duration recovery run my pace was 9:04/mile (which is quicker than I have ever run for such a low HR).

In the same time my threshold run pace has reduced from 9:23/mile to 8:25/mile.

No amount of words can truly express my thanks to someone who is not only my coach but also a good friend, someone who believes in me when sometimes I don't even believe in myself.

The gratitude I feel can never be repaid in full, this man has helped me improve so, so much with his encouragement and belief in me. Yes it has been hard work but it has been worth it. I am starting to really enjoy running.

If you need some help with running you could do a lot worse than look into the services provided by Blizard Physiotherapy.

Thank you Dave.

Michael