Dr Dan, thanks, apparently its regarded as national level. I do think it is over sympathetic as you age to a certain point. In that 46 isn't really so old to stop you running well, however I don't think I'd ever have run the time where the wava system thinks you are at you're very best, being 27-29 I think.
It was only 2016 I was fixed on trying to get a 70% wava. There are no factors in my life that make me disadvantaged at 46.
But the reality is that there aren't any/many elite 46 year olds that compete with 25 year olds. Aging is real even if you're fit, healthy etc.
Howrver, WAVA has a weak point at the elite age band as the reference numbers are being set by professional athletes with massive coaching resources etc. It's good at masters level though.
Dr Dan, I guess looking back too 2002 and the training I did, my body would fall apart now. 7 a side footy twice a,week, a match Sunday, 3 circuit training classes a week and cycling to work each day, though that was only 4m each way.
Probably running equivalent, given intensity of it all, to more than I could cope with now. So I guess you're right. I've adapted to balance age with training load.
Though I still don't see there's much between me at 38 and now. In fact I'm training to a far higher load and far less injury phone.
Either way you take what's put in front of you and that's 3 of my 4 targets for this year done. Just the small matter of a sub 2.45 mara left.
I think your dedication to the process and consistency over a lot of years now have led to genuine physical improvements which are reflected in race times and age-grade increases. You could have hit 80% 10 years ago but would have had to train for the full 10 year before that.
Cycle home yesterday was predictably slow and hot... it's 5 degC higher today, so presumably it'll be even worse (but better than opting for the usual run day). I'll run commute Wed/Fri this week instead.
I did also get 1800m front crawl done yesterday which was a relief.
All the best for 10km DT. Are you targeting sub 36?
2x1000m crawl arms with pull buoy yesterday at the lido. Decent first 1000m, but the lane started to fill up with slow, head above the water breast strokers and even someone floating in one of the fast lanes. The other fast lane looked to be very serious, so equally things would have been difficult in there! Good to do though, and another slot booked for tomorrow.
10km this morning, was going to do my 13.5km loop, but took an early turn as I was already cooked at 6km. I'll do another easy 10km tomorrow morning, and 16km on Thursday and I won't be too far behind schedule. Either that, or I'll take an easy week and give parkrun a good go on Saturday, as I have another wedding on Sunday!
Double run commute day... comfortable going in but a bit sluggish going back after a day of heing overheatedin a suit. Quick refuel and now off to tri club swim (endurance session)... not sure I have the energy but am giving my boss a lift, so better go haha.
In answer to your question, Muss, no. I knew 36.30 would have been a good day.
Race hurt a lot, and I seem to have lost my desire to suffer and seem happy to give up too easily. Today was 'I want to quit' from 1.5m in. Held on for 36.47 and what drove me was knowing it was county champs. Managed to get county v40 bronze and second fastest 10k time so a reasonable outing.
You can't go to the well every time. A medal and 2nd fastest time seems like a win to me. 💪
1900m swim session. After warm up and a few drills, the main set was 1600m in total. I cramped at 1525m so decided that was enough... probably would have only managed another 25m before full time was called. I'll avoid run commuting on Wednesdays in future!
Well done on the race DT - it's still a cracking time and toughing out a 5k when you're not in the mood is one thing, but a 10k is a long time to suffer at that kind of intensity. Hurting after 1.5 miles is probably not too bad for a 10k off the marathon focused training you do and at this point in the cycle! How far were you off your pb?
Good swim Dan. Where do you get cramp? Regularity and focus on quality technique is probably much more important than overall volume.
8.5km run yesterday morning, 1,500m swim at lunch.
15km this morning - first half easy, second half a steady progression. Overall 4:51min/km @ average 150bpm, which is very good for me, aided by much cooler temps at 6am this morning!
Muss pb is 36.14 so 30s or so off. My pbs are all generally run in that period immediately post mara recovery where fitness is high and legs are loose. Splits were 18.11 and 18.36 so a distinct drop off second half but not a complete throw in of towel.
Double run commute - felt very comfortable today and was nice to get rained on for the return leg. Slotted in 1550m swim in 31 min at lunchtime. Need a long run and long bike this weekend but no time/energy to do both.
Change of routine next week... in Wales on Tues, racing 5K Wednesday evening and then it's York Triathlon (sprint) on Sunday. Need to make a plan!
20ish on the smart turbo (RGT) on Saturday, working very hard in patches, and then 12 miles easy run Sunday.
That's 10:30 hours training this week and have averaged 9 per week over the last 8 weeks... looking forward to briefy breaking the routine next week and racing.
Not the best week here with two very hot days compromising training. Then a very wet day where I also cut the distance short. Plus a niggly hamstring/glute. Got soaked today but made myself run for an hour to bring up another 40k week.
Progress is rarely a straight line. There are always bumps in the road, but you can make the choice to keep looking ahead.
Crystal Palace Parkrun on Saturday, 19:40 this week was good enough for 4th finisher. They have three different courses at this parkrun, a one lap, a two lap and a three lap course. The two lap is the hilliest version, and the three lap is the flattest, but it still has an incline you go up three times which is quite sapping. I think the three lap course we did this week is about 100-150m short, but I was pleased enough with the run considering it wasn't all out, and I was a long way from both 3rd and 5th, so had no real motivation to press on.
21.5km yesterday, which makes 63km for the week, so slightly down on 67 the week before, but with more swimming. Time for a cutback week this week, which fits nicely with a busier work week!
Alehouse, yep last week was challenging for sure. Much cooker this week. Hope the hammy is OK.
Muss, good effort at parkrun given not full beans. Do they just randomly decide week on week which course they'll use?
That's some great consistency Dr Dan. Should really start to kick in and show up in fitness gains now.
52m last week with a 6 and 10 Thursday and Friday. Sunday was 17m with 2 x 4m at mp. Was pretty humid, was drenched and quite drained by end. 5m recovery and spin yesterday.
Plan to watch commonwealth games mara Saturday. I had a great spot in Bournville where each races passes 4 times and it's just by train station for which there's a direct train I can get in 15 mins. However, there's a bloody rail strike and the whole west mids train service is cancelled for day. Welcome to our games!!
In other news, as there's no benefit in deferring my London place and I have Chester same day, they've agreed to refund me if I enter virtual event. Not a big fan of concept but might as well take it, it's about £15 cheaper than my refund will be as well.
DT - the three and one lap courses are only really possible in Summer because of mud, and in fact they refer to the one lap course as "the summer course". But both the two and one lap courses involve going to a separate section of the park that often have some kind of event going on - at the moment they're preparing for a big music festival that shuts off a large part of the park. Hence the need for the three lap course, which I think most people would rather not run otherwise.
Good you're doing Chester, I hear it's a fast course, and it looks like you could place well in it! I'm quite intrigued in the metric marathon - it seems a good warm up race, although I wouldn't be able to use it for anything this year.
Muss, not sure how much justice I'll do it as week before I'm racing Berlin.
I'm only there as its the England masters representative race. Not sure how I'd place as in theory there'll be 14 in my age cat running in snow England vest. Though how many that translates to in reality is another thing as no doubt many will prefer to run London.
It's also a masters qualification race for 2023 so again, not sure how many people will pick it over London just for the age group thing. It's much easier to pick 10ks and half's around that sort of thing but many run marathons once a year and will prioritise London. In fact last year was also the representative race and also clashed with London and I think there were only 2 v45 runners sub 2.50.
Meaty session over lunch of 4 x (3x 5 min at 6.50, 6.20 and 5.50). Hit every rep pretty much bang on to average 6.16mm for the hour.
Great session DT and a solid week too. Chester is s good race though not as flat as some like to clsom, especially in the last 5K ,(I've done that course twice).
We're in the stadium on the Saturday evening for the Commonwealth Games which I'm really looking forward to.
In North Wales today visiting in-laws... involves a lot of sitting in the car and consuming calories, so all good prep for tomorrow's race.
This Saturday? I can't see that there's any athletics happening just yet? Lots of cycling, rugby and gymnastics but noting I can see atvtge Alex stadium?
My son and I are going to stadium for evening session a week Saturday. Quite a few finals that evening.
14s faster than parkrun - 21:31 and 71.84% WAVA, so at least one race is covid free. I've run 21:30 this season but an intervening birthday means this was a slightly better age grade.
Hope your wife is OK, dr Dan. My wife and I had it at different times and shared a bed and didn't infect each other.
Excellent work on the 5k and wava. Comfortably over your 70% standard now.
Might see you there then, Dr Dan. Have you sorted your park and ride? You can't park near the stadium.
My plan b for Saturday was to drive to Edgbaston and parkrun then walk to nearest metro and go into city centre to watch maras finish, however parkrun has been cancelled. Think I'll just stay in bed!
Mrs D is having it bad but so far the rest of us are OK. She was meant to fly out to Malaga this morning to spend a week with a friend but obviously that went down the pan.
Our plan is to drive to my daughter's student house in Selly Oak, where we're staying, park there and take public transport to Perry Bar (which is free with games tickets).
Sorry to hear about the covid, DrDan! Hope that it passes you by. My daughter was at Birmingham also, and inevitably lived in a house in Selly Oak!
I note that some of the Birmingham Park runs are on during the games and not too far to Walsall where there is supposed to be one of the fastest courses.
Just watched the end of the men's tri and will be shouting for the daughter of a guy that I used to coach in the women's: c'mon Georgia!
Still ticking over here on 40 k or so per week.
Progress is rarely a straight line. There are always bumps in the road, but you can make the choice to keep looking ahead.
That's a shame to miss her trip, I bet she's gutted.
Sounds like a plan re Saturday. I looked at that but I couldn't get back to new St before my last train home.
I've done Walsall a couple of times alehouse. Decent 3 lap course.
Went to the mara this morning. Had a spot in Bournville where all runners passed 4 times. The women's race was pretty slow, two of them didn't manage sub 3. The one lady was way behind but having a lovely time waving at us and thumbs up, from first time they passed us at circa 9k. She did 3.02. I was also enthused by fact that last man was 2.40 so only 7 mins faster than my pb.
Picked up the discarded but full drinks bottle of the Aussie runner with his gel attached. It's in the fridge so want to try it later to see what he had.
Big session yesterday, been dreading it a while and wasn't helped by being warmish yesterday. 8 x 1m off 45s at hmp. Managed it really well and for second successive session felt really strong. Splits of 5.54, 5.55, 5.56, 5.53, 5.54, 5.51, 5.51. and 5.56.
That's two tough but well executed sessions this week. Suddenly beginning to feel fit. 20 tomorrow.
A very decent session, DT! And glad that you were able to get to the marathon earlier. Thought about you yesterday when I saw the running course at Sutton Park for the tri! I thought that the course would have favoured Georgia T-B, but she didn't seem to be on her A game yesterday, although silver is a decent result!
Tomorrow will see me over 40k again for the week and bring up a month of 180k. Unfortunately nothing quick as I am still having to nurse a glute to some extent.
Progress is rarely a straight line. There are always bumps in the road, but you can make the choice to keep looking ahead.
Comments
It was only 2016 I was fixed on trying to get a 70% wava. There are no factors in my life that make me disadvantaged at 46.
Howrver, WAVA has a weak point at the elite age band as the reference numbers are being set by professional athletes with massive coaching resources etc. It's good at masters level though.
Probably running equivalent, given intensity of it all, to more than I could cope with now. So I guess you're right. I've adapted to balance age with training load.
Though I still don't see there's much between me at 38 and now. In fact I'm training to a far higher load and far less injury phone.
Either way you take what's put in front of you and that's 3 of my 4 targets for this year done. Just the small matter of a sub 2.45 mara left.
I did also get 1800m front crawl done yesterday which was a relief.
All the best for 10km DT. Are you targeting sub 36?
2x1000m crawl arms with pull buoy yesterday at the lido. Decent first 1000m, but the lane started to fill up with slow, head above the water breast strokers and even someone floating in one of the fast lanes. The other fast lane looked to be very serious, so equally things would have been difficult in there! Good to do though, and another slot booked for tomorrow.
10km this morning, was going to do my 13.5km loop, but took an early turn as I was already cooked at 6km. I'll do another easy 10km tomorrow morning, and 16km on Thursday and I won't be too far behind schedule. Either that, or I'll take an easy week and give parkrun a good go on Saturday, as I have another wedding on Sunday!
Double run commute day... comfortable going in but a bit sluggish going back after a day of heing overheatedin a suit. Quick refuel and now off to tri club swim (endurance session)... not sure I have the energy but am giving my boss a lift, so better go haha.
Race hurt a lot, and I seem to have lost my desire to suffer and seem happy to give up too easily. Today was 'I want to quit' from 1.5m in. Held on for 36.47 and what drove me was knowing it was county champs. Managed to get county v40 bronze and second fastest 10k time so a reasonable outing.
1900m swim session. After warm up and a few drills, the main set was 1600m in total. I cramped at 1525m so decided that was enough... probably would have only managed another 25m before full time was called. I'll avoid run commuting on Wednesdays in future!
Good swim Dan. Where do you get cramp? Regularity and focus on quality technique is probably much more important than overall volume.
8.5km run yesterday morning, 1,500m swim at lunch.
15km this morning - first half easy, second half a steady progression. Overall 4:51min/km @ average 150bpm, which is very good for me, aided by much cooler temps at 6am this morning!
6m recovery just.
Double run commute - felt very comfortable today and was nice to get rained on for the return leg. Slotted in 1550m swim in 31 min at lunchtime. Need a long run and long bike this weekend but no time/energy to do both.
Change of routine next week... in Wales on Tues, racing 5K Wednesday evening and then it's York Triathlon (sprint) on Sunday. Need to make a plan!
That's 10:30 hours training this week and have averaged 9 per week over the last 8 weeks... looking forward to briefy breaking the routine next week and racing.
Not the best week here with two very hot days compromising training. Then a very wet day where I also cut the distance short. Plus a niggly hamstring/glute. Got soaked today but made myself run for an hour to bring up another 40k week.
Crystal Palace Parkrun on Saturday, 19:40 this week was good enough for 4th finisher. They have three different courses at this parkrun, a one lap, a two lap and a three lap course. The two lap is the hilliest version, and the three lap is the flattest, but it still has an incline you go up three times which is quite sapping. I think the three lap course we did this week is about 100-150m short, but I was pleased enough with the run considering it wasn't all out, and I was a long way from both 3rd and 5th, so had no real motivation to press on.
21.5km yesterday, which makes 63km for the week, so slightly down on 67 the week before, but with more swimming. Time for a cutback week this week, which fits nicely with a busier work week!
Muss, good effort at parkrun given not full beans. Do they just randomly decide week on week which course they'll use?
That's some great consistency Dr Dan. Should really start to kick in and show up in fitness gains now.
52m last week with a 6 and 10 Thursday and Friday. Sunday was 17m with 2 x 4m at mp. Was pretty humid, was drenched and quite drained by end. 5m recovery and spin yesterday.
Plan to watch commonwealth games mara Saturday. I had a great spot in Bournville where each races passes 4 times and it's just by train station for which there's a direct train I can get in 15 mins. However, there's a bloody rail strike and the whole west mids train service is cancelled for day. Welcome to our games!!
In other news, as there's no benefit in deferring my London place and I have Chester same day, they've agreed to refund me if I enter virtual event. Not a big fan of concept but might as well take it, it's about £15 cheaper than my refund will be as well.
Good you're doing Chester, I hear it's a fast course, and it looks like you could place well in it! I'm quite intrigued in the metric marathon - it seems a good warm up race, although I wouldn't be able to use it for anything this year.
I'm only there as its the England masters representative race. Not sure how I'd place as in theory there'll be 14 in my age cat running in snow England vest. Though how many that translates to in reality is another thing as no doubt many will prefer to run London.
It's also a masters qualification race for 2023 so again, not sure how many people will pick it over London just for the age group thing. It's much easier to pick 10ks and half's around that sort of thing but many run marathons once a year and will prioritise London. In fact last year was also the representative race and also clashed with London and I think there were only 2 v45 runners sub 2.50.
Meaty session over lunch of 4 x (3x 5 min at 6.50, 6.20 and 5.50). Hit every rep pretty much bang on to average 6.16mm for the hour.
We're in the stadium on the Saturday evening for the Commonwealth Games which I'm really looking forward to.
In North Wales today visiting in-laws... involves a lot of sitting in the car and consuming calories, so all good prep for tomorrow's race.
My son and I are going to stadium for evening session a week Saturday. Quite a few finals that evening.
Excellent work on the 5k and wava. Comfortably over your 70% standard now.
Might see you there then, Dr Dan. Have you sorted your park and ride? You can't park near the stadium.
My plan b for Saturday was to drive to Edgbaston and parkrun then walk to nearest metro and go into city centre to watch maras finish, however parkrun has been cancelled. Think I'll just stay in bed!
Our plan is to drive to my daughter's student house in Selly Oak, where we're staying, park there and take public transport to Perry Bar (which is free with games tickets).
I note that some of the Birmingham Park runs are on during the games and not too far to Walsall where there is supposed to be one of the fastest courses.
Just watched the end of the men's tri and will be shouting for the daughter of a guy that I used to coach in the women's: c'mon Georgia!
Still ticking over here on 40 k or so per week.
Sounds like a plan re Saturday. I looked at that but I couldn't get back to new St before my last train home.
I've done Walsall a couple of times alehouse. Decent 3 lap course.
Went to the mara this morning. Had a spot in Bournville where all runners passed 4 times. The women's race was pretty slow, two of them didn't manage sub 3. The one lady was way behind but having a lovely time waving at us and thumbs up, from first time they passed us at circa 9k. She did 3.02. I was also enthused by fact that last man was 2.40 so only 7 mins faster than my pb.
Picked up the discarded but full drinks bottle of the Aussie runner with his gel attached. It's in the fridge so want to try it later to see what he had.
Big session yesterday, been dreading it a while and wasn't helped by being warmish yesterday. 8 x 1m off 45s at hmp. Managed it really well and for second successive session felt really strong. Splits of 5.54, 5.55, 5.56, 5.53, 5.54, 5.51, 5.51.
and 5.56.
That's two tough but well executed sessions this week. Suddenly beginning to feel fit. 20 tomorrow.
Tomorrow will see me over 40k again for the week and bring up a month of 180k. Unfortunately nothing quick as I am still having to nurse a glute to some extent.