The age of competition

I've really started something now then. This winter's training is supposed to be aimed at 400m, an event I've never really excelled at, but the work seems more suited to Decathlons than what I was doing previously. My eldest daughter has recently decided that 800m is the event for her and so I seem to be doing similar stuff. And so she is inevitably comparing times, at the moment I have the edge over her, but I get the impression that state of affairs won't last long.

I've set a few targets in the shape of the BMAF Indoor Pentathlon, the BMAF Indoors and even the World Indoors in  Budapest. For the Pentathlon I'd like to set new figures of 2750, but that depends on me sorting more than just fitness out, For the indoors I guess 7.9 for the 60m would be nice, maybe 5.20m in the long jump but I'm not sure about anything else at the moment as I'm carrying a shoulder injury so can't do any weights. As far as the WMACi in Budapest, I still have to negotiate with the boss for permission to go. Trouble is as every year, it clashes with my wedding anniversary, I got away with it in Gent and Jyvaskyla, but not for San Sebastian - I still have hope and probably bribery to fall back on though.

So with that in mind, I'm trying to avoid doing the same road runs as my daughter at the moment to build slowly and not suffer too much embarrassment, she did a little 1.8mile run Saturday, I did a 2 mile slog Sunday morning, she was bright and breezy at the end and could clearly have gone further, me, well I fell asleep on the sofa after getting below 18 minutes for the first time this winter. Chloe, my eldest, was out at an 18th Saturday night so was in no fit state to run Sunday thankfully.

Such achievements must not go unrecognised though, and so I celebrated with and brief attack on my single malt collection, 4 measures of a Balvenie 12 year old Double Wood were duly dispatched. Not only does it reward success but is also deadens the pain.The rest of the weekend was unfortunately spent boring myself to death completing this quarter's VAT return, next best thing to an anaesthetic, although the bill at the end would cause a cardiac arrest. Life on the edge !

Week  two begins then, normally the week I get injured so fingers crossed for that then. Monday's session  was a change from the track, 2x1000m reps on the road whilst Chloe was slaving away at the track, but as it was barely 36 hours after the weekends "run" and just 20 minutes after surviving the evening's rush-hour traffic from Cheltenham to Newport, I was knackered before I started. The times were therefore as far from sparkling as a politician is from being useful, perhaps I need to invest in some more single malt infusions before I run. I made do with home made chocolate cake and ice cream instead (Interesting training diet methinks).

Two days off now anyway by way of recovery, due to my niece getting hitched in Hythe.

Well I finally got around to writing a blog

Well  I finally got around to writing a blog.

The basis will be as the title suggests, to do with my hapless adiction to Masters Athletics. For those who are unfamiliar, this means Athletics for the over 35s not eliete athletes.

Mind you, that's another discussion, some of us traiin like elite athletes, as this blog will hopefully show. So don't get me started on that.


Anyway the 2013 Season is over, and not one of my best. This year was my Silver Wedding anniversary, and bizarely all I seem to win this year was silver medals. Anyone who thinks I should be happy, don't know me well enough, I like winning, I'm highly competitive and I don't like losing  -  though I seem to get a lot of practice at it.


So winter training is underway, the weather in Wales is therefore set to change - the rain will get colder, but that's what make the Celtic Nations tough (well that's what they tell me). Tuesday's session left me gasping, 3x300m followed by 4x100m alll with short recoveries, so snails could out pace me. Thursday was worse, 5x200m and 3x100m and I nearly passed out. Made the drive home interesting nevertheless.

You get the idea, but don't expect this to be a regular journal.