It's been a while since I wrote one of these here blog thingys so I've probably lost a few readers, so here we go.
Winter training went well, all things considered, I survived another trip around the Distilleries of East Scotland and Speyside. Spent over £800 on Distillery only bottlings from the likes of Macallan, Royal Lochnagar, Glenlivet, Balvenie and Glen Garioch. Still so many left to visit, but I digress. As some of you may have noticed I had a crack at the indoors this year. It was fun (sort of), I especially find the atmosphere indoors more intimate as the noise in the enclosed space creates a great environment for competition. It's also nice to be in the warm and dry rather than freezing the brass monkeys off the do-dah wotsits whilst drowning in the continuous Welsh rain that inhabits these parts.
The pre-Christmas meeting proved that some strength was returning to these ancient legs as I managed a reasonable long jump despite a plethora of no-jumps, but the 60m was a bit embarrassing even though I got a proper start, I just couldn't get going, I felt as sharp as a blancmange. Clearly I needed to get some real winter's training done, instead of the phaffing about I'd managed up until this point. So a new year's resolution then, real training now that most of the injuries were behind me. That didn't stop me polishing off a bottle of Dalwhinnie Winters Gold over the holidays, it was so moreish and sweet I couldn't help myself, reminded me of Highland Park, sort of honeyish.
January went a bit too quick, so I can't say I resembled a fit athlete for the Welsh Indoor Masters Championships day 1, still I managed three wins with mediocre performances in the pole vault, long jump and 200m. No that's not right, the 200m was abysmal, I can run reps faster than that with my friend the large furry creature and his refreshment mechanism on my shoulders. So having performed that badly, I am unable to fathom what possessed me to enter the Welsh Senior Indoor Championships at the end of January. Predictably things went as bad as training was, crap long jump followed by sleeping sickness in the 60m. I was so slow out of the blocks that the electronic timing had to switch to calendar mode before I finished.
I knuckled down to some serious speed endurance in the fields opposite in and attempt to improve before day 2 of the Welsh Masters came round. The whisky intake was reduced accordingly more in hope than necessity, but it took some will power nevertheless. I was rewarded by two more wins but yet again, the lack of edge was apparent, at least I avoided any further injury. The start in the 60m was improved but that's about all, at least I finished with a SB. The High Jump was a laugh, I seemed hell bent on transforming the event into the long jump, or perhaps I was too scared to get close, hmmm you choose.
Sadly it was around this time that my mother's health started to decline significantly, meaning training became secondary and rather random in nature. She was admitted to hospital towards the end of February but unfortunately passed from this mortal coil a month later. This, as you probably guessed, threw my plans in the bin as the family learnt to cope with our loss. It wasn't until April that some sense of normality returned to the household.
During this time, I amazingly managed to produce a couple of seasons bests at the Indoor Inter-Regional match at Lee Valley for the 60m and Vault, and ran a decent first leg of the 4x200m relay as captured opposite by Tom Phillips. I nearly got the team disqualified though, because my vest was judged illegal, IE not the same as the others in the Welsh quartet. Thankfully common sense prevailed before things got out of hand as a sit down protest was threatened. What was even more amazing was the performances at the BMAF Indoor Champs. Ran a decent 8.40 in the 60m followed by 4.48m in the Long Jump which was enjoyable despite the usual quota of no-jumps. Unfortunately the Vaulting was awful, I managed just 1 solitary clearance at my opening height and nothing else close. Strangely nobody else could clear anything either, leaving me as British Indoor M55 Pole Vault champion with my worst ever performance - the irony was not lost on me. The celebration reverted to type of course, when I made it home I promptly finished off the Penderyn. The toffeeness was quite a contrast to the honey notes of the highland malt from Dalwhinnie, both at 43% helped settle the end of the day.
I stepped up the speed endurance work along with the weights in the hope I'd be ready for the outdoor season. The fields were getting a bashing by now, I was waring a path in the grass, well actually it turned out to be the dog walkers but every little helps. I was now frequently re-acquainting myself with my friend the Bear and his Fridge, most noticeably when completing 6x200m reps in 35 secs apiece over the fields. Age was clearly creeping up on me as these sessions often resulted in a quick kip on the sofa.
The outdoor season got underway for me on a bright sunny spring day in Newport with the Welsh Senior League, I planned to start with the vault and follow with a decent long jump, but life ain't like that is it! Didn't get to vault as the equipment was broken and the event was cancelled, somehow that translated into an appalling mess in the long jump, recording just one legal jump. This theme continued into the first Midland league where I no-heighted in the vault by tweaking a calf muscle on my first vault. It was like it was contagious, having let the senior side down, next it was the turn of the Masters at the Cardiff meeting. Although in my defence, I did try to vault immediately after winning the 200m (29.16) in sub zero temperatures, which is why I no-heighted again. Long jump wasn't much better, thanks to the freezing cold head wind.
The latest debacle was at the East Wales Regional Championships. True the long jump went well, 4.49 was welcome (also took 2nd) with a measured NJ of 4.68 to show things were coming good, but it was extremely wind assisted. Unfortunately it was also wet, and when it rains in Brecon, Pen-Y-Fan doesn't spare the drops and so another Vault was cancelled due to the lack of a life guard.
All I can say is fingers crossed for the next month!
