After the debacle in the rain at Sutton Coldfield, I was
glad to be getting away on a 2 week holiday in Portugal. But first I needed to
step up the training once more in preparation for the Decathlon in September.
Going on holiday was not really part of a decent training plan, more of an
opportunity to over eat and drink myself silly with some of Scotland’s finest. I
couldn’t see that ending well, so it was back to the field for some serious
speed endurance work before we went. Unfortunately, being the school holidays, I was not alone
in my desire to use the green track, every man and his dog seemed to descend on
it, especially the dogs. As you can imagine, an old twit in Lycra is often just
too much of a temptation for some mutts, and, lo and behold, I soon found myself
sidestepping sheep dogs, over excited terriers and the like, one or two of the owners also seemed to be taking too much interest in me for my comfort. Inevitably one
over excited pooch chased me half way round the field, cornering me at the 150m
mark and jumped on me joyously at his winning the ‘race’, leaving me scratched
and bleeding. I was too knackered to argue, as the embarrassed owner, regained
his dog and legged it. At least it was a fast 200m rep.
 |
| Sustinance worth celebrating. |
After returning from a glorious vacation in the Algarve,
minus the now empty bottle of Tomatin, I decided on a trip to the indoor track
to re-discover such exotic arts as Pole Vaulting and Hurdling. Rumours of the
existence of these ancient rites abounded and I needed to know more, such as
how the f**k to do them. Well vaulting soon came back to me, but inevitably the
hurdling resulted in me aggravating the previously injured muscle in my abdomen. Should have taken the whisky with me see! I now had two days before the Welsh Inter Regional championships in Brecon in which to recover. So with a duff stomach I reproduced my memorable day in Royal Sutton Coldfield only just managing to scrape over my 2.50m starting height. Once again I managed to traverse Brecon's pole vault run up more times than I actually took off. I enjoyed the experience so much I volunteered to cover the Triple Jump, learning from such experiences is not in my repertoire. It was lucky the competition has 4 rounds as my first three attempts simply resulted in my spikes removing the plasticine from the board and distributing it around the sand pit. My 4th attempt counted but I took off nearer Pen Y Fan than the board.
Fresh from that marvellous day out in Brecon, my next challenge was the Master's League on the Tuesday in Cardiff which included another opportunity in the vault and a 100m to see how slow I'd become since attacking yet more whisky bottles. As is the way with such completions, it usually falls to the athletes (Well me and Derek Osbourne) to set up and run the event. As usual it clashed exactly with the 100m which I wound up running first. I had a good race against my nemesis Glyn Sutton, left him at the start and got away from the field only for the Arhus Champion to come cruising past in the last 30m. This left me too tired to vault well and once again I struggled over my opening height of 2.50m and no more. At least my daughter ran a PB in the 800m, threatening to go faster than me over the shorter distances.
The weekend of the 2nd and 3rd of September was the BMAF Decathlon championships, I'd planned for this all year, but the mice and their men hadn't really executed properly all season. Things were made worse by the journey up on the Friday as the motorway network ground to a halt due to some bad accidents and horrendous road works. I dived off and headed for the A46 much to the consternation of the Sat Nav lady who seemed to range from annoyance at my failure to perform a legal U-turn and pleading with me to at least turn somewhere, suggesting lanes I woulldn't walk down in wellies, let alone drive. It took me 5 hours to reach the stadium, too late to lock up my pole but just in time to leave it in the bar - that should be well received in the morning. In addition to my travel issues, I had made the start line without running anything further that 1Km, no recent sprint work, pulled abdomen muscles, a calf issue from Tuesday, a dodgy pole vault technique and a fully justified fear of 3 foot hurdles. I couldn't see me finishing this, but I kept stoom and took my place in the line up alongside my friends and rivals of old.
The Decathlon started.
100m - Got a good start, though not a sharp reaction due to dreaming, only Allan Leiper went with me and although he was just up on me he pulled up with a calf strain at 80m leaving me the win in 13.55 (691pts) with no obvious injury. That was the easy bit.
Long Jump - Been a bit of a bogey event in the past, and sure enough I started with a foul, so back 20cm and pray, sacrifice another chicken, swig some rocket fuel and thankfully my 2nd attempt was just shy of my SB at 4.56m (582pts). 3rd round I took off only vaguely in the vicinity board so I had to settle for that. Still two down and both ahead of schedule -just, and only a dull pain in my gut to deal with.
Shot putt - Almost a disaster. Got pulled up for letting the shot come away from my neck too soon, so No Throw round 1. This threw me a bit so I did a safe 2nd putt that was absolutely diabolical, but legal. This put a lot of pressure on the 3rd with the eagle eyed official staring at my neck like a vampire only feet away, but at least it was legal again, if not far (7.14m 430pts).
High Jump - I was looking forward to this as I had a new run up that actually worked, even so I cautiously started at 1.28m for safety. I went successfully up in 3cm intervals to my first failure at 1.37m (528pts) which I got it on my 3rd attempt but couldn't go higher. Sadly, this event managed to replace the now absent injury list with a pain in the left knee. Frantic massage with Voltarol ensued.
400m - This was going to be fun. The first 400m in 3 years and that was crap back then. I decided on the proven scientific strategy of sh** or bust. So based on what I knew of my rivals I blasted out of the blocks and carefully closed down Geoff Powley outside me, moving to his shoulder at 200m and actually feeling OK. Round the bend as the stagger unwound I held position then tried to ease past as Geoff kicked. A strange gurgling noise entered my head, oh yes, that's the sound of the fuel tank emptying. Seconds later my dear old friend the Bear landed squarely on my shoulders carrying his fridge. The wheels fell off, almost everyone went past, but the time was 64.11 (631pts), 5 seconds inside my expectations despite finishing in need of a defibrillator. At least the bear's ice was useful as I ended day 1 in 4th on 2862 points, 136 points ahead of schedule.
Day 2
100m Hurdles - Miraculously, 1 ice bath, a hot shower, a hot bath, various massages and several pain killers got me to the start line in decent shape. I'd only done two hurdle sessions in the last few years and one of those had ended in injury, so I started with some trepidation. I finished last in 19.43 (530pts), thankful to be mostly in one piece, but this was still up on my schedule, self belief was at an all time high along with the pain in my abs and knee. The long time leader, Ron Todd, also picked up an injury and was doubtful of finishing.
Discus - My favourite throw. This can go wrong easily if control is lost. I need not have worried, I opened up with 24m so target achieved already. Round 2 and I hit 26.02m (443pts) much to my amazement, but round 3 was only in the 25m range. I was just able to contain my jubilation, as I had a sniff of 3rd as long as the pain killers lasted.
Pole Vault - Warm up went really well, popped over 2.80 practise bar with height to spare. Unfortunately, when I came to vault an hour or so later, it all went horribly and disastrously wrong. I was unable to get the plant right, taking off too close with my right arm woefully too slow, and the pain in my abdomen signaling that all was not well. No-height and nil points! Totally gutted and barely able to walk without discomfort, so much for banker events.
Javelin - Not being one to give up, I've had too much practise of cocking things up over the years, I took on my worst event with gritty determination and Solpadiene. I threw a safe starter around 19m, then hit a decent 2nd out to 24m+ well beyond my 23m target. I finished with a slight improvement at 24.62m (341pts) making the vault hurt even more.
1500m - Into the unknown as I hadn't run beyond 1000m without the aid of breathing apparatus this year. So I had worked out a schedule that should get me round in 6:45, but I wasn't expecting to be able to run with anyone as I was too slow. Remarkably, I executed the race to plan with a little help from Lawrie Dunn on the first 2 laps, staying within a couple of seconds of the split times all the way round, allowing me to perform a minor 'kick' at the end to get me home in 6:42.47 (372pts).
I finished last, 5th with 4548 points, ruing the vault as a 2.80m clearance would have given me 3rd place. Geoff was a worthy winner on 5828 from Alan Smith 5680 and my old friend Pete Stepney in 3rd 5066 ahead of long time leader Ron 4933. The journey home the next day was painful enough to keep me awake for a week, thank heavens for cruise control. At least I was able to convince my legs that rumours of them walking again were true in time for work the next day. The thoughts of a Bowmore kept me going, but when I got home, sleep claimed me before I had a chance of popping the cork.
Wednesday saw me back in action in the Welsh Masters League at Newport, not really by choice but as this was my home club match I pretty much had to go, despite not having recovered from the weekend. Add to that the lack of time keepers and it being so late in the season, the turnout was small. I decided on the 100m and 200m for an easy night. Unfortunately in the 200m the M50+ runners were joined by the junior guests and like a twit I tried racing them only to meet up with a certain fridge toting bear in the home straight after running a terrific bend. Well, it was probably the only time I could chase a 17 year old girl and not get arrested, not that I got close anyway. Thankfully there was no such problem in the 100m as I took the win, though I was still feeling tired from the 200m only 30 minutes earlier. The times were embarrassing, proving it takes me more than 2 days to recover from a decathlon.
So the season ended, as did the bottle of Bowmore Small Batch. That little gem, tasting of citrus and vanilla, with a slightly oily body of peat, was a very appropriate way to round off 2017. Winter's training beckons after a well earned rest, and probably more single malt indulgences.
Fresh from that marvellous day out in Brecon, my next challenge was the Master's League on the Tuesday in Cardiff which included another opportunity in the vault and a 100m to see how slow I'd become since attacking yet more whisky bottles. As is the way with such completions, it usually falls to the athletes (Well me and Derek Osbourne) to set up and run the event. As usual it clashed exactly with the 100m which I wound up running first. I had a good race against my nemesis Glyn Sutton, left him at the start and got away from the field only for the Arhus Champion to come cruising past in the last 30m. This left me too tired to vault well and once again I struggled over my opening height of 2.50m and no more. At least my daughter ran a PB in the 800m, threatening to go faster than me over the shorter distances.
The weekend of the 2nd and 3rd of September was the BMAF Decathlon championships, I'd planned for this all year, but the mice and their men hadn't really executed properly all season. Things were made worse by the journey up on the Friday as the motorway network ground to a halt due to some bad accidents and horrendous road works. I dived off and headed for the A46 much to the consternation of the Sat Nav lady who seemed to range from annoyance at my failure to perform a legal U-turn and pleading with me to at least turn somewhere, suggesting lanes I woulldn't walk down in wellies, let alone drive. It took me 5 hours to reach the stadium, too late to lock up my pole but just in time to leave it in the bar - that should be well received in the morning. In addition to my travel issues, I had made the start line without running anything further that 1Km, no recent sprint work, pulled abdomen muscles, a calf issue from Tuesday, a dodgy pole vault technique and a fully justified fear of 3 foot hurdles. I couldn't see me finishing this, but I kept stoom and took my place in the line up alongside my friends and rivals of old.
The Decathlon started.
100m - Got a good start, though not a sharp reaction due to dreaming, only Allan Leiper went with me and although he was just up on me he pulled up with a calf strain at 80m leaving me the win in 13.55 (691pts) with no obvious injury. That was the easy bit.
 |
| Brilliant photo of the 100m taken by the inimitable Tom Phillips |
Long Jump - Been a bit of a bogey event in the past, and sure enough I started with a foul, so back 20cm and pray, sacrifice another chicken, swig some rocket fuel and thankfully my 2nd attempt was just shy of my SB at 4.56m (582pts). 3rd round I took off only vaguely in the vicinity board so I had to settle for that. Still two down and both ahead of schedule -just, and only a dull pain in my gut to deal with.
Shot putt - Almost a disaster. Got pulled up for letting the shot come away from my neck too soon, so No Throw round 1. This threw me a bit so I did a safe 2nd putt that was absolutely diabolical, but legal. This put a lot of pressure on the 3rd with the eagle eyed official staring at my neck like a vampire only feet away, but at least it was legal again, if not far (7.14m 430pts).
High Jump - I was looking forward to this as I had a new run up that actually worked, even so I cautiously started at 1.28m for safety. I went successfully up in 3cm intervals to my first failure at 1.37m (528pts) which I got it on my 3rd attempt but couldn't go higher. Sadly, this event managed to replace the now absent injury list with a pain in the left knee. Frantic massage with Voltarol ensued.
400m - This was going to be fun. The first 400m in 3 years and that was crap back then. I decided on the proven scientific strategy of sh** or bust. So based on what I knew of my rivals I blasted out of the blocks and carefully closed down Geoff Powley outside me, moving to his shoulder at 200m and actually feeling OK. Round the bend as the stagger unwound I held position then tried to ease past as Geoff kicked. A strange gurgling noise entered my head, oh yes, that's the sound of the fuel tank emptying. Seconds later my dear old friend the Bear landed squarely on my shoulders carrying his fridge. The wheels fell off, almost everyone went past, but the time was 64.11 (631pts), 5 seconds inside my expectations despite finishing in need of a defibrillator. At least the bear's ice was useful as I ended day 1 in 4th on 2862 points, 136 points ahead of schedule.
 |
| Is that a cliff I see before me? |
Day 2
100m Hurdles - Miraculously, 1 ice bath, a hot shower, a hot bath, various massages and several pain killers got me to the start line in decent shape. I'd only done two hurdle sessions in the last few years and one of those had ended in injury, so I started with some trepidation. I finished last in 19.43 (530pts), thankful to be mostly in one piece, but this was still up on my schedule, self belief was at an all time high along with the pain in my abs and knee. The long time leader, Ron Todd, also picked up an injury and was doubtful of finishing.
Discus - My favourite throw. This can go wrong easily if control is lost. I need not have worried, I opened up with 24m so target achieved already. Round 2 and I hit 26.02m (443pts) much to my amazement, but round 3 was only in the 25m range. I was just able to contain my jubilation, as I had a sniff of 3rd as long as the pain killers lasted.
Pole Vault - Warm up went really well, popped over 2.80 practise bar with height to spare. Unfortunately, when I came to vault an hour or so later, it all went horribly and disastrously wrong. I was unable to get the plant right, taking off too close with my right arm woefully too slow, and the pain in my abdomen signaling that all was not well. No-height and nil points! Totally gutted and barely able to walk without discomfort, so much for banker events.
Javelin - Not being one to give up, I've had too much practise of cocking things up over the years, I took on my worst event with gritty determination and Solpadiene. I threw a safe starter around 19m, then hit a decent 2nd out to 24m+ well beyond my 23m target. I finished with a slight improvement at 24.62m (341pts) making the vault hurt even more.
1500m - Into the unknown as I hadn't run beyond 1000m without the aid of breathing apparatus this year. So I had worked out a schedule that should get me round in 6:45, but I wasn't expecting to be able to run with anyone as I was too slow. Remarkably, I executed the race to plan with a little help from Lawrie Dunn on the first 2 laps, staying within a couple of seconds of the split times all the way round, allowing me to perform a minor 'kick' at the end to get me home in 6:42.47 (372pts).
I finished last, 5th with 4548 points, ruing the vault as a 2.80m clearance would have given me 3rd place. Geoff was a worthy winner on 5828 from Alan Smith 5680 and my old friend Pete Stepney in 3rd 5066 ahead of long time leader Ron 4933. The journey home the next day was painful enough to keep me awake for a week, thank heavens for cruise control. At least I was able to convince my legs that rumours of them walking again were true in time for work the next day. The thoughts of a Bowmore kept me going, but when I got home, sleep claimed me before I had a chance of popping the cork.
Wednesday saw me back in action in the Welsh Masters League at Newport, not really by choice but as this was my home club match I pretty much had to go, despite not having recovered from the weekend. Add to that the lack of time keepers and it being so late in the season, the turnout was small. I decided on the 100m and 200m for an easy night. Unfortunately in the 200m the M50+ runners were joined by the junior guests and like a twit I tried racing them only to meet up with a certain fridge toting bear in the home straight after running a terrific bend. Well, it was probably the only time I could chase a 17 year old girl and not get arrested, not that I got close anyway. Thankfully there was no such problem in the 100m as I took the win, though I was still feeling tired from the 200m only 30 minutes earlier. The times were embarrassing, proving it takes me more than 2 days to recover from a decathlon.
So the season ended, as did the bottle of Bowmore Small Batch. That little gem, tasting of citrus and vanilla, with a slightly oily body of peat, was a very appropriate way to round off 2017. Winter's training beckons after a well earned rest, and probably more single malt indulgences.
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