It’s getting close now.

Last few runs

Wednesday https://www.strava.com/activities/543859538 7k @7:10/KM
Tuesday https://www.strava.com/activities/543516489 9k @ 6:14/KM
Monday https://www.strava.com/activities/542356927 6k @ 5:59/KM
Sunday https://www.strava.com/activities/541028812 16k @6:38/KM
Saturday https://www.strava.com/activities/539959415 9k @ 6:31/km

Maybe it’s my fault going running on a Sunday morning; maybe I should be in church.

Doing a Sunday morning lap of Pugnies & Newmillerdam you are bound to find people walking their dog, and yes they have every right to be there. 85% of dog walkers see me coming and pull their dog close so I can pass without being legged up by the lead. But the rest of the lunatics just idly let their dogs wander where they like on extendable leads. Runners beware; you take your life into your own hands and run the risk of getting your legs chopped off at the knees!

The Dark Art of Tapering

For the uninitiated the period just before a race is known as tapering.  This is where you let your body recover from all the hard training you have done over the last few months.  In doing so you become stronger and ready for your big race.

We use Training Peaks to measure Paul’s athletic performance.  If we can achieve his Chronic Training Load (CTL) and Training Stress Balance (TSL) to coincide on the day of the London Marathon then Paul will run like a dream. (Ideally the TSL score will be about +1) Getting this to happen is really difficult.  With Olympians it’s easy.  They can rest whenever they want.  Unfortunately, the rest of us have to work, look after families and fit training into our busy schedules.  In Paul’s case he is flying to China and back. Not exactly the best taper.

A traditional taper should involve similar training sessions to your norm but at much reduced distance and intensity.  You DON’T STOP TRAINING.  What usually happens is you feel absolutely exhausted as your body goes into repair mode.  Hopefully by week 2 or even week 3 if you are on a long taper you are feeling refreshed. In these weeks the training load is even lower.
The new ‘Chinese’ taper for Paul is going to be a reverse taper.  This is very little training but plenty of walking this week as he enjoys China.  He will hopefully feel dreadful as his body repairs.  Next week we will up the training again but only to a very low level.  Hopefully CTL and TSB stars will align and he will hit the start line in London at peak condition.

This week’s training focus

Easy training.  Testing new trainers.  Plenty of walking.

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Well in two weeks I will be in London getting ready to run my first Marathon.

On Friday I had a lovely little run, which was a new route round Denby Dale – Have a look on Strava

Ordered two new pairs of Hoka trainers, keen to get tested!

Gentle little run around Flockton, very blessed to live in a beautiful part of the world.

One size doesn’t fit all

Have you noticed how everyone is different?  I used to work with dancers.  They would see a series of complex dance moves and then just do the dance.  A fabulous skill learned over many years.   Non dancers would struggle for hours before getting to grips with a routine.  The flip side was trying to get a dancer to learn some dialogue. Often this was outside their comfort zone and they found it difficult. It’s the same with triathletes.  Everyone has their strengths but some things don’t come naturally and we have to work hard to achieve the performance we want.

As a coach I find this endlessly fascinating.  Often what you’ve done as a kid really helps.  Junior swimmers can return to the pool later in life and soon regain their fitness.  Their swim technique never leaves.  At the track we can spot someone who has been a runner in their youth within them completing a few paces. Good technique and timing persist.

Note to parents.  Get your children competing in anything and everything.  It’s such an important part of their development. Join Wakefield Junior Triathlon Club for example

Paul missed out on the competition element of his sporting childhood.  He never got to ‘red line’ in cross country running, swimming galas and the like.  He did however learn endless fortitude.  Start him in a long race and he will stick at it with no thought of giving up.  Something very few people learned in their childhood and will regret when they tackle Ironman.

Learn to race

Ok, the Paul’s Dewsbury Park run was slow.  A wonderful example of Level 2 running. Great training but not racing.  To achieve a good
time in London is still on the ca
rds.  Paul is fit.  We simply need to find a way to engage his fortitude but at a faster pace.  Luckily the good organisers of the London Marathon are going to provide us with the trick to do just that.  More later.

This week’s training focus

One week of hard training left.  Tapering then starts next week.  We will be trying reverse tapering.  Not out of choice but due to Paul’s work commitments. See next week’s blog

This is likely to be my last park run before the London Marathon, unfortunately it was sloooooooooooow Check out on Strava

The disappointing thing this morning is I thought I was putting a good level of effort in. I was surprised I only spent 2 seconds at threshold pace. My overall speed was 6:21 km/h.

Having said that getting up on a damp drizzly April morning to run a slow park run did me far more good than having a lie in!