Decathlon - A new Challenge!

After my recent Javelin and 100m fun at the Devon Champs, I'd been aiming for a crack at the South West Vets Champs on 19th June to do Shot, Long Jump and Javelin. 

Tonight, I got talking to Greg Rutherford on Twitter ( @GregJRutherford ) and, after poking fun at him for talking about food yet again, the conversation got round to Long Jump and then Greg prompting me with:

5 Minutes later I've only gone and downloaded an entry form for the British Masters Decathlon Champs in Oxford on 10th and 11th September!

In case you don't remember, the Decathlon is a 10 event competition run over two days. I've listed the events with my 'stretch targets' or optimistic estimates for what I think I MAY be able to get, and the points for each. It'll be interesting to look back in 4 months time and see how far off the mark I was!

Day 1

100m - 12.8s - 502 pts

Long Jump - 6.00m - 587 pts

Shot - 12.00m - 606 pts

High Jump - 1.60m - 464 pts

400m - 59.9s - 417 pts

Sub Total - 2576 pts

Day 2

110m Hurdles - 18.0s - 524 pts

Discus - 32.00m - 504 pts

Pole Vault - 2.80m - 309 pts

Javelin - 55.00m - 663 pts

1500m - 5:25.0 - 424 pts

Day 1 Total - 2576

Day 2 Total - 2424

Total - 5000 pts

I have several concerns.

- I can't remember ever posting a Pole Vault score, despite trying it once.

- My body might break.

Other than that, I'm well up for it!!! Let's have a laugh, oh and I'd better start training for it...

Devon County Athletics Champs

Day 14 of no smoking, feeling good and comfortable.

Devon Athletics Champs

I had entered the 100m to see what kind of a time I could do (never done one before) and the javelin, hoping to better last year's mark of 54.90m in September.

I got to the stadium with about 30 mins before the 100m races were due to start. Picked up my number and the lady said, "Oh, you're in the javelin - it's going to be a good competition!". Didn't think much more about that, had a warm up to go and do but was not feeling the love for the impending sprint!

Off I jogged. Did quite a bit of stretching and jogging to moderate sprinting down the back straight. Felt like an imposter with all the lycra and lightning quick strides goin on all around me! Hey ho - it was a bit of fun.

There were 3 men in the V35 category and 5 others in the Senior Men category, all of us racing together as a straight final. I got Lane 2 in between the other two vets. Everyone else in the race had blocks. Me - it was a kneel down on the track and wait for the gun approach! We were called to the start.

"On Your Marks"...we all get settled in at the line.

"Set"...... here we go, get ready for the bang

FALSE START - everyone else jumped out of the blocks while I just stayed where I was staring at my knee...!

And again...

"On Your Marks"

"Set"

"BANG" - this time!!

And we're off - fast steps, get up to speed...oh wait - everyone else has blasted away from me! Oh bloomin heck....

As I got to about 40m I was behind everyone and trailing. It was like a school sports day where the slow kid's legs are moving but he's not really moving! Oh dear. And there's lots of people watching... oh well, just stride out and keep working.

As I got to 80m, the other guys had stopped going away from me, I had caught up to their speed, although I was miles behind! The other thing I remember is that my hamstrings were screaming at me with every step, each step getting worse and worse, but I battled on. One guy pulled up with 10m to go and I went past him to finish 7th out of the 8 starters...

Winner was 11.0 I think and top 5 spots all under 12 seconds. 6th place was 12.3s, I was 13.2s and the last guy 14.7s.

UPDATE! The official results came through and I was a tiny bit faster than first indicated - 13.01s:

RESULTS  

It was fun in a 'let's have a go and see what happens' kind of way. It wasn't fun in terms of the pain in my legs and the embarrassment factor of being so slow in a 100m final. Heck - the Under 15 boys race would have seen me out of the medals...!

At least I now have a 100m PB, so if I ever decide to go again I'll be aiming to go sub 13 seconds.

I took Tammy and Bagel home as it was a bit cold and boring for them. On the way home, My hams kept cramping up so I rubbed some ibruprofen gel into the hams, and set back off to the stadium for part 2 - javelin!

Got there with half an hour to warm up again. Read the programme to see who was entered:

Alex Van Der Merwe - 74m thrower (Sen)

Matt Smith - 70m thrower (U23)

Simon Bennett - 66m thrower (V35)

Stephen Turnock - 64m thrower (U20)

To put it into perspective, my best when U20 was 63.14m. In recent years, I did 54.90m last year and a couple of 51-52m comps for cameo appearances out of the blue in 2006 and 2009.

I would have been happy with 50m today considering the agony I was in!

First throw off a full run-up. Had not measured it properly and had run out of runway so I cut it short at the end and posted a miserable 42m first round. The 4 guys above all threw over 60m and I knew there was no way I'd be challenging them so it was me against me against the hamstrings....!

by the last round I'd not hit 50m and had done 48m twice I think. All I wanted to do was hit the magic 50m for today but my legs were preventing me from doin any form of run-up. I just walked in and blasted it with my arm as best I could. 49.49m - nearly but not quite what I wanted.

Great to meet my old pals and meet some new guys on the scene who look like they could get in amongst the mid 70's with a couple more years behind them.

I think today's result was:

Alex - 66m

Matt - 65m

Steve - 63m

Simon - 60m

I earned a Silver Medal by virtue of there only being two V35 throwers and posting a score. I asked about the 100m in which I was 3rd out of 3 V35's but they said sorry it was only the winner who got one. I said I didn't mind as I didn't really deserve a medal by running like a school girl!

All good fun. Vets Champs June 19th - count me in!

Day 11 and improving fitness

Despite coughing up stuff from the lungs today, I feel much better and think I've truned the conrer in terms of getting the fitness back. It's not that I was unfit before, but as a smoker I had a handicap of course...

Tonight I wanted to do a middle distance piece to test the water out. I checked my blog from May last year to see what I was doign back then (as a non smoker) and compare. I'd done a 5000m row in 19 mins and 8 seconds at 20 strokes per minute. This is an average pace of 1:54.9. I targeted myself with 1:53.9 tonight which would be just under 19 mins. I managed to hold the pace for the first 4000m and then pick it up to go faster in the 5th km for a decent time:

5000m - 18:44.1 - 20spm - ave pace 1:52.4/500m

I then carried on to do the extra 1000m for a 6km time:

6000m - 22:43.8 - 1:53.6 (a bit slower as I'd pushed hard in the 5th km).

All in all, very pleasing. Faster than last year, and felt strong. 

I then did some power cleans and faield at a PB attempt of 110kg, again! One day I'll get it.

I then did a quick tabata session 20s on / 10s off at 12 spm which is 4 strokes per rep.

768m - 1:44.1 - r12 result. That's pretty powerful stuff so again happy with that.

I think next week I'll try a quicker 5km row with a higher stroke rate, maybe 24 and see if I can go 18:20 or below (1:50 pace). If so, I'll have a crack at sub 18 mins again (only done it twice before).

C2CTC, Deadlift PBs and Day 10 of no smoking

The C2CTC is a team competition we have every month for indoor rowers around the world. We do our times at home and enter the scores that in turn puts us into virtual 'boats' and gives us a score. It's a fun way to get motivated to do work on the Concept2 Indoor Rowing Machine.

http://www.c2ctc.com

This month's challenge is a 1000m piece, so I tied it into my training session, which tonight was a max strength and power night.

1k r20 - target sub 1:40 (best 1:36)
200m splits:

200 - 1:36.5 - r20
400 - 1:38.2 - r20
600 - 1:37.7 - r21
800 - 1:38.7 - r20
1km - 1:39.5 - r21

1000m - 3:16.3 - 1:38.1 - r20

Not a PB but pretty happy with that.

Deadlifts:

1 x 130kg

1 x 190kg - PB (without straps)

1 x 240kg - PB (with straps) - took about 10 seconds to get it up!!!

1k cd 2:00 pace

Short but sweet session.
Lower back is fine - nothing.
Upper back is slightly sore but in a good way
Also feeling it in my pecs and abs - must have been bracing my body as I locked out.

Oh yes - Day 10 of being a no smoker! Coughing up a bit today but otherwise feelign good right now! I log my progress here at http://www.stop-smoking-together.com

Day 4 of No Smoking - Is this normal?

Now on Day 4 and it's been a strange 24 hours.

Yesterday I managed ok but had a few cravings. I had some drinks with some colleagues and had a couple of thoughts of having a cig with them when they popped out but managed to fight them off. 

I got to bed before 10pm and woke up a few times through the night - wide awake. I had to make myself go back to bed to get sleep. 

This morning was ok but this afternoon I felt so sleepy it was unreal. Not just tired as in wanting to go to bed, but really lethargic and dozey. Is this normal for this stage?

Stop Smoking Together Forum

Day 2 of no smoking and rowing session

I stopped smoking yesterday. I'd love to say I feel great on Day 2 but I don't! 

It's tough this time. Last night I woke up in the middle of the night - too hot, too cold, couldn't get comfy, etc. This morning I felt nauseous for a while. By late afternoon I was yearning a strong cup of coffee and a session at the gym for my fixes!

The rowing session was a mixed bag, but high power work:

1000m r15 - 3:26.9 - 1:43.4 - 316W - 21.17 spi - df115

Tabata Row - r15 (8 x 20 sec on / 10 sec off)

1/ 97m

2/ 97m

3/ 96m

4/ 95m

5/ 95m

6/ 93m

7/ 94m

8/ 94m

761m - 1:45.1 - r15 - 301W - 20.1spi - df on max

249m - r18 - 1:31.3 - 25.55spi - ran out of oomph going for a 500m...

500m - r12 - 1:48.5 - 274W - 22.83spi

2000m - r10 - 8:13.6 - 2:03.4 - 18.63spi - strapless and minimum drag

A decent power session tonight. Looking forward to an endurance session next to test the new lungs out!

Getting the odd craving, just dealing with each one as they come and drinking more water/tea and less coffee than usual, although I felt very lethargic this afternoon until I had an espresso!