Decathlon - World Champs and UK Masters

Watched the second day of the World Championships Decathlon today, partly because I love watching them battle it out, but also to draw more inspiration for the UK Masters Championships which I have entered. I'm dedicating it to the rays of Sunshine Charity ( DETAILS HERE )

At the end of Day 1, Ashton Eaton was leading from Trey Hardee. Ashton is a better runner whilst Trey is a better field athlete so it was going to be a good battle. Hardee won in the end due to strong Discus, Pole Vault and Javelin results. Ashton secured his Silver by just 2 points by running a PB in the 1500m which is over a minute quicker than I'll be able to do! The 1500m at the end of the 10 event competition is a true test of grit and seeing them get roudn each lap and give it their all to the line was very impressive.

I am a rubbish runner - fact! I was only able to do 5 minutes at 10km/h on the treadmill last week without cramping up for the first time. I'm powerful and good over 30m bursts but anything that lasts longer than 10 seconds is not my idea of fun, well, in athletics anyway!

Tonight's training was a quick one due to finishing work a little later and the gym closing earlier at the weekend. I decided to work on the running and do an interval session in the 45 minutes I had available:

5 mins treadmill: 0-4 mins @ 10km/h, 4 - 4:30 @ 12km/h, 4:30 - 5:00 @ 13km/h

1k indoor rower - 3:59.6, 20 strokes per minute

5 mins treadmill: 0-4 mins @ 10km/h, 4 - 4:30 @ 12km/h, 4:30 - 5:00 @ 13.2 km/h

1k indoor rower - 3:58.4 , 20 strokes per minute

5 mins treadmill @ 11km/h

1k indoor rower, cool down - 4:30 , 18 strokes per minute

5 mins treadmill walk: 1:30 @ 8km/h, 1:30 - 2:00 @ 6km/h , 2 - 4:00 @ 5km/h, 4 - 5:00 @ 4km/h

I was really pleased to get through this without cramping up and the indoor rowing between each treadmill rep was useful for the calves to recover whilst still working the cardio system a bit. Stepping up the pace was surprisingly comfortable. I hope it's not to late to get some benefit in terms of the 400m and 1500m events.

On Tuesday, I have a  competition at Exeter - doing Pole Vault, Hurdles and High Jump. I'll rest tomorrow so I'm fresh for the technical events. Targets: PV 2.00m , Hurdles 20.0s , High Jump 1.60m. We'll see!

Really getting excited now, and also really looking forward to following Jess Ennis and Louise Hazel in the Heptathlon in the next two days, come on girls!!!