It’s very close to the event now though and it isn’t yet 100% so I can’t do any hurdles training. I had a talk with Adrian about it and I’m faced with the likelihood of not being able to do that event on the day. There is a very high possibility that if I do full hurdles training it’ll break down again. If I don’t do full training though, then I’m not going to be able to do that event on the day.
That might sound a bit odd, but the hurdles in a senior mens decathlon are 3 feet 6 inches high and if you haven’t got good technique then injury isn’t very far away. If you’ve got any niggles then the hurdles is going to find them out.

So its not a fantastic decision to have to make, but its looking like a choice between breaking down at the start of Day 2 (which would mean none of the points being counted), or pulling out of the hurdles just after the gun is fired (which just counts as a ‘DNF’ in that event). Its not ideal, but I’m quite happy with where this journey has taken me, and this after all is something to enjoy as a charity is going to benefit quite considerably from our efforts. So bring it on ! I’ll live to compete another day

On the topic of fundraising, when Gift Aid and Barclays’ matching scheme is taken into account we’ve now raised an amazing £1698.
I know there’s plenty of people both at work and Trentham Running Club who have said they’ll still donate so if we can add another £100 or so to that total it’ll be brilliant.

Here’s the link again for the justgiving page.

We had our penultimate Loughborough training session yesterday, and did 4 events, Javelin, High Jump, Shot Put and Pole Vault.
We’ve improved significantly in all of these and personally I know there is plenty more to come when I’m injury free.

I’m already thinking about competing next year, and might have to put a pole and a roof rack on my Xmas present wish list!
That event is still such great fun (I know I say that every time, but it is)!!
Yesterday we moved our technique on quite a lot, so that we’re now working on turning over as we go over the bar, so we go over face down rather than face up. Its amazing that we’ve got that far. When we started we couldn’t even remember how to hold the pole properly from one session to the next. Now we don’t even think about it, nor the run up. Ace

We covered different events as I adjusted my session when my recovering achilles threatened to play up. I therefore did some walking hurdles drills and discus while Ed did Long Jump and Javelin. We both got together at the end to continue our work on Pole Vault. We’re both still improving and personally, I’m quite hopeful of another PB when we do the decathlon in just over 4 weeks time.

We finished off with some technique work on gym apparatus, hanging upside down on the rings and parallel bars. This was all about training ourselves in the correct technique and movements that will be essential if we’re to significantly increase our Pole Vault height achievements in the longer term.

Between now and our next session on 23rd August we have no other events planned. I’ve got to continue the work to strengthen and condition my achilles, and check back in with Adrian in a weeks time for the next step in my rehab.

I’ve also got a day mountain biking planned on Cannock Chase this weekend with Rik. I’ll try not to fall off this time!

Anyway we pretty much had a free choice of events. I did Pole Vault, Shot Put and Javelin. Ed chose Pole Vault, High Jump, 110m Hurdles, Long Jump and errrr…. Triple Jump.

It was really difficult to resist doing some of the runs as the team didn’t have anyone competing in most of them. I was sensible enough to realise that I’m not yet fully fit though, and the last thing I needed was to make my achilles problem worse again.

Ed featuring in the Triple Jump didn’t turn out to be his wisest move either, as having never done it before he struggled and has picked up a foot injury. Fingers crossed it’ll settle down quickly.

The positives from the day came thick and fast though. I PB’d all 3 of my events, even though a sore shoulder had prevented me from giving it 100% in the throws. I was really pleased with a 2.50m javelin improvement as its proved that the technique work I’ve been doing is paying off. I think there’s more to come there too.
The Pole Vault wasn’t easy, as the opening height was fixed at 2.10m. This meant that I had to PB to register a height at all. Failing at that height also meant no points for the club. I cleared it first time though, which was very pleasing. The following failures at 2.20m were a great learning point though as I’ve realised how important run-up speed is. My last attempt was by far my best and I’m sure that next time out I’ll go up in height again.

Ed’s new PB’s came in Pole Vault and 110m Hurdles. This was his first official hurdles outing, but he did run it quicker than the timed training session at Loughborough a few weeks ago, and as you’ll see in the video he stumbled badly off the last hurdle too.

His Pole Vault PB was the performance of the day for him though, where he improved from 2.10m to 2.55m!
In doing so he actually finished second in the competition. Great stuff!

The following videos show our Pole Vault and Ed’s hurdles. Sadly you don’t get to see me clear any heights though as Ed only videod me failing badly. Thanks mate, I will have my revenge (note the freeze frame at the end of the hurdles video!!)

Watch Ed’s PV

Watch My (worst) PV Attempt

Watch Ed’s 110m Hurdles (note the Colin Jackson-esque dip)

We decided on High Jump, Shot Put and Pole Vault for this session.
I’m not yet at full fitness but my achilles is improving, so I had a bit of a go at the High Jump, but as soon as it started to get sore called it a day. Ed continued to train and set a new PB of 1.38m, which if he can do it on the big weekend will give him 300 points. Really I should say “when he does it” as I’m more confident in his ability than he is

Shot Put is still a big challenge for Ed, as his wrist injury is still problematic. The best result of the night came here though when Ed was able to throw/put the full 7kg shot with little discomfort, which is a huge step in the right direction. Good stuff!
We both PB’d too. Mine is now 6.24m and Ed 7.29m. Both represent an increase of about 75cm and does demonstrate how effective it can be to learn proper technique. Thanks Adrian!

Finally, my definite favourite, Pole Vault.
Our technique is improving all the time and we’re now not worrying about the run up or plant part of the vault at all. We didn’t measure heights this time, but we will both be looking to set new PB’s when we compete at the Midlands Senior League at Tamworth on Sunday.

Watch this space as I’m hoping we’ll be able to show you video clips of the Pole Vault afterwards!

Tonights menu was as follows:

Starter – Shot Put

Here I went for the full fat version whereas Ed’s wrist injury meant he opted for the lighter version. Neither of us had real trouble with this and we’ve picked up some useful tips and hopefully both now have repeatable technique.
Ed has the added challenge of having to now work up from a 4kg shot to the full 7.25kg over the next few weeks. Tonight was positive so fingers crossed his wrist won’t be too painful between now and the big event.

Main Course

Here we went for different choices from the menu. I, due to my healing Achilles injury, worked on my javelin technique, first with the javelin ball that Adrian bought for me and then with the javelin itself. The technique training that I’ve been doing has really paid off and I feel much happier with the run up now. I’m not having to think about my feet position nor centre of gravity so much so this should translate to a greater throw distance really soon.

Ed opted for a High Jump main course and whilst I wasn’t with him for much of the time I do know his technique is looking good and he came within the thickness of his shorts of clearing 1.38m which is the 300 points mark. Good work!

Pudding

To finish we chose hurdles with Ed doing running drills and me doing walking ones to protect my Achilles. Adrian gave us both positive feedback about the improvements we’ve made and I’m now feeling more positive about the one event that still scares me.

To finish off we couldn’t resist the lure of throwing a medicine ball at each other for 20 mins. I did fear being forced to do penalty reps after I spent far too much time laughing but I just managed to get away with it!

So another good session in the bag.

Coming up, we are planning another Loughborough session next week and fingers crossed we will both be competing for Charnwood AC ‘B’ team in the Midlands senior league on Sun 1st August. The next blog update will be shortly after that.

We’ve been to Loughborough for training sessions twice in the last month and covered javelin, pole vault, high jump and discus. We also did some conditioning training and chucked a medicine ball at each other for a while. All part of the fun of trying to be a decathlete.
We also did a 300m training session on the track at the end of the last session, but unfortunately during that, my achilles injury re-occured.
Whilst the session ended on a downer, it had been a really good one before that with both of us achieving new High Jump PB’s.
That was no mean feat as this was one of our poorest events. It was a strange experience too as we had to train while dodging a track cleaning machine being driven up and down the approach area quite randomly.

Last week we put our Pole Vault training into practice when we both appeared in the Midland Vets League meeting at Leamington Spa.
Ed competed for Charnwood AC at Pole Vault and Discus, and I was able to go along as a guest.
We both started at the minimum height of 1.50m and worked our way up bit by bit. It was a great experience and for our first outing we were both really pleased. I got over 2.00m with Ed going further and finishing on 2.20m

Ed’s training at Charnwood has been going really well, and they’re a really friendly club. They have a B team that competes in the Senior League but for which they struggle to get a full team out. They’ve invited both Ed and I to join them in that competition so I’ve decided to join them and resign from City of Stoke AC. Whilst the people I have seen at Stoke were friendly, its proved difficult to get competition experience with them as they’re so focused on the top competitors. That’s understandable but its certainly something that keeps older athletes from taking part in events. You only have to look at how few vets compete in track and field compared to road running to see what I mean.
Anyway, Charnwood feels like a good place to get that experience and they train at the great facilities at Loughborough Uni, which we’re already really familiar with.

I’m now going to be switching my focus and working on strengthening my achilles to make sure I can get through the decathlon without breaking down again. I’ll be doing far less speed training and am supplementing my training with lots more cycling. This will ensure I keep my fitness levels up and it doesn’t put any strain on the injury.
It’s very likely to mean that I’ll score well under the 3000 points we set ourselves as a target, but at this stage its important to be realistic rather than pushing myself and causing further injury. It’s been a fantastic achievement for us both to get this far and I think its important to remember to enjoy what we’re doing and how far we’ve come.

This is an annual event run by Midland Masters Athletics, which anyone registered as a veteran with a valid club can enter. As the vets category for athletics now starts at the age of 35, we were in!

We both entered 5 events, to get further experience of the demands of doing multiple events on the same day.

First off was the 100m.
Despite this being a 11:30AM start time, I’d had a late night and an early start and felt really low on energy. Anyone who knows me well will also be aware that I have some problems with an anxiety condition, which when it flares up tends to make me really tired. So, excuses out of the way I’ll let you see the video of the 100m
Ed recorded another PB, coming home in a brilliant 13.7 seconds. I was slowwwww, finishing in 15.7.
I’ll also blame my lack of training due to rehabilitating my sore achilles……right enough excuses, have a laugh at me jogging over the line in the video

Watch 100m Video

Next up was the javelin. Ed had done this in the pentathlon a few weeks earlier, and despite my recent training in this event, this was the first time I’d thrown it in a competition. I wasn’t confident at all, as I don’t feel like I got on particularly well with the coach I’ve been seeing at City of Stoke AC. Something didn’t seem right, and my throws here confirmed it.
Out of 4 rounds, I only managed 1 valid throw, with the other 3 landing tail first. I can tell from the video that the flight of the javelin isn’t right and at if nothing else it was a good learning experience, so I do take a positive from it. Also, I now have a mark on the board, a new PB to beat, even though its only 18:35m
Ed’s previous outing had seen him take a single javelin throw because of his dodgy wrist injury. This time he managed to throw in all 4 rounds, but didn’t quite make it over the 30m mark. His best was 29:24m which would still score just over that magical 300 point barrier!

Watch Javelin Video

Third on todays event list was Long Jump.
I used the few minutes practice we had to measure out a longer 16 stride run up, which more or less what’s recommended. With a couple of adjustments I was happy with it and managed to extend my PB to 4:20m in the third round. I did feel my hamstring a little on that jump though and opted out of taking my last one.
Ed was a little more challenged on the run up than I, but again managed over 4m, finishing up with a best mark of 4:13m

Watch Long Jump Video

What turned out to be our final event of the day was the discus.
This was a chance for me to try out a full turn throw, as I’d only ever done that in the nets at Loughborough previously. Again the discus was part of the pentathlon that Ed had competing in, so he was an old hand at it.
For me this was about getting a mark onto the board and again I didn’t feel confident about doing this for the first time in competition. All throws were valid though and I did remember to walk out the back of the circle each time, which is a miracle for me (read the blog post called “Rule Number One” to find out more).
My first throw was an easy effort which went out to around 15m. My second was my furthest of the day at 17:51m. With the last throw I ‘went for it’ and my technique went to pot, so I didn’t even bother getting that one measured!
Ed again was consistent with his previous performance, and pinged his best out to 20:36m.
Only when the results were published this week, did it become obvious that there was no previous championship record for the M35 discus category, so Ed is now a record holder. He’s slightly embarrassed about it, but hey, you can only beat the people that turn up the day.
He’ll be back next year to defend his title.

Watch Discus Video

Our scheduled 5th event was 1500m. I decided not to do it as my hamstring had really tightened up, and while we were discussing it, dark clouds gathered overhead. At the first sight of rain, Ed also decided to call it a day in case it washed his tan off.

So with that we headed for the car.

Next up for us is a Loughborough session on Monday night and probably a Birmingham Open Meeting on Wednesday night. It might include a Pole Vault attempt!!!!

Thanks again to Nicky for taking the videos and supporting us both, and for making the delicious picnic that sustained us through the day

It was during that really hot week, you remember, probably the warmest week of the year so far. On the Wednesday night we met up down at the Loughborough Uni track for a normal session, with an added special guest. This was something we’ve both been hoping to line up for a while and finally it came good.
So picture a lovely sunny warm evening. We’re outside on the track, going through Pole Vault drills and training with none other than the current British record holder Kate Dennison!
Pole Vault is really good fun anyway, but to have Kate give up some of her precious time to help us out was just a joy. She was easy to work with, very encouraging and it was a brilliant session. She’s offered to do it again which of course we’ll take her up on.
At least next time a certain someone might not be too scared to get his camera out……you know who you are!

I’ve said this to a number of people since, but standing on that track I did stop and think to myself about the road that had led me to that point. When we took up this challenge I knew it was going to be a long and winding road and I didn’t know what I’d encounter along the way. I never ever would have dreamt that this session would happen though, nor of how much of a joy it would be.
There’s a lesson in there somewhere, although I’m not sure its ‘Always say yes when your mate comes up with a daft idea’!!!

In the remainder of that nights session we covered javelin and then went back inside to do more of the ‘dreaded’ hurdles.
It was a good session with me getting over a few 3ft3 hurdles for the first time and Ed doing the whole 110m with 3ft6 hurdles. Fantastic stuff. I just need to carry on working on my tight hamstrings and I’ll get there too

Sunday 23rd May, 2010

I woke up in the morning feeling excited and nervous. Excited at the prospect of being one of the youngest competitors there for a change instead of being beaten by 11 year old girls. Nervous because I’ll be being beaten by 80 year old blokes, I’ll come last in every event and most of all – I’ll probably get lapped TWICE in the 1500m race!

It was the hottest day of the year so far. 28 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. We arrived in Oxford in plenty of time and set up the all important sunbathing blankets for the support crew and cracked open the picnic. I had to register 45 minutes before the start so signed up and got my race numbers.

The first event was the Long Jump at 1:30pm. There were 4 competitors in the M35 age group and 9 in the M40 group. The groups were combines with the ‘youngies’ jumping first. Some of the guys were pretty hard core and were wearing Team GB shirts as they’d competed for GB in European and World championships!
After measuring my run up to the new length of 16 steps I took a couple of practice jumps and then it was ready for round 1. My first jump was 4.29m which beat my previous PB of 4.16m and I was quite a way behind the board. At this point I was quite hopeful of stretching my PB even further but sadly it wasn’t to be. Two more jumps of just over 4m and still nowhere near the board! Maybe a bit more coaching is needed and a re-measure of the run up.

Next up was the Javelin. I was very apprehensive about this event as I hadn’t thrown a javelin since last year and my wrist is still painful after the surgery. So I thought I’d have one throw and hope that it was a legal one and then take it from there. I didn’t bother with any practice throws just in case. Once I found the correct weight javelin it was time to throw. I took it relatively gingerly but somehow it pinged out to 30.24m! A new PB by nearly 2m. Maybe it was because the conditions were perfect but I’ll take it! It did, however, hurt my wrist quite a lot so I ended on a high and told the officials that I wouldn’t be throwing any more.

Off to the picnic it was for a quick bit of salad and drink preparing for the 200m in an hour or so.

The 200m heats were run in age groups so there were only 4 of us in my heat. After setting the blocks up it was time to race. It was all a bit of a blur. Not because I was running so fast but because all I was concentrating on was trying to beat one of the guys who was a similar standard to me. I’d never actually run a 200m before so just went for it. By 150m I could feel the lactic building up in my calves but dug deep and kept going. My initial aim was to get 30 seconds so to beat the guy and get 29.17s was a double bonus. So that’s 3 events out of 3 that I didn’t come last in!

Next up was the discus. I’d thrown 20.88m in a competition the week before so I’d have been happy to get 20m this time around. I managed a couple of practice throws as this event doesn’t bent my wrist. When it came to round one I managed a new PB of 22.87m! The next two rounds I just decided to go for it but unfortunately I probably tried too hard and they both clattered into the cage. One lesson learned was that if you’re sitting in a metal hut on the hottest day of the year trying to get some shade then DON’T lean back as the metal will burn you!!

The final event of the pentathlon was the one that I’d been dreading the most. The 1500m! My short legs coupled with my lazy running style is not a good combination. I’d worked out from my 10k time that I’d be happy if I could break 7 minutes. At this point in time I was 3rd out of 4 and about 80 points ahead but knew that the other guy could run 5:20 which would be about 300 points more than me on this event alone. We were coupled with the M40 age group again and one of them would be running at around 4:20 pace. Would he lap me twice?! I decided to just run my own race and aimed for my school PB of 6:58. Despite the heat and wanting to die I actually kept one of the guys within 30 metres or so for the first 2 laps and then shock of all shocks I overtook him on the final lap! I was ahead of schedule and pushed a bit harder to keep him behind me and finished in 6:29.32. So that’s 5 PBs in 5 events. All that I could have ask for really. I ended up 4th out of 4 but all in all it was a fantastic day. The atmosphere was great, all of the other competitors were really friendly and there was plenty of banter between the regulars. Something for myself and Mark to look forward to in our future competitions.

Next up is the Midland Masters Track & Field Championships on June 13th. Mark and I are doing our own unofficial pentathlon of 100m, Javelin, Long Jump, Discus and 1500m. Fingers crossed for another 5 PBs!

So, since the last blog entry we’ve been busy boys.

Bank Holiday Monday 3rd May saw us competing again at the Birmingham Open meeting. We both entered the 100m and Long Jump as we did in our first outing there.
I’d been carrying an achilles strain though, and jogging really doesn’t help it, so after feeling it while warming up I decided to pull out of the 100m, but still enter the long jump.
I think that if Ed hadn’t been there to talk it through with, I might have taken the risk, but he was right, it wasn’t worth it.

So Ed lined up on the 100m start line while I was over the other side of the track for the Long Jump. I got two jumps in and then was able to watch Ed’s heat.
From the far side of the track it looked tough, and he had a nasty 2.1 m/s headwind to contend with.
Still though, a very decent run, coming home in 14.15s, just 0.09s slower than last time.

Back in the sandpit I’d managed to do 4.10m with my second jump, notching up a new official PB (since those heady days of 5m jumping in my youth anyway!!).
Things improved further for me with the later jumps and I pushed that PB out to 4.18m, which I was pleased with. More pleasing however was the fact that the run up went a lot better and I had no concern about where the board was.
Ed was able to do 4 jumps having missed the first two with the timing of the 100m. Another PB was notched up with him improving to 4.11m

Both of us have plenty of room to spare on our take off. If we get it right then a 4.50m jump looks very achievable. We haven’t done all that much technique work on Long Jump either, so further improvements should come in time.

The plan from here is to enter more meetings and do some of the other events. We’re also looking at doing more than two events at each meeting if possible.

We’ve also been to Loughborough for another session with Adrian. We’ve revisited Pole Vault, Discus and High Jump. In all three we’re moving on nicely. Pole Vault in particular is such brilliant fun, and its still amazing to me to actually be able to do that event at all. It seemed very scary to comtemplate it when we had never actually done it, so a massive thank you goes out to Adrian who’s training has got us to where we are now.

It was a massive positive for Ed to find out he could Pole Vault with his wrist injury, and even better news is that it didn’t hinder him in the discus either.

Improvements to our discus technique mean we’re both now able to throw with a full turn, which should translate into longer distances when we do it in anger.
What is it about leaving the circle from the back that I just don’t get though?!
Even after declaring the aforementioned Rule Number 1, on my very next attempt less than 30 seconds later, what did I do? Yep, you guessed it, I still walked out the front of the circle! I think a comprehensive fine system may do the trick!

When the hilarity of Rule Number 1 died down, we went to do my trickiest event, the High Jump. I’d decided that I’d like to try changing my approach to the other side so that I’d be taking off on my right foot. Adrian talked me through setting my approach up and we gave it a go. The trial runs without the bar were promising, and my first attempt with the bar in place was a new PB by 4cm. So finally, I’m moving in the right direction.
Ed came very very close to a PB too, just scraping the bar off a number of times with it set to 1.30m.

So that’s another great session in the bag.

In addition to the training we’re doing at Loughborough, we’ve both now joined local clubs so we can get in more training and competition practice. I’m now signed up with Stoke AC, and Ed has joined Charnwood. There’s even the chance of us competing against each other in the final of the vets league later in the year

Watch Highlights of the Birmingham Open