The title of this post is very important to me as I approach the big six zero next year! It’s taken a while but I’ve come to terms with the fact that lifetime PBs mean nothing when racing now. I was still chasing lifetime PBs for cycling and triathlon into my early 50s. But resetting as I left the RAF after 34 years rocked my life in so many ways. Racing in any format went south. I ticked over at best. Since 2017 I’ve had a few ‘ok’ results but nothing compared to 2023. I’ve felt back ‘on it’ and ran really well . . . For my age. And this is what I’ve accepted - a new baseline that I need to hold or minimise the decline as best I can. This means repeating the strength and conditioning that seemed to set me up so well. But not just repeat the same exercises and build plan. I want to try and find new ways to stimulate the old bones (and muscles!) and hit the new age group next year during full bore. That means being in top condition and race fit for late March 23 to race competitively at the British Duathlon Champs.
So after only 3 strength sessions I’m actually getting hyped to see what I can achieve. I have 2 tweaks so far to make to the strength sessions.
Firstly, include single leg bike technique pedalling on the spin bikes when completing the standard sessions. Secondly, incorporate calf specific strengthening. This is because there is evidence that calf strength is the biggest factor that causes speed decline in older runners. These are small changes but could be significant gains - or at least maintain my speed from this year. I’ll also bring in more stride sessions throughout the winter. I started quite late with these sessions this year.
Ok. It’s early days but time tends to zip by quickly. I’m aware that I’ll probably need to start run track sessions Dec/Jan.
Until next time. . .
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