Percentages, Running, golfing, life is good.

The percentages are still improving in my WAVA scores, and more importantly my times are improving after last year's disasters.

The Age Graded Tables were developed over a period of years by the World Association of Veteran Athletes: WAVA (now the WMA World Masters Athletics), the world governing body for masters track and field, long distance running, and race walking. The tables are used by WAVA to award prizes by age graded performance, rather than time by age group as is usually done at local races. The tables are graded by age and sex and correspond approximately to world record marks for a person of that age and sex:

100.0 = World - Record Level
over 90.0  = World Class
over 80.0  = National Class
over 70.0  = Regional Class
over 60.0  = Local Class

My highest ever grading in a race is 72.93, but I'm happy with mid 60s.  Compare that with Kath Stewart of North Shields Poly who has a score of 94.23% for 800m last year, and you realise just how well some people can run, even in their 70s !

07/07/12	Gateshead parkrun	road	5km		23:30	65.07%
02/07/12	VAANEE Track & Field - 800m	track	800mt		3:02	64.02%
23/06/12	VAANEE Track & Field Championships - 1 Mile	track	1M		6:54	64.18%
23/06/12	VAANEE Track & Field Championships - 800m	track	800mt		3:09	61.65%
20/06/12	Newburn River Run	mixed	6.5M		51:58	63.09%

I had a poor run at Newburn, was way too hot, and well outside my PB, but I'm pretty happy with the two 800m races and the mile at the Vet's Championships at Monkton.

3:02 is only 7 seconds outside my best ever time, and I know I have it in me to get under that.  It's just getting the conditions right, and the timing perfect (like not running from the results box to the start line as a warm up)

Kath Stewart - 300m

Mick Joyce - 800m

Had a bit of a disaster at Gateshead Parkrun, in what can only be described as a schoolgirl error, though in fairness I'm going to blame the design of the shoe laces.  I held the lead for the first three laps, but as I was going up the hill to start the fourth, my laces came undone.  This isn't the first time it's happened with my racers, and they were double knotted, so it's the laces which were at fault, not me :P 

I must also add in that I haven't just been racing - I do train occasionally too ;)

Evil Coach Darth Jim set this lovely session for the track on Thursday: 3 x 400, 1 mile 3 x 400, with 90 secs recovery between the 400s, then a 400 jog recovery before & after the mile.  The twist was a 5 second reduction for each of the 400s after the first. ...are you following? ;)  We runners like it simple, too much thinking is bad ;)

Anyways, after several attempts at my explanation we all got it, and these were the times:

102, 97, 92. 6:57, 107, 96, 90

The mile was a little slow, but I did manage the 5 seconds off each 400. 

While all this training has been going on, I'm somehow also managing to fit in golf.  As I haven't yet won the lottery I'm squeezing it all in around work too.  This is causing some races I'd normally do to be pushed off the calender, but not as many as I'd thought it would because of all of the lovely mid week summer races :D

I play at Tyneside Golf Club, having started with a whole bunch of ladies who had never played before.  It's great fun, social, time consuming, frustrating, and as competitive as running.  I'm not brilliant at golf, but I am improving, and willing to give it a go, and in some kind of moment of madness I volunteered for the club team.  I'm happy enough that my first ever match wasn't a complete whitewash (and the lady I was playing against was lovely). 



I've got a competition today, so I'm hoping to do okay.  If I can play under my handicap I'll be very happy.  Just hoping that the weather holds out long enough to get round without getting soaked.

That's the real difference, I don't mind running in the rain, hail, wind and mud, but golf should be played in the lovely summer sunshine which we seem to be lacking.

I'd like to book in a few weeks of sun at least, sometime in August please, with no rain for the whole week. 

I think I probably have more chance of winning the lottery

Happy running / golfing / diving, folks !