Yorkshire Marathon 2024 - Tommi Baker

 

Sunday's Yorkshire marathon almost brought to an end of another marathon season for the guys from Team Blizard ( apart from New York and Valencia ).

We wanted to share a few of the runs that we believe will inspire and motivate you all.

The first individual race report is from Tommi Baker an athlete that Dave has been working together for many years.

Tommi is a father of 2 children and leads a very busy life professionally.

What we like about Tommi's story is his ability to be  felxible as he came down with illness as we were initially aiming for the Chester marathon where he set his previous personal best some 8 years ago but rather than panic he wasn't going to run it he refocused for Yorkshire Marathon 2024 and in his own words he tells us how his race went:

 

"Wow what a race it was the Yorkshire marathon didn't disappoint.

Firstly this was the best block of training for a marathon I've ever achieved. The best milage and consistency with no injury's and just a sniffle for a few days, which didn't really stop me training. 14 weeks of hard graft put me in the best possible place to deal with the conditions and the race itself to run a solid time and one to be very proud of!

This couldn't off been achieved without the support and guidance from Dave, a coach that fully understands each athletes limiting factors not just running but lifestyle factors too. I'm a dad of 2 and the busiest I've been in my work and to blend in marathon training was super tough. However Knowing I could turn to Dave and change the plan to fit my needs made it so much easier.

The race itself was hard, not getting off to the best start with the toilet situation( mad que's) I had to start fast build a slight buffer and hit the bog at 5k ( this turned out to be a great strategy and set me up for the race) I was in the hurt locker from around mile 8, never suffering from blisters before wow the bottoms of my feet blistered really bad, all I could put it down to was the amount of rain and water underfoot. I just had to keep saying to myself head down and keep running. Every km clicked and it kept surprising me the pace was good and heart rate was spot on. Although I was hurting my fitness was there !

The weather didn't let up if not got worse as the race progressed so it was a case of give it everything and see it through. We was all

Waiting for the headwind at mile 20 but we got lucky and it changed and made that long stretch that little bit easier. The final miles were brutal my feet were in bits but the plus side I had no cramp and managed to hold onto to a pace which set me up to run a pb. In other years I would have blown up and been reduced to a walk. The training paid off and Dave produced a masterclass of a training plan.

Looking forward to a week off then look at the rest of the year, I've not enjoyed my running as much as this and looking to see the year out with some more pb's and a big goal for 2025 my London good for age application is in fingers crossed.

Massive thanks to Dave for all his help not just for this block but the previous 10 years + of coaching and support. A top coach and a top bloke. Well done to everyone top stuff."