In March 2023 I will be heading to Torun in Poland to compete at the World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships. This will be my first World Championships and the first time I will get to run in a GB&I vest.
In this section of the website I will share details of my journey to prepare for these championships:
‘The Road to Torun’ is an online diary of my 14 week journey that will serve as a training aide and hopefully a lasting memory of the preparations in the run up to these championships.
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European Masters Indoors Championships 2024
By March, I had worked my way back to entering a competition: the European Indoor Championships in Toruń, Poland. Fitting, really, since my European outdoor season had been rudely interrupted by my hip flexor. I wasn’t anywhere near peak shape, honestly more like 85%, but that was good enough for me. Naturally, because no story
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Top 10 Races of 2023.
Number 1 What an incredible experience, the 4x200m mixed relay at the World Indoor Masters Championships in Torun, Poland. Competing on the world stage is exhilarating enough, but securing a medal made it the crowning moment of my athletics career so far. Being part of a relay team with Paul Guest, Christine Anthony, and Janice
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The GBR M60 Sprinters dominate in Torun.
At the recent World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships the GBR M60 sprinters brought home 6 gold, 3 silver, and 2 bronze medals, and a new 200m world record. John Wright Michael Vassiliou Pat Logan Peter Ilo Paul Guest Stuart Lynn Des Wilkinson In the 400m, John Wright took Gold in (55.65s) and Michael Vassiliou Silver
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The Road to Torun (Part 14) – The End.
And just like that the Road to Torun training plan is complete. The past 4 weeks have focused heavily on adding the speed element to the seemingly endless winter strength and speed endurance sessions. I can’t lie, its been a physically demanding month, as the training has been focused on very high quality (mostly short
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The Road to Torun (Part 12) – Four weeks to go, Heads down for the final push.
With less that 4 weeks to go until the start of the World Indoor Championships, my competitive racing schedule is complete and the final part of my training plan is focused on conditioning, i.e. adding speed to the strength and endurance platform that I have been working hard on over the winter: To give you
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The Road to Torun (Part 11) – Slowly slowly catchy monkey.
Is how the training plan is building my performance so far. For example, in the three 400m races I’ve ran this year I have clocked 63.0s, 62.31s and 61.38s. Over the past two weeks I’ve competed at the Scottish Masters Indoor Championships and the British Masters Indoor Championships. There are updates on the site covering
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The Road to Torun (Part 10) – Competition Time, Keeping the Faith & Sharing the Journey.
After months and months of winter training, strength and conditioning sessions and gradual build up back to race fitness, it was time to measure progress at the first competition of the year. That competition was the Scottish Masters Indoor Championships held at the wonderful Emirates Arena in Glasgow. The full story of how I performed
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The Road to Torun (Part 9) – Golf & Sprinting dont mix, Pain is a constant, Injury is never far away.
An interesting week and a bit since my last update. I got over the disappointment of Sheffield very quickly and was back on the training plan on Tuesday night with 4x200m @ 90% effort in spikes. A very enjoyable session, hit every mark with ease and felt good the next day. That was until I
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The Road to Torun (Part 8) – The Masters community is freaking awesome, and what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
The world of Masters Athletics and the community spirit that it embodies never ceases to amaze … I ran in Sheffield last week and wasn’t overly impressed with my results. I won’t make any excuses or go into the reasons for the sub par performances, other than to say they taught me some good lessons,
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The Road to Torun (Part 7) – In Search of Speed, Friday 13th, Quitters Day.
This week welcomed the start of speed work into the programme, which means the distance reduces and so does the time. Tuesday’s session on a very cold wet and dark track, comprised 1 set of 3 runs over 100m, 150m and 200m at 90% race speed with 3 minute recovery between runs. Managed to hit
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The Road to Torun (Part 6) – Make it last then make it fast, 2023 Indoor Competition Schedule.
After missing a couple of weeks training over Christmas with sore ribs, thankfully this week’s training has been back on schedule. The plan is to ‘make it last then make it fast’ i.e. A winter of strength, conditioning and speed endurance have hopefully helped build up my core endurance, and the speed sessions which return next
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The Road to Torun (Part 5) – The most fun I’ve had spending £125 for a long time, Torun entry accepted .
Whilst still a few weeks to go before the registration window closes, I decided it was time to submit my entry for the 200m & 400 at the World Indoor Championships. I have to say I felt a degree of excitement hitting the submit button as it was the first time I’d ever entered a
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The Road to Torun (Part 4) – Happy New Year, Sore ribs, The show must go on.
1st January 2023, day one of a brand new year with brand new opportunities … thankfully back training again after taking a tumble before xmas, albeit with sore ribs. Today was a tempo session of 10x100m at a steady pace. I hope 2023 brings you health, happiness and much success. Until next time …
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The Road to Torun (Part 3) – The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley
Is a well-known proverb from the Robert Burns poem ‘To a Mouse’ that I can resonate with right now, after the unfortunate altercation I had with the track on 22nd December. My tumble has brought my ‘best-laid’ training plans to an abrupt halt this week due to a problem with sore ribs. However, rather than getting
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The Road to Torun (Part 2) – It was supposed to be fun
One week down already and not the start I would have hoped. In the North East of England we only have a 60m indoor training facility at Gateshead Academy of Sport, so when we get snow, which isn’t very often, then it makes training more of a challenge. At the start of the week, we
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The Road to Torun (Part 1) – Dreams, Discipline & Wine
‘The Road to Torun’ is an online diary of my 14 week journey to the World Masters Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland that begin on 26th March 2023. This will be a training aide and hopefully a lasting memory of the preparations in the run up to my first World Masters Championship. I have to
Stuart Lynn - Masters Athlete 