As we reach the end of another year of hard graft and well earned success for so many of you, it is natural to look ahead to 2016 and make plans for even greater improvements, or even to start from scratch and become the finely tuned athlete you’ve always known you could be!

But as any great athlete or coach knows, it's a continuous learning process, and here at Blizard Physiotherapy we are constantly learning from you, our athletes, and we hope that you too, will continue to learn from us to help you fulfil your potential.

Yesterday we highlighted the achievements of Paula Davies, who has beaten all her previous lifetime bests in a matter of months following her lactate threshold test at the clinic.

Today, we see out 2015 reflecting on another popular Team Blizard athlete’s success, that of Chris Pye!

Chris is testament to the power of sheer grit, determination and focussing on the task in hand, sticking to his coaching schedule from Dave Tune, despite working long, gruelling hours driving a lorry, and supporting his family.

He has set an incredible 11 personal best race times over the last 12 months, from one mile to 26.2, stocking up Coach Tune’s wine cellar almost singlehandedly!

The highlight of his lactate threshold-fuelled running journey has to be his phenomenal hour-plus PB of 3:02.34 at the Manchester marathon, but he has also knocked huge chunks off every other distance he has tackled this year.

Here are his New Year’s resolution-inspiring PB stats!

• Curly’s Super Mile: 5:22 (September)
• Doncaster 5km: 18:30 (July) (previous PB 20:18)
• Exeter parkrun: 18:46 (previous 19:27)
• Notts 5M: 31:24 (July)
• Bolsover 10km: 37:18 (December) (previous PB 38:18)
• Norton 9M: 59:08 (March) (as part of a 20M training run!)
• York 10M: 62:56 (October) (previous PB already recorded in Jan of 63:43!)
• Retford HM: 83:42 (March) (previous PB 1:41.14!)
• Manchester marathon: 3:02.34 (April) (previous PB 4:09.18!)

What stands out about Chris is his brilliant attitude to his training, and to life in general. He clearly enjoys his running, but it never dominates his days, allowing him to keep his training in perspective.

He believes 100% in the power of the lactate threshold test and the subsequent heart rate zones set specifically for him based on his fitness and predicted future capabilities.





He is therefore able to commit 100% to each and every session, be it a recovery run, or a threshold or tempo day, because he has seen the results and knows it works!

As a consequence, he can plan ahead with confidence: “I start marathon training again on Monday, with the target being a sub-3 hours at London. Before that I will tackle the Ferriby 10M again in January, followed by the Norton 9M as part of another 20M training run, and the Retford half marathon. Being coached by Dave really helps me, and I look forward to pushing myself to achieving more next year!”

Make one of your New Year’s resolutions to have a lactate threshold test at Blizard Physiotherapy, and follow in Chris’s confident PB-smashing footsteps in 2016!