This is the third in a short series of blogs I am writing in the lead up to the World Masters Athletics Championships in Perth in late October/early November. Thanks to all the practitioners at Dr7 Physiotherapy and Podiatry Perth. These are sports physio that  have helped me a lot in my preparation.

Entries have now closed for the event and 28 have entered the Men’s 45-49 Long Jump. The field is truly world class and includes the majority of the top jumpers in this age group, with the exception of a couple of top Russians. They are banned due to Russia’s exclusion from Athletics competition at all levels (the rights and wrongs of this were noted in my last blog). The large field means we will have a qualifying event in which the top 12 jumpers there will proceed to the final two days later.

On the best performances listed by the entrants I am ranked sixth in the field. I hope that home field advantage, some significant training advances and also the fact that a few of the jumpers ranked ahead of me are also entered in multiple events (including the decathlon) will work in my favour. As the long jump is one of the last events on the programme there may be some tired old guys by then.

Training over the last month has generally gone well and there have been no major injuries. That is aside from another bout of the flu that came from nowhere and really knocked me out. In the last week speed and jump session performances have been the best since last season. As many of you will know, the Perth weather has not been great lately. So in order to get some quality training in I flew to Darwin for a week to take advantage of better weather conditions. Now with just under four weeks to go I am beginning to taper my training in preparation for the championships. What this means is that training volume is significantly decreased and intensity is high. For example, gym work is now especially focused on explosive work with exercises such as jump squats replacing Olympic lifts. This Thursday and the following Tuesday I will have two pre-Worlds competitions that will be a good guide to how I am tracking and any technical issues I need to devote attention to.

That is about all for now. If you are in Perth and want to see some top athletics competition involving some remarkable and inspirational older athletes the full programme is now available at www.perth2016.com The championships run from October 26 to November 6 (October 30 and November 3 are rest days). If you are interested, my long jump competition is at the WA Athletics Stadium (Stephenson Street, Mount Claremont) – Qualifying – Wednesday November 2, 11.30am; Final – Friday November 4, 3.00pm.

Until the next update…