London buses

Believe it or not, despite coming close on a number of occasions, I hadn't actually ran a single new PB across any of the main distances since I completed the London Marathon back in April. Prior to this weekend at any rate...

I could argue as much as I like that I have come close - just two or three seconds away from a new 5k pb at both of the last two Catforth Canters and the Sale Sizzler, and of course being denied over 10k by a short course. Also a good performance over the half at Freckleton saw me come within a whisker of setting a new best time there too. But the fact is, I simply hadn't managed it. 

I have felt in good form ever since the marathon, and sure I have won plenty of races locally - both individually and as part of a competitive team - but I had been left feeling recently that I had yet to really convert that form into times that really reflect the standards that I now set myself across all distances. At the end of the day, I know that it is times that people will judge you on, not always necessarily what you win, but how fast you cross that line. The clock doesn't lie.

So yes, I had begun to become a little bit frustrated that my times had plateaued off a little bit, and although I was always confident that it was only  a matter of time until I next converted a good run into a fast time, I was becoming more and more agitated for it to hurry up and happen.

Running can be very much a confidence sport. Winning the races that I have has given me increased belief that I can compete with other runners that run even faster times, and running amongst a higher class should in turn help me to improve further. That is one of the things that I am finding out with my training at the moment.

After two fairly successful weekends of racing over 3-4 miles at the relays, I felt as though I was ready to have a real go at getting my 5k time down soon. So I took the decision to skip the first cross country fixture of the mid-lancs league season and instead to head off to Lancaster to run the final 5k of their summer series.

Lancaster 5k is a race that has a very good reputation for providing a fast and flat course, but for some reason it is one that I had never got around to actually doing prior to this weekend. I won't be waiting as long before I return, that is for sure. It is a race that provides everything you could ask of it. A fast start and finish on the track, with a nice smooth cycle track path for the remaining 2.5 miles, it is a course that is well designed for quick times.

The only shame is that the front end of the race was maybe not quite as stacked with sub 16 minute runners as it has been in the past, if that had been the case, i think that I could have ran even quicker than I did.

I went out hard from the off, with William Onek of Lancaster and Morecombe pushing me through the lap of the track and out across the first mile of the cycle track. I purposefully didn't look at my watch at all throughout the race, choosing instead to run purely on feel and to let my legs and body tell me how fast I could and should be going. The plan worked, as I nipped over the line in a new PB time of 15:14, taking a full ten seconds off my previous best for the distance. Looking at the splits on my watch, I probably set off a tad too quick, but as I said earlier I think if pushed harder in the second half I think I could have gone quicker if I needed to. My splits read: mile 1 - 4:45; mile 2 - 5:01; mile 3 - 5:02.

Delighted with a new PB, I doubled up the weekends racing with Preston 10k the following day, and although I never threatened to reclaim my title there from last year, as David Rigby cruised to a comfortable victory, I did manage to claim a second PB of the weekend, running home in 32:35 for second place, knocking 4 seconds off my old 10k best.

A successful weekend of racing and I got through it all in one piece, and managed to keep up my recent good mileage in training with another 75 mile week too. Possibly my most enjoyable run of the weekend came late in the day on Sunday, as I jogged a recovery run after Preston 10k with Moll, who did brilliantly to do 1.7 miles - we'll make a runner of her yet 😜 We keep pushing on!

Northern 6 Stage Relays

This weeks main event was undoubtably the Northern 6 Stage Relays (and the 4 stage for the women of course!) and it topped off another pleasing week for me on the training front too as my recent increase in mileage continued.

Following on from last weeks 77 miles, I managed a satisfactory 73 miles this week - this being despite a slow start to the week. Better still my calf is now pain free once more and I am feeling strong again.

Monday's training went to pot a bit, as a 5:45am set off for work, followed by a 12 and a half hour work day, left me shattered, but also with some remaining tightness and soreness in my calf I didn't want to overdo it anyway. So I headed out and plodded 7.5 miles on my own, rather than running with the club and feeling like I had to do more than I necessarily wanted to.

Tuesday, despite still suffering with the calf a little bit, I headed to the speed session with Helen Clithroe's group and trained well. After a 2.3 mile warm up, we did 8x1000m off 50 second recovery on the grass, followed by 8x30 second sprints to finish, off a 30 second rest. Along with the same 2.3 mile cool down, this saw me tick over 11.5 miles for the session. 

Trying to keep up with Gary Priestley for the k's and Andy Benson for the sprints left my calf in pieces, so I was so glad I had a massage booked in with Claire Wilson from Wesham RR on the Wednesday evening. I also slipped in a slow 5 mile jog between work and the massage too, so as to keep my push for a 70 mile plus week going!

The massage has worked wonders and my calf feels as good as new - well as far as runner's are concerned anyway - I've almost forgotten what it is like to be absolutely pain free!! So I have to say thanks Claire!

Thursday's tempo session with Affleck and Buttler was shorter and sharper this week, as Rob gears up for his marathon in Berlin. We did both a 2 mile warm up and cool down, with a 10k session completed in 32:52, progressing from a first mile at 5:25 pace, to a final one at 5:09. It was pleasing to run under 33 minutes on a training run, as it is something I have only done a couple of times. 

On Friday I ran home from work, taking it easy and doing ten more miles in 67 minutes, and making the most of a nice evening and a decent finish at work. That night I let my hair down with a night out with Moll, a meal in town followed by a few pints and cocktails - I think I had earned them haha. It was good to spend some real quality time with Moll before moving her into uni this weekend.

Saturday of course was the relays, but in similar fashion to last weekend, I started the day by doing the Preston park run as a bit of a tempo - I planned on running twice on Saturday anyway to top up the mileage, so doing this made sense seen as it worked so well the previous week. I did the 3 laps in 16:47, a similar time to the week before and felt confident about the afternoon's race.

The field at the Northern's is bigger and better than the North West, which I had done the week previous. On the previous two occasions when I have done this event, I have ran on the first leg both times, coming home in 35th and 23rd respectively. This time out saw a marked improvement, as I secured a top ten finish on the leg. I finished the 6.6k loop in 20:30 for 9th place - some 90 seconds quicker than I managed on the same course a couple of years ago.

I have to give a shout out to Tom Cornthwaite, of Salford Harriers, who gave me some words of encouragement as I passed him at around the 3 mile mark. You wouldn't get that in most sports, and it is something that I think sets runners apart from the rest, we all want to see each other run as well as possible, despite being competitive at the same time. This encouragement made me force a little bit extra out of myself in that last mile.

Well done too to young Paddy Dever, who ran an amazing leg to finish in 5th place for Preston Harriers.

Wesham's 'A' team consisted of myself, Steve Waterhouse, Simon Denye (both on Team Wesham relay debuts!), Steve Myerscough, Lee Barlow and David Taylor. Well done to the team on our 41st place finish - a good effort by each and every member of the side.

Today saw me round off the week with a 15.5 mile long run, setting me up nicely for another tough week ahead, with two more races planned!

Shocking 10 k's, fantastic holidays, and the North West Road Relays

BIRCHWOOD 10K

At the time of last writing, I was preparing for my latest outing over the 10km distance, at Birchwood. I had been warned that he course was no longer the quickest, after being changed a few years ago. However, traditionally, there had been a strong field to contend against, and so it was possible to still run decent times if you could get yourself in a race against those around you.

Sadly this year that just was not the case. I have to admit I was shocked at just how poor a quality this race provided - both in terms of the level of competition at the front end, and also the standard of the course provided.

Undulating, twisting, and just plain boring, the course failed to capture the imagination and inspire anything special. The endless roundabouts through industrial estates and motorway bridges made this a pretty dull race to be honest.

Furthermore, whereas last year the race had seen the likes of Ben Fish and David Rigby, amongst others, competing, this year the front end was sparsely contested. Perhaps word had got around of how poor a race Birchwood 10k has now become, if you are looking for fast times at least. To say that I ran some 32 seconds quicker at an undulating Worden Park 10k, when running out in front on my own, earlier this year says something about how slow this one is...

I didn't manage to put in a performance that I can say I am particularly proud of, although the 33:21 I recorded would have been a decent one on this type of course for me 12 months ago. But having set the bar higher for myself over the past year, I have to be honest and say that I fell short of my own expected standards.

That said, due to the lack of high quality at the front of the field, I found myself finishing in second place, clear of third by some 15-20 seconds, with a similar gap from myself to the winner. Furthermore, a strong turnout from the Wesham contingent saw us also bag the team prize. Accompanying me in completing our winning team was Lee Barlow, David Taylor and Steven Gore. So it wasn't all bad, as I was rewarded with £100 worth of New Balance vouchers for my second placed finish! I'm sure they will come in handy over the winter...

CORNWALL

The Friday following Birchwood 10k, saw me head off on a road trip down to Cornwall with my gorgeous girlfriend Molly. We made the most of an opportunity to spend a week away together before she heads off to university later this month.

It was great to get to relax together and spend some time chilling out and enjoying each other's company. The weeks leading up to the break had been so busy and stressful, I think we were both ready, and in need of the rest.

That said, I did make sure to pack my trainers and keep the mileage ticking over by fitting in 40 miles in the duration of the week. It might sound quite a lot to some of you - but bearing in mind I usually run 70 miles a week on top of a 50-60 hour working week, this was most definitely still a good rest! I think Moll was also more than happy to escape from me for 40 minutes or so each day too haha.

The rest of the week was spent catching up on lots of sleep (yay!), cooking together, playing lots of varieties of golf and walking/exploring all that the area had to offer. 

It was a fantastic holiday and allowed me to recharge the batteries and return fighting fit and with the bit between my teeth once again.

One final blow out on the weekend I came home saw me join some of the other local runners for a great day/night out at Simon Denye's stag do. It is fair to say I am slower on the road in a go-kart than I am on foot! 

RETURN TO TRAINING / NORTH WEST ROAD RELAYS

Keen to get straight back into my training programme, I have had a bumper week of mileage upon our return from Cornwall. Having averaged 68 miles a week for the 6 weeks leading up to the holiday, this first week back at it has seen me chuck in 77 miles of work - a new personal highest weekly mileage.

Part of the reason for this increase in miles is down to a longer speed session on the grass at Cottam Sports Arena on Tuesday, as I joined Dave Rigby for a session of 8x1000m and a 1 mile tempo to finish . Also, Thursday's tempo session with Rob Affleck was also longer than normal, as he concludes his training for Berlin. We did a 10 mile tempo, finishing up with 54:30 for the distance - exactly a minute quicker than my official PB for the distance, set at Preston 10 last winter! 

I woke up to a sore calf on Friday, and despite taking it easy and only doing 10 slow miles on it after work, I couldn't shake off the tightness and knotting inside it.

I tested it out again on Saturday morning at Preston Park Run, and got around the run ok, taking it relatively conservatively in order to sustain my energy for the afternoon's relay championships at Ormskirk. It had been important for me mentally to be confident that I was able to run on the leg before I set out to properly race later on in the day.

My calf tightened up once again between runs, but I ensured that I did a lengthy warm up and stretched as much as possible before my turn to run.

Thankfully I didn't have long to wait. I was placed on the first leg and was up against some quality opposition - Blackpool's Luke Minns, Rossendale's Rob Webb, Paddy Dever of Preston Harriers, Barlick's Chris Singleton and Ian Livesey, as well as runners from Liverpool, Salford and many other big clubs were there.

I set off pretty conservatively again, content to sit in early doors and see who made early moves and what the general pace of the race around me was going to be. One lad from Clayton-Le-Moors went absolutely flying off from the track, and as I suspected at the time soon came back to the rest of us after he obviously misjudged the pace massively! 

A Liverpool runner took the race on and proved to be too good, winning the leg by 7 seconds, but having been 4th place for most of the first out of the two laps, I managed to move through the front of the field as the race wore on.

Passing the lad from Clayton, I managed to remain within striking distance of young Paddy through the first lap, and was confident that the longer I stayed in range, the more likely it was that my endurance and strength would see me past him before the end of the leg.

I eventually moved past him at around the two mile mark and pressed on, moving clear of the pack behind me to finish in second place for the leg in a time of 15:51 for the 3.18km. It was a very satisfying performance for me, seen as I had been genuinely concerned about even making it round in one piece!

After the conclusion of the final leg, I was shocked and delighted to find out that the time I had ran was the quickest by any Lancashire runner on the day by four seconds, and the 3rd fastest recorded by any of the runners present too! So I got a nice little medal to take home as a souvenir for my efforts too.

I also have to say how good it was to be back part of a team event with the rest of Team Wesham once again - our first team finishing up in 32nd place out of the 80 teams that started the race. Lee Barlow, Steven Gore and Steve Myerscough completed our 4 man 'A' team. It was also great to see my dad compete in a relay event too, and it was brilliant to get the opportunity to cheer him on too.

I now have a week to get recovered and ready for the Northern 6 stage relays at Stanley Park, Blackpool, next Saturday! 

Training blocks and the "Rob Slam"...

Ok, so it has been a while since my last blog post and as a result I have quite a lot to report and update you all with this time around. Lucky you! Haha...

Rather than my usual update after each race and every week of training, it is now two races and another two weeks of mileage since my last update. But don't worry, I will fill you in on everything! There has also been the small matter of a niggle I have had for the past week and a story of transport problems (aaaargh!).

First off, let's begin with the latest race in the interclub Grand Prix series. Last Wednesday was the turn of Chorley to play hosts, with a tough two lap course, taking in Astley Park over an undulating 4.8 mile route.

Coming into this round, Wesham were still well in there with a genuine chance of winning the overall team championship for the first time in years. Entering the race in joint first place, alongside favourites Preston Harriers, and on the back of a victory at home last time out, confidence throughout her team was high.

Unfortunately, a strong turnout and performance from the Harriers saw them take the win this time around quite comfortably, despite solid performances from all the Wesham team.

On a personal note, I managed to record a sixth win in six interclub races this season, after taking the race by the scruff of the neck from the start in order to see off the early pressure from Chorley's young track athlete Luke Betts. We led the race out from the off and soon built a considerable lead over Affleck as we moved through the woodland in the first half a mile. 

I knew Luke would be strong in the opening stages of the race, and also that I didn't want to have to worry about him in the latter stages either, as I probably would have struggled to keep up with a track runners sprint finish! So I took the decision to run hard through the first 2.5 mile lap and try to burn out the opposition early and build up enough of a lead to make that last 800 metres comfortable.

The plan worked, as I lost Luke towards the end of the first lap, but somewhat unexpectedly, Rob Affleck had managed to draw us back in, and at the foot of the big hill in the early stages of the second lap - around the 3 mile mark - I could sense him gaining on me and starting to move on to my shoulder. 

I had to really shift up that climb to force myself back in front and open up a good lead again moving into the final mile. Once I had climbed to the top though, I knew I had done the hardest part and had the race won.

It is a great feeling to know that I have won each race in the series so far, but unfortunately I won't be able to complete the 'Grand Slam' as I am on holiday in Cornwall on the week of the final race of the season at Leyland. 

Instead, I will have to settle for my own little version, as coach Affleck called it when we met up the day later for a tempo session the "Rob Slam" (think Serena Williams having won all 4 tennis slams in a calendar year, but not the same season coining the phrase 'Serena Slam lol) as I actually won at Leyland in the final race of the last campaign and so currently have won the last race at every one of the competing teams venues! It might seem trivial to some, but it is an achievement that I am proud of and that not many people will have done before I would bet.

Topping my mileage for the week up to 70 once again, I managed to fit in a second race in he week on the Saturday evening with a 5k.

I had planned on travelling up to Nelson to take part in the latest Podium road race, seen as that is where I set my pb for the distance a few months back. However, vehicle problems (my van broke down again during the week, and has since been replaced, thank God!) meant that I was unable to make it up here in time after finishing work. 

Instead, I opted for a lift off my mum and dad to the final Catforth Canter of the summer. Which meant that I had an opportunity to complete a second slam of the week by winning all three races of that series too.

This one was much tighter than the previous two, as Lancaster and Morecombe sent out a strong team. Raymond Edgar pushed me throughout and actually led through the first mile and a half of the race, before I took it on towards the end of second mile. I managed to break away slightly through the final mile to win by six seconds in the end. Being pushed meant that I was able to record a quick time. I finished in 15:27, just one second off my course record. 

This weeks mileage will be lower than the last few, as I have done less miles later in the week, in order to prepare and let my body rest before my latest attempt at setting a 10k PB tomorrow morning at Birchwood.

I have trained hard since my holiday in Malta six weeks ago, and this is my final race before another week away with the gorgeous Molly, my wonderful girlfriend and the love of my life (she's sat next to me right now looooool) - but yeah seriously she is! Anyway, back on track, my last six weeks training have seen me rack up 60, 68, 75, 65, 70 and 60 miles respectively. 

Will hopefully update you on tomorrow's race soon :)

Fizzled out at "The Sizzler"

Last Thursday, I ventured out to take part in the much lauded Sale Sizzler. There was a very good standard of field out, on what is generally accepted as one of the fastest 5k courses in the region. However, for whatever reason, it just didn't happen for me.

I didn't exactly have a disastrous run by any means, but having felt in good nick - combined with having ran 15:26 when setting my own pace at Catforth a couple of weeks ago - I quite fancied myself for a crack at certainly a low 15:20, if not a little bit quicker.

No such joy this time I'm afraid. In all honesty, it was a night where things just never felt right or ever looked like coming together. I felt slightly leggy during the warm up, but nothing too concerning. The pace through the first mile was pretty much perfect for where I intended on being (4:54) and I was tucked in at the back of a strong group (behind Dave Rigby and Dave Norman, and a couple of others).

From then on, it all came apart quite quickly. The pack moved away from me and I found myself running in no-mans land. Only, looking back on my watch, the pack probably didn't move away all that much...it was my pace that dropped, a lot. In mile 2, I went from a 4:54 mile down to a 5:09 mile.

Mile 3 I sort of got my act back together, more through the pressure of not wanting to lose to coach Rob Affleck, and ran 5:02 for the final mile, with a sprint finish bringing me within touching distance of catching 6th place by the end.

I finished up in 7th and 15:29, which admittedly is still pretty much par for the course when you look through my times so far in 2015, but considering the level of competition I had just expected something more from myself.

I have another crack at the distance this Saturday, when I will hopefully be competing in the latest Podium 5k, where I set my PB back in March (15:24).

I don't know what went wrong in mile two last week, and don't intend on over-evaluating things too much, but perhaps the increased mileage of the last few weeks had sapped some energy. If so, that shows the catch 22 situation between wanting to increase mileage for endurance and long-term benefits, against the short term results in races right now. Hopefully, by persevering with the new workload, it will get easier in time and my body will be able to get more used to it.

Anyway, you can't win them all, or perform every single time you run. It's all about the next one now.

Coaching

It's hard to believe that it is two years to the day since my first training session under the guidance of Rob Affleck. 

I first sought Rob out for some coaching having started to believe that I had plateaued and was struggling to improve beyond the standard I had got to at that point.

My times at that time looked like this:

5k - 16:28

10k - 33:25

1/2 marathon - 77:21

Marathon - 2 hours 52 minutes 17 seconds

I had clear aims for what I intended to achieve through training with Rob. Firstly I knew that I needed to learn from him both how to structure a proper training plan - week to week, as well as long term - and also how to look after my body away from the roads and actual running. By this I mean how to stay injury free (I had struggled with hamstring and groin strains early on in my running) and how to eat and drink properly. As well as that, I obviously wanted to get quicker...

Initially, I hoped to progress to being a sub 33 10k runner, sub 16 for 5k, sub 75 for the half and 2:45 for the marathon.

I achieved every single one of those goals within 10 months of starting to train with Coach Affleck. But as with all runners, as soon as I had achieved one goal, the goalposts moved and my ambitions became bigger. That is still the case now. My second wave of targets saw me aim for sub 15:30 (5k), 32:00 (10k), 72:00 (half) and 2:37:00 (marathon). Again I am now in a position were (apart from the 10k time - still a sore subject!) I have fulfilled these times and am now looking to push myself even further.

The next twelve months will see me heavily target the 5k and 10k times, as well as having a few good goes at setting some quicker half marathon times.

For a while now it has become apparent to both myself and Rob hat for me to continue to progress from a speed perspective, that I need to move on from our track sessions together and link up with some faster runners. Hopefully now I am going to be able to do that by jumping on with Helen Clithroes training group who also train at UCLAN sports arena on a Tuesday night.

When I first started training with Rob, I remember getting some stick for seeking out help with my running. I was told that 'real' runners didn't need coaches, who were basically "fat men with watches telling you to run faster". I was told that if I needed coaching then I wasn't self motivated enough. 

I would argue that the complete opposite is true. If you are willing to seek advice and spend both your own time and money on improving your ability, then that shows both motivation and determination to get better, quicker and stronger.

I went from being a 35 mile a week runner, with no proper speed sessions, or long runs and structured training. Now I plan my week around a track session, tempo session and quality long run, with more relaxed recovery runs to help the legs between hard sessions. I now aim to do between 65-70 miles per week.

Two years ago, I was still light years away from being able to compete with the top local runners. Now, there is still a gap there, but it is getting smaller and I can see a definite improvement coming all the time. I hope that it now continues as I look to begin the next chapter.

I will still train with Rob and Gethin Butler, who has also been a great source of experience and advice over the last months. I have learnt masses from both and continue to every week.

I know that to continue to progress will take even more hard work than I currently put in, but I am prepared for it and willing to give it a real go. 

Finally, my advice to anyone striving to improve their running and wondering how they can do it, to seek out a proper source of professional guidance. You won't regret it!

The ThunderRun

This weekend saw the return of the Adidas ThunderRun. For those of you unfamiliar with the event, it is basically a 10k relay race, whereby teams (or some crazy ass individuals) battle it out for 24 hours to see how many laps of the course they can successfully complete.

I would like to begin by applauding and congratulating Chris Singleton, Matt Lalor, Ian Livesey, Stephen Chew and the rest of the 'Fastrax' team, who went to the competition looking to bring home the victory and did so in some style by all accounts. Great effort guys!

It is two years ago now that Team Wesham sent two sides down to take part, and I have to say that in all honesty, to this day it remains one of the best team events that I have ever had the privilege to be a part of.

Travelling down on the Friday morning, pitching our tents and heading off into the countryside to a local pub for a group meal and drinks, the first night was an excellent way of getting to know the rest of the team a little better.

The following day, the serious stuff kicked off. 

The organisers had asked teams to put their quickest runner on the opening leg, and as such the first lap turned into something of a race, even though the task is obviously one of extreme endurance. Being put on leg one, I remember trying to run sensibly, but still ran a 34 minute 10k - placing second on the leg.

Obviously the team couldn't maintain that position, but everybody ran brilliantly and it was a fantastic weekend of running.

The main memories from the weekend are:

- originally thinking that the course was set on roads, we all headed down with only our road trainers. As it turned out it was 10k set out on fields and woodland trail. With hindsight, crosscountry spikes would have been a wise option.

- on that first leg, I remember setting off in blistering sunshine and heat...it didn't last! By night time thunderstorms struck and all through the night it absolutely bombed it down.

- in total I ran either 4 or 5 legs (I'll be honest I can't remember!), the most memorable being leg 3 (or was that 4!?). On that leg, I headed off at around 3am, having had nearly no sleep for almost 48 hours already. It had been raining for a number of hours already by this point, and the thunder and lightning was still rife. The course had by now been churned up into a proper mud bath. Also, as the course had no lighting, runners had only head torches as means of making the track visible. At around half way through the lap, I tripping over a tree branch through the woods, flying headfirst into a great big oak tree and landing flat in a thick pile of mud. I remember lying there for a good while staring up at the rainy sky and thinking to myself "what the f#ck am I doing here!?". Then I scrambled around for the head torch and set off to complete the lap. It was one of the most bizarre, surreal, but definitely memorable things I have ever done.

- I also remember Sue Coulthurst and her double-leg through the worst of the weather, that was some run! It turned out to be a smart one too, as it meant longer between legs so she got a sleep in- about the only one that did!

- finally I remember Kerry and her fantastic mothering of the team, keeping us all going with plenty of food and drink. Kerry has always been an important member of team events for Wesham and we'd be lost without her.

The ThunderRun is a truly amazing competition and weekend, and hopefully I will get to take part again at some point in the future.