Bring on the mud!

Last weekend saw the return of crosscountry to my racing calendar, after I missed the first mid-lancs fixture of the season at Chorley last month.

It still seemed a little early on in the autumn for crosscountry in my opinion, and Burnley's Townley Park provided very little in the way of any traditional XC mud, but it did at least prove to be a decent enough course for easing into the winter season.

There will be far tougher courses and conditions to come of course, but it was nice to be back out there and seeing just where I am at early doors in the XC season.

Overall I was satisfied with my effort last Saturday, although I soon regretted leading out for the first mile or so of the race, as I dropped down to 7th momentarily in the second mile before recovering to finish in 4th place after a constant battle for position with Blackburn's Karl Billington throughout.

Training-wise the last two weeks have been satisfying too, as last week I managed to put in 70 miles, and after a good 17 miler today I am on track to record 75+ again this week too.

Tuesday night saw me return to track training, after 4 weeks away for one reason or another. It was hard going getting back to running sub 5 minute miles after such a long break from it, but I was really pleased with my session seen as I was running on my own.

The last two Thursday's have seen me putting in solid 5 mile tempo runs at 5:12 and 5:10 pace respectively, and I am happy with how my training is going ahead of a few big 10k's to come before the end of the year.

This week also saw the 3 year anniversary of my first ever marathon attempt. Looking back on it, it is hard to imagine that it has been that long - it seems to have gone so quickly. That said, three years on and I have now completed 5 of them, so I have been busy!

In another way, I kind of can't believe it has only been 3 years, I have come a long way since the days of training off 30 miles a week, playing football 3 days a week and only putting in one 20 mile long run as preparation!

Needless to say that on my next attempt I will be a little bit more prepared...speaking of which, I am still sticking to the plan of avoiding the marathon in 2016, despite a little wobble during the week which nearly saw me enter Berlin for next autumn! Possibly an idea to revisit for 2017 though, we'll see :)

Team Wesham on tour!

The recent weeks of higher volume and intensity of training have been geared towards this trip to Palma De Mallorca, for the Spanish island's Capital city road races.

The original plan had been to fly out with Moll and to enjoy a long weekend away together, along with the rest of the running clubs participants. Unfortunately this time my lucky mascot was unable to join me due to commitments at University.

The only positive about this fact is that it meant my mind was fully focuses on he main event and the race at hand, but needless to say I would obviously have much preferred her alongside me - a fantastic weekend would have been made absolutely perfect if Moll had been able to join in the party. There is always next year though I hope...

This was week six of my increased training mileage, however on the back of last weeks Half marathon win at the Valiants race, I decided to reduce my training down slightly before a second crack at the distance in a short 8 day spell.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday saw me complete early morning easy sessions of 4-5 miles jogging at 7:00 pace. It is something that I have tried to add to my programme as a way of topping up the mileage and also helping my body become used to running on tired legs on the back of tougher evening sessions. I have tried these type of mornin runs in the past, but have never been able to motivate myself to get up at that 5:40 am alarm regularly on previous occasions. Hopefully this time around it can become a real fixture in my training programme for the future. After 4 weeks I seem to be getting settled into the routine ok.

Monday's evening session saw my usual progression run at the club night for Wesham Road Runners. We did 9 miles, starting at 7:00 pace and working down to finish at 5:35's. I felt surprisingly fresh after the previous weekend's exploits, although I did take a spectacular tumble after 7.5 miles and despite a nasty knock on the hip I got off relatively lightly having failed to spot a divot in the pavement.

Due to work commitments and a late finish, I was unable to make my group track session on the Tuesday, so instead had to make do with a makeshift short tempo session by myself. I did this down Kirkham bypass and it consisted of a 2.5 mile warm up, 4 miles tempo at 5:20 pace, followed by a 2.5 mile cool down. It was hard work motivating myself to try and run fast on he back of a 12 hour working day and knowing it would be gone 9pm before I got home to make my tea! So I was really happy with the effort I put in to this session all things considered.

On Wednesday, another late finish at work saw me decide to give myself the evening off to rest up for the following night's group tempo run and with the following weekends race also in mind.

Thursday's session with Affleck, Buttler and Joe Monk was pleasing, as in comparison to how hard it had been to maintain 5:20 pace on my own the other night, this time around with company it seemed so much easier. We are getting a good little group together now and everyone seems to be benefitting from these sessions and enjoying them too, which is pleasing to be a part of.

Friday evening saw me packing and making final preparations for my journey - my first ever flight on my own(!) - and so I was unable to find time to squeeze in any last minute training. Saturday too was a long morning of travelling and taxi-ing around Palma in order to pick up my race number and pack from the registration and expo. I felt shattered from all the hectic travelling the day before the race and so had an early night and avoided the bar!

Sunday was race day, and despite concerns earlier in the week about the weather (though I was secretly hoping it WOULD rain as forecast!) the sun was in fact shining bright and the early morning temperatures were already hitting 20'C as I completed my warm up and stretches.

On the startline I managed to manoeuvre my way through to the front of pen A, although there were still some elite athletes in another seperate one in front of that (Pen AA!). These runners were the sub 70 minute athletes and also the elites that were competing in the full marathon, which started at the same time as the half.

I didn't really know what to expect prior to setting off, as I had never competed against any of the front runners before and so was unsure what their pace would be from the offset. But I had made my mind up that having travelled all this way I would have a real go at sticking with the pace, whatever it may be, and going all out for a place on the Podium.

As I have already stated, the way the race was organised, the Half and the Full marathon's were both started together én mass, with the 10k runners starting separately, on a second wave twenty minutes later. Finally, the walking race started 5-10 minutes after that. In total, some 9,500 athletes participated in the various events and distances in total. Some 5,000 people competed in the Half marathon.

On the starting pistol, a German athlete from the sub 70 pen went flying out of the blocks and I immediately made the decision to go with his pace and to take him on from the offset. Within a few hundred yards we had already opened up quite a lead over the other competitors, and exchanging some words (thankfully he spoke English - I wouldn't stand a chance with German!) it became apparent that our target times were somewhat similar, so I hoped to give him a good battle!

The first mile was relatively fast, but not beyond my ability at 5:10 pace, so I gained some early confidence that this could be a fast race if we continued to go toe-to-toe. Passing the spectating George Kennedy at around the mile mark was good motivation as he gave me words of encouragement and advice as I went by.

After a pan flat first mile, the second one saw a very gradual incline and the pace settled down to around the 5:20 mark. Then the third mile saw a bigger climb up the race's first proper hill, as you climbed up beyond the far end of he harbour. It was at this point when I opened up a slight gap for the first time and began to run away from the German competitor. Just before the 3 mile mark, you turned around a set of cones and carried on back towards the Cathedral, which was the setting for the start and finish of each of the races. Coming back in the opposite direction I was able to steal a quick glance across to see what sort of a lead I had built up early on, and a stron hill section had opened up a 6-7 second advantage I would estimate.

I pushed on further on return back down the hill and increased that lead further through miles 3-6, as I made an early push for a big lead. Coming back down the harbour in the opposite direction to the other athletes was actually a rather moving experience. The amount of vocal encouragement and cheering and applauding that I was offered by this 9,000-plus wall of runners was unbelievable. The noise was fantastic, and the thought that it was all aimed at me was quite mind-blowing really. Between that and the crowds closer to the Cathedral, and the convoy of lead car and about 4 police motorbikes and cameramen on bikes etc, it was like running at the London marathon all over again!

It was also good to be able to spot some of our other runners, as Wesham had turned out in force, with some 31 of the clubs members in the city for the race, with many running too. Including my mum and dad, competing in the 10k race. To be able to spot them go by was brilliant encouragement too.

As we passed by the far side of the Cathedral we climbed up the second of the courses hills and into the old town section of the race. By now the temperatures had risen to definitely mid-high twenty degrees and I was beginning to sweat lots by now! So it was welcome respite whenever the course weaved into the shade of the big tall buildings. For those of you that have never been to Palma, these streets are very narrow, very twisty and bendy and many of the corners that we were navigating were quite sharp. Many of the roads and paths we were running on were also either cobbled or slicked surface flagging. It became quite impossible to build any real momentum through the second half of the race and through these sections the pace dipped to 5:40-5:45 pace. 

Fortunately, I had built up enough of a lead to stay relaxed as the pace dropped, and as my legs began to tighten I knew that this one would not be about the times, but about securing that place at the top of the Podium. I managed to do just that and was fortunate enough to be able to ease up down the final straight and soak up the atmosphere as I crossed the line victorious in 72:23, 59 seconds ahead of my nearest rival on an international Podium, with second and third place coming from Germany and Poland respectively.

The winner of the ladies half marathon race was also British, and the national flag appeared from somewhere and that made for a special photo opportunity on the podium during the prize giving ceremony later on!

It was bizarre afterwards, having microphones and tape recorders etc thrown I front of me immediately having crossed the line, it caught me on the hop and good luck to any Spanish people in trying to understand my Lancashire accent! 

Sadly for our members participating in the 10k, for the second year in succession, the course was well too long - despite being measured accurate, it came in at over 6.5 miles! Steve Waterhouse did superbly to finish first in his age category in that race though, so a big congrats to him.

Also to Jason Barlow, who stuffed his brother Lee in the sunshine over the half marathon to come home as King Barlow!

Well done too to Nigel Shepherd and Simon Eaton on completing the full marathon in heats that rose above 30C whilst they were on the course. A monumental effort by both.

All of team Wesham can be proud of our own individual achievements across the weekend, as well as having enjoyed a fantastic time away with a brilliant group of friends and family. I am flying home content in the knowledge that I am blessed to be surrounded by such a positive, friendly, amazing group of people. There truly is no other team quite like Wesham, and long may that continue.

The gamble on doing back to back Half marathons in the week paid off, with both a massive new PB and also two pleasing race wins to boot. Now my attentions can turn to finally nailing that 10k time st Leeds Abbey Dash in four weeks time...

Would I like to come back and defend the Palma title? You'll have to ask Molly!

An Ultra Boost ahead of my Valiant effort...

Those of you that are regular readers of this blog will have noticed that my weekly mileage has steadily risen this year, and that there has been a spike in my training over the last 5 weeks in particular.

This has been a conscious effort to get myself fitter and faster in general, but the main catalyst has been the targetting of a couple of big upcoming races on my calendar.

The most important goal that I am working towards is Leeds Abbey Dash in mid-November, however I am also due to participate in the Palma Half Marathon too. By upping my mileage and the intensity of my training I had hoped to be able to have a good crack at my half-marathon PB in the Spanish sun.

That race is now just eight days away, and the closer it has gotten, the stronger I have felt...which is where the doubts about my target began to creep in. Over the last couple of weeks in particular I have felt stronger and stronger, and believed that I was all set to run a fast time. I didn't want the heat to put paid to my potential new personal best. 

So during the course of this week I began to consider a change of plan. There was a relatively new half marathon race, set in rural country lanes just a twenty minute drive from my house. Last year, the race was won in a low 68, and it has quickly gained a good reputation as being a fast, flat course. The problem? It was this weekend, and just 8 days before the Palma Half I was really unsure whether of not to do it, as it seemed just too close to be able to double up and race well at both events.

Having asked Alan Taylor whether he would be open to entries on the day and being given a positive response however, I was leaning towards the idea of going for it. I still wasn't entirely sold on it though, and took advice off some trusted friends and experienced runners too. 

In the end I decided to leave the decision as late as possible, and it wasn't until I woke up this morning, opened the curtains and saw the perfect conditions that I actually made my mind up to go out and race.

I continued with my current training programme as normal throughout the week (and an easy 7 miles tomorrow evening should take me up to 77 miles for the week), although my usual track session on Tuesday had been cancelled, so I had to substitute that for the Wesham 4 mile winter handicap race on Monday night as an alternative. I ran it as a hard tempo run and was pleased to record 20:44 for quite an undulating two lap route. 

Then on Thursday, I met up with Rob Affleck (back after Berlin), Gethin Butler (on the back of his National duathlon championships) and Joe Monk (who ran his Preston Park run PB last week). We had agreed on a pace of about 5:30s, with the other three doing 5 miles, and me adding an extra lap of Preston docks to take my distance up to 6.5 miles. I felt incredibly strong and the pace easy as I actually found myself running 5:20s throughout. It was during this session that I think I knew I really wanted to do the Valiant's Half whilst I was in such form.

Also this week, I had a shock when it suddenly crossed my mind just how many miles my trainers and racers that I was currently using had actually done. I had two pairs of racers, both of which I have been using since January. Seen as I use them for track, tempo's and even the odd long run, as well as races, it is fair to estimate that they have banged out some 800 miles each since I purchased them!! I always like to get my money's worth out of them, but upon inspection, they were both completely gone and ready for the bin. 

So I made the most of an early finish from work on Thursday and went to buy myself a new pair. I ended up getting the new Adidas Ultra Boost model. They are predominantly more of a long distance shoe, with extra cushioning and 'bounce', but I felt that they were as light as any racer, and so took the decision that these are the pair for me. I have always worn adidas for the last 3 years, and have to say that these are definitely the most comfortable and responsive that I have had yet. They get a big thumbs up from me so far, even if they are ridiculously expensive at £130 rrp! 

After breaking them in with an early morning run before work on Friday, I gave them a race debut at Valiant's, and they have started to pay for themselves already with a good race win bonus!

I had to run the race completely on my own from the start, so I knew it would be a hard task to better my PB time of 71:54 set at Wilmslow Half earlier on in the year. To do so, I would need to average better than 5:29 pace throughout on my own.

I did so though. Comfortably. The hardest part of the race was actually settling in to a rhythm at the start, as it was difficult judging the pace on my own early doors. I had set a target of getting to 10 miles at 5:25s and then assessing whether or not I was in any position to push on in the last 5k. 

As I was on my own though, it turned into more of a mile by mile race against the clock as I kept doing the maths in my head trying to figure out where I was at compared to where I needed/wanted to be. My pace was fairly consistent throughout and overall I would go so far as to say that this is by far my most pleasing, complete and controlled race I have ever put together. I smashed my PB, taking 95 seconds off the old one and finishing in 1st place in 70:29, a clear 6 and a half minutes ahead of second placed Wesham team mate James Mulvany.

The best thing is, I honestly believe that if I had company around me, I think I would have comfortably broken seventy and maybe even gone a little quicker still...but that just bodes well for the future. Now is a time for recovery, with a massage booked in for this afternoon and maybe even another one on Monday night if I can squeeze it in before Palma next week.

Today's splits were: 5:19, 5:23, 5:21, 5:24, 5:22, 5:20, 5:25, 5:19, 5:23, 5:25, 5:19, 5:22, 5:14 and a 47 second dart to the line.

Taking inspiration

If there is one thing that I have realised since I started taking my running and training seriously a couple of years ago, it is that we are never truly happy with ourselves, our achievements and our performances.

No matter how quick we go, or if we run a massive PB, or whatever else we manage to do in a race. We might be content for a week or two, but then our brains starts churning and wondering 'what if', our attention soon turns to the next target, the next race, the next challenge. We are always trying to be better than ourselves.

This was the case last week after Lancaster 5k. I took ten seconds off my previous best time, which is a big chunk in one go on what is a short distance, but almost immediately believed that I was capable of more. My target for 2016 will be to break the 15 minute barrier.

It isn't a new feeling though, as I say it happens quite often after a race. In fact after London, despite knowing I had given it everything and performed to probably the maximum of my ability, within a week I had already started to think about the next one and what could be possible. This despite my promise to myself to take a break from the long stuff for a while!

Therefore it is impossible not to take inspiration and be immensely impressed with the performances of two of our best local runners over the marathon across the continent over the past week.

Firstly, Rob Affleck finally hitting his sub 2:30 target, with a fantastic 2:27 in Berlin - going within a minute of the Preston Harriers record for the distance.

In the same race, Jason Cherriman ran an incredible new personal best of 2:21, a simply amazing feat - to think that by the time I crossed the line in April he would have already finished a good quarter of an hour before is mind blowing!

Then to top it off, David Rigby stole the show with a record breaking 2:24 to win the Chester Marathon today. The Preston Harriers record had stood for some 20 years I believe, so for him to smash it by two minutes is incredible. A massive congrats to him!

All of these performances just go to show how much I need to still do before I can start compare myself to the top road runners around here. It is inspiring and makes me determined to train harder and keep plugging away to try and close the gap from the times these guys are capable of to the ones that I am running now. I am improving, and hopefully will continue to do so, but it is a process and I know I am still some way off right now.

This week has been a solid week of training for me. After a doubleheader of races last weekend I did a slightly shorter track session on Tuesday, followed by a tough solo tempo run on Thursday with 10k in 33:30. Yesterday I did a 17 mile long run, my longest since London. I did it at 6:22 pace and felt strong throughout. Today I finished my weeks work off with a progressive 10 mile tempo at 6:05 pace. In total I ticked over with 76 miles for the week - meaning that for the last 4 weeks I have now maintained 75 miles plus for the first time ever, with my previous highest 4 week block being 68.

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!