Dry January

Sometimes you've just got to roll with the punches, and at the moment it has certainly felt as though that is what I have been having to do lately. Still, yesterday felt like a particularly low blow and took the wind out of me somewhat. 

I have had no real cross country season at all, despite it being one of my favourite (and arguably strongest) events. I had hoped to catch the back end of the season and use the Northern's as a bit of a platform to build some base fitness and run myself into a bit of form ahead of next months National Championships race and an outside shot of the Intercounties team if I could impress enough to earn a late call up.

Unfortunately, no sooner did my season belatedly get underway, than I was forced to pull out of the race and concede that it just wasn't meant to be after what has been well described by one of my Facebook friends as very much like an "incident at turn 1 in formula one". 

The Knowsley course was something of a bog and there was an unrelenting mud track - but that is just how I like my crosscountry usually, I am fairly comfortable churning it out in the thick stuff, but nevertheless if I am being honest I wasn't entirely confident of making it around the three laps with both shoes in tact, such was the cleggyness of the surface. I had tied them up as tight as possible and quadruple knotted them and basically hoped for the best that if I was careful I would get around in one piece.

I toed the line and in the early stages I did as much as I could to get settled in a decent position, and I felt that I had managed to do so, getting in and amongst the pack that I knew I wanted to be in. As we descended into the mud pit for the very first time just 0.45 miles in to the race however, disaster struck. Firstly I got spiked through the outside of my right foot by a member of the pack, these things happen and if that had been the only problem I could still undoubtably have continued. Unfortunately though, pretty much within the same stride, I felt my left heel clip and my shoe was gone. 

I did try to get the shoe back, but by the time the herd of runners had subsided enough for me to make a grab for it, too much time had already passed for me to be able to get back into the race. It did cross my mind to just jump back in and continue to use it as a fitness exercise, but I had tied the boot that much and that tightly that I couldn't get the damn thing back on at all! Not only that, but having already felt the pain of having a spike through the foot, I wasn't about to try and run bare foot - not from that far out! 

The frustration that I have felt since has been unbelievable. The difficulties that I have encountered throughout January have really made me realise just how much I love my running and how much I miss it when it is taken away from me. Not only that, but having only raced once in the last two months now (discounting yesterday's farce!) I have definitely got my hunger for racing back again. After a busy November, I definitely needed a break from the exertions of race day, but I can't wait to get back on a race day start line on the roads again now as soon as possible.

I just hope that after my luck seems to have run dry through the month of January, that the changing of the months might bring with it an upturn in fitness and fortunes.

This month has been disastrous from a racing perspective, but if I can take anything from it, at least I have been able to keep ticking over with at least some mileage and a few sessions to maintain a certain level of fitness.

This week I managed to string together a fairly decent training week up until Saturday. I did a strong hill session on Tuesday, with 8 x 2 minute reps off a minute recovery, which was tough but enjoyable and I was pleased with my form.

On Thursday I did a 4 mile tempo at a fairly relaxed 5:27 pace into a strong headwind. In spite of the puncture wound I picked up at cross country, I did get out for a half decent run on Sunday, although a full long run proved too much for me as I had to give in to the pain in my foot after 13 miles. I was pleasantly surprised by the pace as I felt I had taken it easy and had just wanted to get some miles in the tank, and I averaged a healthy 6:15 pace throughout.

Total mileage for the week: 62

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:30

Total mileage so far this month (January): 256.5

Average miles per day 2017: 8.84

Learning from past mistakes

A difficult start to 2017 took another frustrating twist over the last week, as stomach and gut problems ruined my training plans and any intentions I had for racing over the weekend just gone.

It seems to have been a case of one step forward and two steps back so far, and this latest lurch back has been the toughest one to take yet. My illness was something of a mystery to me for much of the week, but by Friday it became clear that I had suffered from the Nora Virus. It is a particularly nasty virus that hits sufferers with sickness and diarrhoea and particularly bad stomach cramps in my case.

I had felt fine on Monday and enjoyed a comfortable 10.5 miles run home from work. I had already planned out my speed session for the Tuesday evening, as I wanted to do 4 x 1 mile reps off a two and a half minute recovery. I didn't feel particularly great by the time it came around, but being stubborn I still gave it a go. I felt terrible throughout, and by the end my pace was way off, as my splits of 4:58, 5:06, 5:12 and 5:33 show.

As soon as my session finished, my toilet problems started. They didn't pass until Saturday afternoon. Although I did manage to maintain some sort of running at least, it was little more than jogging pace as I couldn't muster much more than 7 minute miles, and had to dive into fields and public toilets on numerous occasions...

As the week went on I felt worse and worse, the constant stomach pains and visits to the toilet had left me with barely enough energy for work, never mind anything else. Despite this I didn't make my decision not to do Inskip Half until Friday evening. 

There simply was no point in doing the race, even as a tempo session or built in to a steady long run, even if I did recover from the illness in time. I have made the mistake of racing when I am not fit on a few previous occasions and it is never a good idea, but particularly over a distance like the half marathon where the energy exerted is so big. I made that error at Cardiff last year, racing just a week after a chest infection, it took ages for that particular scar to heal mentally and the lesson is one that has stayed with me. I am in no doubt that if I had done Inskip I would have set myself back a long way.

Looking at my training since Christmas, I am happy with 14 of my runs out of 28 days. That means that half of the past month has not been good enough. Running is all about peaks and troughs, and I have been fortunate to have hit a massive peak in October/November last year, the last few weeks have been a bit of a dip in form and fortunes, but I am hopeful that if I keep my head down I will be heading back in the right direction again soon enough. March and April are my next big target months, so I will use the time between now and hen to try and get myself back in the best shape possible.

My crosscountry season so far has been pretty much none existent, but if I manage to put a solid week in over the next few days I will hopefully manage to get my 2017 off to some sort of a start by taking part in the Northern Championships next Saturday.

Total mileage for the week: 51

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:36

Total mileage so far this month (January): 194.5

Average miles per day 2017: 8.84

Back on track

After a slow start to the new year, last week I managed to really kick on with my training, with no ill effects lingering from my bad back and flu. This meant that I was able to get the ball rolling with some tougher sessions and start to press on with my training plans for 2017.

This week was pleasing for a few different reasons, I managed my highest mileage week since November when I set a host of pb's. I also managed to lay down some good foundations for the weeks ahead with some decent intensity and a few different structured runs.

The bulk of my running was actually done on my way home from work each day, as I've been working on a big job with my dad I have made the most of the opportunity to be able to grab a lift there with him, and then commute the ten miles home on foot. It both saved me time, which allowed me to crack on with extra work at home, and also meant that I didn't even have to worry about setting myself routes etc once I got home!

My week consisted of 4 main quality sessions. I did a fartlek run on my way home on Tuesday, with a ten minute warm up, 10 x 2 minutes effort and 2 minutes jog recovery, and ten minutes cool down. On this session I peaked at 4:59 pace and completed the ten miles in an average of 6:02 pace (inclusive of warm up/cool down). I was pleased with this, as it was the first real pace session I had done on the back of my problems and I was a tad surprised to be able to duck below 5 minute mileing on a few of the reps once I got going.

 My second proper session of the week came, as usual, on Thursday with a 4 mile tempo around Preston Docks. After returning with 5:33 average for the loop last week, this time around I felt tons better and performed much stronger, with an average pace of 5:15 for the four miles feeling comfortable. An improvement of 18 seconds in just 7 days shows that I was right not to risk racing at the Lancs XC last weekend, as I just wasn't fit.

On Saturday, having worked in order to have a little extra spends for the house fund, I missed the mid lancs crosscountry, so instead I treated my ten mile run home as a tempo session. With an easy first and last mile, I averaged under 5:40s for the 8 miles in between (not bad straight from work I don't think!) and completed the ten miles in 58:23.

Finally, after another busy day at the house, completing another 7 day working week more or less, I motivated myself to get out for a long run in the evening on Sunday. I had planned on doing 16-17 miles, but in the end settled for 14.5 which is a bit shorter than I wanted, but not a disaster. Hopefully I have done enough to perform ok at Inskip half next week. This one I managed to hold a steady and consistent 6:35 pace throughout.

I am more than happy with the way I have managed to get myself back on track, but that is the one thing that I am conscious that I now have to get back to - the track! I am missing the top end speed work at the moment and will work hard to try and get back to that again over the coming weeks now.

Total mileage for the week: 75

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:24

Total mileage so far this month (January): 143.5

Average miles per day 2017: 9.53

A slow start

My first week of training in 2017 didn't exactly get off to the best of starts, but fortunately it hasn't been a complete write off and I am hoping that I am going to be able to push on after an enforced rest over the Christmas and new year period.

In the aftermath of Ribble Valley, a race I got away with in hindsight considering the problems I have had since then, I got floored by a bout of flu and was unable to run throughout the final days of 2016.

Frustrated by the inactivity and determined to try and kick on in the new year, I forced myself to go out for a run on the morning of New Year's Day. I probably wasn't quite right still, and should have taken an extra day off, but I went out anyway and coughed and spluttered my way around a 7.5 mile loop. I actually thought that by taking it easy the run would do me good, as I brought up a whole load of phlegm and nastiness! And I did feel good as the run went on, but cooling down and stretching off afterwards, I had another coughing fit and doubling over I tweaked my back.

This is the third of fourth time I have had problems with my back now in the same place, so although at first I was gutted and worried about the damage another lay off would do, I now am starting to understand how to best help facilitate the recovery. I blasted the area with heat (thanks moll for the hot water bottle!) for a number of days and arranged a massage as soon as possible (thanks Vicky for fitting me in so quickly!) and as a result I was back up and running within a couple of days, rather than a full week as was he case last time.

None the less, following on from missing the best part of a week of training due to Christmas and illness, it was another couple of days I could have done without having off.

I knew that I wouldn't be in any sort of shape to race at the Lancashire Championships crosscountry, and despite being tempted to run anyway, I listened to my body, my brain and my coach for once and took the sensible option of cracking on with a training week and ploughing some much needed miles in instead. I am hoping that this will benefit me more in the long run and see me return to form as soon as possible. Despite having missed Monday and Tuesday, I actually managed to end up with a 61 mile week, which was an achievement in itself considering being crippled at the start of it! 

I am hoping to push on now and get some proper sessions in again, as it is a few weeks since I did any proper speed work. I did manage 4 miles at 5:35 with Rob on Thursday, but it felt much tougher than I remember for that sort of pace!

The rest of my running has been pretty steady, but consistent with 10 miles at 6:16, 15 miles at 6:25 and 10 miles at 6:18 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Total mileage for the week: 61

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:29

Total mileage so far this month (January): 68.5

Average miles per day 2017: 8.6

2016: a review of my year

For my final blog post of the year, I thought it would be good to put together my own little review of my last 12 months of running. Whilst 2015 was pretty much defined by one run, this year has been more about steady and gradual plugging away and working hard to try and get my times down across all the main distances (marathon apart!)

I will take a look at some of my best and worst performances, what I have progressed with, what I need to improve, what I achieved and what I didn't manage to do over the course of 2016.

So let's get going...

January

My first race of the year, and first of the crosscountry season was the Lancashire Championships at Witton Park. Having recovered from a bad back over Christmas and new year, I was pleased to be back running, at the end of the month, I returned to the same venue for the Northern Championships and one of the toughest courses I have ever encountered!

February 

The Winter Warmer 10k at Blackburn (again!) provided me with a welcome return to the roads after a ten week absence from racing - the longest spell without a road race I'd had since taking up the sport. I was unsure what to expect and was just glad to get the race over with. I was delighted to take the win too on a very tough course.

I ended the month racing at the National crosscountry championships and had my best ever run in the mud, finishing in 80th position.

March

Wearing the Lancashire red rose vest was one of my proudest moments of 2015, but I hadn't managed to put together a good run, so to be able to get a second stab at he Intercounties this year and finishing in 36th position and second Lancs male was special for me.

April

My first run out at Cheshire 10k saw me record a pb of 32:06, just missing out on my target of sub 32, but was a big boost to my confidence after a shocker at Cardiff Half marathon. On a day when I probably shouldn't have run at all, I struggled round in just under 75 minutes, having gone into the race aiming to break the 70 minute barrier...

May

Christleton 5k was one of my favourite events of the year, and is without doubt the fastest 5k course I have raced on so far. I just missed out on my pb here in 15:08 after a slight misjudgement in the middle stages of the race.

June

It is no secret that Freckleton Half marathon is one of my main races in the calendar year, and one that I am desperate to one day win. I moved a step closer this year, finishing in second place and just missing out on my best time with 70:48.

July

Returning from a fortnight in Turkey feeling about a stone heavier than I had set off, I actually had a decent run on my return to racing just 4 days later, clocking around 15:15 at Podium 5k. It left me feeling positive and ready for an assault on my times in the second half of the year after a good break.

August

A month on from Podium and I felt in prime shape for a go at setting a new pb and hopefully breaking the 15 minute barrier at mid Cheshire 5k. The previous race there had been stacked and plenty had gone under that. This time out surprisingly nobody did, and I actually found myself leading the race throughout to take the win in 15:19.

September

The most bizarre event of the year came at Run Preston 10k, where chasing my first ever sub 32 (and well on course for it at half way), I got decked by an off lead dog. Luckily I bounced back up to win the race, but my ambition of getting the time went out of the window for another day...32:25.

October

Returning to Palma looking to defend my crown in the half marathon from 2015, I managed to do so on another fantastic trip away with team Wesham, full of great laughs and memories. Win in 70:52.

November

Being a bit more careful and selective of my races in October bore fruit in November, as I finally cracked the 10k distance with a fine run at Cheshire 10k to finish in 31:12. Without doubt my best run across any distance to date, I managed a good few scalps on a day where it all came together. A week later I won the Preston 10 mile in 52:34 (new pb), before rounding off an excellent month by winning Wesham 10k in 32:00.

December

My final run out of the year came at Ribble Valley, a slightly below par performance still goes down as my second best run to date over 10k, in 31:59 for 23rd place.

So there we go that was my year, with a total of 3,366 miles recorded, so hopefully some good groundworks and compound fitness in the bank ahead of a return to the marathon in Autumn 2017.

Thanks for reading, all the best to everyone and I hope you all have a successful, happy and prosperous 2017. Much love x

Ribble Valley 10k

Since setting new pb's at Cheshire 10k and Preston 10 mile road races in November, my eyes had been set on Ribble Valley 10k as my next targeted race. 

I had been going well in training and the indications were that I was in good shape to contend with improving that 10k pb further still. My final 'effort' training session prior to the race was last Thursday and I felt good in what was intended to be a final sharpener. The distance of the session was reduced to 2 x 1.5 miles, and I would have been happy to average anywhere in the region of 5 minute mileing. As it was, chasing down Rob Affleck off a 20 second handicap, I went substantially quicker than that. My first mile was recorded at 4:46 and my average pace over the full 3 mile of volume came out at 4:53 pace. It was a good final confidence booster ahead of race day.

All I needed to do now was tick over with some easy mileage and to make it to the race in one piece. I managed to do the latter, however the busy and hectic Christmas time saw me unable to run on Christmas Day or Boxing Day at all. Usually I would have liked to have done at least a few miles on one, if not both of the days leading up to a big race, but I didn't see it as any disaster and hoped I would get away with it and feel fresher for the extra rest.

As it was, this was far from the case. I woke up with the first symptoms of a cold, which has seen me unable to run since race day as it has progressively got worse, and I awoke feeling lethargic and far from "up for it" as I would like to have been. 

I had hoped that once I had warmed up and got a couple of kilometres in that I might grow into the race, but again things didn't quite go that way as I got my tactics wrong and went off too hard through the first 2k and suffered through the middle section of the race as a result.

Thankfully, I managed to find something from 7k to the finish to recover a few positions and to record a respectable time in the circumstances. I came home in 31:59 for 23rd position.

It is perhaps a sign of how far I have come recently that I am now disappointed at having broken 32 minutes, but not doing a bit more too. I actually went 1 second faster than at Wesham 10k a month previous, however it was a completely different type of run. At Wesham I had run a controlled and relaxed race from first to last and almost cruised around for 32 minutes dead and could without doubt have gone quicker. This time out, I ran the same time, but the pace and rhythm was all over the place and I really had to graft and grind the time out with every last ounce of energy. In the end though, I would say that it is a fairly decent result to round off a successful year, and something I can definitely use to kick on further in 2017.

Total mileage for the week (to Sunday 25th): 56

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:24

Total mileage so far this month (December): 241

Total mileage so far 2016: 3345

Average miles per day 2016: 9.35

Picking yourself up

One of the good things about writing a blog such as this, is that you have a permanent method of keeping track of how your training is going and something to reflect back on, plan forwards with and store ideas, memories and feelings too.

This week has been a difficult one on the running front, things have been going quite well for some time now and I have been feeling good and growing stronger each week, but for the first time in a while I found it hard to fit everything in and stay focused this week.

I have always been somebody that likes to keep busy and am always trying to juggle all aspects of life and fortunately up to now I have managed to keep them all in the air. But throwing Christmas into the mix, as well as the added workload and stresses of building up our first home has made that a tad more difficult. 

I have coped quite well so far I think, I have to admit that despite always maintaining that I wouldn't let buying a house impact my running and training, I did have some concerns about how I would manage it all at first. But having PB'd a couple of times and progressing nicely in the first few months since, I think I have managed to adapt quite quickly and it is something that will get easier with time and experience.

This last couple of weeks has seen me also juggling more of a social life too, with Christmas do's and get togethers meaning I've had to be a bit more flexible with my training routine. Saturday just gone for instance was my works do, so I knew I wouldn't be in any shape for my long run this morning! So instead I moved it to Saturday morning, but knowing that I had a busy day of plastering at the house and Moll to get to work for 9am, I had to set the alarm for an early one and was out of the door for quarter to 7 for a 15 miler through the fog! I was pleasantly surprised to maintain a healthy 6:15 pace throughout.

The hiccup this week came on Tuesday, which is usually one of my main speed sessions. I had planned on my first trip to the track in some 5 or 6 weeks and had even planned out my session - I was going to do 4 x 1 mile repeats and a couple of 400s to finish - but I ended up staying late at work and by the time I got out I didn't fancy the trek up to Cottam for a session on my own. Instead, it crossed my mind to do the same hill session that I have done in recent weeks, but no I bottled it and actually ended up having the day off completely! 

I hate missing sessions and especially taking days off, and I always feel guilty when I do so, and this was no different. It was my first day off in a few weeks and in the long run it won't do much damage to have had a little rest, but mentally this week it put me back a bit. We all have blips and are only human though. As a substitute, I did build a mini session into my usual steady run on the Wednesday, doing a 20 minute warm up, 30 minute tempo, and 20 minute cool down. In the 70 minutes I managed just under 11 miles in total, with the 30 minute effort seeing me clock 5.4 miles at 5:35 pace. I did the session on the Wesham handicap route, which is a 2 mile undulating loop so I was able to judge how far I was up to etc throughout. I was fairly happy with how it went as I didn't want to take too much out of the legs before Thursday's speed session with Rob Affleck.

Thursday's run really saw me back on task and I ran strongly in quite windy conditions. I completed our 2 x 2 mile repeats in exactly the same time as the week previous, despite encountering a lot of traffic around the docks and conditions being less favourable. Again I clocked 5:01 average pace per mile, so just about on target pace for Ribble Valley.

I managed to motivate myself to get out of bed early on Friday too to cram in an extra 5 miles before work in my first double run day in a couple of weeks, so I think I have just about covered for Tuesday's little lapse now.

Seen as this will be the final blog before Christmas, I would just like to take the opportunity to wish you all the best. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday, and get to spend time with all those you love most! The blog will be back for the end of year review on the back of Ribble Valley 10k on the 27th. If anybody has any tips, advice, or requests for how I can improve or progress the page over the next 12 months please feel free to send suggestions 😊

Total mileage for the week: 70

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:31

Total mileage so far this month (December): 185

Total mileage so far 2016: 3289

Average miles per day 2016: 9.37