"The Air Products 10K"

Its over two weeks since the Wilmslow Half and in that time I have -

1. Jogged for a week to recover from very sore quads. Why does it take so long these days to recover from a hard run?

2. Raced two 100m races as part of a pre season track meet, including a two mile warm up and long cool down.

3. Twinged one hamstring (right leg). See number 2 above. I never bloody learn do I!

4. After four days recovery & one light training run raced a 10k over a very fast/flat course around the roads of Crewe. Felt like I had been shot in right calf at 8k, jogged to finish in 42.57. Although you might not think so, the photo is before the injury! Apparently the computer file with all the results has been corrupted so hopefully they won't ever be published.

5. Spent next four days recovering again (still recovering).

A runner's life is never dull!

Annual mileage 389 (week 14). Races 9.

"The Wilmslow Half Marathon"

A coolish but still morning led me to change my plans for this years race. My target was sub 1.35 (faster than last year) but stretching to sub 1.33. The aim was to run steady even splits, but I felt so good early on I went for it! In the end I ran 1.33.03 the hard way. Going through 5 miles in 33.40 (50 seconds faster than I ran the Alsager 5 in February!), 10k in 41.25 and 10 miles in 69.39, I really had nothing left for those last few miles and my lack of distance work found me out. All in all though I was really pleased.

On a fairly flat and fast course my splits show how not to run an even race!

6.37/6.42/6.47/6.45/6.38/7.09/6.55/7.20/7.20/7.29/7.17/7.26/7.45!/0.55.

The photo is at around 7 miles. I wished that I had felt like waving to the crowd as well! See the video for the start of the race http://www.youtube.com/user/RichardB1983 I'm already one 1 minute 8 seconds behind the leader and this is only the first corner of the race!

The highlight of the day was Sarah my daughter shouting me on with about a quarter of a mile to go. I had no idea she was coming to support me. Needless to say I turned on the fast finish and took about 25 places!

Weekly mileage 32. Annual mileage 337 (week 12). Races 6.

"The 6 Quarter Mile Session"

A quick mid week update following two really significant training days.

Last night we did one of the coaches favourite "sharpener" sessions of six 400's with two minutes recovery.

Probably the shortest session we do in terms of total distance, this is a good indicator of overall fitness levels whilst not exhausting everyone, particularly those like me who are running the Wilmslow Half marathon at the weekend. After a two mile warm up I ran the quarters in a controlled 76/77/76/77/75 and finally 80 seconds. I was really happy with this, even the slower last rep which I paced another runner to her fastest ever one lap in exactly the time we had set. As someone else remarked, that's the sign of someone who has raced on the track for too long!

Tonight would normally have been a recovery run, but based on the session set by the coach to build on and test tired legs, I ran a five minute warm up followed by a fifteen minute hilly threshold run round the local South Park. It was tough! This gives me a couple of days easy recovery before Sunday's thirteen miler.

"Clayton Vale"

It's been a six day running week and I feel I am beginning to really get back in to some kind of shape. The early week included a nine mile track session of 6x800/400 jog/400 fast making it the first "full" workout I have done for several weeks, and one that had very few athletes left at the end!

The best running has been over this weekend around Manchester's Velodrome at Sportcity (home to the 2002 Commonwealth Games) where my daughter has been competing and winning in the UK National Cheerleading and Stunt Championships. She will be off to represent the UK at the European Championships in Slovenia in July. Well done Sarah!

In between the cheerleading sessions it also gave me the opportunity to run two very different quality efforts -

Firstly, a seven mile circuit along the Medlock Valley through east Manchester's Clayton Vale. This Local Nature Reserve has seen heavy investment over the last few years, and it is interesting to run through what feels like a rural setting whilst being no more than a couple of hundred metres from the urban sprawl of a post industrial northern city. Not always the nicest of environments.

Today I ran a very tough interval session from Sportcity straight down the Ashton Old Road into the heart of Manchester's Victorian Quarter. A very different experience and something to focus on between six sets of 4 minutes fast, 2 recovery.

Weekly mileage 37. Annual mileage 315 (week 11). races 5.

"From Minster to Moor"

The last three weeks have really been up and down ones for my running.

The positives include - three great track sessions focussing on faster 800s and 2Ks with short jog recoveries / several fantastic very early morning runs around York whilst being there at a conference / a superb run in the hills above Macclesfield Forest and discovering a new track I didn't know existed across Piggford Moor to Shutlingsloe.

Negatives - a post track session calf pull that kept me out of training for four days / a heavy cold which then went to my chest leading to five days off, including not being able to run the Cheshire Fell Championships at the Cloud Nine Hill Race / not being able to complete any long runs in preparation for the Wilslow Half Marathon in a weeks time.

The only positive from the negatives was that I have recovered fairly quickly from both negatives!

Annual mileage 278 (week 10). Races 5.

"National XC Championships. Mud. Alton Towers. Mud!"

"The start will be by gun. A warning will be given three minutes before each race . Athletes should assemble behind the line of their pen. They will be instructed to move to the line by the Start Stewards one minute before the gun. Athletes should line up one behind the other in the pen allocated"

So read the introductory programme notes to the Saucony English National Cross Country Championships 2011, held once again at Alton Towers. It all sounds so under control, but by 3.15pm the running of the 124th Senior Men's race was already running fifteen minutes late, had been reduced in distance by 2k due to health and safety reasons (vehicles couldn't get to the far aside of the deep valley course and the venue at one stage wanted to cancel the whole event), and although this is always an A race for me I knew it was going to be one when it was an achievement just to finish, and so it proved!

Several days of solid rain had turned the course into a 4k loop of mud with literally no runnable hard ground. In fact the best part of the course for me was the long hill which twisted and turned and for once I really enjoyed, making up quite a few places on each lap!

The photos show the tent /changing area, my final sprint finish (where I didn't walk on water!) and a happy group of Harriers all changed and ready for home!

I ran probably the slowest 10k of my career in 58.55 ( scoring for Macclesfield Harriers in both the six and nine men team events) but had a great time out there and it was a fitting end to a very good cross country season.

Weekly mileage 31. Annual mileage 216 (week 7). Races 5.

"Alsager 5"

It took a few days to recover from the disappointing performance in the Northern XC champs but by Wednesday I was back into the swing again, and yesterday had my year on year attempt at not getting too much slower in Alsager!

The Alsager 5 is regarded as one of the fastest five milers in the country (won in 23.4!)but with vicious and blustery headwinds in miles one and four it wasn't ever going to be my fastest effort. I ended up running 34.20 which whilst being seventy seconds slower than last year (around 230 metres back on 2010 with an average of 6.52 miling) I was still pleased with this as I beat a couple of runners who have been easily ahead of me in this season's cross country including my old adversary Neil Fowler from MMU. I was also third placed vet for the club which gained us 7th team in the vet's event! The other positive was that I was able to hold my form to keep the speed up right to the end and with a last 200m sprint took at least half a dozen places, finishing 217th out of 998.

The photos were taken at miles 1.5, 3 and 4.5. I managed to hold off number 144, just!

Weekly mileage 24. Annual mileage 161. Races 4