Happy Christmas - (24/12)

With a new job in the bag the days of being able to run twice a day may become limited so I guess I had better make the most of it over Christmas and the New Year.

Recent focus has been to increase the length of tempo runs using a hilly route near to Woodbank Park and follow that up with some fast track reps - its hard work but normally a session you can squeeze into an hour.

Christmas is always a great time for great pack runs followed by some tea and cake, so last week it was over to Michaela and Paul's, Monday is over to Tom and Roz and perhaps I should arrange one myself !

All we need now is some snow to make everything all Christmasy and I think that might be some time next week going off the weather.

Quick catch up - (10/12)

Two good solid weeks of training and starting to think about Christmas.

Its much harder getting in the quality sessions now its icy and some of the recent hill sessions have had to be in the park on grass as its been far too slippy.

Had a good race at the Famous Grouse fell race a week ago finishing 22nd and two minutes quicker than last year.

Cross Country - (15/11)

A steady weeks running - great speed session on Monday 2 x 2k (7:28, 7:22) , 2 x 1k (3:36, 3:34) and felt really comfortable pacing the main group.

Tuesday I ran to track and did some banking, Wednesday two steady runs and Thursday was a real mixture - started off by dropping the car off at the garage and was then planning on doing my normal run, just as I got back home Tom and Tony were doing some hill reps so I joined in with them so knocked the evening speed session on the head and went out and did a street run and some banking with Amber, Jackie and James.

Tomorrow sees the second XC fixture of the season at Boggart Hole Clough - hopefully I can improve on my position at Heaton Park a couple of weeks back and maybe get a bit nearer to James and Kevan - wait and see !

Bramhall Park time trail (13/11)

Well I changed my mind about the 5k at Alexander Park and instead opted for another weeks hard training followed by a 5K race at Bramhall Park - they are a great set of time trial races up and down the country - some flatter than others !

Bramhall Park isn't by any means a PB course and the main hill in the race gets you three times, 50% is off road, but its fantastically organised and one that I will be doing again before Christmas - I finished the race off by running home to New Mills.

Results wise I finished 6th out of about 130 in 19:12 so all bodes well for the next flat 5K that I do.

A short race - (01/11)

I've wanted to do a short race this weekend and chose the Alexander Park 5k - two reasons, its in a Park, its flat - well three reasons, its easy to park - four reasons, its right next door to my old school St Bedes College as well.... and it doesnt start tiull 11:30am !

Anyway you get my drift its a nice race.

Trouble is I've started to come down with a cold - feeling sorry for myself, I've even got a chilblain on my big toe - everybody "Awww...."

So I will decide Sunday morning of I will do it.

Brrrr - (30/10)

Talk about a change in the weather.

Its only 3 days since it felt warm enough to go running in just shorts and t shirt, but now with this Arctic snap I have had to go out with four layers on over the last couple of days.

Not only do you feel like Michelin man whilst you are running you just don't feel like running at all.

Having said that we squeezed out a great speed session on Monday (3 x 2k in 7:30 with 400m jog recovery) - after that though the temperatures dropped and Tuesdays long run felt really arduous, frozen, face, feet and hands - the hot Vimto at Stockport Harriers soon thawed me out.

Mud, mud, glorious mud ! (25/10)

A good weeks training followed by a great cross country race at Heaton Park.

The mileage has been upped slightly and combined with a couple of good speed sessions left me looking forward to the rest day on Friday and a race on Saturday.

Heaton Park is ideal for cross country with hills, streams, mud and some great down hills as well - I haven't found the official results yet but I was happy enough and had enough left in the last mile to pick half a dozen runners off.

A bit more like it - (21/10)

A good session last night - its one that I use every 6 or 8 weeks and is a 10K loop that takes in Thornsett and then Sitch Lane which is a climb of about three quarters of a mile which is just about runnable, you then have a down hill of about the same distance into Hayfield and then back to New Mills is a really flat last 5k.

I worked hard on the first 5K then pushed on for the second half and kept all three miles sub 7min miles which is not bad seeing as it was dark and windy - so many leaves about at the moment as well, soon it will be permanently dark when the clocks go back this weekend !

Follow the plan - (20/10)

Last week was a bit of a mish mash for running - the plan was to up the mileage - which I did - and still have two key sessions - which I also did.

My problem was swapping days around, and once you do that you are playing catch up, so instead of a rest day Saturday prior to a long run on Sunday I ended up doing 8 miles at sub 8 followed by 3 miles at sub 7, which linked into 6 children sleeping on Saturday night did not bode well for good running yesterday and so it proved to be - as soon as I started I felt tired so turned it into a 6 mile with surges session instead. This awful weather isn't helping either.

The highlight of the running week was the run on Saturday round Lyme Park, up to The Cage, through the deer sanctuary, past the Hall and then back through Disley - 11 miles of good running.

The lowlight has to be yesterdays - did not finish - training session.

Into them hills - (14/10)

Well the legs are still aching and yesterdays runs were rubbish pace wise, but its all about recovery or so they say.

I've decided not to do The Great South run next Sunday as its just too far to travel for a race - I'll look for something a bit more local to stretch the legs.

Amber seems to have got the bit between her teeth training wise, but lets wait and see, she's trained 8-9 time sin the last two weeks and gradually picking up the fitness again - will she ever beat me in a race ? Not if I've anything to do with it !!

Right - off out into them hills before it starts raining again !

Windgather fell race - (12/10)

So much for targets - finished in 2hr:06min which equated to 41st position with 8 runners within 2 mins of me.

A much harder race than I had anticipated (see profile above), went off too fast as usual, but having said that I never blew up and managed to run every climb (approx 2700ft of climb).

Highly recommended race with a bit of everything - mud, steep down hills, slow climbs, steep climbs, trails, amazing scenery - definitely one for the calendar next year.

Time to race - (10/10)

Its not often that I've been in a situation where I have been itching to race, but following last weekends fun day in Newcastle at the Great North Run I now need to get out there and race. So this weekend I've hunted and searched for something local and come up with the Windgather fell race which is a 14 mile battle with the elements - I'll set myself a target of sub 2:00hrs and see where we get to.

On the run - (07/10)

What a great weekend it was in Newcastle - even the weather perked up on the Sunday for the worlds biggest half marathon.

Having decided earlier in the week that we would run as a charity trio the pressure was off to run fast and with the pressure off it was time to have fun - with celebrity sprints on the Gateshead quay side on the Saturday a fun half marathon on teh Sunday (97 mins) followed by a funny interview with Sue Barker where we compared notes on our lipstick and then on Setanta TV where I got the opportunity to flash my false breasts !

Back to the mill stone with training - speed session on Monday, tired legs Tuesday !

Great North run - (03/10)

Great North run next weekend (05/10) - it was a race I was planning to attempt a PB at, but have now decided to run it with Tony and Tom as the Bananathon trio - it should be great fun.

Now need to find another half marathon in 3-4 weeks time to try and PB at - watch this space !

Fencing - (01/10)

We've been listening to many voices over the last couple of weeks on the aspect of health and safety and in particular how the fencing will look when the site is completed.

Some of you where aghast at the thought of a high security fence around the site (as where we...), but our main concern has to be one of health and safety.

With that in mind we have agreed a two stage approach to safety and fence in and around the screw : Tomorrow morning some temporary (not pretty, but it does the job) fencing will be placed directly around the tail race of the screw which the HSE agree mitigates any immediate danger - this will be in place until we install some panelling to cover the tail race.

Secondary to that over the next few weeks we will install a boundary fence at the top of the existing slope to run from near to the existing black fence to just before the engine house - this will be dual purpose in marking the boundary between the 'access' and 'no access' areas whilst also enabling visitors to still see the screw in motion, the final piece of fencing will mitigate any risk to the public near to the screw intake.

We have always planned a fence and where working with the Town Council and planners to install this but have had to move this forward more quickly as a handful of passersby had voiced their concern to the HSE and High Peak Borough safety officers.

We believe, as do the HSE, we have reached a good compromise in keeping the site visible whilst also covering our health and safety obligations to the public.

I need a shave - (30/09)

The running is ticking along nicely at the moment, combinations of a couple of speed sessions a week (with rep times slowly coming down) and two or three longer steady runs are doing me the power of good.

What I need now is a race to focus on - it was to be the Great North Run, but instead I will be donning my blonde wig and running it for LRF as a woman instead - should be fun !

The work I was doing on the Torrs Hydro system is gradually reducing now it is in production and I am in full swing looking for my next challenge - in fact I should be in bed now as I have an interview in Leeds tomorrow... and I need a shave !

Wheres he been (16/09)

Trying to juggle many blogs at once is proving difficult but two major projects I've been involved in over recent months have now come to fruition so hopefully I'll now have a little ore time for me (and my family as I keep being reminded).

To catch up on whats been happening take a look at

www.bananathon.blogspot.com

and

www.torrs-hydro-new-mills.blogspot.com

Holidays are coming... (Sunday 3 August)

A nice easy week following Snowdon was just what the Doctor ordered, faster track session on Thursday and two long runs Saturday and today.

I'm now counting down the days to three weeks in France - the weather here in England really is shit most of the time and the rest of time its not very good !

Does anyone make pictures out of the leftovers on their plate ?

I sometimes do and tomorrow I will show the world my first piece of food art !

Catch up - (Monday 28 July)

Too many blogs on the go that's what it is, too much sunshine, too much running, too many days away...

Where were we anyway ?

Just spent a great few days in Snowdonia running the International Mountain race - you think you've done every kind of race there is - track, road, fell, marathons etc and then you come up against a beast like this one all 3560 feet of it.

Five miles straight up Snowdon and five miles straight back down - I was fairly pleased with my time (1hr:41min) but as for race strategy the less said the better - suffice to say I will be racing this again next year and will be running sub 90 minutes for sure.

Only 9 days to go till the long summer break in the South of France and I cant wait !

Thinking... - (Tuesday 15 July)

Sometimes you have to take stock of what you are doing and why you are doing it - I'm involved with loads of stuff at the minute - Torrs Hydro, Bananathon, new job hunting, lots of running for example - now am I doing these to fill my time or are they just filling my time regardless - perhaps I've been thinking too much !

Running wise I've had two or three really good sessions in the last five days with my best medium length run for a while on Sunday and two good hill sessions in preparation for Snowdon in the last couple of days.

Rain rain go away... (Wednesday 9 July)

Its been a tough week this week - long run on Sunday felt dreadful, it was only 12 miles but after 6 I just felt like stopping - it was the result of the hills on Friday and then late Saturday evening so no major worries.

I swapped my session on Monday and ended up doing 8 road miles and finished strongly.

Tuesday was 1km reps and I did these out in Woodbank Park and ranged from 3:35 down to 3:30 which is the quickest I have ever done them.

The worst thing about the week is this bloody rain !

Climbing high for a pint- (Saturday 5 July)

With the Snowdon International Mountain race only a few weeks away my focus has been to try and get as much hard hill running (climbs and descents) in as possible - Friday and Saturday were no exception.

Friday saw me, Steve and Lee head up to Big Stone, down the other side and then around South Head and right to the top of Brown Knoll (at least that's where we thought we were) - it was a glorious day and after an hour we ended up in the middle of Hayfield about to set off on the 3 mile flat part of the run back to New Mills when I found a tenner in my pocket. I gave the guys three choices; carry on and finish our run there and then, an ice cream each or a pint !

Half an hour later and suitably refreshed in The Royal we headed back to New Mills amid gassy burps all round - this is running at its best.

The best laid plans... - (Thursday 3 July)

Tomorrow is New Mills 'prom' night where all the Y11 boys and girls will head off to Manchester Citys stadium (well actually it belongs to the council...) for a night of celebration - I'm not sure if I like the way this Americanism is taking over nor do I like the expense that goes with it - limo's, expensive dresses - but hey that's the society we are part of and I am sure Amber will have a great night - I think all I did when I left school was get pissed and throw eggs and flour !

Its been a great week of training - despite the torrential downpour the Stockport Harriers group got caught in on Tuesday. Wednesday was a planned rest day as it was also the Offerton 10K race and thankfully the weather was kind for the race, numbers were slightly lower than normal but we will blame the mens Wimbledon quarter final for that, I wouldn't mind but Andy Murray isn't even English !

The plan for Thursday and Friday was to travel down to Snowdon and do a recce of the course for the Snowdon International which is at the end of this month, unfortunately the travel plans fell through and despite looking at re-arranging it for Saturday/Sunday it was decided to sack it totally for this weekend as the weather is planned to be awful Saturday and Sunday - never mind we will see if we can sneak in a day up Snowdon before the race.

Instead we did a hard track session last night - 16 x 400m with alternate ones as efforts (fastest 78s, slowest 86s, the rest bang on 85s) with the recovery 400s round about 110s.

Friday I need to get out into the hills - so Kinder here I come.

Picking up speed - (Monday 30/06)

Well after a great weekend in the Cotswolds its back to basics again and the need for speed - Monday nights session should help with that with 300, 500, 700 x 3. I was pleasantly surprised with how it went as I tried to keep all the reps so they had 20s per 100m split - that is 300m in 60s - 500m in 100s.

Everyone I've spoken to enjoyed the relay weekend and want to go back for more next - we will see.

First of July around the corner so hopefully we will get a proper summer and only six weeks till the summer holidays in France - yes !

Up and down - (Saturday 28 June)

What a full week !

Tuesdays session was short hills, but on tired legs they felt like long hills. Wednesday was the long awaited trip up onto Kinder to find the 1940's and 50's aircraft wrecks. It was a hard run, very hilly and energy sapping through the peat of Kinder - it was a great run but also erie being on the sites of so many tragic deaths. Thursday turned into a rest day as did Friday to give my legs some recovery time before Saturdays Cotswold relay.

Friday was always going to be a long day with the relay team heading down to Stratford which would be our base for the weekend - three cars, 10 athletes, one goal !

Eventually everyone got to the Youth Hostel and met just in time for the evening meal at The Crown pub - result ! Saturday was going to be early starts for half the team with the first leg going off at 7:00am - a good nights sleep was needed but was difficult with half the local girls school also staying on our floor and obviously drinking red bull and vodka.

Stave Maclean took the first leg and Steve Vernon the second - both with great performances finshing 4th and 2nd overall and leaving our mixed team in the lead overall.

Jackie third, James 4th and Sam 5th and we were still in with a shout but had dropped down to 2nd overall due to some time delays by Sam getting lost (!).

Despite valiant attempts Stockport were soundly beaten into 2nd place but had a great welcome at Bath by all the other clubs - and what great facilities at the finish at Bath Rugby Club - fantastic.

Do you think we might win ? - (Monday 23rd June)

Next weekend we are taking a 10 man (well 7 men and three ladies) to The Cotswold relays. Its a 120 mile race split into 10 legs and runs from Chipping Sodbury and finishes in Bath - to say the course is undulating is a bit of an understatement !

The team is looking good and the talk over recent days is perhaps we might even win the mixed team category - how good will that be - and even if we dont we have two nights team building at the Stratford upon Avon Youth Hostel.

Tonights session was a real cruncher - 16 x 300m with 100m jog/walk recovery (approx 1 min) - although the legs were slightly tired from yesterday these are the sessions that count for altering the way your body works in races, gradually changing your lactic threshold and also your VO2max.

Out of the 16 reps the fast was the last in 52s, the rest were grouped from 54-56s with the exception of the 14th were I had a little muscle spasm in my back and it ended up being about 60s - all in all a really good session.

Horwich 5km - Its a bit windy ! - (Sunday 22/06)

Talk about blowing the cobwebs away !

Near gale force winds on a hilly three lap course in the Northern 5km Championships - I didn't PB but was about 10s quicker then last year on the same course and finished 2nd MV40.

Its a great race with teh carnival parade before and cycle races afterwards.

Legs feel great still and the mile splits were pretty constant given the hills and the heart rate graph looks good.

Found two great pictures (above and below) from the Kinder Trogg of fellow runners lee and Brian - Brian has perfected the art of flying whilst lee is in some form of Kung Fu pose !

Short and sweet - (Saturday 21/06)

Well summer is over, its chucking it down in New Mills which is a shame as today is the New Mills One World Festival - which is typical New Mills event where every minority group known to man sets up a stand in High Lea Park to tell the World of their concerns.

Its good that its a 'running' rest day as well as trying to find time to squeeze in any sort of run today would have been a challenge.

For the most part the days centred around the OWF with manning the Torrs Hydro stand, organising tours and generally doing a lot of meeting and greeting to what seemed like hundreds of visitors.

Tomorrow is my first 5km race for a couple of months up at Horwich - I think my last one would have been at the Isle of Man around Easter - the weather forecast tomorrow is really poor with gale force winds (not bad if they are behind you, but with it being a three lap circuit I doubt it). So 18:54 to beat if I am to set a new PB.

Amber ran for Derbyshire yesterday in an Inter County event in Leamington Spa - she raced well, but was disappointed to be pipped on the last lap and finished second - now her exams are out of the way she can hopefully find time to get back to some serious training.

Fast track - (Thursday 19/06)

A nice fast pyramid session on Thursday - 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000 and back down again with 2min recovery between each rep - a really good session and good groupings to help each other along - 2:48 for the 800's and 3:35 for the 1000m. The old legs still feel tired from last Sundays efforts and probably need a massage.

Racing over the weekend in the Northern 5km Championships at Horwich its a hilly course but I managed to PB on it last year - so roll on Sunday and lets see if we can do it again.

Time to recover - (Tuesday 18/06)

Toms favourite fruit is an apple

Well Monday said a recovery run and it felt more like an effort - I met Jackie and Steve in Lyme Park for a run up to Bow Stones and back through the park - 7 miles at an easy pace still had me sweating buckets !


Earlier in the day on Monday I was dressed as a woman, yes really !


I'll do most things for charity and this was no exception - to find out more look at our charity blog or if you are really nice you can always donate


Its all for a great cause and I really enjoyed the photo shoots and the TV coverage !

Kinder Trogg - (Sunday 15/06)

It was a great weeks training last week, the long hills on Tuesday, followed by a steady 4 miles and core stability session on Wednesday and the weeks hard sessions rounded off with a track session on Thursday with 5 x 1000m.

The target was 3:42-3:46 and the result was 3:38-3:42 - each rep was steady but not difficult, we had a good group with me Steve, Tom and Kevan in a tight bunch.

Friday was a rest day and Saturday was a short run after a mad dash to Moorways Stadium in Derby - Amber had qualified to run for High Peak in the 3000m schools championship and was supposed to be at New Mills School for 8:15am to catch the team bus to Derby for the Derbyshire Championships, being a 16 year old girl she missed the bus - being a 16 year old girls Dad I then drove her the hour and a half journey to Derby so she wouldn't miss her race.

She repayed the favour by winning her race and is now Derbyshire Schools 3000m Champion for the second year running - well done Amber, next week she runs against other local counties down in Leamington Spa - I wont be driving there if she misses that one !

The whole weeks focus was about the Kinder Trogg race on Saturday - its a great race and one of my favourites. I ran it well last year and dipped just under 2:20, just missing out on a top 50 place, so was determined this year to beat that time - and beat it I did by nearly 10 minutes and finishing 26th.

Its a great feeling running a race well and especially a long hard race like the Trogg.

My legs deserve a rest this week and perhaps a massage !

Long hills - (10/06)

Woodbank and Vernon Parks where Stockport Harriers are based are great for all different types of training sessions. As well as the great facilities at the club the parks have a multitude of places to hold different sessions - a 1km flat loop for speed endurance sessions, wooded trails for cross country and an abundance of different hills - one of which we used on Tuesday for our 'long hills' session.

Started of with a 2 mile warm up which was plodding along so being a smart arse I decided to go off on my own at a quicker pace and managed to lose the group of about 15 runners - great start. Fortunately I knew which hill the group would be using so headed back there just as they were finishing their second rep - that gave me a bit of a goal to see how many I could pull back during the eight reps - it did however mean doing an effort on the downhill as well as the uphill - it did make for a great session to set the legs fizzing (does anyone elses legs 'fizz' after a real hard session ?)

Lyme Park - (Monday 09/06)

Mousley Bottom

Whilst Helen and Tom (my triathlete friends) have been getting cold and wet in Canada New Mills has been basking in tropical sunshine for the last few days.

Although its nice running in the sun it can be hostile if your pan is to do efforts or anything endurance related.

After yesterdays success with the Big Lift I was looking forward to a good session - on paper it says 9 miles including some fast efforts, but I really wanted to get out into the hills so I combined the two so as to avoid dusty traffic ridden roads.

Through the Torrs, out past Mousley Bottom, up the hill onto the canal, cut through Disley and into Lyme Park, long climb up to The Cage and then down to Lyme Hall and back to New Mills the same way - its over 1000m of climb in total and average pace was just over 8min mile, with a couple of sub 7 min miles in and 3 or 4 burst of between 400 and 800m that were round about 5min 30's (admittedly I probably did these whilst on a downhill!) - and a reasonably steady heart rate just moving into the 160's on the efforts.

I missed my race ! - (Sunday 08/06)

Well the Big lift went really well although it was slightly delayed as the driver took an extremely scenic route. Because of the delay I ended up missing the fell race at Stacksteads.

Instead went with Amber to test out the new Inov8 fell shoes we bought on Saturday - a nice little route up to the shooting cabin, down to William Clough and then loop round back to the bottom of Lantern Pike - finished off with a very fast 800m back to the car.

Off over to my mum and dads for a couple of hours - they have become real 'silver surfers' recently and I seem to be continually sorting out email or Internet problems for them.

The Big Lift - (Saturday 07/06)

A big part of my life over the past few months has been taken up by getting involved with a renewable energy project in New Mills (my home town).

My initial involvement was just by buying some shares, but I soon started to help the team involved and a few months ago became a Director. I've also become involved in the construction side of the project spending a day a week on site in the Torrs in New Mills - lots of pics and details can be found on one of my other blogs dedicated to the project - Torrs Hydro New Mills.

This Sunday sees a big milestone in the project when a 12 tonne Archimedes screw is lowered 200ft from Union Road bridge towards the construction site - cant wait !

On Thursday I did an easy 7 mile run after Wednesdays hard fell race with Steve at track through the trails towards Reddish Vale, followed by a full rest day on Friday and then this morning a 'breakfast' run at Sweatshop in Hyde. The runs are arranged by Jackie Newton from Puma and are a good get together. Myself Lee, James and Brian headed from the shop up to Werneth Low - my legs felt tired and I was glad to get to the summit, from there it was comfortable trail, road and then canal back to the shop in Hyde for a nice healthy fruit and bagel breakfast - total of about 8 miles.

Rainow fell race - (Wednesday 4th June)

One of my favourite races and always appears to be a sunny evening.

My goal was to PB from last years time and position and also to beat Brian and attempt a proper race against Lee.

Its a fastish start on road and then trail before cutting across fields and through three stiles, where if your not swift enough you end up queueing to get through.

Because of this I decided to go off quickly to get a clean run - first mile was approximately 5:45 and then it was up the tough climb to The White Nancy which is a local land mark and about a 500ft near vertical climb. From the top it is undulating but a difficult last three miles because of the exertions going up the hill.

Myself and Lee passed each other 4 or 5 times with him coming out on top by 20s - we both PB'd for the course which was the goal - I finished in 34th.

Easy days - (Tuesday 03/06)

A trip down to track tonight, but the schedule (thankfully) said an easy 5 miles - started off with the main group on their warm up and then did some laps round the banking with Brian and Jackie.

Stayed up far too late and tomorrow I'm spending the day working on site at Torrs Hydro New Mills which will be really hard work for a delicate office boy like me !

Speed work - (Monday 02/06)

With the marathon a distant memory this next meta cycle of training is to help increase my speed - my mileage has reduced considerably and the sessions are designed to be faster rather than endurance.

Monday evening was to be 20 x 200m split into 2 sessions - with my legs and feet still aching from Saturdays efforts in the Lake district I decided to try and do the efforts on grass so used the meadow in New Mills which is flat. It was a hard session : the number of reps, slightly uneven surface, tired legs and running it on my own, still they have to be done !

Easy day tomorrow and then across to Rainow for a five mile fell race on Wednesday.

The Eagle and Child - (Sunday 01/06)

A new month !

They say after a tough race you should refuel well - so I did !

Beef and horse radish sandwiches straight after the race, more beef in the form of a rib eye steak big enough for Desperate Dan in the evening at the Old Brewery in Kendal, washed down with some Jennings Ale and then back to Staveley to watch Supacuba and dance the night away !

On Sunday it was cooked breakfast at the Youth Hostel, a walk round Kendal, then over to Staveley for some more food at a great pub called The Eagle and Child.

Managed to get stuck on the M6 for a couple of hours on the way home - nevertheless it was a great weekend but boy are my legs sore !

Lakeland Trails - (Saturday 31/05)

Well I'd heard all sorts of horror stories about this race - the amount of climb, the tough descents, rocky under foot - and it certainly lived up to the feedback I'd received. Even with Kendal mint cake at the finish, if you've not tried it then the only way I can describe this Cumbrian delicacy is 'minty tasting shit.'

24 kilometres of tough racing, gruelling climbs (over 1200m in total) and mentally tough descents. I'd decided to start off quickly, run the full way up the Garburn Pass and see what I had left after that - my goal was to finish in the top 50 and also try and beat Brian Holland and Tony Lee (I've never beaten Tony in anything more than 5 miles before) - teh start was fine, even had Bashir Hussein in sight until 5km, felt strong going up the Garburn pass and even after 9 miles going down the rocky descent I was able to knock out sub 7min miles. Fuel wise I took one gel about 9 miles and should have maybe had it 10 mins earlier; I ran a bad mile at 11 miles and suspect this is when Tony got sight of me and started to wind me in, eventually passing me with about 2 miles to go.

I finished in 2h:02m (52nd), just a minute behind Tony but nearly 15mins ahead of Brian who was a little disappointed with his race.

The races are perfectly directed, managed and delivered by Graham and Claire at Lakeland Trails with admirable support by a team too numerous to mention but they know who they are !

Youth hostels - (Friday 30/05)

What an institution Youth Hostels are - you either hate them or love them. Initially I disliked them as tehy reminded me of some college trips years ago with crap baeds, crap food and too many rules and regulations.

More recntly though we have become family members and used them about once a month for breaks up in teh Lake District - rooms are reasonably cheap (no longer do you have to sleep in teh same room as a snoring, farting hiker) and the food is remarkably good despite me being a fussy eater..

Today we are off up to stay in the centre of Kendal at a Youth Hostel (see picture) which is part of an old brewery and Arts Centre - hope to get up there sharpish before hitting any traffic.

Met up with Jackie and Bashir for dinner and had a few games of pool, table football and air hockey before calling it a night before tomorrows tough race along the Garburn Pass.

8 x 600m - (Thursday 29/05)

Off to the Garburn Pass tomorrow.

Time to start doing some harder track sessions, but not too hard as Saturday sees a long race up in the Lake District.

With a nice warm up the session was 8x600m with a 200m recovery jog/walk - the target was 2:02-2:06's and I banged them out in 2:00 to 2:04's - had to work, but not eye balls out. The first 400m of each rep was more or less exactly the same 80-81 and then it depended if I had a target in front of me to drag me round the last 200m or not - good session though.

Alton Towers - (Wednesday 28/05)

Off to Alton Towers with my son Declan and a few of his friends as a belated (January !) birthday treat.

The weather forecast wasn't good but thankfully teh rain held off right until teh end of teh day.

I've never really been one for upside down, spinny rides as they just make me want to throw up but I thought I would start off gently and work my way up so it was a cup of coffee as soon as we got there and then straight onto the Squirrel Nutkin ride - would you believe it actually got stuck mid ride for a few minutes, but no worries as it only goes about 10 miles an hour. Then went for a lovely walk around the gardens to calm down before having a lovely meal.

In the afternoon we ventured into Hex and the highlight of the day for me was going on a ride called Air with clamps you in and dangles you precariously upside down, inside out and every which way it can before delivering you safely back to base feeling sick.

Also managed to get home in time to do the gym session at Dialstone.

Alton Towers would I do it again, yes, but not this year !

Billy no mates - (Tuesday 27/05)

With a part of the group recovering from the weekends Edinburgh marathon (great Edinburgh runs from Mike, Lee, Neil, Lee and Andy) - the size of the group down at track tonight was small and they decided to go and do a Fartlek session out on the road.

My session was set to be 5 x 1000m with 2min recovery so even though I was on my own that's what I'd do - my quads were aching from yesterdays fell race, but I was reasonably happy with my split times tonight 3:45, 3:37, 3:42. 3:44, 3:40.

We had some 'private' viewings today as well (still as part of the weekends Derbyshire Open Arts event) and sold another three pieces so Amanda was really pleased.

Off to Alton Towers tomorrow - help !

Shutlingsloe - (Monday 26/5)

The summit at Shutlingsloe - approx 515m

A very busy morning for the last day of the Derbyshire Open Arts exhibition - I think round about 70 people came round for the final day. Its bizarre having complete strangers (or randomers as the kids call them) just turn up to wander round most of your home. Still it was a great experience and everyone's comments were really positive.

The next exhibition starts tomorrow at the New Mills Heritage Centre so its 'non stop' at the moment.

I left just as it was starting to get busy as I had to get to the other side of Macclesfield for the fell race.

Shutlingsloe is a great place, a very busy May Queen fete, lots of races for all age groups and the Junior races were part of the British Championships.

I'd decided to go off quickly as it was a downhill start and get across the river and through the steep part of the woods before hitting the rocky climb up at the top (approx 515m elevation) - all went well and I got to the top in about 12th or 13th position. I lost 4 or 5 places on the way back down form the top as I haven't yet perfected the art of running down rock faces quickly without falling. Had a strong finish in the last 400-500m back up to the hall and overall was really pleased with the day.

Finished it off with a curry (we even had one invented specially for us that didn't exist on the menu).

I highly recommend Shutlingsloe for a great fell ace and a great family day out.

Ruth 'top cook' - (Sunday 25/05)

A nice day at home helping out with the Derbyshire Open Arts exhibition then a short run with Amber alongside Kinder reservoir before going off up to Ruth and Tony's for a a fantastic meal - I'd always thought that Ruth was rubbish at cooking (only joking) - but what a spread, amazing... and souffle to finish - even ended up going home before getting blind drunk !

Really looking forward to the race tomorrow even though it says it may be windy !

Potts Pork Pies - (Saturday 24/05)

Well the new shoes were PUMA Trailfox and I think I will use them today running over Kinder with Tom and Tony.

(pause whilst Sean runs over Kinder with Tom and Tony)

Great run but so so windy - we tried running in pelaton fashion (one behind another) but it was so strong it didn't really help.

We covered just over 12 miles of the Kinder Trogg route and I pushed in two or three hill efforts - new shoes felt ace !

Poor Tom - not once, not twice but three times he fell going over Kinder and its real shitty stuff to fall on (Grit stone which is like sand paper).

I'm sure he must be black and blue - the run was rounded off by one of Potts Pork Pies - many thanks Tom you can come again !

Amanda's Exhibition is going well and she has sold a couple of paintings which is great news !

Derbyshire Open Arts - (Friday 23/05)

A needed rest day after yesterdays exertions as a navvy and on teh track and also as I wouldn't have had a minute to run today.

For the next four days we turn our house into an Art Gallery as part of the Derbyshire Open Arts Exhibition - tonight was a preview with just invited guests, but Saturday-Monday the world and his wife turn up ! (so if anyone is passing please feel free to drop in as its well signposted when you get near !)

A new pair of running shoes has turned up in the post and I'm going to wait till bed time to open the box - what an exciting life I lead !

Champions of Europe - (Thursday 22/05)

Well what a game that was yesterday evening - it had absolutely everything that is great about football and also a stupid penalty shoot out - despite my team winning I still think that a final should not be decided by a penalty shoot out.

Great to see Ryan Giggs pass Bobby Charltons record appearance for United - I doubt if that will be broken again as so many players are mercenaries these days - yes Anelka you are one of them and well done on missing your penalty !

It was a great evening at Tonys and I think I managed to eat my own body weight in curry.

I worked most of the day down on the Torrs Hydro New Mills project today, its getting pretty close to completion with The Big Lift due on the 8 June - its tough work labouring (tougher still when your doing it voluntarily) - today's task was dismantling scaffolding.

It was back to track tonight with a 12 x 400m session with 60s jog recovery in between each rep - apart from the first rep which was 86s the rest were on target or below ranging from 79-84s.

The Grouse - (Wednesday 21/05)

Well the blog is up to speed again and this morning did a nice hill session with Tony - ran to the Grouse pub and then two reps up to the top gate (5m22s and 5m:19s) which got the heart rate right up - I'm planning to try and get this down below 5m:00s before the Kinder Trogg - we will see !

No training this evening as its the biggest game that I can ever remember for United versus Chelski in the Champions League final - both teams have done fantastically well and I expect it to be a low scoring game which will go to extra time and maybe even penalties.

So its Simply Indian takeaway, the big match on Tonys big screen and maybe even a beer !

COME ON YOU REDS !

The small jobs - (Tuesday 20/05)

Today was a day of finishing off small jobs that tend to get left - little bits of painting, fixing the pond pump, getting rid of rubbish, sending emails that you should have sent days ago - you know the kind of stuff that just never normally gets done.

Managed to squeeze in a steady 9 miles with Tony along the canal to Buxworth and back and then loop round The Torrs - no problem with the leg so back to business tomorrow.

Saw the farmer taking his two pet Llamas for a walk whilst out running - only in new Mills could this happen.

Thinking about work - (Monday 19/05)

The weir in The Torrs which will soon turn water into electricity.

Back to Pets at home to buy an aquarium for Daisy which will have to sit full of water for a week before she can put fish in it - whatever happened to fairground fish in a plastic bag ?

No running today to let my calf recover.

I am being inundated by agencies and head hunters since I made myself properly available again - must be careful who I choose.

The Hydro Power project is going great guns and I will turn into a navvy for the day again later this week. http://torrs-hydro-new-mills.blogspot.com/

Great performance by Steve yesterday with a sub 3h:02m in the Windermere marathon - brilliant !

Fish - (Sunday 18/05)

My legs were tired after Saturdays run so left my Sunday run (10 miles steady) until as late as possible.

Decided to run along the canal and then cut across to Disley then up through Lyme Park and round The Cage with a goal of keeping the average below 8m:00s which is bordering on an effort given the amount of hills on the run.

Just about managed it but had to throw in a 6m:40s at the end to get the average down.

Calf is sore now so will take an impromptu rest day on Monday and give it lots of TLC.

Trip to Pets R Us (or whatever it was called) to look at getting Daisy some fish for her room, and a big tank and filter - looks like we may be going back again tomorrow !

County going to Wembley - (Saturday 17/05)

Really busy day today - loads of gardening then off up to see if I can get to Big Stone quicker than ever before - I failed by three miserable seconds, but this time it was on my own rather than with Tony and I'm sure its harder to put the effort in on your own.

I've sussed out where I can gain a few seconds and it was quite breezy on Saturday so hopefully I will be able to reduce the 26:48 a bit next week - we will see.

Tom popped in for a coffee this morning - he's now working for the probation service and sounds like he is really enjoying it.

Went to watch County in the 2nd leg of the play offs at Edgeley Park with Tom, Paul and Michela - Amber was supposed to come but she had a 'teenage' moment at the last minute and didn't come - shame as it was an exciting game which County won and they will now meet local rivals Rochdale to see who gets promoted to Division one.

Me and Tom even did a pitch invasion - well more like a stroll - after the game finished.

Steves taper - (Thursday 15/05)

It was the 5km time trial at track tonight and as my session said 8-9 steady miles myself, Steve, Simon and James went off on an off-road session to match.

This was Steve's last run before Sundays Windermere marathon so needed to be nice and easy with a couple of marathon paced miles in the middle.

Along the river, over to Chadkirk, canal to Reddish Vale and along the river and disused railway line back to Woobank Park - slightly longer than planned with a fastish mile in the middle (6:25) and a couple of 7m:00s as well.

I'm taking a rest day tomorrow and then plan another assault on Big Stone on Saturday.

Party in the park - (14/05)

Last minute dashes for birthday presents and an impromptu 'party in the park' at High Leas Park in New Mills as the weather was lovely where everyone was nourished with Crispy Cod fish and chips, beer, wine and cakes and strawberry's.

Lads v Dads football match turned out the normal score with the Dads beating the Lads convincingly - when will they ever learn !

Once the sun went down hypothermia started to set in but fortunately we had brought blankets with us for the older folk (Cheryl !)