Massage time - (Saturday 01/03)

Where has the year gone to ?


March already and now those running it can say its London marathon next month. I decided to have a massage at Fountain Square physio yesterday afternoon as my legs were still feeling a bit sluggish http://www.fountainsquare.co.uk/ - they feel much better now and I'll give them a little run later this morning.


Must remember that its Mothers Day tomorrow or there could be trouble.

An extra day - (Friday 29/02)

Great performances by The Hoosiers and their two support bands last night with a fantastic rendition of "We didnt start th3 fire" as part of their encore.

So many people turned up in fancy dress. It ended up being a very late night 9for a school night) as we didnt leave the Academy in Manchester until after 23:00pm so it was nearly 01:00am before we got home and to bed.

With plastering 5 roooms at once it feels like we are squeezing more and more furniture into the remaining rooms - I'm sure it will be worth it in the end - but currently the favourite question in the house is "Where is my....". Painting and decorating is now scheduled to start next Thursday, so hopefully some sort of normality will return to 'West Mount' the week after that, I did say hopefully !

This Leap Year business is strange, collecting a few minutes each day so that you can have an extra day every four years - I think it should be made a Public Holiday.

Two rest days are planned before the Trimpell 20 race on Sunday, I'll perhaps do a very easy 4-5 miles later today just to keep the legs turning, but rest is what is needed at the moment and rest is what I will have.

Is that a hole in the roof ? - (Thursday 28/02)

Really looking forward to going watching The Hoosiers at the Academy in Manchester tonight with the family, but before tha t I need to do some running - after speaking with Coach Jackie I'm only doing one Fartlek session today and an easy run tomorrow instead - heart rate is still high but I haven't any real signs of having a cold.

Plasterer arrived nice and early (he used to play football for Sheffield Wednesday and Stockport County) - in fact so early Declan was still asleep in one of the rooms to be plastered, on investigating the 'bulge' in Daisys bedroom ceiling half the ceiling came down - what a mess - so at the end of day 1 we have one plastered ceiling and one missing ceiling !

Is it true that anyone who works tomorrow (29/02) actually does it for nothing as salaries are based on 365 days/52 weeks and the leap years arent counted !

Earthquake - (Wednesday 27/02)

Earthquake hits New Mills - not the headline you see everyday. It set the doors rattling at about 12:55am, but no damage done other than some broken sleep.

A nice bright day to do a very easy 7 towards Mousley Bottom and then double back over the Millenium Walkway and along the Sett Valley trail to Hayfield and back - I thought I was coming down with something yesterday as my heart rate was up, but still no sign of a cold yet...

Felt tired most of the day so an easy 4 before the core stability/plyometrics session at Dialstone - I need to start thinking about what pace to run Trimpell at on Sunday and get well rested before hand.

Puddles and 400's - (Tuesday 26/02)

Really need to start getting my morning session out of the way earlier - nice easy run along the canal turned into an 'avoid the large puddles' session, still the weather was nice and the lambs are all back out in the fields.

This evening was one mile warm up, 4 miles threshold, followed by 8 x 400m on the track with only 60s recovery - I was pleased with the 400's as they were all sub 80 even though it was blustery out there.

Not sure if I may be coming down with something as my resting heart rate is about 10 beats higher than normal - will try and get an early night he says sat at the computer at 10:00pm.

Met our one armed plasterer earlier today and work start on Thursday morning !

Think positive - (Monday 25/02)

Its easy when your tired or a planned session doesn't go quite right to get negative thoughts about how your overall plan for a big race is going - my session today was an 8 mile easy run and then I would do some drills/stretches down at track later whilst Amber did her first set of hurdles of the season.

Again I left the run till late in the day (5:00pm) which meant running and a very quick change before setting off to track, which in turn meant eating at the wrong time of day. The run was out past the Llama farm (no lambs out far too cold for them still) then on to the canal through to Buxworth and around the canal basin a couple of times before coming back and into New Mills, one benefit of it being cold and wet is you don't have every dog owner in the land competing for the towpath and generally getting in the way.

Off to track, Ambers shins are concerning her, but she doesn't listen when being told to ice them if they are hurting, she managed 8 reps of 4 hurdles but it was that windy the hurdles were being blown over. Neil was looking string doing the 400m fast/400m recovery Monday session.

Would you believe our new plasterer has only got one good arm... should I be concerned ?

Anyway NO negative thoughts, I'm sure I will be more rested tomorrow and the weather WILL be better - I'm sure.

Lazy Sundays and well done Spurs - (Sunday 24/02)

I felt tired after yesterdays Nationals race - I was tempted when the alarm went off at 07:00am to go and join Steve, Lee and Neil and do part of their 18 mile effort with them along the Middlewood Way but that thought soon disappeared and my eyes closed for another 90 minutes 'recovery'.

What is it with tradesmen ? We found what we thought was a good plasterer, he came and gave a price, agreed a start date and now the duffer has gone and broken his foot playing football - still he has found a 'substitute' and work is planned to start on Thursday, so perhaps the days of living in what feels like a ghetto are about to end - perhaps !

I left my receovery run till very late - in fact it was about 7:30pm before I went out and I then got carried away, legs felt good, so I headed up over Sitch Lane in the dark, into Hayfield and then back along the main road to New Mills - about 8 miles - right achilles felt stiff initially so i speeded up and it felt fine after that.

Well done Spurs, a deserved victory against Chelsea !!

English National Cross Country Championships - (Saturday 23/02)

Well theres a few events each year that really do make up the running calendar and the English National Cross Country Championships are one of them. Held this year in the grounds of Alton Towers, and near enough so those that like their thrills could go into the amusement park after their race.

Over 5,000 athletes entered the races for males/females at U13, U15, U17, U20 and senior categories - an amazing course, fast start, soft underfoot, and a sting in the tail in the last third of each lap with a 100m long hill bordering on fell race proportions.

My race went OK time wise (44min:46s) for what the program said was 12km but was in fact somewhat shorter - I did manage to lose one of my spikes after 2km and had to dive out of the taped course to tie laces and get my footwear back on - in all I lost about 30-40 seconds messing about with my laces, but thats a lesson learned and wont (?) happen again. Some great performances by Stockport Harriers, in particular Steve Vernon finishing 3rd overall in the senior mens race - some 12 minutes and 698 places ahead of yours truly !

Full results at http://www.englishcrosscountry.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34&Itemid=42

Rest day - (Friday 22/02)

Rest days, sometimes welcome and sometimes not, this week I actually feel like going out for a run, but will resist the temptation - my goal is always to eat and drink well and actually try and rest on a rest day - today I've managed all three so hopefully it will be good prep for tomorrows National Cross Country Championships at Alton Towers - we will see. This is the first time I've done the Nationals since I was 14 and did it at Parliament Hill in London and we will be travelling down on a coach so early start to meet up at Stockport Town Hall - bagsy the back seat !

Track session - (Thursday 21/02)

Its great meeting up with everyone at Stockport Harriers a couple of times a week, its a mixed ability group and over the last couple of years I have slowly managed to crawl my way up into the top 20% of it now - the beauty of running on the track is the ability to set and reset your own personal bench,marks and measure them accurately on a regular basis.

Tonights session was based on 8 x 2:15s effort at 3km pace followed by 1:15s job recovery. I ended up being late to track due to some unfortunate person getting run down by a car on the route I use from New Mills to Offerton - a quick diversion and I ended up being 10 minutes late so missed out on much of the warm up so it was more or less straight into the efforts - they were a bit of a mixed bag and I decided it was easier to do the efforts based on 600m rather than elapsed time (2:15, 2:15, 2:18, 2:18, 2:16, 2:16, 2:12, 2:10) - they were a bit of a mixed bag and I felt more tired than I expected - big thanks to Tom for pushing me round - rest day tomorrow before the Nationals on Saturday at Alton Towers !

Dippers and the Summer Solstice - (Thursday 21/02)

Well the cold weather vanished overnight to leave a damp murky morning, a four mile easy recovery run through the Torrs was just what was needed - from the path by the river I spotted a pair of dippers busy feeding from the rocks in the river, hopefully they will set up nest in the same area so I'll keep a look out for them - you can spot dippers not only by their tell-tale plumage, but also how they bob up and down on the rocks in fast flowing rivers.

Also spotted this morning, and I dont know how I missed them in the past are a line of three stones in the meadow between the canal and the Llama farm - on the stones it gives details about the summer, winter and autumnal solstice and how the shadows from the stones shows exactly when the solstice is (aparently its at 1:08pm) - I might try and arrange a 'hippy' afternoon down at there in the summer to celebrate the summer solstice, "groovy man".

10 mile threshold run - (Wednesday 20/02)

Well its always much easier to get out for a run when your doing it as a group, so quick coffee and toast at 07:15am and off up to meet those dedicated (some may say insane) athletes : Tony, Neil, Tom and Brian.

Not everyone was doing the full session so Tony had worked out an 'out and back' route on thd High Peak canal so at least we would pass each other several times.

Warm up from New Mills out via the Llama farm (they only have two llamas but the name has stuck!) - lots of lambs when I ran past yesterday, but they had been brought in overnight due to the very cold temperatures, onto the canal and off we went towards Marple for three miles, before heading back for three miles (we had lost Brian some time earlier due to some shoe lace complications) to where we had started then off towards the Navigation Inn in Buxworth for two miles and finally back to where we started for two miles before a warm down back to Tonys for breakfast. Total mileage 12.3 miles with 10 miles effort in the middle taking more or less bang on 70 minutes, exactly to plan.

Nice hard session at Dialstone tonight followed by watching the Reds perform 'adequatly' against Lyon - well done to Tevez for his late equaliser - does anyone else think he looks like a Gonk.

Late nights and early mornings - (Wednesday 20/02)

Well you cant burn the candle at both ends can you, or can you ? At the rate I'm going there will be hot wax everywhere shortly.

Great night out tonight in Buxton of all places, Richard Hawley and his support artists, in particular Vincent Vincent and the Villains who were a mix of Rockabilly and SKA. Richard Hawley didn't come off stage till quarter past eleven !

Anyway, tomorrows session has changed yet again as Coach Newton is feeling a bit under the weather (aww bless!) so off out at 08:00 (is it worth going to bed I ask) for mile warm up and 10 x 7:00 minute miles with Tony, Neil and perhaps Brian and Tom.

Time to hit that sack I think.

Speed session - (Tuesday - 19/02)

What another glorious day - sunshine, sunshine and more sunshine., its pretty cold out still so will hold off for an hour or so before venturing out - tonights supposed to be even colder -7oC or -8oC !

Well they do say schedules are meant to be changed so today I'm going back to what the original plan was and doing a speed work session - as I cant get to track tonight I'm going to do it as a trail run instead and it will go something like this :

15 mins warm up, 3 mins fast, 2 mins slow, 6 mins fast, 2 mins slow, 9 mins fast, 2 mins slow, 6 mins fast, 2 mins slow, 3 mins fast, 15 mins warm down - as long as I can remember it when I'm running - I'll head to the bottom of Kinder reservoir or onto the canal so it keeps it reasonably flat.

Good session - the efforts averaged out at 6:26's, so I'm please with that - I'm looking forwrad to a nice relaxing day now and a night listening to Richard Hawley !

Feeling much better now - (Monday 18/02)

Well I did have or still have (slightly) a sore foot, I've iced it and been on the anti inflamatories and they seem to have done/been doing the trick so went out for an easy 4 miles today and it feels OK so I think its back to business in the morning with an 11-12 miles in Lyme Park.

Realised how much you rely on your mobile phone today as well - I 'misplaced' my charger and my battery was dead - you'd think someone had stolen my identity the fuss I made, still we've been reunited again now and I'm much happier.

Its like living on a bomb site at the moment, 5 rooms in the house are now down to bare plaster - and when I say plaster its the original 1860's stuff, all full of horse hair and clumbling, and then today the plasterer phoned saying he can't start until a week on Thursday.

I'm being taken to see Richard Hawley at Buxton Opera House on Tuesday night so will "have to" miss track for the first time in weeks if not months - I have protested but on the fear of death have given in.

I am actually starting to like his 'tunes' or is it that they have been played that often in the past few weeks that I have been brain washed - either way I am sure it will be a lovely evening.

If you'd like to see/hear more and check out what you've been missing from this Sheffield based crooner then check out his myspace on http://www.myspace.com/richardhawley

I think I have a sore foot ! - (Sunday - 17/02)

Ouch - not sure how, but the inside of my right achilles is tender - hopefully its just from running down the steep hill on the way back to Hadfield today so a bit of RICE should do the trick - perhaps I should try 12 hours in bed as well.

Long run with Gerry and the Pace Makers - (Sunday 17/02)

Up early and what an amazing morning, hard frost everywhere, sun just sneaking over the top of the hills, coffee and croissants and then wait to be collected by Lee and Steve before heading over to the Longdendale trail for a 20 miler - must remember my gloves !


Started out at 08:30am from Hadfield and then out along the Longdendale trail with Kevin, Steve, James and Gerry - nice pace and then we met Neil and Lee (who is now slowly becoming official team driver - nice guy!), nice and flat to the Woodhead tunnels (fortunately no trains run anymore - see link for history http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodhead_Line) then steep climbs up across the Woodhead pass into Yorkshire - legs very cold and muscles not working properly.


Had a drinks break at 11 miles just after the dam at Winscar reservoir (Dunford Bridge) before setting out back. Just as we got back to the Yorkshire/Derbyshire border Kevin spotted that he had dropped his front door key somewhere in the last 13 miles, trying to be polite whilst at the same time not wanting to retrace the last 13 miles we decided it best if he does some 'breaking and entering' when he gets home.


Aerial view of Winscar reservoir

The pace picked up once back on the trail with Steve/James finishing their 22 miles with a couple of 6:39's - I decided to stick to the plan and did 20 miles and feel a bit tired/ill now.

Back to yesterdays 'to do' list :

• Look after the chimney sweep - done, he even got a cup of tea.
• Finish demolishing smallest bedroom - done and what a great job has been done by me
• Go to the tip - not done, maybe this afternoon, or maybe not
• Dont eat as much as Friday - done.
• Watch United knock Arsenal out of the FA Cup - done, well done United.
• Get early night before very long run on Sunday - not done, far too late.

Well 4 out of 6 is OK for a Saturday.

Rest day (part 2) - (Saturday 16/02)

I ate like a horse yesterday - Friday is normally 'chippy' night and this Friday was no exception ! Fish and peas from the Crispy Cod in New Mills - just a few words about the Crispy Cod, it is without doubt the finest chippy in the world, I don't want to hear from any Southerners saying their chippy sells six different kinds of fish fresh from the sea with a tartare sauce dip - the Crispy Cod is THE BEST !

Anyway where was I, yes chippy tea in front of a roaring fire any then capped off 20 minutes later by finishing off half a pizza that had been left in the kitchen, went to bed feeling somewhat bloated.

Jobs for Saturday include - (4 out of 6 will be seen as succesful) :

• Look after the chimney sweep
• Finish demolishing smallest bedroom
• Go to the tip
• Dont eat as much as Friday
• Watch United knock Arsenal out of the FA Cup
• Get early night before very long run on Sunday

Rest days - (Friday 15/02)

So I can do my long run on Sunday my schedule needs to be changed slightly so the next two days will mean only running 6 miles and as I write this I've already done it so no running now for nearly 48 hours - what will I do with myself !

Nice 5-6 hilly miles with Tony who will soon become 'boney' Tony with the miles he's putting in recently - through Brookbottom towards Mellor, cut across the golf course and then up the hill to Mellor Cross and back down past New Mills Golf club, legs feel fine after last nights speed session and I'm really looking forwrad to 20 miles on Sunday morning. By the way, the picture is Mellor Cross, not me becoming 'born again' or anything.

Sore feet and track session - (Thursday 14/02)

Woke up with sore feet this morning and knew straight away that its because I'd done my 13 miles yesterday in light road shoes instead of trail shoes (dick !) - the route yesterday was very rocky and with hindsight I needed something a bit sturdier - ah well, I'll live.


Nice easy four miles miles to get out of the way before lunch followed by 1200m reps at track this evening, target tonight is for 4:30's but I think I need to be pushing it a little bit more. Right I need to find a chimney sweep and a new flat screen TV !

(postmans late....)

Chimney sweep sorted for Saturday (must remember not to be around), must be a strange job to do, the chap who does ours looks and sounds a bit like Fred Dibnah but doesn't drive a steam engine - had a nice easy 5 miler instead of 4 along the river, lots of ducks, herons and other flying creatures about.



Well it was a really good track session, handed out some medals to the team for finishing second overall in the Manchester Area League at Cross Country (bbresults.com) -

Kevan Garner was particularly proud and vowed to wear it in bed.
We run in lane 2 on the track to give the inside lane to the younger runners, it tends to work really well and means you are working slightly harder distance wise especially on the longer reps. target set by Jackie was for my 5 x 1200m in 4:30's with 2:30s slow jog recovery - I'd decided the last time we did the session to try and up the pace next time round so was really pleased with 4:25, 4:25, 4:22, 4:22 and finished off with a 4:19

Thirteen miles and sunshine - (Wednesday 13/02)

Got woken early by the birds singing, sun just about to rise and a beautiful morning.

I'm really hungry (07:15) but will wait until I can get everyone out of bed before having breakfast.

Not sure where to do my 13 miles later, would prefer off road somewhere but will wait till I hear from Steve...

Kinder from Lantern Pike

Excellent - 2:30pm and off out down the Sett Valley trail towards Hayfield, then left up towards Lantern Pike, cut across past the mill up to the shooting cabin, across to Mill Hill (no drink with me so a few slurps out of a stream - tastes sweet and plenty of sheep around - nah, cant be) , cut across the road and around the back of Lantern Pike again, before dropping back onto the Sett Valley trail into New Mills - bang on 13 miles, very hilly, very sunny and no looking at Garmins to worry about pace.


A quick hour stripping yet more wall paper before heading off to Dialstone for the weekly indoor session - lots of core stability, plyometrics, stretching and circuits.


Valentines day tomorrow - hope the postman doesn't hurt his back carrying all my cards and pressies !

Tempo run, Stockport - (Tuesday 12/02)

I hate running in the dark, its cold, its dangerous and its.. dark.

Met up with the group - somewhat smaller this week with several people away - but off we went from track up Marple Road for a warm up and started the effort from the Golden Hind pub, head towards Marple, turn right down Torkington Road towards the A6, right again at the A6 down past Sainsburys and then into Dialstone Lane back towards track and in through the main gate at Woodbank Park to run the last 800m in pitch darkness - 6 miles in 39:50 which is bang on the pace we had been aiming for (roughly half marathon), a mile and a bit warm down around the track and then its off home for some more soup - I spot a theme here.

I dont think we managed to lose anyone and only got one shout of 'dick heads' from a passing motorist, I suspect he was on his way to night classes and studies Latin and Greek mythology.

We have now got everything booked for an Easter weekend in the Isle of Man - three races in three days - cant wait !

Need to find someone to run my 13 miles with tomorrow... Steve ?

Easy run - Lyme Park - (Monday 11/02)

What a great day for running, blue skys, no wind and so lucky to have Lyme Park on my door step.

Did a nice and easy 6 miles with Jackie (my coach and ace runner in years gone by... ) got back to the car just as the sun was going down.

Earlier in the day had a great walk up to Big Stone and had soup and sandwiches with Amanda overlooking Hayfield - just like being on holiday !

Need to crack on with sorting out these work men out to plaster and decorate otherwise I'll be back at work with nothing to show for it.

Long run - Middlewood Way - (Sunday 10/02)

Really didn't fancy 20 miles after Saturdays race at Wythenshawe Park, but the beauty of running in a group is your less inclined to turn the alarm clock off when it starts pecking at your head at 7:15am on a Sunday morning.

Met up at 08:30am at the start of the Middlewood Way beside Strines station - ideal for long runs as its straight and relatively flat (slight incline on the way out) which helps when your trying to do a negative split on the way back.

Nice sized group, but all pretty sprightly - Steve (sub 3hr marathon), James (2:45hr marathon),, Neil (3:10)hr marathon and Gavin and Pete (marathon virgins but I am sure they both have 3hr capabilities - in fact I'm certain after todays long run).

I was expecting nice and steady 7:50's-8:00 min miles - not to be - straight into 7:35, 7:20, 7:15 - I'd seriously considered cutting it short as my legs were very heavy from yesterdays mud, but perservered and got to Tesco's Macclesfield in 1:13:40.

A quick drink (thanks Steve) and off we went again, I knew these next 10 were going to be hard, but its pulling these miles out when you do feel tired which will stand me in good stead in my attempt at getting a good for my age place (3:15hr) at London in April.

Managed to keep it nice and steady, but had to work very hard from mile 16 to keep the mile splits near to 7:30's - total time of 2:28:30, which is only a few minutes short of my PB for the distance (set at Trimple last year).

The rest of the group had really picked up the pace for the last few miles pulling out some sub 6:30's - great work guys !

Cross country - Wythenshawe Park - (Saturday 09/02)

Last race in the Manchester Area Cross Country League at Wythenshawe Park - beautiful sunny day so a good turn-out expected.

With a good set of results Stockport Harriers male vets team can just sneak into silver medal position for the championship.

Cross country isn't my favourite kind of running, but you sure know you've taken part and it does make you stronger and fitter for only a relatively short effort time wise.

Anyway back to my race, a flat course round fields and then a winding section through the woods and over a stream, three laps in total and just a little bit over 6 miles in total.

I went off too quickly (5:58 - mile 1) and suffered for the next two miles to get into a rhythm getting caught in no mans land between two packs. Seeing the yellow Stockport vests of Frank Reilly and Bill Shone spurred me on for a much quicker mile 4, but there was little left in the tank to try and wind them in before the finish.

Slightly disappointed with the race after recent weeks, but thats 6 races in 6 weeks and you cant PB every time you run !

Overall I finished 11th V40 in the League so thats not too bad.

In the beginning - (Friday 08/02)

Well I finally managed to work out how to create a blog - Tom and Helens set me off as it just looks so good - (see my links below).

How often I update this and what useless information gets put here for the world to see remains to be seen - the focus at the moment is my running, but that will become apparent, I'm sure !

So lets start off with just a daily training 'blog' and see what journey it takes us all on...

Well to start off with I've not even ran today yet, the session will be an easy 5 or 6 miles, suspect I will head down the Sett Valley trail to Hayfield and back and will probably try and go about 5'ish.

Last nights session is still fresh in my mind (and my legs) - I wonder whether I can do a post for yesterday after I have done todays... hmmm?)

The rest of the day will be taken up by 'pottering' in my office and stripping wallpaper