Pyramid - (Thursday 27/03)

Hard track session tonight - 800m, 1200m, 1600m, 1600m, 1200m, 800m pyramid with 2 mile warm up and 2 mile warm down. I was pleased with the times though as all were sub 6 min mile pace. Was tempted to run teh Wilmslow half marathon on Sunday, but my body needs rest before the London marathon.

New TV gets installed tomorrow - cant wait - might even light the new fire to celebrate !

Back to reality - (Wednesday 26/03)

Didn't get back until the early hours and then an early start for the journey down the M6 - I wasn't in a fit state (tired) for an interview, ended up in the wrong car park but felt the interview went well and the appear at first sight to be a decent company - we will see.

Back in time for a short run before going to Dialstone for a very hard gym session.

Whilst in the Isle of Man our bedroom ceiling (which was to be plastered along with the walls) had to be taken down it was in such a bad state - fortunately Amanda had arranged all this without having to tell me. My job would be to help the plasterer plaster board it on the Thursday - cant wait !

Isle of Man - The journey home - (Tuesday 24/03)

Well at least the gale force winds have disappeared but I am desperately in need of sleep as I have another job interview in the Midlands just a few hours after getting back in the UK.

Decided to get a cabin on the boat and grab a few hours sleep and a shower before the drive home - great idea !

Isle of Man - conquering Snaefell - (Monday 24/03)

With the racing over and tired legs what better way to enjoy Easter Monday than running up to the top of Snaefell - even the mountain railway hasn't yet started so why are we doing it ?

At just over 2000ft its the highest point in the Isle of Man and a wild and windy place to be even in summer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snaefell.

A nice early start with Paul and Michela with a short drive round past Bungalow (part of the Isle of Man TT course) to our base camp. The first mile was on road till we met with the Islands 'Millenium Way' and then it was up, up, up and even more up with a solid moorland climb for about 30 minutes till we met the route of the mountain railway which we followed to the summit. It was blowing a gale on top and was certainly below freezing judging by all the ice we had seen on the way up and the big pieces of ice breaking off th TV and radio masts on the summit.

What goes up must come down and it was ceratinly more fun coming down (and quicker) - we headed back down across the mountain railway again and then straight down to the mountain road before then joining the Millenium way again to circumnavigate the mountain before heading back to the car - in total only about 10 miles but with hard climbs of over 3000ft the cooked breakfast that followed was more than welcome !

Isle of Man - Race day 3 - (Sunday 23/03)

I'm not sure if I like short races (10k or below) - theres little room for getting things wrong and you are straight up there into maximum heartrate territory pretty much as soon as you start - so a 5km relay after a hard hill race was all I needed.

As we didn't have a team of four (its a 4 x 5km relay) we recruited a couple of friends - Tom Minshull (who went on to win the overall competition) and John Holden who ended up being first veteran overall.

So we started off in first after the first leg, dropped to 9th after the 2nd leg and ended up finishing 13th team overall - which isn't bad considering the number of 15 minute 5km runners we were up against.

As planned I managed to sneak in under 19 minutes with a personal best of 18:54 - this gave me 5th position overall in the competition which is beyond any expectation.

It really is a great event with athletes from all over the UK and Ireland - the organisation is brilliant and the post race celebrations are excellent too.

Isle of Man - Race day 2 - (Saturday 22/03)

Well at least it didn't snow on the Saturday.

The Peel hill race has got everything, fast start on the road for about 400-500 metres and then a steady climb. The men compete over a four mile course and the women over a three mile route. The races are held separately. With the exception of the first and last half mile the course is on grass. There are two main climbs on the route for the men and one for the women with a number of short sharp climbs as well. The descent is less steep. Therefore, the climb suits the fell/hill runners but they have less of an edge over the road and track runners on the downhill.

I had decided to really push myself on this one as I like the hills and was pleased to finish 5th vet in 26:55 which was about 90 seconds quicker than last year - it also moved me up to 9th position overall.

Lots of the University teams then run back to Douglas from Peel (about 11 miles) on a pub crawl !

Isle of Man - Race day 1 - (Friday 21/03)

Race one of the three race series is an 'undulating' 10k race from Port Erin across to St Marys, along the coast and back again. With a late afternoon start time to allow athletes to arrive from the mainland.

Weather was very windy (gale force) all day with crossings from Liverpool cancelled and the crossings from Heysham full of vomiting athletes !

Hailstones and snow marked the start of the race, they had even had to take the start/finish gantry down as it was being blown away. I finished slightly quicker than last year (40:19) and felt comfortable running at that pace. Stockport Harriers colleagues Paul and Michela Stepto had good races and Amber although disappointed with her time finished first U17.

This left me in 11th veteran position after the first event.

Haircut, shave and off to the Isle of Man - Thursday (20/03)

All the last minute things all done, travelling very light - in fact probably too light given the forecast for snow and gale force winds.

Off round to Gio's for one of his 10 minute special haircuts - no matter what you ask for it always ends up the same !

Got to Heysham in plenty of time and the sea and forecast are awful - ferries from Liverpool have been cancelled and I am dreading teh thought of being at sea feelings ick for 4 hours - got a nice comfy spot in the bar and decided to lie down on teh floor to try and stop myself spewing - four hours later and feel like shit, but no spew - its a miracle !

To say the ferry we were on wasa bit primitive is an understatement - Ben My Chree it was called, how it didn't sink God only knows.

Right, time to find some fish and chips for supper.

Gospel Bombs - (Tuesday 18/03)

Gospel Bombs... thats the title of a great CD by Vincent Vincent and the Villains, anyway enough of my music tastes (or distastes!). Decided to do the track session with Steve and Lee tonight mile reps with 200m jog recovery, good session - ankle a bit sore, but nothing to worry about (famous last words) - Steve really is a man on a mission and I can't wait to see his time for London. If I was a betting man and asked to guess his time it would be 2:55:45, based on his recent race times and his current training.

Two days until Isle of Man and weather forecast looks crap to say the least (shipping forecast says gale force winds in the Irish Sea for Thursday) - bring out the sick bags for me on the ferry !

I still need that haircut and shave !

16 hilly miles and then it went dark - (Monday 17/03)

Well I didn't feel like running, but today was one of the few 'key' sessions that you just gotta do - so 5:00pm off out and headed towards Marple. Its crap running at that time with the traffic, so I turned off from the centre of Marple and headed across towards the A6 and High Lane with the idea of getting into Lyme Park before dusk (good word, must use it more). Lyme Park is great at that time of day, not many people about and deer everywhere - they don't mind you running right through the centre of the herd either, I think I was more frightened than they were - I headed round the back of the hall and skirted round the bottom of Bow Stones and then back into Disley via the Deer sanctuary again (the plan was hindered when I went to leave the park and found the gate locked and six foot high - up and over and away we go), then along the A6, left at Newtown, up towards Hayfield and back home for a hot bath.

A much needed early night is needed, and a shave and haircut !

An easy Sunday - (Sunday 16/03)

Time to take a rest - a combination of the work going on with the house and high mileage weeks have been taking their tole - apart from tomorrow (Monday) this will be an easier week finishing off with the three races in the Isle of Man next weekend.

The marathon diet will kick in tomorrow and whilst it sounds draconian its only for 28 days - no butter, cheese, cakes, biscuits, crisps and no alcohol !

A nice walk in Lyme Park this morning - very windy !

Good days and bad 'day' - (Saturday 15/03)

Well my planned 20 mile run was a bit of a shambles - set off doing 7:30's for first 5 or 6 miles and just did not feel with it at all, I dropped my pace for a while which then meant running on my own for the rest of the run - in total I managed to get 18 miles in but not a good session - very muddy, wrong shoes... blah blah blah - excuses excuses !

Went to watch Macclesfield Town with Declan in the afternoon and they looked like they were going to play like I ran today, until the last 10 minutes when they scored two goals to beat Shrewsbury 2-1. The day was rounded off nicely by a surprise visit from my sister-in-law Emma from Kent and a nice meal at No 29 in Whaley Bridge. I do seem to have eaten far too much this weekend, but no worries the 'marathon' diet starts on Monday so I will continue to pig out on Sunday as well with a big cooked breakfast.

30 days and counting - (Friday 14/03)

Well when I first set off on the London marathon training schedule it seemed such a long long way to go - but now as we approach the home staright its amazing how quickly the last few months have gone. At this stage you end up with mixed emotions, have I done enough, do I need to re-evaluate my target, will I even finish !

The next few weeks will see the weekly mileage start to drop gradually with a big focus on certain key sessions (both speed and endurance) - also start to cut out some of the crap that I get lured into eating some times - cheese, crisps, butter - and concentrate more on the protein/carb intake as we get nearer to race day. Before then I have a week in the Isle of Man for a three races in three days festival - a 10K, followed by a hill race, followed by a brisk 5k on Eatser Monday - its a great event but very tiring. My initial goal will to beat all last years race times with a stretched target of a PB in the 5K... we will see.

The house continues to improve - two bedrooms now decorated, one with carpet and an amazing fireplace installed in the Lounge. The plasterer returns (sounds like the title of a carry on film) on Monday to start on the Lounge which will take him at least two days.

Early night tonight as I have a 20 mile run in the morning whilst eldest daughter Amber takes part in the Inter Counties Cross Country finals in Nottingham - good luck - it will be very muddy !

42 cups of tea and coffee - (Thursday 13/03)

I know now why the great British workman gets such a bad name - they spend half their lives drinking tea and coffee. Today I have single handedly made over 40 cups of tea or coffee. OK we have had two decorators, two builders fitting a new fire, a carpenter and a carpet fitter (oh and I did have a couple of brews myslef), but even so thats an awful lot of drinking.

It has been the best day of the 'house' project so far with things starting to look better all the time, the fire looks brilliant and Declan is really pleased with his new room - maybe one day in the near future our room will be finished and at last I will be able to sit down and turn on that wall mounted flat screen TV to watch football !

I've tried to take it easy today as tonights track session will be intense, but remembering also that its the last session before a 36 hour rest and then Saturday is the last 20 mile training run - I think.

Certainly the best I have felt on track for a couple of weeks - 16 x 400m with a 100m jog recovery - managed to bang them out in 89, 88, 86, 86, 86, 86, 83, 86, 86. 85, 84, 85, 84, 83, 75, 82 - we pushed it a bit on the penultimate rep as you can see - no pain in my leg which is probably down to the Ibuprofen I took earlier !

Easy days - (Wednesday 12/03)

Easy days and rest days are just as important to me as hard quality sessions, the time to let the body recovery and refuel - but easy days can have running in as well. On the face of it today with three sessions would seem hard, but in reality a morning run of 6 miles, pre gym run of 4 miles and then the gym session (circuits, core stability and plyometrics) was a good day to recover and I feel more rested now than I did 24 hours ago after the 8 mile threshold session - we will see just how recovered when I hit the track tomorrow night for a hard session of 400's.

Tomorrow will be hectic in the 'house' as well with decorating continuing, furniture being made and a new open fireplace being installed.

At least there is one less to worry about at the moment with Daisy in the South of France - does seem strange only having two children though - quieter - but strange !

Just a few more tough sessions - (Tuesday 11/03)

Thats what I have to keep telling myself over the last couple of weeks. I reckon 5 or 6 real tough sessions between now and the London marathon. Tonights felt hard on three fronts; my legs were tired going into it, it was a bit breezy to say the least and 8 miles tempo at 6:30's is the first time I have ever done that session. Its good running with Kevan Garner, he runs very relaxed and knows just the right level of conversation to keep you going.

I found out this evening that the amazing fuel gauge fact was in fact passed on by none other than sub 3hr marathon man Steve Jones - no not that Steve Jones, the other older one - cheers Steve (must remember I still have his wallpaper stripper !)

On the house front bedroom one is now officially decorated, it needs carpet and furniture and can then be used again - however no rush as Daisy (owner of said room) is off to the South of France for 9 days with school - rather her than me looking at the shipping forecast for the channel tonight - can someone pass a sick bag please !

Webbed feet and fuel gauges - (Monday 10/03)

What a wet old day - the plan was to do 13 miles easy after yesterdays race, but it ended up being a cold wet, miserable plod along the canal and back late this afternoon - talk about wet feet, the only things out in this weather enjoying themselves were the ducks who have now all 'paired off' and are hunting for somewhere to set up home.

Occasionally even in your 30's or 40's you learn something that makes you go 'what, no way!' - even very simple things can sometimes catch you by surprise and today I remembered one from a couple of weeks ago - can't remember if it was Lee or Pete who wowed us with the fact but I'll give the benefit to Lee as Pete is a scouser... Anyway, back to the matter in hand - do you know when you drive into a petrol station and you always (well I do anyway) have to think about what side is the petrol cap - is it left, is it right - well if you look at the fuel gauge in your car there is a little picture of a petrol pump on it, if the picture is on the left, the car is filled on the left and if its on the right - yep, you've got it. How come I didn't know something as simple as this ?

Please don't tell me everyone in the world knows this except me !

Race day - (Sunday 09/03)

I like racing, any distance really, not just the race but that preperation, that banter before and after the race - comparing times, sob stories and success stories - its the reason we all run.

Today was no exception, woke nice and early, usual race breakfast (toast and honey and black coffee) and wait for the bowels to kick in (too much detail I know...).

The Mizuno 10K is a relatively loval race run by Altrincham and District Athletic Club in conjunction with Sweatshop and Mizuno - its really well run and the field of about 400+ means its manageable with no complaints of slow starts etc.

Despite feeling tired over the last couple of weeks with the marathon training I was pretty sure of a PB today and set off in good style, albeit perhaps to fast with a 5:58 first mile but then soon settled in to the suggested 6:20's - one slow mile into the wind with a 6:33 and a finishing position of 99th in 39:09 gave me my second 'road' PB of the year and is a good confidence booster during a hard training period. Winner finished in 29:45 - nearly a minute per kilometre quicker than poor old me !

An easier afternoon with trips to the tip to dump old IKEA furniture (dont they sell some shit) and old carpets full of plaster- there should be a TV series about the local tip, so many nutters go there - ye sincluding me ! Then off to my mum and dads to chill out for an hour or so watching football

Cooked breakfasts - (Saturday 08/03)

Dont you just love a full cooked breakfast - especially at the weekend - sausage, eggs, bacon, beans, mushrooms, fresh bread, toast, coffee, juice - Mmm - the list is endless. Hopefully it will be good race preparation for me, although at the moment I still feel full six hours later !

Its been 'tidy up time' today with carpets being thrown out and visits to the tip in Marple so the decorators can come in again on Monday - latest things to be agreed/planned are new open fire installed on Thursday next week and Declans furniture starts to arrive on Thursday so at last he wont have to sleep on teh floor.

The plan for tomorrows race will be to go off at 6:20's and finish in about 39:20 - if I feel any stronger after half way then I will open it up slightly but we will see - forecast weather wise is poor - but not as poor as the referee in the game today between Manchester Utd and Portsmouth - criminal !

Rest days are the best days - (Friday 07/03)

Had a great massage at Sportmed earlier today - Rachel really does have healing hands, its when she started to use her elbow on my hamstring that I cried out in pain - I am sure she knows exactly what she is doing and my leg does feel much more relaxed now, but to make sure I'll give it another 24 hours rest before I venture out late Saturday afternoon for some pre race grass running.

On the 'plastering' front the third bedroom is almost complete (two plasterers today !) and will be ready for decorating by the end of Monday - Daisys room is about 50% decorated and the electrician has fitted Declans chrome light switches and sockets - very cool.

My eldest daughter Amber has joined the real world and now has a 'boyfriend' - hopefully he wont be too much of a distraction with her GCSE's as she is still on target for straight A/A*'s.

Well done to the GB athletes who have won medals so far at the World indoors - Dwaine Chambers, Jeanette Kwakye and Kelly Sotherton, awesome performances.

Listen to your body - (Thursday 06/03)

Less than five weeks to go before the London marathon and I'm certainly starting to feel tired - a combination of 70+ miles per week and 10 races in the last 12 weekends has meant a steady drain on resources so listening to my body when it starts to tell me 'enough' will avoid injury at this crucial stage.

Last night during a pyramid pace session (800m, 1200m, 1600m and back down again) my right leg stiffened up causing me to plant my foot in correctly, I ran with it for about 800m and tried to stretch it off but it was having none of it - I cut the session short and will try and book a massage today in an bid to run the Trafford 10K race on Sunday, its a good local race and a fast course - I'm not classing it as an injury or even a niggle yet as there is no pain or stiffness this morning, just one to be aware of. Treated ourselves to fillet steak and salmon as a 'protein' treat to make me feel better after not completing teh session - Mmmm !

Trafford 10K course

It was great seeing Simon Knighton back at the track tonight - he's had a stress fracture over the past few weeks and is now easing himself back into it - he's one a the regulars in the group and a really good guy - shame he's a City fan though.



On the house front we now have two rooms plastered, one bedroom has started to be decorated and if things go to plan today we will have five different people working at the same time (if....!).

Key sessions - (Wednesday 05/03)

I always try and pick 2 or three 'key' sessions at the start of the week (assuming there are no races at the weekend) and let these be my focus and anything else is built in around them so for example this week :-

Monday 3rd March - 4 miles easy. Focus - Recovery run. Intensity - low
Tuesday am - 4 miles easy.

pm - 1 mile warm up, 6 X 1 mile in 6.20 with 3 mins active (jogging) recovery - try to keep moving for the full 3 mins even if it means running around in circles a bit. 1 mile warm down. Focus - increase lactate tolerance. Intensity - high.
Wednesday am - 11 miles easy (did 17 as was enjoying myself).

pm - gym session. Focus - increase elastic strength (plyometrics) and core stability. Intensity - moderate/high.
Thursday am - 4 miles easy.

pm - 1 mile warm up then a pyramid of: 800m, 1200m, 1600m, 1600m, 1200m, 800m. Active recoveries need to be 2 mins after the 800, 3 mins after the 1200s, 4 mins after the 1600s then 1 mile warm down.
Friday - 11 miles easy. Focus - maintain aerobic base. Intensity - moderate.
Saturday - REST. Focus - Recovery
Sunday - Trafford 10km. Let's go for 39.20!! = 6.20 per mile - 19.41@ 5km, 31.40 @ 5 miles. Let me know what you think. Focus - hit target pace. Intensity - high.

The Tuesday and Thursday evening track sessions are key as is getting in the long run in during the week, everything else although important isn't crucial.

Still no plasterer although he did find time to call me this morning to explain why he had gone AWOL - I wont go into the detail on here but suffice to say he wont be going on my list of recommended tradesmen. The electrician arrived as planned and the plumber is lined up for tomorrow morning to arrive at the same time as the decorators - we are on a bit a roll here and hopefully it bodes well for the rest of the project.

This mornings run was scheduled to be a steady 11 miles but right or wrong turned into 17 hilly miles from New Mills to Charlesworth, Broadbottom, across to Glossop and back again using fields and paths that I will never ever see or run along again as for about a third of the run I have to admit I was pretty lost - off now to the gym at Dialstone and then hopefully watch Chelsea get beat later.

A visit to the doctors - (Tuesday 04/03)

Woke up in the night with a really sore toe (my little one on the right before you ask), thought it might have been a blister, but it got worse through the morning and being a man I thought it was obviously something serious and arranged a visit to the doctors for this afternoon - after a through examination which even involved lying down on the Doctors examination bed she broke the critical news to me "You have a chilblain Sean - go home, you will live !". Well it was very sore ! By the way did you know you can get chilblains on your face (see picture)

Training was a 5 mile easy fartlek session this morning in glorious sunshine and one mile reps out on the gloomy streets of Stockport this evening (even with my chilblain!).

Has anyone seen my plasterer he didn't turn up today, but thankfully the electrician did, so work is progressing, but slowly.

Recovery day and stupid ladders - (Monday 03/03)

I had tired legs after yesterday race, but I feel good in myself for a cracking PB, so just a short recovery run to set me up for the rest of the week and an attempt to break my 10k PB at Trafford next Sunday.

At last the first room (Daisy's) is totally plastered, it looks good and I cant wait to get the decorators in to do their bit on Thursday. We are now seriously running out of rooms to store furniture in though and fortunately the children have been well behaved as they are now cramped into the one remaining 'usable' bedroom.

What kind of fool would lean a ladder against an empty wardrobe in the middle of a bedroom and then climb the ladder to finish stripping a ceiling - as I got half way up the ladder the wardrobe started to lean and then topple, followed by the ladder and then followed by me - no damage done other than to the wardrobe which is now 'deceased'.

Finally ordered the new all singing all dancing flat screen TV for the lounge, the children wanted 50" but settled for 42" otherwise you woudl walk into the room and it woudl look stupid - must update my project plan !

Fame at last - following the article in Running Fitness, someone approached me before yesterday race after recognising me from the pictures, he wouldn't accept my autogtraph though !

Amber has been suffering with sore shins since the National Cross Country Champiosnhips, but seems on the road to recovery after testing them out this afternoon - wonder if she will come anywhere near me in next Sundays race or will she still have her head in the clouds, we will see.

Trimpell 20 - (Sunday 02/03)

Well a nice restful day on Saturday and some good football results (United won, Arseanl didn't, Stockport won, City didn't...), but I still felt like I was about to come down with something and seriously thought about not travelling up to Trimpell (near Morecambe) on the Sunday morning. But travel I did and felt OK in teh warm up and set off witha target of 7min miles for the first 10 to see how that made me feel, I hit half way in 1:09:45 and felt good so decided to push on a little bit and see how long I would last.

One gel at 14 miles and lots of concentration brought me home in 2:16:42 which is 10 minutes better than last year and much much more than I could ever have hoped for and puts me nearer to a 3hr finish for London than 3:15 - however I'm smart enough to not even be considering sub 3:00 even though the everage miles splits come out at 6:50's.

Big thanks to Lee (team chauffeur, Steve and Kevin for an enjoyable day) - by the way Kevin finished 8th overall in 2:01 - awesome.

Spent the rest of the afternoon and evening at my Mums and brothers and then ate enough food to last till Friday.