i feel like a total idiot...

why? for virtually giving away my ticket to wembley because i couldn't get there. and i know this sounds awfully selfish, but i will find it very hard to celebrate watching on tv because i sould have been there. don't get me wrong i still want them to win, but it's not the same watching it on tv compared to being there.

lessons in life

people often ask me questions about why i run, why i do so much training when i have a physical job etc etc and i can come up with a multitude of reasons why i run and what running can do for you. firstly i run for competitive reasons, for the fun of competition. as a sort of side ahow to that i take a huge amount of satisfaction when i lower my times over any distance or if its cross country from beating some one i know would represent a huge challenge to me.

secondly its nice if you're annoyed about something to be able to just pop my trainers on and hit the road for an hour or so and it does have the effect of clearing all thoughts from my mind and gives me the chance to think things over whilst i'm out. most of my steady running is done on my own. this is on purpose because it is 'me' time. rather than having people shouting at me saying do this do that all the time i can get away and concentrate solely on my self.

it is a sport that teaches you so much about yourself, how your mind and body works and i certainly consider my self to be a far wiser more educated person now than i was at university all learnt through running. it is a sport that teache you humility as it makes you realise that every one has limitations even the greatest of us. for proof of this just look at the pictures of martin lel sammy wanjiiru and abderahim goumri after the london marathon this year. three of the worlds greatest athletes exhausted, finished.

easy does it

this week will be my last week of longer repetitions before i move on to 1500 meter specific work in preparation for the bmc races down at exeter and hope fully a fast time. today really doesn't feel like summer as it is pissing down with rain. but you have to put things like that to the back of your mind and focus only on what you can control if you're to become a successful distance runner. like running through pain for example. tuesday was a good example of this as the longer distance section of the group did a session of 8x800 off a short recovery. nobody completed the full session. i did 6 800's and 2 400's as my calf mascles felt absolutely solid running in spikes. i hadn't bothered bringing my road training shoes with me, something which i regretted. i finished and showered in time to listen on the radio to bristol city book their place at wembley for the championship play off final. the 800 meter reps were run in about 2:34 and the 400's in about 74. my calves just wouldn't let me go any quicker. such is life but you would far rather it happened in training than a race.

moving on

having been the only person in the group to finish the session last thursday (we ran 600, 500, 400 off a short recovery 4 times) i have really started to knuckle down and put some hard work in. the weekly mileage is now up to 60 mpw in non race weeks and about 50 in race weeks. i am now managing to fit an extra run in after work on mondays wednesdays and fridays. only about 30 minutes or so each time but it does make a significant difference to the mileage total as i usually manage about 4-41/2 miles each time along the river avon towpath. my targets for the summer reamin the same as ever, but i was interested to see the front page of the evening post today. gary johnson has been made in to winston churchill doing the 'victory' salute and smoking a cigar, with the headline 'let it be our finest hour'. i'm sure i don't need to explain what this is all about but i now think neil warnock has overtaken ian holloway as the most hated person at ashton gate thanks to his constantly jibing at the team

mixed emotions at millfield

i finally broke the 10 miniute barrier last night at millfield-9 minutes 59 seconds, but i was really annoyed at being beaten by claire hallisey-again-yet i beat her all the time in training yet she seems to save all her best performances for competition. its annoying that i seem to save my best performances for training but theres got to be some reason for that. it was suggested last night that tapering before races isn't necesarily the right thing to do as your legs can go in to it not feeling awake. it wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact that i know i can beat her based on her training performances and it makes me feel that i should be running times like that rather than the absolute shite i ran last night. the conditions were were perfect, the pacemaking was absolutely perfect, there is no excuse for only just breaking 10 minutes i feel like i should have taken another 10 seconds off and i doubt i will get another opportunity as good as that all summer. and if anyone says to me 'ooh but you should be pleased because you ran a pb' i'm going to slap them in the face. i'm not happy about having to settle for second best.

don't ask me what i'm doing next because i don't know but the 1500's down at exeter are the most likely next target race.

broken promises

i mentioned to martin greenwood last night about posting the report from my latest laboratory test to this blog and he said i could possibly do it by copying and pasting it. however ;ooking at the email they sent me this option doesn't appear to be possible (the actual report it self is an email attatchment) so if any one knows how to do this than please feel free to contact mr computer illiterate here. since i last posted on here i have done two track sessions and a couple of 8 or 9 mile steady runs. the first session was 800 short recovery 400 and the second was 3x 4x400. the second one was run at a slightly faster pace mainly using it as a tune up for mondays race. the same distance but the extra recovery made a hell of a difference to how my legs felt the next day. on wednesday after the legs were particularly sore on friday they felt almost like i hadn't done any thing hard the previous night, which is the way it should be during the track season if there is an important race coming up because you don't want to leave your best performances behind in training and have nothing left for races.

i was asked to run in a club league match today but i declined. something that didn't endear me or mike to the track and field team manager but in this sport you have to look after yourself and you can't expect others to do it for you other wise they will take advantage and i'm determined not to let that happen. the races in the leagues are generally low key affairs with some times as few as two or three people competing, not good for fast times but it may mean that i win some later on in the year as i will be doing some of them-just not on this occasion.