Lee Merrien's Blog

Watch out Lance, the Kenyan's are coming!

2012-01-29T12:00:00.008Z

Again it's been a while since my last post, infact I only seem to be posting from Kenya these days! as you've probably gathered I'm back here again as part of my spring Marathon preparations. Having been weighing up my options in terms of my marathon choice my decision I guess was a fairly straight forward one in the end... I will be running the Virgin London Marathon this April in my pursuit of the Olympic qualifying time. Whilst I have been in Kenya London Marathon have been out here too, they announced details of the full elite field here in Iten too, as ever the field is about as strong as you will see anywhere in the World and promises to be an exciting race both from a domestic and international perspective. From a British view point pretty much everyone who is looking to achieve the Olympic time will also be running in London too. Here's a link to the elite field....

http://www.virginlondonmarathon.com/news-and-media/news-and-media/press-release-20-01-12-olympics-goal-mutai-defends/

Between my two Kenya trips there's been plenty going on, xmas new year was a fairly quiet one with the family, well as much as it can be an excitable 3 years old Thomas, we had a scaletrix set...sorry I mean Thomas did, this present was well recieved allround though though :) After new year I raced my first cross race for 12months in the form of the Hampshire County Champs, its been 4 years since my last outing at the event and another rare opportunity to pull on a Guernsey Race. I had a good race with John Beattie, as we had both decide to race seeing as we were bothing after a race that weekend. We had a pretty close race but I managed to draw clear within the last 600m or so to win by a handful of seconds. There a link to part of the race on Channel TV (not sure it will work in all regions though)....

http://www.channelonline.tv/channelonline_sportnews/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=497808

Following the race I had a good week of training at home before then picking up a cold unfortunately, it meant I arrived in Kenya a little under the weather, not ideal given we are 8000feet above sea level and with some very dusty trails to contend with this time around. The cold is now thankfully over with and training is starting to tick along nicely up here. The weather has been much better than November, no rain in sight!... ironically a few people were complaining about the dust but hey I will take that over muddy sticky trials any day! although I have said I might bring with me some B&Q dust masks to run with next time I come :)

Kenya as a training venue never fails to inspire me and our long run this morning inparticular was no different, whilst we had to contend with running through some thick smoke from a small bush fire (if you call the crop fields of Kenya the bush!) having run the long run in one direction, some 22miles plus miles it meant we got to see some fairly remote parts of around Iten. Thankfully we had drinks providing on the run and a lift back afterwards, note before a much need stop a small kenyan shack for a bottle of coke! On our drive back we saw something rather noval a Kenya peleton, at the time we thought this was just a training ride but turns out this was actually a race. A lot of them had single speed bikes that looked like something out of the 1970's, many were also had running shoes rather than cycling shoes.

Watch out Lance, the Kenyan's are coming!

Anyhow with 12 weeks to go until London the training as they say start here.. ok technically I have be preparing in the general sense since a took a break after the World Champs last year, but these next 12 weeks is when the real work take places.

OK there's Wet and there's this!

2011-12-07T15:23:00.017Z

Last time I blogged I was nearer the end of my trip in Kenya and about to travel home, this I did but not without a bit of drama to make this interesting...

Usually we leave Lorna's Centre about 2 hours before our flight as the drive is only 45minutes to the airport, the airport is even smaller than Guernsey airport so you are usually safe arriving 45-60minutes before. On the day of travel though, Willy (Songok) who looks after us while we are there, came and said we would be leaving earlier due to flooding on the road between the centre and the airport (there is only one tarmac road the rest of dirt roads) in order to allow for any possible delays. We had been told that we should be able to get through the flooded area, which was also being blocked off my some of the Kenyan Matatu (Kenyan mini bus/taxi) drivers. This way apparently a way for them to make a quick buck as they were charging people to carry them (and their belongs) across the flooded section of road, where they were able to pick up another Matatu! When we arrived at the flood it was carnage...

Whilst it was all pretty amusing initially the novelty soon wore off, particularly when a number of the locals saw we were in a 4x4 vehicle and starting climbing onto the roof. I can only presume they thought they would be able to get across the flooded road without getting wet but I must admit for a minute it didn't feel particularly safe!

After trying initially to get across the road things proved unsuccessful and so our driver decided we would take the detour via the various dirt roads in order to bypass the flood and then rejoin the main road further on. Literally no sooner did we back up and turn off onto an already muddy and flooded dirt road it started lashing it down with rain! The dirt road were proving a challenge even for our 4x4 and there were a few times I thought we were going to slide into a few Kenyans walking between villages.

We had only driven a mile or so before we came across our first major obstacle, which was a broken down car blocking the road we were on. Our driver decided to try and get into the adjacent field in order to drive. Unfortunately we became stuck and despite our drivers best efforts it didn't appear we would be getting out anytime soon as the wheels had dug themselves a nice deep grove into the mud. A Kenyan guy in our vehicle managed to find some rocks which were thrown in by the front wheels in an attempt to find traction but it didn't seem to help. Fortunately by this point a local man had joined us and he basically dug us a pathway for our driver to able to negioate his way out, although not before we had all got thoroughly socked in attempt to help push our vehicle out.

Despite being on edge for much of the next 2hours we did at least make it through to the main road eventually, through some pretty hurrendously muddy and flooded sections. The usual 45min journey from the centre to Eldoret Airport took us 3hours and we arrived only 20mins or so before our flight but we made it at least!

On a lighter note, early in the day myself, Hannah England and Luke Gunn had met up with Tom Payn, a british marathon runner who bases himself Iten. Tom whilst renting a room elsewhere spends much of his time with a training camp called Run-Fast and he invited us into visit the camp. We met Edwin Kipyego who is one of probably the camps star athlete and one to watch out for, his 10k PB is already 28.12 and 61.23 for the half marathon and so I've been told has only been training serious for a couple of years.

We were invited into his accommodation for a cup of chi (kenyan tea) or at least Edwin's version of it, as he had added a sachet of hot chocolate to the original flask, however having not had anything particular sweet for the past few weeks it was a bit of treat to satisfy my sweet tooth!
(myself and Edwin outside his one room accommodation which sleeps two people, a room no bigger and 10 feet by 10, includes 2 bunk beds, a sofa, a tv and a sink, its compared to most Kenyan homes this is luxury)

The camp was situated slightly off the main dirt roads, near to Iten town centre and meant we had to walk through a few back streets (which were basically muddy paths) to get there and we passed lots of Kenyan kids en route. They apparantly have all of December off school. Myself Hannah (England) and Luke (Gunn) couldn't resist a picture with them.

Update from a wet Kenya

2011-11-29T12:40:00.007Z

Hi folks

I’ve been Kenya a couple of weeks now, in fact my trip is nearly at an end! but my altitude camp has gone really well for me. A couple of weeks before I got hear I had to pull out of the Great South Run due to illness but I now feel I have found my feet again and I’ve put in some good 100mile weeks, alongside all the little things too. The added benefit of being on a training camp is having the time to utilize recovery with daytime naps the order of the day… I do manage to squeeze a few in at home but logistically it’s always more challenging, out here its part of the daily routine.

This now my third time in Kenya, I also came out in January and March earlier this year before the Virgin London Marathon, so I feel quite at home. Things have been a little different this time around though as there’s been a substantial amount of rain, somewhat unusual for Kenya in November. There main rainy season is usually April & May and whilst there is supposedly a short rainy period in November, this has been anything but short. Previously we there has been rain it’s mostly been over night and not that regularly but since we’ve arrived there has been rain most days and some heavy down pours during the day too. I don’t feel it has affected my training all that much in terms of quality but we have had to adapt the surface, the trails are all ground/clay based so as soon as you get any persistent rain they become very stick and sometimes just not run-able. The only option for running when its been really muddy has been the solitary tarmac road which goes through Iten, so this has lead to a few out and back on the bad days. Whilst the rain has not been a big issue for us, with perhaps the exception of the crazy drivers when we have taken to the road, no pavement here! For the people locals it is a little more serious, as the heavy rain is delaying the harvesting of crops and this for many is there only source of food or income.

It has not been all bad weather though, as we did manage to get on the Iten Track a couple of times. This is always an impressive spectacle on ‘session day’, that being a Tuesday morning, as you will always find large number and various Kenyan training groups in full swing (assuming its dry day). We were even witness to something other than distance running on one occasion with some crazy high jump techniques going on.

My sessions have gone surprisingly whilst here actually, as after picking up a stomach bug at home a few weeks ago I must admit to did struggle with my training somewhat in the aftermath. It been nice to train in group again though and having been on previous UKA/London Marathon training camps I know that these trips work well for me and it has been just what I needed to get my fitness back and set the wheels in motion for the next few months of training.
Its certainly tough training here though as you won’t find too many flat runs but I’m sure that is one part of what makes so many successful athletes here. I did have an unscheduled day off the other day however, feeling dizzy and generally under the weather, fortunately it turned out to be just a 24hour thing… or as I've since heard it call here ‘a little malaria’. Whenever a Kenyan person gets sick, whatever shape or form it takes it is usually referred to as malaria, it seems this is just a word for someone who is ill! Whilst of course genuine malaria is a serious issue here and across many areas of Africa it seems to me that the Kenyan’s version of man-flu is this ‘small malaria’, don’t let the reference foul you. When I was here in January one of the Kenya guys who works at the centre was off ill with malaria, only to be back at work the next day!

Just a few more days here now and then off to Preston to catch up with a Sports Psychologist and then on to Loughborough for some physiological testing to measure how well the camp has really gone.

Planning for success

2011-11-12T09:30:00.001Z

It’s between a while since my last blog even by standards but plenty to update you on, despite my lack of racing…

I took my usual break after the World Champs as planned, actually that’s a little bit of lie as I actually started running a few days earlier than planned. I usually get out on my push bike just to do something in the second week to fend of the boredom but unfortunately my bike was out of action so went out for a few easy runs instead. Nothing major just 20 to 30mins of easy jogging on a daily basis but it at least kept the cabin fever at bay.

I have since been building things up again training wise and despite not feeling particular fit I ran the National Road Relays for my UK club Newham & Essex Beagles only a few weeks after starting back. I have only competed for Newham a small number of times over the last 2 years, mainly due to events clashing with other racing plans but I enjoying doing something as part of a team when the chance arises. On previous outings for Newham in UK competitions I have always been on a winning team, but with a slightly weaker team (partly down to me not being in shape) and coming up again a strong Aldershot team we had to settle for 3rd spot on this occasion. I ran 4th leg for the team and whilst my time was somewhat short of what I would expect to run I came away thinking I can now kick on the training. Unfortunately no sooner did I touch down back in Guernsey airport that night after the relays did I come down with a stomach bug, this let to no running for following week and when I did start back again things took a good few days before I started to feel a bit more like myself again. For those reasons I decided against running the Great South Run which I was down to do originally and decide I would be better just getting myself back to full health.

Since the Daegu Champs I have a lot of time to analysis my past season and also look ahead to the next 12months and most importantly how I will tackle it. One of the main things I have done is sit down and think about how I can improve things and find those little difference, the one percenters which will all add up to an overall better performance. I have always set myself targets and within that the little processes which will get me there. A book which first encouraged me to start thinking like this was ‘Gold Minds’ by Brian Miller, a book which my old coach recommended to me. The book is a few years old now but the principles are still useful, although recently it’s been useful to fine tune things following a meeting I had with a guy called Tim Newenham. Tim runs a company called Javelin Consultancy and the Guernsey Sports Commission have been using him to help develop a support programme for athletes in Guernsey. Tim helped me fine tune my goal settings a little more which helped identify a slightly clearer path to achieving success. I still have one or two things I need to finish off in terms of my full season plan, namely the marathon I will run in the spring, but I plan to decide this over the next couple of weeks.

I am now a couple of weeks on from the road relays and I’m actually out in Kenya at the minute on a UK Athletics & London Marathon funded altitude training camp. I will be here for just over 3 weeks with the plan to use the altitude and extra time away from my usual environment to focus on things like rest and recovery a bit more. I have to admit I have found the past 8 weeks challenging at home with our little girl Jessica (who is only 13 weeks old) still not sleeping through the night yet. I do find it hard to be away from the family these days but the training camps and the altitude exposure in particular are something I see as a an essential ingredient if I’m going achieve my targets. Our boy Thomas is a really good sleeper at night fortunately so all being well Jessica will follow suit, I joked with my wife that it she could get her sleeping through the night for when I return that would be sit nicely with me :) I won’t repeat what she said to me!

I leave you with something which made me laugh following a conversation with my son on the phone the other night (sorry I have become one of those parents who talk about their children all the time). He has been given the part of father Christmas in his nursery nativity play and he has to sing the song quoted below, however he when he sang it back to me he replaced the final word (the word out) with the word ‘off’, hopefully he gets it right on the day!

Father Christmas got stuck in the chimney,
So he began to shout,
If you boys & girls want your toys,
You better pull me out.

You can see our concerns at his mistake!

I will try to post up regular while out in Kenya, with what Kenya & the camp in general has been like but in the meantime if anyone has any questions please feel free to leave comment or questions in the comment box below.

Down but not out

2011-09-08T12:50:00.006+01:00

For those of you who have seen the result, you will probably already know that I finished 22nd place in the Marathon at the World Champs in Deagu, unfortunately narrowly missing out on a top 20 finish and subsequently missing out on achieving an Olympic A standard that I was after. It's been a rough couple of days having got so close and initally it left me feeling particularly frustrated with myself being that I was only 18seconds outside that 20th spot. I only found out how close that 20th spot was after the race which only compounded my frustrations with myself. My thinking being that had I known I was in touching distance that I was sure I could have found that little something extra required over the closing stages. Whether I would have is another matter, I will never know but even having that conversation with myself immediately following the race left me double guess myself as to whether I had exhausted every possible ounce of energy in the race.

In terms of how the race unfolded I came very close to executing the race plan I had set out to run, for all but those two places! I started conservatively with the aim of running a more even paced race than my fellow competitors with the believe that many people would get it wrong and start to fast. In general most of the field did exactly this. Whilst conditions on the day were not as bad as expected temparatures were still 25c and around 60% humidity. I think because the weather was cloudy and there was a breeze many people under estimated the conditions. At half way myself and Dave Webb were 51st and 52nd place, well down the field but only gaining in places until the finish. At 35k I got a shout out from the sides to say I was 33 place and in front of me I could see half a dozen people coming back to me, 3 of whom were the three spanish athletes who had beaten me last year in Barcelona (where I finished 8th, in Daegu I was the 6th European finisher). During that last 7km I figured I had passed approx 7 or 8 runners, hence assuming I had worked myself up to around 25th place, however I may have miss counted and also not allowed for drop outs, which evidently was the case as I crossed the line in 22nd place. Whilst I fell short of my target the performance itself is probably one I should be more proud of but because of what was at stake one I can't help but be disappointed by the result. Had the race just simply been a World Championships for me and not a chance to gain Olympic Qualification I think I would have probably taken much more positive from the race but it was difficult to see past that at the time.

Moving forward now though I have to run the Olympic A Standard time (which is to run under 2hr 12mins for the marathon) and I have already starting looking at how will go about doing that. My thoughts and disappointment of last Sunday have not completely left my head just yet but my appetite to succeed remains as strong as ever so I will do everything I can to ensure I achieve my goals.

Currently I am now enjoying a break from training, no running and more time at home... which is proving just as much of a challange as the marathon as our little girl Jessica is proving difficult to settle in the evenings. Whilst she is now 5 weeks old my wife was almost a single parent pre-South Korea so it's been a bit of shock to the system for me! I no can longer be excused due to preparing for a World Champs and there's nothing like a bit of real life reality to ground you again and remind you it's not just about running... at least not all the time :)

Its a girl!

2011-08-11T21:21:00.007+01:00

This is a little bit late as per normal but now I'm In the holding camp in Ulsan ahead of the World champs I have a bit more time to write and post this up...

Firstly baby news! on Thursday 4th September we had a baby girl, Jessica Yves who weighed in at 6lb 15 0z, the middle name(pronounced Eve) uses the male spelling as we wanted to use my late grandpa's middle name in his memory, he passed away last December. Other than lack of sleep mother and baby are doing fine and my wife has been a bit of a star taking the brunt of the baby duties so I could get the rest I needed from training. Our son Thomas celebrated his 3rd birthday the other week too, so with a cluster of kids running around house for his party and people popping in to see Jessica there's been plenty going on.

In terms of training I am now into my easing back period here in Ulsan, but prior to that the last few weeks have gone really well, certainly as well as my preparation for the London marathon earlier this year, if not better. I've also managed to get some good acclimatisation prior to the holding camp, with a few sessions in a greenhouse, made available to me thanks to the local vinery the Clematis Nursary. Unfortunately the treadmill I was initially using packed up though, due to getting too hot apparently. It was 36c and 100% humidity on one occasion mind! The greenhouse sessions went well though and i felt pretty comfortable in the that environment, certainly more so than Fae the BBC Guernsey reporter who joined me for part of one my sessions the other week, I think she lasted about 5mins :)

As I say I'm now out in Ulsan in South Korea after a fairly long journey out here, taking the best part of 24hours. Certainly staying awake during the last few hours was a challenge and slept well that first night! the jelag doesn't seem to affecting me too badly either but I understand most people have taken a good 4 or 5 days to get used to the hour time different. I will try to update again here with a bit more info about Ulsan and my final prepations, although that will only be if I can get a new battery charger for my laptop as I left my at home! If I can source another I get another update up here in a few days.

Camping out at home

2011-07-29T10:33:00.004+01:00

I'm now back home after my month in the Pyrenees, ironically c0ming home to better weather than I left in Font Romeu. The weather for the last few days was not the best, all most constaint rain for the last two days, not what you usually expect for the South of France in July! but training went well so can't complain. The 4 weeks of training was arguably my best period of training at altitude and the last week was particular good with a solid track session and a very good 25km tempo run, the latter so much so that the person who accompanied me on a push bike couldn't keep up :)

Now I am home I feel a little bit more at ease, as Teresa has not given birth yet, so this means I will definately be here for our new arrival. As the doctor has suggested the due be a little sooner than first thought, Teresa only had to be a few days early and I would have still been in France. The due date is basically this weekend and I'm told that they never let it go more than 2 weeks overdue and I am home now for 3 weeks before I leave for the holding camp in Alsan.

As mentioned in a previous post I would normally be at altitude closer to the race but came home sooner to be around for the birth, however in order to maintain the benefits I have gained from my trip at altitude I am sleeping in my altitude tent. Which has cosily fitted into our conservatory at home, much to my wife disappointment :) The only probably with using the altitude system that I have is that because it's an old system the generator needs to be inside the tent, rather than outside, which is the case with the more modern versions. This makes means getting used to the noise and also the temparature (as the generator increases the temparature by 10 degrees C inside). As those of you with conservatories probably know these places tend to warm at the best of times so I'm not going to getting cold at night to say the least! BBC Guernsey came around to my house yesterday for an interview and seemed particularly interested in the tent that's inside the house. They are not the only one amused by the tent, my son Thomas loves come in there too.

Anyway just a brief update for now, next time I post something I should be a dad again so fingers crossed everything goes smoothly with that...I'm not sure who's more terrified about the actual birth, Teresa or myself! Our first, Thomas was delivered by C-section so the thought of a natural birth seems a little bit more scary. Running marathons seem a much easier prospect to get my head round than child birth.

Living and training above the clouds

2011-07-14T16:12:00.006+01:00

Well I’ve been in training in the Pyrenees now for just over 2 weeks and generally speaking things have been going really well. The weather has been a bit changable at times with glorious sunshine and temperatures in the mid 20's to electronical storms and heavy rain. Yours truely made the wrong choice the other day, driving up to La Calme, the one of the highest point in the area (also referred to as the plateau) just as an electrical storm was passing overhead, not a cleaver choice in hindsight!

From my first few days here my running and fitness has felt good and my first full week here gave me just over 120miles for the week, my key sessions have been good too. I had a good track session last week with 5k runner Ryan Mcleod, Ryan and I have the same coach (John Nuttall) and so we were able to work it that Ryan had his last big volume track session alongside a typical one for me during marathon training. I have also spent a bit more time in the gym over the last 2 weeks, whilst I have been doing my typical weights and core sessions each week I have also been spending 2 to 3 additional sessions per week doing my calf/achilles exercises and doing the hurdle drills that I must admit I don’t always manage to fit in every week back home. The additional calf/achilles exercises or as it’s been renamed calf club! Is an array of exercises to strengthen my calfs, the soleus muscle and achilles tendon which I have been doing with the physio here and athlete Chris Thompson. I am prone to achilles niggles on my right side due to my running mechanics, nothing that has ever stopped me running but the sort of thing that if not given a bit of attention can lead to secondary injuries if you’re not too careful so it’s been good to make time for this. Although I have broken the first rule about calf club, that nobody talks and about calf club :)

Recovering after a run at Lac de Matemale, near Les Angles.

The great thing about being on a training camp of this nature is that you not only have more time to recovery from a sometimes hectic home life but the environment in general is ideal. There are many other athletes here all equally focused, with athletes from both the UK and also from USA this time and UK Athletics have some of their best staff out here too who are second to none, certainly from the perspective of being a non-lottery funded athlete like myself this is as good it gets.

The only minor interruption I have had these past couple of days has been a toe infection of all things! I picked this up on Monday, after training as normal I didn’t sleep a wink that night due to the infection being so uncomfortable. Fortunately the UKA doctor John Rogers had arrived that same day and I am now on a course of antibiotics to sort it out. It only meant two days of not running, two I would have preferred not to miss but on the second day I was able to put my energies into some cross training. Motivated by the Tour de France I took to the bike for a spot of hill work. I used the road that leads to the plateau, the road is just short of 5km of continuous climbing with a different of around 1000feet from the bottom to top. The road is ideal for hills sessions by bike or by foot as is fairly quite road. It took me 15mins to reach the top on a near all out effort, my quads are not designed for cycle that’s for sure! and following some further shorter 3mins reptitions I have to admit that my enthusiasm for cycling was somewhat lessened that but it served it's purpose of getting my heart rate up. I am pleased to say that after that little interruption though I’m now back running as normal and ready to crack on with training.

Pictures courtsey of http://design.ryanmcleod.net

Getting the balance right

2011-07-02T08:20:00.002+01:00

Getting the balance Right.

Even by my standards this blog is a long time in coming, considering my last blog wasn’t since early May. I am finally back on it terms of blogging and I should have a bit more time to post more regularly given that I am now out in Font Romeu for a training camp.

Firstly racing… last Sunday I ran my first race since the London Marathon, which took the form of the half marathon in the Natwest Island Games in the Isle of Wight, competing for Guernsey for the first time since last October. The course used was a fairly challenging one, with a number of decent sized hills in each of the two bigger laps but given that I was aiming to use the race as part of my marathon preparations for the World Champs (later this summer) it workout quite well. I ran 68.36 which considering the challenge circuit this equated to about marathon pace effort for me. As well as individual gold, I also picked up team gold along with my Guernsey team mates Mike Wilesmith and Steve Dawes, who placed 4th and 5th respectively. A great run by Mike who is very new to the running, unfortunately my fellow training partner (in Guernsey) Steve was suffering with a virus and was unable to run to form.

Our achievements and Team Guernsey in general seem to have been received well back at home, It was also nice for us and for athletics to win gold given that they were the first gold medals won by Guernsey at these multi sport games. Also I always say when interviewed by Guernsey media that its nice to pull on a Guernsey vest (given that I rarely get the chance these days) and this was no different. With the course being a multiple lap race (as opposed to one big circuit) we were also able to great support as even from fellow Guernsey athletes and supporters alike.

Unfortunately I wasn’t unable to hang around for too long at the Games due to a planned training camp out in Font Romeu, where I am currently located. I would have loved to have stayed for the full week long event in the Isle of Wight and would have like to have enjoyed the team camaraderie that comes with it, but with so much going on for me this summer it just wasn’t possible.

As some of you maybe aware my wife and I are due to have our second baby soon, with the due date being the 5th Aug, I want to be there for the birth but I am also aware that if I am to achieve my goal of competing at the Olympics in London next year I need to be able to prepare as best as possible. The World Championship Marathon on the 4th September provides me with the first opportunity to qualify, as by finishing inside the top 20 places this will count as achieving the Olympics A Standard Qualification. So this will quite literally be my most important race of my running career. Teresa has been very supportive and understanding these past 12-18months to say the least… infact it’s usually the first thing people say to me… ‘you have a very understanding wife!’, the second thing they usual joke is that how on earth were you home long enough to get her pregnant…but I don’t like to brag :) In terms of training at altitude I usually aim to spend 3 to 4 weeks there to get the desired benefits but then return to sea-level approx 2 to 3 weeks before my race so to maintain the benefits (they usually only last up to around 4-5 weeks but with the peak benefits being around 2-3 weeks after). However in this instance I have gone earlier and will be back at sea-level 5 weeks before the race (one week before the due date, if baby arrives as planned!) so I will then use my altitude tent for additional 2 weeks or so on returning home to maintain the fitness benefits gained from the training camp. My only potential problem of course being that babies don’t always come when you want them too! We said we would cross that bridge if it arises, which well take the form of early return home, but hopefully you can at least see the dilemma I was faced with. I guess my the compromise in this instance (which I would like to point out was more of a compromise between myself as a father to be and one as an elite athlete) was that I have gone to my altitude training camp slightly earlier in the instance keeping my fingers crossed that I will not regret the decision should the baby come early that the due date!

As for Font Romeu the training continues and the first few days have gone really well, I feel at the moment that my previous altitude camps have help me in terms of feeling more comfortable with the altitude from day one. I have still taken things a bit easier in terms of the intensity I have been training at but the pace of my first few runs have been good with my heart rates remaining low (usually the first few days of altitude you can experience elevated heart rates due to your body having to work harder due to less available oxygen). I feel settled as much as I can be away from home and all being well I will have a good few weeks of hard training ahead of me and be home in time to experience the imminent arrival!

Virgin London Marathon Result

2011-05-01T09:48:00.007+01:00

It’s been two weeks since the race but it’s still fresh in the mind and now in a position to post this up after just getting back from our family holiday. Here’s my latest blog update…Results wise I finished 14th overall in a time of 2.14.27, which was a PB by over 2 minutes (previous PB was 2.16.48, which I ran in London last year) although I was actually a little disappointed with the time. I was looking to get under the Olympic & World Champs A Standard of 2.12 and whilst clearly that was still my ideal outcome I made the choice over the race weekend to start with the 2.13 pace group. Partly I felt that the 2.11 group might be a little too quick at this stage and I didn’t want to damage my changes of running in the region of 2.12-2.13 which would have been a good stepping stone to running something faster in the future. I feel on reflection I made the right choice as many of the 2.11 group seemed to struggle and whilst my finish time was not what I was after there were lots of plus points to take away.

In terms of how the race unfolded, the group I set out with included Stephen Shay (USA) one of the mexican athletes (there were a number Mexicans running, I believe they may have been using this as a trial race) and fellow Brits Dave Webb, Tom Payne and Martin Williams and of course our pacemaker (Max King, a former American steeplechaser, with a marathon best of 2.15). We set off on schedule with myself, Shay and Dave Webb tucking in behind the pacemaker then Martin, the Mexican and Tom Payne in behind us. Generally the pace was spot on throughout although there were a few fluctuations in pace even though the actual mile splits were pretty much bang on (2.13 pace is basically 5.05 per mile). The personal drinks stations (which are every 5k) were a bit busy for our group as unfortunately myself and the three other Brits in the group all happened to choose the same drinks table, which is done the night before the race. This really was a case of sods law because when you deliver your drinks to the organisors the day before everyone can choose the table you would like to be on (there's a choice of tables 1 of 4) and as luck would have it we all choose table 2 and so of the 6 people who had drinks on this table 4 of us all happened to arrive at the table at the same time. Fortunately it didn't seem to effect anything and we filtered through without any major issues. Some time around 8 to 10 miles the group shrunk to just myself, Shay, Webb and our Mexican friend and we reached half way together in 66.37. At this stage I felt really comfortable and was growing in confidence, it was around this stage we started to catch people too, the first person being the Australian Colis Birmingham who was making his marathon debut. Not long after this I saw my wife and friends who were watching at the 14 mile mark, feeling good I gave them a quick thumbs up as I passed (not something I normally do during a race). It wasn't until around 16 to 17 miles that I noticed that I starting to work a little more but looking at my 5k splits this was the quickest split the weather may have also been a bit of factor too as by this time it was starting to quite warm. It was also around this point that the group caught and passed one of the other british athletes, Phil Wicks. The group by this point was just myself, Webb and the mexican however over the next couple of miles this just became myself and Max (our pacemaker).

The only hitch around this time occurred at the 30k mark when I managed to miss the 30k drinks station, annoying because it was here I had attached a carb gel to my sports bottle, luckily I had attached another at the next 5k station as back up but I was ready for the gel at 30k mark. Shortly after the this we hit the 20mile mark, pretty much still bang on 2.13 pace at this point but from here I was on my own. From here unfortunately the pace dropped off a little bit, possibly more than I should have allowed, however I didn’t really check my mile splits at this stages and just focused on keeping myself inj one piece and ticking off people as they came back to me during the last few miles. Also by now the temperature got pretty warm by now.

Around 22 I passed Tomas Abya and a little further along the road I passed Chema Martinez (silver medalist at last years Euro champs), passing people in the closing stages whilst you still feeling quite strong gives you a lot of inner strength and when I passed the remaining british runner Andrew Lemoncello I felt for the first time in marathon I was able to enjoy the last half mile! The crowd support over the last 800m was just awesome too and it was a great feeling to be the first British finisher with and to get that kind of crowd reaction provided perhaps a small taste of what could be next August if I can achieve my goals. Since the marathon the legs seem to have recovered fairly well. I didn’t run a step for the first 7 days after the race. We went on a family holiday the day after the race and it was nice to be able to take it easy (well as much as you can do with active 2 year old!).. Now I just need to work out how I can fit in an altitude trip before the World Championships as well as ahead a 10 day holding camp and also be around to attend the birth of our second child which is due the first week of August. The Marathon in Daegu in on 4th September. In the meantime I have an MRI scan on my knee in couple of weeks, it’s something which has been around since returning from my first training camp at the start of February. I’ve been able to train on it without too many problems so hopefully nothing to be worried about. As for now I’ve doing some easy runs this week, just once a day of between 20 to 40minutes and other than feeling a bit of a slouch I think I’m ready to get back on the horse and start putting some proper training in again, so next stop Daegu.

Race day is almost here...

2011-04-12T11:47:00.007+01:00

Well race day is almost here! its less than one week until the race so the both the excitment and adrenaline is building, although I must admit I don't get nerves in the same way I used to for the shorter distances races. When you are racing for over 2 hours its not quite the same as a race that only lasts a few minutes but I think the feeling of adulation and satifaction runs deeper come the finish line when things go well in Marathon. When a big race approaches you inevitably start to reflect back on your build up at some stage as part of the process of getting your mind focused on the task ahead and looking back this time there is a lot to be positive about, more so than my two previous marathons. Certainly I am far better prepared in terms of general training that I was for the London Marathon 12 months ago so anything less than a personal best would be disappointing. Certainly the UKA/London Marathon supported training camps out in Kenya have made a big different to my preparation and with better workouts I've been doing this all suggests that my body is more than capable of taking a good chunk of that my best time. You can of course never fully replicate what willl happen on the day itself but I feel I ready and will continue to make sure of the next few days I look after myself and tick all the right boxes. On a separate note I wasn't able to upload pictures very easily whilst in Kenya so below are a few pictures I took whilst there... Runners stay here! ....

The only way to travel, by Matatu...

One morning we went down to watch an an adhoc 'Discovery' race organised by a German race agent...

In January I went into town of Elderot, the roads were strangely clear of traffic due to the Kenyan Priminster coming into town...

The other British runner who were here in March...

St Patricks Celebrations

2011-03-23T05:50:00.006Z

I’ve been in Kenya for two weeks now and in terms of training I feel like things are slotting into place well. I have been carrying a few niggling injuries over the past few weeks but being hear has allowed me to manage them better, with regular treatment and additional rest between training. The running itself has been a bit more unusual compared with my first trip in January, in that we have had quite a bit of rain last week, fortunately it didn’t disrupted training, although I did find myself a little low on clean training kit at times. There were also a lot less Kenyan’s out training first thing in the morning too… they don’t like the cold or the rain, so they often wait for it to clear up for going out running.

I have been running most of my day to day steady runs with the other British runners who out hear which includes Andy Baddeley, Mike Skinner, Ben Whitby, Mark Draper & Tom Bedford who are all part of the same training group back home. Whilst they have different immediate terms goals to me we have started most easy or steady runs together which has been good.

In terms for my key training sessions these have been on my own mostly with my a good 30k tempo run on on Friday, using and out and back route along a road called Kaptuli, a short 20mins drive from the training centre. Whilst still being offroad it provided me with slightly flatter route than the options directly around the centre. I ran the run solo but did have Barnabus, a local Kenyan who works for Lorna & Pieter as a driver and general worker at the centre following me in car. He drove behind me in a 4x4 and pulled alongside me every 5k to provide drinks. He certainly needed the 4x4 too, as with the overnight rain we encountered a few tricky muddy patches along the route. It was a good session for me though and confirmed to me that my fitness is good and that I’ve managed to acclimatization to the altitude as much as I would have hoped for. It was arguably one of the hardest workouts I’ve done too with the high altitude and an undulated route a tough combination on what was my longest marathon tempo run to date. More recently I joined the other guys for a track workout yesterday. We drove to Eldoret Univeristy track on this occasion as we had heard it was a better surface than the Iten track. I thought Iten track was busy with some 80+ Kenyan distance runners on there last week, however this was something else with some 120+ using the Univeristy, there seemed bearing enough of a gap between training groups to slot in to do our session, however once we got going we seemed to fit nicely around the various moving trains around the track. There were a number of Kenya’s better know athletes training that morning with Eluid Kipchoge (5000m Pb 12.43) on track, unsurprisingly he was not even at the front of his training group (of some 30-40runners).

Outside of training I have been lucky enough to time my training trip with the 50th Anniversary of the St Patrick High School here in Iten. For those who read my blog entries back in January you may remember me writing about the School. It’s one of Kenya’s most famous, particular in terms of running, some 30plus Olympic runners having attended the school, there is a tree planted and marked for each athlete within the school grounds.

The anniversary took place on Saturday and was attended by thousands of locals as well as many famous past students and religious and politicial leaders, with the current Prime Minister Raila Odinga being one of those. We didn’t stay long enough to see any of the athletes who were reportedly also attending but I did pick myself up a programme which included the school athletics records…the school record for the 800m is 1.43.64 and the 1500m record is 3.33.24, so not to shabby for a secondary school. It’s worth noting though that some Kenya’s don’t attend secondary school at the same ages as we do. They will often take a couple of years out between primary and secondary school to work so they have the money to attend as the like of St Patrick’s, which is a boarding school. That said both athletes in question (Japheth Kimatui and William Chirchir) were both 18 when they ran those times. Whilst we did not stay for the full celebrations it was a privilege to attend and clearly a big deal for local people and those who run the school, so something to tell the grand kids about. Next week are hoping to go into one of the classes during lesson time which should be fun, apparently the kids love to see Mzunga’s!

Sorry about the lack of pictures in my blog posts, I wanted to include some additional pictures but the internet isn't great here and I couldnt manage to add them, so I will have to post them up on my return home.

20k Race Result & back in Kenya

2011-03-11T05:32:00.006Z

Last Sunday I raced on the road over 20k in Alphen, Holland, finishing 5th in 60mins 30secs. This was the only race I have planned in my London preparation so I was keen to race well, which I think I managed. Conditions were very windy unfortunately which is apparently quite common for this event, making things a little tougher. I was aiming to run sub 60mins which would equate to around 63mins for the half marathon but the wind put paid to that, with a 4km section in particular directly into a strong headwind. I also ran the last 12km solo but found that I was able to get into a good rhythm and hold my pace well (when not into the wind). A good result and bodes well going into the last 6 weeks of preparation for London. You can find offical race results here www.prorun.nl/live/ my race is the 20k wedstrijdloop which you need to click on (far right on the tool bar).

Following the race I was back on my travels that evening flying back to London Gatwick before then jumping on a bus to Heathrow. I stayed overnight in Heathrow before then getting my flight to Nairobi, not before squeezing in an early morning jog around Heathrow I might add. I also had to stay overnight in Nairobi too as I arrived late at night before then completing my travels with the short flight to Eldoret (nearest airport to Iten, where I am based) and a 40mins bus ride to my final destination. Needless to say I was pretty tired but pleased that the travelling was over, unfortunately though I couldn’t run that day (which I had planned to do) due to my left knee & shin giving me some trouble, both had faired up after the race and I don’t think the long haul flight helped as my left ankle had doubled in size. Fortunately I was able to get some treatment on it that day from David Kirui a therapist who works with world famous Gerard Hartman, who is also based in Kenya during certain times of the year. Thankfully I was back into normal training the next day and the injuries seem to be starting to settle down. I even ran my first harder workout today which was 6 x 2k, I ran this with a small group of german athletes who also staying at the centre. I not quite fully acclimatized yet but I was happy to get a solid session under my belt.

One of my faviourite pics from my last trip to Kenya...

Today saw the arrival of further british athletes, namely Andy Baddeley, Mike skinner, Ben Whitby and Mark Draper, so it will be nice to have company on some of my runs. Although I came out on my own there have been some familiar faces on camp too, namely a few athletes (who are on extended training camps here) and friendly staff whom I met back in Janurary.

Today has been a busy day at the centre as they have played host to some Kenyan delegates for some kind of a conference. Apparently attended by one of the richest men in Kenya… I was told a story today he is not a man to cross, as apparently some of his rivals in the past have randomly disappeared without a trace!

Right that’s it for now as it time for my afternoon nap, which now forms part of my daily routine. One last thing, I had a really fun interview with Tom Williams from Marathon Talk the other day. Any keen runners there who have not heard of Marathon Talk, you should check it out, Tom along with Martin Yelling present the show which is free weekly podcast and well worth a listen. There’s been some really insightful interview with many well know runners and I certainly recommend you give it a listen.

Competitive would be understating it

2011-02-02T14:43:00.005Z

My Kenyan training trip is almost at an end now but it was been a fantastic experience and certainly the best training camp I have been on… the Kenyan way is a very simple lifestyle but a very effective one in terms of getting the best out of your running. Our lifestyle has involved little else other than running, eating and resting, perhaps the odd game of table tennis and a few hands of cards.

In terms of training last week for me saw me top over 120miles for the week for the first time and the terrain and altitude will have certainly given my body some good conditions that I wouldn’t find anywhere else in the world. I’ve got some good long runs in here too with runs building from 2hours at the start of the camp to 2hr 30 by last Sunday. The pace of these has been good too at a little over 6minute minute mile pace, which is certainly a lot more taxing than it would have been down at sleep level not to mention the inclusion of the hills here. The only other session I did last week was 40min tempo run, I had the company of Reid Coolsaet from Canada who is one their fastest marathon runners (with PB of 2.11.23). It was a good solid tempo run for us, I believe Reid’s first in a while and we managed to average under 5.30 per mile over undulate 4km circuit. I have been pretty rubbish with my photography here in Kenya but checkout Reid’s blog for some great snaps of the sort of things going on out here.

It’s certainly not difficult to understand having been here why Kenyan athletes have been so successful over recent years. I have read various articles in the past that cite a variety of reasons for the success of distance running here and of course like most things it a combination of various circumstances but it does strike me that there are a few stand out reasons. Such as everybody runs here!, where as most other countries have a variety of other sports to choice from there doesn’t seem to be the options here so pool of people is far larger. Of course the environment/climate is a key factor, particularly the altitude that most elite distance runners seek out, that’s part of the reason why I’m here after all. Then there is the desire, as the Spanish 1500m athlete Casado put it to me the other day… ‘you can see it in their eyes’. Whilst I’m not say that I lack desire nor does any other elite athlete in most cases but I think it’s a little different here when the desire is to escape poverty. Plus there is also the fairly cut throat approach to the free food and housing that many of the training groups here provide, as these privileges are soon removed if you are not performing and there are no shortage of athletes to fill the spaces. I was aware that Kenya had many athletes of a world class standard but there are even more than I realised here, many of whom will never get the chance to race outside of Kenyan as there just so many vying for the same thing. When you have half marathon won in 62mins (at over 2000m altitude) and regular fields of over 500 runners all trying to be noticed in their discovery XC races it little wonder the standard is so high.

Also in my last post I think I mentioned there seems to be an incredibly number of children in Iten, a quick search on google reveals that the average age of Kenya is in fact 18years old, so this explains things. Iten is also famous for one of its schools in particular, ‘St Patrick’s’ although one of many Christian school here this one is a little different, it’s a boarding school which is sort after as not only does it have a good reputation in terms of education but it has a bit of history of producing world class athletes. I believe it has produced more Olympic runners than any other school, they have trees planted with names of the athletes who have been to an Olympics, with more than 30 in total. Wilson Kipketer (former 800m world holder) being one of many Olympic medallists to attend the school.

This trip has been a real eye opener but I have enjoyed it tremendously, so much so that I will be coming back here in March for a further 3 and half weeks as part of my final build up into the London Marathon. I must admit I do continue to find it difficult being apart from the family, whilst I realise these sort of camps are essential to coming a better athletes I miss out on funny things that Thomas seems to do on a daily basis... one of his xmas presents was Toy Story the movie and he is apparently now walking around with his hands on hips, a serious look on his face and stating I am Buzz Lightyear! :-)

The Kenya Experience

2011-01-17T16:14:00.002Z

Hi folks

Much to update you about on here as per normal, where to start… well first of all in terms of racing I’ve raced a couple of times already this year, one was a local race in Guernsey on the famous soil that is the Full Course race on New Years day (course so called due to using part of the L’Ancresse Common horse racing course…so I’m told) and the other was representing Great Britain in the snowy fields that were the BUPA Edinburgh XC Team Challenge. The latter is a new event held within the normal Edinburgh XC event that I ran in last year. Both went well in the whole scheme of things, whilst not particularly setting the world alight I wasn’t expecting to be in peak shape right now, that will be saved for the London Marathon in April which I will be running again this year. Whilst I am now back in full training I have not been placing too much emphasis on the harder workouts up to this point as I wanted to make sure my body was willing and able after a long 2010 season, the Edinburgh race signified the start of a new training cycle and the start of my London build up.

I am now currently in Kenya, as some followers may know, I am on the UKA/London Marathon altitude training camp in Iten, Kenya. Iten is small village approx 30miles from Eldorat and has a history of producing great Kenyan athletes. Where we are staying is Lorna Kiplagat’s place and is known as the HATC (High Altitude Training Centre), although Lorna now represents Holland due to marrying a dutchmen (Pieter) who runs the place, she is still a hero in these parts. Many famous Kenyan athletes have originated from here or are based here, to name them would take forever plus there are many lesser-know Kenyan athletes that train here in the numerous groups that you see out every morning on the trails. Many of these guys would be good enough to walk into any other counties national squad but they are just one of many. The world rankings for the marathon speaks for themselves with more than half of the worlds top 200 coming from Kenya alone. Running is just a way of life out here, I heard this morning that something like 4000 people live in Iten and something like 1000 of them run! Myself and John Beattie joined one (of the many) training groups for an easy run last Friday… there was approx 50 in the group, also to give you an idea one of the standard the slowest guys in the group was a 2.17 marathon runner.

It really is a running mecca out here and you can’t fail to be inspired by the environment. It’s a very friendly and safe environment too, on every run you see literally hundreds of kids along the red dusty trials (which leave your shoes permanently red in colour). There seems to be lots of schools out here for the size of the place and all the kids shout out ‘how are you’ in their cute African accents, many run alongside you when you run past them or want high 5's as you pass them. The other day one of them grabbed Steff (Twell’s) hand and just wanted to ran with her for a few minutes like this, they also love it when you response to them too… hakuna-Matata is a good one! (think Lion king here). There is certainly no obesity out here too, few people can afford a car and all the kids walk or run to school around here. So not only are they living at 2400m above sea level but they also run everywhere partly because they have too but they also seem to love it too. Furthermore I have been here one week now and I’m yet to hear any kids crying or whining, they just get on with things.

Lorna’s place where we are staying at (the HATC) has everything you need but is fairly basis compared with western world luxury. Every rooms has 2 single beds per room with its own toilet and shower, it can be the luck of draw as to whether you get hot water some days but like I say its all we really need and any Kenyan would consider where are a complete luxury. The food is pretty good, there’s always plenty of it and meals change daily with plenty of rice dishes, lentils, beefs stews, salads and occasionally fish. Meats such as chicken are used sparingly but the beef stews are good and go down well. Desert which we have after every evening meal is pretty much always fresh fruit, grown locally as is pretty much all of the food here. We have however found a more westernised place to go for the occasional treat… Keiro View, which is restaurant (which also has accommodation) that overlooks the Rift Valley, we went there the other day and it has breath taking views. I posted a picture up on my twitter page, unfortunately internet can be a little slow so I won’t be posting up any other pic’s at the moment.

In terms of training we are meeting every morning for a 7am run (6am if you want to run with the Kenyan’s) before breakfast, the only exceptions are key session days when we start the warm up at 9.30am or the long run day which is at 9am, this is so we can get some breakfast in first. Training for me personally is going pretty well, you have to respect the altitude for the first few days otherwise it will break you but I think I have adapted quite well. It can be tough trying to regulate your breathing initially though and any hill soon gets you breathing hard and they are plenty of them out here, flat sections are few and far between.

I am now one week in with just less than 3 to go…I have a very understanding wife, who also had to move house without out me last week, technically making us homeless for a week or so whilst our new purchase is being sorted out. She is a bit of a star, although she tells me that she is banking all my trips away for when I retire from running!

Unfortunately there are other downsides to being away for so long too, as well as missing my family in general is that I seem to be missing out on my sons new daily antic’s… he has now mastered the art of climbing out of his cot, oh and he can pee standing up too now! He seems to be coping well without me and whilst I get a quick chat on the phone with him a few days a week as like most children he soon loses interest and is off playing with toys rather than speak to me.

Another bummer is that I will miss out on just about every awards night going in Guernsey, I have been nominated for an award at the Guernsey Sports Commissions Awards, as well as the SportingBet Channel Island Sports Personality of the Year and I have also been short listed for the Ambassador of Year Award at the Guernsey Achievement Awards…no laughing please! No seriously it’s a real honour to be nominated for any one of these awards let alone all three, I am very proud of where I come from and it’s always special to get any sort of recognition locally, whether that be winning awards or just simply being nominated. I can’t think of a more supportive place I’d rather live than Guernsey. Only a few weeks before xmas a complete stranger stop me on a run and told me that he had a lump in his throat watching me cross the line during the TV coverage of the London marathon.

Anyway I better go as its time for some dinner, I will try posting up next week with more details and perhaps give you a further idea of the training and what a typical day consists of.

That’s all for now folks.

Lee

It's been a while!

2010-12-17T21:34:00.002Z

I often seem to start my posts with an apology for not updating the blog for so long but this time it really has been a while! although I won't apologize as such, as its just been crazy busy for me these last few weeks, but at least I do have lots to talk different things to talk about. Most of which is exciting and positive although there was sad news recently for me personally. Unfortunately my grand father passed away recently, he was a true Guern at little over 5 feet talk and a very hard working man, by far the hardest working person I have ever met. He was truely a very unique and likeable character and will be missed by a lot of people, it will not be the same without him. It does tend to be these sort of things that makes you put life in perspective as you never know when things will change.

Many things have are changing for me in other aspects of life too at the moment, i'm off to Kenya In January for a month of altitude training, however whilst I am away we will be selling our house and moving to another. Not the best timing but I guess there probably never is and I have a very understanding wife! Another exciting venture I have become involved with with these past few weeks is the Guernsey Sports Commission 'Rising Stars Programme' which is geared towards helping gifted young Guernsey Sports Star achieve their potential. Checkout there new website to find out more about that. www.gscrisingstars.com

Training seems to be slotting into place quite nicely amongst a crazy few weeks, I am up at around 90 to 95 miles per week at the moment and sessions are starting to come a bit easier now after some early winter blues. I'm also feeling quite strong generally from my gym work at the moment too... i've even added a bit of muscle! not that you'd notice on my 'Mr Muscle' style frame! Fitness testing in Loughborough this week confirmed i'm in good shape considering I'm yet to add any faster pace work as yet so I'm really looking forward now to getting out to Kenya and building on that now. Before that however I do have my last race of the year and first race of next to fit in, i'm running a 10k in Poole on Boxing Day and I have also been selected for the GB team in the Edinburgh cross Country on 8th January which will be a team match team against teams from the USA and a Europe Select. It promises to be a very strong field and just the sort of thing i need to get back racing.

I will get some regular updates going in the new year when I'm out in Kenya but until next year I leave with a quote my wife wrote to me in a text 'remember the important things in life as you never know when a tram may come crashing off a viaduct', ok unless you watch Coronation Street that maybe lost on you! however I knew what she was saying.

Until next time.

CWG 10k Result

2010-10-13T16:47:00.002+01:00

It was a pretty brutal race on Monday, where i finished 14th in 30.18. Again much like the 5k the race was not one in which I was likely to run a fast time, the temparature was 29c at the start of the race and again fairly humid. It would have been easy to just say I didn't have a good race but actually on assessment there was were a number of positive points to take from my performance. For one it would have been the easy option for me to drop out, I was finding it tough going early one, from as early as 3k into the race, when udner normal circumstances I should felt in control until around half way. I remember the america accent from the loud speaker (the stadium commentator) announced 17 laps to go! it was hurting at this point and initially I thought 'crap' this isn't going to be pretty but then I just thought to myself I'm going to finish this race if it kills me. I remember dropping out of my one and only race many years ago in a local race in Guernsey, much like Monday night it was hurting from early on but I took the easy option and dropped out... ever since then I said to myself I would never drop out of a race again. Also on reflection whilst I didnt feel great and wasn't running espicially well nor were many other athletes (with perhaps exception of the first 4 or 5 athletes) with a number of the field running between 60-90seconds outside there best times. All in all it was certainly a learning experience and one I won't forget.

Now the plan is to take a rest for my remaining days in Delhi, I will also take some down time when i get home and enjoy some time with Thomas and Teresa, who I haven't see now for nearly 4 weeks. Going forward I will easy back in training and have yet to make any firm plans for racing between now and the end of the year. Next year will be another important year with a spring marathon on the cards with aim being to run the Olympic qualification time (as yet unknown), so I need to make sure the body rest up and recharges now so I can make this happen.

That's all for now.

Delhi update

2010-10-09T11:11:00.007+01:00

Hi folks

I've been in Delhi now 5 days and no Delhi belly... so all good thus far with regular hand washing being the order of the day. The games village has been very good and well organised and the standard of the accomodation has also been much better than the media reports were making out, although I did of course arrive a week later than most of the team. The stadium for the athletics is an old structure but still an impressive building with a capacity of 60,000 people, unfortunately it nevers manages to fill up but still creates a good atmosphere, espicially when Indian athletes are involved.

Those who have been following the games results will have realised that I have raced already in the 5000m on Wednesday evening, finishing 15th in a field of 23 and in a time of 14.19. Not a particularly fast time but the race and the conditions were not conducive for fast times unfortunately. The race started fairly slowly with a 71second first lap, swiftly followed by a 61sec lap at the front and then slowed again. Whilst the pace settled a litte after this it still made things difficult for me to run even pace with such a big field. I must also must admit that I found the conditions more challenging that I expected. The weather reports that are printed at the bottom of every athletics result sheet didnt really tell the full story either... they claimed it was 32c and 60% humidity however this was printed on the bottom of every result on the day I raced suggesting that one reading had been taken earlier in the day and used for all results. I actually think that the temparature was cooler but the humidity was much higher than this. When I raced in Barcelona earlier in the summer the humidity was 70% and this felt much more uncomfortable than Barcelona. In terms of the race I was in contact with the lead group until just after halfway however when the pace moved on during the 4th km I had a bad patch and was quite aware of the humidity during this stage. I managed to find something over the closely stages and was involved in battle with two indian athletes and a guy from Guyana, I thought I'd done enough coming down the home straight to hold them all off but with 50m to go one of the indian athletes sneeked through on the inside.

My 10k is now 2 days away and its good to have the chance to get back on the track (in previous games I've only competed in one event) and I'm sure the extra time should will enable me to adapt to the climate a little more. The race will be on at 3pm UK time I believe.

Delhi bound

2010-10-03T07:45:00.003+01:00

This will have to be a quick post as I only have 40mins before we drive down to the lake for our last run in Font Romeu (although technically the lake is not in Font Romeu). As soon as we get back from the run it will pretty much be shower, change and then head off to Barcelona for the night. Our flight departs early tomorrow morning so we are staying in Barcelona so to get at least some sleep before we begin our travel to Delhi. I hear everything is pretty good in Delhi in terms of accomodation now, its just the odd stray 10 foot python you need to watch out for :)

In terms of the training camp the two weeks at altitude does seem to have gone very quickly, granted two weeks is only half the time I spent up here in July but it has flown by none-the-less. Its been a productive training trip too, which as I think as I mentioned in my last post... is now like a second home, although its been very quite around here as it's now between seasons. Even down the lake, where we have tended to do much of our running there have been fewer people about, although ironically on Friday when we went down for an easy run to shake out the previous days track workout, we see next to no one down but of the 2 of the people we do see down they are from Guernsey! It was infact a chap called Mike Rhodes and his wife Jenny, Mike used to be my manager at Barclays Bank back in day when I had real job... as wife tells me :). As it turns out Mike has been living out here for 6 years running a guest house in a small town called Les Angles, which is basically a small ski town adjacent to Lac de Matemale (where we do a lot of our running). We stopped for a quick catch up before continuing our run, but next time I'm back in Font Romeu I will be sure to look him up. My wife also used to work with Mike so perhaps I will bring the family out here next time.

I better finish up now but next time I post will likely be after the 5000m in Delhi, the race will be on at 3.25pm UK time (which is 7.55pm, Delhi time) on Wednesday 6th October. The 10k is 5 days later but I must admit I don't even know the start time as I'm not thinking that far ahead. You never know what the conditions will be like and how the race will unfold but from my training I am in shape to to run a personal best, which would for me would rap up a good season. Plus chances are i unlikely to get another chance to run a 5k in the future as my long term focus will switich back to the marathon.

Ok better dash now as leaving for that run soon, thanks for reading.

Lee

Training camp update from Font Romeu

2010-09-28T15:27:00.009+01:00

Well I've been at altitude now for just over a week and things have gone well since my arrival in Font Romeu. It feels more of a home from home now, although I am missing the family but this is something I will have to get used to as I'm planning to get to altitude much more regularly as part of my future plans. I certainly feel like the combination of having been on the previous UK Athletics altitude camp and having used my altitude tent for two weeks prior to coming this time has made the transition to real altitude somewhat smoother. I only arrived last Monday but by Wednesday I was getting my teeth into a session outside of the usual easy running (which tends to be on the menu for at least 4 or 5 days before a harder session is attempted). My first session was somewhat controlled however, which was... following a good warm up 4miles of tempo running plus 6 x 1min efforts plus another 3mile tempo. Tempo running needs to be adjusted slightly at altitude due to less oxgyen being available and I use a combination of adjusted target speeds as well as keeping one eye on heart rate values (i.e. compared to my normal sea level readings) alongside and like most of my tempo's runs a certain amount of run to 'feel'. I was running at very similar paces to those I was operating at the previous altitude camp back in July (for my tempo runs and when I was more acclimatized) so this early indicator bodes well. Since that session I have also been on the track and posted another solid session, although I feel that this may have gone better if not for an unsettled stomach (which I was carrying over the weekend). A couple of the lads had some symptoms of a mild stomach bug around the same time and I felt under the weather over the weekend but I'm pleased to say everyone is now recovered. Ironically it seems with all the talk of the athletes potentially getting Delhi belly at the Commonwealths games I pick up some pre-Delhi belly! on plus sider perhaps this will give me a cast iron stomach.

This camp generally has a slightly different feel to the one back in July as many of the athletes are hear to start their winter training, whereas myself, Chris Thompson and John Beattie are preparing for Delhi but it's been an enjoyable one with a good mix of focus and downtime. Our appartment which includes myself, Chris Thompson and Steve Vernon have joined forces in the evenings with our fellow athletes and taking turns with the cooking of the evening meals, which made for good social evenings. We then tend to spend the reminder of the evenings recovering from training with a few DVDs and the odd quiz to pass the time, if you're ever bored and you like quiz's checkout http://www.sporcle.com/ .

This trip is also somewhat shorter this time around for me (two weeks in all) and there is also little more than a week to my first race (the 5000m) and less than two weeks until the 10k (I'm doubling up) but I'm looking forward to getting on the track to race. It's been over 12months since I last raced 5000m, which was the National Champs In July last summer but I feel I'm in better shape now with the strength of marathon training under my belt and a bit of sharper work added to the mix recently. I feel I'm yet to put my full game face on but I have no doubt that when I arrive into the village that will change and the pre-race adrenaline will start flowing.

I will try post one more entry before I travel out to Delhi.

Until next time, that's all for now.

New all comers record

2010-09-19T08:34:00.004+01:00

Hi folks,

As per normal it's been a few weeks since I last posted but I head to Font Romeu this morning for two weeks altitude training tomorrow, before then heading to Delhi for the Commonwealth Games, so I should be able to stick some more regular posts up while there. It was certainly hard leaving home yesterday having not that long been away, I certainly appreciate my time at home with the family more these days.

Things have gone well this week with both training and racing and I feel I have turned a corner these past few days. Generally the first few weeks back after the marathon had been going ok but were yet to suggest that all cylinders were firing. The Great Yorkshire 10k in Sheffield was 2 weeks ago, I ran 30.13 for 9th place in course which finishes up a nasty climb over the last last 800m. A solid run considering I had only been back into full training 2 weeks but also difficult not to be disappointed from a competitive perspective. I was also involved in some of the promotion of race, alongside former Olympic Marathon Champion Stephano Baldini, who was running in his last race in the UK before retiring. It was quite noval for me to be involved with pre-race build up alongside athlete's of his pedigree and I would have liked to have been able to give a better account of myself but it at least showed me I wasn't a million miles away in terms of specific fitness.

More recently I ran in the Inter Trust Race night last Thursday in Guernsey what was my last race before heading off to complete my final preparations ahead of Delhi. I had arrange for GB junior Jonny Hay and his training partner Adam Clarke (who paced the race) to come over. Jonny has been running very well recently and I knew I would get a good race from him. Adam set a good pace early on with the aim of getting us to 2000m into the race at close to 8min pace, but at 1600m I was feel strong and went past Adam to ensure a strong pace was maintained. From here I stretched away from Adam & Jonny and maintaining fairly even lap splits and finishing in a time of 8.06, which I was more than happy with. Conditions were decent but there was a little bit of head wind which was noticeable the top bend of each lap so given that plus the fact I ran the second half of the race on my own, suggests I am close to PB shape (which is 8.00). So all in all a good position to be in going into Delhi.

It never fails to surprise me the lift you get from a solid race performance and since the race I have felt really good in training, I ran a session yesterday of 15min tempo, 16x100 back to backs off 15sec recovery, followed by another 15min tempo and it was arguably my best session since Barcelona. Paces averaged at 5.00 per miling for each of the 15min sectons which were also run progressively at approx 5.20,5.00,4.40 per mile pace for each 5min section, the 100metre back to backs were all in about 15 secs (so approx 4.00 min mile pace). I also ran the session on the coastals paths which are undulated so a strong session

Right better dash now as off to Gatwick to catch my flight to Barcelona.

Cheers

Lee

Racing...

2010-08-27T11:31:00.002+01:00

Hi folks,

Last weekend saw me race for the first time since the European Marathon and I have to say it was a bit of a shock to the system! Having not run for 8 days following the marathon and then pretty much only jogging the remainder of the time, 3000m on the track felt somewhat alien to me. Infact it was more or less 12months since my last track race. Anyway you can probably sense me building up to an excuse :) as I didn't win. Joking aside I was 2nd in 8.23 in a somewhat tactic affair (and fairly windy conditions) in what was the first ever British Athletics League Match to be held in Guernsey. Whilst I would normally have not raced so close after a marathon, particular so short a distance I felt I got a lot from the race and played my part for the Channel Island Team. I felt great after during the cool down too and since then I have run my first track session which was surprisingly good all things considered.

In terms of racing now I will be running the Great Yorkshire Run in Sheffield on Sunday 5th September in predominately European start list, which will be show on Channel 5. The field will also I believe be a predominately European field with the only except being Australian Craig Mottram. The startlist currently includes Thommo (Chris Thompson) who won European silver over 10k last month, an ex-Olympic Marathon Champion in the form of Stephane Baldini, as well fellow Brit Andrew Lemoncello and also Cheba Martinez of Spain.

I will only likely race one more time before heading off Delhi for the Commonwealth Games now, in which I will be racing on the track over 5k & 10k. I decided after I was selected for Great Britain at the European Champs that a third marathon less than 6 months would not be a good idea longer term for my marathon plans, as I will be aiming for a fast spring marathon next year. It will be nice to have go at improving my best times on the track for the 5 & 10k and pull on a Guernsey vest although I guess it does mean I am sacrificing my chances of higher finishing place by missing the best event, this is just how it needs to be.

As part of my preparations I will also again be going to Font Romeu in France for 2 weeks of altitude exposure (I have a very understanding wife!). The altitude certainly seemed to work well for me in Barcelona and the longer term plan is for me to spend more time at altitude in the future in order give myself that extra edge.

That's pretty much me for now, although for those that followed by marathon in Barcelona and those who like a statistics, I worked out using my 5k split times taken during the race if I had not suffered with the effects of cramp I would possibly got up to 4th place. I started to feel the effects of cramp with 7km to go and this forced me to slow down despite the rest of the body feeling quite good. Of course part of racing the marathon in those types of conditions is about dealing with such problems but it does inspire me and give me the believe that I can go on to better things at the marathon in the future.

Until next time.

8th Place in European Marathon Champs

2010-08-04T09:36:00.011+01:00

I’m back at home now but still buzzing from Sunday’s race! 8th place seems a little bit surreal and the reaction back home has been incredible and I certainly didn’t expect all the attention I’ve got these past couple of days. I really enjoyed my few days in Barcelona and the general vibe in the team hotel has been good and it’s great to be able to say I was there.

Picture courtsey of Mark Sherman.

The marathon itself went pretty much went as well as I could have hoped with perhaps the only exception being a little scare at 2km to go (more on that in minute).Below is my race day as happened for those that are interested…

Pre-Race...

My day started at 6am (4hours before the race) with a quick shower to wake the body up before then heading down for some breakfast. After fueling on some muesli, fruits & yogurt (my usual food of choice, porridge, doesn’t seem be popular in Spain!), it was then back to the room to start drinking my high sodium drink, the idea being to retain as much water in the body as possible. Not especially nice tasting drink but if you like sea water you might like this! At 7.45am we left the room (I was sharing with Dan Robinson) briefly to hand our drinks bottles which we mixed up at the previous night. Then it was back to room to finish off the sea water! At 8.30am we took the bus to the course and headed to the designated athlete area which was located in a local leisure centre next to the start finish area, alongside the Barcelona Zoo. It was then just the waiting game… staying relaxed and most of all cool, which was helped by the wearing an ice jacket for part of this time. The idea is keeps your core temperature down as much as possible so to delay the inevitable process of over heating during the race. I kept my warm up shorter than normal today but I didn’t find temperatures at hot as I expected, I feel good and light on the warm up and I know I’m ready to race. I head back into the athlete area and pop the ice jacket back on for a few minutes. About 20mins before the start we go through to the final call room wear they place our timing chip into the back of our front Bib. A few of us spend the last 10mins to continue to keep the core temperature down by apply bags of ice to our body, then the call comes for the officials and we start lining up to be lead out on the course, it now that things can go pretty quiet and people stay to focus on any last minute race rehearsals in their mind. We have been taken out a little late so there barely time for a couple of strides to keep loose before they start lining us up.

The Race itself…

The plan was to start sensibly and not to run any faster than 2.16 pace for the first half of race and aim for around 3.15 per km. The race starts pretty steady so its means I am able to settle nicely into the back of the field and simply just let the race takes its course. We have to be careful on the tight bends as the first 2km of the race in around a 1km loop before heading out on 4 x 10k loops of the city. The first 10k or so goes off without any major problems, although I am slightly slower than planned but I feel comfortable and feel that the pace is about right. My only hiccup comes when I manage to pick up Ben Moreau drink bottle rather than my own at the first drinks station, fortunately Ben is right next to me so I am able to hand him his bottle. It means I miss out on my own drink which is not ideal with conditions as they are but Ben kindly provides me with some of his drink.

I ensure I make use of every water & sponge station as well as the personal drink stations, conditions are starting to hot up and the humidity is pretty high at around 70% so I ensure to dowse the back of my head and vest with water to aid the cooling process. I get to half way in about 69mins, which is a little slower than planned but I’m feeling strong, at this point I think about pushing on but I decide to hold back for a little longer and it seems by maintaining my pace I am moving through the field anyway. Only 2 or 3 km later Dave Webb catches me and we then start to move the pace on a little, so I go with it and from this point we start picking a number of people off. Towards the later part of the third lap however I start to edge away form Dave after having worked with him for most of the lap.

Moving in the final lap I am gaining in confidence and feel strong. I’m moving past a number many experienced marathon runners (most of whom have much faster personal bests). The crowd support from the British fan has been fantastic through out the race and there are many people I know from the UK running scheme out on the course, during the early laps I acknowledge a few people but later into race I decide to conserve my energy, there was even a Guernsey flag out on the on the course. I hear this made the BBC coverage right at the point when the 2004 Olympic Champion Baldini dropped out of the race.

Going into the last 7km of the race everything seems to be going like a dream, I am moving through the field still and I’m getting good information from people out on the course. I hear some instructions from Bob Smith (our team manager at Newham & Essex Beagles) telling me I am 1min 30 behind Bronze! Later on the course he tells me I am only 1min 20 behind Bronze! However that evening he tells me he lied about that… I was still actually 1.30 behind but he thought that would do little to encourage me! To be honest I needed little encouragement as I can see I am catching others in the race and a top 6 finish is looking possible. Unfortunately though with 2km to go I get cramp in my left hamstring and have to stop!! My first reaction is shit this could really mess things up! There are British supports right next to wear I stop and I sense there disappoint for me. I had been aware that this could happen and with around 6km I took the decision to slow the pace down even though I feel good otherwise, as I sense that cramp could kick in at any minute. I feel strangely carm when as I stop and stretch though, it’s no more than 10seconds before I get going again, all be it at a slower pace to ensure the cramp stays away. It does mean though that I drop one place from 7th to 8th but my main focus now is to hold onto this position. The cramp does fortunately give me no further problems and as I turn into the final bend any pain that I had felt disappears and a huge smile comes across my face, as I cross the line I subtly clench my fist in satisfaction and then enjoy the pleasurable sensation of a cold wet towel place across my shoulders…right at this moment this is bliss.

Post-Race...

After polishing off a sports drink in seconds and congratulating my team mates we head into the medical tents, it’s like a seen out of E.R. with athletes laid out on medical beds with drips in their arms and other sprawled across the floor through fatigue. My body feels in bits, I’m exhausted and I’m glad it over but the feeling is fantastic. As soon as we get back into the athlete zone in the leisure centre I locate my phone and call Teresa my wife, I feel pretty emotional at this point and just about manage to hold back the tears, it’s been a long time away from home but the reward has been worth it.

Later once I have got myself some food and I feel a little less dehydrated all I can think about is getting home to see Teresa and Thomas.

Incedently the Guernsey flag that appeared in the BBC courage was a guy called Tim, he approached me in Barcelona aiport as he was on the same flight home. He has family in Guernsey and they sent him the flag to wave at during the race.

Below is UK Athletics race report...

http://http//www.uka.org.uk/media/news/august-2010/01-08-10-european-13/

Now however I am enjoying doing nothing... well as little as possible at least. No running this week for me and I'm also making an effort to indulge on the food and drink front for a change. The Commonwealth Games are the next big one for me but right now I'm just enjoying my time off.

Chasing bikes

2010-07-22T12:37:00.006+01:00

Training is continuing to go well since my last post, yesterday I ran my last significant track session and it went very well. It was the same session that I did two weeks (which at the time was my first on the track in Font Romeu) and in terms of my rep times yesterday they were significantly better this time around. My body has also started to adapt physiologically to the altitude, which a blood test a few days earlier has confirmed. One main factor that you hope to achieve is an increase in blood cells which are what carry the oxygen to the working muscles and an essential biological factor for endurance athletes.

I think taking the day of Monday helped also helped my session as I went into the session feeling quite fresh. I felt ok Monday morning but the following night I had disrupted sleep due to an upset stomach, so I decide to take the day off as a precaution. I went into the track session Tuesday morning very positive and felt before hand that it would be a good session; I did also have a little help in the form of a pacemaker leading me out on a push bike though. My pacemaker was Gary Lough, Gary will be the team manager for the GB Marathon Teams in Barcelona (he is husband to Paula Radcliffe). Gary was a very good athlete himself in the 1990’s, with a personal best of 3.34 for 1500m.

Talking of bikes last Sunday a few of us took advantage of the having the afternoon off training and went to watch stage 14 of the Tour de France which was passing through the nearby Village of Rouze in the Pyrenees, which was only 45mins drive away. I have never seen the Tour before and was suitably impressed with the whole thing. We arrived about 1pm (our time) and enjoyed a bit of prepared lunch on the roadside before getting into the spirit of the event with the parade of sponsor vehicles passing through ahead of the cyclists. I wasn’t sure what this would involve at first but essentially it’s like a fast moving carnival of bizarrely designed vehicles which throw out lots of free stuff, to be fair most of it isn’t much use afterwards but everyone gets into it! Despite my best efforts I didn’t manage to get hold of the better looking t-shirts that were being tossed out, where-as a certain Chris Thompson managed to have one land on his shoulder despite not even looking! Following the parade we didn’t have to wait too long before the peleton itself passed through. We were part of the way up a long climb up through the Pyrenees near the end of the stage but the speed they were moving at was impressive. One of the US athletes Ben, who I travelled down with was determined to run alongside the peleton, I believe he managed about 45secs before he had to drop off.

Being sterotypically french, watching the TdF eating a fresh baguette....

The carnival starts passing through.....

Here comes the peleton...

Anyway with only 11days to go until the men’s European Marathon, I’m feeling pretty good overall and starting to get that freshness and excitement that is often dampened by heavy training and subsequent tiredness. This feeling itself always gets me buzzing a bit more as it’s a sign that things are coming together at the right time. My taper into the race is underway now with only really one hard (although still fairly controlled) shorter tempo run left to do before easing right off into the last week of the race.

A tough race lies ahead with potentially very hot temperatures, as the race finishing at midday, but exciting times none the less.

The ups and downs of altitude

2010-07-16T15:02:00.007+01:00

As ever I don't seem to get online to write blogs posts as regularly as I would have liked, although I have been online quite regularly between training sessions... I have been productive in that I have started putting together a new website http://www.leemerrienrunning.com/ which isn't finished but it's getting there.

Anyway training seems to have turned a corner this week, I got solid session in on the track on Tuesday despite a having a minor dizzy spell when I woke up that morning. I ran a controlled session, 3 sets of ( 2 x 1k + 5 x 400m) with my marathon roomies. I forgot to mention them in my last post...I'm rooming and training with Ben Moreau & Martin 'Tantastic' Williams, Martin runs for Tipton! (it's all about the tan there apparently:). Times for the track session were nothing spectacular but good enough to achieve the abjective, 1k reps were around 2.55 and 400m reps were from 68-66 mostly. We had some great weather than morning too which helped, although the weather has been strange at times...on Sunday we ran our long run in temp's in the high 20's, only for the weather to change to heavy rain all afternoon with hail stones, which were like golf balls at times!

The other key this session this week was a some marathon paced workout, with we did yesterday morning. Ben & Martin were doing 45mins at M/pace within a long run while i was doing 90mins at M/pace so we managed to worked it so were all together for 45mins at race effort. Also when I say M/pace, it is more marathon intensity, I have been tracking heart rates during these types of sessions as the altitude plays a big factor. I didnt quite get this right last week and subsequently struggle a little on my marathon workout but this week was much better. The lake route (which we used for the marathon paced work) is the fairly flat compared with the other trails we have been using but it is still has a few hills and of course it is at 1500m altitude so I was happy to average just over 5.20 min miling for my 90mins and feel quite controlled.

I've attached a few photo's below of our accommodation and some of the places we have been training...

Early stages of our track session this week. The track is approx 2000m above level.

The View from our accommodatio complex...

Looking across the Lake (approx 1500m altitude) were we have done our marathon pace sessions and long runs.

Calf Problems in Font Romeu

2010-07-03T19:06:00.003+01:00

It’s not quite how it sounds, the evening before last we went for a group run on a trail called the Pyrennes 2000 and encounter a large heard of cattle blocking our path, taking a slight detour off track and thinking we had got round them we rejoined the path only to be met but two baby calfs. Unfortunately they got a bit twitchy and instead of letting us run around them they bolted and ran in front of us for about mile before we finally managed to overtake!

I’ve now been in Font Romeu for 5 days having driven up from Barcelona on Tuesday afternoon and I feel I’m settling well with the altitude up here. Our accommodation is at approx 1850m above sea level but we are doing much of our running down at the lake which is a little lower at 1500m. The Pyrennes 2000 trail is around 1600m, the track is close to the accommodation and another good running area on the plateau at around 2100m or so, although we are yet to run there. Below is a picture from our first harder workout since arriving which we did yesterday, we were wearing our GB kit that day as there was media filming being done for coverage on the Aviva training camp. This is on the bank of lake…

Incidentally it’s approx 5.5miles around, although there are tons great trails
The session went pretty well that day, I was doing 4 x 6minutes at marathon pace followed by 5 x 1minutes efforts a little faster, despite the altitude I was still able to hold the same paces I would have at sea level with my heart rates only a few beats above normal. This is to be expected but a few more days from now my body should start to feel acclimatised to the altitude. Other than my long run tomorrow my next key session is not until Tuesday when I will step on the track for the first time since arriving, so looking forward to that.

I am have really enjoyed my first few days here in Font Romeu and I am making the most of the opportunity, getting extra rest between twice daily training sessions as well as getting some regular treatment from the medical staff to help keep the body in one piece. I must admit though I am missing my family but at least I get to see and speak to Teresa and Thomas via video chat on skype fairly regularly.

Here’s what I’ve been doing training wise these past few days…

Monday am 6miles easy pm 6miles easy + core work, then flight to UK
Tuesday am 8miles in Gatwick pm travelling arrived Font Romeu 8pm.
Wednesday am 70mins easy (10miles) pm Strength work + 40mins easy (6.5miles)
Thursdays am 70mins easy (10miles) pm 50mins -hilly route (7miles)
Friday am 11miles total (session as mentioned) pm 50mins easy (7.3miles)
Saturday am 9miles easy pm 45mins (7miles)

Tomorrow will be a long run of 2hr 15mins, which will likely be around 22miles+ will also be using a new sodium based drinks mix which I tried this evening to see how I found it, settle ok but tastes like sea water!

Race report, plus training camp fast approaching.

2010-06-22T14:01:00.003+01:00

On Sunday I ran in the Spearpoint Guernsey Half Marathon, winning in time of 64.54, in what was basically a sole run. Ben Moreau & Fraser Thompson finished 2nd & 3rd respectiviely in times of 67.41 & 68.21. Ben would have likely given me a closer race however he had taken the decision to run as a marathon paced workout. I'm pretty happy with how I ran though given that I had no one to push me and that training is currently geared towards the European Marathon Champs which is now only 6 weeks away.

full results of the race can be found here on the guernsey athletics club website homepage... http://www.guernseyathletics.org.gg/

I only actually have 1 week left in Guernsey now before I head out to Font Romeu for 4 1/2 week training camp, It's something I am looking forward to from an athletics perspective however I think I am going to find it hard being away from home for what will actually be 5 weeks in all. I have made sure that we have skype set up on the home computer so I can catch to Teresa & Thomas regular while I am away. This will be my longest time away from home since he was born and he so much more aware of things now so might find it difficult at first.

I plan to post a bit more regularly while I am there so will keep you posted on how training is going out their. So until then, bye for now.

I'd be lying if I said it was easy...

2010-06-06T14:52:00.008+01:00

Been a tough week this week, mileage has been creeping up as planned, with some harder key sessions being re-introduced again so the body has been feeling the effects a little bit. There are some weeks (usually when the mileage starts climbing up) that just feel like one of those weeks, and this is one of those. To be fair I have felt better during the course of this weekend but was pretty tired during the middle of the week, particularly getting up the morning after my hill session on Wednesday to go out for a long run. I recall reading some quote from a GB International runner of the 80's, although for the life of me I can't remember who it was or where I read it... anyway he said the thing about marathon running is you are always tired. It's not quite as bad as that but it kind of sums up how you can feel at times.

You keep things in perspective though and although I needed no reminder of what I am working towards I got an email from UK Athletics this week re putting GB kit order in, this is always kinda cool.

Anyway here's what left me a little tired this week....

Mon am 10miles + strength exercises pm 6miles
Tues am 6miles pm (13miles) Intervals uphill 4 x 3' 2' 1'
Wed am 13miles pm rest
Thur am 7miles pm 7miles + core exercises
Fri am 5miles pm 10miles w/10k tempo in, @5.10 min mile
Sat am 11miles easy pm rest
Sun am 20miles

Another big week ahead and then a slightly easy week will follow in the lead up to the Guernsey Half Marathon on Fathers Day.

Until next time.

Barcelona plan in place

2010-05-29T08:36:00.010+01:00

I never seem to update my blog as much as I intend to, however here's the lastest installment...

Training has been steadily building up following my Virgin London Marathon run and my short break immediately following. Whilst the muscle soreness took only a matter of days to settle down it took a little longer for my legs to start to feel fresh and bouncey again. The session I ran last weekend was possible the best I'd felt since the race and was a welcome feeling!

As the heading suggests I now have my plan in place following discusions with my coach (John Nuttall), a relationship that works essentially as a partnership. Generally John sets the specific areas within my training such as the key workouts (usually 3 per week), a weekly mileage guide and a general framework to the periodisation. The day to day stuff such as the actual run lengths, strength work and other daily training routines are essentially my reasonability. It's worked pretty well given the logistics though, being that John is based in Loughborough and myself in Guernsey. This is something I am fairly used to though as other than my 2 years when I was at the University of Bath I have always been based in Guernsey. People always ask me if has made life more difficult for me but other than the obvious travel issues and the lack of training partners from time to time I believe being based in Guernsey has been a hugh part in aiding me in getting to where I am. For a start if i was a runner living in the UK I don't think I would have picked up a such a great sponsor as Cannon, many UK based athletes quit the sport due to the lack of support. There are plenty of other bonuses to being in Guernsey too, such as great training locations and very good facilities all within a stone through of home and not forgetting the fantastic local support generally. Anyway back to the plan... basically the key framework is all in place now with just over 9 weeks to go to race day (Sunday 1st August). Final Preparations also include a 4 1/2 week altitude stay at the UK Athletics training camp in Font Romeu. Font Romeu is a small location in the Pyrennes right on the French/Spanish boarder and its at 1800m altitude and probably better known to some as Paula Radcliffe's preferred training base. I am really looking forward to this as it will ensure my final preparations are as good as they can be in the lead up to what will be my most important race to date. I think I will find it difficult initially though, as it will be the longest time I have been away from home since Thomas was born. To be fair though it will be harder for my wife Teresa having to work fulltime and still look after Thomas on her own. Another thing that I am really looking forward to is Guernsey Spearpoint Fathers Day Half Marathon on 20th June, as I plan to run this event as part of my preparations. It will be the first time I have run the event but it fits perfectly within my schedule, furthermore there will be good competition in the to race too. As Ben Moreau (who is also selected to run for GB in the European Marathon Champs) and Fraser Thompson (an aussie based in London) will be coming over for the event. I would have normally had to look for a race away around the same time so to be able to race in a strong competitive race on home soil (or tarmac in this case) is perfect for me as it means more time at home with the Font Romeu trip around the corner.

Anyway thats all for now. When I get round to my next update I will start putting up some training details so people can see what my 120mile plus weeks look like in general. If people have any questions or thoughts on future blog posts please let me know.

Until next time.

Holidays over,time to prepare for Barcelona

2010-05-10T14:55:00.008+01:00

Hi everyone,

Im back in Guernsey now after a 10 day family break in sunny Turkey, I must admit it was kinda nice having my days evolve around things other than running for a change. However after a week of no running and the body feeling much better for it I did start to miss the routine!

Whilst away I had my selection for the Great Britain team confirmed for European Champs/European Marathon Cup event, which will be in Barcelona from 27th July until 1st August, the mens Marathon is on the 1st August. The Guernsey Commonwealth Games Association also confirmed my selection for the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games which are in October later this year, so plenty of big races to train for and look forward to.

Barcelona and Delhi will not only provide a very competitive stage to compete on but both will provide a challanging climate to cope with too, Barcelona inparticular could potentially be very tough. Running a marathon is hardwork enough but with temparatures likely to be in and about the mid 30's this will be a whole new ball game. This sort of thing can make races more open though so I see this as a excellent opportunity to surpase expectations and to make a name for myself. I plan to run on the track in Delhi in either the 5k or the 10k (yet to be decided) as I don't want to race three marathons in such a short period of time, it would also be nice to finally record a fast track time that i know I am capable of doing.

So with 12 weeks to Barcelona my recovery seems to be coming along ok. I am just steady running at the minute and probably will do this for at least another week to ensure that London is completely out of my legs.

One other I would I like to mentioned is the overwelming feedback and messages I had following London. I had a tons of messages (i tried to reply to most of them although I did lose track of which ones I actually replied too!) I also had a lot of people just simply coming up to me to congratulate me. I think this is one of the reasons why Guernsey has so many people doing well in sport for a small place, as the recognition and support from local people makes it all the more rewarding.

Until next time.

12th at the Virgin London Marathon

2010-04-26T21:46:00.004+01:00

Hi folks

I'm writing this up from a guest house, myself Teresa and Thomas head off to Turkey tomorrow for a well earnt family holiday so I wanted to get a race report up before I headed out as I probably won't get online while I'm away...

So, I finished in 12th place as the title suggests in a time of 2.16.47 inside the qualifying time for the European Championships which are in Barcelona later this summer. Qualification will be confirmed tomorow (tuesday 27th April) on the UK Athletics website http://www.uka.org.uk/.

I must admit I'm not completely satisfied with the time as I believe I was capable of running 2.15, possibly faster, however all things considered it was a solid debut, perhaps if I hadn't missed the couple of weeks of training at the start of March the time may have been quicker but still much to be pleased with and a good starting point to build on for the future.

London was a fantastic experience and has taught me a lot for future marathons, the crowd support was awesume and I could hear lots of familar voices cheering me along the course. Thanks to all who sent through well done message over the past 24 hours too.

Before I sign off here are a couple of piccies courtesy of Mark Shearman from Sunday...

Last weekend race & looking ahead to London

2010-04-10T09:10:00.002+01:00

I'm a little bit slow in getting this post out but on Easter Friday I raced in the Guernsey 10k, well I say raced, technically it was training. Having missed a bit of training a few weeks back we decided (that's John, my coach & I) that it was better to get a key marathon paced session in... the session planned was a 20k split up run, which was 10k at race pace and 10k faster but rather than run this completely on my own I ran the first 10k at race pace before the race, iterally finishing a minute before, threw my vest on and then turned round and ran the 10k race. The route that I have been using for my marathon paced sessions has been along the west coast of the island anyway which is same stretch of road used for the race so it made sense to combine things. It was nice to have some company too on the second 10k and the pace that the guys around me were running (at least the first 5k) was pretty much what I was aiming for. Unfortunately the second 5k slowed down a bit, it got a bit tactical and was also into a strong wind. In hindsight I should have just pushed on as after all it was training session, however I got a sniff of victory so I sat in for a couple of km's while running into wind. With 1km to go though I did pushed on (in what turned out to be a nasty stretch into the wind), this broke up the group of 5 runners, all except a young lad called Jonny Hay, who sat in for the ride and then took advance of the 19.5km in my legs and out kicked me. Overall though I was pleased with the workout, generally I felt pretty good within myself, although strangely my heart rates were a bit higher than I would have expected. As it turns out this may have been an early warning sign as the following evening I came down with stomach bug! unfortunately missing my sunday run. Luckily it was just a 24hour thing and I was out running again on the following day, it wasn't pleasant being in the same room as though on Sunday though!

It's only just over 2 weeks to London now and I'm starting to get that excited and nervous feeling that comes with the build up to an important race. This is definately one of the best bits about racing and knowing that I'm feeling this way is always a good sign for me. When I starting to feel like this I know that i'm starting to get both body and mind ready to race. When I feel nothing it usually means one of two things... either the race doesn't mean anything to me and I'm unlikely to raise my game or I'm simply to tired from training to get excited, which I tend to feel sometimes during heavy periods of training. Funnily enough I was listening to radio one yesterday on the way to do my last marathon session and a song came on which kind reminded me why I like racing, its song called Everybody's Free (to wear sunsreen) by Baz Luhrmann, the lyrics are apparently from a essay which was publish in US newspaper in 1997 (thanks to wikipedia for that the info :@) the lyrics are basically all spoken and is essentially advice but one particular line says 'do something everyday which scares you', racing feels a bit like this, I guess a bit like riding a roller coaster, the anticipation can be scary and gets the adrenaline pumping but afterwards you are buzzing and you want to do it all over again. Perhaps not straight away in the case of the marathon mind you!

The last 3 weeks

2010-03-27T09:30:00.003Z

Hi folks,

It always seems to be too long since my last post but I though I better provide an update of what have been going on these past 3 weeks, its been a bit of a rollercoaster but thankfully finishing on a positive on note. I also thought I better reassure a few running friends who might have been to scared to ask me how I was :-)

After a key workout a couple of weeks ago (A 20k tempo), which was run as 10k at race pace then 10k faster, the second 10k was actually the one of fastest 10ks I have run locally. I unfortunately a couple of days later picked up a niggle around my left ankle/achilles area which prevented me finishing my long run. A problem which subsquently prevented me for training for the following week and disrupting the a further week after that. This meant I had to pull out of the Reading Half Marathon, disappointing as I felt I was ready to run a fast time and improve on my PB of 64.27.

I'm pleased to say that things are now looking good again after a solid week of running this week and an ultra sound scan which showed nothing to be worried about. This was music to my ears and good timing seeing as I went to see Cannon (my main sponsors) later that day. I was invited to the first noon day gun of the year at Castle Cornet (Cannon also aptly sponsor this). So it was good to be able to talk about positive stuff and my plans for London.

London is now only 4 weeks away so I'm hitting the training again with a vengeance. After being in such good shape after the interuption I feel confident that the small amount of fitness lost will be recovered over the next few days or so.

Will keep you update later next week with training and possible racing... its the Guernsey Easter Festival over the holidays but I am yet to commit to racing as I need to see how this next few days of training go before deciding what will serve me best as part of the marathon preparations.

Also good luck to the Guernsey team who travel over to our neighbors Jersey today to race in the annual XC inter-insular event. We should dominate the mens agains ( i think we've won it the last 15 years or something daft like that), the womens will be a much closer affair.

Anyway I better get myself ready to get out and run, just a couple of easy runs todays to recover from last times tempo workout then a long run tomorrow of 2hr 30 (which equates to around 24miles or so), until next week.

Training report.

2010-03-01T14:10:00.003Z

Hi folks, sorry its been so long again since my last post, as now seems the norm for me these days. Training has been going well as I start to enter the key preparation weeks in the lead up to the Virgin London Marathon. After the European Club XC Champs I went into 2 weeks build up in terms of mileage, running 110 and just short 120 of these weeks, this basically meant all i was doing was steady running alongside my none running activities such as stretching, core & other conditioning exercises, foam rolling and so on. My long run is now up to 2hr 30mins, and i'm covering just over 24miles in that time feeling pretty comfortable too, I must admit I'm enjoying these runs more than I thought I would and feeling nice and strong on them too, with little in the way of any after effects.

Last week I went up to Loughborough to see John (Nuttal) my coach, to get a session in with the training group(s) up there (loughborough is now UK Athletics home for Endurance) and also to do some fitness testing to check how things are going. I was only there from the Monday to the Friday, but I got a good hill session done on the Tuesday night and then a more specific session done Friday morning. This consisted of a part Physiology test (part because I only did the first section of a the usual full test) this was used to just check my first lactate turn point, this point usually tells you a lot above your possible marathon shape as marathon pace tends to occur just above this point. It was good news as looking at the initial data it suggests that this turn point have improved since last time, ( i should get full data later this week back from the physiologist). Other results and feedback were good too, with my blood lactate readings being very low generally (essentially this means I am using mainly fat as a fuel source which key for the marathon). After a only a few minutes of doing the test in the lab I was out on the road for a marathon pace workout which consisted of just over 12miles of running over a 3mile circuit (as we again took a blood sample after each circuit), unfortably it was very windy that day so the pace was all over the place (slow into the wind) and fast with the wind so I used my heart rate readings to make sure i didn't work too hard when the pace got slowed down by the conditions. It was good session in the end though, I felt good and blood reading stayed constant which suggests I has holding the pace well and not getting tired as the session went on.

Overall a good few days in Loughborough and another step forward. I have another couple of weeks of heavy training planned now before a slightly easier week leading into the Reading Half Marathon on Sunday 21st March.

Until next time.

17th in Bilbao

2010-01-16T17:14:00.009Z

I'm a bit late in getting this report up and sorry it's been so long generally since my last post but things have a been a bit hectic with training, racing, work etc, generally all good though.

First things first... last weekend I was away racing in Bilbao for the European Club Cross Country Championships, I was running for my UK club Newham & Essex Beagles, the team finished a respectable 8th place it what was a strong field and tricky, challanging course. I was our first runner home in 17th place which on reflexion was solid run, particularly bearing in mind the course. It was short lap of approx 1800m on a small area of very muddy ground right bang in the middle of city (I think literally the only piece of grass in a built up city). As the area used for the race was so small it ment the course had many sharp turns, and truth be told I found the very muddy conditions hard going with my training geared more towards the road than the country, although I think most of the 90+ field found it hard going! checkout the results on www.tilastopaja.org/staticresults/eaa12793472.htm this is cool website for those running buffs out their, as you can pretty much find results of every athlete and race across the world of certain standard. To get full access you need to sign up though.

It can be quite difficult to assess your performance in a cross country races when you don't know the opposition around you very well looking at the standard of those around me after the race I'm satified with my run. The race was won by the recent European Champion Alemayehu Bezabeh of Spain and the field contained a number of the top 20 from the December's European Champs.

Generally since Edinburgh my training has been going really well, consistant mileage of around 100 per week and intervals sessions and tempo runs have been much better than than before xmas. Edinburgh felt like a turning point and has come at a good time with my main preparation for the marathon now getting under way, the weekend before the Bilbao I ran a local 10mile road race as tempo run, winning in 50.41, feeling very in control on what isn't the fastest course with the first mile up a steep climb. Currently I'm taking the mileage up at the moment with 110+ scheduled this week, things are going ok although I have had more parent duties this week with Teresa away for a few days for work so that's been a challenge in itself!

Will try and get some more regular posts up over the next few weeks, I'm tend to keep my twitter updated a bit more often though so checkout that out for some more regular updates.

Until next time.

Edinburgh XC Report

2010-01-12T14:48:00.004Z

Hi Folks

Well I didn't think I was going to get there but after being rescheduled onto a later flight Friday afternoon, i did get away after all. I had to get my train into a racing mind set as I had kind of resided myself that I would get away. I must say my arrangement were a walk in the park compared with the Mexican athlete Barrios (who finished 5th in the end) he flew into Heathrow from Mexico two days before, had this flight from Heathrow to Edinburgh cancelled so had to get the train, the train then terminated at Newcastle due to weather and he had to get the bus from Newcastle to Edinburgh which got him to the hotel at 3am the day of the race! hats to him for racing as well as he did.

I was fairly pleased with my race in the end, as i've been quite tired in training recently and was unsure as to what I might produce on the day. 10th overall was a good enough result and I believe I will only get better over the coming weeks with training changing a little bit now. Conditions during the race were quite pleasant with the sun coming out and there being no wind, its was still fairly cold in terms of the temparature and i wore only a vest! which was fine to begin with but the sun disappeared behind the hills midway into the race and my body started to feel the effects of the cold later into the race. I went straight to the foil wraps they were handing out at the end of the race and then straight to the athletes tent for a hot drink! not usually my first thoughts after a race. Overall I really enjoyed the race though, which I think is my first in the snow (from start to finish), I had a good battle with the Eritrean athletes (now based in Scotland) althought they need to learn to run in a straight line as they kept cutting across me in the race, nothing a good elbow didnt fix though :@), was nice to beat them both too. Also in the race was Bekele (the current World and Olympic Champ over 10,000m and 11 time World XC Champion) he who suffered only his second ever defeat in a xc race and although clearly not in his best shape, still a shock defeat none the less.

1st Ebyua (kenya) 28.41

2nd Mbishei 28.42

3rdKipchoge 29.04

4th Bekele (Ethiopia) 29.17

5th Barrios (Mexico) 29.25

6th Lebid (UKraine) 29.51

7th Thompson (GB) 29.52

8th Skinner (GB) 30.01

9th McLeod (GB) 30.20

10th Merrien 30.22

11th Tewelde (Eritrean) 30.24

12th Mengisteab (Eritean) 30.26)

It looking likely that my next race off island won't be until February, this will the European Club Cross Country Champs in Bilbao,Spain where i will be racing my UK club Newham.

Until next time.

No new year resolutions but one eye on the big picture!

2009-12-31T14:18:00.009Z

2010 is only hours away and essentially the start of new challenges or resolution for most people...however I never set myself new years resolutions, most people never keep them anyway but I figured why wait months or even a year before you deciding you are going to do something!

This year for me will see some quite big changes, going from racing 5000m as your primary event to moving up to the marathon is never going to be easy but with the opportunities that lay in wait (namely qualification for the European Championships, which will be at the Virgin London Marathon on April 25th) the carrot was there dangling. Furthermore a new event can take a few seasons to master properly so with the Olympics only 939 days away (I checked the official website) it was time to make the necessary changes in order to be successful in the future.

I have already started making some changes in training over the past few months with one eye on the spring, with this has come some sacrifices in the short term though. Most recently being the European XC Trials where I missed out on making the team, whilst training had been going ok, some areas of training certainly took a bit back seat which likely contributed to not quite having all the ammo on the day of the trials in order to make the team.

All that said this last 12 months has been a very successful period, amongst other things I made the GB team for World XC in Jordon, won my first National Medal at an Outdoor Track champs over 5000m and ran 64mins for a half Marathon when finishing 12th at Great North Run. With 2010 about to kick off its time to work towards the next chapter.

Thanks to Cannon Asset Mgmt for their sponsorship, without them the past two seasons would have been much more difficult, espicially with Thomas now on the scene. Thanks also to CMC for helping keep me in one piece.

Have a good new year everyone.

Last minute shopping

2009-12-24T11:41:00.005Z

Last fridays lab test went pretty well, I'm yet to get the official results but on the days things seemed to indicate that the training is moving in the right direction for the marathon. I probably won't get the results until the new year now but will be interesting to see how it compares to the tests I did when I was racing the 800m & 1500m. Plan will likely be to get in the lab again in during the early part of the new year to keep a close eye on my progress but I will also have afew races lined up which will give me a good idea of my fitness, first race being the Edinburgh Intl XC on the 9th Jan, I think this one will be televised.

Anyway most importantly it's xmas eve and I've not finished my xmas shopping yet! to make matters more tricky Thomas has come home sick from nursary this morning when I had planned to get to the shops. The little man is currently asleep while I write this though, he fell asleep eating his lunch...its was kind of like sleep eating at one stage as he was eating with his eyes closed. He literally finished the mouthful and fell into a deep sleep - both funny and cute. All being well though I will get to the shops later this afternoon when Teresa gets back from work. Nothing like a bit of last minute shopping to get into the festive spirt.

Have a great xmas everyone and see some of you on Boxing day for the local full course race!

Miles and more miles

2009-12-17T17:45:00.002Z

I'm writing this entry from Lougborough, I flew to the East Midlands this afternoon as I will be carrying out a fitness test at the university lab tomorrow morning. It will also be a chance to catch up with my coach who is based here.

As mentioned in my last post I though some pople might like to see what I'm up to in training at the minute. Oh before I do, last weekends local race went as well as expected, I won the race by about 70secs, although I was effectively running this a controlled tempo effort rather than an all out effort. My legs still felt some the hills though, with fairly high mileage in the legs and the course being somewhat up and down throughout. Nice to do a local event again, its been a while. ALso don't know if any of locals saw the Guernsey Press last Friday but they used an old photo of me from 1993 to preview the race, I was fashioning an impressive mullet and my mum called me to say she didn't think it was me! scarily its was though!

In terms of training I'm in the process of increasing my weekly mileage to new levels (for me) at minute so in terms of quality/interval session I'm not doing that much at the minute, although this will change in the new year.

basic jist of what last week looked like....

Monday
am: 7miles easy pace
pm: 6miles steady pace

Tuesday
am:6.5 miles easy
pm: Track session of 10 x 1k (total 11miles with warm ups & cool down)

Wednesday
am: 13miles
pm: Weights & Core workout

Thursday
am: 6niles easy
pm: 9miles with last4-5miles a bit quicker

Friday
am: 6.5miles easy
am: 6miles easy

Saturday
am: 30mins easy jog (4miles)
pm: Guernsey 6miles xC Race (10miles total w/ wu & cd)

Sunday
am: 19miles (2hours)

There are a few other little bits that are incorporated into my weekly routine, such as using the foam roller, running drills, stretching & mobility exercises and the occasional cold bath after hard sessions (these are never fun! but help recovery) I also usually do some additional conditioning exercises on monday evening, just not this week.

Over a 100miles for me this week, with the aim of building this up a little more of the next month or so (at least I will be able to tuck into a few helping of xmas pudding whichout a second a thought!) I think I was quoted in the local paper as saying that I may eventually get up 140 per week, although I think this is very unlikely before my first marathon, I won't rule it out in the future though. I'm having an easier week this week with mileage likely to total in the region of 70 or so.

Any how that's all for now, I will stick some details of how tomorrows physiology test goes when I get back into Guernsey next week.

Cheers for now.

Racing & Sports Personality...

2009-12-12T09:38:00.003Z

Hi folks

It's Saturday morning and I'm writing this between my morning run and a local cross country race that I'm running in at lunchtime. Now normally I would have plenty of time but I've got Thomas to watch in a minute and he's so active now that you need to be watching him all the time, only yesterday he learnt how to climb up onto the sofa, climb onto the arm and then dive off head first without any thought for the hard floor below (Tom Daley eat your heart out!), lucky I managed to intervene before impact occured! but he now loves doing it... oh dear!

Speaking of Tom Daley, this weekend is the BBC Sports Personality of the year award, I love this program, it just promotes everything that is special about sport. Throw in some carefully choosen music and it motivates me to want to do whatever sport it is I'm watching. Go the BBC website to watch the promo vid's of each athlete. I'm a bit torn now though as to who I want to win, I would love to see Phillips Idowu win, as he is a true personality and surely what the programs all about, the other athlete who has shown real class though this year is Mark Cavendish. I don't often watch the end of Tour de France but i did this year and his victory on the Champs Elysees was impressive, add 10 tour stage wins to boot and it makes good reading. Guernsey also has there very own representive in the junior category in the form of Heather Watson, I will be watching with interest.

Anyway time is running out with Thomas chasing round my ankles and I need to get my gear sorted for the local race. This will be first race on local soil for a while, my memory can be pretty bad but i think this might be my first race this year in Guernsey! usually I am able to do a few races through the year but with training camps, GB selections and races away I haven't had the chance. I'm looking forward to it, hopefully my legs will too as I've run a fairly big week of mileage this week, my highest to date infact (I will post it all up next week for those that are interested). Anyway time to sort my kit out and then watch Mickey Mouse Club House on Disney!

All for now.

Close but not quite enough

2009-11-30T14:20:00.004Z

I raced in Liverpool at the weekend in what was the 2nd cross country of UK Challenge series and also the British Trials for European Cross Country Champs (which take place in Dublin in 2 weeks). Unfortunately I look set to miss out on making the team this time around after finishing 9th overall. Whilst 6 guys will be selected for the team and I was essentially the 6th British finisher (excluding Ricky Stevenson who is likely to run in the U23 race and the other 2 athletes were foreign athletes) Mo Farah who didn't run the trial race will be pre-selected. The team is yet to be confirmed but the result probably means I have missed out by one finishing place, the different being 9seconds.

One plus side however was that I contributed to my UK Club Newham & Essex Beagles winning the race off amongst the other British Clubs for the European Club Cross Country Champs which take place in February.

Euro XC Trials Top 10 Result...
1. Mike Skinner 28.36
2. Moumin Geele (somalia) 28.37
3. Ben Whitby 28.40
4. Ricky Stevenson (U23) 28.41
5. Andy Vernon 28.42
6. Tsegi Tewelde (Eritria) 28.45
7. Phil Wicks 28.46
8. Scott Overall 28.54
9. Lee Merrien 29.05
10. Teweldeberhan Mengisteab (Eritria) 29.09

I 'm really disappointed to have missed out on the GB Team though. After last years event when I ran so well and made my first GB team it's all still fresh in my memory as one of my best moments in the sport, so missing out this time around feels a bit harder to take. I don't want to make excuses (although I guess it may still sound like one) but the last couple of weeks I've been struggling to shake off a cold, I took last weekend off training and missed a key session and a couple of runs in an effort to recovery properly. Generally I felt pretty good on the day of the race itself so it perhaps wasn't even a factor but I can't help thinking the last couple of weeks didn't go as well as I would have liked and that extra half a percent in performance may have made all the difference, but not to be.

Onwards and upwards as they say though and in the whole scheme of things one eye has always been on next April (London Marathon). In recent weeks I have been doing slightly more mileage than this time last year with a view to making a smoother transition when the marathon program kicks off properly in the new year. I'm looking at couple of races in the meantime, which I will post up on here once confirmed.

Until next time.

Mud season under way!

2009-11-15T17:32:00.004Z

This weekend I was up in Newcastle for the Gateshead Intl XC which was also the first UK Cross Challenge race of the season. Travel was a bit a drag with two flights involved, my outward journey was also on a rather windy Friday 13th, I think I just made it out of Guernsey in time though as waiting in Southampton I noticed that a flight to Guernsey was cancelled due to strong winds. There was a plus side to the windy conditions though as the journey up to Newcastle only 50mins as opposed to 1hr 10. In was nice being in Newcastle again, another chance to catch up with my mums side of the family.

The race itself went ok all things considered, i finished 5th overall, which was 4th Brit due to 2nd place being an Eritrean athlete. I must admit I would have like a higher finish but on a tricky and very muddy course it was solid enough run to leave me feeling confident going into the european trials in two weeks time in Liverpool.

Note checkout the photo, white not the best colour to wear on a muddy course!

After a heavy block of training before this race week I was aware that I might have tired legs going into the race plus I've also had a bit of head cold this week too, which seems worse now after the race. Note sure it effected me much during the race but either way I will be more recovered and in a better state of health in two weeks time I'm sure. Also just heard that there will be a few Guernsey athletes going over too so should have some extra support this time too which is always good.

10th at Great South Run

2009-10-26T14:04:00.000Z

Yesterday I raced over 10miles in the Great South Run in Portsmouth, finishing 10th overall in a time of 49.23. The time was not as fast as I had hoped for but conditions were not ideal as it was quite blustery in places and the Portsmouth course is quite exposed at the start and finish area.

I competed in this event last year running 48mins 49secs, so after my half marathon at the Great North Run a few weeks ago (where i went through 10miles in 48.50 feeling good) I was looking for more. On reflection with conditions as they were I can't be too disappointed though plus with training volumes having increased since then so tends to take the edge off your performance.

In terms of how the race race unfolded I went through the first mile in just over 4.30 with the lead pack of 10 runners, however before we got to two miles I became slightly detached and i ran the remainder of the race on my own. So it was more of a 10mile time trial for me i guess! there was a chasing group group behind me that I could have started out with but I think I made the right decision as I feel I would have learnt little from running more conservatively and would probably have still finished in the same position.

All said and done the race will bring my fitness on some more with cross country next up on the schedule... the plan is race in the Gateshead XC in three weeks with the European XC trials two after. As for now we are staying a few more days with the inlaws in Poole before heading heading home, which will involve a few weeks sleeping in the altitude tent.

Until next time.

National Relay Gold

2009-10-19T14:00:00.000+01:00

Over the weekend I was up in Birmingham for the National Road 6 Stage Road Relays, running for Newham & Essex Beagles (my UK club) we took Team gold with a winning margin of over 90seconds also finishing in a new course record around Sutton Park.

As mention in my previous post it was my first time running the National 6 Stage, I've run the Southern 6 Stage for Guernsey a number of years back but this was my first National. I always used to hear or read about the relays and the general banter amongst the athletes and rival clubs so it nice being part of it this time around.

You can never read too much into individual performances at this time of year but I was fairly satisfied with my run (I ran the 8th fastest leg of the day in 17.10) particularly as I had no one to chase. I was on the third stage expecting when our 2nd leg runner (Chris McKay) came in that I would have a few to chase down, however he came in first so I had a solo run ahead of me. It wasn't all straight forward at the change over either! as just before I was about to start my leg there was a bit of problem with my number!... it turned out that earlier when we arrived (Newham) had been given a few wrong numbers within the team numbers. Without paying too much attention I just pinned on my front and back numbers only to be made aware on the start line literally 60secs before I was due to go that my back and front number didn't match! Fortunately Dave Mitch (our first leg runner) was passing at the time so between the two of us we used part of his number pinning it over the top of mine to make the numbers match, we literally had the last pin in as Chris came in to the change over area and I was off on the course!

Fortunately it didnt seem to affect my run, although it did get the adrenaline going and I had to make a conscious effort to easy back in the first few minutes so i didn't get too carried away. Generally I felt quite strong during my stage and if anything was a bit too relaxed coming home to hand over to our 4th man. I still managed to increase our narrow lead (from when i took over) to around about 20-30secs by the end. Leeds closed us down on the 4th leg but with Mo Farah and Moumin Geele on our remaining two legs we looked good for victory. Our winning margin was quite big in the end and new course record to boot.

White men can jump!

2009-10-12T20:09:00.000+01:00

Hi folks

Sorry it's been so long since my last post, I've been meaning to write something for the last week but things have been pretty hectic. With training in full flow, working being particularly busy this week just gone and Teresa being away for a couple of days mid week it was a bit of juggling act with Thomas to consider too. Things are settling down a little bit now thankfully and despite the busy schedule last week I still managed to get all my training in as planned. The last few weeks since the Great North Run have been pretty solid in terms of training, with the weekly mileage building up to 90 a week so far, key sessions have been strong, without setting the world alight. This sort of thing doesn't phase me these days though as I know from previous experience that a few easy days will leave mind and body feeling fresh and ready for racing when it matters.

Speaking of which I have 2 races coming up, this weekend for a start - I will be doing the National Road Relays in Birmingham for my UK club: Newham. I haven't had the chance to run for them since the National XC in February - which we won, so it would be nice to win again. I understand we have a really strong team in place so if everyone runs well we will certainly be in the mix. The Relays are more of blow out for me though prior to racing the following week in Portsmouth. As I'm only home for a few days before heading to the UK again for the Great South Run, Teresa is running too (for her charity 'Get Kids Going') so we decided to go over for a few days and take Thomas back to see his grand parents in Poole. It will be good to get back racing again for the next 2 weeks, its only been 3 weeks but racing is the best bit so it always feels longer!

Lastly I was following the results of World Half Marathon Champs with interest which were in Birmingham yesterday (an event I considered trying to make the GB team but decided against in the end after a long spring & summer of racing). Anyway its was great to see the american - Dathan Ritzenhein running so well, he claimed individual bronze in a time of 60mins flat, in an event dominated by Africans. I've been following Ritzenhein with interest over the past few months as he has run some fantastic times over 5k and 10k, so the half marathon performance wasn't really a surprise but motivation stuff all the same.

Anyway until next time.

12th at Great North Run

2009-09-22T13:56:00.001+01:00

Well that went better than expected I must admit, my finishing time was 64.27 which was quicker than I had hoped so happy days!

I wasn't really sure of my fitness in terms of what I might run being that I have only done 4weeks of training after my end of summer break. Admitedly it was a short break but still if I'm able to run that sort of time now I am confident I can run faster with a good spell of the right training behind me.

The race itself was much more enjoyable that I expected too, other than a couple of the early miles where i was finding my rhythm I felt very good and if anything I felt I finished with more left in the tank. I was in the second group of lead runners for the first 6miles which contained Dan Robinson, Ian Huspith, Neil Renault, Mark Draper (all Brits) and also Alberto Chaica (Portugal), Jon Brown (Canada) and Pete Norwill (Australia). THe first mile was covered in approx 4.45/4.50 but it is partly downhill so I expect it do be a little fast. My race plan was to head out at around 5.00 mile pace but it made more sense to stick with the group rather than get isolated early on, plus after the first 5k (15.10) I was starting to settle into a nice comfortable rhythm and 4.50 to 4.55 pace was feeling good. After 6miles the Chaica started to push things on and only Dan Robinson went with him, I decided to hold my pace but found this sounds stretched me away from the rest as the group started to break up. From 7 miles onwards I was basically running on my own but really enjoying the crowds and feeling good about the race. If anyway reflection back I could have pushed the last 3-4miles a little more in an effort to catch Dan (who finished 11th in 64.14) but as i was operating ahead of my target pace so I played on the the side of caution. I ran very even race though, with exception of quick first 5k the rest of the race was a solid even pace.

Needless to say though the result and time have give me further confidence that the move to the marathon is the right decision and that even these early stages of winter training that faster time are more than possible at the longer events. I ran a very even paced race in the end though, with exception of the frist 5k being a little quicker the rest of the race was fairly even.

Overall a good experience of things to come and good weekend generally (with the exception of Aurigny deciding not to bring our bags back from Mancheser last night - but that's another story!). It gave us (Teresa, Thomas & myself) the chance to spend some time with the family up in Newcastle which is always nice, my mum comes from a large family of seven with most of family still living in Newcastle. Three of the family's live in a place called Clara Vale, which is small old mining village just outside the centre of Newcastle and next to Tyne. Really beautiful place and some great places to run long the river there, it's actually only a stone through away from Wylam another small village and the birth place of George Stevenson. I've had a few histroy lessons from my uncle during my visits - Stevenson was the inventor of the first public steam train.

Anyway thats' all for now. Next race will probably not be for a few weeks, I plan to run the National 6 stage road relays for Newham (my UK club) which is not til 17th Oct and then the Great South the following weekend in Portsmouth.

But first... the half marathon

2009-09-15T14:25:00.000+01:00

In my last post I talked about my decision to prepare for a potential spring marathon, well I figured I would get things started by running a half marathon this weekend! My wife Teresa and her good friend Jo Walker (hope you appreciate the name drop Jo) have been training for the Great North Run for the past few months and we decided a while back that we would head up to Newcastle as a family and spend the weekend up North. Initially i was just going up as a supporter and to look after Thomas while Teresa raced, however this scenario didn't last long as I decided I would get in on the act too! If i know I'm in the UK and there's a chance to race, generally I will, unless I'm injuried or have something else on the horizon that I'm preparing for. I think Teresa was a bit annoyed as last time she raced in the UK (last years Great South Run) I got myself a late entry on that one too! Luckily we have plenty of family in Newcastle, as my mum is from Newcastle originally, so I'm hoping one of them will be ok with looking after Thomas on race morning - I haven't asked them yet though!

Fitness wise I'm getting there, and although I'm not expecting to set the world alight this weekend I should be able to run a personal best time for the distance. This is partly down to the fact that I've only ever raced the distance twice. The first time was a long time ago and I'm a much improved athlete since then and the last time was the Guernsey Easter half in 2008. I ran 69mins that day, running very easy for the first few miles and feeling quite controlled in general over the distance, so even though I'm not at full fitness at the moment I think I can better that time. The Great North run is a fast point to point course too so as long as the conditions are ok I should be able to post a decent time, if I'm going to run achievin the qualifying time for the Marathon next spring for the European Champs I will need to be able to run sun 69 mins back to back for the distance anyway.

Oh Teresa has just set up a Just Give page for her charity, which is 'Get Kids Going', if anyone wants to make a donation they can at http://www.justgiving.com/Teresa-Merrien/ I did my bit by giving away much of GB Kit in exchange for cash :)

Look out for post-race report from myself, and Teresa! this time around.

All for now folks.

The marathon becon's !

2009-09-07T22:11:00.000+01:00

Hi folks,

Sorry its been so long since my last post, I will endeavour to post more regularly from now on. Since my last post I've had a bit of quiet time in regards to training with a fairly low key couple of weeks. After my short break though I'm starting to put the training back in now and looking forward to some autumn racing.

Other news which I didn't get round to posting up includes confirming a kit contract with Asics for the next 12months which will see them provide me gear and footwear, its all helps as I go through trainers like you wouldn't believe! The contact ties in with my main sponsors Cannon.

Anyway as the title of my post implies I'm looking at making the transition to the marathon! It's something I've had in mind for a while, as the event to take me to the London Olympics. After some reflection of this past season and with the Olmpics only three years away, now seems the right time to start making the changes required. Last season was arguably my most successful to date with two GB selections on the country and my first Outdoor National Medal on the track. I was however disappointed with my track season, which was below par after struggling to recover from illness and general fatigue after over-cooking training in April. Anyway after looking at things as a whole I think the future in lies with the longer distances in order to achieve what I want from the sport. The changes in training need to start now though as whilst a 5k runner might still be able to race well at 10k and even a half marathon the training required for the marathon is significantly different. I've recently spoken to Janne Holmen (the 2002 European Marathon Champion) whom I raced in at the Island Games this year as well as John (Nuttal) my coach, who I will continue to work with and I think I have a good idea where I need take things in order to run well at the event, although some of the specific's of training are still to be worked out. It's still early days and nothing has been finalized yet but next year is also the European Championships and I think I'm capable of achieving the qualifying standard (which is 2.18), so next year you might well be seeing my line up at in the London marathon for the first time.

More shorter term this weekend it's the Inter-Insular in Jersey, although I'm doing no track work in training at the moment it's always nice to run and get one over on our Channel Islands rivals. As ever ours mens team looks very strong and without wanting to sound over confident we should walk the mens event. I believe our women are a bit short on numbers so might struggle a little, hopefully that will change over the next few seasons. For any Guernsey people out there I will try to post up results on twitter, the senior fixture is on Saturday from 12.30 til 5pm. I'm travelling over Friday with Teresa and Thomas as planning to have day out and take the little man to the zoo.

The most impressive thing I've ever seen

2009-08-16T20:56:00.000+01:00

Just watched the final of the mens 100m at the World Athletics Champs in Berlin... incredible performance by Bolt, 9.58!!!

The reaction of a speechless Michael Johnson (arguably the greatest athlete of all time until Bolt came along) was brilliant !

Rest week

2009-08-15T15:36:00.000+01:00

Hi folks, I'm currently making the most of a week off running, after last weekends cup match, which we won, I've decided to take my end of track season break now. It made sense to have a rest now, let the body get some needed rest and then get back into winter training over the coming weeks.

In terms of last week 10 in 100 Cup match the CI team narrowly beat Blackheath (2nd) with Cardiff 3rd. I finished 3rd in the 1500m, having a close race with James Thie and Scott Overall, whilst it's never nice to get beaten the race was fun. Before the three of us had a gentlemens agreement to wait until 200m to go before kicking for home, unfortunatley I just lost out!

I had a few complete rest days at the start of the week, but have since been out on the push bike and been in the gym a couple of times too. I always feel better having an active form of rest rather than sitting on my backside for too long! although its the World Athletics Champs this week so that's as good a reason as any to sit in front the TV.

It's always quite nice to do something different and to give the body a break from the impact of running, my achilles which sometimes bothers me is also feeling much better already. Only downside is my backside is not used to sitting on a push bike and is feeling sore as a result.

Berlin Race Report & Cup Final

2009-08-06T10:00:00.000+01:00

A little late in getting this post out but here it eventually is...

Mixed feelings about the Berlin 10k race, I finished 2nd which I was reasonably happy with in terms of position however my finishing time was far from what I was aiming at. I ran 29.57 and considering I was looking to run around 29.20 or better this was a little disappointing. The route was potentially very fast too, as the streets around Berlin are long and perfectly flat. The only factor that likely affected things was the humidity, it had been quite warm during the day and come the evening it clouded over. It wasn't just myself that ran below par either, the other England boys ran outside their aims too, Gareth Raven finished 3rd and Phil Nichols finished 4th, the winner who ran 29.07 last year won in only 29.40 this time around. The course was also apparently shorter this year after it re-measured and found to be 100m long last year - hopefully they messed up this years distance too! The three of us running for England had a close race with a battle over the last 2km, I pushed on with about 1km to go and took a few yards out of Phil and Gaz, only for Gaz to pass me with about 400 to go, I kicked again though with 200m to go and took 2nd. Whilst there was no team prize as such with 2nd, 3rd and 4th we comfortable out placed the Germans, Dutch, as well as a few athletes from Denmark and Poland. The race was won by the dutchmen Martin Lauret in 29.40.

Didnt get to see much of Berlin as it was a whistle stop trip but did get to see the other races at the event which included a rather impressive mass participation inline skating race over the same 10k course. The first skater over the line covered the route in about 15mins! Also our race was an evening start, by the time we cross the finish line it was dark and we had flashing lights lining the the final 100m with good crowd support too. The race was a pretty unique experience.

This weekend I'm off to London with the Channel Islands Athletics Club for the 10 in 100 Cup final. Its basically 10 events in 100minutes, hence the name! I'm running the 1500m this time round and we have quite a strong team and have a good chance of winning if all goes well.

Will let you how we get on.

All for now.

I'm off to Berlin after all !

2009-07-30T10:28:00.001+01:00

Ok it's not the World Championships but I've earned a late call up to an England Team going out to Berlin this weekend for the Berlin Road 10k race on saturday evening.

I had put my name in the hat for selection a few weeks back but initially missed out on selection, however one of the original selections has pulled out only this week and I was next on the list. This has certainly come at a good time, as you'll see from my last blog post I'm a little short on good quality competitive races so this has proved ideal.

I don't know much about the race itself other than its apparently a night race and if the Berlin marathon course is anything to go by it should be fairly flat and fast - many of the fastest ever marathons times have been on the Berlin course. The race is also an England v Germany v Denmark match and is the second race of a triangular series of road races this summer.

After having very windy conditions to contend with as well as running below par generally in the Manchester 10k back in May this is a great chance to rectify my seasons best and personal best.

I will try post up the result on twitter on the saturday evening.

Anyone fancy a race?

2009-07-25T09:42:00.000+01:00

I seem to have recovered from my suspected swine flu - apparently some people haven't been affected as badly as others but I was never tested to confirm the diagnosis so who knows! Whatever it was it didn't seem to bother me on Wednesday when I got on the track for the first time since the Nationals. Session Wednesday was only 400m reps though and this morning is a longer reps session and so will be a better indicator of things.

Wednesdays session went well though and all being well today it looks like I'm coming into some good form. My problem however is the lack of quality races! I misses out on the LOndon Grand Prix last night - at the time of trying to get the race I was ill with flu though so I can't blame them for not wanting me in the race! The race turned out not to be as good as it looked on paper though as the weather wasn't kind, I would still have jumped at the chance to run though. I'm looking for a good 5000m to run a fast time in, which is proving quite difficult being that the World Champs are faster approaching and there's limited meetings left before it kicks off in a couple of weeks.

Anyhow time to go training.- I have tough track workout this morning!

Bronze at Nationals

2009-07-15T09:28:00.000+01:00

A good result on at the weekend, racing in the 5000m I picked up my first outdoor medal at the National Champs and I also ran a seasons best in the process. My performance also suggests that there's a lot more come now in terms of faster times.

The race started at a reasonable pace over the first 2km and I was happy to sit in the pack and let things unfold. Things slowed over the following 2km, with still most of the field together until about 4 laps to go where it started to split up a little. By the time it was 2 laps to go I had worked my way up through the field into a leading group of about 5. With 600m remaining Scott Overall started to wind the pace up and the final lap turned into a race for the medals between 3 of us. Down the back the back straight I felt good and moved rounded Ryan McCleod into second and for a moment I felt I might be able to take victory, but coming off the final bend I started to tie up a little and Ryan reclaimed 2nd and I so I had to settle for 2nd. I really can't complain though after a difficult couple of months I've found my form at the right time of the season.

1st Scott Overall 13.57.75
2nd Ryan McLeod 13.58.52
3rd Lee Merrien 13.59.35

Below is a link to the full results over the weekend on UKA website .... http://www.uka.org.uk/uka-major-events/2009/aviva-world-trials-2009/ you just need to scole down to Sunday, my race was at 6.55pm.

Unfortunately since the race I have come with suspected swine flu. It seems no worse that the normal dose of flu and apparantely in some cases is no worse than common cold. However yesterday certainly felt like a case of typical man flu for me and rendered me useless at home. It did at least give me time to catch up with the Tour and see what Lance has been up to! I've been advised by the doctor that as in most cases of flu I will be find within 4-5 days so all being well I will be healthy by the weekend and can get back running. After Sundays performance I'm keen to race in a fast paced race and run a fast time!

Next Stop Birmingham

2009-07-09T16:14:00.000+01:00

This weekend is the UK National Champs which also doubles as the GB Trials for the World Championship, these take place in Berlin next month. I'm entered for the 5000m this weekend in what looks like a more open race that expected as a few guys have decided to race the 1500m instead and Mo Farah (GB no. 1) has decided not to run so he can focus on breaking the British record at Crystal Palace in 2 weeks.

The race on paper still certainly looks like a very competitive race but with the withdrawals I definately think the medals are up for grabs. After last week in Aland and a few better training sessions under my belt I feel I'm starting to find some form at the right time and I'm looking forward to getting stuck in.

The Championships kick off on Friday evening but my race is not until the Sunday (late afternoon). I haven't seen anything confirming what will be shown on TV but it is televised on the BBC both Saturday and Sunday. I'm not sure however whether my race will be shown live or not at this stage, but the program looks promising in that respect.

Also look out for a number other Guernsey athletes also competing at the weekend.

Below is a link which has the start lists so far and timetable etc, it should also have the results up as the happen too...

http://www.uka.org.uk/uka-major-events/2009/aviva-world-trials-2009/

Link to video clip

2009-07-04T12:19:00.000+01:00

Below is brief video clip of the closing stages of Wednesdays 5000m race with Janne Holmen...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05w2urFe4kI

Last day of the athletics program

2009-07-04T12:04:00.000+01:00

Yesterday saw us pick up another good medal haul on the final day of the athletics program; as always checkout the Guernsey Athletics blog for the full run down of results and race video’s. From a personal perspective I retained the 1500m in a time 3minutes 49 seconds, a time I was reasonably happy with being that I ran from the front and it was also a bit on the windy side. My performance didn’t quite match Ingy’s commentary however! As coming down the home straight he announced ‘ and this is what sub 4minute miling speed looks like’. Ingy is Paul Ingrouille a local stalwart of Guernsey Athletics who was invited to come out to help the Aland organising by providing some English speaking commentary alongside his Swedish counterparts. Whilst I wasn’t necessarily looking to run sub 4min mile pace (which would have been 3.43/3.44 pace for 1500m I was at the very least hoping to run inside the games record of 3.51, which I set at the last games in Rhodes. This was my first 1500 race of the season (excluding Thursday’s heats) but I was still aiming to run a time somewhere between 3.45 – 3.50 so it was a case of job done I guess.

After the race I got pounced upon for a few interviews, which admittedly I enjoy doing. However, when one of the interviews from one of our local radio stations described my race back to me before then asking if I was pleased to win I couldn’t resist in saying, deadpan… ‘No it was awful’ and then leaving an uncomfortable silence for effect J it got a laugh off the camera man at least!

Feeling a little tired this morning I must admit, as a team the athletics crowd all had a meal together at the hotel last night before heading out for a few social drinks. At the meal we had presented our usual games ritual of ‘special’ awards… basically everyone in the team gets an ironic award for an incident or comment that they did or said during the week. Dale Garland got the ‘I’m still Jenny from the block award!’ whilst Martine Scholes got most likely to be sponsored by a foot care company award – after being called Martine Scholls all week by the stadium announcers, Steve Dawes also picked up a similar style award after being referred to as Stephan Daves all week only for the announcer last night when presenting his half marathon medal to refer to him as Stephen Davis. Subsequently he also got the award for the best snooker player in the team!

Also just before I sign off, Tom Druce just told us about his night last night… I will spare you any long stories but the culmination of his night, whilst walking a young lady back to her hotel, involved him stumbling and falling in the harbour, losing his mobile in the process!

That’s likely to be it from me in terms of Island Games posts, next weekend I have the National Champs & World Trials in Birmingham. In the meantime I’m looking forward to see my wife and son after a week apart.

That’s all from Aland.

Tack tack.

Lee

5000m success all-round...

2009-07-02T16:34:00.000+01:00

Last night proved a successful night all-round for Guernsey distance runners, I came out on top in my head to head battle with local athlete Janne Holmen in the men’s 5000m and Louise Perrio & Martine Scholes dominated the women’s 5000m, taking gold and silver respectively.

As I previously posted my decision to race the 5k was a late one but I’m glad I did as the atmosphere was electric; I’m not exactly sure how people were in the stadium but the stand was full and hundreds more scattered around the rest of Wiklof Holding Arena. From the moment they announced the athletes on the start line to the time we crossed the finish line the support was fantastic, and was is definitely one of the best atmospheres I've experienced in an Island Games.

In terms of how the race unfolded the first 100m of the race starting at a pedestrian pace, but Janne Holmen was clearly eager to set a strong pace and dashed to the front when he realised no one was prepared to take things, I quickly slotted in behind him. This was my race plan from the outside and I was expecting Janne to take the lead fairly early on if the pace was slow. I knew he would prefer a fast race rather than a slow and tactic affair so I was more than happy to sit in for the ride initially. After 4 or 5 laps of this he moved out a few times to encourage me through, initially I did nothing and continued to sit in. I did take the take for a lap but Janne soon realised I was happy not to force the pace so continued working off the front. Things stayed like this until 500m which was when I decided to use a couple of back markers as the moment to kick for home. Approaching two Jersey athletes I went round Janne and surged for home which gained me a few yards, a lead which I stretched out over the next 200. At that I point I glanced over my shoulder to see that I had good lead but I decided to keep not to take my foot off the gas until about a 100m to go, despite easing back slightly I understand my last lap was around 58/59secs.

As I say the crowd support during the race was superb and it was awesome to get a standing ovation from from the full stand down as I came down the home straight for the final time. I even had the Guernsey football team singing at me after I had crossed the finish line. The guys are currently playing Jersey in the semi finals so all being well we will be able to watch the guys in the final tomorrow night.

Thanks to Steve Dawes, below are some pics of the race, will try and attach the video tomorrow but running out battery right now!...

Update & will there be 5k head to head?

2009-06-30T09:39:00.000+01:00

Hi folks,

I didn't take the laptop down last night to the athletics so wasn't able to post an update but below is a breif update...

Yesterday evening there was good medal haul from the Guernsey Team and some exciting races... Kylie Robilliard & Lee Garland picked up a silvers in their respective events and Louise Perrio won Guernsey's first gold in a dramatic 10,000m race! There were also good performances from our junior athletes who would have undoubtedly picked up some good experience in their first island games. Checkout the the official clubs blog for full reports, video's and pic's of all of the days races.

In terms of my racing plans and for those of you that have been reading my recent posts will be aware that I wasn't planning to race the 5000m at the games, as originally mentioned this was due to having the National Champs/World Trials the weekend after. Last week I had a discussion with my coach and we decided that it would be better to get some training under my belt in the build up to the trials in Birmingham. However the temptation to race Janne Holmen has proved too much and the plan is now to race the 5k. Holmen is a Finnish International and former European Champion over the marathon so needless to say a worthy opponent. There are still conflicting reports as to whether he will actually race the 5000m tomorrow evening as he might decide to stay fresh for the half marathon friday but I guess we will find out tomorrow morning. The race is at 8.10pm.

Anyhow I'm going to get back to watching the relay heats.

Cheers

Lee

utine involves a pre breakfast run out along the Mariehamn coast line

Opening Ceremony & First day...

2009-06-27T15:32:00.001+01:00

Unfortunately internet access in the hotel isn't currently working but hopefully will be by tomorrow, luckily there is wifi access at the athletics stadium, so currently sat in the stand with the team with the first event about to start!

We all arrived ok Friday evening at our hotel via our direct flight to MarieHamn (where we are located and also where the stadium is located). We've only been here a day but I think every is impressed with the place, the weather has been fantastic and Games Street which is located 5minutes from out Hotel -The Pommern has plenty going on.

The opening ceremony was held in the athletics stadium these things can be a bit on the long side but this year was ok and there was some interesting entertainment too! From a Queen tribute band to a musically comedian who wasn't scared to swear despite it being a family attended ceremony! below are are a few pictures off it all to check out....

Above: we were given cushions to sit on during the ceremony but at the end they turned into throwing implements!!

For more pictures and gossip on what the Guernsey Athletics team are up to generally checkout the Guernsey athletics blog (http://gsyathleticsaland2009.blogspot.com/. As there is internet access at stadium we plan to video the races live and get them online quickly via a utube link on the blog so you'll be able to watch most peoples races not long after they happen.

In terms of my training this is the end of another 80mile week, feeling ok generally after the travel and a just a couple of easy runs yesterday. Got on the track this afternoon before the racing started and felt ok, hot today though! temperatures in the high 20's and felt particularly hot training as due to competition program starting at 6pm I had to go out mid afternoon.

Will post more tomorrow, hopefully get access at the hotel but if not I will make use of the free wifi at the stadium again.

Catch you all tomo.

Lee

Off to Aland

2009-06-26T12:56:00.000+01:00

Just a quick post before I head off to Aland for the Island Games week. I'm all packed and ready to go, packing proved a challenge mind as we are only allowed to take 15kg of hold luggage and 5k of hand luggage, so to had to pack quite light in some areas.

My race isn't until a week today (1500m) so i will have the best part of a week to maintain my training in preparation for the National Champs whcih is the week after I get back from Aland. It will also be my first 1500 of the season being that 5k has been the focus this season but it will be nice to have race over what was previously my main event.

Since the Watford race training has gone ok, I had an easier week after the race with the aim of letting the body recover a bit more, so it was predominately steady running but I still clocked up 80miles during the week. My track session Tuesday was ok whilst nothing spectacular but funnily enough since then the body and particularly the legs have started to feel pretty good. I'm still on course to clock around 80miles of training this week but again this has been mostly steady stuff with a couple session, but these have been fairly controlled.

I must admit I've really enjoying my running the last few days particular with the good weather so hopefully Aland can provide much of the same. In terms of the Guernsey team there is a fairly young team heading out this year with many new faces, which is great to see. Over the past few years and particular when I was involved with the athletics development role I saw many good young athletes in the sport and now many of those are heading to Aland which will hopefully act as a spring board for bigger and better things for those individuals. There is certainly still no shortage of experienced athletes going along despite a few absentees and I'm sure we the team will still bring back plenty of medals.

Next stop Aland.

Ciao

Race Report from Watford BMC

2009-06-16T14:31:00.000+01:00

Well i finished in 8th place in a time of 14.11, so not really what I was looking for, unfortunately things don't seem to have moved on as they should have from the Manchester race 2 weeks ago. Legs still feeling a little lack luster and its more frustrating than anything else after the successes of the winter months that both training and racing isn't quite going as expected at the moment. I don't have a race now for a few weeks so the plan is to kick back slightly over the next week and not too push training too much during this period and allow the body to freshen up a little. Despite the time i finished with on Saturday and how the race felt in general I still at least managed to find some strength and speed over the closing stages, and the one thing which I do take a lot of confidence from is that whilst training and racing are clearly not quite on song at the moment I'm still not a million miles away. Only a 1-2% improvement for example would see me nearer to what I expect from myself and the sort of performances I feel I'm capable of on better day.

On a lighter note it's great to see the local paper are quoting me on my races using my twitter, presumably this modern day reporting :-) Perhaps I should try and seem what crazy quotes I can get printed up :-)

Next race is likely to be the Island Games 1500m, which is at the end of the games week. With the National Champs the week after I get back from ALand its unlikely that I will compete in another event as I need to get some key training completed while out there.

Assuming internet access is easily available while at the games i will try to keep people updated with details of what is going on in team and in general within the team accomodation.

All for now, Cheers

Lee

Race weekend...

2009-06-12T12:06:00.001+01:00

Very quick note as I'm currently sorting out last few bits before I head to the airport. Racing in the BMC GP meet tomorrow evening at Watford, in my second 5k of the season. Have eased back the training this week so hopefully legs will be nice and fresh for the race tomorrow. Watford has been a good track for me in the past with a number of my PBs over the shorter distances having been run on this track, have never a 5k here though so all being well I can add to the list.

Hopefully I won't be stuck in the aiport all day Sunday (unlike last time) and will be able to post a race report on sunday evening.

All for now.

Lee

Race Report from Saturday

2009-06-01T16:53:00.000+01:00

On Saturday evening I was racing in the BMC Grand Prix in Manchester. I finished 6th in the race in a time of 14.08. Check out the link to the results ....

http://www.britishmilersclub.com/results/results.aspx?meetingid=26409

In terms of my finishing time I'm a little disappointed but that's partly down to my high expectation this season, I believe my 5k personal best is a little weak and after the winter I've had I feel that I'm capable of running faster times, when everything falls into place. All things considered though it's a reasonable start to the season, as my legs are far from feeling recovered from general training at the moment and conditions also weren't ideal for fast times.

I set off fairly conservatively and ended up working my way from the field as the race went on and was able to finish quite strongly over the last lap or so. I think with a slightly stronger field i.e. more people running in the region 13.45-14.00 minutes, and without the wind we encountered on the back straight each time I could probably have run my PB close (currently 13.57). I feel at the moment I'm still waiting for the past few weeks of training to come out the system (hence the heavy legs at the moment) and once that starts to happen I will be ready to run faster times.

With 6 weeks to the National Champs I still have plenty of time for performances to start falling into place and essentially start peaking at the right time. Before then I also have Another BMC meeting at Watford and the Island Games in Aland.

Right time to get a run in.

Cheers for now

Lee

Weekend of local athletics & looking ahead...

2009-05-26T14:14:00.000+01:00

Saturday afternoon saw most of the Guernsey Island Games squad competing in the Meespierson Golden Series match, which had numerous athletes from the UK including squads from Wales and the RAF competing. Unfortunatley yours truely wasn't running but it was good to see pretty much all our local athletes running on home soil for the first time in while. There were plenty of competitive events and we even had the good weather to go with it!

Teresa was away on saturday afternoon and evening so I was on Thomas duties. I took him along to watch - not his first time to the track... trying to get him familiar with the environment :-) Not sure he knew what was going on but seemed happy enough. The athletics club also kindly presented myself, Martine Scholes and Rob Batiste with a gift each for our work for the athletics club, all three of us have recently stepped down from our posts, myself as development officer, Martine as the clubs hub for all things admin and whatever else people were able to palm her way and Rob was the Clubs president. It was comletely unexpected and nice to get some recognition but couldn't help feeling a bit of a fraud seeing as the club has a wealth of hardworking volunteers. Hopefully the work I did has helped athletics move forward over the past 3 years though. Certainly Rob deserved his after filling the role of club president for many years and is largely responsible in helping bring on local athletics so much in the past 5 years.

Looking ahead I have my first track race this weekend. Another trip to Manchester , this time I will be racing at Sport City - the athletics stadium adjecent to Manchester City football ground. This was also the warm up track for the 2002 Commonwealth Games and has been used a number of times in recent years for the National Champs so I guess its a bit of home from home as far as UK venues go. The meeting is a BMC (BRitish Milers Club) Grand Prix meeting and I'm racing over 5000m. Being the first BMC of the season usually means a good turn out so Im looking forward to getting in a good race and all being well running a PB first time out.

Anyway that's all for now, track session this evening which will be my last intense workout before the weekend, after that it's about recovery and getting ready to race.

Laters

Lee

Manchester Race Report

2009-05-18T13:52:00.001+01:00

Well it wasn't quite the race I was hoping for, I finished 14th overall and 6th British finisher but it was more the time and the run in general that I was a little disappointed with. I ran 29.47 which is approx 20secs slower than last year, conditions were far from ideal admitedly with a strong head wind for large sections of the race. Many of the athletes thought the wind could account for 20 to 30secs which mean the run was on par with last year, however I had set my sight on running a lot faster this year. Teresa ran and she ran a pb of 51.10 so at least one of the Merrien family was happy. She has her sights set on further races now - it's catching this running bug!

On the plus side I have a race under my belt now which has blow the dust off things and my race fitness and sharpness will only get better from now and into the track season. My body has struggled a little bit to recovery from heavy training over the past month and sometimes it just takes a little longer to recover than you plan for.

Overall I still enjoyed the event and being in and around the city with such well participated event (33,000 runners) is always fun. I think it's the first time I've raced Gebrselassie too (if you can call it that!). We happend to be in the hotel life together on Saturday evening coming back from dinner but i decided against asking for a photo together! I regret it now!

The organisors also had a rather novel sprint event arranged in main Street (Deans Gate) in the middle of the City - they closed the road and set up a 150m stretch of temporary track which saw the fastest man in the world Usain Bolt run a new world record for the distance. Unfortantely the race was on at 6.30pm and I had to be at the airport for my flight home so we didn't get to see the race.

Right I better go as I need to get started on some D.I.Y. I have some blinds to put up in Thomas' bedroom which I've been putting off for a few weeks. Myself and D.I.Y. don't usually get on well with one another, whilst I'm not too bad at it, it does elevate my stress levels. Teresa is still away until tonight so at least we can't fall out over it! which is pretty much guaranteed if we are in the same room whilst I attempt to construct something. Finger crossed I have a stress free afternoon.

Great Manchester 10k

2009-05-15T18:01:00.000+01:00

This weekend I'm off to Manchester for the Bupa Great Manchester 10k. This will be the 3rd year running that I have competed in the event, which has usually acted as a good first race of the season for me in the past. It's also usually very popular with elite athletes home and abroad and this years entries suggests no different with a strong start list posted. This year entries include the living legend that is Haile Gebrselassie. Check out the link below on the runnerslife site which has a comprehensive list runners along with notable performances for each...

http://www.runnerslife.co.uk/includes/images/manchester10k.pdf

Since the training camp in Portugal I have been carrying a bit cold, partly down I believe in getting used to juggling training with family and work again off the back of some heavy training. Plus Thomas seems to have had his fair share of illness recently, so ended up picking up his sniffles on returning home. The immune system seems on the mend now and probably stronger than ever after the past 2 months! With an easier week of training the past week or so body and mind are starting to freshen up in time for Sundays race. The immune system has certainly felt healthy enough to cope with the introduction of altitude this week, as I've started using my altitude tent again which I plan to use regularly now over the next month or so. This basically involves sleeping a sealed tent at night which simulates being at higher altitude. I'm used to it now (as I have used it on and off the past couple of seasons) but it's bit noisy at first as you have a generator the size of small fridge inside the tent with you!

Check out a rather sleeping looking me inside the alternative to the mile high club...

Race is 10am Sunday morning but look out for the results on Sunday evening or check out BBC 1 on Sunday afternoon for courage of the race.

All for now.

Camp draws to an end

2009-04-24T21:49:00.000+01:00

I only have the weekend left of the training camp now and whilst it's gone really well and I have enjoyed my time with the group I'm really looking forward to getting home and seeing Teresa and Thomas. I'm also looking forward to an easy week of training next week too ! the volume of training starting to catch up on me now so I see the light at the end of the tunnel in the form of a rest day on Monday!

I have missed being around the family the past two weeks, it's longest I've been away from home since Thomas was born but I think it was particular hard as the training camp came immediately after spending a week together as a family in Tenerife. I'd like to think my wife is looking forward to me coming home too and that Thomas hasn't forgotten what I look like! Teresa has been performing a juggling act, while working fulltime and having a busy time of it she has been looking after Thomas, attending study days for her banking exams and still getting her own sporting activities in too. I have a lot to thank her for and without her support I wouldn't have managed to achieve what I've done so far this year.

In terms of training this week Tuesday was a soid track session with a good of us working together to complete the session in target times in what was hottest day of the trip so far...

I've spared you the horror of my rib cage! by being tucked in behind Nick McCormark (in the blue cap & yellow vest). In the session we had the girls joining us for a couple of the reps so another good size group for what was long session on the track.

(from L to R... Helen Clitheroe, me (just), Nick, Ryan McCloud, Steve Sharp, Andy Vernon (tucked in behind Steve)

Below is another pic from last Saturday out on the Cross country Course that mentioned in my last post. It was very humid day that day as there was a lot of cloud about. I kept my shirt on for this one though!

Just a weekend of training left to complete before heading home now. Right, off to bed now as earlier start to training tomorrow.
Cheers

Lee

More from Portugal...

2009-04-17T16:59:00.000+01:00

After a couple days of rain the sun was out again for our long run this morning. I'm not too fussed about the weather to be honest as long as it doesn't effect training as my main reasons for coming out here were to train hard in a group and have the extra recovery time, any good weather is a bonus though!

Today is the end of heavy week of training, with some 100miles in bank, some tough workouts under my belt as well as the strength and conditioning workouts, to say i'm tired today would be an understatement.

We went on the XC course for a grass session yesterday, a tough workout and still feel like I'm finding my feet after the world xc champs but overall the session still went pretty well and it's great to be doing a session as part of very competitive group with similar targets.

The xc course was apparently the course used for the World XC champs in the 80's, 's pretty nive venue in an area called Alburfeira which is only a few miles run from accommodation in Vilamoura. There's a few nice trails around to locations for running, which also run past the venue for 2000 World XC Champs, unfortunately that course is no longer used.

Currently enjoying my afternoon off watching the football on tv with Gaz (Gareth Balch... he wanted a mentioned!) and D (Damien Moss) both are 800m runners staying with a group down the road. Have know these guys for a long time, as we used to have the same coach from my days of racing the shorter distances.

All for now.

laters

Portugal latest...

2009-04-14T16:20:00.000+01:00

Settled in to my accommodation now after being here a few days now, i'm sharing a place with Andy Vernon. We are a short walk from the Old Village within the Vilamoura complex which is wear the Loughborough crowd are staying, approx a 10min walk away. I must admit I'm quite jealous of their places in the old village as our appartment is fairly basic one bedroom which is ment to sleep 4 adults! (two pull out beds in the lounge) but we don't need much to be honest and we are eating with the others in the evenings at their place now.

We paid a visit to the local supermarkets yesterday and stocked up on food for next week or so, you tend to eat a lot on a training camp! all good nutritional food though. However I did enjoy a chocolate ice cream crepe the other night but for 7 euro's I won't be eating too many! Supermarket food isn't too badly priced considering the exchange rate isn't in our favour these day but oranges are a bargin. They sell them road side... 2 euro's for 25 large organges and they taste great. There's a number of orange groves (if that's what you call them) nearby.

In terms of training things are starting to tick along nicely now, I did my first track session this morning, my first since the Aldershot training camp over 3 weeks ago. I felt I lacked a bit of spring in my step but that's to be expected after an illness and mostly steady running until today. All in all it went well though and i'm looking forward to running again later with seemingly no stiffness from the session. The only thing i need to look after is a slight achilles niggle, I wore my racing flats rather than spikes this morning and my calves feel ok at the moment. Weather has been mixed today, it rained for the first time when we were having breakfast but during the track session it was hot and sunny. Most of us finished covered in mud though! as the water on the track plus I guess the usually dusty conditions made the water quite dirty, and with something like 20-30 athletes on in the group at various points it ment a lot of water being flicked up.

Anyhow that's all for now, hope the athletes back home in Guernsey enjoyed the Easter races, sorry I missed them.

Cheers

Lee

The travelling continues...

2009-04-11T05:45:00.000+01:00

It's been a while since my last update and lots has been going on, unfortunately not as much running as I would have liked though, after returning to Guernsey after the world xc i came down with a virus. This explains a few things, perhaps why I was struggling in Jordan a little. After a few days of feeling like I had man flu I had to unpack and re-pack as it was only a few days at home before headign off to Tenerife with the family and friends. Its was Thomas' first international trip and he was good as good as gold on holiday, even slept in every morning - what a star. Holiday was good and it was nice sharing with another couple (Tricky and Sharon) who also have a baby (Lauren). I got my first run in on the Saturday a week after the world x which didnt feel too good but I managed to run morning & evening most days, I'm still coughing a bit off the back of the virus but I feel on the mend, just bored of airports now! Im currently in Gatwick waiting for my flight to Faro, Portugal where I will be training for 2 weeks. Looking forward to the trip but not sure I will enjoy being away from Thomas for that long, it was nice spending a full week with him in Tenerife, we took him swimming for the first time.

Next time I write will be from Portugal. Oh someone remind me to tell you about my two nightmares while travelling! one was on the way back from World x one was yesterday! They should be amusing for others if nothing else. Right better dash.

Cheers

Lee

World XC Results & diary...

2009-03-29T18:42:00.000+01:00

Well I'm back from my first World Cross Champs, with mixed feelings about the trip but on a whole it still been a very positive experience. Admittedly before the trip I was aiming for a top 60 and I think looking at a few the names that finish in or around that, a top 60 wasn't out of the question but it didn't quite go to plan. Finishing 91st in what is considered the most competitve foot race in the world has only give me a taste for more believe it or not and I'm sure on another day I would have achieved a better placing.

It's been a few days since my last post, so below you'll find an updated diary of the trip after my last entry in Heathrow....

Tuesday 24th March

Land in Amman about midnight as expected, I don't feel good after the flight. Started feeling a bit off colour into the last 20mins of the flight. After collected our bags we are met at the airport by Spencer Barden (who is looking after the organisation of the trip) plus our 2 security guards! who will be looking after us during our time here. During the 30min drive to the Hotel we are handed our room keys ( I'm rooming with Phil Nichols) and get a security briefing. Whilst Jordan is currently considered a low risk UK Athletics have decided to take no chances, unfortuntately it means we only allowed out of our hotel to go to the training venue (by bus) and to the supermarket (across the street - which we are escorted to as a group). We go straight to bed on arrive at the hotel.

Wed 25th March

After breakfast we have a team meeting and then kill time socialises in the hotel. In the afternoon we all get the coach to the secure training venue which is a 2k offroad loop policed by arm guards. I get in an easy 45minute run but breathing is a little heavier than normal today as Amman is at a slight altitude of 3000feet (I didn't know that until we got here, its not a problem though as we have sufficient time to adapt and its not particular high altitude). Haven't feel good today though, stomach has been playing up since last night.

Thurs 26th March

After breakfast we head over to the training venue, its just an easy 30mins this morning but I have stomach cramps which makes for an uncomfortable run. I see the team doctor later on who gives me something to help matters. Decide against running again later in the afternoon so stomach can settle down. End up going to bed early tonight as feel worse in the evening, don't sleep well either.

Friday 27th March

See the Doc. first thing, no sign of an infection so thats good news. ts decided that I should buy food from the supermarket rather eat the hotels though as precausion. After breakfast we get bus to the course, it looks far from being ready to run on! plus to say this is a gold course there's no grass to be found! Sorry, we do find some for the last 100m, its espicially laid out turf, unfortunately the remaining 11900m of running will be hard solid compact stoney ground. They are also putting a large steam roller over it today! The lap is 2000m long with essentially 3 similar length sections a long uphill, a fast downhill and particular hard flat section along the bottam of the course. The course is also very narrow, it's going to be an interesting race. Some of the others get an easy run out on the course but my stomach still hasn't settled so I decide to sit this out. Later in the day the stomach does seem to settle down a bit which is promising. Evening is spent discussing the tomorrows race, order in the starting pen and what length spikes to wear, some of the others are considering racign flats due to the hard underfoot conditions. I decide on 9mm spikes and arrange my kit and bag for race day before bed.

Sat 28th March

I get up early for a light breakfast (own food again), mid morning we get a bus to the training venue and most do a short easy jog and strides to loosen up the legs. My stomach seems to feel ok which is reassuring. Have light lunch before getting bus to the course. On arrival we find it is heavily armed with guards that look like something out of robo-cop! Weather is a bit cooler today, its patchy cloud and a bit windy too. Warm up area is small (approx 200m loop on not very good ground) which makes a train of running traffic when there are around 150+ athletes all warming up in the same location, its does the trick though. Last call closing 25mins before race so we go through early as a team and complete our warm up in the last call area which is immediately behind the starting pens. Again a small area for 150 runners but it good enough. I feel ok in warm up with signs of the stomach problems of the last few days. 10mins to go I decide to remove my tracksuit and gets some strides in (we only have the start straight which is uphill to do this on) i get a good 4 or 5 strides in and feel ok. with still over 5mins they close off the start area so no more strides, Im ok but a couple of the other lads haven't completed there warm up but can't do much about it now. We line up in the pen and try to stay warm ( the wind makes it a bit chilly, air temp is recorded at 12c) I am in the second row in the pen, which suits me fine. They make sure we are all lined up correctly in our pens we await the starters orders. When the guns goes its a fast start as expected up the hill (approx 200m long) to the first corner where the course narrows to only 3 or 4metres wide, traffic is a bit crazy here as people jossle for position after the bend the course is then downhill for 600m - with hard stoney ground underneath and unable to see my feet due to 100m other athletes immediately in front of me I just try to stay on my feet and hold my position. After the first lap the pace settles down and we end up packing close together as a team. It stay like this for the first 3 laps where we work our way through from outside the top 100 to into the 80th to 90th. I find that I'm struggling on the hill and regularly seem to loose ground to people here and then close the gap on the fast downhill. After 3 to 4 laps of this though I loose touch with a group containing 4 of the other GB lads running much of the remainder of the race in small groups just behind. Whilst the hills is tough the atmosphere is electric, the banks alongside are packed with hundreds of noisy supports from around the world with speakers blaring out old school music from chariots of fire to Peters Kays Amerillo! The speakers are right next to the course and help to blank out the pain in a strange kind of way! I hear a lot of support from english supports out on the course which helps and in particular the last 200m finish section I here a scottish chat shout my name and tells me to finish like I did at Nottingham (that wasn't a pretty sight that race though!) I finish strong and close on the guys in front but don't quite catch the French men in front of me.

We finish 14th and I'm 91st from 137 finish. Check out full results and further info and stats on the link below.

http://www.iaaf.org/WXC09/index.html

After the race my calves are in pieces, a get a short warm down in but don't do much as my calves and achilles are sore. I get brief and painful massage on my calves - Mike Skinner the git take a photo of me during this. The pain is etched all over my face - I might try and get hold of that one from him and post up for a laugh!

I will post some pictures up later in the week if I get chance.

In the meantime below is a link to a few pics of the us during the race...

http://www.letsrun.com/photos/2009/ammanrace/index24.html

Cheers for now

Lee

Last update before Jordan...

2009-03-24T13:35:00.000Z

Hi

Currently in Heathrow airport killing a bit of time, we fly out later this afternoon and will be arriving at our Hotel in Amman about midnight all being well. I'm having a rest day today but yesterday was my last session which was a 10min controlled effort followed by 2 x 5min efforts and then 10 x 1min efforts to finish off (all on the grass), the 10 and the 2 x 5 were fairly controlled as were the minutes to be honest, although they were a bit faster. Generally felt pretty good, although my right calf/achilles is a little tight - but nothing an easy week won't fix i'm sure. Last night we had a send off meal at the officers mess with some of the soldiers from the block we are staying in, before sorting out the packing in advance.

That's pretty much it from the UK, if internet at the Hotel in Jordan will post again later in the week.

Cheers

Lee

Inside the Training Camp...

2009-03-22T16:21:00.000Z

Hi

Just thought I'd provide a brief low down from inside the training camp...

Home for the past few days and until Tuesday is Keogh Army Medical base in Aldershot. It's excellent venue for what we need, great places to run whether it be the nearby woods, the canal and a short drive to the track and large grass fields. Rooms are large, although very warm! as my radiator broke and is stuck on max, so I have the window wide open! not very energy efficent I know! The food is also pretty good with 3 meal laid on everyday in the offices mess, where we need to wear full GB kit, their is normally a strick dress code but have dispensation to where GB kit. Our barracks are basic but have everything we need, with small kitchen for snacks and drinks and washing facilities onsite too.

Check out the picture of our barracks below, its a great setting...

Here's brief run down of the past few days...

Friday 20th Feb

I arrived in the evening so not a lot to mention. Got my security pass at the gates and settled into my room (everyone has there own room) and then went to dinner with the others. A few others arrived tonight but most of the seniors arrive tomorrow, juniors have been around since Wednesday.

Sat 21st Feb

Track session in the morning with a few of the others seniors... Phil Nichols, Andy Vernon, Keith Gerrard. Sessions was 5 x 800 (200jog) 400 (200jog) then after 2 lap jog 6 x 200 again with 200 jog recovery. 3 of the junior men also did session in part with Simon, Tom and Nick doing either 3 or 4 sets of the 800/400 and then rejoined for some of the 200's at the end. Weather was great, felt more like summer!

Times of session varied but 800's were generally 2.13 getting down to 2.08 by the last set. 400's were 62's getting down to 60's by the end. The 200's were quicker than planned at around 28/27secs, the competitive nature kicking in no doubt :-) 200m jog between reps was generally 70-80secs throughout. Check out the pic of the guys that were involved below....

After the warm down we drove back to base for some lunch. I managed to get some physio later on to loosen up my calves as in try school boy style only had spikes to wear for the session and Aldershot track turned out to be quite hard. Some massage seemed to help and I didn't feel too bad on the evening run later. After watching some of the rugby we headed over for dinner, where Vernon (Andy Vernon) proved to be an eating machine by polishing 2 large main courses and 2 desserts. We spent some of the evening killing time with a games social games, Vernon made US! pay for his eating spree but exposing us to the worst possible smells produced by man!

Sunday 22nd...

Had a bit of lye in for me (8.15am) then headed over for breakfast in the officers mess. Txt my mum happy mothers day before meeting up with a group at 10.30am for a long run. My calves were tight to start with but after 10mins they loosened up and enjoyed the rest of the run. Myself and Mike Skinner were doing pretty much the same amount of time (70 to 75mins) so ended up running together. Weather great again, was a nice run. Again brief stretch and shower before heading to lunch. Chilled out around my room and the tv room for most of the afternoon a team meeting followed by brief chat with John (my coach) about the summer season. Evening was dinner and social time.

Monday 23rd. So far...

Early morning run before breakfast. Spoke to wife this morning... Thomas has started rolling right over onto his front, he's also teething at the moment so didn't sound a happy little man this morning. I'm Currently typing this out but later the afternoon a few of us are doing a Q&A after lunch with some of the soldier then mid afternoon I will be doing my last training session of note other some easy running and strides, we travel out tomorrow afternoon.

Not sure if we will have internet access in Jordon, although the hotel is meant to be quite nice so hopefully there will be. Weather in Jordon at the moment is raining but its meant to be sunny and temps of 17c by the weekend, so not much different to here.

All for now,

Cheers

Lee

Training camp here I come...

2009-03-19T22:11:00.001Z

Just a very quick post before I hit the hay...

I leave for the holding camp tomorrow afternoon, which is at the Aldershot army base. Had a call this evening from the team manager and the facilities sound excellent so should be great for training without any distractions. This week has been a bit manic with work, family, training and getting everything organised for the trip. On top of that after returning from Jordan I'm only home for 4 days before I head out for a short break with the family before then heading to Portugal for another pre track season training camp with a Loughborough crowd. It's all good stuff though and thoroughly looking forward to this weekend and next weeks race. The World XC is without doubt the biggest event I will have competed in thus far and after my first taste of running in a GB vest at the Europeans back in December I can't wait to do it again. Although I must admit I think I will find being away from home more difficult now in that other than a few weekend races it will be longest time away from home with Thomas now on the scene.

Oh one other thing that's kept me busy is the HealthChek Running Group which we are launching on May 4th, aim is to help others of all levels of ability with their running. Check out the link http://www.healthchekuk.com/Running_Group.html

We are also offering free training sessions during April and May in the build up to the race for life. As you can see there's been plenty going on!

Anyway that's all for now, if we have internet access in Aldershot I will post more, I also plan to start putting a few more details of my training sessions (track sessions, weights sessions etc) will try get some pics and video's linked in too.

All for now

Cheers

Lee

Photo's from the weekend...

2009-03-09T13:48:00.000Z

Lining up for the start...

Just before the gun goes...

The early stages (i'm hidden in the group, you need to look closely, check out the Guernsey contingence in the background)...

The first move at the front of the race starts to spread the field out...

Working to hold a top 5 place...

Mid race battle ....

The Closing stages....

I make my move with 400 to go....

The podium (3rd place for me and automatic selection for World XC)...

For more pictures (including some of the Guernsey Junior athletes chekc out the link below...

http://www.alanrowe-sport.com/photoalbums/IC2009/index.html

World Cross Trials Report....

2009-03-08T15:19:00.000Z

Race went really well! I finished third winning a bronze medal and most importantly gaining the third automatic qualification spot for the Great Britain team at the World Cross Country Championships, these will be held in Amman, Jordan on Saturday 28th march....

The race yesterday was tough as you'd probably expect, for those who watched I'm sure could see that from the look on my face in the sprint for home! watched the highlights this morning on http://www.eightlane.com/ which was painful in itself! Whilst this is probably my best achievement in a domestic cross country race to date, it's certainly wasn't my best look in front of a camera! and i've had some bad ones :-)

here's a link if you fancy watching it http://www.eightlane.com/generator.php?search=Video&id=827

I also did a post race interview which can be found here on the same site http://www.eightlane.com/generator.php?search=Video&id=828

After getting myself into a good early position off the start line I soon found myself having to work back an early break made by the front of the lead pack. I almost lost contact at around half way into the race but after working back to the lead group I had a good tussle with Phil Nichols and Keith Gerrard which seemed to pull us clear from the others and also meant we caught and passed the Eritrean guy running for Scotland West County who held 3rd for first half of the race. At least I thought we'd got clear as whilst I made my move on the 4th and final lap going into the long stretch for home drawing clear of Nichols and Gerrard, Tom Lancashire came through strongly finish just 2 seconds behind me for 4th.

There were some very good performances from Guernsey athletes too which bodes well for the future...

Seniors Womens: Louise Perrio 92nd
U20 Women: Sarah Mercier 28th (Sarah won Team silver for Hampshire)
U15 Girls: Nicola Petit 139th
U13 Boys: George Mason 54th / 294
U13 Girls: Katie Rowe 17th (with 2 years left in the age group!) Claire Heaume was also 98th
(Katie won team bronze for Hampshire and was the first scorer over the line)

Should have some more pictures of the race up tomorrow.

Cheers for now

Lee

World Cross Trials Pre event post

2009-03-05T14:43:00.000Z

Inter Counties / World Cross Country trials are only 2 days away and the body is starting to freshen up nicely, which is exactly what you want going into an important race. I've put the bad run from 2 weeks ago behind me now but on quick reflection and to use someone else's words... it was a different sport! (in describing the underfoot conditions & terrain of my last race). I guess that's the unique thing with cross country running in that every course/race is different and you can't change that so you just have to give yourself the best chance of success by focusing on what you can.

I would be lying if I said that the result from 2 weeks ago hadn't effected me a little bit at the time, as training had been going so well, but I've looked upon it as a blessing as its removed any danger of complacency I might have had this weekend. I still remain confident in the knowledge that I'm in good shap though, better than ever infact. Plus if anything I go into the race in a very similar position to that of the European Trials back in November, as an underdog to make the team. I know that I need be on the top of my game in order to qualify for the team and suits me fine as it adds pressure, which you need to bring the best out of yourself.

All the races will be shown live on Sky sports this saturday, my race will be just after 2.30pm but there are junior athletes from Guernsey running through out the day, first event starts at 11am. Whilst the event is also the Inter Counties (hence you would normally be running in your county vest - Hampshire for me!) I will be running in a club vest, I didn't manage to get hold of the Hampshire team manager until last week and the team was already arranged, thankfully someone sorted me out with a guest spot! As I'm first claim Newham & Essex Beagles for road and cross country look out for a black vest with a yellow horizontal stripe through the middle.

For those that miss the race live, check out my twitter for updates.

All for now.

Cheers

Lee

Team success but individual disappointment

2009-02-22T21:26:00.001Z

Unfortunately a disappointing race to report this time around, I finished 13th overall but after the way training has been going I felt I should have been in much closer order to the front of the race. I must admit I didn't feel particularly good today physically, right from the start of the race my legs just weren't feeling fresh like they should on a race day. It was tough going and whilst the course was particularly muddy and challenging terrain that's no excuse for the end result.

If there was a plus point to the weekend it was that we won Team gold. I was running for my new club Newham and Essex Beagles, its apparently the first time the club has won the mens event in the national for something like a century. Unfortunately I wasn't in particular good spirits for the presentation as was still mulling over a bad day at the office but pleased to have contributed to the team success none the less (i was 2nd scored, with 6 to count).

Had to skip the media pic's etc after the presentation as had to catch last flight home and only had 90mins to get to Gatwick, luckily central London traffic wasn't too bad believe it or not!

Next up World Cross Trials in 2 weeks time where I will be sure to put in a better perform in. For anyone who wants to check it out the race will televised on sky sports (saturday 7th March) they'll be showing all the junior races too and there a few Guernsey girls and lads running in these too.

All for now.

Cheers

Lee

English National Champs a few days away

2009-02-18T08:25:00.000Z

Its been a couple of weeks since my last post but I'm glad to say that my travel nightmares are behind me now! Looking back it wasn't too bad in the end and could have been worse, one members of the womens team who was travelling back to Edinburgh didn't get back home until 2 days after she was meant to.

Training has been going well since my Italy job, oh and before I forget sorry no pictures to post up from my race unfortunately. One of the team managers who was taking pics had advice from an Italian photographer on his camera settings only to find that the pictures came out badly! funnily enough the Italy photographer was also handing out cards to his website! I did find a foreign website though with a great link showing numerous pictures of the 2008 race and shows a lot of quirky aspects of the course. Unless you understand polish the pictures are likely the only bit you'll be able to follow though...
http://bieganie.pl/?show=1&cat=32&id=957

My last block of training has gone well and I've put in a good 2-3 weeks of decent training and I'm definately in much better shape than I was then. Track sessions have gone particularly well and I'm confident that I can put in a good performance at the weekend...

Its the English National Cross Country Champs this weekend, where as always a big field is likely to turn out. It's quite normal to see a field of 1500+ athletes running which looks quite impressive at the start with everyone flying off to get a good early position. The race is being run at a venue called Parliment Hill which carries a certain amount of history. Its known as a challenging course and will prove a good tester being that the World Cross Trials which are now just over 2 weeks away.

Race is Saturday afternoon will try to post up a race report Sunday afternoon if time allows.

Cheers

Lee

Cinque Mulini Result

2009-02-03T08:38:00.000Z

I'm currently sat in Gatwick aiport writing this, with my flight cancelled this morning to Guernsey I'm not sure I will even get back today as Guernsey Airport is closed. I was meant to fly back last night, however my flight back from Milan was delayed most of the day due to the weather in both locations. Long days in airports are not fun as you can imagine, so this report is my therapy!

Anyway back to the important stuff - racing! ...

The race was very unique, I finished 7th a minute behind the winner Shaheen ( a former Kenyan know as Steven Cherono who now runs for Qatar under his new name, he is currently world record holder for the 3000m Steeplechase), 2nd was Lebid (he won the European Cross Champs in December, I was 22nd in that). I was reasonably satisfied with my performance as its been a while since my last race, I felt quite strong and enjoyed raced again. I would have liked to have been a bit further up the field as I was actually the 4th British runners over but the guys who beat me have been racing since the Euro's in December and I wasn't far behind. I'm confident with another good block of training I will move my performances on before the National in 3 weeks time.

The race itself is quite unique, you run inside and through an old windmill on each lap! The race is stacked in history too, with lots of famous athletes running and winning the race over the years. See the link on my previous post to check out the full results and details about the history of the race which was first run in 1933 and has run every year since. Originally it ran through 5 mills but only 2 are left in tack now and one is now someone's house be the looks of it (we just run under the arch of that one) I will try to get hold of some pictures and post them up in the week as the surroundings are great. The route was still quite fast dispite runner through inside the mill, there were no hills of sorts, but your rhythm is broken by the turns and steps inside them!

I will probably update this post when I get home, apologies for typo's in advance as typed in a hurry!

Hopefully I get home today!

All for now

Cheers

Lee

Cinque Mulini

2009-01-30T21:48:00.000Z

Tomorrow I head of to Milan for my first race since the European Cross Country Champs, which was 7 weeks ago!, longer than I would have liked but I'm looking forward to getting a race under my belt after missing Edinburgh.

Training has been pretty tough going the past couple of weeks and after feeling so tired last week the thought of racing didn't really appeal I must admit, but a good track session on the Tuesday and an easier week of training has left me feeling much more confident and with a bit more of a spring in my stride.

I head out tomorrow afternoon and will be traveling separately from the team (it made more sense for me to travel separately from the team as they are heading out via heathrow). This will be my first England vest and my first time I've raced this event, I first heard about Cinque Mulini last year when I met an athlete in South Africa who was heading out there later that month to compete. I've heard a few stories about the race and it all sounds very unique as far as Cross Country races go. As the name says Cinque Mulini (5 Mills) the route of the race apparantely taking you through the 5 Windmills on the course that's used. Its quite a historical race by all accounts too, its been going since 1933 (checkout the website http://www.cinquemulini.org/ for more info. Should find the results on there too after the event. The race is 2.45pm Italian time.

I will try and post up a race report either Monday evening or Tuesday morning when I get back.

All for now.

An Award and a run with a Legend

2009-01-15T22:10:00.000Z

Last night I attended the Guernsey Sports Commission Awards, it was a really good event, a well organised and entertaining evening. I was fortunate enough to pick up the Richard Burton Salver which was award for the best male performance of 2008. With 2008 seeming to have been a very good year for Guernsey Sport I feel quite honoured to have picked something at all. Alison Merrien (no relation btw, although I think her husband Ian is a distant relation in some form) won the Sports Comission Trophy and Dale Galand Garland was inducted onto the heroes wall - he gave quite an emotional speech I must admit. Thoroughly deserved - well done mate.

I also managed to get a run in this morning with Crammie, something to tell the gran kids! although by the year 2040 they probably won't have a clue who Steve Cram was or that I was even a runner! The fact that our run was along the seafront in rush hour traffic certainly added to the fun of it, I later found out that Radio Guernsey had got wind some how and had put something out on air that we were out running. A lorry driver shouted out 'You can take him Lee', no idea who the lorry driver was but amusing none the less. Actually I was thinking about having the title of this post as 'The Day I injured Steve Cram', he tweaked his hamstring just over a mile from home and I ended up driving him back the rest of way! I hope he doesn't read this :) or if he does reads it in the good humour it was intended. A thoroughly nice good though and fantastic to have had the chance to meet him properly. Actually one more funny story before I go bed, I was told this by someone else this afternoon and found it very amusing, ironically it involves someone I used to work with back in my banking days (who will remain nameless so not embarrass him too much)... some of the people involved from the Sports Commission took Steve Cram out for a meal last night after the awards when the nameless individual turned up very drunk at the bar where they were standing, the nameless individual shakes hands with everyone and says (sluring his words) alright Chessie, alright Dave, alright Stuart, alright mate (to Steve Cram and seemingly oblivious to who he was) then turns round and walks off, about five staggering paces later he stops pauses for a moment turns back to group with a puzzled looking but then without saying a word walks off again in his rather frazzled state. I wonder if the penny dropped later!

Night all.

Welcome to the real world Merrien!

2009-01-14T15:51:00.000Z

These were the words used by a fellow local athlete recently in respect of my recently challenging Monday... My wife started back at work this week you see and Thomas isn't in nursery on Monday's, with my mum suffering with illness and unable to help that day it left me trying to juggle my new parental responsibilities with my own work as a personal trainer and twice daily training sessions.

Things have changed for us over last few months with Thomas on the scene, and whilst it's a bit of a cleashay I have loved every minute of it, well nearly! (still not a big fan of dirty nappies). A number of people have said to me that children will mean my running will suffer, usually people that don't know me very well and not realising how selfish I can be (that's a another way of saying committed by the way). I'm determined it won't change things, and whilst things may have changed generally day to day I still got my 60minute run in that morning and a slightly later than normal evening hill session in that day. I guess if there's a message its to look for a way round the everyday challenges particularly in respect of finding time for things. One thing I don't want to do when I'm older it to have to look back and say that if only I had more time to train I could done this or could have done that.

Ironcally As part of my new everyday lifestyle I had lunch with Steve Cram today! I had the priviledge of being invitied to a lunch organised by the Guernsey Sports Commission. He's a good speaker and clearly still very passionate about athletics. Those attending the Sports Commission Awards I'm sure will enjoy the evening.

Right I better dash now as need to get gym session in before collecting the boy from nursary (tugged on the old heart strings putting him in nursary for the first time yesterday I must admit).

Keep following your dreams, all for now.

Lee

Another DNS! but a new coach and an England call up!

2009-01-05T17:14:00.000Z

Happy New Year everyone,

Unfortunately I now won't be running the televised Great Edinburgh XC this coming weekend, which is very disappointing. The mild stomach bug I picked up over xmas just didnt want to go away and also got together over the last few days with it's friend the common cold! Whilst there is still 5 days to the race, I took the decision due to a combination of a lack of hard training and with my cold still hanging around. My main priority is to get healthy again and set my targets on the World Cross Trials in March. If there is such a thing, a good time to get a cold would be now! so with a need improved immune system built up I plan to ease back into training over the back end of this week and get stuck into things properly from Monday next week.

On the plus side I have been selected to respresent England in a XC International in Italy at the end of the month so I have much to look forward too in the short term. The Race is called Cinque Mulini (which means the 5 windmills I understand) this is a very good intl race with a lot of history behind it. I had to turn down two England Vest opportunities recently due to other committments but thanks to my mother who has kindly agreed to have Thomas for a night (the wife is also away - her first trip away from Thomas since he was born) I am now able to go to Italy for this one.

Other good news I have now linked up with John Nuttal, who is a UKA Endurance coach based at Loughborough Uni. John who was an established Intl in his day in the 90's now works out of the Uni during the week and will be helping me with training going forward. This will mean opportunities to train with a group in the UK as and when required and get access for lab testing (I will provide details about what that involves in a few weeks), which I can afford thanks to my sponsors Cannon.

Various doors seem to be opening for me over the last few months after a frustration 2008 summer of racing, my good luck charm - Thomas seems to have done the trick! so here's to a successful 2009!

Cheers

Lee

No Race to Report this time

2008-12-29T12:31:00.001Z

Unfortunately I didn't race on Boxing day after all as I picked up a slight stomach bug and rather than risk making matters worse I decided to rest up. Im in a bit of a transition phase of training at the moment anyhow so with more important races to come over the coming months missing a low key race wasn't too hard a decision to make.

I did go along to watch though as my wife was racing, I must admit though I never like watching races that I was intending to run in. Teresa did well running 54mins, which is near enough equal to her best for that distance.

With the new year approaching Im looking forward to a few events such the English National XC Champs in February and the World XC Trials in March (with World XC Champs being at the end March). I have also committed to racing the Great Edinburgh XC on 10th January which is televised on the BBC.

Time to aim high and set some targets for the new year.

All for now

Lee

Merry Xmas

2008-12-24T11:17:00.000Z

I'm currently in Poole for xmas and getting some good old fashioned steady running in, building my mileage up post Euro Champs. It's nice to run in some less familar surroudings and recharge the batteries at the same time, although I've been up early a number of times the past 10 days or so as Thomas has been waking earlier (the little man seems to be teething at the moment).

I'm likely to race the Poole 10k race on boxing day, so will post that result at the end of the week. It's a race I won 2 years ago, a 4 lap course 'Round the Lakes' as its referred too and a fairly quick course.

Anyway hope everyone has a great xmas.

Cheers

Lee

Team Bronze !

2008-12-17T08:41:00.000Z

Well, I don't think I could have asked for a better first experience in a GB team! I finished 22nd overall achieving my own personal target of a top 25 finish, I picked up a bronze medal in the mens team event and Great Britain had their best ever European Cross Country Champs! Every British athlete that went to the championships won a medal and Britain dominant the medals table.

Below is a diary of my trip...

Thursday 11th December

Travelled to London, a day in advance of the teams Journey to Brussels and arrived mid afternoon at the Hotel. The U20 teams and a small number of athletes that also had to travel from outside London were staying in the hotel. The U20 men and womens team were using the extra day as a pre-trip get together ahead of the championships. No training for me this afternoon, trained in the morning before I set out. Had dinner with team in the evening before an early night.

Friday 12th December

Up at 8am for a 8.30 group run. Hotel is right outside Regent Park, a nice traffic free location with lots of recreational runners out for their morning runs too. First time I've worn the kit for a run, it feels good :-) Late morning - bus to St Pancrass where we meet rest of team before catching the Eurostar out to Brussels, arrive at the hotel early evening. Was looking forward to getting some dinner before a team meeting until I receive a phone call to say I have been selected for a random drugs test. This takes the form of a blood test, samples are being taken to build up a bigger picture of what normal bloods levels in elite distance runners should look like so they can identify the drug cheats. Unfortunately there are lots of people being tests and I end up missing the chance for an early dinner and the team meeting.

Saturday 13th December

After breakfast all the teams (all countries are staying in the same hotel) are bused to the course. We walk the course and discussed the start, spike lengths and the pen order (each team is assigned a starting pen which is approx 2metres wide) Teams of 6 have to line the athletes up, normally 2-2-2 but we decide on 2 in front and one just behind. As I finished 3rd in the trials I get the position just behind the front 2 - I guess that makes me the Teddy Sheringham of Cross Country! The start looks like its going to be muddy! although most of the course is generally very hard underfoot today as it's been very cold but when it thaws out I think that will change. The course is a well established crosss country course and is renowned for being muddy. Our race is 7 laps (1 x 1000m lap and 6 x 1500m lap) of a narrow and twisty course - something of Belgium speciality, they love their cross country running here. After walking the course we get a short run in to stretch the legs and then the bus back to the hotel. Rest of day is spent relaxing and early to bed. Starting to get mind into race mode now, can't wait to get out their running now. Part of me wants it to be cold tonight so that the course stays firm, but I'm also confident that I can run well whatever the conditions.

Sunday 14th December - Race Day.

Up early for a short 15min jog and a couple of strides to get the body moving. After Breakfast I spend a few hours relaxing in the room (I'm sharing with Phil Wicks - another of the senior mens team). We get the last bus from the Hotel at 12.30pm arriving at the course just before 1pm, unfortunately that means we miss the two U20 races but the main priority is staying warm before the race, hence the latest possible bus. Conditions aren't as cold as yesterday though and after a number races on a well used course we realise that longer spikes options are needed. I spend the next hour sat in the athletes tent ( there is a large marquee with designated sections for each nation) keeping warm and focusing on the race. Unfortunatley our section is next to the TV which is showing the race so our coaches and physios spend some of their time fending off other nations from steeling our chairs! One of the spanish athletes doesn't take to kindly to this and proceeds to try and repeatedly kick Nick! (who is the senior mens team manager) the spaniard doesn't get the chair though!
2.05pm time to start the warm up, race isn't until 3.05 but their is call procedure 20mins before the race. I do a full warm up before going into the call room as the starting area is very muddy by now and won't be good for running. We get our number for the front of our vest in the call room as these contain a timing chip in them so that lap times and finishing position can be easily recorded. 10mins to go and we go out onto the course - the mud is worse than I thought - I dare not stand still for too long for fear of my shoes being sucked off - I have taped them round my feet to be safe! 2mins to go... I remove my last item of clothing covering my competition kit and throw it over to Nick, we line up in the pen as agreed, less than a minute to go we all start finding a good foot hold and await the starting gun. Its very sticky mud in the pens and I realise that I need to stand on my toes otherwise my feet start sinking further into the mud, Scott Overall (6th team member) gives us a count down to the starting gun -I presume that he can see the clock. The guns goes and everyone fires out of the starting pens, the 85 other sets of elbow along with a tight left turn only a 100m into the race means keeping your wits about you but soon enough I feel settled into the race. I manage to hold a consistant position of between 18th to 26th throughout most of the race and find that other than a couple of especially soft sections that underfoot conditions aren't too bad on the rest of the course. The course is definately challenging though and 15mm spikes were the right choice! The crowd support is excellent and there are many British supporters lining the course who have travelled to watch. During the last lap I hear some instructions from Mick - one of the GB coaches about my position and I manage to muster up one last effort over the last 400m or so passing 2 or 3 athletes in the process. (I hear later that Mick has been shouting a lot of feedback during the race and most of the content isn't the sort that can be repeated!)
I cross the line and my hands drop to my knees, I know I've given it my all thats for sure after what feels like an age I stagger over into the mixed zone where we find our kit waiting us. On the way through there is TV showing the race and the results, the team scores come up... 3rd Great Britain! Fantastic, suddenly the tiredness disappears and I feel great! I see the my other team members and pass on the good news! We don't have long to celebrate though before being advised to get our team kit on and ushered back outside to the rostrum. Its a great feeling and a moment I'm unlikely to forget standing up there, although I nearly fall off the back of podium as we try to squeeze the 6th team members on there! After a cool down and a bus back to hotel and a shower and change we have a team meeting. Each coach stands up and makes a short speak about their team and the team as a whole, one gets quite emotional he has been on the team for 20years as a coach, its quite moving. As it's my debut I get a mention and a gift to commemorate it. For the first time in a while I have a couple of drinks that night!

European XC Champs 5 days away!

2008-12-09T14:09:00.000Z

I've finally got my feet back on the ground after the trials race and now look ahead to the main event this weekend. Its my Great Britain debut and to say that I'm looking forward to it would be an understatement....

To represent Great Britain has been something of a life long goal and now that I have my chance to fulfil that I want to make sure that I put in good performance in the National vest. Having looked at past results and having watched previous events on the tv I believe a top 20 finish is very realistic. The mens team has also finished 4th team the last 2 years so it would be great if we could pick up a team medal.

The race is on this Sunday from 1pm on BBC2 if want to check it out.

3rd at Euro Cross Country Trials !

2008-11-29T23:13:00.000Z

I'm just about to head to bed but to be honest I'm not sure how much sleep I'm likely to get tonight! as previously mentioned I was racing today in the McCain UK Cross Challenge in Liverpool which also doubles as the trial race for the Great Britain team that goes to the European Cross Country Champs in 2 weeks time. As you've probably gathered from the title I finished 3rd, which if I'm honest is much better than I expected as the first three are automatically selected for the team! well that's what I've been told by a number of people today but until I get the call officially it still doesn't seem real!

I knew I had a chance today but the race went like a dream - still feels like that infact! Of all the races and athletics events I've competed in this definately goes down as my greatest achievement to date and I'm not embarrassed to say that I was a little emotional afterwards too! I can only remember two occasions when I've felt that choked (at least recently any how) by the occasion, one was when Thomas was born and the other was today. So that's both in the space of a few months! I should probably have said my wedding day in there but I think my wife will let me have that :-) Either way all not very alpha male i'm sure but i'm so made up with today that I don't care.

Will write again soon with further details etc but check the link the results which has a picture (taken in the last 400m).... http://www.ukathletics.net/media/news/november-2008/29-11-08-mccain-liverpool/

all for now.

Race Weekend

2008-11-27T12:46:00.001Z

Hi,

Well race weekend approaches... I have the British European Cross Country Trials this weekend, the race distance is 9.8km over what is likely to be a muddy Sefton Park in Liverpool. Last year I was 10th overall finisher, the 8th British athlete over the line but with 6 athletes selected for the British Senior Mens Team for the European XC Champs (which are in Belgium on Sunday 14th December) Im going to need to improve on that placing.

Training has gone well since I competing in the Gateshead XC two weeks ago and I believe Im in better shape than at this time last year. There is plenty of competition for the 6 places but arguably this years race is also more open. I've yet to make a GB team but this year certainly provides me a great chance to achieve that, checkout the blog next week for race details and result...

Welcome to my blog

2008-11-21T12:50:00.000Z

Hi

Welcome to my blog, this is my first blog entry, something I've been meaning to get round to for a few weeks but its been a busy few weeks, infact its been a busy few months - during which my wife gave birth for the first time to our son Thomas (who weighed in at exactly 7lbs), I've been making plans for a change in my working environment, in one of my two jobs (fitness trainer, the other being the local Athletics Development Officer) and also fitting in the small matter of 90miles a week of running.

Thomas has certainly changed things around home, being an athlete means I love my sleep and getting my full quota proved near on impossible to start with, but he's now over 3months old, into a good routine and im pleased to say sleeping through the night now. Whilst I'd like to think I've pulled my weight in term nappy changing and various baby duties my wife (Teresa) has to take the majority of the credit! She is currently off work until the end of the year and thanks to her I have been able to keep my training going and my work has been able to continue unaffected. Teresa is not without her own fitness related ambitions too - only a few weeks ago she also completed the Great South Run (10mile road race) 11 weeks after having Thomas by Ceasarian Section.

I plan to update my blog on a regularly basis with details and articles related to all aspects of health & fitness, my own training as I work towards my sporting ambitions of running in the Olympic Games as well as keeping you posted about regular updates at Healthchek http://www.healthchekuk.com/

From December 1st I will be working with my friend Andy Perkins at HealthChek (something else that materialised over the past few months). We will be working together providing a range of health and fitness services to assist others with their aims and ambitions. Stay tuned for regular info and articles on various subjects.

All for now, cheers

Lee