Surely you’re not going out for a run in this?

A comment I’ve been asked many times, whether it is hot, cold, wet or windy. Well the truth is there is rarely a time I have let the weather dictate to me. If you refuse to train in inclement weather how are you going to get on when you turn up for a race and the weather is awful. The only conditions that have stopped me from training outside are ice and thunderstorms, but then again we don’t get extreme weather conditions like those experienced elsewhere in the world.

Ice – I have actually trained on ice, and it’s not pleasant. My first negative experience of ice was at a New Year’s Day 10k in Hyde Park in 1995. I was in good form and fancied a win, despite entries from Ethiopian Kassa Tadesse and Kenyan Koikai. It was a nice dry sunny day, but it was crisp and I hadn’t noticed the odd small puddle that had iced over. The field was full of American teenagers, clearly obeying the no alcohol before 21 rule that applies in their home country. They were a lively bunch and clearly didn’t appreciate how far a 10k was as they all sprinted off at the start. I was fighting my way through them as I went for the first corner and put my foot on one of the puddles. My legs shot from under me and I was down, landing on my left elbow and hip and right knuckle. I didn’t think about the pain but was a little annoyed that my opposition were getting away from me so got back on my feet and went after them. At the 1^st mile marker I was in the lead but having run a 5 minute mile into a heavy head wind, and taken a fall, the adrenaline ran out. I was forced to concede and spent the next 5+ miles trying not to get overtaken by too many people. It was at this point I noticed the hole in my elbow and the state of my knuckles, as blood leaked out of both. Oh well, I thought, if I’m going to be in pain I might as well finish the race first. Ethiopia won with Kenya in 2^nd and Britain 3^rd, unfortunately not me as experienced Ealing runner Bill Gristwood took that spot away from me, leaving me trailing in a dejected 4^th in 32:43, managing to hold off club colleague Owain Lewis. There were no first aid facilities so I had to get home with blood running into my coat. The physical scars have faded over the years but I’m much more wary of icy conditions. It hasn’t stopped me completely though, in Edinburgh I used to live close to the canal and some mornings I was surprised to encounter ice just as you dipped down to the canal. I also experienced really bad ice a couple of times on nightshift when taking my ‘wee small hours’ runs, on those occasions I gave in after about 3 miles and went back to the office, not wanting to take a fall when nobody was around to help me out. Now I’m in Cheshire it’s not often we get ice but I did take a tumble a couple of years ago, again I stepped on a frozen puddle just as I turned a corner, luckily it was right at the end of a stride otherwise the consequences could have been worse than the bruised hip. These days, if I can see it’s icy, I’ll only venture out if I can get to an area of grass close by, as grass doesn’t freeze as easily as road surfaces.   

Hail – being hit by lumps of ice, as you run, is not pleasant. Mind you I expect it’s not pleasant if you’re not running. Hail storms tend, in my experience, not to last that long so if you just hold off you should be able to run, hail free, in a short while. But that doesn’t help if you’re caught while you’re already out. My worst experience of a hailstorm came during my time spent working in Germany. I used my lunch break to do alternate repetitions or 8 mile runs. On one particular day I went to the changing room in glorious sunshine but emerged to see a huge black cloud approaching. I wasn’t going to re-enter the changing room to put more clothes on so headed off towards the forest. I was about 100 metres away from the entrance to the forest when it threw everything at me, freezing cold wind and big hailstones. It didn’t last long but at the end of it I was cold, sore and wet. I kept running but my hands were so cold it took me 10 minutes before I could uncurl my fingers. It has to be one of my least pleasant runs.

Heat/Sun – I love running in the sun and in warm weather, but you do have to be careful. If I’m running for less than 45 minutes I’ll not bother with sun cream, any longer and it’s factor 15 (despite my extremely fair skin I find factor 15 is as high as I need to go, mind you I do spend a lot of my time shade bathing). I also wear a hat, because I do have a small bald patch that I’m not at all self conscious about. Luckily, or rather by good design, the kit I get from Ronhill and Hilly often contains fabric up to UPF40 so I feel well protected from the sun. I also wear shades. The other thing to be conscious of in the heat is to make sure you’re well hydrated. My body is well adapted, I don’t have to carry water on my runs, but I do watch my pre and post run hydration and I have been known to take water in a race, even over 10k. Last year I was in good form and entered the European Masters Track and Field Championships. They were being held in Hungary and I knew it would be hot. I therefore purposefully took a holiday in Turkey, a few weeks prior to the championships. Normally on holiday I ease back a little on training, but this time I wanted a medal so I was training hard in very hot temperatures. It was hard but it paid dividends as I came away from Hungary with a bronze medal, having said that I thought Turkey was hot but it wasn’t as hot as Hungary. I’ve also raced a half marathon in Lisbon and, although it took place in October, the temperature was touching the 30 degrees Celsius. What was worse, on this occasion, because I was representing Belgrave at the European Clubs Champions Cup, was that we had to be at the start a full hour before the race start, and the start was scheduled for 14:00 hours, to take part in a procession. The start area was jet black tarmac, you could feel the heat bouncing back off it. Luckily we had old timer, and European marathon representative, Knud Hegvold in the team and he guided us to a shady place where we tried to rest before the start. I didn’t run too badly, finishing in 36^th position, though it was a tough race.    

Rain – rain rarely puts me off exercising, of course it’s not nice setting off in the rain but my attitude, as already mentioned, is if you can’t train in the rain how are you going to race in it. Mind you I really don’t like loading/unloading my car with my portable gym when it’s raining, but that’s the choice I made, if I’d wanted it easy I’d have stayed at Fitness First. If I think it’s going to rain I’ll take one of my rain jackets, which one depends on how warm it is as I have different grades of warmth and different styles. If it’s really hot I won’t necessarily take a jacket as the rain can be quite refreshing. The only time I really don’t enjoy running in the rain is when it’s heavy, cold and there’s a cold wind too, those conditions have made me cut short a run before as it’s just not pleasant. But those days should be over as Ronhill are sending me a storm jacket, waterproof to a minimum 10,000mm hydrostatic head. With waterproof seams, zips and a pocket (essential, so I can carry a phone when with clients). 

Cold – I hate the cold, but I don’t mind running in the cold. What I do mind is hanging around at the start of races, in the cold (or wet for that matter). In this country it’s generally not that cold that your body can’t cope with the temperature, exercising, after all, warms you up, but it’s always good to get a selection of clothing that helps you deal with the cold. My essential equipment is the hat and gloves, I have been known to wear gloves over gloves, and of course I have thermal tops and thermal lycras.

Wind – Occasionally we have strong winds that are dangerous and you actually feel like you’re moving backwards. It’s rare in our country but no point in risking your life for a run. Other than that wind can be a bit unpleasant but again what are you going to do if it’s windy on race day. You just need to develop an effective way of running through wind, and only practice can do that. Personally I like the wind as it means I can run hard without having to run fast, at my age it’s much easier to run hard than fast. Windproof jackets will help you to stay warm if the wind is cold.

And now onto other things.

Last week I ran my slowest ever parkrun, admittedly I’d only done 8 in total so plenty of time to run even slower. I was a little disappointed as only 6 weeks previously I’d run my best time around Pennington Flash, to become only the 3^rd ‘official’ person under the 17 minute barrier. I’d put it down to lack of racing and the week I’d spent inactive, after spasming my back, plus the muddy and windy course just made it a tough run. I was about to throw in the towel regarding England selection, but I’m a great believer in pushing all the way to the finish line and I still have a week to prove I’m fit. Ok lets be honest, I’ve done very few road races this year and all the BMAF championships have fallen when I’ve been away, with the exception of the cross country champs which occurred at the very start of my return from a 2 month absence, so my chances remain pretty slim. I therefore decided I’d have one last throw of the dice and do something I’ve not done before, run two consecutive parkruns. Now I love the parkrun concept and, in particular, I love going to Pennington Flash, where you always get a tough run but a warm reception, but I’m not a creature of habit and like to do other races too. However this Saturday I rolled up with my regular partners in crime, Carole and Ray. It had been a bit of a strange week with having to fit my training around new clients, workmen at the house and a meeting with Ronhill/Hilly (more of that later). So I’ve not done as much running as normal but at least I’m back into the weights, core work and kettlebells. My confidence was a little low after last week’s run and I wasn’t expecting to run that well but I just thought I needed to race again. The dryer weather cheered me up, though it did start to spit with rain close to the start. This time I had the front all to myself and once I’d rounded the tight turns at the start I put my foot down. I felt back in proper race mode and kept pushing, despite my mind asking the question why, if you’re so far ahead, do you need to keep pushing. Well the answer is I wanted to keep the right side of 18 minutes. My legs did feel a little flat at times but I did really feel like I was running ok. As I’ve said Pennington Flash is a tough course and I was glad to crest the last hill to the enthusiastic support of one of the volunteers and her baby. A quick glance at the watch showed I was on good time and I pushed on to the finish. I won my 4^th Pennington Flash Parkrun, I now have 4 wins and 4 2^nd places out of the 8 I’ve run there, in my 2^nd fastest time 17:13. A much better run and I feel that I can move on from there, come November I should be in good shape – now to see if I can get that place in the England squad, though I’m prepared for rejection this year. To cap off a fine Parkrun both Ray and Carole set new course pbs by around 30 seconds, with Ray coming close to his 5k pb on the road, just goes to show marathon training can influence your results over shorter races too, or maybe it has a little to do with the fact that I’m coaching him!

Speaking of parkruns I was chatting to Lee Riley earlier in the week, you may recall I helped Lee achieve his world records over the half and full marathon, carrying a 40lb pack, I had seen that a parkrun was starting in Hanley and I suggested he tried it. Well he did and he won (he wasn’t carrying the pack this time) so well done Lee. Lee has set himself his next challenge and I’ve been advising him on how to train for it. The challenge is to set a world record for carrying the 40lb pack over the 1 mile distance. The current record is 5:35. Lee’s attempt will be taking place on 12 November at the Cumberland Sports ground in Crewe, between 09:00 and 12:00, so if you’re around pop along to support Lee, or even take part, and help him raise more cash for the soldiers charity.  

As I mentioned earlier, I had a meeting this week with Ronhill/Hilly. Ronhill and Hilly being two separate brands, related through their parent company, that produce clothing and accessories for runners. I have a good relationship with both Ronhill and Hilly and they supply me with kit, I also test their products. I’ve been pretty impressed with the products, they look good, feel good and are practical, as well as being made specific to purpose. Anyway, I’ve been associated with Ronhill and Hilly for about a year and a quarter now and both they and I would like to expand on that relationship. Much to be discussed but even if nothing extra comes out of it I’m still happy to be associated with these innovative companies and of course I’ll be continuing to test the 2012 catalogue gear and will be receiving a box of new gear soon too, as a thank you for the testing work I’ve already done. One really good thing about the last batch of shorts they sent me is that they are black with red flashes, which go great with my Herne Hill vest (Paul Coughlan take note), unfortunately I rarely get a chance to compete for Herne Hill as my lifestyle and location interfere.

Speaking of which, Herne Hill Harriers gained silver medals in the South of England Masters Road relays on Sunday. Last year we were unable to get a team together, having won the event for the previous 7 years (3 of which I had taken part in), so it was great to hear the news, even if I was unable to make it this time.   

Watch Out Autumn’s About

It’s staying darker longer in the mornings, as Summer drifts towards Autumn, this darkness makes it that bit harder to get out of bed, particularly on the mornings I have an early start. Which reminds me that it’ll soon be getting darker earlier in the evening as well and it’ll be time to make sure I have enough high visibility clothing. I’m quite lucky, Ronhill produce some really good high visibility clothing and accessories and, as part of their support for Roger Alsop Personal Training, they supply me with enough to keep me visible in all the sessions I do outside.

If you run in the dark, or even semi-dark, it’s important that are visible and seen aas early as possible, particularly if you are running on the road. Having moved from Edinburgh to the countryside (when I lived in Hassall Green) it made me realise that cars travel fast down country lanes, not expecting to come across a runner in the road, so it’s even more important to be noticed early, I always recommend a high visibility jacket at any time of the day if your run takes you down country lanes.

But it’s not just the dark that poses Autumn danger for runner, you can also be sidelined by tree debris. Lots of things fall from the trees, branches, twigs, leaves, acorns and conkers, to name some. If you’re not paying attention you can land awkwardly on some of this debris and cause an injury. Leaves in particular can be a problem, they tend to collect in hollows, hiding potential dangers from view, I always recommend that people avoid treading on a pile of leaves as you never know what they’re hiding. Wet leaves can also be a problem, as you can slip on them very easily, particularly if going downhill.

One other thing to watch out for in the dark, overhanging branches, with the leaves having been dropped it’s not always easy to see thin branches as they protrude into the street. On a number of occasions I’ve been running along a street and taken a direct hit in the head from an overhanging branch, blood has been drawn and I’ve even taken a nasty poke in the eye, but thankfully no lasting damage. Be alert to these dangers.

The start of Autumn isn’t all bad, it also heralds the start of the cross country season. Now I know that school cross country running has been the cause of many an adult having a psychological fear of running but there are many people, like myself, who absolutely love it. Ok love is perhaps too strong a word for me, in fact I absolutely hated every minute of this year’s National Cross Country Champs (which you’ll recall is the first blog I wrote about), but there is a certain smell about early season cross country (and I don’t mean sweaty competitors), plus you can get some really nice sunny and dry conditions and some venues are actually really beautiful to run around. But the main thing I like about it is the camaraderie, not just with your team mates but with your opposition too, sure you’re out to beat them but it’s in a nice way, like beating your mates in a kickabout. As I live about 200 miles away from my club I don’t get to do much cross country these days and it is the one thing I miss most about not living in London, or Edinburgh for that matter. In fact I want to see if I can run in a local league as a guest, but then that lacks the team element might still make it like running a road race. Having said that, and I can only really vouch for Pennington Flash, but I feel like the atmosphere at Parkruns comes very close to that of cross country as it’s often the same people week after week at the same venue, and whilst still trying to beat others you’re always happy to see someone else have a good run.

This week I returned to proper running training. I’m still not doing as much as I was 4 weeks ago, I’ve been quite busy with new clients and housey things, but at least I’m able to do quality training. I didn’t do any core or strength work during that first week  but I’ve started that this week. In fact on day 4 of my return I was doing a Yasso session with Ray. This involved running 10 x 800m with 400m recovery and the principle is that you get an idea, from it, of what you could do in a marathon. With Ray due to run the Chester marathon in less than three weeks he was keen to see what he should be aiming for. It turned out pretty good, Ray has come on hugely since I first met him, there is no way I could have considered doing this session with him 6 months ago but on Tuesday he managed to average 3:23 for the 800m reps. Now I think that’s pretty damn good, and as I was running them with Ray it gave me a good session too. Incidentally I’ve just picked up another client looking to improve from a 38 minute 10k, so I’m going to be training pretty hard over the next few weeks, just to keep up with my clients. As I’ve mentioned, in a previous blog, there’s a limit to how many clients I can run with and I’m getting close to that limit, so better book me up soon if you want to Run with Rog.

On Saturday we decided to go to Pennington Flash Parkrun, I had wanted to go the previous week but my back injury put paid to that. It was a reasonable start to the day as Ray, Carole and I set off. It had rained quite a lot over the week and we were expecting some mud, but it has been wet before and there was always a way to avoid the worst of the mud. However conditions on Saturday were the worst I’ve seen them and I have to admit to treading gingerly in a few places, almost coming to a standstill at the bottom of the grass hill as I tried to avoid falling over. This coupled with a slight loss of fitness gave me my slowest time around the 5k run, 17:50. Still good enough for 2^nd place but not good enough to avoid ruining my average. Oh well it’s only a statistic. I was beaten by youngster, Matthew Crehan, who comes from a long lineage of very good Crehan runners and I’m sure he’ll be producing some great results as he builds up his fitness. As I slip into old age I’ll be able to watch him from afar as I slip down the field. Carole had one of her better runs but it was Ray who surprised us all by setting a personal best on the course, that marathon training is turning him into a powerhouse. Unfortunately Ray twisted his back on the mud and is having to consider his training carefully, in his lead up to the marathon. Hopefully no lasting damage. 

On Saturday night I went to the Northwich beer festival. I’d arranged to go with Ray but Ray had to call off, due to his back. I’ve only ever been to beer festivals during my time living in Germany and they do them very well, so as it was local I thought I’d give it a shot. Well it was a really good laugh, some of the beer was really nice though some was a bit disappointing. Still it all went down. There was a group called Cheeky Monkey playing throughout the night and they were pretty good too, playing punkish style versions of many 80’s hits – took me almost back to my schooldays, though not completely otherwise I’d have been drunk after two pints. 

Gaining Selection and What That Means – a Personal View

We all like to back our teams and when it comes to major international events we get behind our national team. With the Rugby World Cup currently ongoing I’m expecting to see lots of banter on Facebook, as my friends cover pretty much all the countries taking part. It’s great having a team or even a person to support, living the highs and lows with them, but what’s it like to be part of that team? Well this week’s blog I’m going to give you my own personal reflection of what it feels like to be selected.

My first memories of selection/rejection come from my schooldays, being one of the crowd up for selection for one of two football teams. Of course in the playground, as long as you want to play, you’re always going to get selected, but it’s a matter of when you get selected. No one wants to be the last one to be selected but it can be a cruel old world and if you can’t improve it’s important to find a different skill. I know guy’s who were pretty rubbish at football but once they accepted that and concentrated on being the goalkeeper they upped their chances of an early selection, after all better to have a half decent goalkeeper than a half decent winger if you already have three good players.

I started running because I couldn’t make the grade in football or hockey and I really wanted to be part of a team sport. Funny that, you might consider running is an individual sport but actually it’s both and one of the things I enjoy most about running is being part of a team, win or lose the team spirit is worth it every time, though I admit it’s better if you win.

When I started running I joined my local club, Belgrave. I started my racing on the track, running non scoring events in the Rosenheim and Southern League, and watching the scoring races. Seeing guys in Belgrave singlets running much faster than me I knew I had a way to go before I could make the team and for this reason I refused to purchase a Belgrave singlet until I felt good enough to wear it, after all anybody can wear the singlet, I wanted to earn it.

When the cross country season started I felt like I should get the singlet, I had improved and felt like I was representing Belgrave, even if I was still not counting in a scoring team. But it didn’t take long, in less than a month I was Belgrave’s 10^th man in my 2^nd Surrey League event, thus making the scoring 10 and counting towards the team score. I was so happy to have succeeded where I’d failed in other sports and I was proud to call myself a Belgrave Harrier. That got me recognised and although I was still some way off the best of Belgrave, my willingness to participate and my improving form made me a regular in future Belgrave teams.

In my first year at Belgrave I went along to watch the South of England 12 stage relay, which in those days took part on the roads around Wimbledon Common. It was a spectacular sight and though many of the athletes were unknown to me I knew I wanted to take part in this race. But this race wasn’t for anyone, you had to be selected.

For the next few years I tried hard to make the team but I was never quite good enough. I was asked to be reserve in 1992, the last year the race was held in Wimbledon but I never got a chance to race over the roads I trained on. The following year the race was moved to Thurrock, such was my improvement in form over the previous winter that I wasn’t just selected for the 12 man team but I was asked to do a long leg. It was a great feeling to be part of the team, just a year too late. After this I was a regular 1^st team member in National, Southern and Surrey teams for Belgrave and won many medals over the years.

I’d achieved my goal but what next, I’d never really thought about representing my county or anything even higher but when I won the Surrey 10000m championship in 1993 I started to believe I was good enough. I was disappointed not to be selected for the Inter-counties that year, until I realised that selection had taken place before the County champs and you also needed to be known by the selectors. After that I’ve tried to make sure I get known by the selectors, though I still want selection on merit. Also in that year I was selected to represent Merton, the London Borough I lived in, in the London Champs. I’ll never forget the race (3000m) I was always up with the leaders and felt good coming into the final 100m, I launched my sprint and saw a gap on the inside, as I started to pass the Wandsworth athlete his arm came out and he executed a perfect Michael Schumacher manoeuvre, pushing me off the track and onto the grass, it broke my stride and one of my spikes as my foot hit a lump of concrete, but it just made me more determined to beat him, I surged again and left him trailing in my wake by a clear second. Even though I’d beaten him I was still pretty annoyed with him and we exchanged a few words. I got my own back the following year when, having moved in with my girlfriend, I took his place in the Wandsworth team. Of course Geoff Jerwood and I are now mates and team colleagues and it pains me more that Geoff is no longer able to compete, after all I owe him a shove.

In 1994 I made my debut for Surrey, not on the track but in the Inter-Counties Cross Country champs, having had a good run in the Surrey County Cross Country champs. Once again it was a great feeling to be handed a Surrey singlet and a badge.

1995 was my next move up the ladder, I’d entered the South of England 3000m champs. I’d run some good races in 1993 and 1994 and truly believed I had a chance in this race. I always respected my opponents but never had any fear of them, after all I’d made huge improvements and I didn’t see any reason why this couldn’t continue. As I declared myself I was told there was an inter-area match and would I consider running for the South-East of England, well that was a step up on Surrey so naturally I said yes. I was then told that there were some other faster runners yet to declare so I may not get selected. I said ok but also that I didn’t mind if I ran or not for the South-East but I was here to win and I was going into preparation mode so would appreciate early notice, to which the chap got a bit tetchy. I went away to put my numbers onto my Belgrave singlet and relax. About 5 minutes before the start the, clearly deaf, chap came up to me and handed me a South-East singlet and told me I was running for them. He caught me off guard otherwise I’d have told him where to stick his singlet. I quickly changed over my numbers and put on the singlet, only to find out it was designed for a shot putter and was half hanging off my shoulders. It was a really windy day and this was the last thing I needed. Thankfully, before I could lose my concentration we were called to the start. It was a fantastic race, the early pace was slow, due to the wind, and then, after 3 laps it really picked up. I had no idea how fast we were going but was involved in a 5 man tussle for 1^st place. As we reached 400m to go Neil Caddy and Jason Humm shot off, I was strategically badly placed and missed the initial burst but went after them anyway. Neil won in 8:24.43, Jason was 2^nd in 8:25.67 and I remained 3^rd in 8:27.02. It was, and remains a personal best for me. I was a bit annoyed with myself, missing the break, but I doubt I’d have beaten Neil in any case. The bonus was that I was given the silver medal as Neil had not been declared in the Championship, this also handed bronze to my old NatWest and RBS colleague and future AAA champion Nick Wetheridge who’d come 4^th in 8:30.66. I was pretty happy with my result and almost allowed myself to forget about the idiot who’d given me a tent to wear.

That would have appeared to have been the pinnacle of my representation, I often thought I should have been selected for the South of England in some of the road races, but as I tended not to race on the road as much as track and cross country I imagine I wasn’t so well know to the selector. However, at age 37, in 2002 I received an unexpected call to run for them in the National 10k Champs. I was running the Surrey Road Relays the day before and normally would have said no, as I don’t generally do back to back races, but once again I saw this as another pinnacle so said yes. It turned out well for me, I ran a good leg on the Saturday, helping Belgrave to silver medals and then ran 31:55 in the next day’s 10k, my fastest time for a fair while and fully justifying my selection as I was 2^nd in the team. I ran for the South again in 2003 but only 3 weeks after the marathon I struggled for pace and could only finish 5^th Southerner (out of 6) in 33:39. I travelled up with my pal, and best man at my, so far, only wedding, Al Stewart (not the singer, definitely not the singer) and it was great to see him have one of his best runs, finishing 2nd in the race and first Brit.  

We were now 10 years on from when I’d made my initial impact on the running scene and I’d accepted that I was wasn’t going to get a senior International call up, but, at 38, I was only two years away from reaching Veteran status (it was 40, for men, in those days, nowadays it’s 35 and we’re called Masters). My training partner of many years, Charlie Dickinson, had represented England, on many occasions, in the International Cross Country race and this now became one of my main focuses.

When I hit 40 I was running well, either winning or being 1^st over 40 in all my races, but then I tore my hamstring. I tried hard to get fit again but ran out of time and, rightly, wasn’t selected for the England team. Towards the end of the year I moved to Edinburgh to take on a new job that required working nightshifts. I continued to train hard but knew I could not run to my full potential whilst working nights (you have to work them to fully understand how it impacts your body). I accepted that my best chance of running for my country had passed. But then Alex McEwen, who’s group I trained with occasionally, suggested I tried Scotland on the basis of residency. I did and was selected for the team in the 2006 International at Falkirk. It was a dream come true for me but I did have reservations, I wasn’t born Scottish and felt guilty about taking the place away from a born and bred Scotsman, however, my Scottish running pals set me right, supporting my inclusion. I ran well, finishing 3^rd Scot.

I represented Scotland for the next three years and during that period I even represented British Masters on the track against Belgium and France. Then in 2009 I moved back to England and I was told this would rule me ineligible to represent Scotland. Even marrying my Scottish girlfriend wouldn’t have swayed the selectors, so I didn’t. But as it turned out when I turned 45 I was running better than when I’d turned 40. This led to me gaining selection for England so I made my 5^th consecutive International Cross Country appearance, this time in an England singlet. This was a real high for me as it is so competitive to get into the England squad and there are only 6 places available. Unfortunately I was struggling with an injured knee and didn’t have a good run, finishing 6^th Englishman, though I would have been 2^nd Scot and did beat an England M35.

So that’s my personal story of how I went from wanting to represent my club to actually representing my country.

Well what of now? When I wrote last week’s blog I alluded to the fact that I had done something to my back. One of my coaches once told me that one of the easiest ways to get a back problem is to bend over to pick up a piece of paper from the floor. Well David, you can add to pick up a pair of shorts from the floor to that. That’s exactly what I did, I was all ready to get out and run a hard run and suddenly I was bent over in agony. My back had spasmed and locked me into position. Over the next two days it got worse and to stand up from a sitting position I first had to get down on my knees. Don’t even ask about getting out of bed, it was bad enough in the morning but needing the loo in the middle of the night was an experience I really don’t want to repeat. I did appropriate back exercises and gradually mobility returned, but it meant I lost a week’s training. I started running again on Saturday, just an easy 30 minutes with Carole, but I’m starting to build up again. However I think it is unlikely I’m going to be able to show any form before selection for this year’s International Cross Country so have accepted this won’t be my 6^th consecutive year at the champs, though I’m not ruling it out. But the good news is, despite the lack of exercise, I’ve actually maintained my weight, you see I’ve been following my nutritional meal planning programme (you can too www.rogeralsop.co.uk/nutrition).

Complete Nutritional Meal Planning Package

This week I wanted to tell you about a new nutritional meal planning package that Roger Alsop Personal Training is promoting. Now I know blogs aren’t supposed to be about product promotion but I hope you’ll forgive me as I’ve written so many about running I wanted to focus on something else this week. This particular package helps you to plan your meals around your goals and dietary requirements. It’s not about restrictive dieting, but about eating real food and once you’re familiar with the process it should add to your weekly food shop planning exercise.

The tool allows you to set your own preferences, omitting foods you don’t like and even create your own recipes, should you want to. Once you’ve gone through the initial setup and dietary preferences it can create a meal plan for you, which can then be converted into a shopping list. You then track your progress against your goals. It has other resources too, calculating how many calories you burn off during exercises, and it’s growing all the time.

Promotion over, take a look at www.rogeralsop.co.uk/nutrition for more info, and a video. If you’re interested get in touch, I’m in the process of creating paypal for it, so that should be available soon. Oh and I’ve set the price quite low, initially, because it’s a new concept.  

I know there are some regular readers of this blog, so another apology from me, because there wasn’t one last week. I decided it was time for me to treat Carole and myself to a romantic break, so I went away for 10 days. It was a little bit like history repeating itself for me as I revisited places I’d been to before, but they were all new for Carole and they’re really nice places to visit anytime. As you’ll know, I may take holidays from Cheshire but I don’t take holidays from training, however I made the decision to give myself a little break, maybe take a few days off and on the days I trained to just train at ticking over level – but it didn’t all go to plan.

We went to Slovenia, starting in Kranjska Gora, where I had been skiing back in ’92. It’s a lovely little town with very little to do, except walk up big hills, which of course we did. We had a great view of the mountains from our hotel balcony but I’ll admit now that I was a little less impressed with the food at this hotel. We stayed here for 3 days and I did two runs, running up to the Jasna lakes, using minute reps with 30 second recoveries to justify only doing about 35 minutes of running.

After 3 days we moved onto, what I consider to be the most romantic place I’ve been to, Bled. Bled is a real attractive resort with a lake, castle and island. Have a search on the internet for pictures of it, if you don’t believe me (I would put some of ours up but I’ve been too busy setting up the nutrition package to look for the camera). I stayed here in 1997, I’d just started running again after fracturing my foot, and found the 4 mile circuit around the lake pretty good for training. This time however there was a small problem I hadn’t anticipated. The World Rowing Championships were being held on the week we were there. Whilst it was pretty good mixing with so many elite athletes, just like at Pennington Flash, it did mean a portion of the Lake road was sealed off and the diversion took you up a steep hill, adding a further mile onto the run. However, to be honest, it was just what I needed, allowing me to, justifiable stretch out my run a little further and make it more of a workout. After a few days I did get a little problem with my Achilles, but changing my shoes to a lower heel seemed to have cured that, I’d better keep my eye on that though.

I’d really gone to town this time, staying at the Grand Hotel Toplice, last time I was here I was staying lower class but went to the bar, which has huge bowed windows with a spectacular view, for a drink each night. Another plus was the fact we had a balcony on the lake side of the hotel. Carole was impressed, and so was I. The hotel was great and, unlike the previous hotel, the food was pretty damn good too, if a little strange at times. One of the other nice things about this hotel is that it has a pool fed from natural springs, but boy is it cold. I remember last time I couldn’t face getting in but this time I braved the elements and followed up with a sauna. It was in the pool I got chatting to Canadian, Ron Gibson, who’s son, Robbie, was in the Canadian 8. They ended up with bronze, with Germany getting the gold and Great Britain the silver. Ron was leaving before the end of the week and passed on his tickets to me so that we enjoyed a day at the races, on the Friday. I also had a brief conversation with Quin Batten, former rowing gold medallist, who just happened to be having breakfast at the same time as me one day.

Of course, being out of the country meant missing out on a few things, like the rain. We missed most of the World Athletics Champs, we tried our best to catch up with the highlights but Eurosport’s coverage was pretty dire, I was particularly disappointed when they concentrated on field events whilst Mo Farah was trying to win the 10000m. Thankfully we got back home in time to see him win the gold in the 5000m, better coverage from Channel 4 but still not up to the standard we’re used to. Good to see a gold for Dai Greene too, in the 400mh. One other thing I missed was the 6 month anniversary of the Pennington Flash Parkrun, but I understand my age grading rival, Jeff Whittington, won the race, again stretching his lead even more in the age graded tables.

I woke up this morning raring to go, I was wide awake, the sun was shining, my Ronhill test kit was washed, and then I did a stupid thing….I bent over, somehow I must have twisted as I reached for my shorts and my back went into a spasm. After a few exercises it was clear I wouldn’t recommend myself to run, hopefully It’ll be ok for tomorrow when I have a number of clients to service, it doesn’t help that I also ice burned it, despite using a tea towel, and now have a very unpleasant red raised area on my back – still it could have been worse, at least I got out of mowing the lawn.