Be My Team Mate

I believe I’ve mentioned it previously but I’m a Formula 1 fan. I’ve been watching it since I was a kid, back in the days when the drivers were all playboys, risking their lives and saying what they thought. I drifted away for a few years because it seemed to get a bit processional but I got back into it during the Schumacher era. I was persistent, I’d watch them all, even though, for a while they got boring again. I even went all the way to Melbourne to watch the Australian GP one year, ok I was touring Australia at the time so not such a big excursion. Last year was a cracking year with lots of overtaking, which is what I’m interested in, that’s wheel to wheel overtaking rather than the letting team mates through or passing someone while they’re in the pits.

So far this year, after races in Australia and Malaysia, it’s not living up to the excitement of last year. Yes there’s been some good passing moves but it doesn’t seem like there’s been as many. It was good to see Kimi Raikkonen win in Melbourne and the Red Bull domination challenged, though that seems to have lasted for only one race. This weekend there were two interesting developments. Firstly Alonso crashed out very early on, which robbed us of a chance to see some great racing, though it did give Massa the chance to shine in his own right, which he failed to do. Secondly was the decision by Vettel to disobey team orders and rob his team mate, Webber, of the victory.

I’m in two minds about this incident. I prefer drivers to race each other, following team orders robs us of a potentially great battle between two drivers with almost identical machinery, however because Webber was following team orders, he wasn’t in race mode with Vettel, as he believed Vettel would not overtake him, so we were robbed of a battle anyway. Were I in Vettel’s shoes I would have wanted the win too, but one day the shoe might be on the other foot and there may well be a time when Vettel needs Webber as his rear guard. If I were Webber I’d be as bitterly disappointed as he clearly was, the win was his, he’d done everything he’d been asked to do and, knowing what the team orders were he could afford to relax a little and enjoy victory. How will Webber react in a similar situation again, or even Vettel for that matter, has the trust between team mates been so eroded that they are more bitter rivals than their opposition, playing into the hands of Alonso. My preference would be for no team orders, for the best drivers to race each other, but it’s never going to happen unless we have one driver for each team, and even then you can’t guarantee it as you have mixed loyalties.

In running we have inter team rivalry, it’s often stated that you’ll sometimes try harder to beat a team mate than somebody you don’t know, and that does happen. But there’s also a bit of camaraderie when you’re running alongside a team mate in a race. Knowing you are the same ability can encourage you to push a little harder to work together on the opposition. I’ve often given words of encouragement to team mates that I’ve passed towards the end of races, I’ll encourage them to come with me and hang in to the end but I won’t be slowing down for them as I’ll be chasing someone else down. The other thing I tend to do after I finish is go back along the course to give my team mates a hurry up, it doesn’t matter how worn out I am I get out there and shout encouragement at them, whether they want it or not. I’m a great believer in encouraging your team mates to do better, as long as they finish behind you.

This weekend we saw the cancellation of all the area 12 stages. This was a big shame for Salford as we had a strong squad out, on the other hand it was good news for one of my former clubs, Belgrave, as they found themselves with only 11 men. The races will not be reinstated, which is a shame as 9 teams will miss out on medals, and it could have been one athlete’s only opportunity of that medal. Somebody suggested running the area championships as part of the National championship, which I think is a great idea.

Also this weekend it was the World Cross Country Championships. I love watching cross country on the TV, it’s just unfortunate we don’t get more of it, but even I could see that this championship wasn’t of the standard that they used to be, though this actually made the races more watchable than on other occasions. It’s a shame we can’t encourage the best in the World to compete at the World championships but I guess everyone has their own agenda.

When I visited my parents this weekend my mum had dug out some things from under the bed. One was a copy of Athletics Weekly from September 18 1996. The front cover has four pictures, three from the Great North Run, one showing my old mate, Paul Evans, as he heads towards a 2^nd place finish behind Benson Masya, incidentally my other club mate, Gary Staines, was 4^th in that race, Belgrave won the domestic team race. One was of Yvonne Murray leading over the Tyne Bridge, she would eventually come 4^th with fellow Scot Liz McColgan winning. One was of Carly Wilson winning the Junior Great North Run, I don’t know what became of her. The 4^th was of Janine Whitlock, our top female pole vaulter at the time, who had just vaulted 4 metres. Looking through the magazine it’s quite interesting to see the names of people I’ve competed against; many greats were running sub 67 in the Great North run, including a couple of friends; Bill Foster and Bashir Hussain. In the ladies race it was good to see my friends Jackie Newton coming 9^th and Clare Pauzers in 12^th place. Canadian Neil Smith was claiming a world record for running the ‘beer’ mile in 5:42.3, but as they were only consuming 330ml of beer a lap they must’ve been doing the girls race, surely real beer milers consume pints! Another one of my mates, Dave Taylor won the Buffalo Chips 10 (presumably 10 miles) in Sacramento, interesting name for a race a bit like the Dog Poo 4 or the Cat Wee 7. Other interesting results showed another couple of old mates, Dave Dudley and Lee Hurst coming 3^rd and 4^th in the Preston 10k, with Alex Rowe 10^th, Andy Wilton winning the Congleton half marathon with a sub 70 clocking, Eric Crowther, down in London winning the Sri Chinmoy 2 miles in Battersea, ahead of my old Belgrave sparring partner, Phil Carstairs, with other Belgrave pal, Kevin Quinn in 4^th. I could go on but even I’m getting bored.

Also found under the bed was a programme for the Wilmslow Half Marathon from 2003, which was the only year I’ve run it and also hosted the AAA and Inter-counties championship. A look back at the results that years show; The race was won in 62:23 by Julius Kibet, with Ian Hudspith 2^nd and first Brit. Salford’s Andi Jones was 6^th in 64:41, local to Crewe, Mike Proudlove, ran 65:26 for 9^th, another Salford runner, Duncan Mason ran 66:30 for 17^th, which was one place higher than Lee Hurst, who must’ve been between clubs as he wasn’t listed as Belgrave. In 22^nd and 23^rd were my Belgrave colleagues Will Cockerell and Alaster Stewart, having particularly good runs with 66:48 and 66:54 respectfully. They were just ahead of, now m45, Gordon Lee with 3^rd Belgrave runner, Paul freary two places further back, closely followed by Matt Shaw, in his Tipton days. Alex Rowe was 1^st m45 in 69:39, Richard Ward was 41^st in 70:38 and I was 45^th in 71:01. Behind me were such notable as; Darren Hale, Lee Dunn and Bev Jenkins of Salford (Bev was 2^nd lady in 73:08, Matt Barnes of Altrincham, Paul Simons of Shaftesbury (for once behind me) and Derek Crewe of no club mentioned.

And finally from underneath the bed was a clipping of the 2002 Lara Queens Head 5k from 27 Dec 2002, which was won by Martin Whitehouse of Birchfield in 15:12, with me 2^nd in 15:37.

Enough of the nostalgia, here’s hoping the weather in Britain will cheer up soon so we can witness some more great British results.

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

British Masters Cross Country Championship 2013

I had an idea for a blog that I wanted to write but then I received the results from the British Masters Cross Country Championship so decided to write about that instead. The championship is for men and women over a certain age, currently it’s 35 for both but in the past it was 40 for men and 35 for women. There are a series of races, split across age groups, this year there were two; Women (all ages) and Men over 65, and Men 35-64.

I’ve been eligible for these races for 8 year’s now, qualifying age was 40 when I first became a Master, however, I’ve only taken part on three occasions. My first opportunity was in 2005, it was held in Bangor, Northern Ireland, but I was only a few days back from a break in Australia and I had thought I wouldn’t want to run that close to travelling after a holiday where I couldn’t guarantee training to the max, so I didn’t bother entering. Shame really as I came back from Australia in great shape, then a few days after the race I tore my hamstring. The field was really strong but I was in one of those periods where I was running with total confidence and I would no doubt have been aiming for a win, where I would have finished, nobody knows but I would have been up at the sharp end, at least for some of the race.

In 2006 I was unsettled in Edinburgh, I’d hardly raced since I moved up towards the end of 2005, but I was training well on my own and reasonably confident with my form, though not as confident as the previous year. I stopped down in London over the Friday night and team mate, Mikey Boyle, drove me down to Bournemouth for the event. Herne Hill had a strong team out and I was keen to make my mark. I set off at a good pace and joined my team mate, Dave Robinson, at the front, alongside Greg Hull and Brian Rushworth. But the night shifts and travel took it’s toll and I drifted back through the field. It was painful watching runners, I knew I could beat, pull away from me, but although I saw my personal ambition fade away I dug in deep for the team. Greg Hull won the race, from Brian Rushworth. Dave Robinson just managed to hold off a posse of Bristol & West runners for 3rd. I finished in 18^th. With team mates Mikey Boyle in 20^th and Tony Harran in 26^th we came away with team silvers, behind a very strong Bristol & West and just ahead of a very good Sunderland team.

I missed the 2007 event because I was competing in the European Masters indoor champs, which was on the same weekend. Thankfully I came away from that event with a team bronze in the cross country event (which didn’t take place indoors), making it worthwhile missing the BMAF champs.

Me and my mate Mikey Boyle await our medals in Helsinki

I missed 2008 because I’d had an injury during the winter and just didn’t feel I could justify travelling to the event. I was also probably working a nightshift weekend which would have meant taking 4.5 days annual leave for one race, and then only if there were enough staff on to cover my absence.

2009 I was starting to run reasonably well but this was also the time I was training to become a Personal Trainer so something had to give, it was the trip to Wales that went.

After three non appearances it was good to get back into the race in 2010. Now living and working in Cheshire I had no distractions from nightshift and I was running pretty well. I hadn’t had much of a racing winter, having my two teams, Herne Hill and Edinburgh AC, almost equidistant between my new home and really too far away to justify travelling to when I had other things to concentrate on, so I wasn’t sure of my form when I entered the event. In fact I wouldn’t have bothered but there appeared to be a lot of interest within the Herne Hill team, so I entered to give the team a chance at medals again. In the weeks before the event our team fell apart and it was only myself and Francis Marsh, who I was staying with, who turned up on the day. In that same period my own form had blossomed with good runs at the Alsager 5 and the Trafford 10k, I was once again in the mood for an attempt on the championship, at least to be 1^st M45. The race was held in Northern Ireland, on the Stormont estate. I love running there, I’d run well there when I was representing Scotland in the Masters International, over a slightly different course, and when I saw how dry it was I was really confident. I took my usual steady start, letting people drift ahead of me, but, thinking this was a fast course, I started moving through the field before the first corner. I had one of the best runs of my career coming in 5^th overall and 2^nd to Brian Rushworth in the M45s, my last lap had been feisty with only overall winner, Dave Morwood, running quicker. It was a great result for me, 2^nd in a BMAF championship, something that I would match a few months later on the road, and not that far behind some great athletes. Even better I beat a number of runners; Alan Murchison, Paul Carroll, Francis Marsh and Alec Woods, whom I wouldn’t normally expect to beat over the country. The only downside was that more people didn’t turn up, 15 seconds behind Brian Rushworth and 50 seconds ahead of, 3^rd placed, Peter Knight, I was sure I could have competed well against the best of the M45s on that day.

Couldn't quite catch that M35 but happy with an M45 silver.

In 2011 it was a different story, I’d been injured for a good deal of the cross country season and only made my comeback about 3 weeks before, which I covered with my 1^st ever blog. It was obvious I wasn’t fit, 500^th in the National Cross Country followed by a 17:25 parkrun at Heaton Park, but I wanted to compete again and having seen the small turn out the previous year I wanted to support the event. My lack of fitness showed as I was over 3 minutes behind overall winner, Salford’s Martin Cox, and a good minute behind my, now, Salford team mates, Dave Lockett and Mike Deegan. I finished 17^th M45, 53^rd in the race.

In 2012 I was all set to run, in Bath, then a few days before the event I put my back out.

And so to 2013, I’d been looking forward to this year’s event. My first full cross country season since 2008/9 and I was running pretty well, if not spectacular. Salford were up for it and we had a great chance to win numerous medals, just like at the cross country relays. Unfortunately my damaged Achilles meant I had to let the team down and missed the bus. But my Salford team mates did us proud. Eric Williams was best placed individual, taking the M55 gold, while Dave Lockett took the M45 bronze, Stan Owen the M60 bronze and Arthur Walsham the M80 bronze. Four of our teams took medals; gold for the M55s, silver for the M65s and bronze for the M35s and the M45s.

It was also good to see a number of my masters friends and rivals turning out good performances, I hope to be doing the same next year.

There’s nothing much to say with regards to my injury, other than it’s still there, so I’m going to stop mentioning after this blog. It’s not as painful but it is becoming a bit of a pain, particularly as it’s keeping me from the sport I love. This is where patience is important, but I have a small problem, as it’s not painful unless I put weight on it in a particular way, it’s easy to forget about when I’m with clients. Well what’s the problem with that I hear you ask, simple, because I’m always introducing new exercises to clients I do a lot of demonstrations and sometimes in the heat of the moment I forget there are some things I can’t demonstrate explosively, until the pain kicks in. Here’s to the next week and the next, until the day I can run those first steps.

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

  

Inter Counties Cross Country Championships

It’s more than four weeks since I last ran, that fateful afternoon in Stockport that ended my cross country season. Despite the length of time I’ve been, mostly, inactive, I’m not getting twitchy or irritable, like I would have expected, in fact I’m enjoying not putting myself through such an intensive training regime and having a bit more time to pursue other interests. In fact I’m hoping the sustained rest will give me more hunger when I do make a come back. The downsides, for me, are that I cannot run with my Salford pals or train with two of my improving clients, Ray and Katy. But I’m being patient and managing to keep busy with other things, going away for 10 days helped. This weekend was the Inter Counties cross country champs, an event I’ve only taken part in on two previous occasions. Some times I was injured, some I had other plans and some I was just not good enough to make the county team. This time I was selected as a reserve, for the Cheshire team, and told I had a very good chance of running. It would have been nice to represent Cheshire, where I spent my school years and my M45 days but injury put paid to that. It was also the Trafford 10k, a race for which I have very happy memories. So this weekend could have been the one that turned me from chilled out dude to moody old git, but it hasn’t, I’m still a cucumber.  

However, having done very little on the fitness front I’ve been lacking inspiration for this week’s blog, so I’ve decided to recall my memories from those two occasions I ran in the Inter Counties cross country and also the Trafford 10k from 2010. If nothing else, writing about them will bring some fire back into my, now enlarged, belly for when I do return to running. Not very long this week as my memories from the two inter counties races are quite faded and I could only find one set of results.

Having won a Surrey County championship on the track, and being a better road runner than a cross country runner, it was somewhat surprising that I gained my first Surrey vest for cross country. It was 1994, the Inter-counties were being held at Luton. Each county selected 9 runners to represent them at these championships and despite only finishing in 14^th position at the County Champs, I had made the team. I remember getting on the bus, excited to be representing my county, and being given a Surrey badge and vest by Mike Firth. The only other thing I can remember about the bus journey was chatting with Stuart Major and classy master, Bob Treadwell. I’d raced at Luton before, in the National cross country champs, so I knew it probably wasn’t the sort of course to suit me, but I was a more confident runner now, surely I’d run ok. I didn’t, finishing in 226^th position. The race itself was won by Andrew Pearson in 36:48, with his Yorkshire team winning the team event. That, unfortunately, is all I can remember.

My next race in these championships came in 1998, Cardiff. I’d had a better County champs, finishing 10^th, and was starting to run well again after breaking my foot in the summer of ‘97. Cardiff was a very good field and a tough course, but one that suited me better than Luton. There was a minor panic before the start, when I couldn’t find the team manager to get my numbers, but that all got resolved in time to feature on channel 4’s coverage. I didn’t have a spectacular run but it was a big improvement on my previous attempt, 112^th. The race was won by Keith Cullen in 35:02, with Greater Manchester taking the team title. I couldn’t get hold of results for the 1994 event but I’ve just looked at the 1998 ones and it was absolutely loaded with talent, Richard Nerurkar could only manage 9^th. So although I was a little disappointed at the time, in hindsight I had a pretty good run, for me.

That was the end of my Inter Counties career, though never say never, having made reserve this year what chance making next year’s team, there was an M55 in this year’s event.

My alternative race, this weekend, would have been the Trafford 10k. I’ve only done this race once, in 2010, but I thought it was a great course and would definitely do it again, if I wasn’t injured or on holiday. I only entered in 2010 because I was lacking race fitness and wanted something to sharpen me up for the British Masters cross country champs. I’d just finished 1^st M45 in the Alsager 5 miles, so fancied trying a 10k, the last one I’d done was in Sandbach, in September, where I’d finished 2^nd in 34:10. On the day the Trafford race was due to be held I had been suffering with a cold and hardly slept the night before. When I got out of bed, the road in front of me was covered in thick snow. That’s it, back to bed, forget the race. Luckily, for me, not the organisers, the snow caused Trafford to be postponed but it was now scheduled the week before the BMAF cross country champs. I’d only entered BMAF because I thought Herne Hill were taking a strong team, but they weren’t, so I figured I might as well do the 10k anyway, I wouldn’t have done it if I thought it might affect Herne Hill’s result. I’m so glad I did. I settled into the first 2k at a steady pace and then I metaphorically switched on my race brain, I settled into a pace that was solid but I knew I could keep going until the end and I was running with a racer’s focus. Because of my steady start this meant I was passing people for the next 8k. I went through the 5 mile marker faster than I had done at Alsager, I was ecstatic but had to quickly refocus my mind as the job wasn’t quite done yet. There was an old guy up ahead of me and I started to chase him down, I wanted to be first M45 and he looked older than me. With half a mile to go I passed him, as I did he gave me a ‘well done lad’ comment, which was quite amusing when I found out he was actually younger than me. I finished strongly for 20^th position, just behind a couple of my new Salford team mates, with a time of 32:19. That was a huge confidence booster for the following week’s race, where I finished 5^th, but 2^nd M45.  

As far as the injury is concerned, I don’t think it’s career threatening, I’ve seen a couple of people about it and they agree, I’m actually going to see someone else but I think it’s just a matter of being patient, stretch it out a bit and don’t do anything stupid. And when I do start running again, forget the past and start afresh. Until I start running again I’m not even contemplating races but hopefully I’ll be back racing before too long.

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

An Indian Winter

If you’ve read any of my previous blogs, particularly those I’ve written on my return from a holiday destination, you’ll know that I’m not really into those sort of holidays where you spend every day lounging about doing nothing. But for once this is pretty much what I’ve been doing over the last two weeks. That was never the intention when the holiday was booked, though I was building up my training before we went, knowing that I’d have the possibility of reduced training whilst on holiday. However as it turned out a restful holiday was about all I could do. On day one I could barely walk without pain as I wandered about the resort with the most pronounced limp I’ve ever had, so it was clear to me that I wouldn’t be running at all on this holiday. Though, ever the optimist, I had taken plenty of kit with me.

This holiday was spent in India, Kerala to be exact. Over the years I’ve travelled to a number of countries but India was never one that featured highly on the list of must do places. I don’t know why if I’m being honest but it sits with Africa in my mind, a place I’m sure would be interesting but I have other places I’d rather visit, like Iceland or Scandinavia. Of course Carole thinks differently, she has no intention of visiting countries that are likely to be colder than Scotland and loves being out in the sun. So we compromise, we go to hot countries but she pays the bills, and it works quite well for me, as long as there is somewhere I can run – which is pretty much always the case as I can create interesting and beneficial sessions almost anywhere.

This year we weren’t sure where to go so Kerala came about a bit by chance, Carole wanted to go somewhere hot and we discussed various places, such as Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Florida and then India came up. I said it was somewhere I’ve never been but it had been highly recommended to me by a bunch of co-workers from Infosys (I’m sure there was no bias at all). I also remembered one of my running contacts, Dave Denton, has a house, in Kerala and it sounded like a nice place. So that was it, Carole went off and booked the flights and hotel.

As the holiday approached we were having our doubts, we had to have injections for all sorts of potential diseases we could pick up, rabies, hepatitis and others. We were warned that there were poisonous snakes swimming in the sea and although malaria wasn’t really a problem, dengue fever was a potential hazard. Add to this the potential to eat something dubious that could cause illness and we were wishing we’d stuck to Florida. The place Carole had chosen was described in our guide book as being a bit tired, so hardly something to look forward to.

Things didn’t get any better as we set off at 4:00am, we were advised to arrive a minimum of 3.5 hours before the flight was due, but as it turned out check in didn’t open until 3 hours before. We could easily have had an extra hour in bed and still had plenty of time to get through customs. We were flying Etihad, my first time with them, and the plane seemed quite nice, plenty of space and the main meal was pretty good. I took advantage of the entertainment system to watch movies I knew Carole wouldn’t be interested in, starting with Lincoln. Now I like my history so I was interested in seeing this film and it was interesting, but I wouldn’t say it was very entertaining. I’m glad I’ve seen it because if I had managed to persuade Carole to accompany me to the pictures it would have been a few feathers plucked out of my cap, and I was glad when it was over. Then I tried Argo, more recent history (even if it’s getting a slagging for being historically inaccurate). I wasn’t sure I’d enjoy it, but I did. Whilst I watched these films I became aware of noises going on a few rows behind me. It turned out there was some kind of argument taking place, I don’t know what it was all about but it was starting to get nasty when one guy was overpowered and handcuffed. He spent the rest of the journey at the back of the plane and we were warned the plane might have to divert if there was any further trouble. That would have thrown us into complete disarray so thankfully that didn’t happen, but it is amazing what lengths people will go to in order to be first off the plane.   

The stop off in Abu Dhabi was a drag and we were crowded into a small area with only one toilet to await the connection to Thiruvananthapuram. It was thankfully only a four hour flight, and a biryani later we arrived in Kerala, at 3:30am – it had been a long day (obviously the time difference meant it wasn’t as long as it looks but it was long enough). After passport control it was all plain sailing as we were picked up and taken a 20 minute drive to the hotel. At the point we emerged out of the airport I just relaxed and started enjoying the sights and smells of India, I was amazed how many people were hanging around the airport but as I was to find out, this is India.

We were booked in at the Leela Kempinski in Kovalem, it looked nice as we walked through the door and we knew we had a beach view room, but things were about to get a little better. The hotel decided to upgrade us to ‘The Club’ which had it’s own pool, gym/spa and breakfast area overlooking the ocean. The room was really good and we had a balcony overlooking the infinity pool and the ocean beyond. Not sure why we were upgraded, maybe somebody looked us up on the internet and mistook me for Roger Alsop the artist/musician or the one who breeds buffalo or even the guy who builds boats, but who cares it was a real treat.

Having arrived in the early hours of the morning it was straight to bed for us. With breakfast being served until 10:30 we were able to get a few hours shut-eye before experiencing India for real. Ok it wasn’t really for real, posh breakfast followed by a quick look around the hotel and the rest of the morning spent lounging by the pool. I was actually really grateful for the rest as it was painful limping along and I was concerned that too much walking would increase my recovery time. At lunchtime we needed to head into Kovalem proper, you aren’t supposed to take rupees into India so we needed to change some money and thought we’d suss out the local restaurants at the same time. It’s not a long walk into town but limping the way I was made it quite strenuous, still we were rewarded with a nice promenade, full of restaurants, and a lovely beach. The guide book’s description of Kovalem being a bit tired was maybe a bit over the top, I could see what they were getting at but I’ve been to many places that could do with being this awake. It’s an interesting place with busy shops and restaurants on the promenade and quiet narrow alleyways in the hinterland. As a resort it was a great place to be, yes there were travelling salesmen trying to sell their wares on the promenade and shouting across at you when you were eating in the restaurants, but that’s no different to Spain and at least here they didn’t come to your table to try to sell to you. All in all it was a casual sell, yes they pushed for the sale but they never bothered us. A few people got a bit wound up with it but I think that was down to them being a bit uptight. Of course it was much busier at the weekend when the townies travelled down, so it was nice to be able to escape back to the hotel.

After lunch it was back to the hotel and then down the other side of the hill to the private beach. Now I’m not a beach person, I like my shade and you don’t generally get good shade on a beach, I’m also not a confident swimmer so don’t like to go too far out into the sea and I have a thing about sand. So generally, when we’re on holiday, I tend to avoid the beaches. But here the beach was great, the water was shallow for some considerable way out, there was shade aplenty and I just learnt to deal with my sand phobia. The doctor’s warning about sea snakes was probably a little over the top or maybe we and the other hundreds of swimmers were just lucky.

That sort of set the pattern for the rest of the holiday. Gym, breakfast, pool, into Kovalem for lunch, beach, drinks on the balcony, into Kovalem for dinner. The food was really good, and cheap. We ate in the hotel a couple of nights, it was also good, but not cheap (only in relative terms). One morning we were eating breakfast when a few dolphins turned up, rounding up fish in the ocean below, a bit more interesting than watching crows fighting in the back garden.

The two tours we took were to Neyyar Dam, which included an elephant ride and a boat ride to a safari park, and a trip into Tamil Nadu, to the southernmost point of India, Kanyakumari, where there was a big statue on a rock, on the way visiting Padmanabhapuram Palace and Suchindram Temple. They were both long days so we were happy to just chill for the rest of the holiday. Also one day we had an ayurveda massage, which was a bit odd for me, quite relaxing and I came away smelling of treacle toffee but I’m used to sports massages, which made this particular massage feel like someone running a feather over your body. Mind you I never had to get naked for those massages with Cath Ferry, although I don’t think she minds if you feel the urge to do that as you’re lying on her table.

On the last day we had to vacate our room by 14:00 but our flight wasn’t until 04:15 the next morning. We made the most of the pool for the afternoon but any chance at catching a kip before our flight was ruined by the infestation of flying things that bite in the night, I did slaughter Carole at chess though. At least there were no fights on the flight home and I managed to watch Alex Cross and Skyfall in peace.

As far as exercise was concerned I clearly wasn’t able to run, I still can’t, but my limp improved daily and I’m now almost pain free. I started doing some light gym work and after a few days managed to do some work on the stationary bike but with no idea how long I’d be off running it was difficult to put any major emphasis on exercise, particularly when it was such a nice setting to relax in. In fact I was so relaxed I hardly ever thought about my life back home, that’s never happened before.

Now we’re home it’s back to my clients and I’ve stepped up the cycling a little. I’m hopeful I’ll be running soon, though not sure if it’ll be this or next week. It’ll be a slow start, 5 minutes on day one and then increase it by 5 minutes each time, until I feel confident to start training properly. So race wise I’m out of action for the time being, I don’t anticipate being able to race in March but hopefully I’ll be back to racing during April, albeit a lot slower and a lot further back to what I’ve become accustomed.

I’m aware this blog looks more like a holiday blog than a fitness blog, but they do say rest is an important part of training and what better way to rest than the holiday I’ve just been on. Carlsberg don’t do holidays, but Kingfisher do.

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk