National Cross Country Champs in Leeds

On Saturday 15 of us athletes head off to the National Cross Country Champs in Leeds.
The course sounds quite tough with a very steep climb on each of the 3 (i think) laps.

I am very much looking forward to the experience, especially now i seem to be getting over my chest infection after 3 lots of antibiotics. I have been for a couple of runs this week after a week of rest and have felt pretty good, but the test will be running at "race pace" on saturday.

A few of the team have had problems with injury and illness in the last month or so, but hopefully we are all on the way back and will all be pleased with ourselves saturday night.

I am not sure what condition the course is in or if it is covered in snow at the moment, but the weather forecast is for rain in the area for friday and fine and bright for saturday so fingers crossed conditions won't be too difficult underfoot.

Preview at www.englishcrosscountry.co.uk

Final Round of Cross Country

There was a pretty good turn out for the final round of the Cross Country at Crossags.
Numbers are usually down for the final round as most competitors have done enough rounds to qualify for the League.

There was no surprise at the front of the race with Lloyd and Simon coming home in a Manx Fell Runners 1-2. It was great to see Chris Quine back and running well, hopefully he will have gained a bit of confidence going into the Nationals where he can hopefully have a good run.

Unfortunately with me being away for round 2 and missing the championships i was never going to qualify for the league. I decided instead to concentrate on my training to make sure i am good shape for the National Cross Country Championships in Leeds at the end of this month.
I am still struggling a bit with a chest infection which is being very stubborn to go, i am on a second batch of antibiotics which will hopefully see it off and i am resting this week to give them chance to do there job.

Hopefully i will have more positive things to report next week on the lead up to the National Champs.

On the road to recovery - i think!!!!!!

Well it's been a long time since my last post, sorry about that but poor little me has not been well.
I have had a nasty chest infection and been off eating all together, it has done wonders for my weight but not the ideal way to do it!!
I am on the way back now and have a had a few training sessions but i still think i am not 100%, i feel very lathargic and am still coughing away although with less severity now.

Well done to all those who competed in the Manx Champs, there was a great turn out despite a few people, myself included missing because of injury and illness.

This weekend sees Gemma,Sarah and Katie Astin taking part in the Merseyside Schools Champs, Good Luck girls have a great race.

It is Sand Dune training at Blue Point for me this weekend, this sort of session is very tough and i struggled last time i did it, fingers crossed it goes better this time.

The next target for me is the National Cross Country Champs on the 27th of this month, i have not decided whether to run the last round of the Manx Cross Country League or to train instead. I have not done enough of the rounds to complete the series so will probably concentrate on getting to the National Champs in the best possible shape i can be.

I will post again soon, i won't leave it 2 weeks next time!!!

Manx XCountry Champs

Well it's the manx Cross Country Champs this Sunday at Glen Lough, but unfortunately i will be a non-starter due to a chest infection.

I am a bit gutted about not running as i think i am running well at the moment and was hoping for a good run, never the less i would be silly to run as i would do more harm than good.

The forecast for Sunday is good but it maybe a bit soggy underfoot with all the rain we have had in the last few days. Information about Sundays course and time table can be found on the Western AC website at http://www.westernac.org/#/x-country/4536175008

Good luck to everyone taking part and don't forget it's double points for the championship.

Lancs Cross Country

What a great day we al had in Blackburn last weekend, i think every single person in the team ran well, even those just coming back from injury.

The one down side for me was that i woke saturday morning with the runs and had to visit the loo too many times, despite that i kept topping up my fluids and ran pretty well and achieved my best position in the Lancs to date, next year top 20?????

The youngsters were yet again a credit to themselves and Manx Harriers and really all deserve a pat on the back.
It was a very long day for us all but despite the threat of snow and ice delaying our travel plans we managed to get to Blackburn earlier than ever. Big thanks to Andy Fox who had been in touch with the airline and Coach company in he days leading up to the event to make sure every angle was covered and we got to that start line.
The conditions in Blackburn were very snowy with several inches of snow on all of the course, this was lovely to run on apart from up the saucer where it was like running on sand as it had cut up quite a lot.
I had a quick start and tried to maintain my pace throughout. Last year the downhill section was the worst part of the course for me, this year was almost the oposite and i managed to gain one or two places on most of the laps.
I wonder what conditions we will have thrown at us next year!!!!

I have had an easy week this week, wasn't feeling too good on monday or tuesday still so didn't train, on wednesday i felt a lot better and went for a nice easy 3o minute jog, one thing i noticed was how warm it was compared to recent weeks.
Yesterday i had a tough training hill training session which went very well despite me thinking in warm up that i was feeling lathargic and didn't think i would be able to finish the session.

Next week it's the Manx champs at Glen Lough, it's not my favorite course it has to be said and running 7 instead of the usual 6 laps is going to be very tough.
Don't forget it is DOUBLE POINTS for running the Champs.

More about the Manx Champs later in the week.

Snow Snow and yet more Snow!!!!

What a month it has been for snow in the UK, even we did not escape eith a surprise snowfall on tuesday morning.
I certainly remember there being more snow than we have now, but i can't remember it hanging round for so long after it has fallen, it's usually all gone within a day or so unlike this time.

Fingers crossed some of us are off to the Lancs Cross Country Champs tomorrow, there is quite a bit of snow on the course i gather which should be very nice to run on, certainly better than the deep frozen ruts of last year. I am hoping the snow has filled these ruts and it will be quite soft underfoot.
The difficulty is knowing what to wear on your feet, we obviously won't know till we get there what to use, i have two options, my INOV8 Fell Shoes and a pair of spikes which i haven't raced in for quite a few years. I have bought some new spikes for my shoes which i think would get me up Everest if i wanted!!

We have unfortunately lost Kev Loundes from our team who fell on some ice before Christmas and has bruised ribs and is unable to run. This is a big setback for Kev as i know he would have done really well and been up there at the very front of the race.

Get well soon Kev, we will do our best to fill your shoes and go for a team medal!!!

I am looking forward to the race very much, training has gone as well as i think it could have, and fingers crossed (again!) i have no niggles of any sort to report at the moment, lets hope i am still saying that tomorrow!!!!

Wish us luck that we get there and it all goes ahead!!!!

Happy New Year Everyone

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, mine was quite a sober one this year as i was taking part in the MWR on 27th and didn't fancy taking on Leg 1 with a hang over!!!!

I really enjoyed the MWR despite having to do leg 4 instead of leg 1 due to snow on the mountain road. Well done to the Organisers and Marshalls who had to reorganise things and themselves to make sure the event still went ahead.

I had a good run and was pretty pleased with my 35.43 time, a whacking 4.1/2 minutes faster than my previous best, although i did get lost last time and was no where near as fit!!

It is only 10 days to go to the Lancs Champs, i am really looking forward to it, but just hope its not frozen like last year, anything but that please!!!!!!!!

I hope everyone enjoys their New Year Celebrations. My Wife and i are taking it in turns to go to a Party as our son is not a well boy at all with a horrible vomiting bug, poor little man,

Here is to a Happy and Healthy New Year to you all.