Yes that's right I'm back in the midlands. I moved into my new house yesterday which I will be living in for next year. It's quite good and only a 20 minute walk from uni, which is better than my 30 minute walk last year! A big thanks to Steve for letting me dump my stuff at his house for a few weeks but I did notice some of my GB kit looked like it had mud on it and even the smell of sweat, as if someone had been running in it, how do you explain that one Mr Sharp? I know a couple of running routes from the house but I'm going to try and find some new ones, so there may be a chance I get terribly lost one day! I must admit sometimes I do go out and purposely run somewhere I've never been before just to go some place different, and everytime I manage to get back ok, so my sense of direction can't be that bad...

Training has been going well and I'm starting to ease down at the moment because I'm racing at Cardiff on the weekend. After a couple of weeks since my last 1500m I've done a few good sessions and I suppose this week is all about staying healthy. I might be wrong, but there's not a whole lot you can do the week of a race training-wise to improve your performance, only deteriorate it. As long as I keep my diet sensible and don't do anything stupid like wrestling crocodiles, whatever shape I was in yesterday will not change by Saturday. I remember reading something on another forum, and I think it was by Steve's coach, Lindsay Dunn, that the week before a race athlete's focus too much on what they do everyday rather than race day, so they hammer training and runs leading up to the race rather than thinking about the big picture, the race day. So I suppose while you're running, going slower will be more effective than going faster, after all, surely part of racing is going into it feeling fresh. There's a good chance I'll be racing Steve because I think we both put the same time down, 3:37.4. No, I actually put 3:47 and I think his was the same so I reckon I'll be in the B or C race with him. I'll put a pre-race report up on Friday just to add to the tension.

There's not much left of my track season, just this race and a Britsh League the week after. From there I will do a week of jogging and then begin the long period of winter training in the rain, dark and cold winds; as you can see I'm very excited about it.

Til next time,

Goolab xxx