Now normally I start my blogs with a witty comment about the week or a line that gives an insight into something that has happened but today Im going to begin with a sales pitch.....now if any of you out there happen to be feeling a bit tired, a little sleepy maybe or screwed from a hard days graft then take note of this advice. Get yourself down the shop and ask the nice man behind the counter/ till or checkout for a can of Monster energy drink. It comes in a black can, green writing and is BIG in size--- you know the cans--- they make you look like an alcoholic if you drink them in public----not a good idea either to drink walking across sainsburys car park wearing your schools tracksuit with physical education on it....kinda sends out the wrong message-- even though its only "pop". Anyways the stuff is like loopy juice, i recommend half a can, stir it up to remove the fizz and down the hatch..... I was lagging before consumption but now after mowing both lawns, cleaning the garage up and polishing off last nights washing up im ready to blog, do a run and maybe re-write the old testament. (okay maybe not the last one)... but it certainly gets you bouncing.

Now bounce is something I didnt have yesterday. You have the odd day as a runner where you just dont feel right--- the legs are heavy, the mind is elsewhere and you just so happen to misplace your running shoes....well that was how yesterday felt. I did the usual morning run and felt okay, but then during the day became more and more fatigued. It seemed everyone at work had some sort of cough, cold or sniffle. With a hill session looming I got home a bit earlier to try and shake the sleepiness out.... which was great until I decided to "rest my eyes" for 5 minutes on the sofa. 90 minutes later I woke up, realising the resting my eyes excuse was a load of bollocks and it was now half 6. One piece of advice i have learnt and managed to take on board over the years is knowing when to listen to your body. It goes back to the training smart idea I mentioned in an earlier blog. Its okay banging in miles, week in and week out but now and again the body will just refuse to keep going.... yesterday mine gave out a warning signal. I was tired, felt run down, and the heart rate was up. Ive recently started to take my heart rate in the mornings... thanks lee merrien...his advice. Its a great tool to use for monitoring both fitness but more importantly health. Knowing your healthy resting HR is essential. Its a great indicator to use. (5 bpm up on normal and you havent recovered properly so may need an easy day, 10bpm up on normal and something is wrong in the system so rest is needed.)

Its days like this that i think you have to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Missing a hill session wasnt going to kill me, it would have no impact on my season whatsoever--- but training when over-fatigued would. So it was time to swtich to plan B.  A complete rest would have been the obvious solution, but for me that always makes me feel worse, so on went the tracksuit and I jogged for 40 minutes (approx) instead-- no watch, no HR monitor just a stress free run.... after which i felt much better. A couple of years ago i would have run the hills, i would have stupidly talked myself into it saying "man up", "get some balls", but then a couple of years ago I had bad aneamia, 3 stress fractures and countless injuries............get the picture?

Training hard is important. You have to push yourself to the limit-- of course the body will feel wrecked most days. But you have to know this limit- and know when you have gone over it. Theres a big difference between being tired from training and being over fatigued. Friday is always an easier day of the week for me, so I use it to relax as much as possible... I count it as a rest day but still run. One thing I learnt from the American system is how to make active rest days work in a schedule. Sometimes running easy is better than doing nothing as it flushes out the legs and stops you from feeling lethargic. I never run hard on a friday. The distance will vary depending on phase in the year, but it will always be a slow run, and never normally a double day.

So after a week of dodging illness and dealing with tiredness im looking forward now to a good build up to next weeks race. The Brit lads have been going great again this last week with another massive PB for lemon (13.33) in the states, and some good runs in the uni champs. This weekend sees the Bristol 10km and im sure other track races dotted round the world, so good luck to everyone in these events. Its been great reading about Ryan's adventures in the mountains and his quest for the world record of "most weeks spent away training" (im only jealous mate!), im sure he will return in great form ready to fly the flag for Tipton!! Hope the blogs are going down okay-- keep the feedback coming in, good or bad, and let me know if theres anything you want including.... I wont post naked pictures up though or any bank account details so dont ask....lol. Best wishes, Phil.