Mon 16 Jan
2:12pm  5 miles on my lunch break.  Tired from yesterdays tough cross country, a slow recovery run
7:10pm  10 miles from Sport City with Ben.  Felt much better tonight, we got into a good rhythm without going silly on the pace.

Tue 17 Jan
2:11pm  6 miles from home, day off work. 
6:49pm 9 miles including grass session: 1x2000m, 1x1500m, 3x1000m, 1x500m (all off 90secs).  Same session as we did last week with Matt, although ground was badly frozen/rutted this week so difficult to compare times.   6:47, 4:45, 3:05, 3:08, 3:08, 1:28.  2000m rep was a fair bit slower than last week, but all of the other reps were quicker.  Ben was going really well on this session., going out aggressively up the hill and making me work hard from start to finish.

Wed 18 Jan
2:03pm  10 miles on my lunch break.  Sore heel from the rutted ground last night.
6:36pm  6 miles group run from work.  Easy pace.

Thu 19 Jan
6:37pm  20 miles.  A horrendous night to pick for a long run with heavy spells of hailstones.  The thinking behind doing it tonight was because I wanted to leave an extra few days between my long run and the Northern Cross Country next week.  Also I hadn’t ran long last weekend due to racing on Sunday.  This was a good way to do it: ran 3 miles to East Cheshire Harriers, did their 9 mile club run (good to have Gareth Raven there for this – always amusing company), and then an 8 mile loop back home.    

Fri 20 Jan
9:12am  6 miles run to work.  Legs felt surprisingly good after last night, the slight downhill all the way to work was welcome and got the legs moving well. 
6:30pm  8 miles run home from work.  Working in Manchester today, first time I’ve commuted by running in months and I loved it!

Sat 21 Jan
9:37am  12 miles including long cross country rep session in Dallam Park in the South Lakes.  Matt mentioned in his blog that he and Nick were away for the weekend, very close to where my friend Ben Harrison (Morpeth Harriers) lives.  Ben had John McCole staying for the weekend and I was working up that way in the afternoon and so the group session was formulated.  We had a late addition when Andy realised how close it was to his girlfriends house and so there were 6 of us in total.  The loop was a beast, taking me and Andy 10:40, 10:26 and 10:15 for the three reps.  It included a climb of 5 minutes which made for a very tough loop but one that we hope will lead to good results in coming weeks.  Me and Andy were pushing each other really well at the front, with Matt a little further back after a bout of illness.  A great session for me and after my best three weeks training for ages,  I’m feeling the fittest I’ve felt for 10 months.

Sun 22 Jan
10:24am  7.5 miles.  Ran to City Centre to collect my car after leaving it there last night.  We’d been out for a meal for Ben Scarlett’s birthday and had a few drinks afterwards.  Wasn’t too heavy a night which was a good thing with a big race next week and not having drank since New Year.  Jamie Knapp stopped at my place and ran back to his car with me in some of my spare running gear!  When we got to town, I drove straight to work
9:23pm  5.5 miles.  Late shift at work, got home after 9pm and got in slightly less than planned but still rounded off a good week

Weekly Mileage: 105