Starting over...Again!

So it has been around 15 months since I stopped training "seriously" due to injury (although I have ran a few local Park Run events to keep fit once I was fully recovered) and other the last few weeks I have been doing a fair bit of reading regarding training and sports science. I kind of wish I hadn't in a way as I have found several things I have been doing wrong with all my training for most of the last 10 years although deep down I already knew this just chose to ignore it. One of the books I have been reading is "Daniel's Running Formula" by Jack Daniels where at the start of the book he points out several questions that should be asked by athlete or coach before the start of any training programme or session which sounds basic but when I think about all my previous training, I definitely didn't ask or think to myself...

• What is the purpose of this training session?

Now some people my find this a daft question and I can already here the replies of "To get faster!!" but looking back at my own training diaries I am wondering why on earth I was smashing round a 200 meter indoor track during the cross country season doing 400 meter reps at 1500 meter pace. Fair enough if you have some indoor races or just a one off session to get the legs ticking over but once and sometimes twice a week was pointless. So really the answer should be one of to increase either Speed, endurance, VO2 max, running economy and reaction to mileage or something like this. If i was racing 1500 meters indoors then 10 x 400 meters off a minute would be fine as a quality session but if racing cross country or road races then priority would be a threshold run or intervals between 3-5 minutes. It does sound like a basic question but when you next go out the door to do a session just ask why you are about to do that session.

• What is the current level of fitness?

I have certainly needed to ask this question as I know a lot of runners after a period of injury or illness will jump straight back into a hard session after only a few runs and I have done this before. There is no point in smashing out 5 x 5 minutes after 6 weeks out in your first week back, steady runs with maybe a lighter fartlek session after a few weeks would be a more sensible option!

• How much time have you got to train?

Trying to cram in sessions and runs because you are short of your usual millage is never a good idea plus once you start doing this you may not be recovery from your harder sessions resulting running on more tired than usual legs. I have been guilty of trying to hit a certain millage every week which usually ends up doing my quality work outs knackered and racing on tired legs so if you haven't got the time then lower your miles or do a little more on a day you can run but don't over so it!

• Strengths and weaknesses

Sometimes when you ask what session an athlete doesn't like it might be because they are not that strong in that area. I used to hate hill training and surprisingly enough I was very weak when it came to a climb in a race and cross country as I was not not strong enough which when looking back in my training logs I am not surprised as there was not nearly enough hill training involved. 

• What does the athlete react well to?

When changing anything with a schedule is always important to constantly analyse what happens after these changes. For Example when increasing the miles in an athletes schedule this doesn't always mean improvements as different things will suit different people. Some runners respond well to the higher mileage while other athletes a similar standard will struggle and prefer high intensity but lower miles.

One other important part of my training that I would do incorrectly was the pace of my easy running days. Now easy running takes up most of the miles and therefore important it gets done correctly as will impact the quality sessions during the week. Jack Daniels (2008) recommends that easy/recovery running should be done 2:30 minutes slower per mile than your race 5k pace which means that most of my recovery runs were about a minute too fast and should have been just over the 7 minute per mile mark!! 

A day in the away end

Reading 1-1 Southampton
Attendance: 21, 889 (4,203 away fans)

Yesterday I made the trip to Reading along with over 4,000 other Saints fans to see if Southampton could maintain the gap at the top of the league. After a tough 1-0 win over West Ham on Tuesday night which seen a record crowd of 32,150 at St Marys, the players would have to pick themselves up again against a Reading team who are finally starting to find some form. There was one change from the team on Tuesday with Jack Cork replacing Morgan Schneiderlin who was on the bench with Adam Lallana missing for the third game in a row.
Saints got the game underway and had the first half chance when Connolly and Chaplow created a good move down the right with Connolly's cross just getting blocked before Chaplow could get on the end of it after a good run into the area. The rest of the half was all Reading and they almost took the lead around 17 minutes when McAnuff pulled the ball back across the goal mouth which only needed somebody to tap into the net but Danny Fox was quick enough to smash the ball clear. Simon Church then tested Davis from distance but the Saints captain was there to tip around the post which was followed shortly by a superb save from Davis as Mikele Leigertwood drilled the ball from 30 yards but Davis somehow got a hand to it to turn over the bar. With Reading shooting towards us in the first half it was safe to say we seen most of the game as most of the game so far was played in Southampton's half and I was pleased when the half time whistle went to take us in 0-0!
Fonte came off for Martin at the start of the second half which was proberly a good idea seeing he was on a booking and was having a hard afternoon! Reading started strongly again with Southampton just not able to get out of first gear and almost took the lead after Alex Pearce headed narrowly wide. Against the run of play Southampton almost took the lead after being awarded a free kick just outside the area, Danny Fox whipped the ball in and Martin headed down and somehow Adam Federici getting down to save low. Saints needed something extra to get them going and they got that when Steve De Ridder came on replacing Connolly who injected an extra bit of pace and flare and instantly put Chaplow through on the right who maybe should have took it on his left but decided to cut inside and shot low but the keeper was there to make the save. Just when Southampton looked like they were starting to get into the game Hammond gave away a free kick on the edge of the area which McAnuff smashed against the post but Leigertwood got to the rebound to fire home. Things got worse a few minutes later as Dean Hammond got sent off for a second booking and it started to look like Saints were going home with nothing. However having ten men seem to wake the players up and on 81 minutes Southampton levelled after Guly flicked on a throw in down the right to De Ridder who ran into the area and hammered the ball off the cross bar to level the game to send us 4000 fans mad in the away end. The last ten minutes was frantic as both teams tried to win it but nobody really created any clear cut chances. Overall Reading will no doubt feel they deserved to win the game but dare I say it..if you want to finish at the top you have to get points when not playing very well and Southampton did just that. I was impressed with the way they stuck at it with 10 men and even went on to try and win the game at the end, cracking stuff. Oh yeah, its also safe to say the Southampton fans dominated the home fans in terms of chanting and atmosphere.. "You only sing when your winning!".

Coming soon....

So its that time of year again when there seems to be a decent game being released every week which means most of wages seem to be getting pumped into the gaming industry! There are almost too may to write about but here are a few that have caught my attention that are due to be released within the next several months....

Batman: Arkham City
Release date: 18th October

The long awaited sequel to Arkham Asylum is almost finally here and is the game that I have been really looking forward to all year! Arkham Asylum is in my top 3 games of all time on the Xbox so expecting big things as The Dark Knight now enters what seems to be the home of all the worlds worst criminals in Gotham City to again take on The Joker. It will be very interesting to see how big the city map will be compared to the first game but from what I have seen and read from it so far I dont think we are going to be disappointed with there being plenty of secret locations to discover. Batman has new weapons and upgrades making him even more of a lean mean fighting machine and you can also control Catwomen who has different skills to Batman and far more agile making climbing, gliding even quicker than with Batman. The challenge modes have been kept with combat mode which has you fighting against various enemies using combos to build up your score and the Predator mode where you sneak around using the character's abilities to take down enemies quietly. Also the game has been made compatible with stereoscopic 3D which will no doubt make the graphics even more incredible!!


Battlefield 3
Release date: 28th October

Having never really switched from Call Of Duty for my dossage of first person shooters I recently purchased Battlefield 2 due to seeing a few good reviews about it and I wasnt disappointed so there is no doubt that this game will be arriving through my letterbox in the next few weeks! In Battlefield 3, players step into the role of the elite U.S Marines where you experience action filled single player missions and also multiplayer actions all around the globe including Paris, Tehran and New York. What has impressed in previous Battlefields is that the campaign felt a lot more realistic than Call Of Duty partly due to anything around you being able to be blown to pieces and the enemies fire wasnt coming from infront of you all the time as there were times where your getting shot at from all directions. Also being able to use vehicles is added fun so the general feel of the enviroment around you in the game is pretty impressive. These are feature that they have built on in Battlefield 3 with the introduction of Frostbite 2 which is the technology that makes the animation, destruction, lighting, scale and audio even better which is designed to make the player feel immersed physically and emotionally into the environment around them. The vehicle warfare engine has also been upgraded with a fitting sonic boom as fighter jets headline an impressive lineup of land, see and air vehicles. These may seem "little" features to some people but I believe these are what give a game an edge over its rivals. Theres no doubt that it will always be in the shadow of COD but if you prefer the more tactical and realistic aspects of war then I believe you will prefer this game over COD.


UFC Undisputed 3
Release date: 13th January 2011

Now I know this isnt due to be released for some time but being a massive UFC fan and having spent far too many hours on the previous two games its safe to say I'm pretty excited so I thought I would give it a mention! The main features that impressed me with the first two games was the career modes and the way the game hypes up each fight as it is built up exactly like you would see when watching a live UFC event on the TV. For a sporting game I think its important to get the build up to a match/event right as I know it draws me right into the action and as sad as it sounds gets me pumped up like I am actually playing...now you know its a good game if it does that to you! You can tell that the guys that made this have worked on improving these aspects each time and this latest game to the series of UFC games wont be an exception as the developers have pointed out the visual improvements from broadbcast to cage-side through to new camera positions and FINALLY the introduction of fighter entrances! Now one critisism that could be made with the previous games is that it isnt too kind to new users who want to pick the game up and go straight into it as even on the easiest AI setting if you didnt know any defensive controls expecially ground controls then you would get beaten up pretty badly. To try and help improve this new gameplay accessibility has been introduced to give you a choice between traditional and simplified controls to enable all skill levels to experience the intensity of the game. Personally I believe if you want to really feel like you are in a fight take the time to learn the traditional controls as the tutorials were very good in the previous games and it feels much more satisfying when you have won a fight using the more complex moves during a fight! The amount of fighters have been increased with the introduction of Featherweight and Bantamweight divisions which were missing in the previous two games and a new Pride mode which takes you into the brutal world of Japanese MMA. This game will certainly kick the new year off in style....

Dead Island

The much anticipated Dead Island arrived through my letter box 2 days before the official release date (Recommend Shopto for pre-orders) last week which has meant a lot of hours lost to the Xbox. From the reviews I read and videos seen beforehand I was expecting big things expecially from the multiplayer aspect and so far I havent been disappointed. You start the game choosing one of four characters with each having a special atribute like using blunt weapons or an expert with guns and then waking up in your hotel room in a holiday resort. Unlike other zombie games such as Dead Rising, the game is first person game which I prefer and the whole menu option has the feel of the Fallout games to it. To start with you have to run through a few short basic missions to get used to the controls and to start the story line but then you can roam the map exploring and finding side quests as you please. Story line is as expected pretty basic for a zombie game......survive and escape with the side quests used to gain money, experience points and XP to level up to increase your survival and combat skills. I can certainly see both Left For Dead and Dead Rising in this game and I do think they have done a good job of getting the best from both. Like Dead Rising you can combine and make weapons with all the random things you can pick up and they do get damaged but I havent had a problem keeping the repair levels high finding a work bench. The game is more serious than Dead Rising so there wont be any dressing up in dresses and lunching big teddy bears at the zombies but you can have a bit of fun driving trucks into crowds of zombies! The parts of the game that reminds me of Left For Dead are some of the stronger zombies are very similar to the Boomer, Charger and Spitter you see in Left For Dead and the 4 player co-op. The multiplayer aspect is fun with all of the players recieving XP for zombies that are killed by the other players but you have to make sure you are at a similar part in the story or similar level to the other players as if you are level 10 in a game with level 20 then the zombies are a lot harder and you wont get any of the XP for completing missions as you would have skipped some of the story. The only niggling part for me is that it is first come first served with regards to the loot you find as it will only let one player take it so it can get a bit annoying killing zombies and one of the other players stealing the money or weapon before you get there!! One suprise is that there are three maps and they are big and varied enough to keep you entertained throughout the game. Overall this is a fun game and certainly recommend it if you like zombie games.

Rating: 4/5

And so its that time of the year again....

So the Premier Leage season finally gets underway today after an interesting pre-season of transfers and the usual millions being spent improving squads. The usual names will be expected to challenge for the title but personally I can't see anybody getting past Manchester United. The addition of Ashley Young brings in even more pace and superb delivery and the arrival of an extra centre back in Phil Jones means that United shouldnt suffer as badly if injuries strike Vidic and Ferdinand like last season.

Manchester City with the players they have brought in should be the closest challengers to United and will be interesting to see how Aguero settles in the Premier League. The pressure will be on him to deliver straight away and will be fascinating to see whether Tevez plays any part in the first few games of the season. City will have to get out the blocks fast if they want to win the title and the only thing that I can see stopping them is the way very defensive way Mancini plays expecially against teams lower in the league that they need to beat if they are going to win the league.

Chelsea under there new manager will certainly be up there but I dont believe they will win the title this year. The squad is again mostly the same with the addition of a few younger players but I still think they will have the same problem as the last half of last season of who to lead the front line...Drogba or Torres. The manager is no doubt talented but I beleive he will need time and everybody knows that the Chelsea manager doesnt get time. If he is given 3 seasons then I believe he will deliver the league and maybe the Champions League but asking a lot to deliver that in your first season. I never understand while Chelsea have sacked their managers as people forget that Alex ferguson didnt win anything for the first 6/7 years of being at Manchester United and was thought to be close to getting the sack before winning his first trophy there the FA Cup!!

Liverpool are the biggest spenders and the names they have got in are good however much they over paid for them. I certainly think top four for Liverpool but I dont think they will be near winning the league. After two seasons not in the Champions League that is where they must get and build from there. The midfield at Liverpool is going to be very competitive and you would expect that Downing will be a regular but I dont think Henderson will be this season at least as I cant see Dalglish leaving Kuyt out the side too much and he wont play him up front unless Carrol or Suarez is missing. This is a very big year for Liverpool and the honeymoon period is over for Dalglish with the pressure to deliver now on his shoulders and nobody can say he hasnt been backed as thats the most any Liverpool manager has been given to spend on players in one season.

Arsenal with their current squad I think will struggle to finish in the top four this year and thats the first time I have thought this going into a season. With it looking like Nasri and Fabregas on the way out that leaves the midfield short and looking like built around Ramsey and Wilshire who are no doubt fantastic players but will need help in that area. The defence as usual is cause for concern with another centre back needed with the injuries that Vermaelen picks up but again Wenger seems stubborn in his ways and bought another youngster in Jenkinson. Arsenal are great club which is ran very well and no doubt Wenger is hugely responsible for that but every year players are being talked about being great in the future when Arsenal fans are now wanting a team to be great now and start bring back trophies. The annoying thing is is that it isnt like Arsene has to spend huge amounts and loads of players, they just need to add to the spine of the team in a world class centre back, centre midfielder and another forward player. If they had more steel in the team last season I believe they would have won the league but at the time of writing Arsenal seem to be losing their big players and are going to be relying on youth for most of the season.

Top six prediction:

1) Manchester United
2) Manchester City
3) Chelsea
4) Liverpool
5) Arsenal
6) Spurs

Not as bad as first thought...well kind of..

Its been a few months since my last post so thought would post the on-goings since stopping competitve running! Had my MRI scan results back this week and although it does confirm cartilage damage it not quite as bad as first thought. I still have cartilage damage but instead of possible grade 2-3 has come back between grade 1-2. Grade 1 is where the cartilage has soft spot or blisters and grade 2 is where there are tears visible in the cartilage. I do have tears in the cartilage but they are apparently only minor but the good news is that it seemed to have co-inside with Patellofemoral Pain AKA as "runners knee" which gives off a dull, aching pain under or around the front of the kneecap (patella) where it connects with the lower end of the thighbone (femur) where the treatment is simply RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) and I have noticed a mark improvement the last few months with no running!! The doctors believe that I can keep running aslong as on grass and not "intense training" basically me running 50 plus miles a week so I will still not compete anymore but its good to know I can still keep fit running a few times a week!

Stopping running was a big blow at first and of course did miss it but after a few weeks was actually enjoying other activities a bit more and didnt miss the intensity of training so all in all I think it has done me some good as there is a lot more to life than running. One of the main things is that its nice not too feel tired all the time as I didnt realise how used to feeling tired I was! After a few weeks rest I was wide awake after 6 hours sleep and bouncing off the walls with so much energy! So overall its good news as running no matter what will be part of me until the day I die and nice to be able to still run but certainly going to enjoy some other activities in life. Some would say I havent really achieved what I was capable of during my running career but only my closest friends know that I was never a "proper" athlete and if there was a world championships of racing after drinking 10 pints and smoking drugs and roll ups the night before then I would certainly be up there! Looking back my best moment in running is a weird one...back in 2001 after an afternoon bunking off lectures and smoking a few joints going to run Yeovilton 5k and ended up running 15:45 spending 30 minutes after the race lead in a heap puking my guts up. Another one was winning the Burnham On Sea half marathon in 72:33 after getting home at 3am from a night on the town...im no role model! Now sorry if that offends you "proper" athletes but that is just the way I was and I lost count of the amount of times people saying "you could be a lot better if you lifestyle was better". Yeah thats true but running was always just a part of my life and NOT my entire life. My housemate came up with a good name for it...Rock and Roll athlete!

The end is near.......

Not good news running wise from me as doctor and sports physio have said they think I have grade two knee cartilage problems. Last 6 weeks have been getting a random aching pain which then progressed to a nasty pain where felt like somebody was drilling my knee! Is very on and off so went to sports physio and after a few visits said cartilage issue. Went to the doctors aswell just for another opinion (even though sports physio prob more accurate) and they also said cartilage problems (without me saying already been to a physio). Doctor thinks I shouldnt be running at all until after MRI scan and some other test but physio says see how I feel and just make sure its now more than a few times a week on grass. So this week I havent done any running and will try and do 3 runs a week on grass which will basically be 2 speed sessions and a longer steay run! Down to run a 3k at the next British League 2nd July but doubt I will be in any decent shape which is a shame as thought I could get into reasonable form. A little but gutted at the moment but will see how it pans out but the days of 50 mile plus week have def gone out the window...time to get fat by eating pies could be around the corner.....