Yeovil Easter 10k

Very hot weather for the annual Yeovil 10k today where I just about did what I set out to do and break 33 minutes. Ben Tickner was up to see his family over the holidays and was running on his own right from the gun leaving a group of around 8 athletes including myself to battle it out and after 3k was sat just behind the two Bristol athletes where we managed to pull away from the third group and was in contention for second place until the 7k mark where I began to struggle and dropped of the pace but managed to hold on for 4th place in a time of 32:53 which to be fair I would of taken before the race started. Very good to see my fellow club mate and good mate Ben win in style coming home in 30:02 which for a solo run in the heat was very impressive! I just hope when I go down to Brighton/Worthing in next few months him and Matty Dumigan go easy and give me a head start when we train!!! Im finding at the moment that even though on very low millage compared to what I used to run im not actually running that much slower which says a lot about how I trained before I got injured!! More progress made from Kev Sparey who continued his comeback from serious illness to finish in 38:04 to finish second in vet50 catagory and a great turn out by Frome running club with several impressive runs (results to follow when released) including Ted Sprules who dipped under the 40 minute mark!!

A special mention must go out to the runners who ran the London marathon including Frome's Georgie Starkie who ran an impressive 3hours 18 minutes to smash her personal best by 7 minutes even though she missed a large amaount of training in the lead up due to illness!! Surely another pb on the way in November when Georgie runs New York marathon!!

Frustrating Arsenal

So looks like another season with no silverware for Arsene Wenger and Arsenal after a 2-1 away defeat to Bolton making that the 3rd game where points have been dropped this week. For all their attractive and attacking football Arsenal again lacked the organisation, communication and character to get results when the pressure is well and truly on them. No doubt that all fantastic footballers but when you think back to the last time Arsenal were winning titles they had big personalities in the team like Adams and Vieira who were often seen barking orders at their team mates and rallying the team in tough periods and this team simply do not have anyone willing to do this. Whenever Bolton had a corner or a set play the Arsenal defence seemed silent, no shouting, no pointing, no organisation and basically no communication with the winning goal wrapping up a performance that sums up Arsenal's season where they dominated large parts of the game, missed their chances, overplaying at times and conceding very soft goals. Yes Arsenal have had injuries but then so have Manchester United who have played several games without Vidic AND Ferdinand but have still manage to bring back the points. There is no harm in "winning ugly" like United have done which is something Wenger doesnt seem like doing. Its time for Arsenal to spend some money for players that are ready now and are not going to need a few years developing as I think its fair to say that Arsenal have enough youth/younger players already and a few experienced quality buys added to this will take them to the next level. When you look at Manchester United's squad they have a brilliant mix of youth and experience and they alwahys have with players like Giggs, Scholes and Ferdinand who have all been there and won trophies before which is such an advantage when the pressure is really on in the last 10 games.... Arsenal on the other hand have nobody in their team who have won major trophies apart from Fabregas who won the 2005 FA Cup.

Yeovilton 5k

Last night was the first Yeovilton 5k road race and was pretty satisfied with the way it went. Before the race I thought it would be touch and go whether I would get back under 16 minutes going by how I ran at Easleigh 10k and if I was going to do it then would have to be an evenly run race. After about 800 meters I was sitting just behind the leading group in about 8th place knowing that some of them would start to drop off and after about 1500 meters the group was down to around 6. Kept on the shoulder of Bristol's Nathan Young until just before 3k when everyone started looking around wanting somebody else to take the pace and the pace was slowing so I decided to take the pace and gradually wind it up as was feeling ok and the guys around me usually outkick me so was my best chance. From 3-4k 3 of us managed to get away from the rest of the field which left a great race in the last 800 meters ended in me just losing out on the sprint finish to finish 3rd with a time of 15:42. Very pleased to be back under 16mintues and how good I felt throughout the race as last year really was struggling to run at that pace right from the off. Excellent run from Nathan Young to Win in 15:37 just beating my fellow club mate Jon James by 1 second.

Other great runs were by Frome's Dan Berryman who smashed his pb to get under 20minutes for the first time in 19:43 and will be very intresting to see how fast he can run 5k by end of summer...go for it Dan! Also Kevin Sparey returning to running after 14months off with a heart problem ran an incredible 18:10 at the age of 56!!

Next race is the 10k at Yeovilton week Monday and will be aiming for sub 33 but main focus is 5k and maybe shorter over summer.

Best of luck to all guys and girls running London this weekend!!

Friday was my last hard session before Wednesdays 5k run at Yeovilton and was 4 x 800, 2 x 400, 2 x 300s with long recovery to get the legs ticking over a lot quicker than used to in the last few months. They felt hard but also were quickr than I though were going to be which is a good sign and finished strong on the 300s which im hoping gets sets me up well for the 5k race. Nice easy 40 minutes for the days leading up to the race and legs are feeling fresh so fingers crossed. Either way it will be good to get back into the shorter races as I have certainly missed them after a winter of long "boring" runs.

Of course this weekend is the London marathon and best of luck to all those who are running it! People are asking me whether I am disappointed not to be running Sunday and I can honestly say im not! I would say ill be watching for support but not going to lie I proberly wont be as if I am up then I will be doing my own run. Also as much as I love running I find watching marathons on TV to bore the living crap out of me as not a lot happens for most of the race. To be honest the only running I will watch are the track events from 800-5000 meters as always something happening and over in a short space of time!!

Got news yesterday that Wells City wont be sending a team to the 12 stage as too many drop outs so looks like a weekend off racing and hopefully making the most of some sunny weather...

On the training front the 400s yesterday went a lot better, still nothing special but felt more relaxed and controlled keeping a consistent pace instead of breathing out my backside after 3 reps!! Nice chilled 45 minutes today in the sun before work and more of the same tomorrow before a session Friday then easy running before the first 5k of the year.

Yesterday was 17 years since Kurt Cobains death and 9 years since Layne Staley passing away and this made me think and look at my music collection and realised that most of my music is from the late 1980s early 1990s and where all my fav bands come from. Still remember the day Staley died paying tribute to him with about 4 cans of cider (all I could handle back then) and a loaded joint listening to Alice In Chains unplugged who in my opinion are the best "grunge" band that came out (although massive fans of all of them). Was a tad too young to get stoned when Cobain died but do remember it coming on the news and mother listening to In Utero very loudly which pretty much got me into this type of music. Really wish I could have seen Nirvana live and love watching Nirvana Live and Loud which was there last televised gig for MTV in 1994. Watched Alice In Chains with their new frontman at Download festival a few years ago and although never going to be as good as with Staley singing was amazing to see the guitar god that is Jerry Cantrell. What I love about these bands was the heavy, darker and dirty sound they all had compared to the commercially radio-friendly computer made crap was and still around in all the charts. These bands didnt didnt join a band to become famous, they were just a few friends jamming that happened to make music that was a bit different and appealled to the people that were getting fed up of the commercial pop shite. Although Nirvana became a commercial success that wasnt their choice as proberly Cobains death confirmed but in my opinion there hasnt been any other bands of type of music that has made the same impact since and proberly there wont be again.

Top 3 Nirvana songs:
1) Drain You
2) Negative Creep
3) Radio Friendly Unit Shifter

Top 3 Alice In Chain songs:
1) Would?
2) Man In The Box
3) No Excuses

Running update

Since eastleigh 10k have been training fairly steady only hitting 40 miles a week for the last two weeks but the quality sessions have been in there. Wednesday was a session around packsaddle of 4 x 800, 6 x 400, 4 x 200 with 90 seconds recovery and felt a lot more comfortable than the previous weeks efforts. Steady running for the rest of the week until Saturday when had a decent grass session of 1 x 5min, 2 x 4, 3 x 3, 2 x 2, 2 x 1 with 60 secs recovery. Went out Saturday night so only managed a 40 minute run Sunday followed by a rest day today and planning a grass session of 400s tomorrow followed by easy running until Saturday when I travel to Birmingham's Sutton Park for the National Road Relay which involves 6 short legs (5,5kish) and 6 long legs (8.5kish). Wells qualified in the southern road relays in 14th place (top 25 go through) and although we will be missing a few big guns we should still finish in a respectable position.

Overall I think around 40-50 miles a week is going to be the limit over the summer as enjoying doing others things in my spare time and that will be enough training to perform respectably over the summer.

New Foo Fighters Album - Wasting Light

Managed to have a cheeky listen to the new Foo Fighters album today and after hearing that former Nirvana guitarist Pat Smear has returned to the band and that Grohl decided reunite with Butch Vig (producer of Nirvana's Nevermind) to produce the record was expecting it to be a slight improvement from the last album and more of a return to Colour and The Shape and There's Nothing Left To Lose years. As solid as this album is I was slightly disappointed with it although it will still be one of the btter rock albums of 211. What I loved about the Foo Fighters in there first three albums was the mixture of melodies with heavy riffs using the very affective quiet verses loud chorus method with Grohl often going away from the melody to scream. This album is basically a follow on to the previous album which isnt all bad as there are some excellent melodies and neat over laying guitar playing but dont expect crunching riffs and headbanging as the Foo Fighters have certainly matured musically over the 16 years they have been together moving away from the Nirvana grunge type to a more broad rock sound that will appeal to a wider audience and be more suited to stadium/arena gigs than the dark smelly and sweat pits of small club venues. A perfect example of the musical change is the song A Matter Of Time where the best riff on the album thunders out and when you expect the song to kick on with the heavy riff it stops completely before returning to the same old two chord palm mutted verse. There is a nice touch on the song I should Have Known where former Nirvana bassist Kris Novoselic plays bass where Grohl has said in recent interviews brought back fond memories of Nirvana with Grohl, Smear, Butch Vig and Novoselic working together for the first time since Nirvana ended in 1994.

Stand out songs: White Limo, Miss The Misery, Bridge Burning.
Rating: 3/5
Released April 11th.