Once again I’ll start with an apology, still not blogging enough, it’s not an excuse but I can’t believe how fast time is flying by!! Well things have gone ok since my last blog, following the final winter league walk at the NSC, I had a solid walking week maybe not in terms of speed but distance wise not too bad. However, after a longish walk on the Saturday, I had walked 6 days in a row, I had a sore foot, sore knee and my hamstrings weren’t great either, so I decided to have two weeks off walking completely and just cycle and x train for two weeks. During the two weeks apart from a cold I managed two 10 + hours of cycling, the x trainer, turbo and a little bit of running and stretching, and fingers crossed it seems to have worked I feel ready to put together another block of walking training. During the two weeks I took my step son Conor and another young cyclist Will Draper to Manchester velodrome, collecting them at Nutsford Service Station after they had spent 3 days training in Newport. While Conor and Will were training, I met an old friend from Manchester Steve Lee, who now lives in Huddersfield and a keen cyclist we got a 3 hour + ride in around Oldham and taking in the Holme Moss climb that has been used for the Tour de France, Tour of Britain and the Milk Race. Although it was cold, wet and misty I really enjoyed the training ride, the area was great for bike riding. Yesterday Saturday, I joined the Posse ride, which turned out to be a bit of a pain fest really, with the racing season just weeks away, riders are rounding into form, so I spent most of the ride just hanging onto wheels, it served its purpose though another good endurance session. So back to walking this week, short term the Ascot Open, with the setbacks that I have had, I think I’ll do the 10km, originally the 20km was the target but I’m not fit enough to get round that distance at the speed I would like. There have been some great performances in recent weeks by local walkers noticeably Tom Partington and Michelle Turner indoors over 3km in the National Champs, plenty of other walkers, especially the youths had strong performances which is very encouraging. Also this weekend my favourite event the National XC Champs in Parliament Hill London took place, Sarah Astin had an outstanding run to finish 3rd and Rachael Franklin also performed very well to finish 16th . I’m sure there were some great performances in the University Indoor Champs also this weekend. A lot of the success of these athletes is down to their hard work but also their coaches who put hours and hours of their time in all weathers to ensure athletes are prepared properly for their competitions. Hopefully during my next blog I can report on some progress walking wise, like everyone the Parish is getting nearer but I’m not panicking just yet!! Happy training!