After a six week lay off I have been back running for a good seven weeks now. Training over the seven weeks has been up and down. I have been travelling a good bit with work and on holidays for almost a week. My diet which I started in January went fantastically for the first 4 weeks but it’s been a bit up and down since. I cant seem to loose any weight even when I cut my daily calories by the recommended 15%. I’m also finding it very difficult to break my coke / diet coke habit.

Last Sunday my cross country season came to an end with a horrible run in the Ireland Intermediate cross country in Roscommon (Lough Key). I found the race to be very tough. The pace was fast from the start and I just couldn’t keep my poise in the mud. The frustrating thing is that I can beat allot of these guys in a 5K or 10K on the road but when it comes to cross country my back is aching and I loose all momentum when the going is soft.

Looking on the positive side I have had a few weeks of solid effort. I’m over the six week hump and things are starting to click again. I did my first temp on Tuesday since before Christmas and I’ll do some Fartlek work this evening. The hamstring injury is still there a small bit but I think it’s more under control than ever. I’ve drawn up a plan this week for a July peak which will take in the track season and a number of TBD key road races. My aims for the season are to break my clubs, 200M, 400M and 1500M records and also break the 16 minute mark for 5K and get below 34:30 for 10K.