SportsShoes Blog

Afternoon everyone.

Well, i’m back on the blog. I have had my holiday now and you know what? I was actually quite happy with the results. I was a lot leaner and more defined. However, it all went wrong quite quickly. This was due to the fact we ate out every lunch and evening and ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING was served with chips, not just a portion, but a bucket load and i was never one to leave food. It was always drummed into me to eat all my main course! So the six pack started to disappear quite quickly. Not just blaming the food but the hot weather really make you crave a cold lager as well and we all know the claorie content of those bad boys!

Anyway back now and feel like i want to find my next challenge. I have just been reading about the Mens Health cover model challenge and all the contestants etc. Now, this is something i have always talked about but never had the discipline to do. I think now though that it may be something i would like to try and aim for, the only thing is that at the moment i am training in a small under-equipped gym so am looking into joining a large gym again and then i can see where i could go with it.

Untill then, i am watching what i am eating again and going regularly to the little gym. Off tonight for a shoulder workout.

J.

Well im now back from the Junior Track Europeans in Pruszkow and it was a very sucessful championships! We went on to win the final of the team pursuit, with both us and the Belgians posting faster times than in qualifying.  It was a really good atmosphere in the track and the crowd were really supportive, plus it was good to get the first gold for the GB team.

I then competed again the next day in the 2000m individual pursuit. I was pretty nervous cos I was warming up and watching the other athletes post times very close to my recently set PB and so probably panicked when it got to my heat.  I was off last against Jolien D’Hoore the World Junior Road Race Champion and 4th placed at the Junior World individual pursuit. I rode the first kilometre very fast and died a million deaths in the closing 2 laps, qualifying second fastest to D’Hoore by 0.2 seconds. This meant I was still in the ride off for gold and silver but it wasn’t the way I wanted to qualify. However, I came back to the final feeling confident and determind to give it everything but to control the first km.  I rode an evenly paced race and took the lead in the last 3 laps.  A strong rider, Jolien then kicked in the last lap but I still managed to win…by 0.4seconds!

This then meant another presentation and a second time listening to the national anthem! (I was glad I’d made the effort to get some nice new Nike trainers from Sports Shoes before I left for Poland to wear on the podium!) I also received another European Champions jersey…see pics!

I was really happy and phoned my family and gym coach then it was back to bed as I had another event in the morning!

For the next days event I was riding up a category in the U23’s 3000m individual pursuit so competing against girls potentially 5 years older, however the aim was to use it for experience.  I finished 13th in a respectable time of 3:50, 2 seconds slower than my PB but it was good to see where the standard was and how much I need to improve when I become an U23.

So all in all, a good trip and I returned hope with 2 gold medals and as Double European Champion!

http://track-pruszkow2008.eu/galerie/pretty_fast-31/1.html pictures from the event

Well its come right at the wrong time, I was just hitting form with the ball and now the season is over. I’m not happy, very bad timing!

Now the seasons over i will be resting for about 2 months then i will be back in the gym to work on fitness and strength, especially my back as i have been having problems with it for the past few weeks. I need few months of gym work and some good training sessions over the winter to get myself as fit as i should be. Hopefully i can have an injury free winter which has been a major problem for me the past few seasons. Then i’ll be back with a vengeance!!

had a tough match earlier with Chris Gordon, US no2 and world 66. lost the first game 11-8 but made him work pretty hard to win it. upped the pace a little in the second. got an early lead and maintained it right the way through to tie at 1 game all. as the match went on i was seeing the ball vetter and hitting good length. holding him and working him and in the end won 8-11 11-4 11-7 11-1 in 88min.. tough match tomorrow againt Daryl Selby ranked 35..

In Chicago at the moment competing in the above evnt. amazing city and venue. court is built outdoors on the main avenue. great exposre for the game and players. first round went under way today. played dutch international Bart Ravelli and won comfortably in 3 , 11-1 11-2 11-5. have USA no.2 and world 66 tomorow so should prove a tougher test.. looking forward

What a weekend…..for the Bingley Harriers at the Ben Nevis Fell race.

Rob Jebb was 2nd overall missing out on top spot by just 13 seconds to the world number one sky runner Augusti Roc of Spain.

Bingley picked up 1st mens team award with Rob Jebb, Robin Lawrence and Paul Mitchell as counters

Ali Raw won the ladies (just) over 40 title.

My ‘old’ pals Ian Goodyear and Mick Ford both completed their 20th Ben races - just one more for each of them before they are awarded their 21 race trophies.

Added to that, I had a great run finishing in 43rd place (out of 442) in a personal best time of 1hr 52 mins. I turned at the top in 1hr 16 mins which is not my fastest ascent but had a storming return making the 4.5 miles and 4000 ft of descent back to the finish field in just 36 mins. I feel that if I could work on my climbing I may still have a very good Ben time in me.

I pipped my training partner Jamie Robinson by a minute or so which I was pleased about as he’s running strong at the minute and I thought he’d have got the better of me on this one. It was a great run for Jamie though and he too beat his Ben PB by some margin.

In all we had around 20 harriers in the field making for a great race and an even better night out.

Quite unbelievably, whilst most of England was swimming, the weather for the whole weekend was fantastic although the strong winds at the summit made the 7 degree temperature feel a lot colder. (It always amuses me to see runners in shorts and vests passing walkers in base layers, mid layers and triple layer gore-tex jackets).

This year the Ben race was a round of the World Sky-running championship and as such attracted around 20 runners from Spain, Italy, Andora and France. As Rob Jebb said in his ‘few words’ at the award ceremony, our ‘European’ friends really proved to us that they can run up and down one of the knarliest and toughest of Britain’s hills and not just on nice smooth alpine tracks.

As predicted, my legs feel a little on the heavy side today. I’m hoping they might have softened a little by tomorrow and if they have I’ll probably try a little spin out in the evening.

I need to concentrate as much as possible on the bike now for the next couple of weeks as my next event is the 3 Peaks Cyclo Cross at the end of September.

Rode the qualification heat of the junior team pursuit this morning and we qualified fastest to the Belgians by 1.6 seconds! The team was myself, Jess Booth and Alex Greenfield and we all rode well apart from messing up the finish and narrowly avoiding a crash! The final for gold and silver is tonight!!!

Went to work on my bike today for a change.

It’s a great way to start the day - really wakes you up, saves on fuel and makes you feel like a green peace protester - fantastic!!

However, it tiddled down all afternoon and by the time I got home I had a rather wet ‘rear end’. Much as it pains me as a hardy mountain biker I’ve just been in the garage to fit a mudguard to my beloved Kona (if my mates see me they’ll call me a jessy for sure).

Might go on it again in the morn (but only if it’s raining!!)

Just had a look at the weather forecast for Saturday (Ben race) - heavy rain, clouds, sun and high wind - Perfect…..

I was back in the 1st team again this week and was back in the wickets. We played at Keighley who are up for promotion. I bowled 1st change and took 3 wickets for 2 runs in my first 3 overs, which I was very happy with then i came back on at the death and kept it tight. I finished with 3 wickets for 26 runs in 10 overs.

Everything feels as though it has clicked into place with my bowling over the past few weeks. Just bad timing, it’s come right at the end of season.