Lloyd Biddell

Since my exerts from the Greater Manchester Marathon I've taken several days off and whilst more recently my current mileage is back to normal, I've kept all of my runs to less than 10 miles and not done many 'sessions' to speak of.  A couple of weeks ago it was confirmed that I've been called up to represent England in the V35-39 category at the Chester Marathon in October so my training in the next few months will be geared towards this. Whilst I haven't done any speed sessions since March I quite fancied a 10k to see where my short distance fitness currently is.  The Great Birmingham 10k fit the bill and following my Manchester marathon time I approached the elite co-ordinator for the event, asking them whether it was possible to enter as normal but get a better starting position than in the mass start - the fastest time I could put on the entry form was 'sub 36 mins' and I was concerned I'd be stuck in the pack and it compromise the race.  As i

Today was the big race that I've been working up to over the last few months.  I have done a marathon way back in 2008 which I did in 2.53 so sort of remember how difficult it was but for all intents and purposes this was my debut at the distance since I've started to run again.  I chose Manchester in part because the timing was right, it is a flattish course and also because I discovered that certain marathons are used by England Athletics as qualifiers for 'age group marathons'.  What this effectively means is that if you come in the top 5 for your age group (in my case 35-39) then there is a chance that you can be selected to represent your country - assuming you register your interest with them beforehand which I duly did some months ago. The last few weeks have been quite new to me training wise; typically I max out at about 85 miles a week but then I've had a few niggles along the way which often meant having to cut back on training.  Three weeks ago I took