I returned from a nice weeks break and headed back into training, my first session was just two days after my return was a Thursday track bonanza, 16 x 300m with roughly 1 min recs (could have been less but we were just jogging the 100m then starting for the same point).

I felt so good in training, really blasting the last effort that I decided to have a stab at a few races in the following eight days. Heading into this I have a contradictory thoughts going through my head. Here's a tale of two theories:

I remember training for my first marathon (Edinburgh) and I felt unbelievable. I 'saved' myself in a few races, concerned about getting injured etc. I ran a great race, easily getting under 3 hours, the athletic nobody holy grail for a marathon and recovered pretty well. However I really regretted not pushing it to limit in the races leading up to the marathon. I'd read a similar opinion from Dave Norman. After a similar approach to his VLM for that year, he didn't finish and this post race message was 'don't leave anything on the table'. So, if it's good enough for Dave Norman, it's good enough for me…on the other hand…

Training with and being around the Liverpool Harrier lads and coaches has been a real eye opener for me. The effort they put it and the structure behind their training has been really inspiring. It's also made me realise that you can't expect to race twice a month and get a PB for each race. It's just not plausible. I made a concious effort after a dissapointing VLM in 2012 to train specifically for a block of races like I was training for a marathon. So a cycle of training aiming to peak for the summer and hang as long as possible.

Last week I'd pushed the envelope of 'not leaving anything on the table' too far. I hit the Halewood 5k on the Saturday and the although the time on 17:25 might not have set heads turning, I can assure you it was a better run than the time suggested. One reason I know it was great run was that I was 59 seconds behind Martin Swensson who was going full tilt. The Wednesday after that I raced again at the Birkenhead 5 mile - a course I'd never ran before and seeing some of the perfomances of fellow striders over the years decided to give it a whirl. Again Martin ran great with a PB of 26.38, I ran the 2nd quickest 5 mile of my career in an official 28.53 - disappointing but the course wasn't tot my liking.

I was really tired after the race but I'd already entered the Tunnel 10k for Sunday. Young Jack Atkins from Knowsely encouraged me to have a go, we've been working well along with Mark Jacques to push some decent times in the past few weeks so I thought why not.

The weather was hot and that would have had a bit of affect on me, I ran 36.10, again not a great time but definitely a race too far! Jack and Jakesy managed to get under 36 mins but again there was less than 30 secs between me and the usual suspects.

I've got a few middle distance races on the track planned plus a few 5k's and 3k's - I'm still in great shape but need to be realistic!