At the weekend I did the Swansea Bay 10K, loved it, and set a cracking time. Conditions on the day were difficult and my preparations were less than ideal to say the least, but I ran my fastest 10K this year and I was less than a minute away from my PB set in 2004. In running a sub-60 I've met the main goal I set myself this year.

With Swansea being 280 miles away from Leeds, I opted to make a long weekend of it and I arrived there on Friday evening. We got started reasonably early and I quickly lost count of just how much I had to drink. I didn't get to bed until after it had got light, and I was up again by midday. Not quite my idea of an Olympian-style run-up to a big race. I had 24 hours to recover for the race and it at the time I really didn't feel anywhere near enough.

After last weekend's 10K I decided to go for two 5Ks this weekend. Given my 62 minute 10K in Sheffield, I put 29 minutes into my Garmin as a target for both races. On Saturday at the Hyde Park Time Trial I managed 28:37, and at today's Challenge St. Helens I came home in 27:22 which equals my second best 5K performance. It's only short distances, but in the context of the amount of training I'm doing it's encouraging stuff.

Next weekend I'm doing the Swansea Bay 10K. Let's see how I get on!

Before that I've got my second salsa session. I've already forgotten everything I learned last week :-(

I went on holiday, I came back. I might write about that some other time, but this morning I ran the Bupa Great Yorkshire Run, a popular 10K down in Sheffield. Amazingly it's only my fourth 10K ever, and just my second 10K race of this year. As a result of my break from work-induced break from running over the summer I hadn't done anywhere near the amount of training I'd like to do going into a 10K. Although I'd not done anything since getting back from Denmark, I had managed a token 24K of training during August and so wasn't going into the race completely empty.

The trains weren't going to get me to Sheffield on time, so the night before I planned my journey and timings meticulously like it says to do in all the running books. It all went to plan - I got to central Sheffield via the tram in plenty of time and, once there, found the race to be very well organised. Things felt a lot less crowded and a bit more under control than at the Leeds 10K I did in June, and the facilities at the start appeared to be better too. Milling around at the start, there weren't many Fetch tops in evidence (that I could see) although I did meet a couple of lovely incognito Fetchies up at the start line who came up to me and said hello.

Given my recent performances, I was aiming for 66 minutes. 60 minutes would have equalled my Leeds 10K performance, but I benefited from a lot more training going into that race - not to mention being a few pounds lighter.

I'm over the disappointment of the weekend. Thanks for your comments, as always. As I said, I was taking it as a kick up the bottom and it's already shown, I think. I went out for a second run with my running buddy this morning. We went before work, which is a bit more like it. My buddy loved it: we went at a similar pace, but she found the going a lot easier. I noticed this feeling a bit better too. I'd like to get out again on my own this week - looks like tomorrow morning before work is my best opportunity.

I'm pleased that I'm getting some decent mileage on the scoreboard. It's only 24km this month so far, but it's 24km more than last month and a good basis for getting back up to 50km plus in the next month or two.

I'm trying to find cross-training opportunities. I really got a lot of benefit from cycling, and I'm looking to start this first. I go on holiday to Denmark on Friday, and I'm hoping we can get out on the bikes at some point. When I get back, I'll be cycling to work and trying to get a 25km ride in at least once a fortnight.

I've agreed with a friend to try badminton when I get back from Denmark. Neither of us have played it since school days, although we both enjoyed it. I can't remember the rules or the scoring, but it'll be fun and can't hurt with the fitness.

My last six 5K time trial results, before today:

28 Jun 08 . 00:28:15
14 Jun 08 . 00:27:34
24 May 08 . 00:26:30
03 May 08 . 00:28:41
19 Apr 08 . 00:27:22
12 Apr 08 . 00:26:55

And today:

16 Aug 08 . 00:30:58

I knew that, after being so positive during the week, the reliable performance barometer that is the HPTT would probably tell a different story. On today's performance, I'm back to where I was at the end of February.

My next HPTT is on 6th September and I'm hoping to do a lot better by then. I ended up walking parts of the last kilometre today which I almost never do, so if I can at least avoid that then I should be good to get back under 30 minutes again.

It's hard not to treat this as a some kind of failure, but I'm taking it as a kick up the arse.

There was no repeat of the thunderstorms yesterday so me and my running buddy went out for our first run together, covering 5K. It was as far as she'd run before, and it made for what seemed like an easier run for me. It rained pleasantly throughout - contrary to the impression I might have given in early blogs, I do quite like running in the rain (assuming it's not too cold).

As an easy run, all it served to do was to whet my appetite for something a bit more strenuous. Tonight I went out for another run, at a quicker pace. It didn't feel comfortable. After a break from running, perhaps I was just being a bit keen to go running on consecutive days so soon. I could quite get my mind in the right place either, and I really should have gone a bit further. Thing is, I'm back at the just-get-out-and-run stage, so I shouldn't worry about these things so much. I'm just glad I'm getting out again.

Well, as promised (to myself, if no-one else), I got my fat ass in gear on Sunday and went running for the first time in a while. I didn't go out for too long, but I got myself out and I was reasonably satisfied with how much fitness I'd managed to retain over my time off.

My time off from running consisted of consecutive weeks living away from home for work reasons, which is a bit of a nightmare when it comes to my running/weight objectives. It consists of eating too much - and eating the wrong sort of food - in hotels and restaurants, and getting much less exercise in than normal. During my two weeks away in India this was especially true. The food and drink there was absolutely top notch for the duration of my time there, and ridiculously cheap too - a seven course Italian buffet with a draught beer that we had one night came in at about seventeen quid. As far as exercise goes, it's pretty hard - you're either at the hotel, at the office, or in a car in between the two... not much walking.

The result of my time off isn't anywhere near as bad as feared. I'd lost about a stone since January's start of festivities, and while I've not been running I've only put a couple of pounds on. I'm still comfortably under 17 (yes, seventeen) stone which has to be positive (I started at 17 and a half). In my little 4K run on Sunday, I found it hard but not quite as hard as I feared. A positive, yet petite, return.

I've decided to start publishing entries on my Fetcheveryone blog here too. Fetch is an running community website, and so my blog entries there focus on running and how my training is progressing. That said, there's usually a lot of other stuff in there too. I hope you find it interesting... certainly more than the complete lack of updates that you'd find here otherwise.

For some reason I'd totally forgotten to report my mishap at the start line of the HPTT last Saturday morning.

I'm a bit of fidget when waiting to start - I tend to re-tie my laces, pull up my socks and sometimes re-tie the string holding up my shorts. On this occasion I was sorting the shorts, when I noticed there seemed to be an unusual amount of slack in the string. I gave it a gentle pull and the whole lot came out in my hands in two pieces.

Two minutes to go, and I'm worrying that my shorts will be round my ankles after a hundred metres.

To cut a long story short, it was fine. They're lycra-type shorts rather than the baggy sort, and although I have lost weight there was still more than enough for the shorts to cling on to. If nothing else, it's given me an excuse to buy a nice new pair that matches my funky lime top.

The end-of-He-man-episode-type moral of the story is clear - don't be a fidget on the start line.

Yesterday I got my 5k PB down to 26:55, down from 28:03 a few weeks ago. In terms of my training, I'm able to go a bit further and get out a bit more often than before. So that's good, everything is going in the right direction still. I'm feeling more and more confident about my first 10k in June... if I'm honest I'd run it tomorrow. My current big goal of running 10k under 57 minutes (my 2004 10k time) feels within reach already - a goal I wasn't previously expecting to meet this year. It'll require a lot of work, but I have plenty of time to train before my 'first' 10k in June (Run for All in Leeds) and there are at least three other 10k races I'm doing this year after that one to try and make the time.

Yesterday's 5k seems to have taken a bit more out of me that usual. I've been feeling a bit under the weather recently and I can tell from my resting HR that things aren't quite right. My legs felt especially tired last night, and again this morning. I intended to go out for a 10k slower run at lunchtime (after watching the FLM coverage) but only managed 6k. It's a while since I've curtailed a run, and I knew my legs were still tired, so it's not so bad. It's an inevitability. That said, after spending hours watching FLM it seemed wrong to stop. It's as if I want it, but don't want it enough. Sometimes its hard to take things steady. I have to remember that it's a long journey that I'm on - a marathon, not a sprint (metaphorically, if not literally).

The best way I've found to dispel these sort of thoughts is to think back to January, when I started out. I really struggled with, well, everything. The horrendous picture of me in the HPTT from January (see my pictures) also helps illustrate where I was when starting out. I've come on quite a way since then and that's the important thing to remember when I'm unsure of what I'm doing. Incidentally, yesterday I uploaded a new pic from a few weeks ago. I can't believe the comparison with the January pic even at this early stage.

Things are continuing to progress well with the running, with a couple of milestones reached recently.

I completed my tenth Hyde Park Time Trial on Saturday (surrounded by a light dusting of snow) which is something of a milestone. I've gone from 33:09 in January to my current PB of 28:50, which is not far off a 5 minute improvement. Doing the time trial these last ten weeks has been such a help. It's helped me measure my progress, it's helped me push myself harder, it's given me some consistency in my running... I doubt that I'd be in the position I'm in now without it. Not only that, but I've met some nice people there and I have some fabulous and free running shoes from Sweatshop as a result of winning the monthly prize in February.

Another milestone came this weekend in bathroom. Since starting out in January, I have now lost a full stone in weight. I still weigh in at 16st 7lb so I've got a long way to go, but it's a definite milestone.

Finally, this morning I went for an hour's run and ended up doing 10k (in 69 minutes). I know it doesn't sound like much of a milestone, but in fact it's only the third time in my life that I've ever run that far. I did the Leeds Abbey Dash 10k in 2004 and 2005, but never actually ran the distance in training for those events. I didn't even do a total of 10k in training for those events, never mind in an individual run. So it's pleasing that I've been able to do this distance in training for the first time. This is something I would have really struggled to do even just a few weeks ago.

I guess it's about time I came out with it. I have started running.

As some of you will know I have dabbled with running before. I did about no more than an hour's training in the run up to the Leeds Abbey Dash 10k in 2004, and then ran the race itself in 54:46. I ran the same event the following year (pictured above), without any real training, finishing in about 1:05:00. And then that was it as far as running was concerned.

Having put on several stone in last few years, I decided late last year that enough was quite enough and that running would be the best way to do something about it. So I'd try again, starting from scratch, but actually take it seriously this time. Having lost so much fitness and added so much weight, it's clearly a big challenge.

On a rather cold, dark Sunday evening in the middle of January I went for a trial run with the aim of seeing if I could make 5k, and make it without dying. I made 5k, without dying, in 36:16. A very slow (compared with the 10k times) but encouraging start (as I did make the distance, and I didn't die either). Since then I've been running, with a bit of cycling, several times a week. I've been taking part in the Hyde Park Time Trial each week, and after six events I've got my 5k time down 30:41. It's going really well, but I'm still miles behind my previous pace.

The Leeds 10k Jane Tomlinson's 'Run For All' is a 10k road race around Leeds that was first held in 2007. And I've decided that I'm going to run it for the first time this year. I'll be running to raise funds for the RFL Benevolent Fund, which aims to support players whose lives are affected by serious injuries sustained while playing rugby league. So if you'd like to support me and encourage me, and help a really worthy cause, head on over to my page at Justgiving.com titled Paul runs the Leeds 10k.

I'll be blogging more about how things are going as things progress. So, stay tuned.

So it's a tad cold. It's about time we had some seasonal weather. It always permits some nice frosty-looking shots.

Picture: Moggy uploaded by Paul Holloway on 14th December, 2007.

I need to buy a new camera after my Sony DSC F717 expired recently. I'm considering a Canon EOS 400D, but do you have any recommendations? I'm after a low-end SLR, rather than a compact. Any comments would be most welcome!

Update: In order to ensure I can take advantage of a £50 cash-back offer, I've plumed for the EOS 400D with a basic lens. I've got my eye on a lens and a flash, but they'll have to wait until I get the cash. After getting the money back from the sofa, I have buy one of those first! For those following that particular saga, the dining table and chairs still hasn't materialised...

Update The bastards. The cocking sofa isn't coming after all, we were misled. Let's see how long it takes the credit card company to refund it.
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So I have recently moved back to Leeds and, for the first time, into an unfurnished property. This necessitated a few furniture purchases, in particular a new sofa and a new dining room table. At the start of March we took a trip down to Birstall and, after as little shopping around as I could possibly get away with, picked up the furniture from two different stores. Apparently it takes eight weeks to deliver a sofa, and eleven weeks to deliver a table and some chairs.

On a Saturday about a month ago I received a letter to tell me that the sofa company, Klaussner, had gone into administration. There were one or two expletives uttered on reading the title of the letter, but the administrator's letter seemed to be reasonably optimistic about the prospects for our sofa. A bit of research showed that the company had gone into administration less than a year before, and that it had been sold as a going concern. This time round it's not, but for reasons unknown it turns out that we will get our sofa after all.

Last Saturday I received another letter to tell me that the dining room table company, John Peters, had gone into administration. There was significantly more swearing this time. This administrator's letter was more matter-of-fact and didn't try and put a nice gloss on things. That said, there was a letter from the company telling us that we'd get our table, and that stopped the swearing.

Bad luck but, despite not having received any of the goods yet, it appears we'll get our stuff. Apparently people have less money to spend, and the first things people stop buying are 'discretionary goods' such as furniture. Some paulholloway.com furniture purchasing learning points for you:
* Do a bit of research before you go shopping. If you've got a particular shop in mind, do a bit of searching on the web beforehand.
* If you put down a deposit, use a credit card and put on at least £100. Credit card companies protect you against all sorts of things, but most require you to spend at least £100.
* Big is not necessarily better, but it is safer. We didn't want to go to Ikea, but if we had then we wouldn't have had anything to worry about.