Twin Targets For Ashley
Tue 6th April 2010 | Leek CSOB | By Ian Templeman
Leek CSOB midfielder Ashley Flood is focussing on two targets over the next few weeks - helping to keep the Old Boys in the Division One promotion chase while planning his next marathon challenge.
We reported on the league website in the autumn that Ashley (pictured left) had run in his first marathon in Berlin, and was aiming at improving his time in another race in the New Year.Â
At the Rome Marathon on Sunday March 21st, Ashley duly completed his second race and bettered his time, despite having his training scheduled in the run up to the race disrupted.
Ashley said:Â "I did the Rome Marathon in 3 hours 21 minutes which knocked ten minutes off the time I did in Berlin, so that was really pleasing..
"Preparation was difficult, and the bad weather after Christmas affected my training plans quite badly. It was difficult with the snow, with the football being off and all the streets were affected so there wasn't the chance to do anything like enough training.Â
"You can't just pack it all into a shorter timescale, it has to be gradual, so I just did as much as I could. Â I certainly trained more for the Berlin marathon, and I was hoping to beat my time there, but to knock ten minutes off was brilliant".
Ashley's effort was all the more praiseworthy because the Berlin course is generally seen as being a fast course, while Rome was more difficult.
Ashley explained: "The Rome course is more hilly than Berlin, and the roads were cobbled as well, in fact I picked a bit of an injury up because of that. So a combination of the hills and cobbles made a tougher race than Berlin. I hit "the wall" again like I did in Berlin, but this time it came right at the end, just for the last mile or so, so I was lucky there".
Now that he is becoming a seasoned long distance runner, Ashley has another race in his sights at the end of the season.
"The next one I've targeted is the 5th June when hopefully I'll be running in the Stockholm Marathon. I am training for that already in that I've started preparing for it, and then in a few weeks time I will decide for definite whether I will run in it or not".
In the meantime, Ashley has returned to wear the red and white of the Old Boys, as they aim to keep up the pressure on their rivals in the promotion race.
"I am back playing now, although I missed the game at Cheadle due to aggravating the injury I picked up in the marathon. We are a bit inconsistent at the moment and we need to claw back up the table a bit, but there's still a long way to go yet".  Â
Twin Targets For Ashley
Tue 6th April 2010 | Leek CSOB
By Ian Templeman
Leek CSOB midfielder Ashley Flood is focussing on two targets over the next few weeks - helping to keep the Old Boys in the Division One promotion chase while planning his next marathon challenge.
We reported on the league website in the autumn that Ashley (pictured left) had run in his first marathon in Berlin, and was aiming at improving his time in another race in the New Year.Â
At the Rome Marathon on Sunday March 21st, Ashley duly completed his second race and bettered his time, despite having his training scheduled in the run up to the race disrupted.
Ashley said:Â "I did the Rome Marathon in 3 hours 21 minutes which knocked ten minutes off the time I did in Berlin, so that was really pleasing..
"Preparation was difficult, and the bad weather after Christmas affected my training plans quite badly. It was difficult with the snow, with the football being off and all the streets were affected so there wasn't the chance to do anything like enough training.Â
"You can't just pack it all into a shorter timescale, it has to be gradual, so I just did as much as I could. Â I certainly trained more for the Berlin marathon, and I was hoping to beat my time there, but to knock ten minutes off was brilliant".
Ashley's effort was all the more praiseworthy because the Berlin course is generally seen as being a fast course, while Rome was more difficult.
Ashley explained: "The Rome course is more hilly than Berlin, and the roads were cobbled as well, in fact I picked a bit of an injury up because of that. So a combination of the hills and cobbles made a tougher race than Berlin. I hit "the wall" again like I did in Berlin, but this time it came right at the end, just for the last mile or so, so I was lucky there".
Now that he is becoming a seasoned long distance runner, Ashley has another race in his sights at the end of the season.
"The next one I've targeted is the 5th June when hopefully I'll be running in the Stockholm Marathon. I am training for that already in that I've started preparing for it, and then in a few weeks time I will decide for definite whether I will run in it or not".
In the meantime, Ashley has returned to wear the red and white of the Old Boys, as they aim to keep up the pressure on their rivals in the promotion race.
"I am back playing now, although I missed the game at Cheadle due to aggravating the injury I picked up in the marathon. We are a bit inconsistent at the moment and we need to claw back up the table a bit, but there's still a long way to go yet".  Â
