It has been a very quiet month with me taking part in only 2 competitions.

The first one was the BAL in Hendon, i jumped 15.11m and managed to scrape a narrow win.

And the McCain City challenge final in Cardiff, jumping a PB of 15.56m and finishing 3rd.

A PB by just 6cm, but a PB nevertheless. happy with my jumps technically particularly my hop phase which i have spent some time working on recently.

After the previous weekend competing at the Diamond league, i always knew this competition was going to be difficult for me.

Training through the week leading up to the championships was difficult with work and the feeling of complete fatigue.

The competition was tight.

The legend Julian Golley won the competition with 15.32m I managed to finished 2nd with 15.20m.

Next… a weekend from competing, with my next event the following weekend July 31st BAL match at Hendon.

Friday 9th July 2010.

Average day, arrived at work at 8.30 worked hard looking forward to the end of the working week. With the plan to go to Gateshead on Saturday 10th July to watch the Diamond League. Asafa Powell vs Tyson Gay and a dose of Triple jump should be a good day(providing we get good seats).

I noticed a missed call from my coach and a text message saying call me urgently. So i did as the text said and called him…

Long story short he asked me if I wanted to compete in the Diamond league the following day, initially i suggest to my coach the possibility of it been a joke etc and all of the other alternatives motives for him recieving the call.

The day was incredible I enjoyed it from start to finish, warming up in the same building as some of the best in the world including Asafa Powell, Tyson Gay, carmelita Jeter and many more.

And competing against some of the best triple jumpers in the world.

The line up: BABATUNDE, Ade BELL, Kenta COPELLO, Alexis IDOWU, Phillips LAINE, Samyr LEWIS, Randy SANDS, Leevan VALUKEVIC, Dmitrij

My series was as follows: 15.50 PB 15.32 NJ NJ 15.19 15.23

I got a lot out of the day, I feel like I learnt a few lessons and competing against some of the best jumpers has only further motivated me.

I have mixed emotions about my performance. I jumped 15.28m. Happy that I made it through the day but again really rugged jumping.

I’ve added some pictures taken by Jon Mulkeen.

It’s been sometime since my last blog entry.

Following my last blog entry after the North Eastern championships, I had around 4 weeks until my next British Athletics League Match and 5 weeks until the North of England championships.

So after my opening outdoor competition, producing a rugged PB i thought ‘iron the issues out’ and hopefully chase a PB again. The following week i started training as usual and during a speed session felt a little discomfort in my hamstring and pulled up and iced the area. As this was only discomfort i thought i probably just overcooked or was overly tense when i was running.

3 weeks later things still did not feel right as i had not been able to get up to speed in my training sessions.

On the day of the BAL i warmed up as usual and again just didn’t feel right, so opted to do 2 short approach jumps for points for the team as i had travelled to Cardiff. There i saw a sports therapist which encouraged me to visit a physiotherapist when i got home.

After visiting the physio several times i felt on the way to full recovery and had worked up to 40-80% speed over the course of 2 weeks. This meant that i was not ready for the Northern Championships.

So my next competition was to be one of my biggest competitions of the season – The European Trials in Birmingham!

Opened up with 15.45m which is a PB, but felt like I was capable of producing a greater jump as my initial jump felt ropey.

I did not really follow this jump up with any sort of quality, producing a few fouls and aborted jumps, due to runway inconsistency. I registered a further two jumps of 14.90m and 15.10m.

Some good performances throughout the weekend particularly Harry Harris ( another Middlesbrough A.C. athlete) clocking 10.6 in the 100m!

First match of the season. I competed in the Long jump, managed to produce a PB 6.62m, nothing huge but it shows progress. Long jump is an event that i should spend alot more time competing in as it does have transferable benefits to my triple jump.

So i opened with the long jump with a pb with potential for more distance, weather wasnt great (but its the same conditions for all), my approach was slow and inaccurate and i only managed to register one jump out of 5 (4 no jumps), hopefully my speed and sharpness will improve as we progress further into the season.

Triple jump from a short approach (~6-8 strides/3- 4rights) which is a completely new concept for me, but i feel it was useful i registered 1 of 3 jumps at 13.89m.

And finished with the lead leg of the 4×100m relay, which i was a bit apprehensive about, but glad i managed to get the baton round without dropping it and into the hands of the next guy who happens to be our 10.9 100m runner!

Overall positive day.

Next competitiion is the North Eastern Championships 8th May!

First outdoor competition on Saturday. Middlesbrough A.C. League Match 1.