Wednesday Feb 15th BBC1 Britain’s Favourite Supermarket Foods www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01c89y8

Did you see it? Among the ‘Am I Addicted to Chocolate’ and the ‘Best Way To Brew Tea’ bombshells was a rather interesting piece comparing the effectiveness of milk and energy drinks for muscle recovery. Based on a study done by Northumbria University

www.livestrong.com/article/337809-chocolate-milk-as-a-workout-recovery-drink/

The white stuff has been with us for a few days now confined to upwards of 1000' or so. Settled high pressure means cold and clear skies. We've had some breathtaking scenery. Here's a few shots of Ingleborough taken as the sun comes up last weekend. Enjoy.

With those words Dr Howard Hurst of University of Central Lancashire sports science dept finally crushed all the preconceptions I’d been building up for years about how finely tuned and extraordinary my running body really was. All those hours of training. The merciless interval sessions. The early mornings through the dark and wind and rain. The lung bursting hills. The death or glory killer workouts. And for what?

Ordinary.

Average.

Normal.

January 1st saw me in a place I have not been for many many years – on a start line.

This particular wet and windy start to Olympic year put me in Kirkby Stephen N Yorkshire for the 13km/550m of the Nine Standards fellrace – a lung busting 4 miles climb out to the high point before retracing the route for the plummet back down.

I am attending with all faculties firing as new years eve in the Mouncey household consisted of being tucked up by 9pm. In my defense I can only plead that after a December when wife and small boys were ill for pretty much all of it, it was with sighs of relief and much residual fatigue that signs of wellness and happiness had begun to appear by new years eve. Those of you who are parents will know that when your little ones are flattened for any length of time it don’t half bring the whole house down. So yeah, the festive season had not exactly been all that festive, and overtrained I certainly am not.