Training Tips For Errant Collies

Opt to drive in today. Traffic surprisingly heavy. L opts for the bike and it rains. She tried a new route, got a bit lost, and ended up being out for 35 minutes which is a decent workout.

Doggo seems to have recovered a bit. At least he managed a toy throwing session before he overdid it and had to go back to bed.

In the news today that men in their late 30s and early 40s are the least satisfied members of society. This is, of course, according to another of those surveys. Apparently us chaps, who are just tottering to the top of the hill of life (See Now Where's That Entry Form... - Sunday 5th August), are even more dissatisfied than teenagers. Oh come on.

Something to look forward to though, our retirement years are apparently the happiest period of our lives or does that only apply to those who have retired now, with a pension, rather than us lot who won't get one.

Daughter arrives home from France in buoyant mood. We'll see how long this lasts, perhaps she hasn't discovered that L has ransacked her bedroom whilst she was away.

Not only does it rain on L on her bike into work, it rains on her way home too. I try and motivate her by telling her how cycling in the rain is fun. It doesn't work; she doesn't believe me.

I find out mid afternoon that tonight's duel on the squash court is off. He’s ill. Bugger. Typical. I thought he was quiet on email today. If I'd known that this morning I would have cycled into work. Looks like Doggo will have to forgo his ball session in favour of a run.

L goes off to Pilates and tells me to have a good run. Which isn't possible if I’m taking the dog.

Doggo dawdles as much as usual but oddly about halfway around our route he stops dragging his paws at the back and moves to the front. Then head down, ears back, he starts to set the pace. It’s as if he’s suddenly had enough and was saying ‘right then let’s get this over with’. He runs about six feet in front of me for the rest of the route, rarely stopping.

We get stopped by a lad with an errant collie. You know the sort, on the lead, pulling in four directions at once, none of them where you want to go. He enquires how I got Doggo so well trained. After I stop laughing, I don’t tell him that on the lead Doggo would be the same as his dog. I also don’t point out that Doggo is currently behaving because he is too knackered to do otherwise. A 10k run would take the edges off his dog but the lad doesn’t look capable of running ten feet let alone 10k. I give him a few tips on rewarding good behaviour with treats and then we push on. Doggo doesn’t even stop at the puddles for a drink. We do an hour so we must have done at least 5k, hopefully more. My legs ache so perhaps we did around 10k after all.

More fish tonight as L cooks up a superb salmon curry.

I spend ages on the internet trying to find the Carling Cup 2nd Round draw. I have a sneaking suspicion a Derby v Leeds cup draw is coming out of the bag tonight but Sky are keeping it to themselves, either that or no one else cares.

Eventually I find it. Disappointedly we get Blackpool. I assume we'll try and lose to concentrate on the league by playing our reserves in that game. They're in the championship now and our first team was only just good enough last year, so we won’t get past them. That’s us out for another season.

Go to bed where L is surprisingly lively. No complaints about that.