This weekend marked one of the most successful EVER for our Team Blizard athletes, with scores of you reaping the rewards at Retford, Liverpool, Spen, Silverstone, Bath and Birmingham after dedicating yourselves to the simple rules of heart rate training following lactate tests at the clinic!

At Retford we were so proud to provide the winning man and woman in the form of Clowne’s Gareth Lowe and our very own Jenny Blizard, as well as the second and third ladies and top age group results, while Barnsley’s Dan Kestrel stormed to a phenomenal third place at the Liverpool half, Rotherham and elite Team Blizard athlete, Fiona Davies ran her fastest ever 20M time at Spen to finish second lady!

Gareth narrowly missed his already scorching PB when he won Retford in a glittering 70:16, a time even more impressive because he ran the whole race on his own, finishing well over three minutes ahead of the second man. His result also places him sixth in the country in his V40 age group, just seconds behind the famous Steve Way, who ran 70:01 at Bath!

Our Jenny won the women’s race in a strong 84:06, putting in a solid performance ahead of this Sunday’s Gainsborough 10km, while Doncaster’s dedicated lactate tested athlete, Jo Goodier, was never far behind in 84:35, knocking three and a half minutes off her PB! Jo is a great example of someone who has stuck religiously to her heart rate zones, and look where it’s got her!

Completing our Team Blizard top women’s trio star line up was Knavesmire’s Sarah Attwood, who also scored a big PB of 87:45, knocking a whole minute off her lifetime best.

More PBs were to come: from Jono Frary’s coached triathlete and Ironman in waiting Karen Lynch, who posted a HUGE six minute PB of 1:38.26, Gainsborough’s Glenn Peniston 1:44.59 beat his old lifetime best by more than two minutes, Sheffield’s Brian Rose finished with a massive four minute PB of 78:08, Steel City’s Mark Gray knocked two and a half minutes off his PB with a strong 77:05, Dan Hadfield broke 90 minutes for the first time with a fantastic 89:10, and Rotherham’s Ian Whyman's 78:02 also took a huge chunk out of his old PB of 80:19!

Sheffield’s M55 master Chris Ireland 78:34 was his fastest in three years, and just five seconds shy of his PB, placing him second in his age category in the whole of the UK!

Meanwhile, one of our future hopeful Deaf OIympics competitors, North Derbyshire’s Jonty Parry, knocked more than a minute and a half off his old PB with a superb 1:39.09, and said: “Finally broken 100 minutes, my longstanding dream since I started running!”

Retford’s Chris Pepper was also over the moon to run his fastest ever half marathon with a two minute PB of 84:28, enthusing: “Awesome run, it was a big PB and a top 30 finish out of 900 runners. Big thanks to Dave Tune and everyone at Blizard for all the help so far!”

Askern’s Kelly Raven, a real Team Blizard star, battled in her tempo zone for her strong 95:38 posting, and Gainsborough’s Jonathan Drake 83:28 was just a minute outside his PB.

Finally, Danum Harriers’ increasingly speedy Paula Davies narrowly missed her PB when she ran 1:45.45, and said: “I think the mile 10 monsters killed my legs off, but I enjoyed it with my fellow harriers!”

As if all the excitement at Retford wasn’t enough, you were smashing up the field elsewhere too!

Our elite Team Blizard athlete, Fiona Davies finished second lady at the Spen 20M in 2:14.55, and said happily: “That was well and truly out of my 10km comfort zone, but I beat my only other 20 mile time from 2007 by 90 seconds. I won the silver Yorkshire medal, and the conditions could not have been better! Thank you to Jenny Blizard and Blizard Physiotherapy for their continuing support.”

Over at Liverpool we had the third finisher overall in the shape of the hugely talented and hard working Dan Kestrel from Barnsley, who’s time of 68:09 knocked nearly a minute off his PB, which is huge at this level! He was also only just over a minute from winning the whole race!

Sheffield’s Rob Jones also took on the course at Liverpool, and his excellent 1:30.53 was just seconds outside his PB - keep training the way you are Rob and you will rip up that 90 minute barrier very soon!

Mark Harvey represented Team Blizard in style when scored a new PB at the Silverstone half with 85:46, while Nene Valley Harriers’ Yvonne Scarrott stuck to the plan like a boss when she ran the perfectly executed marathon-paced half marathon at Bath, clocking a strong 83:05.

Finally, Yvonne’s club mate and fellow heart rate training devotee, Ruth Jones, joined Notts’ Georgina Weston at the National Inter-Counties cross country championships at Birmingham’s Cofton Park, with both athletes running far stronger than just two weeks’ earlier at the National, proving their hard work is paying off, as it is for all of you inspiring Team Blizard gang!