The first thing Georgie our ski instructress asked on Sunday Morning was "what do you want out of these lessons?" "To finish in one piece" I replied (bearing in mind what I have planned for April 13th). I decided that this year's ski would be a particularly sensible one after pushing one or two barriers last year. "No going off the piste – no experimenting in deep snow" I vowed – but after a nice dump of snow on Thursday night all of that went well and truly out of the window. But return in one piece I did having spent a great week, much of it chasing the lovely Lisa (green trousers), a fine skier and the daughter of Ruth, founder of Singlesport, the length and breadth of the Three Valleys.

Last year's headline was "Mr Onesie Returns In One Piece" – a reference to my retro, 1980's, C&A, stylish, one-piece, ski-wear (see below). Although this did a fine job, unfortunately the belt disintegrated towards the end of the holiday, meaning that whenever I slipped the top bit off in a mountain restaurant at lunch time, the outfit invariably finished up around my ankles, a sight that no  ill-fated fellow diner should, in all fairness, ever be exposed to. Hence this year no more Mr Onesie.

But, return in one piece I did, with new resolve to get back into a respectable marathon training routine. However, there was no way I was getting up early today, but I managed a decent 11k or so run across to Portland this afternoon. Happily none of the post piste bashing knee problems reported by Mrs Bee and all-in-all felt much stronger than I had done in the last few weeks, leading me to conclude that there are two possible explanations:

1. Skiing is particularly good marathon training and several more weeks away are required before April.

2. The "very nearly an armful" of blood donated on new years eve had had a particuarly detrimental effect on my running.

As attractive as the former sounds, I am hoping that it is the latter that is the true one – the first one would be too b£$%^y expensive. So, planning three more runs this week, then CLIC Sargent training day in London next weekend :-)

Keith