After a much deserved day off the players were back with their noses to the grindstone on Thursday with a much feared running session.

We were back at it on Thursday after a much deserved day off. Since the lads came back last week they have worked extremely hard and even on the team building exercise we had on Tuesday afternoon, which involved the river rafting, it was a physical workout. Jon Parkin even commented that it was the most physical 'afternoon off' he'd had in his life.

Wednesday was much needed, especially for someone like Danny Mayor, I spoke to him later in the day and he said that he is not used to training so intensely, the running being as physical as it is and in fairness to Danny he used all day Wednesday to rest. Danny had a big lie in and relaxed at the complex in order to get himself ready for Thursday.

Thursday for the more experienced players is probably the worst day for training. We've gone off the same plan which we went off last year which started with the 8 o'clock run, a good stretch on the bridge and some of the lads took the opportunity to go in the river early in the morning to help with their legs. At 11 o'clock we did the football session and so far the ball has flowed quite well, we've worked on possessions and tried to get people turning and playing forward. The football side of the trip has been good but it has been long and towards the end of it you can see people tiring but this is what it is like in pre-season. This is what they will have to tap in to come the first five or six games of the season when you don't know what the weather it going to be like even though you are expecting it to be hot and draining. With all the mental training and stamina work that they have done, hopefully they can call on that to pick and choose at times within the games.

After a two hour morning session the afternoon session was the one that they feared the most. It was a slight change from last year, this year we were on the grass whereas last year we were on the track, the pitch and track had flooded a couple of weeks back and it was still greasy and slimy and wasn't the right surface to do this sort of running on. The lads are saying that it was a far harder run on grass but the vast majority of players have made every time and just to see them finish that last one, the drive when people are against the clock and then with five or six seconds left you see a big kick which gets them in. It's testament to the lads that they want to work and the way that the manager and the rest of the staff have tried to instil in them that everything is achievable and the vast majority of them are proving that.

To see them finish the last of the 300s and practically collapse over the line, it's great to see the lads picking each other up, congratulating each other and giving each other high fives. For coaches, things like that are pleasing to see.

I've had a few text messages this week and when people realise that you are away in Austria they suggest that we are living the life of riley, but believe me, these lads have come here and it is no holiday camp. It's a working camp and other than the Tuesday afternoon team bonding session and the day off it has been three sessions a day and at the end of each day they are left dead on their feet. They need the rest of the night to recover from what has been a hard, stressful and enduring day.

BB

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