PRE-SEASON TRAINING IS NO FUN

FIRST day back after the summer break and our training ground is not ready so we are at the Lytham YMCA - marginally better better than dodging the dog dirt at Stanley Park, like we had to last season.

Good to catch up with all the lads and their holiday banter. It seems a lot of the boys, myself included, are missing a certain glitzy resort in the Nevada desert. There is already talk of booking now for next year.

We started our pre-season with the dreaded "weigh-in" and fat tests. I think the key is just not to eat breakfast. Shame I didn't realise till too late.

At one of my previous clubs one of the players was so worried about his weight that he didn't have anything to eat or drink the day before we started back. Halfway through our first run he collapsed with dehydration - who says footballers are thick?

On Saturday, it rained so some of the lads tried out the new waterproof jackets we have been given.

It wasn't until halfway through our training session, when Matt Gilkes took his jacket off, that we realised everyone's arms had turned blue. The dye had run out of the jackets and it doesn't come off! Now we all look like The Smurfs! I wonder if Wayne Rooney and co are having the same problems at United.

The double training sessions started on Monday - a killer for all of us. Typically, we are all complaining and we all resemble wooden men by 4pm.

We know it's good for us...honest! Plus we get the added bonus of standing in a big wheelie bin full of ice to ease our aching limbs.

Tuesday afternoon and we find ourselves in a boxercise class run by Sue, a crazy woman from Blackpool. It was a bit strange being taught how to fight by a woman, especially when she was screaming at us to make the rib shots harder.

But, as our coach pointed out, she's probably tougher than most of the squad.

Still, it was a lot better than plodding around a pitch for hours on end and we all ended up taking the mick out of each other - always good for morale.

We usually do some spinning and body pumping as well, not that you could tell by looking at some of the bodies in the changing room.

By Wednesday, the training has really stepped up, to the point where a few of us could easily have been sick after the 400m and 200m sprints. The gaffer, Simon Grayson, keep saying things like: "It's all in the bank."

There's light at the end of the tunnel because we were working towards our first game of the season - a xx win over Fleetwood - yesterday.

We're off to Riga in Latvia on Sunday and the lads are looking forward to it.

We went last year and took a bit of a beating from Skonto so we will be looking for a bit of revenge this time and maybe a little reward of a quiet night out (unlikely I'm afraid).