12 miles race pace

My next race is the Freckleton Half Marathon in mid June. My target pace is 7 minutes per mile so being able to do 12 miles at almost that pace is encouraging.

I did the first two hilly miles at 7.30 pace and then averaged 7.00 for the rest for an overall time of 1:24:48.

The Middlewood Way is quite lonely early in the morning and the weather was a bit unpleasant but still a great start to the long weekend.

5 nasty miles

Stranded at the office with a broken bike I could either waste £10 on a taxi or run home. Of course I chose to run.

It was nasty! My lunch was still being digested and I had to carry my rucksack as wearing it was unbearable. The sun was beating down as well.

Still I did the five miles in 37 minutes so I got a recovery run in and saved some money. Running really is a useful hobby!

6 miles recovery

A beautiful still morning. Three miles up into the hills and three miles back. Was huffing and puffing on the first two miles and flying on the last two. My fastest mile for a while at the end.

7.30

7.15

6.50

6.35

6.40

6.15

41.05

8 x 400m

Tuesday is speed day.

8 x 400m with about 90s rest between each one.

I do them in between 80 and 90 seconds. Luckily there is a track near where I work so I can whizz around it and pretend to be Mo Farah!

I find this session pretty gruelling, mainly because I do each interval as fast as I can. People keep telling me this is wrong and I will get injured but until I get injured I will probably keep doing it!

In other news the London Good For Age time has changed to 3:05! Aagh! So much for my master plan! What about those poor people who have just done a marathon in under 3:10 and now find out it wasn't enough? At least I have time to adjust my training but what about if Virgin change the time again next year? It is hard aiming for a moving target.

5K "easy" + weights

Monday is gym day.

An easy 5K on the treadmill (21:45) and then a mixture of leg and upper body machines.

I think variety is a vital component of successful training, otherwise monotony  sets in and the motivation dips.

I love running outside but it is great to occasionally run in the gym, surrounded by like-minded people. Doing some light weights should hopefully help me avoid getting too skinny.

8 miles easy

Not easy starting a longish run at 9pm when you are emotionally spent. At least the rain had stopped and the wind had died.

7.20

7.10

7.15

7.05

7.25

7.15

7.30

7.00

58.00

I guess I can take consolation in the fact that the pace was bang on 3.10 marathon pace (London marathon qualifying time.) Just 18 more miles needed!

6 miles easy

8.30pm isn't my favourite time to start a run but with my wife being poorly it was the only slot I had.

I just let my legs run themselves for the first four miles and then pushed on a bit.

Felt so much more alive after the run than before it!

7.15
7.05
7.10
7.05
7.00
6.30
42.05