No matter how quick we go, or if we run a massive PB, or whatever else we manage to do in a race. We might be content for a week or two, but then our brains starts churning and wondering 'what if', our attention soon turns to the next target, the next race, the next challenge. We are always trying to be better than ourselves.
This was the case last week after Lancaster 5k. I took ten seconds off my previous best time, which is a big chunk in one go on what is a short distance, but almost immediately believed that I was capable of more. My target for 2016 will be to break the 15 minute barrier.
It isn't a new feeling though, as I say it happens quite often after a race. In fact after London, despite knowing I had given it everything and performed to probably the maximum of my ability, within a week I had already started to think about the next one and what could be possible. This despite my promise to myself to take a break from the long stuff for a while!
Therefore it is impossible not to take inspiration and be immensely impressed with the performances of two of our best local runners over the marathon across the continent over the past week.
Firstly, Rob Affleck finally hitting his sub 2:30 target, with a fantastic 2:27 in Berlin - going within a minute of the Preston Harriers record for the distance.
In the same race, Jason Cherriman ran an incredible new personal best of 2:21, a simply amazing feat - to think that by the time I crossed the line in April he would have already finished a good quarter of an hour before is mind blowing!
Then to top it off, David Rigby stole the show with a record breaking 2:24 to win the Chester Marathon today. The Preston Harriers record had stood for some 20 years I believe, so for him to smash it by two minutes is incredible. A massive congrats to him!
All of these performances just go to show how much I need to still do before I can start compare myself to the top road runners around here. It is inspiring and makes me determined to train harder and keep plugging away to try and close the gap from the times these guys are capable of to the ones that I am running now. I am improving, and hopefully will continue to do so, but it is a process and I know I am still some way off right now.
This week has been a solid week of training for me. After a doubleheader of races last weekend I did a slightly shorter track session on Tuesday, followed by a tough solo tempo run on Thursday with 10k in 33:30. Yesterday I did a 17 mile long run, my longest since London. I did it at 6:22 pace and felt strong throughout. Today I finished my weeks work off with a progressive 10 mile tempo at 6:05 pace. In total I ticked over with 76 miles for the week - meaning that for the last 4 weeks I have now maintained 75 miles plus for the first time ever, with my previous highest 4 week block being 68.
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