Getting the job done.

Tonight saw the second Interclub fixture of the 2015 season.

It was the turn of Lytham Road Runners to play host, and so that meant a 5 mile race. The course, as usual, taking in the promenade and Fairhaven Lake in St Anne's.

In the build up to this race, I didn't really know what to expect, but had hoped to keep myself in with a shout of the individual title having won the first fixture at Blackpool last month. However, little over two weeks recovery from the marathon meant that this was far from a by-gone conclusion.

My chances were aided though by the decision of many of the top Preston Harriers runners not to partake in the race. The men's Masters Relays is this coming weekend, so the chance of a medal meant that Rob Affleck, Gethin Butler, Gary Pennington, Jason Parker and a couple of others took the decision to rest up instead.

Furthermore, with track races over the weekend to focus on Dave Rigby and Chris Tulley also opted out and instead did a training run along the front.

So, on the start line I knew that I would have a good chance of building on my opening win, and was probably favourite to make it two in two. But that doesn't mean it was a foregone conclusion, I still had to go out and put in a shift and good performance to be sure of the point and to help lead the team to hopefully a good finish too.

As we set off, I quickly moved to the front and decided to attack the race fairly hard from the off, in order to try and set my marker and see who would break away with me from the rest. It soon became apparent though that I was in fact opening up a rather big gap behind already.

I clocked a decent 5:06 for the first mile and was told just before the mile marker by Sue Samme that I had a "50 metre lead", I tried not to take my foot off the gas and ploughed on in mile 2. This one was all in to a big wind though and naturally my time was effected by the conditions as a result - therefore I am rather pleased with 5:20 for the second mile, as I moved further away from those chasing behind.

Chris and Dave had run past me in the other direction and urged me to relax a little as I was well clear, but in my mind I still wanted to have a go at running a good time, even if I was running alone.

At the half way point of the race, you come around the lake and return to the main road heading back in the direction of the promenade from which you first set off. At this stage I allowed myself a little look over my shoulder to see just how much of a gap I had, and was delighted to see my Wesham team mate Karl Lee in second place!

The third mile had seen the pace drop as possibly I had slackened off a bit, and as a result I went through the mile in 5:26, at this point the PB looking out of reach.

With the wind behind me on the way back though, I managed to find a few seconds again in mile 4, clocking 5:14, and again being urged by Tulley to relax and conserve energy with the race won. The truth is though, that I genuinely didn't feel as though I was pushing it - I definitely had some in the tank - which is good because I want to race again this weekend!

I enjoyed myself in the final mile, and knowing that the sub 26' wasn't going to be on, I had a bit of fun and enjoyed the moment instead, playing up to the camera for David Wood and waving to my mum and dad in the home straight. It felt good to claim the win - even if some of the bigger hitters were absent.

Despite all this, looking back at my time, I finished in 26:19 - or 5:16 pace on average, which means if I had maintained what felt like a comfortable pace for another 1.2 miles I would actually have equalled my quickest time for 10k!

So that makes it two in two for the season, and 3 back to back interclub wins if we include last years result - something to motivate me and look to build on at Preston in a few weeks time.

Also, Karl held out for second place - his best interclub placing, and I think - although not yet confirmed - Wesham even claimed the team victory on the night!

A fantastic night for team Wesham!!

Striving for consistent mileage

After more or less a full week off following the London marathon (not quite zero miles, as I did go for a 7 mile stretch of my legs the Saturday after), this week was about finishing my recovery and starting to get underway with my next training wave.

Perhaps aided by the bank holiday (I managed to fit in an extra run on Monday) I actually completed 65 miles for the week - the same amount that I averaged throughout the peak of my marathon training.

To be honest, I wasn't exactly sure how this week would go - I started the week still a bit leggy from the effects of London, but by mid-week I felt fully recovered and so have pressed on with training as normal.

Taking advantage of the bank holiday Monday, I decided to start the week off by doing Avenham Park 5k, although I knew I wouldn't be able to perform at 100% just a week after a marathon, I took the decision that the race would be beneficial to try and blow some of the lactic out of my legs. A 3 mile warm up, and a slow 3 mile cool down, took me to 9 miles for the morning.

In the evening, I then headed to the running club, and offered my services as a marshal for the club handicap, but ran to the marshalling point and topped up my mileage with another 4 miles.

Deciding to wait another week before my return to the usual Tuesday track session, instead I just went out for a steady one hour run this Tuesday, managing to tick off another 9 miles, though the legs still felt a little sore from the previous mornings race.

Wednesday was put aside for a day off, but I ticked over with a nice 2 mile jog with Molly around Moor Park - she did well, and I hope I didn't do her head in too much!

Thursday saw me go for an 8 mile progressive tempo run with Mr Affleck and Mr Butler, averaging 5:53 pace, with a mile and a half cool down taking it to 9.5 miles for the day. The tempo run was actually completed slightly quicker than our final 'hard' session prior to the marathon - and felt easier too, so hopefully those are good signs for the future!

On Friday, I took the decision to run home from work in St Anne's, although I nearly bottled it when I saw how atrocious the weather was when I prepared to set off. It was absolutely launching it down all the way home! But I got through it and logged another 10.5 steady miles. Once I got going I actually enjoyed the run, in spite of the weather - and luckily my phone didn't get too water damaged either...

I worked on Saturday morning, so rather than going for my usual long run, in the afternoon I went on a shorter session run. I did a one mile warm up, 4 mile tempo (at 5:39 average pace) and two mile cool down. In much warmer conditions, this was a tough little session, but a good one to get out of the way.

To complete the week I ended up doing a 15 miler this afternoon. I hadn't intended to do a long run this week, instead I was planning on doing 10-12 and then picking up the longer stuff again next weekend, but I felt strong and decided to take advantage of the fact. This topped my weekly mileage up to 65 and completed a very satisfying weeks work.

If you had said to me this time last year that a 65 mile week would be 'standard' for me, I probably wouldn't have believed you. I used to feel tired off 50 miles and didn't have a clue how I was going to cope with the extra workload, but by increasing it gradually I have managed to reach a point where this is now a normal weeks work for me.

I know some runners do 90-100 miles a week (plus), but I don't think I will ever be in the position to put that amount of sheer mileage in. With the nature of my work and lifestyle it can be hard to squeeze in too many extra miles, but if I carry on doing it slowly and gradually, and manage to tweak a few things here and there, maybe this time next year I will be putting in 70-75 miles a week regularly, rather than just on 'high mileage' weeks. We will see!