Don't get me wrong, apart from that one disastrous run out in Cardiff, I don't think I have necessarily been running particularly poorly. However I haven't felt as though I have had quite the same bounce in my step in training in general, or quite the same zip in races for the last couple of months.
It hasn't been something that has overly concerned me, although I have obviously been trying everything that I can to bring about a return to form as soon as possible. It is impossible to maintain the same levels of performance consistently throughout an entire calendar year without any dips, peaks or troughs, especially when you factor in any injuries or illness that you might encounter.
So it has just been a case of keeping my head down, banging out the sessions, playing around with my routine a little bit to freshen things up and having a little bit of rest to allow my body to recover. It has been a slightly frustrating period, but I think I am gaining from it - mentally I am becoming tougher all the time, but also I am learning and becoming wiser about how to construct my training and race plans. Sometimes I think it is good to step back and evaluate what you have been doing and what you can change for the better.
I have been training hard, but off reduced mileage in an attempt to leave myself fresher for races, and have been racing a bit more in an effort to 'race myself into form'. The best way to describe how I have felt when running recently would be 'flat', not necessarily suffering from any pain, discomfort or niggles, not exactly underperforming either, but just not quite feeling on it. I've been missing something, even if I'm not quite sure what that thing is.
For whatever reason, this week whatever it is, it seems to have returned. With a Friday night race in the diary I decided against a midweek track session and instead opted for a steady 10 miles on Monday and another quicker 10 mile run on Tuesday at almost tempo pace. For the first time in weeks, it felt effortless. It is a wield feeling, but it is what I had been striving for, running at a decent pace, but feeling as though I could just run and run and crank it up at any time.
It was certainly a timely confidence booster, and just in the nick of time too ahead of my latest targeted race. I ran easy on Wednesday and Thursday in order to taper off ahead of Friday evening and the Christleton 5k road race.
For anyone that hasn't heard of it, or done the race, I have just one piece of advice. Get it booked in for next year now. Like right now! I have to say, it is one of the most professionally organised races I have had the pleasure of participating in. For a 5k, with a limit of 500 runners, to be chip timed is a rarity in itself, but everything from the marshalling, to the number collection was absolutely spot on. I couldn't speak highly enough of the whole experience.
Most importantly though, I'm sure you will understand, was that the standard at the front end was top notch, and also the course was one of the best that I have come across. When you put both of those things together into one race, and get decent conditions too (which we were fortunate enough to have) then you will produce fast times. Christleton is on the way to Chester, so it is a long way to travel on a Friday night, straight from work, for just 5k - but it is 100% worth the effort.
During he race itself, the winner led from the start and left us all standing, running some 30 seconds clear of the next man home in 14:24, but other than that, things were fairly close at the front.
I ran the first 2k loop - it is a 1 and 3/4 lap course with the the start 1k from the finish - sensibly and sat bang in the middle of the chasing pack, which was about 6 or 7 man strong. The first kilometre was fairly flat, followed by a gradual downhill kilometre. At this stage I felt very strong, and with hindsight I was in a very good position sheltered in the middle of a good sized pack, but as we approached the 2k mark I made a move to the front of the pack and tried to draw the pack out through the middle stage of the race. The third kilometre is all uphill, with the climb being more noticeable than the downhill sections. If I had stayed in the group I may have expended less energy, but I am happy with my decision to be brave and attack that middle section as I like the hills and on another day it could have paid off.
I came through the 3k mark in second position, but was soon passed by the guy that went on to finish in 2nd by a considerable margin. A bit further down the road, at about 3.5k Joe Vass and Nigel Martin, both of Sale, passed me and I managed to latch on to the back of them in 5th position. From about 4K my legs began to feel a little bit heavy, as the pace began to take its toll. I didn't wear my watch, but it would be interesting to see what pace I was on for at that point of the race. I lost a bit of ground through the last kilometre, but still managed to hold on to my position and finish 5th in 15:08, missing out on a new pb by just one second. The extra 10 metres from last week's remeasure of the course cost me dear! But at least I know this time it won't be scratched off.
My dad also travelled for the race, and had a superb run, knocking some 80 seconds off his time to record 25:28. Well done dad!
The rest of the weekend saw me take part in the Preston park run, before doing a 17 mile long run on the Sunday.
The little collage above is a snippet of the information that my new tomtom watch feeds to me through the accompanied mobile app. It allows me to trace everything, from my average pace, to a map of my run, through to my heart rate through the activity. I have been using the watch for 5 weeks now and I have to say I am very impressed with the range of options that it allows me to use and play around with. I have been able to use it to set myself interval sessions and rep work to good affect, whilst keeping tabs on the effort I have been putting in to my training to ensure I am working to my optimum levels too. It is early days, but I am enjoying using it, and not missing my garmin so far!
The picture above illustrates how my heart rate and pace looked through a session of 8x400 metres off a minute recovery a couple of weeks back. I thought it was worth sharing to show how useful a tool the app is proving to be, as I am able to reflect on hard I was working and how fast I was running through each rep, but also how my heart rate recovered through the 60 seconds rest.
Total mileage for the week: 62
Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:24
Total mileage for the month so far (May): 195
Total mileage so far 2016: 1413
Average miles per day 2016: 9.88
