If there is one improvement that I still have to make to my training and my running in general, it is my ability to push myself through the pain barrier and force myself to hurt more in order to improve my top end speed.
I like to think I'm not a slouch on the track, but it is easy to slip into your comfort zone bubble when you are doing much of your training on your own.
In the last couple of months, the grass sessions that I have done with the Preston Harriers group were great for me, as training as part of a large group somehow makes it easier to push yourself from a mental perspective. Likewise, in a recent track session with Chris Livesey I had to push my limits in order to try and keep with him over 600 metres.
Apart from those sessions though, much of my speed work in the last few months have been done on my own or away from the track. I have managed to tick over, and last week I was delighted with how my 1000m session went, but there is no doubt that it is easier to train at your maximum when there are others around you to bounce off and work alongside.
So from that point of view, this week has been a welcome change, as I have had company on the majority of my runs and all of my main sessions through the week for the first time in quite a while.
As well as my usual weekly session with Rob Affleck on Thursday evening, I also met up with Blackpool's Luke Minns for runs on Monday, Tuesday and also Saturday's long run.
On Monday we did a fairly long, steady run, as we clocked 11.5 miles at 6:35 pace. Tuesday was a big bonus for me personally, as I had been anticipating having to do a solo track session again at Cottam, but as I was working in Blackpool I managed to arrange with Luke to meet up at Stanley Park straight from work.
As Luke is predominantly a shorter distance athlete, and specialises on the track disciplines, I knew that he would really push me to my limits pace-wise, and that is exactly what I need. We did a session tailored towards meeting somewhere in the middle of our two varying focuses. We started off with 2 x 800m, followed by 4 x 400m and then finishing with 4 x 200m. The short, sharp stuff is something that still feels quite alien to me - and seeing just how easy Luke made it look when running away from me in the home straight was an eye-opener! I was pleased with how it all went though, and we got into a good rhythm and into running at a high intensity. For our 800s, we clocked 2:17 and 2:14, following up with 61, 62, 62 and 65 seconds for the 400s (Luke was quicker than this, these are just my times!) and 29, 29, 29 and 30 for the 200s (again, well behind Luke!)
One noticeable difference was the recovery between reps, which were slightly longer than I would usually have, but that was definitely much needed as we were going at a much higher intensity than I would have done on my own.
On Wednesday I had an easy morning and evening double run, each 5 miles at just under 7 minute mileing.
Thursday, the second speed effort of the week, was again the 2 x 2 miles same as I had done the week previous. Similar to the previous week, I managed consistent pacing whilst feeling comfortably uncomfortable ( if that makes sense!?) averaging 5:04 pace throughout the four miles.
Friday was an easy day, with 5 slow miles, ahead of my long run on the Saturday morning. I jogged down to Ribby Hall to meet up with Luke and we ran the Freckleton Half marathon route and started off at 6:20 pace before working our way through the gears and hitting 5:40s in the final couple of miles to finish off with an average of around 6:08 for the 13 miles. I topped mine up to 16 with the warm up and cool down to give me a nice long distance run. I don't think I've convinced him to step up to the distance just yet, but I'll keep working on him 😂
It has been good to have some extra company on these runs as a bit of a change, and it certainly takes your mind off the effort you're exerting compared to when you are doing all your running on your own.
I rounded off the week with a steady paced 9 miler on Sunday to give me a good solid final mileage for the week. Next week will see me reign it back in again as I taper off ahead of Cheshire 10k next Saturday. Fingers and everything else are now crossed for the weather to continue to hold out for the week as I am feeling in a positive frame of mind for this one.
Total mileage for the week: 74
Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:42
Total mileage for month of October: 311
Total mileage so far this month (November): 63
Total mileage so far 2016: 2894
Average miles per day 2016: 9.37
