Last week's performance at Cheshire 10k was quite probably my best to date across any distance, but it was straight back to work this week as I hoped for a repeat of the pb smashing return at Preston 10 miler this weekend.
There aren't many 10 mile races around that I am aware of, unless you are prepared to travel far and wide for them. Therefore I haven't done one in a long, long time. My last 10 miler was in fact at the Preston event two years ago, with my pb standing at 55:30. Considering my half marathon pace is currently 5:21, the fact that my quickest time for a distance of 5000 metres shorter had an average pace of 5:30 suggested that this required revising considerably.
Speaking to Coach Affleck on the back of the Cheshire performance, we figured that I should be in shape to run between a low 52, to 52 and a half minutes - weather permitting. My main concern through the week was making sure I got my training volume and intensity just right during a week sandwiched between two races, whilst making sure I still did enough to be on peak form on the day.
On Monday I was fairly leggy after the exertions of the 10k, and so although I stuck to my usual 12 miles I eased off the pace a tad and ran slower than I usually would have done. Then on Tuesday I decided to steer clear of the track and instead did a shorter speed session around Preston docks, doing 6x2 minute efforts (1 minute recovery) at 5 minute pace. I was quite pleased with my pace I got down to on the back of a race, but still felt quite tired and heavy legged. Wednesday was an easy recovery run as I just looked to turn the legs over for half an hour or so and clocked 4.5 miles.
The key midweek session was on Thursday as I did a reduced 20 minute tempo with Affleck. It was wet and blustery, and we didn't want to expend too much energy, but tried to get as close to intended race pace as possible, whilst not going out too hard. I was quite pleased to average 5:23s for the session.
On Friday I did a nice and gentle 5.5 miles and then on Saturday met up with Luke Minns for a steady 8 miles at 6:40 pace. It is always difficult juggling racing with trying to maintain decent mileage and consistent training. I was quite pleased to clock a 65 mile week and hoped that I had judged things just right...
Race day. Last week at Cheshire I did a slightly longer than usual warm up of 3 miles, as it worked so well I decided to replicate it this time out too. I was pleasantly surprised by how good the conditions and weather was, compared to the unsettled and blustery weather of the last few days.
In the race itself, I led out from more or less the start and set the pace. As I don't use my watch for pacing, I just tried to find the limit that I could reach where I was uncomfortably uncomfortable and could just about maintain the pace. For those that haven't done it before, Preston 10 is a two times 5 mile loop, and I was aiming to try and get through half way in as close to 26 minutes as possible. Martin Svensson of Penny Lane Striders put up some resistance and came alongside me at around the 4 mile mark, but I managed to see him off and open up a gap again before the halfway point and continued to put distance between us through the second lap.
I was delighted to set a new 10 mile pb of 52:34 to take the win, my first over the distance. Speaking to Rob Affleck afterwards, we are confident that this performance is a good indicator as to where I should look to be at pace wise over half marathon next year. In some ways I believe this was almost as good as last week's performance, considering I led from the front and set the pace myself rather than working with a pack.
I just need to get through Wesham 10k next weekend now, and then I can take some weeks away from the racing scene and dip back into the training a bit more for a while.
Total mileage for the week: 65
Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:31
Total mileage so far this month (November): 189
Total mileage so far 2016: 3020
Average miles per day 2016: 9.35
