On the flip side, when you aren't quite on it, our sport can be the most unforgiving and difficult to cope with. At the start of the year I felt that I was scratching around for form and struggling on my training runs. I started to get quite frustrated as each setback and mishap followed on in quick succession and it seemed at that time to be pretty relentless. I've spoken to lots of other runners about it, and it is obvious that we all experience times like this. It is how you react to it that is important, as eventually if you keep your chin up and your feet busy, it will eventually pass and your form will return.
Thankfully, my luck seemed to change with Trafford 10k in March, I surprised myself with how fast I ran there, but am in no doubt that it was simply the strength and depth of the field that day that got me through that one. But that one performance is all you need. Since then, gradually with every run, and every passing race, I have gained more and more confidence and momentum and I have found that I have begun to relax much more in my training.
Between that and the improving weather and light meaning that I can now escape back into the country lanes, I really feel in a brilliant place right now with my running again. All those hard runs and long slogs through the winter, the rubbish sessions and the tough miles suddenly all seem worth it for the place that I am in right now. When you you are able to enjoy your running, you simply have to make the most of it, and when you are in form you have to deliver while you can.
Everyone knows the frustration I felt when trying to break the 32 minute barrier for 10k, it seemed to take an age to make the transition from a sub 33 runner, to a sub 32 one. But when I finally managed it at Cheshire last November, it genuinely felt a weight was lifted and I stopped putting quite so much pressure on myself. That I then was able to follow it up so quickly with another pb at Trafford then helped me relax even more, it meant that I felt I had proved that the Cheshire performance wasn't a fluke or a one off and that I could do it again. It gave me greater belief in myself.
It is so important that you believe in yourself, in the path that you have set for yourself and in the goals that you want to achieve.
My next goal for the 10k is of course to now break 31 minutes, and my first attempt at that was to come at Salford on Good Friday. It was a good excuse to take a morning off work if nothing else!
In the build up to the race, I had a fairly relaxed start to the week, with a steady ten miles on Monday at 6:19 pace, followed by an easy 8.5 miles on Tuesday at 6:26s. I booked in for a massage on Tuesday evening in preparation for the race to make sure all the lactic was out of my legs from my last couple of races.
My only real session was on Wednesday. I had intended to do a short track effort, but was unable to make it so instead did a substitute workout of 6 x 3 minute efforts off a 1 minute recovery. As I was less than 48 hours away from the race, I made sure not to go flat out - but running as close to race pace as felt comfortable. I managed 5:07 pace on average and it left me feeling confident of a good run on race day as I felt strong and relaxed throughout.
On Thursday I made sure to reign it in and just ran an easy 10 kilometres through the lanes at 6:40 pace and just concentrated on finding a nice rhythm and turning my legs over just enough.
The race kicked off at 10am on Friday morning and despite once again being wet and rainy conditions, there wasn't much in the way of wind to contend with, so the weather was pretty condusive to quick times.
I was able to get a good position on the startline in order to make sure I got away smoothly across the line and straight into the race at the front in the middle of the lead pack. There was a strong field battling it out and that meant there was plenty of bodies in amongst it at the front end to work with.
Salford 10k is a two lap course, with the only short incline coming around a kilometre into each lap, other than that the rest of the course is pan flat, with a downhill section around 3.5 and 8.5k in.
It really is a fast course, and I would argue a quicker one than Trafford even - but the strength in depth for the field isn't as strong which makes it that little bit more difficult to push yourself to go quicker. Fortunately for me, I was in a great battle throughout and so I was pushed all the way around.
I couldn't have ran the first lap any more evenly, with all of the first three miles recorded at 4:57 pace, and I passed the 5k mark in 15:20, meaning I was slightly ahead of my target pace. I was tucked nicely into a strong group, which as the leader dropped out at halfway began to battle it out for first place unbeknown to me!
Marc Brown of Salford and a runner from Stockport Harriers began to open up a bit of a gap from the rest of the field early into the second lap, but our pack just about managed to keep them in sight and within range. Again, working as part of a group proved hugely beneficial as we encouraged each other to keep going and keep digging in. At 7k, with the pace just beginning to lag a little (mile four was down to 5:05 pace up the incline), I was given the encouragement I needed as one of the other lads piped up with "If we want to get that 31 minutes we are going to have to pick up the pace back down the hill".
It gave me the edge I needed and I worked hard through 8k to get within striking distance of the Stockport runner. Half a kilometre on, I went passed him down the cobbled street and tried to chase down the Salford runner, that I hadn't realised at that time was now leading the race.
I dug in and keeped trying to crank up the pace as much as I could down the big long straight towards the finish line. There was one last sharp turn to the finish line and the clock was reading 30:56, 57, 58 as I gave it everything trying to stride over the line and dip under. It wasn't to be on this occasion but I was elated to record a new pb of 31:01 to clinch second place.
I am delighted with that time, but not content to settle for it. Missing out on the sub 31 is going to be my motivation to keep wanting to improve in the future. Hopefully with lots of hard work, I will get here eventually.
I concluded my week with a relaxed 10 miles at 6:15 pace on Saturday, after watching Molly run superbly at Lytham Park Run to beat her previous best time by almost 3 minutes(!) and my weekly long run of 16.5 miles on Sunday.
Total mileage for the week: 72
Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:20
Total mileage so far this month (April): 169
Total mileage for 2017: 1029.5
Average miles per day 2017: 9.71
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