The way that our long run/race had gone last Saturday, left me feeling much more confident about the task ahead in preparing for my marathon. Not only was it a good psychological boost in ticking off 22 miles, but to feel so strong throughout the 10 miles of the race, and be getting quicker through what was effectively miles 18-20 was a great sign for me that my endurance is coming along nicely.
This week, I continued my push onto higher mileage, but also I am now just starting to think about introducing a little bit more pace work back into the mix too.
Which worked in perfectly this week, because Monday was the latest race in the 2017 interclub series - I seem to be saying this a lot lately as these races are coming around thick and fast at the moment. I was a tad concerned going into the Elswick 10 miler that the 22 miles total was going to take its toll on me ahead of the interclub, with a quick turnaround of a little over 48 hours.
Training-wise, the quick turnaround was excellent, as I am well aware that the more used to running on tired legs I can get (especially at pace) the better ahead of the marathon. And this race would be ran at a fair rate too, as a good standard turned out for this fixture. Affleck was there, and in the same boat as me, with plenty of miles in the legs from the weekend exertions - but Joe Monk and Luke Minns were also there, which meant that I knew I would have to be well and truly on my A game if I wanted to register a win.
This was Wesham's home leg of the series, and as we are having a very good season so far, we were determined to try and keep the momentum and positivity going on our home patch. Having Joe in the team as second claim was a huge boost to our chances, although we were a bit depleted in comparison to previous races this year.
From the gun, Joe made a very quick start and would take on the early pace, and to my bemusement an older looking runner, from Red Rose followed him out and ran really hard through the first 400. It wasn't somebody that I have ever seen at the front end before and setting off at the pace he did (and even hanging onto the pack of the group through the first half mile or so) I would imagine may have taken a toll on him later on!
As I say, Joe seemed to go out hard for the first 400 - and if we had been in a 1500 race I don't think I would have seen him for dust! But with all the recent mileage and training I have been doing, I was feeling calm and confident that I would have the endurance to push on as the race progressed. It was a good paced first mile, with myself and Luke taking it in turns sharing the lead with Joe. This served to keep the pace at a decent rate, but it never really increased and I settled into a nice rhythm and was happy with my form and rhythm.
I managed to start pulling away from the other two at around the 2 mile mark, after two miles at 5:00 and 5:02 pace. Knowing that a little gap was opening up behind me, I kept my foot down a touch to make sure I made the most of the opportunity and ran the third mile in 5:00 again. From then on in I was fairly confident that I had enough of a gap behind me and so wasn't overly concerned about pushing too hard through the final mile and a half, but instead I was more interested in keeping the same form and rhythm and just generally making sure that I didn't let my levels drop. Mile 4 was 5:03 and I ran the final half mile home uphill in 5:02 to give me 22:39 for 4.5 miles on a nice rolling and slightly undulating course.
I had ran well, and slightly faster than I had been anticipating. With not much recent top end speed work or racing behind me, it was a huge confidence booster to be hitting my 10k PB pace so comfortably and feeling as though if the race had been a mile and a half longer I could certainly have sustained it and gone close to clocking a sub 31. It's almost a shame I'm in training for a marathon and not a fast 10k race!
Later on in the week, I did a 12 mile progression run with Affleck, and as we went through the first half in 6:01s, I felt stronger and stronger as the miles ticked by. My final two miles were at 5:20 pace and I ended up with 5:46 average pace for the session.
With an iffy forecast for the weekend, and Saturday looking like the nicer day, I decided to get my long run done and out of the way early - rather than risk having to do it in grim conditions on the Sunday. As something different I ran out towards St Anne's and took myself up and around Fairhaven Lake and back, making for just under 22 miles in total. I took it fairly easy on the way out - hitting 13 miles at 6:30 average pace, and slowly increasing it through the second half of the run to finish up with 6:23 average for a nice and steady run.
Total mileage for the week: 87
Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:24
Total mileage so far this month (July): 280.5
Total mileage for 2017: 2031
Average miles per day 2017: 10.00
