Special delivery

After last week's disappointment at Cardiff Half Marathon, I had expected this to be a tough week and one in which I might have felt sorry for myself and filled the blog with negativity.

The reality is that this couldn't have been further from the truth. For whatever the reason, I have found myself straight back into training how I was prior to my illness and feeling great within myself and my running once again. Last week was a set back, but I am confident that I have still taken things away from it and will continue to learn and grow from that particular experience.

I skipped training with the club on Monday and took myself out on a steady longer run, to give myself time and space for me to go through the motions and think over the weekend's race. I actually really enjoyed the run and it made a nice change to be able to escape back down the country lanes and take everything around me in - it was very therapeutic!

Despite taking another week off from track training, I wanted to ensure I didn't just plod round doing junk mileage that I wasn't going to gain anything from. So as an alternative I set myself up a fartlek session in order to try and still throw in some faster speed work, whilst listening to my body and not pushing it beyond what it is capable of. The session went extremely well, with a structured 1.5 mile warm up and cool down, but with 7 miles in the middle seeing me run at various intensities and paces, as I pushed it for spells and then held back and let my body and lungs recover. The actual 'work' part of the session wasn't exactly measured or structured so I can't tell you what distances or paces I was reaching. What I do know though is that I completed the 10 miles overall in just under an hour, with an average pace of 5:59 m/pm.

Wednesday brought some easy mileage as I allowed my body to recover from the previous day's efforts. Then on Thursday I did a shorter, sharper tempo run around the docks. I did 2 x 2 miles, off a 5 minute recovery and recoded 10:10 for the first rep and 10:08 for the second - I was pleased with both the pace and especially also the consistency of my pacing throughout the run. 

On Saturday, I got to experience something quite different, as I found myself running around the Preston Park Run with Molly for the first time! I have to say I thought she did brilliantly for her first attempt at what is not exactly an easy course. She seemed to enjoy it too, so hopefully we will be doing a few more now, and I'm sure she will go from strength to strength and improve as we do more too. Well done Moll!

Sunday saw me finish off my week with my long run, and it was great to have some company for a change too, as Luke Minns joined me for the majority of the run. It is always so much easier to run alongside company, and as I was carried away chatting I completely ignored my watch for the first 5 miles of our run, when I eventually did and saw that we had just put in a 5:50 mile I almost had a heart attack as we had only intended on running around in 6:35-6:40s! But once we reigned it back in and the pace settled back down to normal it started to feel much more comfortable and we finished up with an average pace of 6:18. 

Another bonus from this week came via a special delivery from a certain Paula Radcliffe. I finally managed to get around to writing to her in order to thank her for the hand in hand finish down the Mall at London last year. I took the opportunity to send her my Wesham vest as a thank you from me to her, as well as a club one which I hoped she may sign. I also wrote a hand written letter about what the moment meant to me, as well as asking some questions about running and training that I thought she may be able to provide some advice on. Her response was first class - just as you would have thought it would be from a lady that seems to be a top class person as well as the complete athlete.

Paula posted back with a signed Wesham shirt, along with returning my personal 'Rob' shirt from the marathon signed with a personal message, a signed photo of the finish and also her own hand written reply. Out of everything I think it is he letter that impresses me most and is possibly the most special of the souvenirs and momentos that I now have to cherish, as she obviously took time in considering her reply and writing it out. Some of the advice she gave surprised me (the amount of recovery time after races), and some of it seems very sound advice too (her best ever piece of advice she herself was given). Reading it inspired me and I hope it will continue to do so. I have learned and improved so much in the last 11 months since that day, and know how fortunate I was to be in that position and to gain that experience and confidence it gave me.

Here is Paula's message:

"Dear Rob,

Thank you so much for taking the time to get in touch and to write down everything so well. 

Thank you also for being a part of a day full of so many special and happy memories. You are so right about the camaraderie and strength and beauty of the running community. Also about the importance and value of the clubs - I am so glad if the publicity helped at all to raise the profile of your club.

I have signed the photo and your club vest - I have also signed the club one for your club to have (it was a kind thought/gesture but I'm afraid I can't wear it due to my Nike contract).

For the questions - I find the optimum block for a marathon is 12 weeks and for shorter races like cross country or 10km - 6 weeks.

After a marathon I take 3 weeks complete rest and then another two weeks easing back into training. 

After other hard blocks or races, 2 weeks complete rest and two weeks easing back.

After a disappointment - I find the fire and hurt helps fuel harder and smarter training and creates motivation to get back to what I enjoy doing and want to do better at.

I think caffeine and chocolate in moderation are no problem. Dark chocolate is good. The key is eating well and balanced and within 20 minutes of finishing training.

The best advice I was ever given

"Dare to dream. Think big and work towards goals. If you don't achieve them all you still achieve more than if you never dared to dream and aim in the first place".

Also

"Treat others always with the respect you would want to be treated yourself"

Good luck in all your races and aims

Best wishes

Paula

How good is that! And advice that I am sure we can all agree with. The size of training blocks and recovery spells recommended will give me plenty to consider in the future seen as previously I rarely take complete weeks off and trained for London 2015 off an 18 week block!

Total mileage for the week: 81

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:36

Total mileage for month of March: 310

Total mileage for the month so far (April): 32

Total mileage so far 2016: 972

Average miles per day 2016: 10.24

Hurting

A couple of weeks ago, after the Intercounties result, one of my friends messaged me to congratulate me on my performance. "It's a roller coaster ride being a runner, sometimes you can hit very low periods, but when it's good it's a great buzz and spurs you on"...

Little did I know it at the time, but looking back two weeks later and this statement is not only very true, but it also provides some good advice for runners out there, whether they be running very well, or not so - things can change very quickly, so make the most of it when you're in form, and just knuckle down and get through the rough patches when things aren't going so great, form is temporary after all. 

For ten weeks since the start of the year I have grown as a runner. I have upped my mileage, as planned, and my training programme ahead of Cardiff couldn't have gone much better at all. Four consecutive weeks of 80 miles plus had seen me feeling strong, I'd done all the long runs, the track sessions had got gradually more intense and quicker, and I felt increasingly comfortable and confident in the tempo sessions. Performance-wise, my crosscountry season had gone from strength to strength and I had set a new 5k pb on the road. I felt in peak condition and ready for a big effort at a pb in Cardiff for the Half.

But the one thing that you can't legislate for in training is sickness. And just two weeks shy of race day, two days after possibly my best ever performance in the Intercounties, that is exactly what struck...

Ironically, I had suffered from a chest infection almost 12 months ago exactly, in the build up to Wilmslow Half marathon. That day I got lucky and managed to grind out a new personal best, despite feeling a bit off.

With that in mind, and so much already invested in this race and into the weekend overall already, cancelling was out of the question. 

This time around, there was no such luck. I actually felt much better throughout this week, having felt terrible for the seven days previously. Despite still suffering with a cough and spitting up gunk whilst running, I felt capable of still giving it a go for that same target time as I was aiming for. I had come through a bit of a fitness test on the Thursday, as a 20 minute tempo at race pace had gone well.

I suppose there is a difference between a watered down version of a race, and the real thing however. Possibly the added complication of driving for some 6 hours to get to the city the day prior to the race didn't help matters either. The truth is, I knew very early on into the race on Saturday that I wasn't right.

The target I have been working towards has of course been for a sub 70 minute half marathon. To achieve that I had to maintain a pace of 5:20 m/pm or less throughout the race. In the first two miles I just about managed that, with mile splits of 5:17 and 5:21, the truth is though that even at this stage I was already feeling the strain. Mile 3 saw my pace drop to 5:34 and from there on in it was all down hill. 

My intended race splits through 5 and 10k was sub 16:30 and 33:00 respectively, what I actually delivered was in fact closer to 16:50 and then 34:50 as I proceeded to drop 20-25 seconds per mile off the pace, every mile through miles 4-9. 

There were several points in the race where I seriously considered dropping out altogether. After the fourth mile I very nearly turned around and jogged back to the hotel as it sunk in that I was nowhere near fit enough to run for my target. Instead I decided to try and maintain 5:40 pace for as long as possible and try to see the race as some kind of hard tempo session.

I managed that until the course swung back towards the centre of Cardiff and more or less past the start and finish area. I could actually see my hotel and was again tempted to sack it all off. The main reason why I didn't, is that my only ever DNF (in Lytham Windmill Half Marathon in 2013 - where again I was suffering from sickness) still to this day remains my lowest ever moment in running. I was determined not to have the indignity of not completing a race for a second occasion. 

So I plodded on, and it continued to get harder, and slower. Mile ten saw my pace drop to 5:51, and then the weather really turned for the worse - just in case I wasn't already suffering enough! The final 5k was run into gale force winds and horizontal rain and my pace really dropped off to just about 6 minute mile-ing. The final nail in the coffin was being overtaken by Superman at 11 miles. At least I was able to see the funny side, asking him if he'd enjoyed his film premieré during the week...

Mile 11 also provided me with another bit of a pick up however, as I met a runner called Steve Hargreaves for the first time. Steve is a Lytham Road Runner, and introduced himself and told me he was a follower of the blog - it really brought a smile to my face despite the disappointment I was feeling. While I dropped off I'm informed Steve managed to out-run Superman to the finish, so we'll done! 

In the darkest moments of the run, I found myself questioning everything that I have done in he build up to the race. Had I done enough? Had I done too much? Was my target unrealistic? The answer to all of these, I believe is 'no'. I simply wasn't fit for the race. It is a hard one to swallow, but all my work came undone through the virus I picked up in he build up. The travelling also probably didn't help matters, but it wasn't the deal breaker by any stretch. I've just got to move on now and focus on the next goals, it is how you respond to a set back that is most important.

Despite the race being a bit of a write off, training had ironically gone pretty solidly through the week, which had led me to believe I was over the worst of the illness. A ten mile recovery run on Sunday saw my mileage back up above 70 for the week. 

Total mileage for the week: 73

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:29

Total mileage for month so far (March): 261

Total mileage so far 2016: 891

Average miles per day 2016: 10.24

Catching the bug

After four weeks of higher mileage, last week was down on the plan as a bit of a rest week after a tough race at the Intercounties crosscountry and ahead of the Cardiff Half Marathon this coming Saturday. 

I had envisaged a week where my mileage came in at about 60-65 miles and maybe at a slightly reduced pace to the previous weeks too, as I looked to recover my body ahead of the next big target. However, what I had foreseen was the fact that I would wake up on Monday morning feeling terrible and suffering from some sort of horrible virus, a sickness bug that would trouble me throughout the week and leave me feeling both lethargic and a bit dejected as the bug got me down.

The virus wasn't the only difficulty I had to contend with last week, as working away from home would see me living on site for a few days, and feeling exhausted and this probably had an impact on just how poorly I would feel too.

Having managed to jog around for an hour after work on the Monday, I decided to completely write off my Tuesday and Wednesday runs in order to try and allow my body to fight the sickness I was feeling. Then, on Thursday, I attempted to get back on track with my usual tempo run. It was a decision that didn't turn out how I had planned it, as the planned 10k session had to be reduced down to 5k at a slightly slower pace. That was because I just didn't have the energy to complete the session, so took the decision that I would rather call it a day and conserve my energy, in the hope that it would aid my recovery more than needlessly tiring myself out any more.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday saw me continue to steady jog 6-7 miles per day, as I decided against going out and completing my usual long run.

I finished the week with 44 miles of training completed in total, not a complete disaster, but most importantly I felt more like normal by the Sunday night and was running again fairly steadily without the same coughing, spitting and spluttering that I had been fighting all week long.

It wasn't the ideal rest week ahead of this week's half marathon, but I am hoping that as long as I am able to recover in time and get on to the start line in good shape from here, then possibly the enforced rest may even benefit me in a strange way - as it has almost forced me to taper my training ahead of the race!

Total mileage for the week: 44

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:48

Total mileage for month so far (March): 188

Total mileage so far 2016: 818

Average miles per day 2016: 10.22

Representing Lancashire

This week's main event for me was the Intercounties crosscountry championships and meant that I was given the opportunity to wear the Lancashire team vest for the second time. It also gave me the chance to try and prove myself, after what I felt was a below par performance on my Count debut 12 months ago.

Last season, I was just happy to be selected at all really and enjoyed the event, but it also represented a massive learning curve and a tough experience that I took a lot away from. I had a disappointing run and felt that I hadn't come away doing myself any real justice in terms of what I was capable of at that time. I had finished 8th Lancashire counter and 174th overall.

This time, I was determined to finish the crosscountry season off with a performance that I was completely happy with and could say that I had run to the best of my ability and hold my head up. I feel that I also managed to do so.

Having set off out of the blocks and hit the first hill on the opening lap, of the 3 lap 12k total distance course, in approximately 60th position, I grew throughout the run and felt as though I had really settled into a nice consistent rhythm.

I was counted through in 48th position at the end of the opening lap, and then 44th second time around. On the last lap I managed to find myself in a real good tussle with a Middlesex runner and that battle worked out well for the both of us as we managed to gain on the group ahead of us and pick runners off throughout the final kilometres. 

In the end, I ran over the finish line as second Lancashire counter and 36th overall, beaten home only by Paddy Dever in he Lancashire team as he had an exceptional run for 21st position. This time I could say I had genuinely given everything and am proud of myself and my performance.

It was an honour to represent my County and wear the red rose vest once again, alongside these boys, and we can all be happy with our performances as the entire side performed well and gave a great account of ourselves. It is another great experience that I will look back on fondly and hopefully gain a lot from.

There had been a few changes to the course this year, compared to the one which we encountered last season. There was a few extra hills introduced to the second and third laps this time, which probably benefited me as I feel that is a strength of my running. I have always felt strong running uphill, and managed to pick people off each time round. Now I need to strengthen my downhill speed ahead of next winter's campaign!

It has been a highly successful winter crosscountry season for me, seen as it started very slowly and initially I had feared that I was weaker at the discipline compared to where I had been 12 months ago!

I have managed to grow consistently through the winter and have peaked at just the right time for the biggest and most important races. Hopefully this is a good indicator and a good starting point for me to now kick on and have a solid road season through the spring and summer.

The only regret this week is that the selection clashed with the Trafford 10k that I had a number for, I had been tempted to try and double up and race on back-to-back days, but for once decided to be sensible, as my main target is still a couple of weeks away with Cardiff Half, the 10k will just have to wait a little while longer.

My form this weekend was also a little bit of a surprise after struggling with a niggling hamstring, which I had to manage carefully after a short, sharp track session on the Tuesday.

Training wise, I have now completed a solid 4 week block of 80+ miles a week, and hopefully I am getting fitter and stronger as a result. On my Thursday tempo, I felt extremely relaxed and comfortable running at a good pace, as I recorded 32:56 for 10k on a training run. It is boding well for Cardiff as long as I can now just keep in this shape and arrive on that start line in one piece. I'm starting to get excited and nervous for it now!

Total mileage for the week: 80

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:30

Total mileage for month so far (March): 144

Total mileage so far 2016: 774

Average miles per day 2016: 10.60

Club records

The weekend just gone was a significant one for me, as I continued to kick off my 2016 season nicely, with a strong run at the latest Podium 5k.

Those that are regular readers of the blog will know that I have done a few of these 'Podium' races now and that I am a big fan of the format that they have put together there. Last March I ran my first Podium 5k, recording a time of 15:24, which at the time was my fastest ever, so this provided a good opportunity to see my improvement compared to this time a year ago.

This latest one was the best one yet, with a very strong field making for a fast pace and ensuring there was plenty of other runners to pull you around the field.

I had gone into the race relatively relaxed about what to expect from the race, in terms of time, and rather unsure what level of performance I would be at. This is because I was concious of the fact that, although I have been very happy with how my training has been going since the turn of the year, I haven't done much racing on the road. 

With that in mind, I set out with the mindset that regardless of the result I recorded, at least this would set me my starting point and benchmark for the year over the 5k distance.

And what a benchmark it is, having been fortunate to have found myself in and amongst a brilliant 4 strong pack for much of the race. I managed to record a new personal best of 15:07, knocking 7 seconds off my previous best, which was set at Lancaster back in September of last year.

The fact that I have set a new best time so early in the season, and in my first race over that distance in  almost 6 months, has given me a huge amount of confidence that I should now be targetting hitting sub 15 by the end of the summer season.

I was also pleasantly surprised to find out that the time is now actually Wesham's record fastest time for 5k, which is amazing to think that the club is older than me! 

Following on from my 80th place finish at the National crosscountry last week being the club's best ever finish at that particular event, it has been an unbelievable two weeks for me on a personal note within the club. Anyone who knows me, will know how proud I am to be representing my home town club, and to be able to be setting new standards of performance for it gives me an immense sense of achievement and pride.

I am determined that I will not become complacent though, and have many, many more targets that I am still striving towards, and have a hell of a long way to go before I can claim that I am near fulfilling some of them. For now, I am just taking it one step at a time, and am just happy to see my development continuing gradually.

With regards to this particular performance, much is owed to the group that I found myself in and around during the race. I was able to run the course with Chris Livesey and Andy Benson (both of Preston Harriers), this was good for me as I know them both from training on the track as part of Helen Clitheroe's training group. It helped to make me feel comfortable despite the pace that we were going at.

The training that I am doing as part of that Tuesday group is definitely benefitting my top end speed, and hopefully I will continue to improve running and training alongside these faster runners. It was just a shame that I wasn't able to stick with those guys in the last 200 metres when they turned up the speed into the sprint finish. In the end I finished the race in 9th place.

However, I can't grumble with a big pb, especially after another big week of training. On Thursday I had ran a 10k tempo session around the docks in exactly 33:30. In an ideal world perhaps I wouldn't have done quite so much 48 hours before a race, however my main target that I am working towards is Cardiff Half and it has been for some time. So the most important thing of all this week was maintaining my training targets ahead of that one, which is now less than 3 weeks away.

I finished off my week with a 19 mile long run, my longest in quite a while, at a steady pace, giving me 80+ miles for the week for the third week on the bounce.

Total mileage for the week: 81

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:29

Total mileage for February: 315

Total mileage for month so far (March): 64

Total mileage so far 2016: 694

Average miles per day 2016: 10.51

National Cross-country Championships 2016

The main event of the week - and the winter season overall - was the National cross-country championships, which were held this year at Donnington Park for the first time. 

It was my first run in the national in 3 years, having last competed up at a vey snowy Sunderland in 2013. That time out I ran home in 145th place, this time the main target was to try and break into he top 100 - having finished in 53rd in he Northern's three weeks ago I felt that it would be a close run thing, but a good aim to set myself.

This time out, the conditions were much kinder to the competitors, with a chill in the air courtesy of a cold breeze, but dry and mainly clear conditions overhead made for a pleasant day out and a much more comfortable experience whilst waiting for the senior men's race to get underway.

Upon the start line, each competing club has their lead runner lined up across the start line - which makes for quite a spectacle, as it means the start-line is one huge sweeping one which fills the full length of the field.

Wesham started from pen number 48, which was nearest to the left hand side of the field and meant that we were beginning from a slightly higher point than those down on the right hand side, and meant that our first few hundred yards were based on a bit more of a descent than for the runners from those clubs.

Once at the bottom end of the field, the course closed in to a bit of a bottle-neck as you joined the main section of the course, which was much narrower than the original start as the field closed in. Luckily I had managed to get off to quite a solid start and was already in and around my target position, possibly just outside the first hundred at that stage. 

The first half of the course was very much runnable, with pretty solid grassy conditions underfoot, and he only concern being the uneven terrain underfoot through what looked like a cabbage patch or something (?) in the first mile of each lap. I should probably mention at this point that the race took place over three laps, each of approximately 2.6 miles - as the overall distance came in at approximately 7.9 miles. 

Anyway, having negotiated the way through the cabbage patch (or whatever it was!), the next section of the race saw a steep downhill, followed quickly by a relatively steep incline before the course levelled back out to a pretty even grassy section, which was the most easy part of the course to run at pace, before a second steeper climb to the highest section of the course, which is where he runners were then greeted with the most testing area as the real action began - the mud at last! 

Cross-country is so much different to running on the road, and one of the most interesting things about the discipline for me, is the many different types of mud that you can encounter through the season. That is right, I just admitted to finding mud interesting, I am now officially sad! Haha. But seriously, there are so many different scenarios that you can encounter - 3 years ago at Sunderland for instance, the mud was incredibly slushy and slippy. Although this meant you were able to get your feet in and out of the mud quickly, it made it extremely difficult to maintain your balance and keep on your feet. It also meant you ended up covered in the stuff - although it did make for a good picture...

This time around, the mud was more clay-like and cleggy underfoot. This meant that your feet sunk into it more and deeper, meaning it was more difficult to get your feet in and back out at pace, meaning that it was more testing on the upper leg muscles to drive through the thick stuff.

I am not sure where exactly I was placed throughout the race, but I am fairly sure I heard a spectator counting out the runners as we came through the first lap, with myself around 94th place, which meant I knew I was there-or-thereabouts on target at that point. 

I was really pleased with how my performance came together, as I was able to pretty much maintain a consistent pace throughout - apart from the first mile, which was substantially quicker due to the downhill start and the adrenaline rush as you tried to get into a decent position. 

I was able to pick off runners through the final lap, and was astonished to find as I crossed the finish line, that I had not only fulfilled my ambition of placing in the top 100, but that I had done so comfortably, and a strong last lap had seen me finish strongly and come through in 80th position overall. 

I was delighted with my performance, and it gives me confidence going forwards ahead of the Intercounties and the curtain-closer for my cross-country season in a fortnight's time. I am really looking forward to that one now, and it will be an honour to get to run with the red-rose on my chest again.

On one of the social media groups that I follow, there has been a lot of debate and conversation over the last couple of days about the structure of the National and whether or not the slower runners should be able to participate when it reaches the stage that they are likely to be lapped by the quicker runners.

Not that my opinion matters much, but I really don't feel that restricting who can participate is the way forward. Before the race yesterday, I described the concept to a few of my non-running friends as being like the running equivalent of the FA Cup, and I stand by that - for me a large part of the glory and appeal of this prestigious race, is that all men are equal (and women in their race too of course!) and that regardless of ability, anyone that is a member of a club is able to go toe-to-toe with the best in the country. To take away that right would be to potentially disillusion sections of our running community and further anger those that feel there is an elitist mindset creeping into such events.

Instead, surely the safest and least controversial way of allowing all to participate, but also keep everyone safe would be to bring in time-limits for each lap of the course, that way if anyone is dangerously behind the rest they could be asked to step off the course - just as is the case in many road races up and down the land.

The only concern I had yesterday was for the back stragglers from the women's race, that were nearly trampled on by the stampede of men heading their way at the start of the senior men's race. Perhaps 40 minutes wasn't a long enough gap between the two races? Or again, a time-limit for completion would also solve this issue.

Away from the cross-country, I had another pleasing week of training too. I managed to tick over another high mileage week - with my second successive 80+ mile week. I am hoping that the increased effort in training can be sustained over the coming weeks, as I look to build up towards the Cardiff Half Marathon in 4 weeks time.

My track session this week consisted of 16x400m, whilst my Thursday tempo was cut shorter and at an easier pace as I held back a bit ahead of this weekend's race. After running 5 miles at 5:14 pace this week, I was amazed at how easy 3.8 miles felt at 5:19 pace.

I would also like to take a moment to congratulate my long-term coach and mentor Rob Affleck on his Half Marathon PB that he recorded at Brighton earlier on this morning, as he broke the 70 minute barrier for the first time. Hopefully I won't be far behind him in getting there!

Also, since this week marks the one year birthday of my blog, I would like to thank each and every one of you that has taken the time to read, engage and share in my journey over he last 12 months. 

Blogging and recording your training/efforts in this form isn't for everyone, but I enjoy it and it allows me to record not only the hard statistics of how many miles I have done etc, but also how I felt grout hour the week - and I think that it has helped me to learn from the experience and adapt my training on a week-to-week basis.

Total mileage for the week: 81

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:23

Total mileage for the month so far (February): 298

Total mileage so far 2016: 613

Average miles per day 2016: 10.38

Highest mileage week

After a bit of a reduced week in terms of volume of training, this week I have been able to jump back on it with an increased workload - and I have managed to push myself to a personal high week for mileage. 

It has been a fairly consistent and gradual process over the course of the last 4 and a half years to increase my training from what was initially a very low amount, towards the amount that I need to get to if I want to make myself a serious runner of a high standard.

Four years ago, that mileage stood round 25-30 miles per week - with a few football matches and training sessions a week, plus gym work keeping my general fitness levels up, but nowhere near enough to be a runner capable of fast times.

Gradually, year on year, that mileage has increased as I have become stronger, both physically and mentally. I have developed a better understanding of the requirements and dedication that you need to put into your training if you want to continue to improve what you are capable of.

This time last year, I had managed to increase that mileage to an average of 62 miles per week in my training for London. That was the game changer. The buzz of adrenaline and momentum that the London experience afforded me encouraged me to push on further and increase the workload once more.

Since then, I upped it to firstly 65, then 70 miles per week, and then above 75 miles a week from around October onwards.

I have tried to make sure that this process has been a consistent, but gradual one. I have always been concious of trying to remain injury-free - and (touch wood) apart from the odd twinge and the bad back over Christmas, that is something I have largely managed to do.

This week for the first time ever I have managed to step that volume of training up to beyond 80 miles for the week. This is the standard and level of training that I have aspired to for the last few years - and now that I have finally managed it I will aim to maintain it as much as I can through the year.

The most important thing about any training regime is consistency. There is no point just doing it once and then reducing back down again - I might not manage the 80+ every week, but the more I can do it, the better. It is important for my legs to get used to the amount of work they need to get through to continue to get stronger.

As well as volume, the intensity and specificity of the training is just as crucial too. This week I was able to get back in amongst it with the speed group on the track. That was important, as it is so much easier to push yourself out of your comfort zone when you are around other runners. This week we did a session of 600 metre reps.

On Thursday, on my tempo session with Rob Affleck, we managed to run 25:58 for the 5 miles, 10 seconds faster than the previous session. 

Total mileage for the week: 81

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:20

Total mileage for the month so far (February): 217

Total mileage so far 2016: 532

Average miles per day 2016: 10.23