On the road to Ribble Valley

This week saw me continue my build up ahead of Ribble Valley 10k with a fairly solid week of training. Although I didn't manage to motivate myself to do any of he early morning runs that I had intended on doing, I did still get a decent bit of mileage in each day, and it was all at a fairly decent rate too.

On Tuesday, feeling slightly leggy and tight in the hamstrings, I decided to avoid the track and so instead I did a hill session similar to the one from the previous week, but increasing the amount of reps and intensity of each one slightly. Doing 10 x 2 minute reps off a 60 second recovery, I averaged a pace of around 5:12 throughout and approximately 600 metres each time. I was particularly happy that I managed to maintain my pace right the way through the session, even when the lactic burn started to set in during the final few reps. According to my tomtom watch, I climbed around about 650 foot in total - so around 65 foot per rep, so hopefully this might help strengthen my legs in preparation for the undulating nature of the Ribble Valley course.

On Thursday I did a 2 x 2 mile session, off a 5 minute jog recovery, around Preston Docks. This is a tried and tested effort for me in the build up to 10k races now, as it has seemed to work well for me in the weeks leading up to Preston 10k and Cheshire 10k in recent months. In the two weeks prior to my run at Cheshire I averaged 5:04 and 5:03 on this session for the final weeks respectively. This Thursday , in ideal conditions it must be said, I ran 10:02 and 10:02 for the two repetitions - meaning an average pace of 5:01 and slightly better than anything I did in the build up to Cheshire which is a great thing to know and hopefully an indication of the shape I am currently in.

I got a longer run in on Sunday than I have managed for my long run in recent weeks, clocking up 15.5 miles and it was great to escape the bypass and get into the country lanes for the first time in a good few weeks!

Total mileage for the week: 72

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:25

Total mileage so far this month (December): 115

Total mileage so far 2016: 3219

Average miles per day 2016: 9.36

Taking stock

Fresh from three races in as many weeks, last week was a case of back to the basics and putting in some hard training miles ahead of an attempt at improving my times further at possibly Ribble Valley 10k, but certainly into the new year.

As I am not racing over the next couple of weeks, I will use this time to take stock of what 2016 has brought, the improvements that I have made, and what I need to focus on for the year ahead. I will chart my milestones, achievements, and disappointments alike in an end of year review and post this up in the upcoming blogs later this month,

For this week though, I have another little bit of news to share, in that I have had my place for the Berlin marathon 2017 confirmed, which gives me my main aim for the new year already and will help me to keep focused and determined through the winter months. It is a target that I have had for quite a while now and I am confident that I will be ready for what will be my first marathon in 2 and a half years when the race arrives next September.

In the meantime, the next couple of training weeks is all about upping my mileage again to north of 70 a week in order to get a good solid base to build from at Ribble Valley.

This past week I got off to a good start on that front. I managed to get out and run every day, which helped push the total mileage up slightly, but didn't manage to fit in any early morning running as I was having to set off early for work. Being a bit more local this week, this is something that I will look to do a couple of times to get a few double run days in.

My main sessions last week were a short hill session on Tuesday (7 x 2 minute efforts off 1 minute recovery) and a 4 mile tempo at a steady 5:12 pace on Thursday. My long run wasn't quite as long as I would have liked ideally as I reduced it down to 14.5 miles due to only getting out at 7pm on Sunday, as I'd had a busy day working on the house. Again, this is something to work on as I am concious that my long runs have been reduced for a few weeks now and I could do to start increasing them back up again.

Total mileage for the week: 70

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:22  

Total mileage so for November: 273

Total mileage so far this month (December): 43

Total mileage so far 2016: 3147

Average miles per day 2016: 9.34

Wesham 10k & Dinner Dance 2016

I had really targeted November as being an important month and an opportunity to try and set some new pb's over the 10k and 10 mile distance, whilst also trying to defend my hometown title at the Wesham 10k.

The first parts of those targets couldn't have gone any better of course, as I managed to set big personal bests in successive weeks. The final part of the challenge was to win this weekend's race, and as such I wasn't really bothered too much about the time I recorded as such, but more just about getting the job done.

I was a little bit wary coming into the week about how well I would be able to recover from the ten miler in time for racing again 6 days later, and a third tough race in as many weeks. It is something that I have tried to avoid doing too much this year, as I have tried to be a little bit more selective and sensible about my race choices - but there was no way I could miss my club's home race on our big day, with our end of season dinner dance on the evening of the race too.

Therefore I decided to be very careful about the volume of training I did during the week. I took the Wednesday off completely, and reduced my mileage and intensity of all the sessions on the rest of the days. I also avoided doing any speed work as I was aware that I was feel in a tad leggy and wanted to make sure I was fully recovered and fit to race.

Steven Gore and his team have done an exceptional job of promoting the Wesham 10k this year - it was the first sell out since 2009 and there was a real buzz about the event this time around.

Conditions were cold, clear, but also frosty in some places, which made for a slightly tougher course than it would already have been. I do think that the race team have put together a fast course now and hopefully the numbers and times will continue to improve year on year.

I had targeted running around 32 minutes, and couldn't have gone much closer - running on feel and crossing the line in 32:01 to take a good win.

This November has been a dream for me and such a contrast to the disappointment that the month brought me last year, I think it is fair to say that I have got my approach and training a bit better this time around and have been rewarded with the results I was looking for.

Now I will look to drop back into training, with a view to possibly returning to racing for Ribble Valley 10k at the end of December if I feel that I have got back into decent racing shape again by then.

The Wesham Road Runners Dinner Dance and presentation evening is always one of my favourite nights of the year. It is an opportunity to get dressed up and out of the work scruffs and running gear, and don my suit for a change. It is great to see everyone in a different and more relaxed environment away from the stresses of every day life, for some reason this night always seems to signal the start of the Christmas season for me. I was fortunate to be given the club's road race championship trophy for this year, whilst I was immensely proud to be able to see my mum be named the most improved female of 2016 - a just reward for all her hard work since joining the club!

Total mileage for the week: 57

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:24

Total mileage so far this month (November): 246

Total mileage so far 2016: 3077

Average miles per day 2016: 9.32

Preston 10

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

A breakthrough

Regular readers of the blog will be well aware of my trials and tribulations over the 10k distance over the last couple of years. Despite it being a distance that I have always believed I should be strong over, I have always seemed to fall short of the level I have strived towards.

This led to me jokinwith many (though I didn't find it particularly funny!) about my "10k curse"...the biggest disappointment, of course, being the Podium short course debacle some 16 months ago. Outside of that however, I have also under-performed on the back of good training, but over-racing in the build up to last year's Abbey Dash, seen Ribble Valley cancelled, missed Trafford due to a clash with Intercounties cross-country selection and Salford as I was away doing the Half Marathon in Cardiff. Most recently of course, I was wiped out by a dog when well on course to break the 32 minute barrier at Preston 10k six weeks ago. 

Well, this weekend I was hoping that the stars would finally align for me and I could string out the perfect performance to put to bed that jinx and free my mind of all the nagging feelings of doubt and frustration that has gradually built up inside my head. I knew I was coming into Cheshire 10k potentially in the shape of my life, but I had to go out and prove it.

I have learnt valuable lessons from some of the disappointments over this spell. I pushed myself way too hard last autumn with back to back half marathons in successive weekends in October 2015 effectively killing my form through November, when I should have been in far better shape on the back of some really good sessions. This year, I tweaked my approach, still racing the half in Palma, but stepping back away from racing either side of that race in order to keep myself as fresh as possible ahead of what I hoped would be a bumper November (with Preston 10 mile and Wesham 10k to follow in the next few weeks).

Also, last year I probably pushed my limits a little too close to the edge in training, almost racing my sessions and performing in training to a higher level than I was actually racing!

This time around, I have tried to approach things a tad more sensibly and have held back just a touch in the last couple of tempo sessions.

I had a much reduced week of training in the run up to the race, running an easy 12 miles on Monday, followed by a session of 8 x 2 minute efforts at race pace, off a 1 minute jog recovery, on Tuesday. Wednesday was an easy hour run of 9 miles. On Thursday I took a rare day off training, instead resting up and getting myself booked in for a massage to try and make sure my legs were feeling in top condition. Big thanks to Vicky Birkett for fitting me in and taking care of me! Friday saw me do a final loosener with an easy 6 miles in order to just turn the legs over and get the blood pumping.

I had been fired up and raring to go all week and the race day just couldn't come quick enough.

Arriving at Arley Hall, in Cheshire, the weather was slightly better than forecasted during the week. Despite being wet, the rain was more constant drizzle rather than any downpours, another big plus being the lack of any real noticeable wind. The start of the race was delayed by ten minutes by a backlog of traffic arriving at the race venue.

When we finally did get going, Mohammed Abu-Rezeq flew off into an early lead and went on to dominate the race from the front and was never challenged on his way to take the win in 30:27.

Behind him though, the battle for the remaining positions was far closer, with 6 of us involved in a tight pack and sharing the workload really well in a way that made it so much easier mentally to keep up the pace.

I felt as though I ran a far more controlled and patient race than I have ever done over a 10k before, content to tuck in towards the middle of the pack in the early stages of the race, as I kept hearing the words of all those that have pressed the importance of not setting off too quick in the back of my head. Too many times I have been guilty of starting like a nutter and blowing up. But yesterday I managed to resist the temptation to push the pace.

As usual I chose not to use my watch for pacing, as I have struggled in the past mentally when it has become apparent that I am off the pace I'm targetting, instead I ran on feel, confident in the knowledge that if I was in amongst the likes of Ben Fish, then the pace was bound to be quick anyway!

Almost before I knew it, we were soon through the 4k mark, and I was still feeling fresh, and the group was working together and taking turns to lead it out in a way that worked extremely well for me, each time I took my turn at the front, I made sure to drop back at regular intervals to catch a breath and come back again with a fresh approach.

The pack was still tight and 6 man strong through to 6k, and I was starting to become wary of any of the other runners starting to try and break away and push the pace on, making sure I was prepared and able to react and go with them if they did so. At around this point, Ben Johnson came up the outside of the pack and made a little move. Whether consciously, or sub-consciously, myself and Ben Fish seemed to react to that and push on a little bit from the rest of the pack. At about the 7k mark we began to put a small gap between us and the rest.

It wasn't until we got towards the 8k mark though that it started to sink in to me that I was now well underway in the race, feeling unbelievable compared to how I was anticipating I would be doing at this stage, and running toe-to-toe with a runner that I have always seen as something of an inspiration to me since I came into the sport. I have the utmost respect for Ben, and his achievements he has earned. Previously I probably would have felt a little bit over-awed and out of my comfort zone to find myself in this position. But this time around, I felt comfortable, and as though I wasn't hanging on, but I was genuinely contending for position. I would like to think that our little battle helped us both and having Ben to work alongside definitely pushed me to keep driving on all the way through to the finish.

I still was anticipating the kick to come before long, but as we came through 9k and towards the final corners, I decided to try and strike first and made a break for the finish line. I managed to find a strong finish and went through the line in 31:14 to hold out for 2nd place and a massive personal best. 

Sunday I finished off the week with a steady 12 mile long run with Luke Minns, and my legs felt surprisingly fresh!

I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone that has helped and supported me on my quest to become a better runner so far, from my Wesham team mates, my family and friends - especially my brilliant girlfriend Moll - who have stayed supportive and understanding of my training, and everyone I have trained with at the track. Helen Clitheroe's group has definitely helped me move on to a higher standard, and Chris Livesey and more recently Luke Minns have also been great to work alongside for the top end pace work I need. But more than most, Rob Affleck, who has been with me through most on my little journey. This performance just goes to show that despite some others doubts, what we have been working on in training has been setting me in the right direction and the patience has finally started to pay off. Hopefully there is still more to come.

Total mileage for the week: 61

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

Total mileage so far this month (November): 124

Total mileage so far 2016: 2955

Average miles per day 2016: 9.35

Comfort zones

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

Control

I've had something of a bumper training week this time out, enjoying two solid speed sessions and my highest mileage week in some time.

I got the week off to a solid start with a steady 11.5 mile run on Monday evening, packing some much needed longer miles to get he week's mileage off to a good start. Pace-wise, this run was nothing special, but I'm starting to learn at last that not every run needs to be blasted out, but that sometimes it is more about time on feet and controlling the session.

Speaking of which, Tuesday's track session was probably my best controlled track session I've done to date in my opinion. I had set out to do between 6-8 x 1000m depending on how the session went and the sort of pace I was managing to record. I did this off a 200m jog as part of a 90 second recovery. It was a session that I had to do on my own, so I was aware that mentally it would be difficult to sustain a high tempo pace and push myself through the pain barrier. I had anticipated that I would be looking to record rep times ranging anywhere between 3:00 and 3:10 as I haven't done too much real track work in recent weeks and I was unsure just what level my top end speed would be at.

However, having started off with a solid first rep of 2:56, in which I actually found myself deliberately slowing up through the final 50 metres to ensure I didn't use up too much energy, I seemed to grow in confidence and control throughout. My next couple of reps followed the same pattern, with me going through 400m and 800m with splits of 1:11 and 2:22 respectively, and both the third and fourth rep saw me record finishing times of 2:56 once again, with a similar easing off in the final stretch.

Rep 4 saw me record a 2:58, followed by a 2:57 on rep 5. By this point I was starting to feel the strain and I decided to call it a day after the sixth repetition, I ended fairly strongly though with a 3:00 finishing effort. Finishing off with an average of 2:57, it is one of the strongest sessions I can remember doing on my own and I came away feeling enthused ahead of November's upcoming races. I just hope to get the rub of the green win the weather through the month now - no gales like this time last year please!

Wednesday was a slow, hour long recovery run.

On Thursday me and coach Rob did a 2 x 2 mile session, off a 5 minute jog recovery. We couldn't have run it more consistently, with mile splits of 5:05, 5:05, 5:05 and 5:05, without clicking into race mode, which is a good sign again.

Friday was an early morning easy run, as was Saturday.

On Sunday, I rounded off the week with a late autumn afternoon long run down the lanes and bypass (the clock change nearly caught me out!) and I was pleased to progress nicely through the run, reaching 14 miles at 6:09 average pace, before easing off into the last two miles to finish off with an average pace of 6:15 for the 16 miles in total.

Total mileage for the week: 74

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:40

Total mileage so far this month (October): 300

Total mileage so far 2016: 2820

Average miles per day 2016: 9.34