Building the base

The couple of weeks since my little break from training have basically been just all about making sure I get plenty of miles in the tank and get out training consistently again ahead of my marathon training block.

I don't want the increase in mileage to come as too big a shock to the body, as I definitely can't afford too many niggles or injuries if I am going to be in shape to hit my targets come Berlin.

This was my final week of building that base layer of fitness ahead of the start of the marathon block, which starts in earnest this week - with less than 15 weeks to go now until the big race day!

It has been a bit of a difficult task getting all the necessary sessions sorted this week for a few reasons, but as usual we always seem to find a way to fit in the work that we need!

I started the week with my usual steady Monday run, and felt quite strong and held a good rhythm through my 10.5 miles, most of which were run as part of the club session at around 6:15 pace. 

Due to the high winds that we had on Tuesday, I decided to sack off the track session that I had planned, as it seemed as though I would be fighting a losing battle to get any sort of decent speed up. Instead I chose to do a bit of a progression run from home, aiming to run for around about an hour, and with no real targets in terms of timings/pace I was happy to just see how it went on the go. I finished up with just over 10 miles at 6:15 pace, having started at about 6:40 pace. 

I followed that up with an easy recovery run on Wednesday, I felt a bit leggy, possibly due to some quite good mileage on the back of the off road race last Saturday at Grasmere, and I was suffering due to my hayfever too and feeling fatigued - so it was definitely just a case of getting the run done and ticking off another box. I managed 8 and a half miles at just under 6:35 pace, and made sure I had a good roll about on my foam roller to try and get rid of some of the heaviness from my legs.

It must have worked, because I ran really well on my Thursday progression session with Rob Affleck. I did the same distance as the previous week, but this time we did 5 miles out on the guild wheel into a headwind, before turning back and picking up the pace on the return leg. I got the 10 miles done some 20 seconds faster than last time out. We finished off with 57:21 for the distance and an average pace of 5:44, a pleasing session.

On Friday my legs were feeling the effects of the previous day's session, so I ran very easy and just did the 7 miles at 6:55s.

I swapped my long run around to Saturday this week, due to it being Kirkham Club Day and planning on having an easier day to recover from that somewhat! But also, Sunday was my final day with Molly before her big America journey, so I didn't want to be spending that final day running too much - I still managed to get out though! 

The long run was ran in pretty unrelenting torrential rain, and I actually ended up cutting it a bit shorter than planned, but I ran OK in the circumstances and got in a decent rhythm despite the winds again. I did 14.5 miles in total at 6:18 average pace.

On Sunday I finished off with 8 miles at 6:25s, to round off another 70+ mile week, setting me up nicely for the bigger stuff that is ahead of me in the next 3 months.

Total mileage for the week: 71

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

Total mileage so far this month (June): 117.5

Total mileage for 2017: 1547.5

Average miles per day 2017: 9.61

Resting, rebooting and Grasmere Galloping

Firstly, let's pick up where we left off last time, two weeks ago. I had just completed a period of targeted races, with the Christleton 5k, and took the opportunity of a bit of a rest week ahead of the beginning of my Berlin marathon training programme.

Initially, the plan had been to take a whole week off from running. But bearing in mind the fact that I had already had 3 days off the previous week with the bad back/ periformas problem in the lead up to Christleton, and the fact that I am a nightmare to be around when I can't run(!), I decided in the end that 4 days off, followed by a few days of steady running with no real sessions, would be enough to freshen me up again.

So breaking off from training after the race on Friday 19th of May, I picked things back up again on Wednesday 24th, and over the next 4 days I ran a similar route each day of between 8 and 8.5 miles at a pace ranging from low 6:20s to 6:35s. I finished off the week on the Sunday with a long run of 17 miles, and the rest must have done me good, as I found myself averaging 6:10 pace throughout and running really nice and comfortably.

So, at the end of the rest week, here were the stats:

Total mileage for the week: 50

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:19

Total mileage so far this month (May): 219.5

Total mileage for 2017: 1399.5

Average miles per day 2017: 9.39

Feeling refreshed and free of all the little niggles again, this week I have been back on the sessions and starting to think about the start of my marathon training, with Berlin now just 16 weeks away - both an exciting and scary thought at the same time!

I need to start ramping up the mileage a bit over the next few weeks, but this week was just about easing myself back into the sessions and introducing a bit of speed work and intensity to my running again.

On Monday I did 10 miles at 6:05 pace and I was really pleased as my pacing and rhythm couldn't have been much more consistent throughout and although the pace was a little quicker than I had intended, I wasn't especially pushing it too hard.

Now I have got back in the swing of track training, I am hoping to keep it a regular thing going again, and I managed to make it down there on Tuesday. I did a solo effort seen as I got away from work in good time and had a session planned out in my head of 6 x 1000 off a 90 second 200 metre jog recovery. I wanted to get each rep in at about 3 minutes each, which meant lapping at about 72 seconds per 400.

The session went well, and I recorded times of 2:56, 2:57, 2:58, 2:56 and 2:57 for the first 5 reps, I was beginning to feel it on the fifth rep, and it crossed my mind to leave it at that, but in the end I finished off with a steady 800 in 2:27 to conclude a decent session. 

I ran home from work in St. Anne's on Wednesday, cutting out the commuting time and banking a nice 10.5 miles too at a steady 6:25 pace. The only downside was feeling the first symptoms of hayfever season kicking in as I ran past a string of freshly mowed fields! 😭

With attention turning to the longer stuff again now, my Thursday session with Rob Affleck is now deviating from the shorter, quicker work that we have been doing so far this year, towards some longer progression running. This week we did 10 miles and started off at 6:30 pace, working our way down to 5:25s in the last couple of miles. We came out with an average pace of 5:46.

I settled for an easy 5 miles on Friday, running home from work again (6:35s) before getting packed and travelling up to Grasmere for a club weekend away with Team Wesham, with the club taking 26 runners up to the Lakes, using the 17k and 10k trail races as a bit of a jaunt and making a full weekend of it.

We got lucky with the weather, and when it is sunny, the Lakes really are as good a place to be as anywhere in the world! 

As for the race itself, I settled on running in the 10k, and am glad I did! The course was pretty brutal and unforgiving, with much of the route being off road and on rocky terrain. I recorded it as being 854 foot of elevation in total, and being unused to running off road I found it to be a really good change of scene, and a fantastic workout - but next time I probably won't take it on in my flats! 

The whole atmosphere around the event was superb, and the race team made it a fantastic event to be a part of. I was pleased with how I ran, and the time was pretty much irrelevant considering the tough nature of the course. I was pleased to win though in 34:57, with team mates James Mulvany and Steve Waterhouse also placing in 3rd and 4th and getting in the prizes too.

I creeped my long run up slightly on Sunday to 17.5 miles, at a slower rate than the previous week (6:25s) as I look to gradually work myself up towards the bigger miles that are ahead of me over the next few months. The 16 week countdown is on, and all roads are very much now leading to Berlin.

Total mileage for the week: 77

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

Total mileage for May: 250

Total mileage so far this month (June): 46.5

Total mileage for 2017: 1476.5

Average miles per day 2017: 9.59

Christleton 5k...aaaaand relax

The final race of my latest training block and targeted series of races came around on Friday night with the Christleton 5k. It is one of the fastest events on the racing calendar and has a reputation for producing quick times. When I was selecting races that I hoped could provide the best opportunities for me to dip under 15 minutes, along with Mid Cheshire, this was the one which I felt afforded me the best conditions to have a real go at that target.

Seen as it was the last targeted race for a few weeks, I also decided that it would be the best time I have to take a brief break from training in order rest up and recuperate from all the little niggles, strains and aches that start to build up over a prolonged period of consistent training. Last week's periformas problem is a prime example of my body just starting to let me know it was getting ready for a bit of a rest in order to come back refreshed, ready and raring to go for my Berlin marathon build up, which will get underway in earnest in the next couple of weeks.

The last big push before Christleton started with a steady ten mile run on Monday, before returning to the track to do a similar session to the Tuesday before Mid Cheshire. Before that race, I had done 6 x 800 metres at an average of 2 minutes 19 seconds. We decided (me and Rob Affleck) that the session had obviously worked pretty much perfectly in order to fine tune me ahead of the race, so we aimed for a repeat this time around. Again, we did 6 reps, with a starting target of 2:20 per rep. As it turned out, we both ran a little bit faster than anticipated, as I chased down Rob off a 10 second handicap over the two laps. I felt really strong and consistent in my rhythm and actually decided to reign myself in through the last couple of reps, to save myself for the race. I finished up with times of 2:15, 2:15, 2:17, 2:16, 2:17 and 2:19 for the session - representing an average of 2:17, some two seconds per rep faster than I did on the same session a few weeks ago.

I felt great, and eased up through the next couple of days, dropping down to just a 30 minute jog on Wednesday and 8.5 miles in about an hour on the Thursday. I had done all I could do and was ready for the race to come around.

Unfortunately there was one last little twist as a real spanner was thrown in the works on the evening of the race - in the form of motorway traffic and two traffic jams! We had set off in (what we thought was) plenty of time, some two and a half hours prior to the start time, however, despite our estimated time of arrival starting off on the sat nav at 5:58pm, we eventually only arrived at the race HQ just after 7pm - with numbers still to be collected, and a start time for the race of 7:15! Usually I would do up to 3 miles for a warm up, along with a series of short sprints, and lots of stretching. There was no time for any of that on this occasion and a steady run up and down the kilometre between race HQ and the start line was all I had time for - squeezing in near the front of an already packed front pen.

The build up hadn't exactly been ideal, but at least I had made it to the start - in a way it took some pressure off, and I reduced my expectations slightly, just aiming to run as best as I could in the circumstances, enjoy the challenge and see what happened.

As we got underway, I settled into a nice group headed initially by Vis and Sciacca of Sale Harriers through the first kilometre or so, then gradually I worked my way through the pack and took my turn at sharing the workload at the front. Knowing the course from last time around, I knew that the course was very similar to Mid Cheshire, with a fast start and finish, and a bit of an uphill section in the middle, between 2 and 3k at the end of the first loop. I knew it was important to start well, but make sure I left enough energy to attack the final 2 kilometres after the hill, and that last time out I had probably overlooked it on the uphill section and faded a bit towards the end as a result.

As it panned out, I actually ended up heading the pack through that section, but I didn't mind as the pace just felt nice and controlled and consistent, and it was still quite a nice big tight pack too, which would help in the final kilometres.

The pace couldn't have been much better through those first 2 miles, with splits of 4:48 and 4:49 leaving me bang in position for an attack at my best time, unfortunately I began to tighten up a bit in the third mile and the pace dropped a little with a 4:55, but the work with the pack of Johnny Kay and Karl Darcy (both Bolton) and Adam Sciacca (Sale) meant that I didn't drop too much and was able to keep on track for the sub 15. A big sprint finish to the line brought all four of us in within two seconds of one another and all dipping under, with me finishing 3rd place in 14:57 behind Dejene Gezimu (Liverpool), who had ran away from the field in the final two kilometres to take a comfortable win and Johnny Kay.

I have since had my first couple of days off, enjoyed with a spontaneous trip away to Paris courtesy of Moll! I might not have done any running over the weekend, but we certainly did plenty of miles walking as we explored the city!

I know that this is meant to be a running blog, but I will sign off with a couple of pictures showing some highlights of our trip ☺️

Total mileage for the week: 41

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:32   

Total mileage so far this month (May): 169.5

Total mileage for 2017: 1349.5

Average miles per day 2017: 9.57

A right pain in the arse

Those of you that are familiar with this blog will probably already be aware of my previous troublesome Periformas muscle. For those of you that don't know what this is though, it is a tiny muscle that is tucked in behind the glutes that is difficult to get to and so not exactly straightforward to stretch or massage. Basically the only treatment that can get in to the area is for you to have an elbow jammed in around the buttock region. It is every bit as painful and uncomfortable as it sounds! Unfortunately for me, it is a problem that I have become all to familiar with in the last 2 years or so, as I have increased my mileage.

The troublesome Periformas flared up again this week, after a nice period of 8 weeks or so without any problems. It meant that I was unable to train for three day from Monday to Wednesday and at one point made me extremely doubtful for the latest race in the interclub series - which was on Thursday. As the injury has become a relatively common thing for me in recent months, the only positive thing about that is that I have gained more of an awareness about when the problem is starting to rear its head and how I can best begin to start my recovery and rehabilitation to make it a swift turnaround. Previously, this sort of problem has kept me out of action for 7-10 days, so a three day lay off is definitely a step in the right direction.

If you suffer from the injury yourself, I have found the best method of treatment is to seek physio swiftly, but also there are some stretches you can do yourself a couple of times a day (lie flat on your back and pull your knee up towards your chest tight, and move slowly side to side until you feel the muscle start to pull, then hold for approx 20 seconds), whilst the foam roller or a tennis ball can come in handy to sit down on the buttock and roll over.

Thankfully, despite the frustration of missed miles and training at the start of the week, I was able to just about recover in time to race for my club at Lytham interclub on the Thursday evening. Lytham's event is a flat 5 miler along the front, pretty much 2.5 miles each way out and back. Typically, after a lovely few days of weather in the build up to the race, on the day itself, there was a strong howling headwind for the first half of the race.

Numbers have once again swelled this year for the club series, with some 413 representatives of the 7 local clubs turning out in force to support their sides. It has made for a superb atmosphere at both of the races so far this year, so hopefully the series continues to gather more popularity in the future and the series can go from strength to strength to strength. 

From a Wesham perspective, off the back of a surprise men's team victory at Blackpool in April, we were looking to follow that up with another strong showing at Lytham, and we were bolstered by a few great additions in Joe Monk (1st claim Blackburn) and the return of Les Cornwall. It is fantastic to see us trying to be more competitive, as you can't beat a team event.

As the race got underway, myself, David Rigby and Joe Monk pulled away from the field fairly early, and with the wind behind us initially got off to a decent start. As we turned back in to the wind after about a quarter of a mile, I found myself moving to the front of the pack and for whatever reason remained there throughout the slog into the wind - I'm not sure whether that classes as naivity on my part for not sharing the load, or positive running for taking it on - but about 3 miles in it definitely felt like I'd been a bit naive! 😂

As we dipped down and around Fairhaven Lake at coming up to the 3 mile mark, myself and Dave started to put some distance between ourselves and Joe, who had done well to stick with the pace all the way into the wind. From there on in it was a tough fought 2 mile slog back to the finish line, with there only being a matter of strides between us all the way. I have to be honest, I felt absolutely awful from about 4 miles through to the end and was running on empty - the days off had seemingly taken a toll and my hamstrings were beginning to tighten up more and more.

Thankfully, I just about managed to hold out until the finish line, and the time of 25:23 was almost 30 seconds quicker than my previous best performance on the course, in difficult conditions.

In the team standings, Wesham men were beaten by Preston by 40 points, but with a couple of front end runners missing it was still a fantastic result to come away from the race with second place.

On Friday, I felt awful, my hamstrings were still ruined from the previous evenings race, but I managed to get out and run the 11.5 miles home from work at a nice and steady 6:30 pace. Then on Saturday, still feeling the effects somewhat, I had to cancel a planned track session with young Joe and instead did the Lytham Park run as a gentle session, running round in just under 16 and a half minutes.

I felt a bit better on Sunday and took myself a little bit further with my long run, getting 17.5 miles in at 6:15 pace. Hopefully I am over the periformas problems for a while again now and can get through the final targeted race of this current training block at Christleton 5k this coming Friday. I then have a rest week pencilled in before the start of my Berlin Marathon training later in the month.

Total mileage for the week: 52.5

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:19

Total mileage so far this month (May): 128.5

Total mileage for 2017: 1308.5

Average miles per day 2017: 9.76

Running on tired legs

Quick on the back of a dream run at mid Cheshire 5k last week, on the May bank holiday I decided to have another run out at the Avenham 5k - seen as Molly has the bit firmly between her teeth at the moment and wanted to wear her new Wesham vest for the first time!

I wasn't too sure what to expect, and was more concerned with just making sure it was a decent work out and getting a bit more pace work into the legs. This would effectively be one of my sessions for the week as an alternative to a track session on the Tuesday.

Knowing the Avenham route to be an undulating and far from fast course, I wasn't too bothered about putting down any sort of time - especially on the back of a lifetime best run on the Friday and a 16 mile long run on the Sunday. However, race organiser Shane Cliffe wasn't for taking any excuses and made sure I knew he wanted me to try for the course record! 

Conditions were good, and I had some pacy company at the front end with Danny Collinge working hard and setting a very decent early pace - with the first mile being exactly 5:00. There is a fairly tough uphill section through the second mile and the pace slowed, but I found myself pulling away and a gap opening up behind. I didn't realise at the time, but Danny had been experiencing a few problems at this point, and I hope he is feeling better now - it just goes to show that no matter how fit you are, being healthy and well shouldn't be something we take for granted and I really hope it was just a one off problem for him.

I managed to hold off a bit of late pressure from Rob Affleck to ease away and just dip under 16 minutes to take the win and that course record, and it was pleasing to know I could still run okay on the back of racing just a couple of days earlier.

I doubled up on Monday, making the most of the day off work and ran in the evening with David Taylor at the club too. I am trying to creep my mileage up a bit and getting used to running on tired legs is something that me and Rob have discussed plenty in the past. It is important for me to get my body used to some higher volume and intensity efforts ahead of starting proper marathon training at the end of this month.

Molly had a good run too on a difficult course - and despite not enjoying the hills, she told me we were going to return to Lytham Hall for the Park run on Saturday, as she was hunting for another pb!

As I had done some pace work on Monday, I ran steady on Tuesday, just doing an hour after work and getting 9 more miles in. I ran easy on Wednesday too, clocking 8 miles at 6:40s, as I had a fairly short and sharp session planned for Thursday.

I have to admit prior to getting underway with the Thursday session on the docks, I really wasn't feeling pushing myself hard after a long day at work and two races in a week, especially with the wind blowing against us down the back straight meaning the second half of each rep would be a real slog! We did a repeat of our 2 x 1.5 mile session from a couple of weeks ago, and surprisingly once we got underway I actually ran much better than I had expected. I finished up with 7:23 and 7:23 once again - exactly the same as last time we did the same session, but in far less favourable conditions, which is a great sign.

On Friday, I topped up my mileage with another 8 miles at a nice gentle pace. We did indeed venture off to Lytham Hall for another park run on Saturday and Moll did get her pb she was after! I had a decent run out too and was happy with another little bit of pace work in the legs.

I wanted to go a little bit further with this week's long run, so added an extra little loop on the end of my usual route, in order to make it up to just under 18 miles. I ran nice and relaxed and felt really good to be running in the early morning sunshine. I try not to look on my watch on these long runs, instead just wanting to concentrate of building a rhythm and momentum through the run and gradually working through it. This week's turned out to be slightly quicker than I had anticipated, as I finished up with an average of 6:08s.

Total mileage for the week: 76

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

Total mileage so far this month (May): 76

Total mileage for 2017: 1256

Average miles per day 2017: 9.89

14:52 (Mid Cheshire 5k)

Last August, I travelled down to Kingsley in Cheshire to run in a 5k race that I had been told about that was gaining a reputation for producing quick times. The previous race, last April, had seen half a dozen runners clock under 15 minutes. Unfortunately, the August race didn't have quite the same depth of quality - which combined with really heavy rain - meant that it wasn't condusive to such quick times, and I actually came away from the race taking the win in a rather moderate time of 15:20.

Although I was slightly disappointed with my time that day, I had seen enough from the event to know that on another day, with more competition, this was a very quick course. A few months later, the race got handed the English Championships, and in turn this meant that a rapid and stacked field was put together. I knew that I simply had to be in on it, and that this was a genuine occasion for a shot at setting a new pb.

My main concern coming into the race, was whether I was sharp enough and had that very top end speed, having not done much in the way of genuine fast pace work for a few months. What I have been doing well though is running lots of hard tempos, fartlek sessions, progression runs and most importantly for me - racing.

My recent races have all gone well, and as a result my confidence levels have soared in recent weeks. The final part of my preparation this week, was to do a short and sharp track session - my first since November - just to prove to myself that the speed was there and that I could cope with the 4:50 pace that I needed if I wanted to clock my first sub 15.

The track session couldn't have gone any better. Rob Affleck set up the session for me and acted as my hare to chase down, setting off before me and making me work to close him down over each rep. We did 6 x 800 metres, off a 90 second 200 metre jog recovery. We had targeted me coming away with an average of 2:25 for each rep - which would represent a solid 3 miles at race pace. What I actually produced was something a little bit quicker than I had anticipated, but better still, I grew in both pace and confidence as the session developed. My six reps were as follows: 2:21, 2:21, 2:20, 2:18, 2:18, 2:18. My average time for each rep was just under 2:20, or about 4:40 pace per mile. More importantly, I actually felt controlled throuout, and knew I had more left in the tank. For my first track session in so long, I was delighted with that outcome.

The rest of the week leading up to the race was spent just ticking over with a mixture of steady paced and easy running, making sure that I was fresh and ready for action on Friday night. Rather than concerning myself with hitting certain mileage goals, I decided to just go out and run for an hour on Wednesday (9.3 miles at 6:28 pace) and then cut down to half an hour on Thursday (4.4 miles at 6:51 pace).

Another couple of key aspects to this week's build up was that I have recently made a slightly more conserted effort to fuel myself better. I've had plenty of rice, pasta and jacket potatoes - as burger and chips have become more and more a thing of the past for me. Also, I have started taking on board a lot more water, and even (very slightly) less caffeine! Furthermore, I have been very fortunate to be put on a few easier jobs this week and managed to escape early on Friday to rest up ahead of the race. Even down to my mum offering me a lift to Cheshire took away the stress of having to drive an hour and a half to the venue. My parents and Molly have always been so supportive of me and my running, I am so lucky to be surrounded by as many people as I am that care and help me in every way possible to be the best that I can. 

Rob Affleck has been a huge influence on me and has taught me to plan my training and races properly, whilst also listening to my own needs and targets that I'm aiming for - I personally don't think that I could have hoped for a better coach for my own progression so far and I am massively greatful for all his help getting me to this point. Hopefully we can continue to progress and keep making the strides that we have together so far.

As I already knew what the course was like, I knew that it was vitally important to get off to a good start, without getting carried away with the pace set by the lads at the very front end, as the second and third kilometres were largely up hill and would be more about digging in. As we came through the first k marker, we were told that we had gone through in 2:42. My first instinct was that this was a bit fast - especially seen as 3:00 average was the requirement for that sub 15! 

  

But I knew that it was all time in the bank and that I was now ahead of the rate, we then went through the mile in 4:27. In the past, going through in such a fast pace would have ruined me and I would have fallen to pieces, but I am definitely building my endurance now, and I managed to hold it together as we began the long section of climbing back up the hill. I heard another shout as we went through 3k that we were on 9:00 which meant that I was bang on track at the top of the climb.

Fortunately I was also in a nice tight pack of 4 runners, and we all shared the load and pushed each other all the way to the line. As the finish tunnel came into view with about 100 metres to go, I could see the clock and knew that I was going to be on for a huge personal best and I didn't even need to dig into the deepest reserves to make it home under that magical 15 minute barrier.

I finished up with 14:52 and 18th position overall, as a massive 23 runners in total went under 15 minutes, with the winning time being a rapid 14:01. Hopefully this is just the first time I go under this time now, and I will be looking to repeat the performance at Christleton 5k at the back end of May.

Total mileage for the week: 70.5

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

Total mileage so far this month (April): 319.5

Total mileage for 2017: 1180

Average miles per day 2017: 9.83

Mind over marathon

London isn't the only marathon of course, but it is far and away the biggest, boldest and more than any other, the place to be. I watched with great interest and and a touch of jealousy (!) as all the runners set off on their own 26.2 mile journeys nth is morning. Be it elite runners, club runners, fun runners, or people running in aid of charity or in memory of loved ones, every single runner undertook the same challenge.

If you watched the brilliant BBC documentary "Mind over marathon", then you will know that ten of the runners on that start line were running to raise awareness for the "heads together" campaign championed by the Royal family. They are encouraging people to talk about mental health and championing the benefits of physical exercise is one way in which they are doing so.

It is perhaps apt that the heads together campaign should be this year's charity of choice for VLM. The marathon is such a unique, exhausting, relentless and unforgiving challenge at times - not just physically, but mentally also. You always know there will be a point in the run when doubt, and questions will pop into your mind, you just have to overcome them.

If you didn't catch the programme, please catch it on the iPlayer, it really is a fantastic watch. You can see through the first part how they have all already bought into a shared sense of belonging, community and purpose.

In my opinion, we have a truly special community in the running world, and despite any little rivalries that we all have, at the end of the day we all want to see each other do well, improve and most importantly enjoy our running. Speaking from a personal perspective, running has helped shape me into a much more rounded and better person I hope. When I first started, I was in kind of a state of flux, having left school and drifted away from previous friendship groups, I struggled at university and didn't really fit in. Joining a running club gave me a new focus and direction. It has also provided me with countless opportunities and has seen me meet and befriend some of the best people I could wish to meet. And of course I met Moll!

One of the best moments and a highlight of this mornings race was seeing Matthew Rees of Swansea Harriers (team mate of first GB athlete Josh Griffiths, who had a sensational run - what a day for Swansea!) forfeiting his own finish to help a struggling runner over the final stretch down the Mall to the finish. It was a great show of sportsmanship and humanity that I believe is unique to the running community, and which makes me feel so proud to be a part of what we have.

I would also like to say a big well done to all of my team mates at Wesham that represented our club so well there today, I hope you all enjoyed your day (minus the running pain!) and are happy with your results. Also well done to Ugis at Blackpool marathon this morning too, running sub 3 hours.

I think we are in the midst of an upturn in performance in the UK at the minute too with distance running, some of the times recorded by the elites this morning were fantastic, and the amount of sub 2:30 efforts was brilliant to see. Locally, Ben Johnson of Southport and Waterloo had a barnstorming run in 2:21:46 - phenomenal!

There was no marathon for me today, mine is 154 days away and counting, and training will kick into full swing for it in about 6 weeks time - scary stuff! 

I upped my mileage up above the 80 mile mark for the first time this year, this week, as I aim to try and get my body adjusted and ready for the heavy miles ahead - I don't want it to come as too much of a shock to the system so hopefully I can ease my mileage up gradually before I get my proper marathon training underway.

On Monday I ran a total of 13 miles, with my usual half hour jog before meeting with the running club to add on 9 miles with them.

On Tueday I did a similar speed session to the previous week, by doing the same 3 minute on, 1 minute off, fartlek session. As I wasn't racing this week I added a couple of extra reps and did 8 in total, giving me 24 minutes of effort in total at an average pace of 5:07. Including the warm up, cool down and recoveries, I managed to complete my 10 mile loop in just under the hour so was pleased with the session as a whole.

I ran easy on Wednesday, ticking over for an hour and managing just over 9 miles for 6:38 pace.

Thursday was my usual meet up with Rob Affleck, and we turned our attentions towards some upcoming shorter distance races, so did a shorter, sharper session of 2 x 1.5 mile reps. I clocked 7:23 for both reps and was happy with my pace and consistency throughout. I will need to go a bit quicker on race day to get the times I want, but hopefully with the race day adrenaline and competition around I will find a little bit more.

Again I ran easy on Friday with 8 miles at 6:35 pace, before doubling up on Saturday by doing the Lytham park run as a tempo workout (15:48), whilst Moll ran a new best time of 27:58(!) and then doing an easy 5 miles in the evening.

I ended the week with my long run on Sunday morning - I got it out of the way nice and early to make sure I didn't miss any of the marathon coverage! I was pleased with how relaxed and comfortable I felt and I just ran nice, steady and consistent for the 17.5 miles at 6:15 pace throughout.

Total mileage for the week: 80

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:28

Total mileage so far this month (April): 249

Total mileage for 2017: 1109.5

Average miles per day 2017: 9.82