Weeks 8 and 9 of 20 weeks to Sub 2:20?

W/C 29th June

M 10.5miles (6:42mm)

T 9 miles including 2X1k (3mins), 5X500m(90s, 3mins), 5X300(60s)

W 7 miles (7:02mm), 5miles (7:20mm)

T 9 miles (6:58mm)

F 10 miles acceleration run (6:18mm), 5 miles (7:19mm)

S 15 miles (6:35mm)

S 7.5 miles (6:58mm)

Total 79.3miles

W/C 6th July

M 5 miles (7:07mm)

T 6 miles including Trafford Open 5,000m (15:56.82)

W Rest

T 10.5 miles (7:01mm), 6 miles (7:26mm)

F 17 miles (6:53mm), 6 miles (7:22mm)

S 10 miles (7:07mm)

S 4miles (7:48mm), 7.5 miles including Northern League 5,000m (15:51.3)

Total 73 miles

Last time I wrote about getting some checks with the doctor as I’d not been feeling all too good for a number of weeks both in myself and especially in my running! I am happy to report though that my blood tests came back as normal so that’s great news. This has coincided with feeling quite a lot better in myself and more energy generally. I have had an ECG and am waiting for a referral for an Echo so no diagnosis has been made just yet on whether there is anything untoward with my heart.

This past couple of weeks has been a bit of a rollercoaster again though! Leaving me one minute thrilled that I’m in great shape, then the next minute feeling like I’m a 90 year old arthritic with a heart condition! Still, I finish the two week block in a positive frame of mind.

The Tuesday session I did on 30^th June was quite simply one of the best of my life! In equatorial temperatures at the track with a bit of a gust I was knocking out interval times I didn’t think I had in me. Full details are on the link above, but I felt quick and with splits of 2:55, and 2:54 for the k’s and then c1:25s for the 500s I was really running well. If only I could convert that into a race performance….. The rest of the week I was quite wearisome probably due to how hard I had pushed in that session and an acceleration run I did on the Friday whilst OK was by no means spectacular and my legs felt tired from the off.

It was then onto last week where my two sessions would effectively be two 5,000m races. The first of which was a planned Trafford AC open race and the second was a late call up for the Northern League meet at Scunthorpe where I would be the B-Runner with Leeds City legend Alan Buckley taking his place in the A-string. At Trafford I was a little disappointed to be put in the B-race and although I wouldn’t have been in contention  in the A-race I would have had a lot more people to try and hang on to! I had gone there with the intention to do some damage to the 15:51.5 PB and although it was windy felt I was in a good place to knock some chunks off it! The race started quite slowly and perhaps I panicked a little but I was keen to get back on pace so took the lead up about 300m in and then tried to push on. As you can see from the splits above it was not the most brilliantly paced race and indeed I was disappointed when eventual winner came past me with about 1k to go and I didn’t have the minerals to go with him. I was hating every stride if I’m honest and couldn’t wait for it to be over. That said I still thought I would PB. I was wrong! It just shows if you lose concentration for a few minutes it can really ruin the outcome. I finished in 15:56.82 and really disappointed with how it had all panned out. The result was the least of my concerns though as I could only jog a quarter mile to warm down as my left foot was in in real pain having stubbed it on the bed on Sunday morning! It had some pretty nasty bruising so I went to get some ice form the café where I was surprised to see Dave Moorcroft asking me if I wanted a free coffee on behalf of the BBC (they were filming a piece for Join in UK, an organisation that promotes volunteering). I learned later that evening that it was exactly 33 years to the day that he broke the World 5,000m record. He really is true legend of the sport and his coffee making skills weren’t bad either. I urge you to watch this video with the last few minutes of that record breaking run – it’s simply breath-taking.

I took Wednesday off as my foot was just too sore but thankfully it gradually got better over the following days. Then onto the Northern League 5,000m where another windy day was in store. The primary goal was to win the B-string and secondly to try to run a quick time too. I was pleased to achieve the primary objective winning the B-race finishing 2^nd overall a long way behind Alan but my time was still poor. I finished in 15:51.3 so a bit quicker than Tuesday’s effort and an official PB by a whopping 0.2seconds but still some way short of what I should be capable of. This was OK, especially given the miles in my legs from Friday and Saturday but on reflection I really should have been braver. I perhaps had the opportunity to push on and try and get back to Alan when I found myself in second place about 20 metres back but instead I allowed the pace to drift. As I wasn’t checking splits other than at the km mark I didn’t know until it was too late. I'm learning that these shorter distances really are supposed to hurt from very early on and I think if I can accept that I should be able to run one quite a bit quicker, especially if I can get some good conditions! All this is really good prep for Berlin though and I do feel that what I have been working on with the support of Mike these last few weeks is working, I just haven’t seen the results in a race yet. Next Saturday I am racing in the Podium 10k and I really will be looking to put myself in the hurt box. I would love to have a real confidence boosting run before the long steady mileage starts in earnest. But only I can be in control of that.