I decided to have a rest day on Saturday, did not do much apart from walk the dog and shoot off to Asda at the last minute to get Rose some mothers day presents from Caroline and Sophie.

Up at 7am, normal breakfast and set off at 8:15.  Got my number and ran a 2 mile warm up with Paul Cooke (who went on to smash his PB by 14 minutes).

Set off near the front with Steve McGuire, Jenny Blizard and Dave Tune.  They were running at about the pace I wanted to achieve and were kind enough to act as “wind breaks”.  It was about 2 degrees and quite windy but overall the conditions were quite good.  At times I felt like letting my running companions go but other times I felt quite strong.  I loved the undulating profile, just my sort of race (no bad hills).

I finished with a PB of 1:23:48 ish which is about 50 seconds quicker than my previous best which was Sheffield 2 years ago.  My AvHR was 158, bottom half of my tempo zone.

I went through 10k in 38:57 and10 miles in 1:03:34 (12 seconds slower than my 10 mile PB).

Jenny was first lady to finish, Dave Sedgwick ran a PB and finished 8th and Steve McGuire looked strong through out, finding his form again. Dave Tune earns a bottle.

The website I upload my runs to makes the following prediction based on this run which will do nicely!:

Splits:

1) – 1m – 6:06(6:06/m) – 171bpm avge – 191bpm max – 32cal
2) – 1m – 6:10(6:10/m) – 163bpm avge – 172bpm max – 95cal
3) – 1m – 6:13(6:13/m) – 164bpm avge – 176bpm max – 101cal
4) – 1m – 6:22(6:22/m) – 161bpm avge – 173bpm max – 103cal
5) – 1m – 6:23(6:23/m) – 160bpm avge – 167bpm max – 104cal
6) – 1m – 6:30(6:30/m) – 158bpm avge – 178bpm max – 105cal
7) – 1m – 6:24(6:24/m) – 157bpm avge – 165bpm max – 102cal
8) – 1m – 6:32(6:32/m) – 157bpm avge – 182bpm max – 102cal
9) – 1m – 6:29(6:29/m) – 157bpm avge – 173bpm max – 108cal
10) – 1m – 6:34(6:34/m) – 152bpm avge – 170bpm max – 84cal
11) – 1m – 6:34(6:34/m) – 160bpm avge – 171bpm max – 72cal
12) – 1m – 6:22(6:22/m) – 147bpm avge – 168bpm max – 79cal
13) – 1m – 6:25(6:25/m) – 156bpm avge – 172bpm max – 12cal
14) – 0.14m – 44(5:12/m) – 176bpm avge – 188bpm max – 1cal

Went for a steady recovery run after work, found it quite tough but ok,

6.06 miles in 45:15, 7:28 minute miles AvHR 141 which is the middle of my recovery zone.

Pleased to report that I have no blisters, no niggles that are causing me any worry and my cold is very mild at the moment.

Sophie runs with DAC for the first time tomorrow so hopefully she will enjoy it.

Feeling quite good after a rest day yesterday (felt like running but held back).

2.43 mile warm up and 2.03 mile warm down.

The session went well with consistent times – pleased to run the last one fastest overall chasing Mick Page.  Great turnout and good group:

1) – 0.52m – 3:00(5:45/m) – 147bpm avge – 161bpm max – 40cal
2) – 0.54m – 2:58(5:33/m) – 152bpm avge – 164bpm max – 44cal
3) – 0.53m – 2:59(5:39/m) – 152bpm avge – 172bpm max – 40cal
4) – 0.53m – 2:56(5:33/m) – 158bpm avge – 175bpm max – 24cal
5) – 0.53m – 2:56(5:33/m) – 159bpm avge – 171bpm max – 37cal
6) – 0.53m – 2:59(5:38/m) – 155bpm avge – 169bpm max – 41cal
7) – 0.52m – 2:57(5:39/m) – 155bpm avge – 169bpm max – 37cal
8) – 0.53m – 2:58(5:34/m) – 153bpm avge – 167bpm max – 38cal
9) – 0.52m – 2:56(5:36/m) – 154bpm avge – 170bpm max – 39cal
10) – 0.52m – 2:54(5:33/m) – 157bpm avge – 168bpm max – 38cal

This was the end of what was probably my most ever intense 4 days of training back to back totaling 46 and a bit miles.

Woke up with a bit of a head cold, toyed with the idea of not doing the race but it was such a nice day and Rose was running so I thought I should give is a go.

I did about 1.37 miles of warm up (my legs felt quite stiff) and to start with this was dead slow.

Headed over to the start not really thinking about how far back I was, this was probably the worst starting position I have ever had.  I passed about 200 people in the first mile.  I did not really push myself to hard on the climbs but I really went for it on the down hill bits.  I finished in 67th place with a time of 58:49 AvHR 157 (which is just into my threshold pace) – 6:31 min miles.

Really good turnout from DAC with some new faces.

thanks to clare spencer / stevelow dens for this photo on facebook

Rose did well to finish in a time of 78:50.

My splits were:

1) – 1m – 6:27(6:27/m) – 145bpm avge – 162bpm max – 81cal
2) – 1m – 6:17(6:17/m) – 159bpm avge – 163bpm max – 99cal
3) – 1m – 6:27(6:27/m) – 160bpm avge – 163bpm max – 102cal
4) – 1m – 6:40(6:40/m) – 158bpm avge – 161bpm max – 105cal
5) – 1m – 6:24(6:24/m) – 159bpm avge – 167bpm max – 98cal
6) – 1m – 6:50(6:50/m) – 159bpm avge – 166bpm max – 106cal
7) – 1m – 6:45(6:45/m) – 157bpm avge – 170bpm max – 101cal
8) – 1m – 6:41(6:41/m) – 158bpm avge – 162bpm max – 102cal
9) – 1m – 6:12(6:12/m) – 158bpm avge – 165bpm max – 94cal

I woke up feeling like my shoulders were both dislocated (never had this before).  Very tough run.

Real steady recovery run following my 22 mile run yesterday.  Once my heart rate settled down it averaged 136 (for the first 2 miles it was well up).

I ran a similar route as the 20 miler I did last week with a few estate roads added on at Cantley and Auckley.

I ran with 1.5l water and three gels setting off at 09:00.  At 1 mile I stripped off my long sleeve top and gloves and hid them in a bush.

I took my first gell at about 3 miles, the second at about 9 miles and the third at about 15 miles.  I ran out of water at 20 miles and had to get some more from Cantley Garage, I had been rationing it for a few miles and was starting to get a headache.

Starting to run after stopping for a couple of minutes was difficult, I tried to finish strong.

This run was tougher than the long run last weekend and I did not feel great.  The pace was quicker though.  22 Miles in 2:38:18 @ 7:12 minute miles) AvHR 151.

1) – 1m – 7:13(7:13/m) – 181bpm avge – 222bpm max – 19cal
2) – 1m – 7:07(7:07/m) – 162bpm avge – 182bpm max – 35cal
3) – 1m – 7:06(7:06/m) – 148bpm avge – 153bpm max – 106cal
4) – 1m – 7:09(7:09/m) – 148bpm avge – 159bpm max – 105cal
5) – 1m – 7:08(7:08/m) – 151bpm avge – 157bpm max – 101cal
6) – 1m – 7:19(7:19/m) – 152bpm avge – 157bpm max – 111cal
7) – 1m – 7:05(7:05/m) – 149bpm avge – 154bpm max – 103cal
8) – 1m – 7:07(7:07/m) – 149bpm avge – 155bpm max – 103cal
9) – 1m – 7:00(7:00/m) – 147bpm avge – 155bpm max – 96cal
10) – 1m – 7:15(7:15/m) – 148bpm avge – 153bpm max – 101cal
11) – 1m – 7:23(7:23/m) – 146bpm avge – 151bpm max – 88cal
12) – 1m – 7:04(7:04/m) – 149bpm avge – 153bpm max – 99cal
13) – 1m – 7:09(7:09/m) – 150bpm avge – 155bpm max – 101cal
14) – 1m – 7:10(7:10/m) – 149bpm avge – 153bpm max – 97cal
15) – 1m – 7:12(7:12/m) – 148bpm avge – 151bpm max – 87cal
16) – 1m – 7:14(7:14/m) – 147bpm avge – 151bpm max – 84cal
17) – 1m – 7:08(7:08/m) – 147bpm avge – 154bpm max – 83cal
18) – 1m – 7:16(7:16/m) – 146bpm avge – 150bpm max – 75cal
19) – 1m – 7:15(7:15/m) – 150bpm avge – 154bpm max – 92cal
20) – 1m – 7:28(7:28/m) – 148bpm avge – 156bpm max – 87cal
21) – 1m – 7:18(7:18/m) – 146bpm avge – 151bpm max – 66cal
22) – 1m – 7:12(7:12/m) – 149bpm avge – 153bpm max – 85cal

Did not feel great around lunch time (bit of a headache), I felt the need for sugar so got some Lucozade.  That seamed to do the trick.

Tough class with the elastic band things followed by Plyometrics, followed by 1.31 mile warm up and 1.95 mile warm down with a steady state run in the middle 6.01 miles in 41:15 @ 6:52 pace AvHR 153.

Felt ok going into this session:

2.68 mile warm up, 2.08 mile warm down and in the middle 12 x 600m with 60 second recovery, last few were tough:

1) – 0.39m – 2:14(5:41/m) – 144bpm avge – 159bpm max – 24cal
2) – 0.39m – 2:10(5:37/m) – 148bpm avge – 166bpm max – 30cal
3) – 0.38m – 2:11(5:42/m) – 149bpm avge – 164bpm max – 29cal
4) – 0.39m – 2:11(5:38/m) – 152bpm avge – 166bpm max – 29cal
5) – 0.39m – 2:13(5:44/m) – 150bpm avge – 163bpm max – 29cal
6) – 0.39m – 2:12(5:43/m) – 152bpm avge – 164bpm max – 28cal
7) – 0.39m – 2:12(5:44/m) – 151bpm avge – 164bpm max – 29cal
8) – 0.39m – 2:10(5:36/m) – 155bpm avge – 166bpm max – 31cal
9) – 0.39m – 2:16(5:49/m) – 152bpm avge – 163bpm max – 30cal
10) – 0.39m – 2:15(5:49/m) – 151bpm avge – 162bpm max – 30cal
11) – 0.39m – 2:15(5:48/m) – 152bpm avge – 163bpm max – 30cal
12) – 0.39m – 2:16(5:54/m) – 152bpm avge – 161bpm max – 32cal

I did the same route for both these runs.

On the recovery run I kept it nice and steady and other than the first 5 minutes where my legs were quite stiff, the run was fine.  7:50 minute minute miles with AvHR 139 (half way into my recovery zone) – total time 47:04.  This was the day after my long run.

Today I did exactly the same route at the top end of my Steady State zone and I got around in 40:49.  6:47 minute miles with AvHR 153 (so not quite at the top which is 155).  This was a fairly tough run.

I entered the Retford Half Marathon yesterday so got that to look forward to in two weeks.  Probably going to run the Norton 9 on Sunday and run it as a tempo run (I feel I am lacking in the quantity of tempo runs at the moment).