Good hard week

I was feeling pretty motivated after my Half Marathon performance. The legs didn't feel too sore and I was confident the pace was returning.

Monday I was in Bristol and did the 3 mile loop round the harbour followed by a decent stretch.

Tuesday was a travel day so I rested up. Wednesday I decided to do a 5 mile loop but do the middle 2 at tempo pace. I targeted the hilly section of the Herts10k route and pushed it as hard as I could.

Thursday was another travel day so another day off. Friday I put in a great reps session on the way back from the airport. 3 x 800-600-300 is tough along the undulating path from Luton.  I pushed the effort as hard as I could and was as close to being sick as I've ever been on the final 300.

Saturday I took it easy with 5miles around the park and golf course.

Sunday was supposed to be an easy long run but I was with the A-team and ended up on a quick 10 miles. It was great though and I was glad to hang on for half of it and then "chat" with Viddy on the way back.

Overall a good week and the pursuit of pace continues.

St Albans Half Marathon, 2013

The last 6 weeks or so have been focused on improving my running speed which has disappeared over the last couple of years as I've focused on triathlon and lately the London Marathon.

This was my first half marathon for a while and I was a bit disorganised to say the least. I travelled with my friend Dominic and rolled up 20 minutes before race start, still needing to change, drop bag and warm up.

The warm up didn't happen and I jumped into the nearest pen seconds before the start. I found myself way back and struggled to pass through the crowds over the first 1-2 miles.

I thought that was fine as I was desperate not to go off too fast.

I set my pace at just under 8min/miles through to mile 7 and maintained a good effort up the hills.

Since I last ran a road race there's been a revolution in the number of barefoot runners. Most of them had started well but were slowing up between 9 and 10 miles. The one I spoke to complained about sore feet.

I took a SIS gel on at mile 10, enjoyed the caffeine hit and pushed on. The course is undulating and a lot of folk were paying the price of a fast start and I just targeted the next shirt to pull in.

The last 3 miles were positive and I was able to accelerate over the last half mile to complete in 1:43.

Overall I am delighted with the performance and that I was able to hold the average under 8mins. This was a PB for St Albans, my previous best was 1:49 in 2009.
However, on reflection I held back a little too much and this is probably a result of the mindset I've had for the endurance events I've completed over the last couple of years. Going forward I need to put that out of my mind and race nearer the edge - or unleash myself as I have been told before!

I'm carrying on with the pursuit of pace and after an easy 3 miles and a stretch I'll be back to reps on Wednesday. St Albans Half Garmin