Here I go, ready or not

The London 10k is this Monday. I've been adding more miles to my training this week to make sure my legs are back up to a decent challenge.

Last week I ran to time rather than distance which I don't enjoy as much. I'm not sure if it's psychological but I just prefer to set a distance for the day and run it. So this week I've been doing just that.

On Monday I had a rest day so my week started with a 7 mile run on Tuesday morning. I ran a little bit of different routes that I normally run to make a whole new route. It's got to a point where I've run the roads around here so much I can make up a route for any distance on the fly.

Wednesday morning I remembered to take out my iPhone as I intended to run through some of the green areas of Ealing. I ran over to Ealing Common where there is usually something going on such as a circus or funfair, but not this day. Still, the sun was shining and it was a lovely day.

Ealing Common

I then wound my way down to Lammas Park where the Ealing Half Marathon starts and ends. It's a lovely, thin park with a very convenient one mile circumference around it's outer edge.



Lammas Park

This morning I ran 8 miles with 8 x 100m strides in the middle. It was nice to finally get some speed going through my legs. I want to get under 45 minutes for the 10k and if possible under 43 minutes for a new PB so it was important to make sure I still had some speed in the locker.

I'm confident I can at least give it a go. It just depends if the weather plays ball. The forecast seems to indicate it will but it's probably too soon to say.

I'll have another rest day tomorrow, then a big 10 mile on Saturday, 4 mile on Sunday and the 10k on bank holiday Monday. I'll write up a race report next week. If I can get a PB then that will be two in two months and I can't ask for more than that can I?

On The Road Again!

Well that was a long two weeks. Not running when not injured is something akin to torture, but the plan said it so I did it. I was just following orders!

Anyway, I've now put in two thirty minute easy runs to get myself back into the swing of things. My first run was tougher than I thought. I haven't lost much fitness, I don't suppose you can in two weeks, but my muscles were still slightly sore even after 14 days of rest.

Today's run was better. My legs swung back into action and I didn't feel in any pain. The most fun part is finding routes short enough for a 30 minute run. That's a touch over 3 miles at my easy pace.

Tomorrow is a rest day (ha!). Then it's 40 minutes, 50 minutes, 50 minutes and a 60 minute run on Sunday. Next week will be 6 runs of varying length between 45 minutes and 60 minutes each. On the Monday (25th May) I will running in the BUPA London 10k so I'm hoping that I'll be back up to a decent speed to go sub 45 minutes, but that all depends on how he next 10 days or so feel.

A short update then. I'll write up more next week as my recovery continues and I look forward to the 10k and following that a half marathon in June. I'll put up some photos as well if I can remember to take my iPhone with me. The weather is really turning nice now so I may take a few excursions down the canal. See if I can catch a photo of a heron or two!