What do you do when you've achieved your major goal for the year?
Set another one of course!
As detailed earlier, I hit my goal of a sub 4 hour marathon in Manchester in April....and unlike last year, I didn't have a damaged glute muscle to occupy me for the next few months. So after resting on my laurels for a few days, it was time to set my goal for summer running. Having focused on long distances since last winter, I figured that I should look at the other side and focus on bringing down my 5k and 10k times.....which means speedwork and lots of it!
I've been feeling good over the shorter distances all spring and, without the Sunday LSRs of 15mile plus to worry about, I could really go for it in the weeks after the marathon. I didn't however expect to get the results I did so quickly afterwards!
First to go was my parkrun PB of 22:35 which I set in February. I was running at Preston Park parkrun in Brighton in early May. Despite not really planning a hard run, I took off at the start and felt good so just kept it going.....eventually flashing across the line in surprisingly fast 21;12, taking a whopping 83 seconds of my PB and starting visions of going sub -21 flashing in my brain!
Since then I've had a good go at my Bedfont Lakes PB (22:36) and managed to lower that twice to 21:52 then 21:39. I've also realised that my home parkrun is actually rather hard when you try and run it fast!
With the 5km times falling it was time to attack my 10km PB, (47:59) which was set 2 years ago and well overdue a attempt. I'd entered the Yateley 10k series (runs June, July an August on the first Weds of the month) with the idea that I'd use the first one as a course recce, maybe take a 20-30 secs off my PB and really go for it in the latter two.
That didn't quite go to plan as - once again - I set off feeling OK and kept it going. I ended up with a 45:48 and over 2 minutes off my PB! I'll give a more detailed run report in a separate post but it did mena I've broken my 5k, 10k, half marathon and marathon PBs in the space f 4 months. Not bad going....
I'm not stopping there of course. My current training program is built around improving my speed, so am hoping to get down to possibly 20:30 for 5k, ~43 mins for 10k and maybe even 1:42 for half marathon.
So, provisional race plan -
- Runnymede Runners relay in the Great Park July 4th,
- Yateley 10ks part 2 and 3 July 8th and August 5th
- Stavanger half marathon in Norway August 29th
- River Thames half marathon mid October
Then I need to think about next year's marathon...but that's another story.
