Weekly Summary 22/07/12 including BMC Solihull 5000m

Mon – 10 miles (6:59m/m)
Tue – 9.2 miles including club interval session 6 x 4min
Wed – 17.56 miles (6:58m/m)
Thu – 6.26 miles including club track session (8 x 300m)
Fri – 7.22 miles (6:54m/m)
Sat – AM 4.07 miles (6:53m/m) PM 6.1 miles including BMC 5000 (14:41.9 – 3rd)
Sun – AM 6 miles (7:17m/m) PM 5.8 miles including Shapwick 1 mile (4:31 – 5th)

Total mileage – 72.23 miles (6:53m/m)

Getting used to these 70 mile weeks I’ve decided until I move into my Autumn training phase I’m going to stick with this lower mileage with no doubles to ensure I don’t burn out or end up overtrained when I ramp up the mileage again in the middle of August.
Tuesday’s session went okay although the first three 4min intervals into the wind were quite slow and I felt I perhaps should have been trying harder. The tailwind reps were okay but only just under my planned 5000m pace fore the weekend so I think I may have still had some tired legs from the previous weekends exploits.

Got a nice long run out the way Wednesday as I knew I probably wouldn’t fit one in at the weekend and then went for a short sharp track session on Thursday in preparation for the weekends racing. Was really happy with the 300m intervals starting at 47 and working down to 45 apart from the last one where my legs were absolutely done so slowed back to a 46. (see link above for details)

Having got a late entry into the BMC Solihull 5000m C race, Habgood and I headed up on Saturday afternoon both thinking we might have an outside chance of a sub 15 based on current fitness.
Felt good in the warm up and apart from being a little hot the conditions were perfect with very little wind.
I haven’t ever raced in a BMC event before and it was great to be involved in a race where everyone is out for a fast time. We settled into a good pace right from the off and I found myself knocking out 70s and high 69s laps in a good train of guys. This was considerably faster than I was planning (72s was the plan) but it felt okay so I just went with it. The first 1600 came and went in around 4:37 and apart from being a little scared of a big blow up I was feeling good
The pace dropped off a little after that first mile but nothing significant and I found myself working through the field by just maintaining an even pace. With 600m to go I found myself in 3rd still holding on to sub 71s laps and so knew I was going to be on for a massive PB. Slightly disappointed to see the 2 guys in front move up a gear to comfortably pull away in the last 600m but to be honest I was “on the edge” from around 2 miles onwards so was just happy I didn’t completely blow up!
Finishing time was 14:41.9 and 3rd place. My previous PB was from over 2 years ago when I was 35 with a time of 14:53 so to knock so much time off it at age 38 I am absolutely chuffed to bits….. also quite shocked as I though I was pushing my luck going for sub 15 in the first place

I’m now quite proud to be ranked Number 1 V35 (and above) in the UK for both the marathon and 5000m. (Yes I know V35 isn’t a “proper” veteran but I don’t care!)

Full results here

The full race in all it’s glory can be seen below -not the most exciting race in the world unless you are me who was riveted to the video for all 14 min 41sec of my performance

Visit www.athleticos.org for more videos

The plan for Sunday was to join fellow Dorset runners in the Shapwick Mile celebrating the life of Charles Bennett who was the first British track and field athlete to become an Olympic champion in 1900.
Have to say my legs were really not up for running a flat out mile after Saturday evening but gave it a go anyway and ended up with an average 4:31 for 5th place….. at least I managed to beat my 1st mile split from the 5000!

Similar training this week planned with another weekend of racing with the BAL 3000m on the Saturday and then the Sturminster Half on Sunday – can’t wait