5 weeks out

At the start of this week I must admit the prospect of 75 miles was a little daunting, but I got it done and confidence levels are rising.

Good and bad news in other aspects of my life. On the work front, my 4 year stint at Bovis came to a close on Thursday. My new job in a different area of the business starts next Monday. This week I have off so I can be a 'semi professional' runner for a week! The new job will be a breath of fresh air hopefully and less stressful than my previous role, to the relief of myself, more importantly my family and hopefully to the betterment of my running too!

On the bad news front my Grandad passed away during the week following a brief battle with cancer. A great, strong man who touched so many peoples' lives and experienced so much during his life, he will be missed greatly by all. Rest in peace Grandad....

Workout 1 (Track- 2*3 miles with 800 jog recovery. 1st 3m in 17:15 (5:45 pace) 2nd 3m in 16:30 (5:30))

Solid workout this am..

Hit 17:10 (5:43,5:43,5:44) and then 16:31 (5:32,5:29,5:30)

Held myself back on the first 3 miles and was pretty much in control for the second set too. Bookended the workout with 4*100m striders

Wore my brand new Fastwitch 3 and they were awesome, hopefully I have found my marathon shoe although obviously will need to test them on a longer run!

Workout 2 (5k race)

Won the race. Course was long. Went through 5k on my watch in 16:28 which is leaps and bounds progress from that 17:26 I ran a few weeks back. Easier course, perfect weather and a few 70 mile weeks saw to that, although I did run a bit faster than I thought i would and wasn't too taxed so all in all happy with the race. Took it out with Brian, was running pretty hard to go through first mile in 5:10. Got a bit of a gap and just tried to relax as much as possible for the rest of the race. Next 2 splits which both had hills were 5:22. As soon as I finished thoughts turned towards tomorrow's 22 miler on the agenda! Brian, Ben and Stan all ran solid races too on what was a perfect morning for racing!

Long run (22.4 miles in 2:36:18 (6:58)

That was actually my longest run (apart from the Marathon obviously) ever, putting the seal on the most miles I've ever run in a week- and all singles too. So far so good in the mad dash to respectable fitness for TR.

Ran first 12 on my own. Again up to Arborway to take in a few miles of the flatter part of the course. Legs were feeling yesterday to start out but did start to roll a little heading back to my house. Stopped there briefly to shed a couple of layers and take in 2 Gus and a bottle of Powerade (the fuel on offer at TR) then headed down to Mcalpine to pick up Aaron, Jay, Todd, Justin and Paul. Ran 10 with them pushing the pace a little towards the end. Legs were heavy but another good run in the bank and a good week in the books.

Another couple of hard weeks ahead but looking forward to them