Achey legs.

My Legs ache! They ache in a good way, a way that means I have been putting in some decent training again. It is a necessary evil, the overload phase of training. It always saps my legs of their bounce and I struggle with my pace, but I know once my body has adapted to the loads the pace will come back along with some more bounce. The true bounce never comes back until the taper time, and that for me is a couple of months away. Right now I am into a focused training month, and I just have to be patient for the fitness to come. I know I am not quite back to my old self in terms of fitness having competed in the Sunderland 10k Last month. For me it was more than seeing where I was in terms of fitness, it was about getting back out on the race scene, getting my racing head back and seeing if I was really ready for it all again. I loved being back in the race environment; it felt like putting on a comfortable old pair of slippers. I ran 34.28 – (and no I wasn’t wearing an old pair of slippers) a time that is a true reflection of where I am at right now, given I had just a month of training under my belt since my injury. So work to do, but I am moving in the right direction.

one race down

I have done it, I have got in my first race since my injury. I find getting back into racing is always a bit daunting as you never know how you are going to fare. I knew I was never going to set any records and my 34.28 for the 10k great Sunderland run was a true reflection of my form and really what I expected, despite this a little bit of me still wanted to run faster! I now know just how much work I need to do in the next 12 weeks in the lead into the Chicago marathon, and August is really going to be about some good solid miles, specifically for the marathon.

Racing and understanding your times is all about knowing what point you are in your training cycle. I am not upset about my time, it is just a reflection of my current form. I know in 10weeks time I will be ready to run fast!

Today I did a 10mile tempo run just under 6min miles and it nearly wiped me out. This is re-enforcing just how much work I need to do...bring on the training!

Getting in the miles

Finally I am cracking out some decent mileage between 80 and 90 miles per week and completing some good solid sessions. Over the last few weeks I have really noticed that my pace has started to come down and I am able to run faster for the same all out effort. I have noticed also that my recovery between my sessions has improved and this is a great sign that I am getting fitter. Don't get me wrong I am not fit, as I still have a long way to go until I would describe my self as fit....in relative terms my fit is to be able to run 5.20 miles for a half marathon and at the moment I can just about hold it for 6 minutes. So as you can see I have some work to do. Just how much work will be on show for all to see as I am racing the Sunderland 10k this weekend. I am excited about racing, but nervous at how much it might hurt!