Well, this week has been another bit of an ‘odd’ week due to my 10k race this Sunday. I pushed last week’s LSR run back a couple of days as I’d been on my feet all day Friday at Tatton and thought I’d give my little body a rest.

So, I tackled the LSR run on Monday which felt a little weird as I normally do them on Saturdays. Funny how you get used to routine. Drove down to the Ribble Valley and decided on a 12 mile route which I’d last done while training for London last year. The weather was looking a bit unpredictable (ie rain), but after the usual dilemma of jacket on/jacket off decided on ‘off’! I was sticking to my LSR training pace of 11 mins per mile and the first couple of miles went by pretty quickly. Mile 3 was a little more uphill/downhill but I seemed to tackle them a bit easier than when I did the same route last time which was good. Then it was a fairly flat biggish loop for the next few miles and then back to the hills that I’d done earlier on, so an excuse to slow down a little! Didn’t have anyone helping out with the drinks today so carried some lucozade & jelly babies J and took a gel about 6 miles and another about 10. Everything seemed to be going fine, except for the fact that it was now absolutely pouring down. I was trying to increase the pace a little on the last few miles. I think it was at about the 11 mile marker that I decided to add an extra mile on, the main reason for this was that a) I was feeling good and b) it would help to get me back on track a little with my training plan which has gone a bit haywire due to the recent 10k’s.

So, hit mile 12 and checked my watch to realise that if I pushed on a bit I could probably be close to my half marathon PB. So, put my foot down and finished about a minute inside my race time from the Blackpool half in February. Knowing that this was only a training run with more hills/undulations than Blackpool I was quite chuffed at the finish time.

1) 10:53 2) 10:43 3) 11:23 4) 11:04 5) 10:49 6) 11:16 7) 11:03 8) 11:01 9) 10:31 10) 10:45 11) 10:18 12) 10:19 13) 10:13   Point 1  ;)  1:03   Finish time 2:21:27     J

Felt a little stiff on Monday & Tuesday so rested up and then today just did a very slow 2 miles to keep flexible for Sunday. It’s the Jane Tomlinson ‘Run for All’ York 10k and I’m soooooo looking forward to it. I raced it last year and really enjoyed the route. It starts at the racecourse and takes a big loop alongside the river into the city and back to the racecourse.

Great race, favourite veggie restaurant, lovely city. Promises to be a good weekend!