Thought I'd better sit down and catch up with writing up my training before I start to forget what I've been up to. Had a busy week in preparation for my race at The Mall and a PB to report.
Thursday: I forced myself on to the treadmill for the same 5x1km walking interval session as last week. I didn't feel like it before the session, but having started and blasting out some of my fav walking tracks I soon became motivated and started to push myself. My first rep was 6:00km, gradually getting faster on each one, to finish on a 5:33km.
Saturday: Another double Parkrun date and another hangover to report, but nowhere near as severe as the previous week's one
. Met my friends at 8:10am after a couple of minutes warm-up we started off on our first 5k. Recorded approximately 30:30 for this one. I thought that I was feeling a little tired so wasn't expecting the fastest result for the 2nd 5k (the Parkrun race). However, I made a good start on the first small lap (6:55), kept my pace for the second larger lap (16:33 - 9:38 lap). At this point I knew that it was possible to get a PB if I could hold myself together and keep up this pace. Completed in 26:14 which meant a 9:41 third lap. A Parkrun PB by 6 seconds and all is looking very promising for The Mall
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Sunday: Met Moylebird and Gillybean plus some others (Clare and Lou) for a steady 5 mile run on the Downs from Woodingdean on the Trailblazer course. Moylebird is slightly injured still from a running fall which occurred about 3 weeks ago where she bashed her knee hard. I ran with her very steady for the first 2.5 miles. We chatted about Moyleman and one of his best mates Alan who is 40 in a couple of weeks time. Running through Death Valley I was telling Moylebird how back in the years past we all used to race up The Snake every Sunday on our long run, including Moyleman. From memory I used to run between 15-18 minutes depending on how I felt. It was always a race to the top, approximately 2 miles up hill. I got to the bottom and the temptation was too great. I set off at top speed to catch up with Clare and Lou. Caught them up then they stopped at the first gate (5 mins) but I kept going. Nothing was going to stop me now. I was motivated to get to the top as fast as I could and was thinking about Moyleman and how some weeks I would beat him, but others he was just too strong. It was always close though. Back to my run - on the top half the wind became head on making the running tough but I still felt strong and kept pushing. With about 200m to go you run over a small ridge and the gate (finishing post) appears in to sight. At this point I found a finishing gear and sprinted up to the gate. An impressive 15:43 bottom to top and lots of smiles on my face. As I was waiting for the girls to appear a man ran over the hill with a big grin on his attractive face - it was Dave (Ladies'Man). Do you remember him Sweder?? We all regrouped and jogged back to the cars with him. Don't remember the time another good session completed though.
Monday: Arranged to meet Moylebird, Gillybean and Marian at Preston Park to take them race walking. This was their first time race walking so we set off gently whilst I talked them through the technique. As they progressed I got them doing some short faster strides to try and improve their speed, and a few drills to try and get improve their technique. It was a fun session with lots of giggles. 3 and a bit laps (approx 3.5-4 miles) in total in 50 minutes. They all finished feeling tired in their legs and hips and keen to meet up again next week.
Tuesday: Met up with Joan for a steady walk from the Red Lion in Shoreham. We set off on the long road climb up to Truleigh Hill, at the 5 way junction we cut down to Adur Footbridge then headed back along the Downs Link off-road path. 66 minutes in total. I'd guess approximately 6 miles covered. A nice day for a walk, little breeze, bit of sunshine and not too hot. 66 minutes of chatting too - mainly about men and relationships (very girlie)
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Two more days to go until I have a rest on Friday. Then only one week until my big race.
Heading for The Mall (May)
