Four PBs in a month

I've been delighted to get four PBs in a month at the back end of this year.

I've kept my training reasonably steady now for 18 months. Two hard workouts, two easy sessions, ideally a race and a long run each week.

I think that two things have contributed to hitting what is the best form I've ever reached:

Return of parkrun
Running parkruns regularly every Saturday morning at race pace is a great way of keeping sharp and having something to target every weekend. Since the COVID restrictions were lifted at the end of July I've gone from around 18:25 pace to 17:45 pace on a flat course. Around the 18 min mark is also a time that will result in a few wins at parkruns with less than 200 runners - this buzz is always a nice incentive to give it that extra bit of effort.
The marathon training in the middle of the year
For around 18 months now I've done a HM long run every Sunday. But training for my first marathon made me push that out from 21km to 26km to 31km to 37km over a three month period. Obviously the final 42.2km over 3hrs (and a bit) was a huge endurance effort. I feel that this, when combined with mid-week fast workouts has been excellent for my fitness. It's especially noticeable half way into a race where you can keep up the pace or even speed up a little.

Steadily improving parkrun times since the July restart

Four PBs in 23 days

RunBritain handicap now 1.3

Top 500 in the UK for M45

Looking at stretched goals for the future now I think they have to be:

Sub 17:30 5k and parkrun - I did this on a training 5k during lockdown - but GPS may not have been perfect. Need to do it properly now.
Sub 80 minute HM - After the recent 10mile PB, I am starting to feel confident about 3:45/km pace for the full HM distance - would result in a 1:19:07
Sub three hour Marathon - got some unfinished business here ;)

Let's see what 2022 brings.

North East Running