One more PB needed

 It's been a good year of running. I put this down to:

  1. Being extra motivated moving into the M50 category - feeling I can possibly get a category win in reasonably big races - as opposed to being top end of M45 where even if you do a great run there will always be someone faster
  2. Putting in three big training blocks - Q1 marathon training block for Manchester, Q2 lots of short 200/400 effforts to get speed in the legs, Q3 marathon training block for Chester.
  3. (comes for free following point 2) - running more miles this year than ever before - workout sessions + easy runs
This means coming into November I've managed to PB each one of the main road distances... except 10k.
One PB remaining
Of these runs, the 10miler PB is the one I am most proud of - this was on a stormy windy day in York, only two weeks after a marathon - so had to dig extra deep for that one. Doing three HM PBs in a row (Brass Monkey, Sunderland, Redcar...) is also a sign of the progression throughout the year.

But the 10k is the disappointment so far. Had a great opportunity at Darlington with perfect conditions, but managed to find myself in no-mans'-land on first lap, not focused, and left myself with too much to do on second lap. 35:42 when I needed 35:36.

But two opportunities to put this right now. Heaton 10k next week, then Brighton 10k the week after (also a Eng qualifier).

Wearing my positive hat:

  • 5 weeks after marathon PB and 3 weeks after ten mile PB - should have the form
  • Both races will have very fast fields
  • I (should) have the determination
Negative hat:
  • Sore hip/top of left thigh has meant I've been missing running days/training for last two weeks
  • A poor parkrun yesterday - 18:10 on a course I should be getting sub 17:50 on. This has a downhill last 1km and couldn't get much quicker than 3:36/km on the finish.
The negatives can weigh on the mind more than the positives. :)

So... here we go. Will approach both races the same. So for the weeks ahead. Hard effort on the Tuesday (400s) and then progression 8k on the Thursday. Then very easy Friday and Saturday. Obviously fingers crossed for good conditions on the day. Then try and 3:34/km pace it for first 2/3 of race then finish it off quick for a sub 35:36 PB to complete a year that I've been very happy with.

3:34/km gives a 5k split of 17:50. Then a neg split of 17:40 for the PB.

UPDATE
Didn't manage to do it. Splits below from the two races.
Heaton 10k splits || Brighton 10k splits
No excuses in terms of the weather, it was cool with only a light breeze.

For both races, I did the first 2/3 of it perfectly on plan - A 17:49 and a 17:51 respectively against a plan of 17:50. Then simply the endurance was not there to push on get the slight negative split needed.

35:49 at Heaton - 12 seconds off the PB. In my head I knew it had slipped away, so mentally probably lost a few seconds - so maybe lost 6s in the legs and 6s in the head over the final part of the race.

Compare this with Darlington 10k in August this year - 17:42 and a really, really strong finish.

So... to cut a long story short - think I just lost my form following Chester Marathon after a big year of hard running. With sore legs, niggly injury and trying to manage recovery, the number of hard training sessions per week and the distance per week simply dropped off. From 110km prior to Chester in September down to 50km the week before the 10ks. And from a double workout on a Tues and workout on Thu to just one workout Mon-Fri.
Training mileage dropping off
And didn't make the England Masters team either - finished 5th - but about 60s off, so even if I was on better form, wasn't going to find 60s.

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