5 (Five) Runs, 8 Miles

Not to be out done by 1K Kenny's 4 (Four) Runs, 15.2miles today I completed five runs. Okay so they comprised 1.4-mile warm-up, 2-miles hard, 1-mile recovery, 2-miles hard, and 1.6-mile warm-down. Impressive eh? OK maybe not...

Anyway, having achieved my long-term goal of a sub 1:30 half I've been thinking about what to aim for next. 10K is the obvious target and with an 18-month old PB of 41:24 I think there's scope for improvement. 40 minutes is the time everyone aims for but I'm going to be a bit more realistic and target 40:30. This is nearly 10 seconds per mile faster than my PB and last year the best I could manage was 41:54 so I think I've got my work cut-out.

And then I had to find a race. The first one to spring to mind was the 10K round Whipsnade Animal Park in early June. I was all set to send off my entry when a last-minute check revealed it's the weekend at the end of half-term. I've nothing planned but it's probably best I keep it clear. After a bit more searching through the events section on the Runners World web site I came across The Dorney Dash 10K on Saturday (yes Saturday) 8th May. Flat, fast and boring by all accounts. I can live with 40-odd minutes of boredom in return for a PB.

And to get this PB I'm going to follow the Runners World 8-Week 10K Schedule, 6-7 Days Per Week schedule. So in theory I should have run 35-40 mins light fartlek today. However, I'd already set my heart on doing the two times two-mile session (a favourite in the FIRST training schedules) and didn't fancy changing. I'll substitute the Tuesday speed session with Rockets, but other than that will try to more or less follow the schedule. And the best thing of all us tomorrow is a rest day - hurrah!