Leeds 10k Training Diary - Sunday 15th June 7 days to go

I can safely say that today was my best training day ever in the history of training.  I know that's a pretty big statement to back up but read on and you'll see why.

Basically I ran from the same start point as I did last weekend, my fiancee's house.  The run I did last week was a round circuit, I figured I could add some more roads to it - sort of go round the houses a bit more. The problem was that I couldn't work a route which didn't involve going somewhere which might have been a dead end. So using http://walkjogrun.net, I managed to work out a completely new route, my local knowledge isn't as good as Lindsey's but together we found a route which was circular, and ended in the next village at 6.6 miles (10k) - She said she'd wait for me in the car in that village and bring me home from there.  But I said, I'd prefer to walk back and cool down.  Besides it's sunday morning there's no rush.

Just out of interest I worked out the total route distance back to her house, it came in at 8.02 miles (just short of 13k).

Well I was good Saturday night, only 1 beer and a glass of wine, and bed early (well before 12). I know it was only a practice run but I was still nervous about it.  I said I'd set off on my run at 9 (same time as the real run next week), By 8am I was laid in bed unable to sleep, I don't know if I was nervous or excited.  So I set off about 8:15, I also decided to take a bottle of water with me which was something I'd neglected to do last week.

The run itself was really good, a few people were up and about (a surprising amount actually) and I had a few "morning" greetings from complete strangers, which always makes me happy. The first couple of miles were easy going, I soon got into my breathing rhythm and when ever things started to feel achy I'd take a sip of water. The water really helped too, I don't think there was a single point during the run when I thought "I want to stop".  During last years training I reached a point where I felt that I could keep going what ever the distance - I got the rhythm right and everything else was just a matter of putting one foot in front of the other. 

Before I knew it I'd was more than half way round and looking at a sign saying 3 miles to go.  I was starting to think boredom rather than fitness was going to be my biggest problem when I reached the 6.6 marker point I'd noted last night.  So I had a choice.. stop and walk or carry on running.. so I did.

I got back to the village and I'd forgot it was market day there were loads of people milling about, the last thing I wanted now was to be stopped by some slack jawed gawker doing their shopping but I made it through them and with a final 100yd sprint I made the 8 mile point.

It might not sound like much but 8 miles is the furthest I've ever run in my life and to do it with energy to spare in slightly over the time I did 10k last year (I did it in roughly 1hour 20 mins) I was over the moon. I'm really looking forward to next weekend now.  I'll be doing my daily swim but I will only do a small run during the week to keep my legs moving.

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy..

Tags: 8mile, 10k, happy, training