London 10000 and Track Season

I am still yet to get round to posting a training log, but will aim to get something up before the London 10000 next Monday. In short training has been encouraging and the last four weeks I have averaged 100mpw and trying to hit three key sessions a week. I have also increased the intensity of some of my steady runs in the hope of getting a bit more quality into my summer training. Next Monday I will be running in the London 10000 and am looking to take a big chunk off my PB. I cant believe how many people seem to be entered for the race, so hopefully we can see a few Brits run some decent times. The British individual and team prizes are a massive incentive and if it means that more Brits get out to do the same race then it can be only be a good thing for the sport.

The next few weeks are going to be busy and after the race in London, I will be doing a 3000, 5000 and 10000 in the space of two weeks. All going well at London I will probably run the open 3000 at Watford next Wednesday before racing 5000 for Notts at the British Athletics League meet in Exeter. Then it will be up to Stretford to have my first real crack at a 10000 on the track. Again, all going well there will be a fair few lads between 29:45 and 30:15 that should allow me to go close to breaking 30 mins, but we will see. The 5000 in Exeter should also be good as I will be running for Notts AC for the first time on the track with Ian Kimpton an ex-LWAC teammate who is running higher claim on the track for Notts. Ian is running really well this year after having an amazing cross country season and it is nice to see a lad who puts in a lot of hard work get some rewards.

I have set myself some pretty tough goals for the season, 8:15 - 3000, 14:15 - 5000 and 29:45 - 10000, but I think with a some real decent track work over the next few months these can be achieved. After all, I managed to smash the targets I set last year and I thought they were a pretty steep ask at the time. I realise that training on my own isn't ideal but in comparing my recent track sessions to the same sessions at the same point last year I have noticed that I am actually running faster this year. So, after a moderate track session tonight the idea is to ease down and get ready for some hard races in the coming weeks, which will hopefully see my PBs whittled down to somewhere near those targets.

Bi-annual blog update...

I just recieved a message from a friend via twitter asking for my 'bi-annual' blog update. It is fair to say that I have neglected blog posting updates for a long time and can ensure you that I will try to get my training up in the next few days. This will actually probably happen tonight as I have an easy day of running and the girlfriend is out, so maybe between football manager sessions I can be tempted to write some kind of update.

Running has been going well over the last few months and despite a cheeky little 3000 at Watford towards the end of April, I am yet to really start my track season. I intend to really open up in early June once I have got the London 10000 out of the way. I am hoping to really smash out a good 10k in London as I every time I have been fit in the last few years I have always not managed to pencil in a 10k road race. My PB for 10k is actually during the Wilmslow Half Marathon, where I think we went through 10k in 30:50ish, not the 30:25 or so that the official splits say! All going well at London I will come back with a decent new PB which is more representative of the time I can run over that distance, if I sneak under 30:30 I will be happy.

I have done quite a few road 10k's recently but not really attacked any of them with the goal of trying to run a PB. I ran at Kings Lynn in early May and managed to win the race in 31:25 on a windy day and after having broke clear from Adrian Mussett at 7k. I was hoping to run a bit quicker there but after the race started in to head wind I quickly opted after the first k to let someone else lead. The pace then dipped somewhat and I think I may have even ran a negative split as I had plenty left to give.



I then attempted to run a 10k tempo at Eye the other week and was greeted with some more insane wind. After running a couple of 5:35 miles during miles 2 and 3, when I was almost flat out, it soon became clear even a 32:30 time would be hard-work. I didnt even manage to dip 33 mins in the end, but still got a workout from it.

Last weekend, I made my annual trip back home to Woodbridge to see family and run in my home town Woodbridge 10k. I love this event and held the course record, from my run in last years event. I managed to knock another 15 secs off it this year, winning in 31:30 on what is a tough, hilly course with litte or no competition. It is a pity that the race always falls on the same weekend as Manchester 10k as looking at some of the times from up there, I would have loved to get amongst the pack and crack out a decent time.

Anyway I should probably get back to work and training and crack on with another 100 mile week!

Aaron