After missing the last 2 weeks, I finally made it to another Run England session with the Blackhill Bounders! I confess, I have missed them; I’ve only been going out with the fast group for 2 weeks (not including the two I missed obviously!), and it really pushes me outside my comfort zone and to go faster and further. My current goal is to hit a PB of less than 30 mins for a 5k and less than 1h5m for a 10k, this year if possible. The 5k is looking increasingly achievable, the 10k may be more of a challenge – the pipe dream is to come in at an hour, but at the current moment in time that might have to be next year! Time will tell. Expect lots of dancing if that happens!
The route we took today is one that I’ve not done with the Run England group before, but it covers very similar ground in places to my local 4km route – so it was interesting to see how I found these stretches with the faster group. I felt I kept up pretty well for the first half – and for the first mile I actually came in with an average time of under 10mins/mile for the first time I think ever! The second half, when we left Medomsley and back up the hills again I was starting to flag a little…I’m not sure I’ll ever be entirely comfortable with hills – I don’t think there’s a fell-runner in me anywhere!
The really big positive for me from this run – I got a new PB 5k time! I beat my previous best of 34 mins by 1m16s – giving me a new best of 32m46s! This really buoyed me up for the second half when I was starting to lag a little bit – and I have the optimistic hope that I’d have been in for a really good chance at getting a 10k best too if I’d kept it up for an extra mile instead of bottling it when the group finished! Given this was a hillier route than my normal long-run route by the river on the flat tow-paths – it’s really given me something to aim for when I go for a longer run this weekend!
I did some light stretching at the leisure centre at the end of the run, then headed back to the car to dive into my big warm hoody. The wind outside was bitter for several stretches of the route, and in my excitement to dash out the door and go, I’d left half the kit I normally take with me in the house! No lights, no windproof shell, no water bottle… Far too keen! I made sure I did some proper stretching when I got in the house, before getting into a warm bath for a soak and grabbing something to eat. I think I need to make sure I do more of a warm-up next week – normally the guys just out-the-door-and-go and I was starting to feel it in my legs as I began to tire. Will do some more stretching before bed and tomorrow morning, but I’m feeling ok after my stretch and soak so far 🙂
The other discovery I made today relates to the shin stretches I’ve been trying to do to help sort my shins out (surprise!). I’ve been dragging my heel along the floor behind me until I think I can feel the slightest possibility it’s stretching my shins, but always get distracted by the fact it feels like foot cramp is imminent from the way my toes are bent over. Today, being a bit more tired before my bath, I was leaning against the wall with my body bent slightly forward when I did it, and it was so much more effective! I could definitely feel it stretching my shins out without causing my feet any issues!
All in all, I’m feeling pretty positive today, especially after a day at work where I just felt sapped, and am looking forward to my runs for the weekend! I’m wanting to try and do 11k this Saturday – my normal 10k route but actually run back to the car rather than just walking the last 1km as a ‘cool-down’, and J, P and I are booked in for a 5k at Herrington Park on Sunday 🙂 Bring on the weekend! (Seriously, I know it’s only Tuesday but enough already!)
Blue Runnings 
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