A Summer of Speed

So what do you do after spending the first quarter of the year training for a marathon? Well for me at least, it was to change tact altogether and drop down the distances to 5k & 10k. The plan was a summer of speed.

I haven’t blogged since my marathon, nor have I run a race. That was all the way back in May and it seems a long time ago now. I took a couple of weeks off after my marathon, just ticking over with a few easy runs .

To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect after that race but Simon, my coach, told me he had the ideal thing for me. To capitalise on the endurance I’d built in my legs while marathon training, it was time to hit the faster races.

The target became a 5000m race at the end of July in Bristol. I was excited when I signed up as it’ll be my first experience of racing on a track. So with that, we started a new training plan.

Struggling to get going again

You’d think that after following a plan for so long for my marathon it would be easy to pick up where I left off. Wrong. A week in and I picked up a urine infection which hit me for six.

This had me out of action for about 9 days. Once fully recovered, I then stupidly went too hard too soon on my first speed session since before the marathon. I tweaked my left hamstring and then foolishly made it worse a week later in another speed session.

So far so bad right?! I couldn’t believe my luck and it affected my motivation to follow a plan. The thought of going for a potential big 5k PB on the track also became more daunting.

Luckily for me something, somewhere clicked. I started doing my core and glute work again. I’d neglected both of these for a few weeks, and I seemed to be back on track.

It was then that I started looking at more races. Exeter 10k is 10 days before the big track event and being a fast and flat course it’s the ideal preparation. It’s also an opportunity for me to have a go at my existing 10k PB which hasn’t been touched for over 2 years now.

Putting in the work

Speed sessions are tough. It doesn’t seem to matter how they are structured, they all suck. As do hill sprints for that matter. BUT, they are undoubtedly a necessary evil.

I’m fortunate to be in a position to be able to join in with most of Simons group sessions when I can. This has meant travelling to Millfield School in Street which is quite an elite school to train with members of Wells City Harriers.

I have also joined in a couple of hill sessions with his juniors who are all speedy little devils! These sessions have been great for me. They have helped me physically and have also been a bit of an eye opener to see how the more elite athletes, especially some of the juniors, train and what they are capable of.

Of course I have also had to hit some hard sessions solo. Doing 5x 1k intervals on your own on a grass track after a 12 hour shift is nobody’s idea of fun. Hopefully though, its sessions like that, which will make me strong enough both physically, and mentally to hit my goals in the coming days and weeks.

First up is Exeter 10k on Wednesday 17th July. It’ll be the first evening race I’ve ran in a while so it will be interesting to see what I can do. Hopefully I’ll be reporting back with a nice new PB!