Midweek long one

Normally doing a long run four days before the great north run would be out of the question for me but as we are now inside the last month before York there's a lot more miles needed to cover. A very carefully thought out ten mile route is planned which includes minimal hill running and a nice downhill section in Ormesby. A late start meant our last few miles were in the evening darkness, the first time for a while, we have become so used to long runs in the warm sunshine that it takes a while to adapt again to night time running. Time to dig out the bright tops and head torches.

Tees Pride

Tees Pride is one of my favourite races of the year, nice and local with a great crowd both participating and spectating. I only decided to enter at the last minute this year as it's very close to next weeks Great north run but I couldn't miss it. As per most years there's a huge entry from NYMAC with over 50 members taking part. The race itself didn't quite go to plan, I felt quite tired and was struggling from the water station just past half way. I backed off a bit for the end of the race and jogged up the longer than you think home straight past the finish line. I was quite frustrated with myself and looking back didn't enjoy the race as much as I normally do. I was only 40 seconds or so behind the recent Darlington 10k time but I was really disappointed with my effort because I know I could do better. Looking back, yesterday's Parkrun probably didn't help and I won't make that mistake again.

Tees Pride eve parkrun

With it being Tees pride tomorrow normally I wouldn't have ran today but as I have missed a week I decided I was going to do some slow pacing. I requested 28 mins so it would be nice and steady for me to get going again. Most of the run went to plan until I forgot the course seems to be measuring short nowadays so I had to slow down towards the end, my official time was 27:50 so job done. I was thanked by two runners after the event for helping them towards a time they were after so I suppose it was worth while.

Tom Wall relays

It was our clubs second relay event of the summer this evening and again extremely popular with the event sold out. Our main organiser Eddie again asked me to video the start of the event for some publicity. I decided I was going to video as much of the event as possible and create a short highlights video, it's not something I've done before but overall I think it worked well. Back to the event the evening all went as planned with some great running performances including a few new course records, running on Teesside seems to be as competitive as ever. Post run there was another great performance from Mark and Paul to get the results out quickly and accurately. Well done NYMAC

Post festival run

After a weeks "rest" at my third festival of the summer I was keen to make up for lost time, tonight's planned run was already a day later than I'd hoped but nevermind. The plan was to run around 13 miles but I knew once I got running that was always going to be tough. After only 5k I felt so tired and sluggish that it was a battle to keep moving. A slight detour finding a nice downhill section got me moving again and I started to win the battle. I managed to get in 10 miles which I'm pleased with in the circumstances. Onwards and upwards.

Parkrun Saturday

After a tough long run during the week I gave my legs a couple of days extra rest and made my next run An extended Parkrun. I like to have a nice warm up before parkrun I normally run to Stewart park or like on this occasion do a preview lap. It was a fairly mild morning but a strong headwind was going to make it a tough run for most. Quite a few NYMAC members around this morning and I decided to start the run at the back of the group with Mark Edwards. The first thirty seconds was almost impossible getting totally blocked I found myself walking, once out and frustration kicking in I found myself trying to make up time weaving through the field until I felt comfortable again. After the first lap I felt it was going well and pushed on. After passing the ponds into the trees I started to feel the long run in my legs from only four days ago but I don't feel it slowed me down too much even finding a little extra on the home straight. A later found out again I had recorded my fastest Parkrun of the year so far which is what I am hoping for each time. Three weeks till great north so the Parkrun will be on hold for a while now.

Long and steady

With just a full days rest after the weekends 10k race it was back to the long distance training with Chris. With both of us going away next week we were keen to get a long run in the bank so as it was Chris's route choice this week he decided on three laps of a 5 mile loop he runs from his house. I have done these loops before but only ever managed two in one go so the third was always going to push my limits. The first two laps were completed pretty well although quicker than we had planned, after a quick drink we headed out into the third. The third lap was inevitably slower and hard work, the scenery of Middlesbrough wasn't the best and I found this a tough mental test to get through. I found the last mile a tough one but managed to get through it. Didn't feel to great for a few hours after this run but I learnt a few things which is the point of training, right?