Confuscation

After a day out on Wednesday, I skilfully avoided travelling to Whitegate for a tough hill session and arrived at Knight's Grange instead, where I expected to find half a dozen or so runners ready to take on an easy hours' running: ideal preparation for Sunday's 10K.

Instead, there were dozens. Skinny Matt had been spotted preparing himself for tought hills, all alone, and it seemed like everyone else was here. Someone mentioned a 16X1min (1) speed session. We all set off and I found myself running at a nice steady pace with Andy. I had been in two minds as to whether to cross to the dark side and do the speed session, but after discussing training plans with Andy, and telling him how much I agreed with Tom's attitude to training, it was pretty clear that I had to demur on moral grounds from running fast.

Instead, I found myself in the other-worldly situation of stopping after 3K and doing some stretching exercises, just to be sociable, then setting off on the speed session. After two efforts when I ran at he back then overtook everyone, Mark jogged across and asked me what I was doing. That at least made two of us running slowly, and after a couple of miles we turned back and joined up with Nick who wasn't feeling 100%. For some reason, we sped up and reached sub 7-minute pace on the way back. I finished up with just under an hour's easy-ish running.

I don't know what makes some of us train hard even though we know we should be resting, or winding down. I've done it, we all have: it's probably a sign that we're doing too much - thinking that we're doing too little. One hard session on the Thursday before a race doesn't make a lot of difference, probably, but when it becomes a habit you wind up tired, and that's no way to start a race.

I admitted to Tom on Wednesday that my Snowdonia plan was simply to cut sessions: one speed session, one hilly run, one long run a week. Anything else would be just the usual staving-off-boredom outing: a bit of cycling, jogging, a long walk, a session on the rowing machine - nothing damaging. I've never had a marathon plan before so this is as scientific as it's going to get!

My Friday run was simply a "I'm not going to have two days off" run of 6K up and down the hills on the Common - it's a nice evening outing and even at a sharpish pace doesn't take a lot out of the legs, especially after a pleasant Friday at work having a laugh with the girls. Saturday WILL be a complete day off then I should be ready for Warrington. Sub-40 will be just fine.