It's getting to that time of year again now were I am going to have to start thinking about putting the shorts away for a few months.  I am a massive wuss when it comes to the cold and I'm not afraid to admit it.  Us runners don't have any fat to insulate us you see!  Following Sefton Park I've had a good solid week of training.  My mileage should be into 3 figures this week and I am feeling fairly strong.  My Mum even passed comment that I have lost weight, which is always a good thing for a runner! I attempted a 5k session on Tuesday (4x1mile + 6x200m), which was probably not the right thing to do with the weather conditions and a tough XC race in my legs.  My first effort was 4:26 and after that the times gradually got slower and slower.  It proves were my weakness is still over 5k though and I am looking forward to working on it again next summer.  The reason behind doing it on Tuesday was to give the legs a slight break from pounding away 10k worth of track efforts and also to keep in touch with the 5k paced work. Last night we changed the normal progression run to a fartlek and it was nice to get the legs spinning with a mixture of shorter and longer efforts. 

At first I was slightly disappointed with my run at Sefton Park but having time to think and reflect on the race I was reasonably satisfied, considering XC is my weakest surface and I was running the race in the middle of a hard block of training.  It's a notoriously fast course and many people go off too hard and fade away towards the end so I went into the race cautiously and started much steadier than normal and worked my way through the field.  By the start of the 2nd lap I had latched onto the back of the lead group and felt really comfortable.  Dave was shouting at me to sit in and take a ride in the wind so that's what I did until half way round the last lap were the wheels just started to come off slightly.  In a race like that as soon as you show any kind of weakness you are found out straight away.  All in all though it was a good work out and will provide me with some good strength work for the track next summer. My only disappointment is that I didn't capitalise on the running conditions.  It might be another 10 years before Sefton Park is that dry again! 

This week I've been back in the gym and Sophie was putting me through my paces with some tough exercises aimed at building my strength and stability back up in my legs.  Alex O'Gorman has given me a schedule to follow and Soph has been helping with technique work and adding a few tips and advice of her own.  The work in the gym and at her circuits will hopefully help my resistance to injury and help me maintain the high mileage that I am currently running.  She's been producing some really good articles lately, check out PB Personal Training to have a read. 

Did anyone else notice how many more people there were out walking/running/cycling on Wednesday?  Mark Keely and myself have decided that a strike every week would certainly help make the country a lot fitter and healthier.  But then that is coming from two people who strike pretty much everyday!