The positivity (I don't know if that's even a word) I got from the end of last week had a big growth spurt this week. To me, running has started feeling easy again, the heavy chest is disappearing and negative thoughts have evaporated from my mind; it's amazing how quickly things can turn around.

At the start of the week I had the various tests that the uni do on the scholars to see what sort of shape we are in. I did the strength and conditioning functional screenings and the anthropometrical assessment on Monday. The strength one was good, I had to do a bit of jumping and skipping with some push ups and pull ups while some people watched and took notes. From their findings they will identify some weaknesses in some areas and produce a strength and conditioning program to make me more efficient. The anthropometric assessment was done to see how much body fat I have, and the good news I'm not too skinny or not too fat. I don't know if Maria knows about the result of that test yet but the good news is all that nutritional advice she gave me was spot on. The next day was the sub-maximal and maximal effort test in a lab. It was basically running on a treadmill with loads of gizmos and gadgets telling the scientist how my body was doing as the treadmill went faster. I did the same thing back in November after the Euro trial when I was in really good shape, so the results can be compared. This time around my heart rate was roughly the same but the amount of oxygen I was breathing in was a lot smaller. They reckon these results are better than the ones from last time which means after a few weeks training I'm in better shape than what I was just after the Euro trial, MASSIVE confidence booster. The uni will write up a report of all the tests and from the lab one I should get some training zones, I'll let you know what they are when I get them.

More confidence came on Thursday. I did a double day and the second run was a 6 mile run with the first mile easy as a warm up and then the next five miles at a quickish pace. Steve said if I feel good I can run 5:30 miling and if a bit wasted then 5:45 miling is fine. I averaged 5:32 miling and it felt very easy. This was a big shock because I've been monitoring my pace for a couple of years now and 5:30 miling has always felt hard. But on Thursday I felt like I was floating and I was barely moving my legs. The legs didn't feel tired during the run and my breathing was quite easy. I could've gone a lot faster but the plan was to stay relaxed during the run, and that I did. I then did a session with Steve on Saturday which also went really well. It was a high intensity session and if you remember, I just got over half way on my last one. I finished this one and it was at a fairly quick pace with short recoveries. It was good to finish a session again and feeling good doing it. 

One more thing, I'm sure Steve will mention it in his blog but he got a new car last week, I won't ruin the surprise and tell you what it is but it's quite cool. He claims he bought it to replace Maria's old one but I have a different theory. It just so happens this week is freshers week, and there will be some new fesher ladies joining the team. So when they turn up to training on Tuesday they'll see him rolling up in a flash new motor he recently purchased, how coincidental...

Adios amigos,

Goolab xxx     

PS R.I.P (Runnerslife Icon Phil) Nicholls, you will be missed...by some