Okay, so what I will try to do now is put a different spin on the training section of my blog and the aim is to update it daily, as I would with my own training diary (When I can be arsed to keep one). I will post the training I have done for each day and where possible the times, HR's etc. I hope this will then give you an insight into the regime at the moment. Bear in mind its a funny point in the year and at the moment im just ticking over--- well trying to! So dont read too much into my stupidity sometimes on runs where I may run very short or whack in a quick mile.

Monday 20th July

AM- 4 miles on treadmill @ 6 min miling

Ive started to put in a treadmill run each week now as I feel it helps to get the legs rolling, or ticking over. The treadmills I use at work are good, and I usually just put it to 6 min miling and chug along. Treadmills are great for helping to maintain a speed and also great for staying out of the pants weather!

PM- 10 miles steady 58.52......( Splits-6.23, 5.58, 5.54, 5.48, 5.54, 5.42, 5.36, 5.49, 5.50, 5.30) 

Wanted to just do a run and feel comfortable at sub 6 min miling. Got down under 6 and felt great so was happy to clip along with that pace. Was a plonker on mile 7 so had to ease back. Never the less I felt relaxed at that pace, best ive felt for a while. Will do majority of runs now around the 6 min mile pace or under, except for recoverey days where I try to run 7 min miling and relaxed.

Tuesday 21st July

AM- 4 miles easy pace @ 7 min miling

Easy jog, nothing special, just to shake the legs out and get ready for my penultimate day at work.

PM- Light session. 2 miles warm up, 15 x 1 min off 30 secs, 2 miles warm down.

I would be bullshitting you if I said I felt good tonight, because to be honest I didnt feel great. This weather is so depressing and I got soaked for the fourth day in a row. The wind was howling too so tonight was all about just getting it done. On nights like tonight its best just plough on and forget about the watch etc and go with what feels hard. The warm up and cool down miles were 6.25 to 6.38 miling. The 3 miles in the middle for the session were around the 5 min mile area (I think about 5.08's) so nothing too spectacular, but I did ease right back on the rest time.

Wednesday 22nd July

AM- REST

Taking an easy day today as I might race tommorow so didnt do the morning run. Maybe should have- but threw the alarm clock at the wall when it buzzed at 6 AM, last day of work today so rewarded myself with a 30 min lye in---- lazy arse!!

PM- 45 mins easy pace running. ( 6.12 average miling)

Tonight was one of those easy runs where you feel rubbish and feel like you are jogging/ struggling, but when I got back and checked the watch-- I was actually running at close to 6 min miling. Although the average was blown to pieces by the fact that I slithered, crawled and scraped to a ridiculous 7.09 opening mile.... this was where I felt rubbish! Nothing special tonight, just an easy run in case I race tommorrow.

Thursday 23rd July

AM- 5 miles @ 6.45 miling

Binned off the idea of racing tonight. Was going to do the trafford 5km but travelling up there would have been a bit of a nightmare so decided against it. Will look for a race this weekend instead. Ran the usual easy morning run, looked like inspector gadget this morning-- had garmin on, and ran with i-pod (its very rare I do this but fancied some inspiring tunes to make run go faster).

PM- 5 mile acceleration run. 26.50. (6.01, 5.23, 5.15, 5.08, 5.04)

I bloody made this hard for myself tonight... what a plonker. The plan was to move down from 6 mins to 5 mins approx in sensible increments.... The first mile was fine, more or less bang on, then being the numpty that I am, the second mile was way too fast- (on the plus side though, it felt really steady), but then realised I had dropped too fast and it was hang on in there time from that point on. Luckily the miles dropped quite nice in the end, although the last mile was a bugger into the wind. Fairly pleased with it as it felt controlled.

Friday 24th July

AM- 5 miles easy run @ 6.08 average mile.

Decent morning run, felt good although calf was a little sore at the end so will back off a bit tonight. Nothing major though, just tightness.

PM- Circuits and core session

I had planned to do another 5 mile + run tonight but left calf was a bit sore so was sensible for a change. Did the usual core session. The session involves- 5 variations of sit ups, then plank exericises, gym ball stuff, and hip mobility exercises. The circuit session involves a warm up on the punch bag, and then a range of own body weight exercises ranging from 10 to 30 reps depending on the exercise.

Saturday 25th July

AM-  Track session. 70/90 drill. ( 2 x 2 mile @ 70/90 with 90 secs rest in between) 1st 2 mile: 10.10, 2nd 2 mile: 9.43

This was the first time I had stepped on the track since the AAA. The original plan was to do 4 mile straight off @ 70/90. This session I learnt when out in the states. Its a great way of doing a fartlek/tempo type workout on the track. You do a lap in 70 then a lap in 90 and so on for as many miles as you feel necessary. The danger though and the part I messed up yesterday is running the 90 lap too fast. My aim though was to run the first two miles steady then pick up the second two miles. I put the break in mainly because it was really windy, and I didnt want to lose the quality. The hard 4's on the first set were 69/70, then 67/68 on the second set. In a ideal world I would have thrown in a third 2 mile, but the calves are still playing me up (masage is needed fast I feel).

PM- 4 miles easy pace run with sharpy (6.30 average)

Did an easy shake out run with sharpy. Was nice to run somewhere different, and the runs where he lives are superb. Although he moaned the whole way round about the pace ;-).

Sunday 26th July

AM-  12 miles steady pace medium/long run. 6.28 mile average.

Felt heavy on the run. Didnt look at the mile splits until the end and was suprised to see a sub 6.30 average, it didnt feel that fast. Weather was horrible again, so as in previous days it was just a case of getting on with it.

PM- Core and circuits session

Monday 27th July

AM-  5 miles easy pace run. 6.42 average mile pace.

Easy morning run, felt good, just ticking over now this week before the race at the weekend.

PM- 5 miles steady state run. (5.24, 5.21, 5.18, 5.13, 5.20)

Was feeling rubbish before the run, sluggish and flat, so coffee-d up and kept the run short. I was amazed at how good I felt once I got going, the pace felt comfortable and the run turned into a decent steady state in the end.

Tuesday 28th July

AM-   Rest

PM- Track session. 12 x 400m ( 3 x 4 ) off 100m jog and 90 secs float lap after 4 reps + 4 x 200m @ end. (63/64's for the 4's)

Was worried going into the session. Hadnt really done a track work out for a while and wasnt sure how it would go. In the end I felt the best I have felt for ages. The reps felt really relaxed and for the first time in a long time I felt good throughout the session.