Another pretty good week’s training – even if I did skip the 8M fartlek midweek. 35M for the week (130M so far this month).
I ran the Folksworth 15 this morning – further than I have ever run before. And I ran it faster than I hoped. And it felt good. Really good.
As it was a two lap race, the plan was to run a negative split strategy and see where I was at the half-way point. As it happens, my slow start was a little less slow than I had planned – 8:20 min/mile – but it didn’t seem to matter, because I felt good. The first hill wasn’t too bad – except for the headwind. The second was a little harder. Then there was a nice flat run for a couple of miles, with a tailwind and side wind coming over the fields. Then at about 6 miles, I met up with a guy from work. That was definitely a good move. I’ve never trained with anyone before, or run with anyone in a race, but I might have to re-think that strategy in the future. The second lap was tough – not least the climb up hill #1 into a headwind that felt like a gale but (that mile apart) we managed to knock about 30s off each of the other miles. I ran the first half in 60 minutes, the second half in 58 minutes.
There is no way that:
a) I would have run that pace in a training run;
b) I would have run the back 7 miles in sub-8 min/mile without Matt to keep me focused;
c) I would have recorded a sub-2hr time.
I do believe all the training is paying off. Which is good – there is plenty more of it to come!
I’m looking forward to the next 14 – though I’m quite glad that next week is a recovery week. 
