Highworth 5 mile road race

Friday 18th April

Complete rest.

Saturday 19th April

Body pump in the morning. Went very light on squats and lunges. The chest track felt more comfortable. Nice to see some new faces in the class, but I was lonely with none of my friends there, ie no Kathryn, Emma, Andy, Terry et al. It kind of feels a bit pointless without the social side.

Tried to weigh myself but unfortunately the scales had broken so not possible. Not too happy about this, I want to keep a close eye on my weight from now on.

Sunday 20th April

Highworth 5 mile road race. This is my third year at the event, and I have done well the last two years. I like the smaller, local events. This was no exception and when I arrived at the race it was nice to see so many familiar faces.

As for the race itself, I set off at a good pace - probably too good - and did the first mile in 7 minutes 15 seconds. I couldn't quite maintain it, but kept pushing myself hard and averaged 7 1/2 minute miles for the first four miles. Unfortunately there is a monster hill in the last mile so I couldn't maintain that pace, but I was very happy with my time of 38 minutes 37 seconds (38:28 according to my watch), a new PB at this distance.

Probably the highlight of my day was having my photo taken with my friends from the Swindon Harriers for Swindon Web. It's really nice to be part of a group sometimes.

Went for a longer, steady run in the evening with Steph (Andy's girlfriend). We did the Elcombe route, but I was feeling very tired and my left heel / calf was hurting. I wasn't prepared to risk a repeat of the injury I sustained in the Reading half marathon and we walked the last mile back to the gym.

Needless to say I celebrated the PB with a curry and one or two beers in the evening.

Monday 21st April

Just ran on the treadmill tonight, 8k nice and steady. The calf is better, but I didn't want to risk jarring it on pavement, and I want to be right for the Corsham 10k on Sunday.