A very apt title as time has gone so quickly, I didn't realise that I failed to do my blog last week .... so here's the progress .... the timing isn't perfect !
Another good couple of weeks training wise ... and progress made on weight loss, which has undoubtedly helped me get the times I've been getting recently.
So lets start, almost two weeks ago, a gentle 5 miles recovery run at 8'44" a mile pace, mile long hill involved in this run up past 3M's ... I used to hate that hill, now, its doable in a decent enough time last year I'd have to walk up the hill !)
Club night on the Wednesday, intervals along Gorseinon cycle track, then on the Friday I did the half marathon run up to the top lake in Felindre again, weighted back pack natch (for all Gwlad online readers !) but a more sedate pace of 9'19" a mile.
One again work intervened, but on the Wednesday it was time for one of the clubs monthly races ... managed 3.5 miles at a pace of 7'11" !!! Just twelve months ago I was struggling to get under 9 minutes a mile, now here I am hitting just over 22 mins for 5K ... came 17 out of around 50 runners ... again when I started with the club, I was typically towards the bottom 10 runners !
Friday just gone and it was time to get serious, enough of these half marathons, 15.2 miles at a pace of 9'13" per mile ... to hit my target of sub 4 hours for the Amsterdam marathon I need to be hitting 9'09" .... the run included around 1500 feet of elevation gain ... something I wont have to contend with in Amsterdam, so I'm quietly confident of getting #sub4hr !!
Saturday (yes the very next day after Friday !), was the day of the village fete. A chance to raise some money, possibly make some useful connections and run on the treadmill for a while.
Here I am on the treadmill !
Started off thinking I would run for 2 or 3 hours, as I doubted there'd be much interest and I seriously doubted my ability to do any sort of decent distance given that I'd run 15 miles the day before. How wrong I was on both accounts - firstly, my fellow villagers were fantastic, donating a total of £177. Secondly, buoyed by their interest, I kept going for the full 26.2 miles (42.1 Km) in a time of 4 hours 15 minutes .... here's a pic of the treadmill screen !
So a total of 42.2 miles in two days ... I was very pleased with the effort over the two days .. in particular the marathon, as it was 9 minutes quicker than my best time over that distance ! Yep, I'd PB's my marathon time on a treadmill ....
This got me to thinking, what have I done since my first Marathon in November 2014 ... well, there was London, the Ultra Marathon, and 3 'training' runs over the same distance ... 6 marathon distance runs ( and further ) in 9 months ... I never thought I'd ever be achieving these distances, yet along with such frequency !
From a fundraising point its going well, I'm over my negativity from the previous couple of weeks .. a few worthy mentions here ..
Kit Sportswear in Ireland (run by a good Port Talbot man of course), for supplying me with my running kit.
The Buck Inn for providing a raffle prize for my fundraising evening, a meal for two and a bottle of prosecco
Ed Curnow of Yo-Cart for donating a fantastic prize to the same raffle; he has a waffle and frozen yoghurt business. He has given a prize worth around £150, which means he will attend a party or other event with his waffle maker .... you'll be able to eat to your hearts delight !
I've also made good progress on the "date in a diary" raffle, where you could win £300 ... I've already sold 51 dates ... just 314 to go !! If you want a chance to win £300, donate £10 on my page HERE and in the text box type in a date you'd like from Jan 1st to Dec 31st .... once I sell the lot, I draw one date and that person wins the cash .. simple !
Once again, congratulations for surviving this long ... and remember, your comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there - experience life !
All the best for this week
Fatboy !
P.S. In the village fete, we hired a pub ... yep an inflatable pub ... and here it is !
Great effort Paul. IOU £10.
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