Rob's Running Blog

Easy ish club run that ended with a bit of Mo Mania! 10.25k

Another Monday, and time to head out to the Sweatshop Running Community again! Was a nice day but threatened rain when I set off, and my plan was to run very easy after struggling last week, since the hard run on Monday.

The best laid plans often change though, I set off slowly and tried to keep my pace down but still ended up near the front, though was mindful not to try to keep up with the very front runners until I had got properly warmed up. Quite a few people had raced at the weekend and were taking it easy, so I just jogged along for a while, and we had fun going the wrong way and then having to catch up, which was fun!

Once we got into the run I started to pick up pace and kept nearer the front, I find these runs are more fartlek than anything for me, as I seem to get a real mix of pace from easy to tempo to sprinting with the odd rest stop and on this route some hills, so I suppose it’s good for going through different heart rate zones, not that I measure such things!

When we got to Mill Lane we were given a choice of going through the woods or the quicker route back to base, I elected to go the longer way, aware that this involved the steps and a fair few big hills at the climax! As I had been running quicker in bursts, I started to feel this extra distance and fell back a little at times, conserving my energy, but maintaining form, and gritting my teeth!

The last 3 hills up to Church Street (I think it’s called, there always seem to be church bells ringing when I run up those three big slopes, or maybe it’s just my heart hammering in my ears!) were very tough, and a few people pulled away from me, I felt I had nothing left and was really gasping, my legs turning to rubber, and I honestly felt I might die any second. Then as we crested the hill and reached flat ground, I had my moment of what must have been Mo Mania, as I just couldn’t resist accelerating and sprinting the last 2 or 3 hundred yards and seemed to find this burst of energy out of nowhere! One of the top runners came pelting past me and I worked really hard to stay in touch, even though the pain was excruciating by this point, real oxygen debt spreading through my body. Got a tap on the arm from the coach and a well done, which was nice, and I think those sorts of finishes on runs are really going to pay dividends in the last stages of the City of Salford 10k, I could perhaps knock half a minute off going at that pace, which might make all the difference to a PB one day!

Need an easy run and a longer run this week. The good news is the niggles that I felt at last Monday’s run and the day after have disappeared, so the few days off seem to have had the desired effect!

Thanks again to everyone at SRC, is really fun running with you all 🙂