1st quarter review

We've now finished the first 3 months of 2010 & I thought that it would be worthwhile to check on my running progress, compared to the first 3 months of 2009. The main difference is that in 2009 my training was affected by a series of injuries which had started in 2008, affecting both lower legs (calf, achilles, ankle), in contrast in 2010, I've only had minor disruption from injury.

This year I've raced 9 times, compared to 8 races in 2009. The only road race that I did in both years was the Dewsbury 10k where I improved from 39:57 in 2009 to 37:04. This year I've been 1st M55 at Dewsbury 10k, Brass Monkey Half Marathon & Wakefield 10k, whereas last year at the Dewsbury 10k I was 9th M50 & was also beaten by 7 M55s. In the Peco cross country series, last year I was 4th M50, this year I was 1st M50.

This year I'm currently ranked 5th in the UK at 10k for M55 & 11th at half marathon, last year I didn't get a qualifying ranking time until December when I was 163rd at 10k for M50. For a few weeks I was ranked 1st at 10k for M55.

Up to the end of March in 2009, I ran a total of 600.3 km, averaging 46.7 km per week. This year I've run 1022.7 km averaging 79.8 km per week. The main difference in my training is the addition of weekly track sessions, which have helped to improve my running speed. Last year as a result of the injuries I did more cross training: bike riding, gym, walking etc.

Overall, I've made good progress in comparison to the start of 2009. On a week by week basis, progress isn't always obvious, but over 12 months it becomes clearer. The challenge now is to continue to improve. This will inevitably become harder as realistically I should be getting slower with age.

Today I went for an easy recovery run in the Strid Wood, about 14.5k. It was bright & sunny, but a bit breezy. Given that it's almost Easter there were ice cream vans out around the place, but they didn't seem to be getting much business as it was less than 5 degrees & near to zero with the wind chill.