Getting back into training

Pretty straight forward week. After my first long run for a while on Sunday I rested on Monday, did a easy to moderate 3.5 mile on the Tuesday followed by an easy 5 miles on Wednesday. For some reason this made my knees quite sore and with the state my toes are in (never really recovered properly from Milton Keynes) I rested on Thursday. If I don't lose some toe nails by the end of the month I'll eat my hat, though I'm doing my best to keep them attached to me (literally) by putting plasters on them. On Friday I did my 7 mile countryside route which was one of the most enjoyable runs I've ever had. The weather was pleasant and I took it steady all the way round at almost exactly 7 min mile pace, so I didn't really tire except for the last mile a little. Its a great feeling covering the distance feeling as though I haven't pushed that hard even though my pace was reasonable. For a change my heart rate stayed fairly steady as well. I think I need to do more quality training like this rather than pushing myself to the limit. On the downside my knee was sore all the way through but it didn't really affect me much but is worth keeping an eye out for.

On Saturday I did a steady five miler on a new route and just decided where to go as I ran. Part of the route involved going through the Little Aston Park private estate with multi-million pound houses and its own golf course complete with a Ladies Entrance. The downside was when running through it there were loads of flies (big swirling balls of them). When I got home and told my mum of the flies in the estate she said 'well at least they will be posh flies'. Enough said.

Today my car was in for a service (yes on a Sunday!) near Rugby so decided to go out for a run instead of waiting around. Shortly after starting I realised I didn't have enough cash on me so had to find a cashpoint (I was in the middle of nowhere). I ran to the nearest large village called Dunchurch, but couldn't find anything so had to continue to the outskirts of Rugby where eventually I found a Sainsbury's. I then turned back and had to stop off to buy a drink as it was really hot, 26 degrees according to my car when I returned. Overall it was an 11 mile run which was further than I thought, but with a couple of small stops included. After all that I was told that a part on my car needed replacing and he insisted on being paid once the work is done next week. Oh well! Overall it's been a good week - 32.8 miles in total.

I've been trying to find a decent race to enter over the next few weeks. I don't want to do anything too long but all I can find within a reasonable distance is a 5k at Hinckley on the 22nd August after work. That said I haven't raced the distance since returning to running a few months ago. After that there is a 5 miler at Little Aston on 2nd September which I think encompasses much of my countryside route which should be fun. I'm going to see how these races go before re-committing myself to the longer distances.