Salford 10k and last few weeks

The last few weeks have been a mixed bag of racing, training and holidaying.

Just before i went on holiday I had put in a good week of training and had the Salford 10k as my final road race before my transition to the track. On the Monday before i put together a session of 4*1k starting with a 2:48 and gradually upping the pace each rep which cumulated in times of 2:45, 2:42 and 2:37. This was one of the best sessions I had put together in a while and hopefully pointed to a quick time on the Friday.

The result however was not what was envisaged, the field at the front end was of a high standard with the likes of Anthony Ford, Andi Jones, Matt Pierson and Joe Bailey amongst others. I was cautious at the start as it was a warm morning and I knew that the first k would be very quick. We went through the first k in about 2:50 and i found myself a little bit in no mans land but two runners came back to me just after 2k. The leading 4 were not getting away, however after 4k I started to feel heavy, i went through 5k in about 15:40 way off pace and i was just hanging on for the last 5k. Finished in 32:09 was way off what I wanted/expected, put it down to my breakfast being too late and too heavy (Porridge about 2 1/2 hours before) and the warm conditions.

The following day I flew off to Croatia with the better half. I was able to get in some decent running where I was, however it must be said Croatia is a very hilly country and I was lucky to find some coastal paths to get my runs in. Managed about 50 miles during the week so enough to keep going. We also threw in a 40k bike ride over a mountain and a day of sea kayaking.

Since then I have been preparing for the Trafford Open on the 17th of May. I had Matt Barnes wedding the weekend after Croatia in the Lake District. On the morning of the wedding the groom, best man, usher, friend and myself did 5*5min session on Grange-Over-Sands promenade. Again i was clipping along at a good pace, it was estimated (Garmin died just before) I was hitting between 4:40 and 4:45 per mile.

A busy few weeks will be coming up hopefully the training i have been putting together will pay off.

Bailey