My quads still felt mashed after my Parbold excursion, I really struggled to get out Monday but recovered enough for a good track session Tuesday, followed by a splendid Valentines bon vivre nose bag with the beloved, Oysters, Crab cakes, prawns, raspberry and chocolate soufflés washed down with a fruity cava number.

Me, James and Keiran jumped in with Martin S for his marathon training session of 7 miles at h/marathon pace with warm up/down on Thursday. The weather was awful, rain and wind and with most of the session along the Otterspool Promenade, it promised to be a challenge. James and Martin gave Kieran and myself a head start and he headed off from the leafy suburbs of Aigburth/Mossley Hill towards the prom. There was rugby training on at Riversdale Road, the Collegiate practice under the floodlight there and the run was hampered the combination of cars parked on half on the road half on the side and incoming traffic not really caring about runners in the road.

Once we hot the prom it was like a monsoon, that fine rain and driving wind. The tide was high and the conversation abruptly stopped and me and Keiran concentrated on cutting through the weather. James had mapped out the route which went along the prom heading North and turned just past the Britannia Inn. Once we hit the turn the wind was at our backs, James and Martin weren’t too far behind but we put a spurt on and they took another good mile to catch us. With about 2 miles to go, Kieran dropped me and was pushing to get the other two lads.

The route took us back up Riversdale and the traffic was still heavy on the road. Once the route turned off the main road I really pushed on and finished with a 5:48 mile, quite impressive as most of it was in the dark and into a wind, the average for the 7 was 6:11. Kieran was a good 30 seconds in front with James and Martin ahead again, averaging around 5:43. It was a brutal session and there’s no way I’d run that hard for that long on my own! This is the sort of stuff I need though, I neglected the long tempos for my other two marathons and although I still done ok, the long tempos would have helped. Friday was a nice steady xc with Adam in work, he’s started his training for the Manchester Marathon with Nick, handy for me as they’re planning long runs on Friday afternoons which I can dive into.

Standish Trail Race

Following our 2nd team place at Parbold the mails were flying around to get a team together for Standish. It’s a b-annual race organized by Wigan Phoenix, who’ve won the team prize for the last few years. I ran the race in October, the conditions were perfect (for me) with only one stretch that was muddy. I ended up 11th with Lawrence 19th so I was confident with addition of James, Neil and Bob we could snatch the team prize. Bob had to work but James and Neil were in and keen for team prize booty.

The conditions were worse than October but ok, loads of puddles and the muddy stretch was ankle deep in glue type mud. A quick look around I could see a few lads from Wigan who ran at Parbold and usual mix of local clubs. The gun went and the usual cavalry charge set a record number of entrants (nearly 300) stampeding down the poc marked puddle strewn path. Neil and James had got off to a flyer and both were well ahead as we turned into the first hill. I was still around the top 40 and once I got to the flat I knew the next 1.5 miles were downhill so I really stepped on the gas.

I could see Neil ahead but he was still a good 30 seconds in front as we rounded the woods and up to the toughest section of the course, a 400 metre mud bath that was slightly uphill. Without this sounding like a product placement, once I was out of the really heavy mud and just in the heavy mud, I coped fine in my invo8’s where as others seemed to struggle. I felt like I was getting my second wind and once gain as I hit the downhill for the 2nd and final push, I ran as hard as I could. One guy from Wigan caught me on the mud slope, I was aware that Wigan had won the team proze side so I dug in and caught him just before the mud ended and the road/path started.

But I had nothing left as I turned for home the Phoenix lad passed me. Looking over my shoulder I could see Lawrence closing in so I knew the team were still good shape. I crossed the line just over 43 mins with Lawrence only seconds behind. James finished 5th and Neil knew he was close to the top 20 so we were clocking what teams had finished. After a quick warm down and shower the results were out and we’d just managed to get 1st place ahead of GM Fire & Rescue Service.

Turns out we weren’t the only winners for PLS, the ladies also got 1st team prize, so a crate of Stella for the lads and bottles of wine for ladies, and as if that wasn’t enough, James and Gill Darby also got individual prizes - a nice return for our efforts and a great day for team PLS.

Here’s my week 7 marathon plan from last week:

MONDAY 6.5 steady am - 5 miles easy pm 11.5
TUESDAY 5.5 miles steady am - 2 x 5 mins 5 x 1 min the repeat - warm up/down - 7.5 in total 13
WEDNESDAY 10 miles at 7m/mile pace - hard going around Bate Mill twice - very windy 10
THURSDAY 4 miles easy am - 10 miles with 7 mile tempo @ 6.11 m/mile average pm 14
FRIDAY 6.5 miles xc steady 6.5
SATURDAY standish trial race 10k with warm up/down 10
SUNDAY Long Run - 7:30 average 21
TOTAL 86