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  My mileage over the last two weeks has taken a bit of a dip as I have been missing out on my commute to and from work by means of running. I wasn't too bothered as I thought it would do me good and because I was feeling fresher I have been getting in  some good speed training sessions. I have the Harrogate town centre 10k race this coming Sunday and my plan was to have a good enjoyable hard work out but seeing as this weeks training has gone so well I am upping my game and I will be prepared to give it rock all.
  I have been mulling over the idea of getting a Garmin 15 GPS watch to assist me in keeping at the correct pace for races where I am looking for a fast time and also for my next attempt at a marathon. I have had a GPS watch in the past but during races I never took any notice of it due to the little devil on my shoulder making me ignore it and run far too hard at the start of races before deserting me later on when I had run out of steam. I found it OK for measuring my off road routes but there's not much need for that anymore with websites like Mapometer.  I have had numerous heart rate watches when I was cycling and thought it was a definitive must have but I have never felt the need for one on the  running side. I came to the conclusion that  I knew what an easy effort felt like, I knew what a good tempo speed felt like and I certainly knew what hard effort felt like. This time round I think I can mute that little devil on my shoulder come marathon time with the aid of a GPS watch to keep me at the right pace from start to finish. Well ! I do hope so.
 

 Earlier on this year I was making big leaps and gains as I got fitter that was until I reached 19.6kmh for a 16 minute test period and then every 0.1kmh increase in speed became almost impossible. Just as I thought I had reached my limit I would crack that extra bit of gain in speed.  Then 19.8 kmh became mission impossible and with that cracked I am now making big in roads to concurring 20kmh.
   0.1kmh might seem hardly worth it but in race terms it means that I would be 100 metres ahead of myself over an hour or 26 metres for my 16 minute test period. Now that looks impressive.