Hard day to fail.

  I might be slacking in the speed department but the stamina appears to be coming along quite nicely. I did my long run this week on Saturday which was a very hilly 16 mile route, the last time that I ran it I was struggling severely on the four long climbs and this time I managed to tick each one off without any serious trouble. I was pleased with my time as well seeing as it was only ten minutes off my best, though that ten minutes involves attacking the climbs and not just managing them so plenty still to do there yet.
  Today was the hardest part of the week and unfortunately I failed, I had planned to take the day off from running for recovery purposes but by eleven o'clock in the morning I had cracked  and went for an easy 5 mile run out instead. Amongst everything else that was going wrong at the end of 2014, over training was mixed up in the equation as well. All I can say is if you end up with over training symptoms you will certainly know about it. A light case might only take a month to get over it if your lucky, mine took around six months to get over so I'm cautious now as I don't want to ever go back down that road again. That's why I try to limit my interval sessions and hard days as I know how addictive those sessions can become as you improve week by week.
   I have a relative easy week training wise as I have another round of acupuncture for my aching foot on Tuesday morning and then I will be winding down in preparation for the fell race next Sunday. I'm really looking forward to the fell race seeing as I haven't done one for seven years, and it also makes a change for it not to be the Carlton Challenge. I became obsessed with trying to beat the record for the Carlton Challenge fell race on the North York Moors, my closest was in 2007 when I was one second off the record and in 2009 which was my last fell race I was twelve seconds off the record. The Levisham Limping fell race is a new one for me, I have checked the route out a few times so hopefully I shouldn't get lost.
    I can't believe it has taken nine months of training to get my stamina level back to a level so that an half marathon doesn't seem so daunting, my thinking is if I am coping with two hours plus of hilly running in training then a half marathon should feel like a sprint race mentally in comparison.
  Half marathon, ten miles, 5k, fell race, cross country, it doesn't look like a plan to get me under 16 minutes for a 5km race. It looks more akin to a new beginners training plan, and you know what, those new beginners know how to enjoy themselves so that will do for me.