We had a good solid run up on the Braes. We came down a completely different route so that was fun. It was quite a hilly route. I’ve decided to have a rest day tomorrow and then run Friday night and Sunday morning.

As I look back on May I’m pleased to say that I was able to get a really good month of training in. No injuries and each session that was planned completed.

I ran on 23 days for a total of 254.54miles which is my highest monthly mileage this year.

Here is a graph of all my runs. Here is a full breakdown of all my runs.

The large red line is the Cateran trail race which was a very encouraging race in my build up to the whw race. It gave me a lot of confidence especially after the Fling, when I set off too quick and struggled.

Here is a summary of all my runs for the first five months of the year. For me the key columns are the longer runs (over 30miles) and the races.

I’ve run three times over 30miles (33.33, 42.30 and 30.21) and have run three races (55.46, 52.97 & 54.41).

I sometimes wonder whether I do enough runs over 20miles. I don’t know in detail what others do but sometimes I pick up things and realise that others are putting in more longer runs than I do with back to back runs of 20plus miles each.

For me I feel one run over 30miles a month is enough. I reckon it takes me a week or so to recover from these longer runs and if I tried to do more I’d be opening myself to injury. So I’ll stick with my monthly longer run pattern.

Looking back over the past four years here is the comparison …

Interestingly at the same stage two years ago (2008) I’d run almost 100miles more but I seem to remember I didn’t have any injuries that year. Even last year I was over 50miles up. But I don’t think it’s just about mileage. The other factor is the accumulated mileage over the last few years which has an effect.

Here is the comparison as a graph.

In conclusion I’ve had a good May and done as much as can to prepare for the big race of the year. Not long to go and I’m looking forward to it.

Let me rephrase that I’m looking forward to the first 50miles or so and the finish. The second half of the race is not so fun as everything starts to hurt and it becomes a real battle of the mind to keep pushing on and getting to the end.

A couple of mantras keep me going …

‘Tough times don’t last - tough people do’

‘Keep putting one foot in front of the other and you will get there’

Wed 2nd June Morning Run details
2.01miles in 16mins 50secs (8.23pace)

Wed 2nd June Evening Run details
9.42miles in 1hr 25mins 54secs (9.08pace)