The patient is in a stable condition

Base-fitness levels out in June as mileage does likewise

So, today marks 6-weeks since I started running again. How am I doing?


My base-fitness and recent speed sessions leave me concluding that my current 10k form would be about 39:40. One session had me thinking more like 39:00, but that was just a good night or an indicator of improvements to come. Mileage has averaged about 25 miles/week through June, so a 30 sec improvement in 10k form since Welwyn MWL at the start of the month is not too bad. In any case, I don't want (nor feel able) to push the mileage up yet. I think when I can manage consistent 30-mile weeks, another step up will result. I've been feeling a bit off colour for the last week or so, which might explain the dip at the end of the graph.

Resistance is futile...

... give in, it's the journey, not the destination that counts

This would suggest that the notion of being 'lost' during the journey is unfairly pejorative. The condition simply introduces more unpredictable, rather than necessarily less favourable outcomes. Running should be like this sometimes.


Whilst travelling through a black hole in my own universe, I managed to watch a good deal of the "Star Trek Voyager" series. The final episode seemed like a bit of an anti-climax at the time. This may have been more down to poor script-writing than anything deliberately profound, but either way, it did indicate that the end of the story is not always the point of the story.


Seven of Nine - no resistance required!

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"Oh Pete, I so look forward to your insightful, intellingent and entertaining musings - please keep it up. P.S. - you're gorgeous!"



Jenny from Basingstoke

Best training session of the 'new era' so far

I'm starting to feel like a runner again

Just a shade under 5 weeks since I started again, this really felt like the first session where I was back in control of my running. All 6x 1000m reps were run at a fairly even '5k' pace (allowing for the fact that alternate reps were predominantly up/down hill) and at no time was I left straining or feeling the need to slow down.

The average mile-pace across all 6x reps was 5:54. On this kind of session, I've found it possible to achieve a mile-pace of around 6-10s/mile better than actual 5k race-pace. This would translate to a 5k race time between around 18:40 to 18:50 and a 10k time around 39:00 to 39:20. If true, this would represent another big step up in fitness since the Welwyn MWL 10k. Having said that, I've never done this session over this route before, so have no historic comparisons of training to race-pace.

I'd like to trust my instincts on this occasion, as this session felt so much better than any other over the last month.

First real long run of the Lazarian epoch!

Double digit tester leaves me kn***ered all week-end

10.5 miles? Pah, I used to knock this kind of thing out just for fun, but this one felt like 20 miles! Just goes to prove that my endurance capacity is still rather low, but a few more of these should put me in much better shape.

Aerobic base continues steady improvement

Nice reward for 3 weeks of effort



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