I've been on a roll with the good weeks recently. This week was another one of them. I finished four successful runs this week and everything is going smoothly and I'm on for a good race at Great North Run next week. Let me fill you in on what happened this week.

Week 11 Training Schedule

Day Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

Scheduled Swim 3 Miles 5 Miles PACE Rest/CT 3 Miles Rest/CT 12 miles

What I Did Nothing Nothing 5 Miles 3 Miles 30 min Swim 3 Miles 8 Miles

So, I swapped some runs around this week - which is no biggie - I still completed all(but one) of the runs that were scheduled this week. Travelling and train delays took it out on me on Monday - I had to return to work Tuesday and I was just drained, so I stayed in bed a little earlier and just decided to do Tuesday's run on Thursday instead.

Wednesday was a 5 miler - which went well. It was mild out which is just the way I like it and my pace was good for 5 miles - especially since two were on fields - I was averaging 10:19 min/mi.

Thursday was the 3 miler that I missed on Tuesday - it went OK, pace was a little slower but I expected it after doing the 5 miler the day before - my legs were a little tired. I've been practicing my running selfie game too - I want to try and get some pictures whilst i'm out on the run and rather than stop and affect my time, I want to try and do it on the run - I'd ideally like to take a picture on the bridge - but we'll see what happens!

Getting better - atleast the background is in focus this time! ;)

I moved my Friday run to Saturday and did a Park Run in Cambridge - I got a park run PB of 5 seconds - which I'll take - seconds is better than nothing at all, right? It was also the first time that I've been sick at the end of a race - Sure, I've pushed hard and been heaving at the finish line but I've never been sick until that day and it was awful. :S - but I guess I really must have pushed myself to get a better time!

Sunday - I lowered my mileage - when I saw I had 12 miles - I was a little concerned. I'm someone who recovers really slowly for a run - If I've not had adequate time to recover, then my legs feel sluggish - I was worried that running a 12 miler only a week before the race might affect how I feel on race day - I took to twitter(#ukrunchat) to find out peoples opinions on doing a 12 miler the week before race day - and almost everyone advised that it would probably be best for me to lower it.

So that's exactly what I did - I lowered my mileage and ended up doing 8 miles - I went out quite late(just before lunch) on Sunday - I left it a bit late as I thought it would be quite mild out and it turned out to be quite warm. Needless to say - I managed to do 8 miles in 1:22:01 - 10:15 min/mi - so I was pretty happy with that! If I can keep up that pace for the last couple of miles, then I should be on for a PB at GNR this week.
I've spoken about this several times already - but my main aim is to just get round the whole thing without having to stop and walk - the last couple of long runs that I've done - I've had no problems and I've been pretty comfortable towards the end of the run knowing I still have enough left to maintain pace and not stop till the end. So hopefully that's what happens!

Week 12 Training Schedule

We're into taper week! I can't believe there's just under a week until Great North Run - for once - I'm actually pretty excited to do the run(and obviously part of my wants to be done with training and just relax for a little bit!)

So, we're tapering this week - mileage has come right down. I can tell you now that I wont be doing the runs as planned this week - I know what my body is used to and how it recovers from runs - so I'm doing what I know is best for my own preparation for race day.

I'll be doing the runs on Tuesday and Wednesday as planned - but I won't be running on Friday. My body likes the extra time to recover - I know some people run a day or two before race to give their legs a bit of a shake up for the race - but that doesn't work for me and my body likes the extra rest.

So my last run will be Wednesday - I will probably do a swim or something on Friday just to get in some sort of exercise - but I'll be giving my legs/feet a rest from the pavement.

I've upped my water slightly this week - I always drink quite a lot of water anyway - but I like to make sure that my water in take is on point leading up to race day - I want to make sure I'm well hydrated up to race day.

Other than that - I just want to stay out of trouble - I wont be going near any fields for running so I've no worries of rolling my ankle - just making sure everything is going smoothly leading up to Sunday.

If that goes to plan, I'll be happy!

Now I'm off for my swim lesson! Have a great week everyone!

Question: Anything specific that you aim to do the week leading up to race day?