Week 12 day 1 & 2 - Delamere Forest 10k - Hardest race ever

Day 2 Only a 10k but wow, what a 10k. Literally the hardest run I've ever had to do.

Delamere Forest so a trail run... completely different to flat city 10k. I didn't realise this so even more of a test.

Also hills... little ones, okay, lots and big ones too almost 1km up twice. Steep up, then steep going down rocky paths at very fast speed.

Up one hill in 9 min mile pace, down the other side in 6m 45 pace... really pushed hard all the way. Mrs FRC also doing it.

I ended up doing the 10k in 48m 30"... supposedly I can knock off as much as 3-5 minutes off compared to a 10k flat... I haven't done one of these in 4-5 years - last one was 47m 40...so would show a huge improvement.

I can go a lot faster for longer now. 7-7.15 min miles or less are very possible so I could get close to 43-44 minutes - training is definitely paying off.

Mrs FRC finished in 1hr 8m 30s and was chuffed also, really tough race.

Nice medal and mug for doing it too.

Day 1
In view of the 10k race on Wednesdy, wanted to keep this day's efforts light so only 5 miles easy/ recovery through to ArrowePark with Mrs FRC.

Watched her heartrate to give us an idea if something topping out , or in terms of warm up.. very useful.

Checking it later on garmin website, seemed to be about 8-9 minutes light jogging so much less than you would expect.

5 miles some uphill and trail, stretching the legs out.

Body conditioning class after at 7pm, shorter than normal and good range of exercises. Weird effects though, we did some leg lifts lying on side, hip raises lying on you back... all fine, then standard press-up... couldn't do one... felt like my hips and bits in between were hollow... very weird sensation and unnerving.