Inspired for the Long Run

am: Easy 1hr 45 + strides on trails
16mi
Week: 92mi - A good week & thankfully no illness/injury on the horizon

Today started earlier than usual as the alarm was set for 0640 so we could watch Thommo's 10k debut. Lewis & Ryan had spoken to John Nuttall yesterday and he said the target time was 27.30 which seemed very ambitious if I'm being honest. I logged onto CBS Sports and it turned out we had to bloody pay $9.99! After getting up so early we thought we may as well pay it between us so having missed the opening 2k we finally had it on - it was worth every penny. There was a knock at the door and surprisingly it was George Gandy! George was as enthralled as us for the next 20 mins and although the Americans went wild for Solinski's sub 27, Thommo running 27.29 was arguably a bigger breakthrough for British endurance running. Imagine becoming one of the fastest ever white men on 10k debut after so many years of unfulfilled promise via injury and poor form. Andy Vernon shouldn't be forgotten for a solid 28.10 but it was Thompson's night; he has shown that it can be done. Hopefully most Brits feel as inspired as I do and see some light at the end of the tunnel for distance running in the UK. Congratulations to my good friend and former (still sometime) training partner Luke Cragg who ran 29.10 in the 'B' race which is a 1 minute P.B. - maybe he can sneak the 28.50 Commonwealth standard next time out. Unbelievably motivated and fuelled up on muesli, toast and coffee I bounced down to reception where everyone was buzzing. We ran on the trails & road on a new loop starting from the lake. I felt great this morning and I was so close to doing 2 hours but decided against. If I had done so and then got ill or injured I’d be so annoyed at myself. I ran with Sonia Samuels as the group split and I was comfortable running at a quicker pace with her. My aerobic fitness seems pretty good currently and I've considered cashing in on a good 10k but having discussed it with Phil we decided 15 & 5k is what I should focus on this summer. My glutes were so sore today and everyone who did my session yesterday was exactly the same – presumably it was the hill reps. That was my only niggle and it is a good one as it just shows I worked hard. I sometimes feel heavy legged and can't be bothered with post-Sunday run strides but today I felt so fresh and bouncy on them. It was a nice feeling and shows I didn’t over-fatigue in the latter stages. I had a jam sandwich and yoghurt as soon as I could get in the car! I got a lift back from Mary Wilkinson and she had to stop off at the shop so I did half an hour of stretching outside the car in the sunshine - I was thankful I'd brought some food with me. I ran a nice hot bath whilst watching Flotrack's video of Thommo's race from about 20 mins in. We had a big flat clean up before watching Chelsea all but sew up the Premier League title whilst making sure I had plenty of carbs to avoid the depletion of Wednesday. Having lazed around for a bit we had a scheduled team meeting at 6pm. The meeting was good and most if it was about how inspirational this morning was! We watched a bit of Avatar after having chicken pasta for dinner but generally did very little - I felt very drowsy this evening.