What a month that's been...

[sTrongFuse]

So, April... The month of lock-down and Zoom. The month of social distancing and solitary running. The month (for me) where I set a whole pile of personal records.

I came into April with the following PBs:

- 5k - 28:38

- 10k - 1:03:49

- 10 miles - 1:49:29

- HM - 2:30:23

- Monthly Distance - 123.41 Km

I ended the month having bettered them all.

The first to fall was my 5k time. I set out to do some speed intervals and, by the time I finished, I'd brought my time down to 28:01.

My 10 mile and HM records fell on the same run. My goal for this year had been to get my 10 mile time below one hour 45. as the distance ticked along, I realised there was a possibility that it might just be on, so I went for it, plotting out my route in my head as I went, trying to avoid having to run up hills as much as was possible. As my watch ticked past 16.1k, I scraped by with seconds to spare: 1:44:56; but I wasn't quite finished. At that point, even if I'd slowed to my usual walking pace, my HM PB would have fallen, but I wanted to see how much I could shave off, so I went for it in the final 5k with all the pace my legs could still manage to muster (again, trying to plot a route that didn't punish them with too much climbing). In the end, I shaved nine minutes off the time above and set a new mark at 2:21:21.

My 10k time has been in place since the Edinburgh Men's 10k on 3 November last year. I'd got close to it a couple of times since, but it had been looking stubbornly unassailable and, after the efforts above, was still the only one still in place. It finally fell on my second run out (and first 10k) after the above 10 mile/HM. Four days later, it fell again, and I went under an hour for the first time posting a mark of 58:58.

Last night was my final run of the month; a pretty leisurely 8.3k lollop through woods, across fields and along paths. Apart from improving my time on the odd Strava ( strava.com/activities/33718... ) segment along my chosen route, there was nothing particularly notable about the run in any way. It did, however, bring my distance total to 124.08 Km for the month, meaning I set a new record for the total distance run during a single calendar month; which seemed like a very fitting end to a month that has been stuffed with personal achievements.

So, what of the month to come? Well, a week from today will be the first anniversary of my Couch to 5k graduation run, so I guess I'll have to find a way of marking that occasion. Other than that, I'll just have to see what's what when I get to the end of May.

Stay safe everyone...

[Buddy34 Graduate10]

Not even a year since graduating c25k and look at all your amazing achievements. Well done you👏👏👏👏

[sTrongFuse Graduate10 in reply to Buddy34]

I think I'm now long past the stage where an intervention was required. I am definitely a lost cause...

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate10]

Congratulations on achieving all those PB's, 124. 08 K is an amazing distance for the month, you will have a great 1 year graduating anniversary of C25K next week. 😊 🏃🏾

[sTrongFuse Graduate10 in reply to AlMorr]

Thanks AlMorr ; we can but hope...

[Grannyhugs Graduate10]

Wow 👏🎉 amazing records smashed. It will be lovely to look back on April for your wonderful running achievements rather than lockdown. Fantastic effort. I look forward to hearing your May challenge. Happy running 🤗

[sTrongFuse Graduate10 in reply to Grannyhugs]

As someone who works from home anyway, I haven't really noticed much difference, but yes, it definitely puts a bit of needed gloss on the current situation.

[Sandraj39 Graduate10]

Wow! You have clearly used your time well! 👍Well done!👏😀

[sTrongFuse Graduate10 in reply to Sandraj39]

Thanks. I guess after starting the month with a solo HM to replace the cancelled Edinburgh Kilomathon, it was probably always going to end up being a big month.

[MartinKH Graduate10]

Congratulations on your multiple PB achievements , that’s amazing stuff. 👍💪

[sTrongFuse Graduate10 in reply to MartinKH]

Thanks. The only problem is, having achieved the time targets I set myself at the start of the year, I need to think of some new ones. Nice problem to have I guess.

[ForbiddenPlanet Graduate10]

Congrats on a whole catalogue of PBs. Recently I too managed to sneak under the 60 minute barrier for 10K recently - and I know how good it feels. 👍

[sTrongFuse Graduate10 in reply to ForbiddenPlanet]

It was beginning to annoy me that my old PB (1:03:49) had stood so long, especially as it actually involved about 500m of walking up a hill, whereas every 10k I've run since hasn't had any breaks, so to finally beat it by a minute, then take another 4 minutes off that new time just a couple of days later made it feel even better.

[ju-ju- Graduate10]

wow... you certainly like your goals... great work, well done