When I think of the word training, my mind fills with images of a young Sylvester Stallone running the streets of downtown Philadelphia backed by highly emotive music. Through sheer hard work he overcomes adversity to reach his goal to be a fighting machine.

It is a far cry from my sweaty sessions pounding the Bristol to Bath cycle path early Sunday mornings, invoking fear in the wild rabbit and squirrel population of South Gloucestershire as I go.

Of course I am not training for a fight but for the Bristol Half Marathon - a race - if you can call 13.1 miles that. A race is something you have a chance of winning, a run is something you are simply taking part in.

Even so I have been out running, pushing myself with a mixture of long slow runs, and short fast ones, hoping they will eventually meld together giving me the ability of running long distances quickly.

Back again

With that in mind I am back in Ashton for the second in the series of the Great Western Runners' towpath races. At a distance of ten kilometres (6.25 miles) it is only half the distance of my eventual goal, but far enough to present an interim challenge for an improved time.

At the last race, one month ago, I achieved my personal best time over the 10K distance of 49:09. The question is would the training I have put in since then help me bring that down even further?

I have to say that I do not 'feel' any faster than I did last month, and as the race starts and I follow the pack out of the park and down onto the towpath, I am not at the front of the pack.

As the race goes on I keep a close check on my watch and after a few kilometres it does seem that I am ahead of myself, as far as the last race is concerned.

Going home

By the time I arrive at the turning point I am not only well under the time I was there last month, but also under when I expected to turn. It is looking good, and I am already on my way back.

One thing that I did notice is that there did seem to be a lot more people behind me than there was last month. Was I in a better position, or were there just more runners this time? I decide to accept the former.

Like a religious mantra I tell myself to keep my head down and the pace steady. Kilometres markers pass and eventually my feet hit grass. I know I am back in the park and the finish is in sight.

As I turn the last corner I pick up the pace and 'sprint' across the finish line. As I look down to check my watch my eyes see a time of 47:07. I rub the bugs out of my eyes and check again. It remains the same.

So in one month my training has paid off to the tune of two minutes and two seconds, which over a distance of 10K is a fair jump in performance.

I think I am getting good at this. But is it sustainable? I will find out in a month.

The GWR Towpath series continues on 23 July, 6 August and 27 August.

Make sure you register first, you are very unlikely to be able to enter on the day!