The Speed Session
Firstly the speed session with my club Purbeck Runners last night. Crikey that was a killer! Back up to Bay Crescent in Swanage but rather than the hill sprint repeats we did here a few weeks ago, this time it was more sustained circuits of approximately 500 metres. Imagine a standard athletics track, where the curves at the top and bottom are level but the straights are on a steep hill!
We did a quick 10 minute warm up before-hand, as you never jump straight into speed work cold.
It was a small group, only five of us plus Coach Ross on the start line relishing in our suffering timing us and shouting encouragement. We used a pyramid system with sets of 1 lap, 2 laps, 3 laps, 4, 3 laps, 2 laps, 1 and 1 again, each with a 1 minute rest between sets – a total of 17 laps of approx 500 metres equaling a very rough 8.5k. Yes, I did forget to start my Garmin! This with a couple of km warmup/down each side of the workout totaled 10k for the night.
A really tough session, I finished each set of repeats with lungs screaming and gasping for breath. You have to be quite disciplined with yourself, with only a minute to recover with long deep breaths and standing tall to expand your lungs fully. I spent half the recovery time sprawled against a wall!
Agreeing to Something I’m Going to Regret
With the kids staying at their grandparents house on Saturday, my wife suggested we go for a nice run together on Sunday morning. Lovely, I thought as I agreed to joining her. Then I remembered… SHE’S MARATHON TRAINING! “Er, darling… how far were you planning on running on Sunday?” I asked hesitantly. “Just the 18 miles this week”, she replied. “I did my big run last week”. Oh, I said. I feel she may need to go out and do a few laps before I join her!
Next Training
Easy run tonight after two evenings of speed work, so a jog of 5 miles. There’s also a 5k time trial run along the promenade on Friday which I *may* do!
I’m sure your wife will be OK with you meeting her mid run.