FIRST TRACK REP SESSION OF 2011.

 Oh, how time flies.  It was back to the track  for a "speed"  session at Nelson yesterday as planned,  after an 11 week enforced break.  All things considered I wasn't expecting the tartan surface to be set alight by my speed.
 I emphasis MY speed!   accepting fully that the current pace  I classify as speedwork  would be "steady" for most and "easy" for others.  But it's all relative to the pace of the rest of the week's running, isn't it?
 A considerable amount of this year's off road running is falling between 9 and 10 minute mileing and road runs falling between 8, at best, and 9 minute.  So  not having any recent race times to work to I just thought yesterday that if I could just do a session in which all the running was sub 8 it would be a good starting point to this year's campaign.   I had decided 5 x 1K would be manageable and would give me reasonable feedback on current fitness as it's a session I would be able to look back on the training sheets and make a comparison.

  For once, conditions were quite favourable.  Cool, of course, but sunny and not too windy.  I set out on the first conscious that each 100 split would have to be under 30 secs.  No problem.  4.47.  But not totally comfortable and I started to think 5 reps might be one too many.
 Better, however, on the second (4.41 ) and by the third and fourth  it was starting to flow pretty well and the form was starting to improve.   4.38 and 4.39
I must admit to thinking at this point ,why not quit whilst I'm ahead , with no leg strains,  but resolved not only to stick to the original plan but also see if I could nudge the time down to a more respectable 4.30.   Not quite...4:30.5
                    So  5 x 1K rep session 4.47  4.41  4.38  4.39  4.30.
                    The "interval",   was 1.35,  a jogged 200.
Naturally I would like to think that will be the slowest K session of the year and eventually the number of reps,  will increase.  (I went up to 8 x 1K in 2010) But in the immediate future just an improvement in times will suffice.
 What did I learn?  That  doing those miles through a painful period has meant that I've not lost too much fitmess  but does tend to indicate that  if I was to run a flat 10K fairly shortly,  I couldn't reasonably expect anything  faster than  45 minutes compared to a 2010 best of 42.19. 
  Still I had to start back at sometime and hopefullyI can  go forward !
Today, Friday,  back to a welcome relaxed pace for an easy 4 mile on the trail.  Similarly tomorrow before tackling the Sunday longer run.