AS I start this post the rain is hammering down once more and the trees outside the office window are taking an early morning buffeting. Another brilliant summer day. Not.
The weather was a bit kinder on Sunday and Pat and I finished the training week with a visit to Fewston/Swinsty reservoirs.
The recent threat of being attacked by a boa constrictor had seemingly been forgotten or was being ignored as we arrived late morning to find the large car park entirely full. Zig zagging through families often with multiple dogs proved challenging to say the least.
Pat's photo of the overflowing FEWSTON reservoir indicates that there should be no need for a Yorkshire Water hosepipe ban any time soon.
Yesterday saw a return to the Seedhill ....
A CLASSIC 4 X MILE REP SESSION
WITH 3 MINS INTERVAL RECOVERY
Lapping the track carrying out rep sessions in the months of January and February, the mind naturally goes forward to the summer months and we dream of temperatures demanding little more in the way of attire other than a skimpy pair of shorts. Dream on!
With changes of routine and the calf niggle it was 2 months ago until yesterday that I had last visited Seedhill, Nelson. I haven't avoided speed sessions altogether but the grass track and the road just don't seem to enable me to get anywhere near the same pace as on the tartan.
I think part of the benefit is that every 400 metres or even 200 metres a glance gives a guide to the pace. Too slow, bang on or too fast...well, never too fast!
Regretably with the temperature at a moderate 15 and a constant threat of heavy rain a waterresist tee was the order of the day. Let's hope that the weather will eventually break for the Olympics.
Nothing fancy for today's session. A classic mile rep session that I was weaned on nearly 50 years ago and have continued with ever since. Simple aim being 4 x mile ,aiming for 10K race pace with today a 3 minute interval jog recovery.
Simple aim but not easily achievable running solo with the usual Seedhill breeze to toil against. With a season's best of 43 minutes a perfect world would see rep times down around the 7 minute mark but as usual apprehension about the calf and prevailing conditions sees returns of 7.20 7.21 and 7.17 for the first 3 reps.
A bit disappointing but as no other miles in the week are faster than 8 mins still very worthwhile and beneficial I would say.
It's only on the last rep that I feel confident enough to push on and my reward is a solid 7.01.
It may be a minute and a half slower than I used to run for 26 miles but I still think there's no better feeling in training than feeling you are giving it 100% on the tartan.
Perhaps I should one time experiment with say doubling the recovery time to 6 minutes or so; a bit more emphasis perhaps on the speed rather than endurance? Watch this space.
No comments:
Post a Comment