Mileage: 17 miles
AM: 3.75miles PM: 13.25
What a lovely night for a Meadow's session. The club's numbers looked to have grown quite considerably as people gathered at 7pm and there was barely a jumper in sight! Most of the guys had opted for sleeveless-shirts, as summer had clearly returned after a long interval since the marathon.
The last time we'd enjoyed a stunning Thursday night in the Meadows I blogged about it, describing it as an almost perfect urban gathering on the grass with a great atmosphere. Unfortunately tonight was a lot different. There seemed to be an awful lot more drunk people staggering about and not the nice kind of drunks, but the idiots who shout abuse at others, who throw empty bottles on to the ground and let them smash, who pee against trees and on the paths, not even making any effort to be discreet. After last time it was a real disappointment and I had to agree with Neil when on one rep he said, "If this is what the Meadow's is like when it is sunny, I think prefer the winter!"
Still it was a nice night for running, almost too warm and I found myself running half the session with my top off. That's first time I've been able to do that this year. The session sounded fairly easy when Alex told us it, but I can tell you it was a very tough one. It was 6*4minutes at faster than 10k pace with 4 minutes recovery.
Owing to injuries, recoveries and absences the fast group started off with just four of us, myself, Jenny, Neil Calder and Stevie Wales. We agreed to take it in turns to lead each rep and run together as a group. Jenny took the first one, which was a good, fast steady pace. Steve took the second one and sped off at such a pace over the first 2 minutes that I found myself struggling to keep up. He slowed toward the end of the rep and we bunched up to finish. It was then that Steve turned to us and told us that he had finished for the evening, leaving us all a little bit tired and gasping for breath. It was my job to take the third and thanks to Steve's hard rep I struggled to get going, but got stronger as the rep went on.
After the fourth rep Jenny finished for the evening too, as she has begun her taper for the Dunfermline Half, which is the Scottish Half Marathon Championship and she has a good chance of winning the race. I am sure she will. That left Neil and I to do the last two. Neil had raced last night winning a 5K in 15.39, but despite this, he was still lightening quick over the session. In the fourth rep he had dropped Jenny and I within strides. With just the two of us I tried to stay with him for the fifth rep. He must have been cruising slightly, as I did manage to keep up with him. Thankfully the final rep came and we set off, Neil pushed on and I tried desperately not to let him get too far away. The last rep ended up being the the quickest, yet and I was pretty knackered after.
Even with the long recoveries the session was tough. Our recovery jogs were quite quick too. Again I felt tired and I really didn't feel good until the last three reps. I am definitely ready for a break. Everyone keeps telling me it will do me good and I think it is starting to seep through, as I am beginning to believe them.
Below I have put the pace that we achieved for each 4 minute rep:
1) 5.30 minutes per mile pace
2) 5.26
3) 5.30
4) 5.27
5) 5.22
6) 5.13
After the usual post session club chat Dan and I hit the gym. It's a great way to round off a session. On the run home Dan was quite clearly chomping at the bit to get back to running to normal after his marathon. He had taken the session quite conservatively, so was full of energy running home. I struggled to keep up. I think he'll be back to normal running next week.
Finally, I got home ordered a curry - bad! But very yummy! I then finished packing for my holiday, just about, the running kit is being washed as I type this. I am going to hang it up to dry before I go to sleep so it's nice and clean for my 16 mile run tomorrow morning. Yes, I am off for a 16miler first thing tomorrow. Hopefully, that will get the last of the running out of my system for a wee while. Also, it will help me sleep on the plane, as I will be shattered.
Finally, finally Steve Booth gave me some great advice today. In order to help maintain my fitness and not do too much running, I should, when I get the chance to run on holiday, do short runs packed with strides. Sounds good to me and the man is a scientist!
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