Mileage: 17.5 miles
AM: 3.75miles PM: 13.75
I think for a runner, apart from racing, nothing beats a really good training session. I am amazed at how good both physically and mentally you can feel after training when it all goes well. Thursday evening's meadows training sessions was one of those nights. The reps were 5*1.27miles (almost a full lap of the Meadows) with 3 minutes recovery between efforts. I love long reps anyway, as it suits my type of running and my endurance strength always kicks in, but I just felt really good tonight.
My rep times:
1) 6 minutes 54 seconds (5.28 minutes/per/mile pace)
2) 6.50 (5.25)
3) 6.47 (5.22)
4) 6.43 (5.18)
5) 6.46 (5.21)
Colin McGill was back at training after recently finishing the London Marathon and I was pleased to have him back. Colin is a slightly faster runner than me across most distances and in training we're not too far from evenly paced, which helps greatly. Last night for the first four reps we paced each other, which really helped our times get faster and faster as the reps went on. Colin did not do rep 5, as to be fair, it has only been 3 weeks since he finished his marathon. It meant that rep 4 was our quickest, because we both pushed it to the limit. I would dare to say that for the last half mile we were both trying to break away and lose the other, but neither of us would give in.
I know training is training, but at the same time it always brings out the competitor in runners, I am sure it does, well it does in me. The same as in a race, in training you don't like to be beaten by those around you and so you can't help but push it that little bit more, if not to run past them, but to certainly keep up with them. I am sure, within reason, this can help you get that little bit more out of training, especially if you are running with someone evenly. I know that after rep 4 I was tired, but the fact that I had to to run the last rep on my own, as Neil was way too quick to keep up with and the rest were a little bit further back, meant that it wasn't as quick as the previous rep. I knew it was the last rep so I could blow myself out a bit, as a result it wasn't terribly slow, but I do wonder if it would have been quicker with someone else along side me to run with/against. I also wonder if my other times would have been slower without company, they probably would have been, especially rep 4 where we pushed so hard.
I have to admit, I love it after each rep when you get that endorphin rush and you pull in deep breathes that fill out your ribcage, as your body fights to recover in time for the next rep. I love it when you reach that point in a rep when you know its going to be a mental struggle to maintain your pace and to hold your form to the end of the effort and you succeed. I also hate it when that happens and you back off and run slower.
Finishing a session when you feel as though you have done really well always reflects in my mood and last night I was on a real high as we jogged round the Meadows for our warm down. The nice post session glow caused by the combination of endorphins and tidiness stayed with me throughout the evening as I sat and watched the elections.
That was my last hard training session before Loch Leven Half, I'll do some faster stuff on Saturday and Tuesday, but not as hard or as much as last night as I want to be in awesome shape for that race.
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