Mileage : 14 miles
AM: 3.75 miles, PM 10.25 miles
Tuesday, as always, is track night. Last week I took it a little easier than normal and only did 2 of the 3 sets as I was preparing for the Kinross 10km, so this week I was raring to go! This is my last week of heavy training before starting to taper for Loch Leven Half, so I was keen to work really hard in the session. My usual morning run told me that my legs were in a reasonable condition and my aching back and knees were a lot better than in previous days. My 3 mile run from work to the track was quick and I felt good too, so I was certainly in the right frame of mind for the session.
Tonight's session was a tough one broken into: 3 sets. Set 1) 400m,800m,300m (1 min recovery between reps) Set 2) 400m,800m,300m (2mins recovery between reps) Set 3: 400m,800m,300m (4-5mins recovery between reps) - 2.5 mins recovery between each of the sets. The idea was that as the recovery got longer in each set we would get quicker on each rep.
My times below as recorded by my Garmin:
Set One
400m - 72secs
800m - 2mins 25secs
300m - 50secs
Set Two
400m - 67secs
800m - 2mins 25secs
300m - 48secs
Set Three
400m - 63secs
800m - 2mins 25secs
300m - 47secs
For my 400s and 300s I did get quicker with each set, especially the 400s, which I was really happy with. I was also the qucikest in all three of the 300s, which I think was a sign of the my high endurance levels rather than my outright pace compared to the others, particuraly Neil, who is exceptionally quick. I think the others tired more notably as the sets went on, but I recovered quite well between efforts. I might be totally wrong about this, as this is just me thinking out loud, but I think it is a good sign no matter what!
For the 800s I stayed the same for all 3, which I was a little annoyed about, as I hoped to go quicker with each one. In the first set I managed to stay with Neil, which I was pleased about, but as the sets went on he got quicker (2.20, 2.12) and I just stayed the same. I am not sure why I couldn't go faster, maybe its a result of high mileage running. In my first 800m my 2 laps broke down as 72 and 73 (nice and fairly evenly paced), in the second it was 70 and 75 and the last one 69 and 76, so I was clearly improving over the first 400m, but losing it in the second 400m somewhere. Maybe I went off a little too quickly. I should probably chat about this with Alex as I am sure he might have a few thoughts on why, as I am not sure I do, other than guess work. Still I was pretty pleased with my 800m times.
On the whole I was really pleased with the session, as not only did I feel as though I was running well and fast, but my legs didn't feel too wrecked by the time I came to jog home. At the end of the last 300m I was feeling a little faint, out of breath, and I am sure I was seeing black spots in my vision - but that was surely a sign of hard work (hopefully not anything too sinister!). I am also pleased that I managed to do a track session like that on the back of several days running at quite high tempo and of course the 10km, which was still only five days ago.
After track we cooled down and Alex showed us some drills. A couple of us have been keen to do these after training each week and it was good of Alex to take us through them. The fact that I could feel each drill working different muscles in my legs made me realise that they help. I know that once I run out of my comfort zone that my form goes all over the place and I look more like a man that has been shot in both legs and has suddenly lost control of his head which flings forward never to look up until the running stops! These drills will help me with that form, so that hopefully I become a better more efficient runner. If you want to see a You Tube Video of Running Drills (not us doing them, but a pretty girl who clearly knows her stuff) then click here.
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