Thursday 14 October 2010

Speed session



I'm still  trying to improve my speed for the Glen Clova half in November but missed yet another club session last night due to working so I had to get out there myself today and try to make something happen. Back up to the Meadows for another set of timed intervals - this time, rather randomly, 8 X 3 mins hard with 2 mins jogs in between. There is not much rhyme or reason to why I'm choosing one session over another except  I had the sense that I could face 8 X 3 min hard sessions and I could not face more of these or longer hard sessions.

I had quite a lot of trouble getting out the door but once out it was nicer than yesterday - less of the cloying dampness. On the way up the side of Arthur's Seat I encountered a troop of nuns marching down towards me, praying as they went. One of them gave me a cheery wave. It seemed like a good omen.

What "speed" is for me is anybody's guess. I did it by feel and breathing rather than any carefully measured parameters. The Garmin can't be trusted round the meadows, getting confused by the trees at times, so running by pace doesn't really work as it careens between 9 minute and 5 minute pace, getting lost and then catching up with itself. Today's criteria for speed was running with 1 breath in for  2 steps, 1 breath out for 2 steps and imagining that I was in a 10K race. This turns out to be about 7.20 pace at the moment. I've had very little in the way of DOMS post-Skyline but my legs must be a bit tired because they felt heavy on the way back down the road.

Next thing; EDCC XC at Stirling on Saturday...



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