This time the fable did not come true with the tortoise winning the day. The first of the weekly track sessions I hope to complete over the next 16 weeks as I approach the London Marathon was tonight. There was a good turnout with 11 runners, plus Jerry who was doing some pacing work (only 3 seconds out he was chuffed to bits!).The track training session was not so easy, not that I would expect it to be, we did a good warm-up and then 3 sets of 1600m with 1 minute recoveries. As I approached the final lap left of my first mile both Grant and John overtook me - oh woe to be lapped so early on.
I had chosen my pace, I was sticking with it, I am nothing if not consistent, just a shame that tonight I felt consistently slow. At some point jerry changed direction and hollered good encouragement at us as he passed by in the opposite direction. My thoughts remained with keeping my pace steady and counting down the miles left to hit 1,000.
During my final lap (all the others had finished but were still shouting encouragement to me) I had a moment where I really felt like crying, being ill earlier this month has maybe rested my legs but it has certainly been no good for my stamina, it will return I know it will as I get deeper into my training schedule my legs will start to feel normal again.
I finally finished and as we cooled down and stretched the question that stuck in my mind was do I stay on the track until it is done or go home ready to run another day, I have two days left after all. My decision was to go for the James Bond finish, lets cut it fine!
When I turned around and ran in the opposite direction it was a real eye-opener as it is not very often that I get an opportunity to see fellow runners from the front whilst running. The majority of the gang looked really uncomfortable and as if they were not enjoying themselves. Your pacing was excellent and consistent towards the latter stages as we were passing at the same place...the others were not. Hold your head up high as had it been longer, the tortoise would have indeed caught the hare.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever done a track session before? It's very difficult and 3x1600 is hardcore if you haven't been on a track before. These sessions will do more for you than any LSD
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement guys!
ReplyDeletePrevious track work has been 200m or 400m repeats so a little different for me ramping up the distance. Feel good today though and please with my efforts.