If... the Unforgiving Minute

dna_leri

myflipflops wrote: »

Massive changes in the dates of the indoors. Must mess up your plans a bit?

Had not seen that. Actually glad of the few extra weeks. At least there is plenty of notice and time to rearrange plans.

dna_leri

Two weeks ago I did 5x 1K in average 3:18.5 off 3 mins which I was well happy with. Thursday the track was cold and windy and I still had some soreness in the backs of my legs from Tuesday's session so I was not expecting much. I was alone on the track for this one, hoping they would not turn out the lights before I finished. Fortunately there was no ice so I was back in flats.

I was not really feeling the love on the first one but was reasonably happy with 3:27.6. I decided that would be my slowest rep and cut the recovery to 2 mins. I stopped checking the splits after the first one as they were so inconsistent with the wind and just ran by feel so I was surprised to see the 2nd one was 3:20.4. Obviously the wind was helping me in places too, though it was gusting near the finish and seemed worse on the 3rd rep but I still managed a 3:19.8. I was working for the fourth in another 3:20.4. The fifth was a bit of a struggle and felt like 3:25+ but actually 3:21.2.

Overall average was 3:21.9 and exactly 2 min recovery - a good bit slower than the last time but 2/3 of the recovery and faster than I expected in the conditions and the lights stayed on. Maybe I am getting fitter after all.
I had time to spare so finished with a 6K cool down.

Speedy44

Hi DNA
Any idea what the combined event championships that are now listed for Sat 27th are all about, I see there is also a masters sestion in there.
Also, the following day the Athletics Ireland Open Indoor Games?
Cheers,

dna_leri

Speedy44 wrote: »

Hi DNA
Any idea what the combined event championships that are now listed for Sat 27th are all about, I see there is also a masters sestion in there.
Also, the following day the Athletics Ireland Open Indoor Games?
Cheers,

Combined events are heptathlon etc.
The open games are fairly competitive, used by some as warm-up for national seniors. Previous results from Nenagh should be on AI website. Maybe called AAI indoor games.

RandyMann

dna_leri wrote: »

Two weeks ago I did 5x 1K in average 3:18.5 off 3 mins which I was well happy with. Thursday the track was cold and windy and I still had some soreness in the backs of my legs from Tuesday's session so I was not expecting much. I was alone on the track for this one, hoping they would not turn out the lights before I finished. Fortunately there was no ice so I was back in flats.

I was not really feeling the love on the first one but was reasonably happy with 3:27.6. I decided that would be my slowest rep and cut the recovery to 2 mins. I stopped checking the splits after the first one as they were so inconsistent with the wind and just ran by feel so I was surprised to see the 2nd one was 3:20.4. Obviously the wind was helping me in places too, though it was gusting near the finish and seemed worse on the 3rd rep but I still managed a 3:19.8. I was working for the fourth in another 3:20.4. The fifth was a bit of a struggle and felt like 3:25+ but actually 3:21.2.

Overall average was 3:21.9 and exactly 2 min recovery - a good bit slower than the last time but 2/3 of the recovery and faster than I expected in the conditions and the lights stayed on. Maybe I am getting fitter after all.
I had time to spare so finished with a 6K cool down.

Good consistent work DNA, it bodes well for you for the indoors.

dna_leri

Found out last week that the National Masters Indoor event has moved out by 3 weeks to Feb 9th. My first reaction was "great - gives me more time to train". But during the weekend I noticed my motivation had dropped off, which was probably due to Christmas distractions and also not having a tight schedule to my next event. In any case I still got out the door as planned.

I have now managed to reset my training plan, although I will tweak it a bit more as I go on. Mostly I have given myself a few extra weeks of speed-work but also taking into account that I might not get to the track over Christmas as it is usually closed. I will still try to keep my short-term focus, as February is usually my busiest time at work also.

I went back to 3x600m on Tuesday. Last week I attempted 4 but only managed 3 in average 1:46. This time I only tried for three and the times were 1:45.8, 1:46.3, 1:46.2 with 5.5 & 6.5 mins recovery. The times were more consistent than last week but the speed is still lacking. I will take a break from these now for a while.

I am planning to do a 5K this weekend. Current thoughts are to race it but not worry about a PB. I have not raced in about 2 months so should be good to give it a blast again. I will also do a goal mile just after Christmas. For that one, if conditions are good I will try and push it, if not I'll use it to work on my finishing kick.

dna_leri

Motivation has been a bit suspect so I'm happy to have a few low-key races over Christmas to keep the focus.

I did a local 5K on Sunday. I did not know what to expect but my plan was to race it rather than push to break the 16:50 PB I set in May. With hindsight I might have done both, though beforehand I would have been happy with anything under 18 mins. Despite the stormy weather the previous night, it was a fine calm day for the race on a PB'able course. It started half way up a hill which got us off to a fast start. I held back a bit but watched another masters competitor take off behind the lead group and decided I would try and track him down. He is maybe 10 years older than me but a tough competitor.

My km splits were 3:09, 3:35, 3:35, 3:26, 3:16. First km was fast but I felt comfortable. In the second km I expected a head wind as we ran along the quays so I tucked in with a father and son, hoping for the shelter of a group. As it happened, the wind was very slight and when we hit the 2nd km marker, the father looked at his watch and said "too fast", so I pushed on alone. There was a slight rise in the 3rd km and my masters competitor was now 2-3 places ahead of me by about 30m but I did not seem to be gaining. I worked harder in the 4th km on another small hill and with about 800m to go, I was on his shoulder in a group of four. The two younger lads pushed on a bit and the other guy motioned to me to go with them but I held back, thinking he would follow and try to pick me off later.

I caught my breath and With about 400m to go, made a move and put distance between myself and 2 of the group. One of the younger guys was still ahead of me but with a good sprint I caught him in the finishing straight. I stopped my watch at 17:02. If I had known I was that close, I would have pushed earlier to get another sub 17 but I was happy that I had a decent kick at the end. A 4km warm-up and the same as recovery made it a session worth getting out of bed for.

The winner was under 15 mins and 2nd just over, followed by a few juniors also under 16 mins. I have not seen the final results but I guess I was in the top 10 and I think 1st master. As it happened there were no prizes for aul'lads just first man, woman and juniors but I got a spot prize anyway.

So all that remains to to wish happy Christmas to you and yours. Thanks for dropping by for a read during the last year.

dna_leri

Ran the local Goal Mile the other day. Last year in very windy weather I ran 5:12, I hoped to go under 5 mins this year in better conditions. As I started my warmup, my legs felt heavy and I could feel the weight of a few extra kilos of mince pies and beer. There was also a good breeze blowing.

Four of us lined up together for the mile, expecting to be in the range of 5-5.5 mins. I took the lead from the 1st 200m and tried to keep a steady pace. We hit the wind coming into the home straight and I could have done with some shelter. I did record the lap splits and I think they were fairly steady but I stupidly deleted them straight after. On the 2nd lap, I dropped the rest of the group and tried not to slow for the 3rd. On the last lap I pushed a bit down the back straight but never really kicked for home, finishing in 5:08. I was happy enough but not sure if I could have knocked 10s off - maybe with good conditions and tighter competition.

I took a mile cool down and then did 4x200m off 200m recovery in 30.6, 31.2, 29.7, 29.2
These were with the wind but felt ok. Recoveries went from 2:30 to 2:40 to 2:50.

From a running point of view I'm glad to have Christmas over and get back to a normal routine starting with today's longish run.

Speedy44

nice effort in the mile dna. It is a distance that is very hard to do by yourself. Pity you deleted the splits, would have liked to have seen them! Thought seriously about doing the goal mile in Galway, probably glad now that I didn't.

dna_leri

Distance| Prev PB| Target| Actual
800m| 2:25| 2:08| 2:07.06
1500m| 5:07| 4:30| 4:29.3
1 mile| 5:16| 4:50| 4:57
3000m| None| 9:40| None
2 mile| 11:33| 10:24| 10:31
5K| 16:54| 16:50| 16:50


Although I did not achieve all my goals I am happy that I achieved the ones I really tried for.

Highlights
-No injuries - I don't think I missed more than a day through injury this year and I have not seen a physio in over two years. I had a few niggles at times but a couple of easy runs or a rest day was enough to manage them.
-Ran first competitive 800m in January and knocked over 5s off that time in the summer.
-1st in O-40 800m National Masters Indoors & 1st in O-45 800m National Masters T&F.
-Total 12 races, 6 PBs and 7 age-group wins.
-I got more prize money than I paid out in race entry fees - does not include other expenses so nothing for the taxman.

Lowlights
-Did not give distances greater than 1500m a proper go and that shows in the table above. The days of easy improvements are over. I need to put specific work in to get PBs now.
-Not enough weights and core work during the year but I have put that right over the 8 weeks before Christmas and hopefully that will continue in 2013.

Plan for 2013
-At the moment my focus is on the National Masters 800m Indoors in Athlone on 9 February. Competing well is the first target but I would love to push my stretch target of 2:05.
-After that I will make my plans for next year. I am debating whether to go all out to break 2:05 for 800m and/or improve my 1500m time and/or make a effort at sub 35 10K. I don't think I can do all three so I will decide by the end of February.

dna_leri

After a decent long run on Sunday of 16.4K in 75 mins, it was a new phase of training for the new year - back to what I enjoy most - running fast. The track I normally use was closed so for Tuesday's session I travelled to another one about 15 miles away that I was told is always open. Back in the day there was no "tartan" track in the whole province, now there are two within half an hour. This track has an excellent surface - mondo-type but is non-standard length and shape. It's 330m with tight bends but they would be good practice for the indoor track.

Plan for the session was 2x3x200m (29") [2',5'] (i.e. 2 sets of 3x200m in 29s with 2 mins recovery and 5 mins between sets) which I had done a few times last year. In June and July, I averaged 28.0, 28.5 & 28.9s in good conditions. Tuesday's conditions were a bit windy, the track was wet but no rain fell while I was there. I took advantage of the wind on the back straight but included two tight bends in my 200m.

For the first set, I wore flats and took a rolling start in 29.3, 29.5, 29.5 with 2 mins recovery.
I put on training spikes for the next set and after 8 mins break changed to standing starts for 28.5, 28.2, 28.9.
Not sure why these were faster, probably the spikes gave me confidence to push the bends a bit harder.
I had it in my head to do a third set if I felt good, so after a recovery of 8 mins, I went again.
Still in spikes and using standing starts I did 28.7, 29.3 & 29.1.

That gave me an average of 29.0s and recoveries nicely under 2 mins.
A good confidence boost with over 5 weeks to go.

Oregano_State

Good session above. You're well on course for some good performances in the indoors.

dna_leri

On Thursday I went back to my new favourite track for a session of 400's. Original plan was 10x400m (1:12)[1:30] - 72s is about 1500m pace. Again a wind was blowing which seemed to strengthen as I went on but maybe it was just me weakening, and I was running into it twice this time at the start and finish. My legs still had Tuesday's 200's in them so I knew something would have to give - no of reps, recovery duration, pace or me. In the end I cut the number of reps down to 8 and was still ok with the session - Tuesday was supposed to be the big one anyway.

The reps went 1:10, 1:11, 1:09, 1:09, 1:12, 1:13, 1:13, 1:11 to average 1:11 with recoveries at 1:28. Obviously I started a bit faster than the original plan but by the 5th, I was back and hanging on for the 6th and 7th. The last one felt the slowest of all but I pushed into the wind in the finish to end with a 71.

dna_leri

The club had their second annual trail run on Saturday. I ran this last year also but believed the hype when they said "this is not a race", forgetting that when more than 2 runners are gathered together, it is a race. Again this year it was "not a race" over 3 miles of hilly trail. Last year I joined the start at the back of the field and worked my way through the group, treating it as a social occasion. This year I decided to race this "non-race" but sandwich it between a good warm-up and cool down.

For my warm-up I did a lap of the course, and reminded myself of the one decent hill that could catch a few out. We started with a nice downhill and with none of the fast young guns around nobody pushed an early hard pace. I was happy enough to lead out at a steady pace over the first mile or so. As we hit the start of the hills, there were 4 or 5 of us in a group with one guy there who I have had some good battles with over the last few years. I also guessed he was not in the kind of shape as when he has beaten me in the past. He was breathing heavy on the early hills and although I have not done much hill work recently, I decided to make a break on the big hill. Nobody came with me and I made sure to give an extra push on the crest of the hill.

From there it was mostly downhill. On any slight uphill, I pushed the pace a bit and tried to relax on the downs. On the couple of switch-backs I could see I had over 30m lead and was glad I did not have to dig deep on the last flat half mile. I was first finisher in an non-stellar 18:27 on this hilly trail run and earned a spot prize. I cooled down with another lap to make about 15K for the day to almost justify missing my long run.

dna_leri

For Tuesday's session I planned 5-6x300m (46-48s) [3 min].

I knew I had done something similar back in May on a hot sunny evening. I actually did 5x300m in average 45.9s off 3:50 recovery. I had forgotten how good that was until I checked back and I still don't know how I hit those numbers, it was one of those days.

This time it was cold, but calm, and the track was wet. The first was over 50s and I was not moving well. I was tempted to change the session to something slower but I stayed with it. From there each rep got faster, ending with 47.2s while I kept all the recoveries under 3 mins.

Times were 50.3, 49.0, 48.8, 48.5, 47.6, 47.2 for an average 48.6s which is only 2:10 800m pace.
I felt satisfied with the session at the time, but now in black and white, it does not look so good.
I'll not worry too much and trust the plan to come together when I need it.

ecoli

dna_leri wrote: »

For Tuesday's session I planned 5-6x300m (46-48s) [3 min].

I knew I had done something similar back in May on a hot sunny evening. I actually did 5x300m in average 45.9s off 3:50 recovery. I had forgotten how good that was until I checked back and I still don't know how I hit those numbers, it was one of those days.

This time it was cold, but calm, and the track was wet. The first was over 50s and I was not moving well. I was tempted to change the session to something slower but I stayed with it. From there each rep got faster, ending with 47.2s while I kept all the recoveries under 3 mins.

Times were 50.3, 49.0, 48.8, 48.5, 47.6, 47.2 for an average 48.6s which is only 2:10 800m pace.
I felt satisfied with the session at the time, but now in black and white, it does not look so good.
I'll not worry too much and trust the plan to come together when I need it.

Nothing wrong with those splits and the manner they were run in on a wet track. Very hard comparing winter and summer sessions.

The fact you got faster shows you have the strength and are just lacking the sharpness which at this time of year is perfectly understandable and will come with a few shorter races over the indoor season

tunguska

Bit off topic but......

Big fan of IF myself. Whats your interpretation of the line:

If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run

My take on it is you should make use of all the time that you have. I think everything he says in that poem is spot on, except for that line. Personally I think its not good for your body or soul to constantly be doing, bouncing from one thing to the next. To sit with yourself in silence with no distractions is one of lifes great joys, recharges the batteries too.

Oregano_State

tunguska wrote: »

Bit off topic but......

Big fan of IF myself. Whats your interpretation of the line:

If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run

My take on it is you should make use of all the time that you have. I think everything he says in that poem is spot on, except for that line. Personally I think its not good for your body or soul to constantly be doing, bouncing from one thing to the next. To sit with yourself in silence with no distractions is one of lifes great joys, recharges the batteries too.

I think it's more about perseverance in times of adversity than anything else. Or determination, and digging in.

I don't think it excludes the idea of solitude and peacefulness.

dna_leri

tunguska wrote: »

Bit off topic but......

Big fan of IF myself. Whats your interpretation of the line:

If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run

My take on it is you should make use of all the time that you have. I think everything he says in that poem is spot on, except for that line. Personally I think its not good for your body or soul to constantly be doing, bouncing from one thing to the next. To sit with yourself in silence with no distractions is one of lifes great joys, recharges the batteries too.

I'm not sure what Kipling meant, rumour has it he was a half-decent runner so maybe he did 60s repeats.

I have read that line as "make best use of your time".
I don't think that is inconsistent with taking time out for yourself or to meditate.

I like to read it in context with the next line, but my least favourite line is the final one, which is too corny and spoils the whole poem for me.

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

dna_leri

I was back doing 300's on the track on Thursday. Plan was 3x300m at "best effort" with full recovery. If I were training for 400m, I would expect to be doing these in around 42s. I knew they would not be that good. Again the track was wet but other than that an ok evening for running. This time I wore my ASICS training spikes.

I did a couple of 100m strides first to try and get tuned into the pace - they were both 15.x so I needed to push a bit harder. The first 300 was 44.8s - not too bad. However I realised that I had not really got into sprinting mechanics on that one. Last year I did a 12.8s 100m so I needed to tap into that speed and technique. For the next one, I concentrated on driving up the first 100m, leaning into the bend and relaxing up the straight. I did the first two parts ok to give 44.2s. I would have liked the last one to be quicker again but this was not to be with 44.4s - so all roughly the same, give or take timing errors.

Average was 44.5s which is 5% quicker than target 800m pace - about right and good prep for a fast race start. Recoveries were all 8 mins as planned. I could feel some muscles ache afterwards that I have not used in a while.

dna_leri

I was back to 10x400m at 1500m pace (72s) off short recovery (90s) this week. It was cold but conditions were reasonably good - no wind or rain, although the track never seems to be dry now. I was on my own but with a few other groups on the track I was able to use them as rabbits occasionally and let pull me along to a faster pace.

The reps went as follows:
72.3, 71.5, 72.6, 70.0, 72.2, 72.4, 71.1, 70.9, 69.9, 71.3
I was happy with the consistency, with the first half faster than the second lot.
[For the stats geeks, the overall standard deviation was less than 1s!]
For the recoveries (average 91s), I just walked about, except for the last one where I hung over the fence for 5 extra secs.

I kept telling myself "just do 8". When I got to 8, "just one more, and then the last one". The 9th one was a bit fast and I had nothing left for the last one when a bear jumped on my back down the home straight, but I got there. They say you should finish an interval session feeling like you could do one more, I'm afraid I broke that rule.

I did a similar session to this two weeks ago but in the windy conditions, feeling a bit tired, I only finished 8 reps. When I tried it last Summer, I was doing 10 reps in 72-73s with recoveries up at 2 mins by the end. Since then I feel I have gained strength and it's starting to show.

Speedy44

Nice going DNA.
Did a session of 4's last night also. Weather was shi*e, rain & cold, and there must have been about 70 people up there, so trying to dodge them was a workout in itself!
Session was 16 x 400m off 30secs;
Splits were: 80, 82, 81, 81, 82, 81, 82, 82, 81, 82, 83, 82, 83, 82, 82, 77.
Like you, I got to 8 and then it was one at a time. Was working with 2 other lads so we helped each other get through it.
Fairly shattered at the end, but think I had one or 2 more in me, if pushed!

dna_leri

Speedy44 wrote: »

Nice going DNA.
Did a session of 4's last night also. Weather was shi*e, rain & cold, and there must have been about 70 people up there, so trying to dodge them was a workout in itself!
Session was 16 x 400m off 30secs;
Splits were: 80, 82, 81, 81, 82, 81, 82, 82, 81, 82, 83, 82, 83, 82, 82, 77.
Like you, I got to 8 and then it was one at a time. Was working with 2 other lads so we helped each other get through it.
Fairly shattered at the end, but think I had one or 2 more in me, if pushed!

Although they look similar its amazing how reducing the recovery and increasing the number of reps makes it a whole different session.

Are you planning on going to Athlone, will you do 3K or 1500 ?

Speedy44

dna_leri wrote: »

Although they look similar its amazing how reducing the recovery and increasing the number of reps makes it a whole different session.

Are you planning on going to Athlone, will you do 3K or 1500 ?

think I'm going to pass on it. Picked up a chest infection just before the New Year, actually dropped out of a 5K on New Years Day after 2k! Was able to run easy but anytime I tried to increase the pace I'd start coughing. Finally went to the doc on Fri and got on a course of antibiotics. Last night was the first good session I had done in about 3 weeks, so I wouldn't be ready for the Indoors. Was going to do the 3000m, but it wasn't really a majot target, was more or less using it to test where I'm at, and because I've never ran indoors before.

dna_leri

Speedy44 wrote: »

think I'm going to pass on it. Picked up a chest infection just before the New Year, actually dropped out of a 5K on New Years Day after 2k! Was able to run easy but anytime I tried to increase the pace I'd start coughing. Finally went to the doc on Fri and got on a course of antibiotics. Last night was the first good session I had done in about 3 weeks, so I wouldn't be ready for the Indoors. Was going to do the 3000m, but it wasn't really a majot target, was more or less using it to test where I'm at, and because I've never ran indoors before.

That's a pity, should be a good event and a good entry list. Still not too late, if the next couple of weeks go well.

Looking forward to the new facility myself.

dna_leri

Plan was for 3-4x400m at 800m pace with 4 min recovery.

Although the heavy rain had not started, the wind had picked up and I could see a misty rain in the track floodlights. I was the only idiot on the track so I knew the lights would not last long. I still did a good warm-up with drills but I could feel Tuesday's session in my legs and I knew this would be a struggle.

The first one was just under 62s - good.
I took 4.5 minutes to recover and decided that 3 reps would be enough.
The next was 64.7s - tough.
Then 5 minute recovery and the last one just under 65s.

Each one felt similar to the last rep of my 10x400m earlier in the week with the wind in my face.
There was a big drop-off in times from the 1st to the 2nd but at least I held it for the 3rd.
If I were feeling fresh, I would hoped to be around 62 for all of them.
In May I did 4x400m in average 65, off the back of a 10x400 two days before, so not that different.

dna_leri

Saturday as usual was weights and core - regular session includes front squat, dead-lift, single-leg deadlift, over-head press. I have been feeling some pain in middle of my back the last few weeks so I avoided the split-squats this time, which I may have been doing badly and did some weighted lunges instead. It was later in the evening before I got to finish with a set of planks, crunches and stretching.

I did my Sunday long run as a progression run. Three laps each of 6.9 km - first one in average 4:45 /km, 2nd was 4:32 pace and finished with 4:18 pace - all run by feel. Nothing too stressful but tougher than the usual easy long run and still over 90 mins. As expected I could also feel yesterday's workout in my legs.

Later on I ran 2 miles with my son as a shakeout for him and recovery run pace for me. A few light weights and some planks afterwards for both of us is enough for me to call it my first double of the year.

dna_leri

I had planned a session of split 700s at race pace for Tuesday but when I got to the track I decided to swap with my Thursday session. Thursday's plan had been 10-12 x200m at 800m pace with 2 min recovery, which should not be too stressful but still a good workout.

The inside lane of the track was frozen and also in places where water lay. In flats it was lethal but in spikes, I reckoned I could manage 200s in one of the outer lanes. If I felt any slippiness I was going to quit as the last thing I needed was to end up with something broken or pulled. I was the only one brave (or stupid) enough to use the track as the main group moved to grass.

I drove out from a standing start but did not push it around the bend. Once I got into the straight I felt a bit more confident to pick it up. I did the first one in just under 31s then eased a little.
The full sequence was: 30.9, 31.8, 31.1, 31.3, 31.2, 31.9, 31.6, 31.2, 31.2, 30.3

Other than the first and last ones, the consistency was good to give an average 31.2s and an 800m pace of 2:04.98. I know my hand timing is not that accurate but that would be perfect race pace if I could string 4 of them together without a break! The lights went out after 8 reps so I finished after 10. It's bad enough running on ice without doing it in the dark as well and I had done well to stay on my feet that long.

On Thursday I will try to pick up my original Tuesday session again.

dna_leri

Yesterday I went back to the original plan for Tuesday: 500m at 800m pace (78-82s), jog 100m, then 200m at best effort; take full recovery and repeat. Weather conditions were improved - no ice or rain though there was a slight headwind in the home straight.

The first 500m was 77.7s (good), I jogged 100m in 67s (it's amazing how slowly you can jog 100m when needed) and did the 200 in 31.7s.
The second was 81.9s, 79s jog, 33.1s for 200m. The recovery between sets was almost 10 min.
The first set was dead right pace-wise (2:05.0 for 800) but the 2nd set was off.

I did this session twice last year in July and August. Yesterday's times were between the two previous attempts which were both on fine sunny days, though both my 200m times were slower this time, showing I just don't have the speed right now, yet. I'll do a bit more work on that.

dna_leri

Sunday's long run was a bit shorter this week, around 75 mins but included 12 pick-ups. Pick-ups were short sprints on varying degrees of uphill, about 60-80m high effort.

Plan for Tuesday was 2x600m at 800m race pace with full recovery.
With strong winds gusting across the track I decided not to worry too much about times and focus on the effort.

I started with 2x100m to try to get into the right pace and then did the first 600m in flats in 1:38.1. For recovery I took almost 12 mins walk/jogging and then put on my racing spikes for the first time since last summer. They felt nice and light and no doubt helped. I could feel myself being pushed sideways across the track on the second straight, finishing in 1:39.3, though it felt slower.

I ended with 4x60-80m build-ups on the bend. I could feel my calves tightening during these but I knew it was only lactic build up and ran through it. These were not timed but it was more about running fast when tired or at least trying to. Afterwards I could feel the burn in the back of my throat and that strange metallic taste in my mouth that you usually get after a race. Although the 6's were only an average pace of 2:11.6 for 800m (I said I was not going to focus on times) it was a good workout 10 days before a target race.