Horrid Track Session

Tuesday 22nd April

Track session tonight, 8 * 500m, one group, 3 minutes off the lead runner. On the face of it, this should be easy, just 4km (2.5 miles) of running. What made it tough for me was the pyschological part. None of the people who run in group 3 with me were there, which meant it was a certainty I was going to finish last on all of the reps. All the people there were either track athletes, or very good 5k or 10k runners.

I was hopelessly out of my depth. On most of the reps I was a good 50m behind the next slowest runner. Most of the other athletes were walking back to the start line when I was running my last 100m.

Still, it was a good session for me, and I managed all the reps and pushed myself hard, to the point where I felt I was going to pass out at one stage. It doesn't bother me finishing last, I know I'm not the slowest runner in the world and these sessions are obviously working for me. I could leave with my head held high.

What was a worry though, was that my left heel was hurting during the session, and for once I had the good sense to put some ice on it when I got home.

Wednesday 23rd April

Today was my trip to see the musical "Hairspray" in London (an event I had organised!) so I booked a later train to make sure I could fit in a run in the morning. I opted to do hill reps in the end, a bit of a silly risk, but the heel felt a bit better and I need to put in this kind of session regularly. And it was a lovely day to be outside.

Jog out to the ridge, 10 hill reps, run up, jog down, then a 5 minute jog out to Lydiard, then another set of 10. Jog back to the gym. I wasn't able to push as hard as I would have liked, but I'm definitely getting faster going up that hill.

Thursday 24th April

The heel is fine now, and I want it to stay that way for the Corsham 10k on Sunday, so I didn't risk running. Instead I did RPM and then did some core work, which felt good. Need to do these exercises more frequently.