The long and the short of it.

This week I've swapped the hills and fartleks for short (400m) and long (mile) intervals. This will be my lot for the next 4 weeks. Tuesday's at the track churning out 400m reps @ 3k pace (05:48) and thursdays on the road with mile repetitions @ 10k pace (06:18) ouch. Monday was a 6.7 mile recovery run from sunday's race. Tuesday evening at the track was 10 x 400m reps with 3 min active recoveries, between 1.5 mile warm-up and warm-down. As I was running in lane 3 I was aiming for between 87 and 90 seconds for the lap (416 m). The reps went according to plan except for the first which saw me pass the 200m mark in 38 secs......... waaaaay too fast. The recoveries lasted as long as it took me to jog a lap in the outer lanes, avoiding other runners and holding back on the start of the next rep, where necessary, so that I didn't run into the back of others doing longer slower reps. 82 (159HR) - 2:42R 88 (156HR) - 2:36R 89 (156HR) - 2:38R 89 (159HR) - 2:37R 88 (148HR) - 2:43R - HR anomaly 87 (156HR) - 2:50R 89 (153HR) - 2:42R 87 (157HR) - 2:41R 88 (153HR) - 2:41R 86 (155HR) Wednesday morning was a slow recovery run as the legs were heavy from the track session. This morning saw me head out for 3 x 1 mile intervals with 2 min active recoveries and 2 mile warm-up/cooldown. As the recorded distance on my Polar running watch seems to vary with pace (the faster I go the more it under records) it is unreliable for measuring out mile reps. Instead I measured out a mile on google earth between two landmarks on the "straight road" - from Inchagaggin Lane (City Limits) to the forecourt of the Nissan Garage. I was tired getting out of bed at 0530hrs but as I was awake running was a better use of my time than staring at the ceiling. The temperature was hovering just below freezing (-1C) but the roads were dry. Following the short drive to the Lee Fields car park on the "stratght road" I warmup over two miles turning at Inchagaggin lane and heading into my first rep. Without relying on my watch I ran by feel counting out my strides knowing that @ 100 per minute at this pace I would need to count 600+ before the end would be in sight. I needed something to do as looking at the long never-ending straight in front of me would have slowly done my head in. Mile 1 in 06:18 - spot on. 2 min slow jog (1 min out and back) and I headed into mile 2 back out to Inchagaggin Lane. The cold breeze was against me but I kept to counting down my strides and finished Mile 2 in 06:13. I paid for this by walking my 2(:14) min recovery and headed into the last mile with a feeling that I wouldn't last the pace (Brain talk) - but I kept counting out my strides and eventually the end was in sight and I stopped the watch at 06:12. Over the next 2 weeks I have to add a mile a week to this session so I'll have to make sure I don't over do the early miles if I want to complete them all. Next month's programme calls for similar miles (up to 5.5 miles) @ 10k pace but without the recoveries - sadistic programme if you ask me - one step at a time. Mon 11th Feb 6.7 Miles in 56:57 (08:30 pace @ 123 HR) Tue 12th Feb 7.9 Miles in 01:03:39 (08:03 pace @ 138 HR) with 10 x 400m @ 05:48 pace Wed 13th Feb 8.6 Miles in 01:14;04 (08:37 pace @ 121 HR) 2.5 Miles in 19:45 (07:54 pace @ 134 HR) - treadmill Thu 14th Feb 7.3 Miles in 57:37 (07:54 pace @ 138 HR) with 3 x 1 Mile @ 06:12-06:18 pace Happy running & valentines.