Deja Vu

Recovery from the 10k race on Sunday has gone quite well with no interruption to my training programme. Following 8.6 recovery miles on Monday morning I headed to the track on Tuesday evening for a "mixed interval" workout - moving from the longer/slower to the shorter/faster end of the spectrum. While I set my 200m splits as if I was running in lane1 I allowed myself go over on time by a few seconds to allow for the fact that I was running in lane 3. Despite initial fatigue following the first long interval my legs recovered well so that I was able to complete the session without too much stress - however it certainly was tougher than the 1k intervals of the last 4 week training cycle. Dist, (target pace) - actual pace - HR 3,000m @ HM pace(06:30) - 06:19 - 156 1,600m @ 10k pace(06:09) - 06:04 - 159 1,000m @ 5k pace (05:56) - 05:47 - 156 800m @ 3k pace (05:40) - 05:35 - 156 As recoveries were longer than the scheduled 2 minutes (closer to 3 mins) my average HR's were relatively low. My recovery run on Wednesday morning went quite well - I'm feeling less muscle fatigue during these runs than I felt a few months ago. The second speed session of the week called for "Cruise Intervals" 2 x 3.5 miles @ HM pace (06:30). As I struggled with trying to achieve a pace of 06:30 for my 10k pace tempo runs a few weeks back I was not too concerned about keeping pace and settled for 06:50 or less if I could. So following a 2 mile warmup I set off on the first 3.5 miles keeping to a relatively flat course(Aldi in Ballincollig to the Kingsley Hotel on the Straight Road - more or less the finish point of last Sundays 10k). The pace I kept was reasonably comfortable as I was conscious of the fact that I would have to turn around and repeat the same effort after an easy 0.5 mile recovery. I reached the end of the first 3.5 miles in 24:01 (06:52 pace) a bit slower than I expected. My legs felt quite fresh during the 0.5 mile recovery and so I upped the effort slightly on the return leg, which was into a cold breeze). While the effort was harder and did involve a mild uphill past Carrigrohane I maintained a good pace and completed the 3.5 return miles in 23:24 (06:41 pace). I felt reasonably fresh during the 2 mile recovery, more so than after the faster tempo runs (06:26 - 06:36) of the previous weeks. All-in-all a good run. Mon 7th Apr 8.6 Miles in 01:11:10 (08:18 pace @ 121 HR) Tue 8th Apr 7.1 miles with Mixed Intervals of 3k, 1.6k, 1k & 0.8k @ HM, 10k, 5k & 3k pace. Wed 9th Apr 8.6 Miles in 01:08:25 (07:57 pace @ 126 HR) Thur 10th Apr 11.5 Miles in 01:24:12 (07:19 pace @ 141 HR) with 2 x 3.5 Miles @ 06:41-06:52 pace.