Making It Up As I Go Along

I arrived at the track this evening with no specific plan other than I was going to do some speed.

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I warmed up with Denis - he was aiming for 800s but probably at a slightly slower pace than would benefit me. We stretched with the rest of the club members that turned up. Those training for Ballycotton appeared to be doing the same 200s as last week. Niamh Roe said she was doing 8x 400s (with 400 recoveries) but that she would be taking them easy - about 81/82 seconds (compared to her 72's last week). I thought quickly that that pace was closest to what my 400 interval pace should be (around 85+ seconds) although the recoveries would be longer than what is prescribed so I said i'd join her and get pulled along behind. We used lane 2 as there was water ponding in places in lane 1.

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The first 400 went by in 83- "ok but if this is not my Interval pace will I pay for it later - should I ease up a little"

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The 400 recovery was approximately twice the time (165 seconds) so I was fairly refreshed before heading into each fast 400, which probably helped with the faster pace. The first 4 went by with Niamh finishing a yard or 2 in front with the times 83, 82, 84 & 81. During the 5th 400 Niamh began to pull that bit further away from me finishing a few seconds ahead of me..........

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"that's it, the pace is too fast for me to maintain for the full 8, i'm slowing down"

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However Mr Garmin showed 81 for the lap. "You must have been doing 78/79 I said to Niamh" and sure enough she admitted to going a bit faster. It's probably hard to control pace when taking it easy!!! Just ask Brendan.

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The remaining laps were similar with Niamh finishing 2 or 3 seconds in front but my times were consistent enough at 80, 82 & 82 seconds. Not a bad workout.

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I warmed down with Niamh and Paul. Paul had been doing 1600s with 400 recoveries in preparation for Ballycotton. I should be doing similar work but I need the shorter intervals first before I can face 2 or more fast laps. Anyway Ballycotton is not my main event. He was covering the 1600s in 5:45 to 5:55, which, while a little on the fast side for me, would be good training.

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The comments on my last post are very much appreciated and I take solace from the fact that my current thinking is no different to that expressed by Mike and Rick. There are so many training paces that the lines between them blur, particularly when so many variables are at play (weather, time of day, sleep, environment, wellbeing etc.) and Ricks comment that the last interval should be as fast as the first rang very true this evening.

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Have a good week and best of luck to Niamh in the national novice cross country (I think I got it right) in Dublin on Sunday.

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Mon 9th Feb

a.m. 9.54 miles in 01:15:39 (7:56 pace @ battery packed up on HR monitor)

p.m. 2.5 miles in 19:51 (07:56 pace)

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Tue 10th Feb

1,500m swim at lunch.

6.74 miles in 57:16 (08:30 pace) with 8 x 408m (lane 2) in 81 to 84 seconds.