Sometimes you forget...

... just how damn tough K reps are!

I did my first k session in probably over a year - in previous years these have been my absolute staples. When I can do a session of 8 x k off a minute hard then I know things are going well - at times it has been "my" session.

Thursday night I returned to the fold with a couple of little twists from the past.

- Firstly I did them on the road. This was WEIRD. Nothing to gauge my progress. Not being totally sure how much was left (albeit on an approximately measured road straight) of each rep. It felt really weird.
- Secondly I've rarely left it so long before doing any sort of speedwork and never been in this sort of shape pre-speedwork. Usually when I can bash out a really good set I'm in sub 33 shape but I've never started doing them when already in sub 33 shape
- Finally I was doing them after a hard days work, late at night, on my own. Always a tough one.

So - how'd they go? At first I was annoyed but I can see the plus points now. The session was 5 x k off of 90 secs. The times came out at 3:15,04,06,06,02. I might have been able to run faster for the last one but I'm sure I gunned it out of the blocks way too hard.

That's some way off the best I've ever done this sort of session but I'm not too annoyed now. Generally I see big improvements on a weekly basis doing these sessions. Seconds per lap. If I could be running a similar session at 3:00 or better I'd be quite happy and I think that'll happen soonish. It also confirms that I'm running quite decently whilst still utterly unfit from an aerobic capacity point of view (though my anaerobic conditioning and aerobic conditioning are both solid).

This was also backed up by the way I felt during the reps. Usually during these sessions it's my calves which are killing me and limiting me by the end. For the first time in years it was my lungs! Clearly the work at strengthening the body has helped to a decent degree and aerobic capacity tends to come fairly quickly for me.

Anyways - some optimism going forward I hope! I've now entered my peaking phase unfortunately probably a little bit late for Reading but hopefully I'll be able to race successfully the second half of March and then look at returning to the miles and LT stuff for a bit before hitting the speed again for 5-6 weeks and bashing out a good 5/10k. By the time that's done it'll be marathon build up again!

Run on friends.

B