Body Slump
08:42 4.5 miles 36:53
8 x 0.25miles with 1.5 minute recoveries.
1 1:32 (6:11 pace) 2 1:44 (6:57 pace) 3 1:38 (6:34 pace) 4 1:28 (5:55 pace) 5 1:43 (6:55 pace) 6 1:24 (5:37 pace) 7 1:26 (5:45 pace) 8 1:25 (5:44 pace)
Weather report for my run this morning… surprise surprise, wet and windy! And how was the rest of the day? Sunny and dry… welcome to my world!
I was supposed to run last night but I couldn’t face it. I really feel like last weekends efforts have knocked me for six (does that saying originate from cricket?) and I’m struggling to recover. I’ve eaten loads, but have lost weight, and I’m not getting enough sleep. Largely as (and this is a good thing) I’ve been really busy with work this week. So when I arrived at the gym last night I was shattered. There were Ranger’s fans everywhere, which also put me off. I’m not as tough as Debs who runs down Paisley Road West on a European night and picks fights by knocking mobile phones out of peoples hands!
So, I opted to do Body Pump instead. I kept my weights high, even increasing them for the squat track, and worked really hard. I felt so much better afterwards, that I almost went for a run. In the end I saw sense and decided to leave it till this morning. I think half my problem this week is the taper phase of my training. It leaves me so lethargic, we all know that I don’t do rest days!
So I dragged my tired backside out of bed this morning, grabbed a quick bite, and headed out. As always, I had the worst of the day! I was keen to try and make this a quality speed session but I struggled throughout. I know my legs are still tired, but I also know I’m not good early doors without having had much breakfast. So I struggled. I actually felt OK on my warm up mile, but once I started trying to pick the pace up I was tiring early, and you can see from my splits, I really wasn’t on great form (that’s why I’ve put my splits on here. They show how badly I started, and should remind me to just have a lie-in next time!). Once the hills were out of the way, and I’d woken up, I started to improve. The last three splits are much more like it. I miscounted, at the end and attempted to do a ninth split, running as fast as I could for going on a minute before I realised my GPS was on cool-down mode. It was going to be the best split of all time too?!?!?
Still session over, I’m pleased it’s done. Taper time is the time to reduce training quantity, but not quality, i.e. not an excuse to totally slack off! I’m still concerned about London. I now have just over a week to get myself feeling fresh. I’m due a ten mile run at race pace on Saturday or Sunday, so we’ll see how that goes. I’m hoping to catch up on some sleep over the next couple of days. I might even try and lie-in past 07:30! Let’s just hope it’s a quiet one for our new noisy neighbors this weekend!
According to Pete Tong on the radio next to me, ‘the weekend has landed’. Where has it been? On holiday? To the moon? I’m just not down with this, clubbin’, dance, electro, hardhouse, drum ‘n’ bass, gangsta, hardcore speak that the kids use these days. So, I’ll translate it to the best of my abilities as, ‘happy weekend folks!’
