Coaxed Eights

[OutAlongTheRiver]

A key part of this training schedule to get under 2 hours for the HM (and to do so feeling the 2hr mark is easily within grasp) is to do repeat fast intervals midweek. Today's involved 1k run at 5:20 per k, repeated 8 times with 30s recovery between each km. And a 3k warm up and cool down.

Squeezing this into a working day - especially while trains on strike - is not easy. But with HM just 3 weeks away, I needed to get it done. So dodging London traffic to get to Hyde Park for the 1k repeats, I set out over lunch.

I have to keep telling myself that slow really does mean slow - and I almost trudge through the Soho streets as they merge into Mayfair and thence Hyde Park.

I reckon that around 2/3rds the full length of HP is just over 1k and as the RK interval beep sounds, I switch to 90pbm leg pace to see if I'm at or about 5:10k pace (since I like to edge it over the RK requirement).

And I realise that even slight slopes throw me off - since the little up hill going west slows me to 5:30. And when I come back the other way I easily make it just under 5mins.

Accepting that, I realise that this is (as ever) mainly psychological - since my times per k follows a characteristic dip, as I struggle over the middle 2k and yet the last 2k I run 20s faster 'cos they're the last ones. Obvs.

Hey ho - but I finish feeling good and the last slow 2 miles dodging around the Soho streets are a sweaty breeze.

[glaconman]

Good work on the intervals Rob. These kind of efforts will absolutely get you to where you want to be. I guess part of the problem is trying to make them abit more appealing. I used to do intervals around a cricket pitch at lunchtime. And the naked-truth about doing them on your own can be off-putting.

So a big well-done on motivation.

Most people do alot better when they're doing this kind of thing in a group. The Twitten group in Lewes is a case in point. I tend to do intervals only at the running club now. We do mile and half-mile reps on the road. Or 200 - 800 reps on the track. If you can find somebody at your pace then shoulder-to-shoulder running seems to pull you along. It feels like some bizarre law of physics at work.

Good luck with the upcoming race. Hopefully you'll be disciplined with your pace and get the time you want.

[Charliecat5]

I agree with Glaconman about doing this kind of thing in a group. Rob and I both do track sessions with the club for this very reason, it makes that feeling of 'I'm about to be sick' all the more fun. The Twitten Runs do a similar thing. Interestingly, I recorded my pace on the Twittens last week (the up hills, not the down) and we are running quicker up these bastards than we do on the track. No wonder I feel buggered at the end of them.

Joy of joys - my club run on Tuesday evening did the Twittens - that's twice in one week!

Tonight I am away but planning a run - the aim is to do some interval work. It's going to be tough on a dark, wet night in Derbyshire on my own.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Yep, reps will do it. You don't have to get to the 'I'm about to be sick' stage to go sub-2hr though ... I think Charlie's just mixing it with the drinks a tad much.

Hmm, drinks ...

[OutAlongTheRiver]

Thanks! Yes - I find things significantly more easy (ie less hard) when I'm in group and trying to stay in touch with/ahead of the pack. Actually the shock of being in a larger group on an event is surprising - since it adds a new dynamic.

With continuing train strikes I've missed another day's training this week. Hmmm ...

Maybe I need to be philosophical.

[El Gordo]

.......Squeezing this into a working day - especially while trains on strike - is not easy. But with HM just 3 weeks away, I needed to get it done. So dodging London traffic to get to Hyde Park for the 1k repeats, I set out over lunch.

I have to keep telling myself that slow really does mean slow - and I almost trudge through the Soho streets as they merge into Mayfair and thence Hyde Park...... Hey ho - but I finish feeling good and the last slow 2 miles dodging around the Soho streets are a sweaty breeze.

Ah! Great to see central London figuring in running reports. Rob -- I'm sure you're aware of the famous "Serpies" running club -- http://www.serpentine.org.uk/. They are huge and have a lively social scene. If you think you may need motivation, particularly as the nights close in, and the deadly, clammy pea-soupers smother the city*, the Serpies could be one answer. They do a lot of different runs to cater for all levels / distances.

-------
* That's for the benefit of non-Londoners who've watched too many Sherlock Holmes movies.

[OutAlongTheRiver]

Thanks - I didn't know about the Serpies, so that's v interesting to see.

[OutAlongTheRiver]

Just looked at their website and their kit is strikingly similar to Lewes AC: red with yellow stripes - Lewes has single, and they have a double. Good omen!

[El Gordo]

Just looked at their website and their kit is strikingly similar to Lewes AC: red with yellow stripes - Lewes has single, and they have a double. Good omen!

There used to be an article on there (still on there, just checked) --  --http://www.serpentine.org.uk/pages/beginners_jw_lm.html -- by Julie Welch that had a major influence on me when I was starting out. It may even have made me start out -- I can't recall. Not everyone finds pleasure in her book, "26.2", but that, and the article mentioned did, actually, really, honestly, truly change my life.

[glaconman]

The first thing I thought of when Hyde Park was mentioned was Serpentine RC.. But when I went onto their website to check training sessions there seems to be nothing in the park itself midweek.

http://www.serpentine.org.uk/pages/diary.html

Although there is a session on Saturday morning.

http://www.serpentine.org.uk/pages/train...n_sat.html

I suspect their growth over the years has created a club that's spread throughout the city.

[marathondan]

There used to be an article on there (still on there, just checked) --  --http://www.serpentine.org.uk/pages/beginners_jw_lm.html -- by Julie Welch that had a major influence on me when I was starting out. It may even have made me start out -- I can't recall. Not everyone finds pleasure in her book, "26.2", but that, and the article mentioned did, actually, really, honestly, truly change my life.

It bears re-reading. Again. As well as inspiring you to run, did she inspire you to write? I can see your style in there, as well as your running life.

[El Gordo]

There used to be an article on there (still on there, just checked) --  --http://www.serpentine.org.uk/pages/beginners_jw_lm.html -- by Julie Welch that had a major influence on me when I was starting out. It may even have made me start out -- I can't recall. Not everyone finds pleasure in her book, "26.2", but that, and the article mentioned did, actually, really, honestly, truly change my life.

It bears re-reading. Again. As well as inspiring you to run, did she inspire you to write? I can see your style in there, as well as your running life.

Hmm. Good question, Dan. I just reread it for the first time in years (and before reading your question). All the way through, I'm thinking 'Oh dear, so that's where I got  that phrase/perspective/sensation from'. Many of us find there's some unexplained link between running and creativity, and particularly writing. One urge feeds the other. So I wouldn't try to force Julie Welch to take the writing rap. But there certainly seems to be elements of her style in mine (or vice versa, I suppose), though she does it much better. I think what moved me so much about her writing (even more than I'd realised until now) is that striking quality of wistfulness. It wasn't, I'm certain, a case of copying her style, but of realising that we shared the same sort of melancholy ruefulness about our limitations. All rather benign, fortunately; an acceptance that it won't ever happen for us, but that having a go would be an interesting diversion.

[Sweder]

That's a seriously dangerous post to revisit, more so for us retired marathonaholics. The realisation that time really doesn't matter, even though you convinced yourself it did. That it's the all-too-personal mental and physical challenge, the introspective battle, irrespective of pace or finishing demeanour, that feeds the desperate runner's soul.

Get thee behind me, Satan. It's all I can do to get out the door just now.

[marathondan]

All rather benign, fortunately; an acceptance that it won't ever happen for us, but that having a go would be an interesting diversion.

Ah, but it did happen, for both of you. Maybe not a specific goal, but there was certainly a lot of happening going on. Wist and rue yes, but also immense joy from time to time. And I gather there will be more to come, next January.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Gah! Julie Welch ... she makes me want to run, and I don't effing know why. As she says herself, it's inexpressible. Gah!

[El Gordo]

All rather benign, fortunately; an acceptance that it won't ever happen for us, but that having a go would be an interesting diversion.

Ah, but it did happen, for both of you. Maybe not a specific goal, but there was certainly a lot of happening going on. Wist and rue yes, but also immense joy from time to time. And I gather there will be more to come, next January.

Yes, it did. Thanks. You're right.

As for January..... no wait. OutAlongTheRiver has suffered enough. This hijacking must stop. I'll continue this on the Almeria thread.