Maxing out

Well it was always going to be hard, especially after everyone having taken it very easily on Tuesday, but Miguel planned a real devil of a session: 1000m fast, 2000m, 2000m, 800m fast off 300m recoveries.

We ran the warm-up around the usual route in St Germain and headed back to the track for the hard stuff. Laurence and Nick were there along with the fastest runners: Jean-Marc, Thierry, Bruno and Miguel.

We set off on the 1km course and I went for it as though it was a race. The others didn't understand and took it easily at first, following me around the first 400m. Miguel and Jean-Marc went past then and I tried to follow but they put a few metres on me over the next 400m and it was over the last 200m that I put on a burst and finished the 1000m in 3:16. I was shattered, having given everything.

Miguel then told me that we'd run the next 2km at 3:30 pace. I told him that I couldn't and he replied that that was 15 seconds per kilometre slower than we'd just run. They set off, Miguel, Jean-Marc and Thierry, but I couldn't follow. I dropped off after 200m and tried to find a comfortable pace to finish. I managed the 2km in 7:30 precisely.

The second 2km was even harder mentally to envisage. I could feel my legs tightening from the beginning with the lactate levels rising. I just found a cruising pace and forced myself to keep running despite the fatigue. Bruno went ahead of me here and I just hang on to him overtaking him over the last 200m to finish a couple of seconds ahead of him. This one was slower again though and I only managed 7:40 for the 2km.

This was when I found out that there was still another 800m interval to run. Completely spent now, I walked, crawled the recovery and set off for another 2 laps. I couldn't stay with Bruno or Thierry on this one though and just hang on as best I could to finish in around 2:50.

Very hard but satisfying session: 12km all up.