Not 8x800m

I went to bed on Wednesday night telling Laurence that I had to do some more interval sessions. Since the marathon training, I've been taking it a little easy and I've put on a little weight and the mere thought of a fast interval session is enough to bring on a panic attack. I thought that if I told Laurence about my intentions then it would be some moral pressure on me to do what I had committed to. Laurence did an 8x800m session on Tuesday night with the club, so I thought that I would do the same Thursday morning by myself; at 6:00am; in the dark; after very little sleep; having worked very hard recently.

OK it never happened. I woke up at 6:00am to the sound of the alarm, got out of bed, looked at my running kit lying on the floor before me and instantly wished I was somewhere else - like back in bed! Despite the dark and the cold, I was strong enough mentally to pull on my kit and head out of the door, but my willpower stopped here. No way was I in any fit state to run 800m intervals this morning: my legs ached; my eyes were barely open; and I was still exhausted.

I just ran out of the house and around the usual route, turning the legs over and just telling myself how brave and courageous I was just to have made it out of the house. There are days like this, when your body tells you it's had enough and I wasn't going to argue.

As usual of late, I began to perk up after about 6km when I made it into the park at Maisons Laffitte. I love this section as you come off the road and run along the gravel paths parallel to the road, which is a huge relief to your legs and feet. I decided to make the most of this by running a large loop around the park before heading back out and up to the church in Le Mesnil. I was feeling a whole lot better now and carried on to the townhall and then back along the road to home.

13.7km all up in 1:02 or an average of 4:40 per km. The intervals will just have to wait until another day.