3 x 3000m

I rolled up at the club tonight relaxed and ready to go. I was back home early from Stockholm and for oce, was able to share the car with Laurence and turn up at the club together. The weather was good, there was a good turnout and I was happy to be running.

I didn't know what I was going to do at the session and Miguel was proposing some 30/30s which were not very appealing having done my 200m intervals earlier in the week. Laurence and the trailers were off to Joyenval golf club to run the circuit there and I was interested in this too which left Nico and his proposal to run some track. I was quite keen on running intervals at the track but I was looking for something over 1000m and he wanted to run 500m. I didn't have to choose immediately so I set off on the warm up with Nico, Gérald, Bruno, Fred, Momo, François, even Eric et al.

A small group of us headed back tot he track after a few kilometres in the forest and lined up at the track. Momo was running 1000m intervals and Nico was running with him for 500m on each one. Eric was running 2x4k then 2k whereas Fred was running 3x3000m for his marathon training. I chose to run with Fred who has a very similar pace to mine. His plan was to run 12:10 for the first interval and then just under 12:00 for the next 2. I agreed and said that I would tuck in behind him.

I felt good from the start and as soon as we'd sorted the pace out, I ran to the front and took the lead. In fact, I felt excellent all of the way round and the pace felt comfortable if not easy.

The first 2 intervals went by in 11:49 then 11:39 so we were well under target. We set off on the last interval and encouraged Nico to join us which he did after the first kilometre to run the last 2 with us around the track. The pace was steady and I still tought that I had some reserves so I pushed the final lap with a burst at 300m to go. Nico and I finished together on this one in 10:58. Suffice to say that I was chuffed to bits. Gérald announced at the end of the session that he was back in shape and that Nico and I should be worried. I'll believe it when I see it ;)

16.4 km all up in 1:19 or an average of 4:49 for the evening. A great session that's really boosted my confidence for the next few races.