6 x 1000m

Another session skipped on Wednesday due to work commitments so I headed out on Thursday morning with dread for what I find to be one of the hardest interval sessions: 6 x 1000m off 300m recovery. I can really admit that I wasn't looking forward to this session at all but I also know how much good it does and I was eager to see what I could manage on my recent form.

Due to the lack of time before having to head off to work and the fact that the intervals need 7.5 km to be completed, I decided that I could only manage 1km of warm-up before setting off. Luckily, it has been really fantastic weather-wise here in Paris recently and we're only now enjoying the summer that we didn't have in July. So no excuses on the weather front with a perfect 12°C and cloudless skies. I ran down to the Seine and all too soon set off on the first interval.

With the interval training function on the garmin I'm not able to see what speed I'm running and I do all of my analysis back at the house when the session is over. I set off at what I felt was a fast pace by the river, concentrating on turning my legs over as quickly as possible and shortening my stride. Naturally, as I settle into the interval my stride lengthens and the leg turnover decreases, as my body adjusts to run as efficiently as possible saving energy for the next effort.

I finished the 6 intervals and told myself that even if I hadn't beaten my best times, I was unable to run any faster by myself. The lactic had hit hard in the last interval and when this ended I had to walk to recover, incapable even of jogging for 20 seconds.

Pleased when I got back to see the results:

3:43, 3:45, 3:38, 3:39, 3:40, 3:41

with every recovery under 2 minutes between intervals.

10.7 km all up in 48 minutes or an average of 4:30 for the session.