Track session

Well all I can say is that I was responsible for none of this - not one little bit.

It was part of Nico's plans for the long weekend to run every day over the bank holiday weekend and to get some quality training in. Jean-Marc came up with the suggestion for the training for the day. It was to be a track session involving reps of 400m, 500m, 600m x 3 off 1' recovery and 3' between the blocks. Then nico suggested that instead of getting up early, we start this track session at 11:00am.

I was in the car with Nico, heading to the track, wondering why I was going to run in bright sunlight at the warmest time of the day with 2 of the faster members of the club, both of whom are almost 10 years younger than me. My masochistic tendencies always lose out to reason when it's too late and I'm already committed.

We saw Damaso and Roger at the club who'd just finished their track session. They're at least 20 years older than me and I regretted not having run along with them. I'm sure it would have been more fun than this was going to be. Anyway, too late, Jean-Marc turned up spot on time and all three of us headed out towards the forest for the warm-up.

It was a typical Nico and James warm-up: 5:00, 4:27, 4:12, 4:02 (and I jogged the last 100 metres). Jean-Marc was being reasonable and he let us go after the first 1.5km, catching us up at the track. It felt even hotter than before now and after a quick slurp of water, we all set off.

I managed to just about hold on for the first 400m with Nico finishing a second before me and Jean-Marc just ahead. A quick look at the Garmin: 1:13 - no doubt about it, this was going to be a quick session.We jogged back a 100m and set off for the 500m. Same fnishing order with a slightly bigger gap between Nico and Jean-Marc who finished alongside each other and me a few metres behind in 1:35. Then finally the 600m where the gap was bigger still and the lactic really kicking in over the last 200m - 1:56.

It was the same story for the second block where I managed 1:14, 1:35 then 2:00 and the lactic was harder than ever. I was quietly looking forwrad to the last block if only to get it all over with and finish the session. I set off before Jean-Marc and Nico, cutting my recovery time to 2:24. The 400m went alright and then the 500m was just bearable but as I started the 600m and went around the first bend, the wind picked up and the sun beat down and I flagged mentally and pulled the plug. I was cross with myself and Nico came past to finish his series, having run them all very regularly. I'm just not ready for these VO2 max sessions yet.

12 km all up in 1:00. Tough session and I need to get back into these types of sessions if I'm to improve my speed. My endurance is there but I'm not used to pushing my heart rate so high over these track sessions.