Club session

Due to the bank holiday, the Tuesday club session was at 9:00am this morning. Laurence and I headed out for the clubhouse with the missus intending to do a 12', 10', 8' workout at threshold pace while I was aiming for Miguel's session of 12 x 1'/1'. All in all, I preferred the VO2 Max session to the threshold anyday.

There was a reasonable turnout and all Laurence's running partners were there: Sandra, Katia, Stéphanie, Muriel, etc. She was going to be in good company. On the blokes side Nico and Ylies were there along with Momo, Anis (back from Boston), Jean-Marc and Bruno. I decided there and then that I wasn't going to kill myself today, especially after yesterday's efforts.

I almost changed my mind about the whole affair as I ran the warm-up. My right knee started playing up and every stride felt awkward and painful. It was if the joint was misaligned and jarring every time I put my foot down and I wondered if I'd be able to run at all. We got to the Charmilles park in Poissy where the session was to begin. I thought that I would run with Bruno as I couldn't see myself staying, or even attempting to get close to Nico today. However, this was harder than I thought it would be.

Bruno has been improving rapidly after a couple of half-marathons and having come back from injury. I thought that I was taking a soft option but I soon discovered that the difference between us today is minimal. I lacked the pace to make the difference and the motivation to push myself hard. The only spots surprisingly where I got the upper hand was on the slight uphill sections. Who'd have believed it?

Jogged back to the clubhouse with Nico and pushed the pace at the end, running in at 15km/h. 13.6 km all up in 1:11 or 5:15 / km. Good day and far too warm for an over-jacket. Spring temperatures have finally arrived.

Decided on the basis of these last 2 days that I'd take part in the ekiden on Sunday. Will probably run a 10km leg with Bruno running the other. The objective is to qualify the vets team in a time under 2:50 with a realistic objective of 2:45. Could do better but the seniors have pinched our 2 best vets - slackers!