Day 36–Hybrid Hard Hills Session

Feeling pretty much recovered from the Folksworth 15 but mindful that the race will probably be in the system for at least a week, today was an exercise in trying to reign back the temptation to go full beans in respect of paying attention to the bigger picture.

The first run of the day was straightforward enough, done after walking the kids to school. The same 4.4 mile run as last Tuesday morning, up and around Great Gonerby hill and back. As with last week that hill up comes as a shock to the legs; once that was navigated the rest of the run felt easy in comparison.

I debated whilst picking the kids up from school whether I should do 10 steady miles at around 6:40 pace or take part in the club’s hills session, albeit not giving it 100%. In the end I opted for the latter, part of me felt my hills were a little weak on Sunday and I could do with the practice. I gave myself a strict instruction – not to give it everything and treat the right groin / abductor with caution.

So the session comprised of 3x 8x c.20 second sprints up a hill with jog down recovery and  no rest at the bottom. At the end of each set of eight reps there was eight minutes of easy paced hilly loop to run. The first rep showed that I would have no problem in not giving it 100% – the legs felt fairly lifeless and there were some keen runners around me flying up the hill. By the sixth rep I managed to feel a little better and was better again during the eight minutes of hilly loop running.

The second set of eight again saw me well down for the first few reps, but then finding myself nearer the front and then, on the eighth rep, I gave it pretty much everything, climbing the hill first and clocking the quickest rep of the night. Interestingly the right groin, which had been grumbling, didn’t hurt during or after the rep.

From there I ran the next eight minutes comfortably in 7:01 miling. We had a two minute rest before the final set of eight reps, which saw the legs stiffen somewhat, It took until around the sixth rep for me to find my legs and I gave my second hard effort of the night in the final rep of the night.

A long warm down back to the club and back home followed. All in all 11.25 miles on the night, 15.6 miles of running for the day and around 8 miles of walking. Not a bad day.

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