Covering the seventh day in total of F1 preseason testing in Bahrain, I was itching to be out for a run – the novelty of seeing cars with mostly phallic shaped noses having worn off several weeks ago.
At just gone five pm I was able to get out. I fancied doing something along the lines of a progressive run – that is where the pace and the intensity increases with each passing mile. Some nervous moments with my right IT band before heading out made me think whether I’d even do much running, thankfully there was barely a whimper of discomfort from any part of my body during the run.
The run began comfortably but sprightly. Heading up the A52 to Barrowby and past the site of Tuesday’s lamentable two mile reps, that run felt like a million years ago as things felt really easy. Once at Barrowby and the remainder of the run either gently downhill or flat, I relaxed and went with the flow. I made no conscious effort to progressively increase the pace, it just happened that way.
By four miles I was nigh on 2:45 marathon pace. An identical fifth mile then, on the flat, a 6:13 mile six and a change up in gear, closing the final two miles in under twelve minutes. As often happens when you hit a groove, it all felt very easy. Moreover, the final mile aside, the entire run was done comfortably under planned marathon heart rate. If I feel like this at Rotterdam I’ll be on for a good one.
Split Summary
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1) 1m – 7:16(7:16/m) 135/157bpm 94cal
2) 1m – 6:52(6:52/m) 151/160bpm 102cal
3) 1m – 6:40(6:40/m) 149/156bpm 93cal
4) 1m – 6:17(6:17/m) 148/155bpm 88cal
5) 1m – 6:16(6:16/m) 153/157bpm 90cal
6) 1m – 6:13(6:13/m) 156/163bpm 92cal
7) 1m – 5:56(5:56/m) 160/166bpm 90cal
8) 1m – 5:51(5:51/m) 167/170bpm 94cal
9) 0.24m – 1:34(6:28/m) 163/169bpm 24cal