Need for speed

So what's new?

Not a lot. My overtime claims at work are looking healthy. Too healthy. That's the great thing about everything going wrong on a regular basis, you get to earn loads of money :-/

Since the month of November started, I've been allowed to do speed work again. It's like a lot of things - you take it for granted at the time, and when you're not doing it or not allowed any you realise how much you miss it.

I never used to be a massive fan of running fast - if it sort of happened then great, but it would seem whenever I attempted to run fast on demand, it would all go horribly wrong or I would find some excuse not to even try. When I joined SRC in late 2008 and started doing Marathon training for my first Marathon 2009 I started doing speed work sessions, as originally dreamed up by Joan and Ian.

As a club we don't have anything resembling a track, so we run to various areas of Stourbridge that have an appropriate sized housing estate / loop. Essentially we have 4 winter sessions:

Short Hills
Long Hills
Short Flats
Long Flats

...Which we do in rotation. Depending on the session we might do reps / sets with static recoveries, or more continuous running with a more moving recovery. Either way I do believe they are good for helping the quest in getting faster. After the summer ends, we commence them, starting small and building up to some monster sessions.

Reasons people don't do them from what I can gather:

"It's boring" - I think if you find it boring you are probably doing something wrong. You can think about your form, your breathing, your percieved effort, what lap you are on - there is plenty to concentrate on that means it is not boring.

"I want to get the miles in" - a 2 mile WU, 3.75 miles of effort and a 1.6 mile WD makes for quite a good Wednesday evening run. Do the Maths.

"I'm too slow" - The loops are designed so that no one falls off the back. Yes you are doing your reps for yourself, BUT you are all on the same loop or loops so you are passing or being passed like the wacky races and feel the same sort of safety as running in a group.

Come in Pussycat 5...

"They don't make me faster, just knackered" - That is because you do all your other runs too fast you donut. Also a lot of people turn up for one week, then for whatever reason disappear off again, you need consistency there. You get out what you put in. The first time you do each session loop it will be hard, I wouldn't say it gets easier it depends how you push yourself but experience helps you. I seem to have a knack of using perceived effort to do all of my reps, no looking at the Garmin - and when I get home and upload the stats I find that say, all 9 of my reps were within 3 seconds of each other. Strange how the body can do that.

It gives me the confidence to push push push. At yesterdays XC when I knew the end was in sight I felt like I had a different gear - on the run in from the main course to the finish I managed to pass two people and leave them for dust (mud)

I am I often find it hard to sleep on a Weds night because I'm still on some weird adrenaline high. I both like and dislike that. I do find now I train sensibly I'm champing at the bit to have a crack at a fast race whereas a few years ago I'd be dreading it.

At this time of year I traditionally sit and look at what races I want to do next year. Obviously I have a plan for the big ones, but I sort of mean in the build up to the main events, the 20 milers and the 30ks. I like mixing it up and having some different places to run. I suppose I'm lucky I can afford to do such things. A few things stick out, I want to do the Rhayader 20 / Ashby 20 back to back combo again, Oakley for the Hoodie and Stamford for the Love Hearts.

One of my best friends has recently brought a house in Cornwall, so I am going to do the Duchy 20 (pasty at the end!!) and possibly some other local races at times I'm down there. She can't actually move down to live in the house for a couple of years, so her friends / family are going down there in rotation to make sure it is lived in. So I'm doing a favour and getting some nice running in a different area in. Probably going to have a few days either side of the Duchy, and do some cool stuff:

Eden Project
Eat something fishy that was swimming about in the sea that morning
Learn to Surf - yes in March this may be insanity but I've always wanted to have a go and I'm game if I can get a lesson.

Pan fried please

Looking forward to having a proper relaxing holiday - yest I know there is a 20 miler in the middle but that's just me innit?

It said on the TV this afternoon 6 weeks till Xmas and then the build up starts again. I can't believe how quickly time goes.