Yesterday was speed day.
Melbourne had put on an absolute farewell to Winter with glorious sunny,
clear skies. Really, I just wanted to
walk in it; feel the sun warm my bones, breathe in this prelude of Spring. But I have a plan, so through gritted teeth I
scanned in at gym and said hello to Mr. Treadmill.
Still a little pissy about missing the goodness outside, I extended my walking
warm-up to 10 minutes, gave myself a stern talking to and ran…
1.
10kph 90
seconds 30
seconds rest
2.
12kph 60
seconds 45
seconds rest
3.
14kph 60
seconds 45
seconds rest
4.
16kph 45
seconds 60
seconds rest
5.
14kph 60
seconds 60
seconds rest
6.
12kph 60
seconds 45
seconds rest
7.
10kph 90
seconds 30
seconds rest
TWICE
And this is what I noticed;
10kph, 6 min/km feels really slow now. Especially on the way back down the pyramid. In fact, it felt a little awkward and was
difficult to get a rhythm happening.
12kph, 5 min/km is actually a pretty manageable pace. That’s hilarious to write. And again, coming back down the pyramid, I
felt as though I could stay here for longer than the pre-planned 60 seconds.
14kph, 4.28min/km – now this was a challenge, and definitely
harder on the first attempt, but I clearly remember thinking on the last
(fourth) interval at this pace, that there’s not that much difference between
5min and 4 min pace. Sounds dumb when I
read it back – must have been the endorphins!
16kph, 3.75min/km was T O U G H. I felt like a water buffalo thumping across
the belt. There was no grace, form or
style, it was survival mode. On the
first interval set I narrowly avoided becoming treadmill roadkill, my feet
barely able to jump off the belt. I didn’t
quite get through the full 45 seconds; more like 41. The second set was a definite
improvement. I squeezed out 45 seconds
but had no more in me.
It’s really important to me to record these observations
here for a couple of reasons. I remember
the first time I ran this style of interval on the treadmill, about 18 months
ago. After 12kph I nervously increased
to 13kph but could only manage a few steps, and one set was enough. I may never improve beyond where I am now –
this may be my peak, but if it’s not, I’ll have this new baseline to measure
myself against.
To me, competition comes in two forms; against the person I was
yesterday, and against the voices in my head that tell me garbage stories about
why I can’t, or shouldn’t, or won’t.
Yesterday I beat them both.
Winning J
No comments:
Post a Comment