Tuesday, Week 8 of 15

Run: "1M jog, then 200m fast, 400m fast, 800m fast, 400m fast, 200m fast, all with 100m jog recoveries, then extra 200m jog. Repeat sequence once, then 1M jog"
Actual Distance: 4 miles.
Time Taken: 28 mins
Total Mileage So Far: 219.5 miles

Had to 'phone up the stadium in the morning after hearing on the radio that Sebastian Coe was visiting the sports centre today. The receptionist assured me that he would not be using the track, and suggested I could probably take him anyway as he is getting old. I doubt it somehow.

When I got there, there were TV crews and radio cars all over the place, which made a weird change to the usual, but I had the track to myself.

The sky was a clear blue, but it was freezing. The wind was strong too, and after the first couple of intervals it had literally taken my breath away. (That's as in the real 'literally' not as in "Rooney literally threaded that ball through the eye of a needle").

By the first 800m interval I was struggling to breath properly even though my legs were fine, but I completed the whole thing reasonably symmetrically by literally pulling the cat out of the bag in the second half, although the last 200m into the wind was hard. It compared quite well to the same session last year, so I can't be too unhappy 2 days after a race.

I think this is my favourite speed session as there's plenty of variety and it's over pretty quickly. The downside is remembering where you've got to in it.

Mid week long slow run tomorrow.