Track session in Regents Park

There's a part of my training that's been sorely lacking for a number of years and that is the discipline of getting down to the track and laying down a few speedy intervals. It's not that the mind and body haven't been willing but for various reasons I haven't found the right time and place until now; at last, I'm glad to say, Tri London has started up a weekly work-out and, even better, it's on my way home. Okay I have to hold my hands up and admit that I've missed the first two of these but today I was determined and it was a good thing too because only three of us made it and one (Tomas) was blowing the whistle!

track-based

At first I wondered if I was moving too quickly (at 5:45 min/mile pace it turns out) but Ian wasn't that far behind and I wanted to give it my best shot. Also two minutes isn't all that long (enough for about 600m) and it is possible to keep your pace up over the last 200m if you concentrate on your breathing and form. After the first four intervals I still felt pretty strong and with the last two I tried just that bit harder; at the time it didn't feel like I was going that much faster but looking at the data I got down to a 5:30 min/mile pace and I find that both astonishing and gratifying. There's life in the old dog yet!

Okay I know that I've got to keep coming to these sessions if I'm going to see any benefit and that's always going to be tough with my relaxed attitude to training but I'm going to try - really I am! I just hope that Tri London manage to get enough momentum going to make these work-outs a permanent fixture.

Distance: 5.4 milesTime: 42m 26s