This was psychological torture. Just reading the session itself was intimidating. Met with Darren, Burkey and Ben on the Balgowlah Rd entry into Graham Reserve to start the first effort. We agreed on an anticlockwise loop around the golf course - in other words, the slow direction. As I have done this numerous times now, I know what to expect number wise on the Garmin (when it works). Set out at a solid, yet controlled pace. To my surprise, I set a new benchmark for the loop (something I wasn't actually aiming for, given the duration of the session yet to come) holding 3:14's. Tough but not too taxing. About a 5 minute break regathering everyone before we set off for the 400's on Graham Reserve, alternating between anticlockwise and clockwise laps. Burkey was great company for the first 5 reps, really setting the pace nicely. However, the remaining 5 I was solo out the front, although he did make a brief appearance for the first 200m of number 8. I was happy with the consistency, perhaps slightly too fast for the first rep (I'll blame Burkey for that) - 69, 70, 72, 71, 72, 72, 73, 71, 72, 72. That was it for the others (very jealous at this point in time); I was just as spent and couldn't fathom the thought of another 10 minute effort. After much deliberation and convincing myself that this will do wonders for my stamina, I was off. Middle kilometer uphill slowed the average pace somewhat, but managed to finish strong - averaging 3:19's. Very happy with that! Exhausted, I managed at 5km easy cooldown along the beachfront. Just under 20.5km all up. And another 40 minutes easy planned for this afternoon. Thank god tomorrow is a rest day!
Did the 40 minutes along the beachfront at Manly. Felt nice and relaxed, with an average heart rate of 118 confirming that. 8.68km at 4:36's. Just over 29km for the day!
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