Thursday - 16km with middle 20 minutes at threshold pace

Back to one of my staple sessions this morning, and probably one of the most satisfying to get right. Decided a change of scenery was needed (formerly used to run this religiously around Passmore Reserve - on a 650m loop), so went up to North Head. The course is tougher as it is undulating, but I stuck by the mantra of 'hills are speedwork in disguise.' So after a long slow climb up to the stone arch, I went straight into the effort. The first 5-10 minutes I was miserable. Kept wanted to stop and pull the pin. But managed to somehow keep going, and just grit my teeth and persisted through it. Never looked at my watch once, but had a rough idea of where I was as the watch kept beeping every kilometer. So I was quite happy and surprised to average 3:25 pace for the 20 minutes. Although that is still a fair way off where I previously have been, it was actually a bit faster than I would have anticipated this morning. Cruised the remaining distance back home along the beachfront for a solid 16km in the rain.