Tuesday - 2 sets of 5 x 400m hills (quick jog recovery)

This was always going to be a brutal introduction back to reality. Set out solo, with every ounce of energy ignoring a potential session of 800's with Tom, Ben and Sam. The company would have been much welcomed. But I know that I have deteriorated massively on the hills over the past few months, having essentially neglected any incline in that time. Perhaps jumping straight back into the traditional 10 reps of this session was too much? As it turned out, it was. Just kept the pace controlled from the first rep, but after about three I was in trouble. Convinced myself to get to 5, then have a break. This was a great idea (despite feeling 'soft' for doing so now), as by number 5 I was clutching at straws. A five minute break before repeating again. Doing this allowed me to get some quality out of it, which is more than I could have asked for. Times were 15:16 and 15:09. No wonder this session gets you fit - I averaged 295 and 299 watts respectively! (To put that into perspective, on Saturday's ParkRun I averaged 298 watts for 15:54).  Always nice to finish stronger. Again, by the fifth rep in the second set, I was gone! Nevertheless, I am glad that I stuck through it, as there were numerous times where I was on the verge of pulling the pin. Similar to Saturday, this sets a baseline, and is something I can work off. It's only my second week back, so still have lots more strength and fitness to regain. An easy 5km cooldown for around 18km all up. Now it is the longest possible time before I have to redo this session, so time to celebrate!