Saturday - 20’ threshold (+ 2 x 20 sec, 6 x 10 sec hill sprints)

As mentioned on Thursday, today was simply about getting through the last of the session’s of this current block of training. The conditions made it even more tough, extremely humid! It was very tempting to pull the pin as I was warming-up (I would’ve definitely have done so in the past), but I just kept reminding myself that it is all about perceived effort/intensity, and if I can get it into the desired zone, then the pace will be what it is meant to be for today. So with that frame of mind, I got into it. It definitely felt slower than previous weeks - I was hypersensitive to any increases in pace, getting on top of them right away and repeating the mantra ‘threshold’ to prevent myself going too hard. Got to the 15 minute mark and really had to convince myself to get out the last five minutes (I just thought how miserable I would feel had I stopped earlier than planned). As always, I managed to get through it, finishing in a half respectable 5.93km (3:22’s). Not as far as last week, but quite similar to a fortnight ago in very similar conditions. So all in all, not a bad effort at all. A slow jog back home before finishing off with the usual hill sprints. The plan is to run tomorrow (although probabaly slower and perhaps even shorter), then take another full rest day on Monday. This is the cycle I have been following since August last year, and it seems to be working. So as much as I hate taking an extra rest day, I have to think long-term, and allow the adaptations to occur. The thought is to add in a weekly interval session (as well as the current threshold session) from next week onwards. Thursday looks like it will be the go at this stage.