Saturday - 10 x 400 m hills (quick jog recovery)

Extremely tough conditions, but once again another stunning morning. Glad I was out early to get it done. I put less pressure on myself this morning to run a fast time given the heat and humidity, so just went on feel and really listened to my body. Solo for my most dreaded session, I felt I started somewhat more conservatively than usual. But, no matter what, this session turns into survival mode from about the halfway mark onwards with the goal shifting to simply completing all ten reps (it’s always so tempting to stop at eight). I got through it (as always), and only fractionally slower than last time in 31:25 - a solid effort given the conditions. Even better, I averaged 171 bpm, the highest I’ve held for this session (and any session come to think of it). And, I finally solved the mystery as to why I have been running this session so much slower compared to three years ago - it turns out I was turning around about 10-20 m earlier to start each rep in the past, which might no sound like much, but if you double that and times it by ten, it certainly adds up. A nice cool-down (‘cool’ is not the correct term) via Little Manly back along the beachfront dodging surf carnival competitors for just over 17 km all up.