I'm a Road Runner baby!

Tonight is my least favourite type of training mainly because it's hard. Tonight is working on speed so it's a mile warm up, 1 mile fast, 1/4 mile jog, 1 mile fast, 1/4 mile jog, 1 mile fast, 1 mile warm down. I think the biggest problem is it is a bit of a shock to the system and the shins. My body happily plods along for mile after mile but when it is suddenly asked to go fast it protests. So after putting the little angels to bed and kissing Sharon goodbye, for I do fear that I may never return, I head out into the night. Another problem with the speed sessions is people, dogs, cars and buses getting in the way so I choose a new route. There is a roughly square route from my house upto and along the A40 and home again which I guess is about 1.5 miles, so if I follow this route I won't end up far from home. Additionally the route is usually fairly empty - not many people decide to walk along the WestWay if they can help it. The view of 3 lanes of traffic each way leading into and out of London, the back of several blocks of flats including refuse areas and a Homebase are not big crowd pullers. After the warm up I start the first fast mile. The main problem I had was the Garmin kept bleeping and flashing to tell me whether I was too fast, too slow or in the zone but my arm was moving up and down too much for me to read it. Eventually I settled into a fast pace and hit the A40. My plan had worked I encountered 3 people : 2 old ladies I scared the life out of as I approached fast from behind (ooo-er) and a drunk stumbling along with a 2.5 litre bottle of White Lightening which is the drink of choice for the discerning alcoholic. The issue with passing a piss-head is that you never know which way they are going to stumble next, my tactic is to approach fast, slow for the last 10 metres then make a choice and sprint passed. This time it worked, I went to the right, he feinted to the left, as I passed he spun round 360 degrees in a surprisingly graceful pirouette and carried on totally oblivious to all events. The end of the first fast mile took me just passed Homebase, which reminded me I needed light bulbs (now there's a bright idea). For quarter of a mile I jogged slowly and just before reaching my house I started the second mile. The remainder of the run went smoothly, for the last mile I decided to extend the circuit so I had a decent distance to warm down. This extended circuit took me passed 2 pubs and a cafe so by the time I reached home I was starving. Unfortunately the smells of beer, chips and fried food that had given me such an appetite translated into a piece of steamed salmon with tomatoes and peppers.

I have put the usual tallys at the bottom of this blog however I cannot vouch they are 100% accurate. During the speed miles I tend to be fairly blinkered. the only category I can guarantee is the DP number for this is very important when running.

FCB - 6 DP - 3 H - 1