Intervals are hard

I was in Bournemouth all day and drove back to London. I was booked into an 8pm yoga class but I need to do interval training this week to get my running pace up. After a brief chat with Steve I decided to cancel the yoga and head to the gym instead. 

I arrived home at 7pm, sat down for a cuppa (error), and after half an hour had sufficient motivation to head to the gym. 

The plan was to do a 10 minute warm up, the 1st 5 minutes running at a very easy pace (effort 1) then the next 5 minutes at a comfortable pace (effort 2). This was then to be followed by 9 sets of intervals which should be 1 minute at effort 5 – the absolute hardest, and 2 minutes back at level 1. The cool down was due to be 5 minutes at effort 2, and 5 minutes at effort 1. A total of 47 minutes.

When I ran a lot, back when I was training for Kilimanjaro, my sprints would be anywhere between 12 and 14Km/h. My easy pace would be 10Km/h.

That IS NOT where I am at now!!! 

This interval session has really made me realise how much of a plodder I have become! 

I started with a 10 minute uphill walk to get me focused and ready for running. After yesterday’s run where I set off too fast I wanted to warm up properly which the walk should have done. I started the run at 9.2Km/h but after 5 mins didn’t feel I would be comfortable much faster so did the next 5 mins at a mixture of 9.2Km/h upto 9.5Km. My intervals started at 11Km/h for the first 3 sets, and the recovery part back at 9.0Km, but after the third set of intervals I was knackered and had another 6 to go! FFS!!

So I thought I should make the fasts less fast or the slows more slow but actually did both:

• 1 min @ 10.5, 2 mins @ 8.5
• 1 min @ 10.8, 2 mins @ 8.2
• 1 min @ 11.0, 2 mins @ 8.2

The for the last 3 sets of intervals I did:

• 1 min @ 11.0, 2 mins @ 8.2
• 1 min @ 11.2, 2 mins @ 8.0
• 1 min @ 12.0, 2 mins @ 8.0

I was due to do the 10 min cool down run, but after walking for another minute and jogging for 2 more my legs couldn’t really give a shit about carrying on and I ended up walking for the last bit to make it an hour total, just for a nice round number.

Frankly the session made me a bit miserable that despite being 4 months into this year I don’t feel I’ve got much fitter. 

Also my feet hurt.

But it’s done and I realise what I need to do…. more running, intervals and HIIT sessions. Yuck.

As well as that I need to go and have my feet seen to at Profeet who will evaluate my shoes and the need for customised insoles. I’ve only been meaning to do this for 2 years, so no immediate rush.