Intervals are tough!

Tonight we finally got the intervals session in that we'd planned for a couple of weeks ago, and boy was it tough! 


For anyone who doesn't know (and we're by no means experts!), intervals are basically "fast, then slow" training routines. With intervals, instead of just running at a steady pace for a long distance, or running as fast as you can for a short distance, you run fast for a bit (really working hard), then slow down to get your breath back, then fast again. The speed you run and distance you run (fast bits and slow bits) depends on what you're training for, how fast you can run, how long it takes you to recover, etc. 


Tonight our group was James, Jono, Ellie, Stu and I - we ran from Ellie and Stu's down to the Forest Recreation ground (home of the world famous Goose Fair every October). When we got to the Forest (as it's known locally), we measured a 200M section of path (out and back) and then ran repeatedly up and down that. 


The plan was to do 200M as fast as we could, then 200M slower to get breath back, fast, slow etc. I ran the first 200M totally flat out and it really took it out of me - I looked at the stats on RunKeeper after and it looks like I was running at 4:10 per mile - which is faster than I used to be able to run 100M at school (but still depressingly slow compared with "real" athletes"). 


I think I managed 6 repeats (i.e. 1200M fast and 1200 slow) before the "fast" was becoming so slow that it was almost the same speed as "slow". Everyone else did really well, especially James and Jono, I felt like Jono was running faster and stronger than I was tonight and he thought so too and was buzzing as a result. 


By the time we'd run back to Ellie and Stu's again (jogged would be more accurate), my phone and watch were showing over 4 miles of running, which had felt a lot harder than many longer runs! I'm sure we'll do it again soon, it was fun as something different, but I wouldn't want to do it all the time!


Earlier in the day I played another squash match, against Doug, and managed to maintain my 100% record for the year, though it was much closer than recent matches. I also had another friend get in touch wanting to play, so I could possibly be playing squash 4 days out of 5 next week!


I also discovered that I have been featured in this week's Parkrun newsletter email, as my friend Steve asked them if there were plans for Parkruns closer to him and mentioned that I'd introduced him to the event - fame at last!!


I also reached another big milestone today - 600 RunKeeper activities, in 10 months - that's an average of almost 2 per day!


The best news of all from today is that my Dad has had official confirmation of good news from the scan that he had before Christmas, he already suspected all was well after getting unofficial "thumbs up" from radiologist on the day. My Dad was diagnosed with a nasty form of bowel cancer in late 2009, had major surgery then, and loads of horrible chemotherapy in 2010, before his scan last year showed that the cancer seemed to be gone. The latest scan confirms that, which is the best possible news to start the year with!!


Tomorrow morning I'm running to work with Ellie from their house, so better get some sleep, I'm shattered!


Yearly Summary



Running: 119 miles
Walking: 13 miles
Cycling: 84 miles
Swimming: 0 miles
Total: 217.58 miles
Running streak: 58 days (started 23/11/2011)