Neither struggling nor straggling

Got to the meeting point and while there were plenty of elite there was also Steve Scrutton grinning inanely at me and nodding his head at Aisha and a portly gentleman and make noises like company at the back for us then.

On the way up Steve was bemoaning how he felt like he had moved back from a straggler to become a struggler.

It was a big group and so big the elite had to come back to repeat the session to the back markers. It was a classic 8 times 3 on with 1 recovery and two at the turn.

Straight away I formulated a plan to not overtake Aisha, but seemed like four other guys had the same idea as we all slotted in behind her. If I am honest the first two reps were probably a shade easy. But Aisha made me work in rep 3 to say with her and Sutton was running through the recoveries to catch us, while not challenging during the on sections. I talked Aisha into rep 4 as she was thinking about going back after 3 and in return she talked me in to not waiting for her. Got miles past Vicky Park entrance so that's the farthest along the canal we've been for ages. Felt good to ponder that point and enjoy the extra minute at the turn.

The portly chap crashed through the end of the fourth rep and wanted to know what the shortest route back was. That depends where back is I guess, but we were all of the view he needed to go back to the start to avoid getting lost.

Came back solid, controlled and strong.

Why did today feel so good?
Correct sleep: went to bed early and slept like a log and was not on earlies at work
Good fuel: big breakfast followed by banana one hour before
And because I knew the session: I was controlled and did not blow it after two reps by going too fast at the beginning.

Portly chap sprinted to the end some 3 mins after we had all finished, much to our amusement. On the way back he did the same thing, could not keep up on the recovery home then sprinted past us half way back. Either no one told him it was only 8 reps or he was late for a meeting.

On the recovery clip home I have discovered that not only can I keep up but I can hold a conversation.

Turns out this is the perfect session for 10km training - how cool is that?

So I chatted with the elite about the session we'd done on Sunday and they all thought that race day adrenaline and the fact you have a number pinned to your chest makes all the difference and they all though that a couple of mins off Sunday's time for race day on a 10km was a distinct possibility.