Easy like Sunday morning

Dave was on marathon duty in NY and the the non-tapering guys had vanished in a bluster of long run ambition.

Ken and I figured about five would be nice with the middle mile on at or around race pace. We set of three minutes early and took in the nice newly tarmacked section of the Harpenden Luton Cycleway.

Didn't fancy the sewage works path in the rain so took the cooters end lane back to the nicky like where we did some lock gate 'up and recover' practice. Well one. I believe this will be a factor in the race on Sunday. Many people will see the up locks coming and worry, slow over them, complain about the hrt spike and mess up the get back to race speed bit. As for me I plan to relish each and every lock gate. Having done them once or twice a week at reps for around two years I know how run them hard. Drive the knees up to the top. Let the toe off happen. Don't slow the cadence. Make the recovery on the flat, worry about hrt drift and ignore the spike. Never look down before 60seconds. A few in zone five is fine to keep the rhythm going. I aim to overtake as often as possible on the up ramps.

I forgot about the fast mile. Ken remembered and off we went, I messed up the buttons on the garmin stopping instead of lapping. I guessed I was a shade fast as Ken stopped matching the ratchets but I still felt good for one hour at that pace.

I fancy a negative split race on Sunday. But will decide on the day.

Ken suddenly veered off into a ploughed field at 90 degrees to the footpath. Was my chat really that boring? No, he was retrieving his hat which the wind had snatched away. It was very funny, honest.

Over took a lady twice on station road and offered her some Malcolm Balk style help with head position and arm swing. With those two small changes she felt the running was easier. She also looked suddenly like a runner that was flowing nicely, rather than one who was struggling to find the energy for the next step.

Made it home in 57 minutes with no clue how far we'd been. Check Ken's blog for that.