9m including 8x 300m of 60s

Third week of track work and as we increased to 300m my ambitions to do ten were never likely to come to fruition due to the jump being too big and the weather being too hot.

After my error at the begining we ran away from the track which was pretty dumb and too over four miles at just under 8s.

Long route to the track (4.12m)



At the track there were some serious looking groups hanging around and after a quick water stop we were away.

During rep two I discovered shouting "Track!" in a French accent had the desired effect as the bloke on the inside lane jumped out the road and the ones on the outside drifted out to let us through.

First few were fine and Tenke creamed past in the first few seconds and pulled away, I could hold the gap at a few meters on the first 3 but by the fourth I could not keep the speed and my time had dropped from 56 to 59. Tenke was cross, what's the point of doing 10 if you cant even hold the pace on 4? 5th was a joke as was 6th at 66 and 67 respectively, but then we agreed to call it a day at 8 and by now I had recovered and cleared the 7th in 55. Head was swiming, heat was searing and I felt like I was going to die. 8th was 64 and I could do no more. Water then home, on the direct route!

Hrt was maxed out on the sub 60 reps and made zone 5 on all of them. Nice to see the instant drop to zone 3 as soon as I stop.

Short route back from the track (2.71m)



Stopped at every fountain for water. I was very tired after the track. At the last one I put my head right under, instant recovery.

Very pleased with the day's work.

Cross training in the Gym

10mins bike, 10mins ergo. Yawn Yawn.

Some upper body then some circuits outside on the terrace.

Running is so much better.

New pb from office to train in suit. 6:30, phew. Just caught the train....

6m ish easy to steady with Tenke

Both tired and could not face going up the airport hill, so instead did two loops of the field at the far point of the run.



Ran free today, so all I know was it was tough to keep up through the last mile, but not that tough. Total time on feet was 40mins so that was seriously faster than the weekend's activity, if less hilly.

Rest day tomorrow in anticipation of more track work on Wednesday.

5.4m super easy duathalon with Stephan

Our kids needed to be at the pool in Aubonne for the scouts end of term fun sesson so I talked Stephan into a few km on the Aubonne trails.

We were both camelbak-ed up as the temperature 29 and the smell of sun cream wafted up from the pool as the massed sun worshoppers creamed up.

We set off and the first section involves some technical trail work and a steep climb out of the river valley to catch the road. That got the hrt high early. But then that was it. My idea of a long run is one hour out then another back, while Stephan was adamant that one hour was the max time on feet. On the flat and down hill Stephan was fine going at a respectable pace, but on the up hill I guess walking would be a fair description of the pace set. I did the old runing round in circles waiting thing, but to no avail, when Stephan walks that's it he is walking.

Made to the Arboretum which is a lovely spot and looped around the lake before returning on the same route we'd taken out bound. On the way back I tried to convince Stephan to continue down into the old town and sprint the last section from the castle arch up to the court yard at the top to find his true hrt max, but he was having none of if. As soon as we saw the pool he hit stop on his Garmin and that was it. Stunningly slow with only 5.4m done in 54:55 - now thats TEN minute miles. Jason where were you? you'd have loved it!

Five francs later I'm in the freezing pool and must have done at least 6 lengths before I joined the masses sunning themselves on the grass. I even did two lengths of front crawl breathing only on the off side. Kenny would have been proud of me! Great story from a triathalon Stephan did 20 years ago, he's even slower in the pool than on the hills, so when he came out the pool he was last by miles, but he managed to catch plently on the run and his stongest leg was the bike where he caught even more. I'm the inverse. I'm sure I could get my swimming up to sratch eventually, but the bike is my weakest link. Driving my car at the speed some of these guys cycle at is a challenge for me.....

3.5m easy run

Park Eaux vives - super easy and free of electronics.

Ran easy, normal variation. Ran through some stiffness from the 200s and the niggles eased after about 3miles! Perfect.

Caught some ladies on the last section, but the stink of sun cream was too much from me, I could not tuck in and follow them home, I just had to overtake and get away from the whiff of amber solaire.

10x 200m reps 6miles

Up to the stadium today. Felt like a long way there today, but perhaps that was more to do with the fact this was the third day on the trott of running with Tenke, I was tired!

By the time we got to the stadium, I had satellites finally locked on and my workout uploaded the night before we were ready to rock.

Plan was I'd push out on the first 100m of each rep, Tenke would draw level at this point and hold the pace for me through to the 200m point. I'd programmed 45s recovery which was enough time to jog to the next line and go again. Top tip, don't trust the garmin on the track, I found the lines on the ground are more accurate - but pressing lap does the trick when you hit the line.

After 3 reps my hrt was hitting 90% of max and I could not think straight. It felt like the track was the wrong length!

Tenke had a massive bruise on her leg from trying to get into a swimming pool when the metal barrier sprang back and whacked her. The injury was deep and getting worse. Tenke switched from running buddy to coach, calling the times of my reps and how many left. She also cut across the track to wait for me at the correct line which was just as well as I had no idea what was going on.

Easy back on new route 2.6 miles makes this the nicer and shorter route.

I really needed a drink and Tenke was gutted when I stopped at a big ornate fountain that had a water spout a foot to far away for her to reach. Luckily a short jog took us to fountain stop two which was as Tenke put it "short people friendly".

5m connecting the trails

Garmin was all over the shop today, hence the whacky map.

Tenke has decided the slow runs are too slow and she has started wearing her XC team tops which have words on them like "Champion" and that's not the brand!

So we pelted around on a supposed easy run at 7:41 pace for 5 miles and still it was not enough. "Can you do your slow runs at weekend?" was Tenke's reposte when I hinted that the pace might be a shade fast for an easy run.

We connected the zoo & cemetery park to the railway bridge, looped around the park and when Tenke stopped for water I took a ride on the zip wire and then she a go and complained it was not fast enough so I pushed her along to speed her up, ah he child inside....

Hrt was high on the way back 8 of the 42 mins in zone four which explains why I needed a wee snooze tonight....