Park Fartlek
It was the first training session with Sean William's training group today. Up at 6am and down to the park on the bike. It was a little spooky cycling in the park as it was still dark and there was a light mist. I found Sean and we were joined by 2 other runners. A short warm up around the oval and then Sean said we were going to do a fartlek session around the outside of the park which is a 7.5km run and it was a tough session. The other two runners were MUCH faster than poor old me, one guy had recently run under 37 mins for 10km. We all started off together but when we started the first fast section they soon disappeared into the mist and I wondered if I'd ever see them again. Fortunately I spied them in the distance and once they had finished their speed section they turned around and rounded me up.This continued around the outside of the park and there were a couple of particularly tough sections where Sean had us running fast up some hills. On one of the longer surges my legs just felt like dead weights and I struggled up the hill. They seemed to recover for the next couple of surges on the flat. The other guys were very encouraging and didn't seem to mind the amount of back tracking they had to do. I expect they ran an extra couple of kms! Sean gave me some good tips on my form, saying I was leaning forward a bit too much and not driving through enough with my arms. This definately made a difference and I'll have to work on this.
I must say I was relieved to be on the final downhill stretch back to where we started and to have a quick stretch before climbing back on the bike and heading for home.
It was certainly a tough session and it would be an easy option for me to say that I think it's a bit beyond me at the moment, but that would be wimping out and I'd like to think I'm made of sterner stuff than that. I need to be pushed if I want to improve so I'll be going back for more punishment next week and see if I can do a bit better. I'll know what to expect if we do this session again! I did feel good afterwards as I had done a really solid workout, which I'm sure will pay off.
Off to the gym later for a relaxing reformer class to end the day.
posted by Lulu @ 10:10 AM
4 Comments:
Don't wimp out Lulu! Sean's a great guy - very encouraging. Is he still running barefoot? The young runners in our group are always doubling back for me. I say it's my trick to get them to run extra distance. Don't tell them I can't keep up!
Lulu, good to see you here! That's a great session you had & I can imagine how you must have felt after it, but you'll hang in there & improve out of sight...unlike me, who can't run out of sight even on a dark night!
You go girl ! Show those boys what you are made of - and just think how much these sessions are going to pay off. You will be flying in no time ! J
Sounds a bit intimidating for the first session so nothing else could be as bad! The trouble is now you know you can do it you'll keep pushing yourself :-). Worked for me. Go get em girl. TA
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