Longer stuff

Phew, it did end up being a long run last night.

At at touch under 25km it was the longest run that I have done for a while. The run was made up of a whole series of 3 minute efforts and I was pleasantly surprised how well they all went. I went in knowing that pacing would be important given the length of the session, so I was focusing on not pushing too hard in the early efforts. It seemed to have worked pretty well because I was still feeling strongish towards the end, with all the efforts on target. The only real issues came in the last three efforts where the combination of fatigue, darkness and hills slowed me down. Still it was encouraging to get a long run like that under the belt and come out the other side still breathing.

Another reason that it was a good run was it showed me that my run route from the City to home can work very well if the conditions are right. Last night it was cool, and the winds weren't that heavy so I didn't have to deal with a continual headwind. In those conditions it was a lovely route and I really enjoyed it. After last night I would certainly consider running that way again. Just have to pick the right day.

This morning it was down to the pool for my first Wednesday Swim Smooth session for a couple of weeks. Always a fun prospect.

Nippy morning. I just checked the weather and surprisingly it was around 13 degrees. It really felt colder, I was sure it was sub 10. Oh well. I was going to talk about how it was the first really chilly morning of the year, but perhaps I just need to harden up a little bit. Not Winter weather yet. Perhaps it just felt colder since I knew I was on the way to dip sensitive parts of me in water.

Of course the pool is never a problem, it sits almost constantly at a 'nearly too warm' 27 degrees. It is just that step between removing all your clothes and getting in the water which is tough.

The swim session went okay, shorter stuff today. Well shorter for a Wednesday anyway which is a session that is all about the distance. Nothing over 300m today. It was a session of sixes.

6 x 150
6 x 50
6 x 200
6 x 50
6 x 300
6 x 50

Those 50s were the trick. The times for them were set so that you only got three of four seconds of rest between them. Changing gear and finding the intensity to push out those last six 50s was a real effort. For me though the hardest bit was the last two 300s. The 300s were on gradually quicker times and I am still struggling to find that extra bit of speed on the long, fast efforts. Something to keep working on.

Still over all it was a positive swim, doing a session that didn't absolutely destroy me.

On the bike tonight for a couple of hours of spinning about, with some efforts thrown in for good measure. Should be a nice ride, with the weather lining up to be about as nice as it can be. Looking forward to it.