12 x 1km is a pretty nice work out all in all. It’s actually preferable to the 3km mini-tempo/intervals which, as I have described, can be galling in more ways than I can describe. The nice thing about a 1 kilometre rep, is that no matter how bad you feel on it, from literally moments of starting it, you can think about finishing it. 1km into a 3km rep is just no fun. No sir.
I chose Riverside Park in Bitterne Manor (Southampton) for the rep again. It’s as nice a place to do workouts as any, certainly in Southampton. Pleasant surroundings? Yup. Good path? Yup. Pedestrians? Yup – but more than enough room to negotiate. Perhaps the only thing lacking in the segment is its lack of loop. The park is one of my favourite areas in Southampton, but it is very much a commuters park. I often think that one of the reasons that so few people choose to walk there is because your options are limited walk through or walk back. I much prefer a nice loop.
And so, all things considered, I felt fairly good about things. I ran a mile to the park, in the way of a warm up and felt fairly optimistic about things. It was early and I was silently pleased at the notable absence of people in the park. The first rep passed by easily enough and was performed at a 10km pace (4:30min/km). The 2 minute rest almost felt a little generous but my opinion on this had changed half way through. On turning back to come to the north end of the park, I realised a slight headwind would accompany me on every odd rep which was somewhat disheartening. Given the hurricane esque escapades of the preceding weeks however, I was willing to accept a little gentle breeze.
With a 1/6 of the workout completed, I felt a little worried. The thought of doing another 10 series of kilometres left me feeling uneasy. As I began my 3rd kilometre I realised on my way back for my 4th I would be a 1/3 of the work out in. There on in I divided each there and back loop into one segment into one repetition and it felt a lot better. By the time I’d returned for the third time, I had completed 1/2 of the workout.
I was suitably happy with my times also. Based on the intended pace of 4:30min/km, the splits were all happily well within this time and I can quite categorically say they felt pretty manageable. I should make it clear that the rests made this much much easier but, all in all I felt strong for the entirety of the workout. Here are the run details.
The pace chart is far too big for me to screen shot – but all times as you can see are <4:30min/km. Quite happily, the rests were all well within 2 minutes as well, so not too much time spent hanging around for the next rep.
The day ended with a gentle jog home and 17km in total. I felt great, all things considered. The following day I spent in London and ended up running 28km with my brother – 4 unintentional kilometres but you can’t miss an opportunity for a London tour though can you? There was a Royal Parks 10km also in Hyde Park when we arrive which we chose to run past and ignore.
For those that care – don’t make the mistake of running along the Great West Road/A4. At 18km or so I told myself that it might make things better for me but really, it was just a noisy fucking nightmare. I cut back up through Stamford Brook and rejoined civility in Acton once again. From that point onwards, it was just counting down the kilometres home. I’ve paid for it today with DOMS all up in the place. I’ll never learn.
Dusty Feet Philosophy 