Back t'Track

After trying but failing to get to the track every Tuesday since Christmas, this evening finally saw me and The Reverend back at Greenhead and, whilst not raring, at least willing to go.  Sadly Lily's indoor athletics finals were cancelled today because of snow, but things had "warmed" up by this evening so apart from an arctic wind all was well.

Hinsley was keen to do 6x1k, but as this is my first time on the track since September (where does the time go?) I suggested 6x800m.  Hinsley was looking worryingly slim compared to the blob that we cycled with last September, and sure enough he was well up on our first rep, even though I was almost bang on the agreed pace of 1:35 per lap.

He did slow down a bit, but even though I was ahead on reps 4 and 5 by the time the last one came he was ahead and in the last 100m left me for dead.  I clearly have work to do...

He did confess to having lost a stone and a half since last September, which explains his sprightliness, but even so he's doing really well to be running just about as fast as he did when we were running a lot.  I, meanwhile, am running about 8 or 9 seconds a lap slower than at my fittest - but then again I suppose I'm a stone and a bit heavier than that - still, the weight's still coming off and I reckon I'll be at fighting weight by the end of March.

On looking at the watch, we did pretty well considering the target was 3:10 per rep - 3:06, 3:07, 3:08, 3:08, 3:11, 3:08 - all off 200m recoveries of c75seconds.  My heart rate wasn't right up, so I suspect there's more speed to come if we keep it up regularly - plan is every Tuesday as long as work doesn't intervene.