Training Mon 26th May - Sunday 1st June

This weeks training is a tale of highs and lows. Of good choices and bad. Of being a plonker and making a sensible, calculated move. Not just my running but my whole life can be analysed, digested and summed up within the microcosm of two key speed sessions. Only I can get two such differing results from two sessions, which should in essence have produced very similar results. It's what sums Will Clark up!
We'll start with the low as that came first! I was looking forward to Tuesday’s track session. 6 x 1000 metres was on the menu, with a 90 second jog recovery. Great, just what I wanted. A session that would really test my fitness and hopefully keep my progress in motion. I'd felt really tired all through the day. My legs just wanted to stay in bed; it felt as if my mattress had them in some kind of death grip! I finally pulled myself out and went for my easy 20- minute morning run. It wasn't fun. I wanted to be back home with my cornflakes before I'd reached the end of the road. I persevered with it, and felt a little better when I'd finished, but my lethargy didn't improve for the rest of the day. I knew something was wrong when I slept through 'Deal or No Deal'! I never do that! Thankfully disaster was avoided as it's repeated later on E4!!
I started to prepare myself for the track session. I knew I had to do something to rid my body of its almost comatose state. After racking my brain I came up with the idea that was to ultimately mess my session up completely, coffee. Coffee might not seem a daft idea; caffeine can give you that kick-start I was looking for. However I never drink coffee! The last time was maybe 6 months ago. I don't drink coke either. I might have a cuppa tea once a week if someone else is making it! My body is not exactly used to it. So I decided to heap double the amount recommended into my cup. The warning signs were there, it tasted disgusting and a left a bitter after taste on my tongue, but I thought it would work like a dream. For thirty minutes before my run I felt great, then it started to repeat on me. All I could taste, smell and think about was coffee. As for the session the first rep was great. I was under my target pace and my legs felt good. They were the only things that felt good. The second rep was slower as my stomach began to tell me of its displeasure. I just about finished the third as I struggled to keep the coffee to myself! 200 metres into the forth and I was on my knees desperately trying not to be sick on the javelin runway, the javelins hard enough without introducing a slip hazard! So the session finished up as a complete waste. If I'd thought things through for a split second I may have seen the dangers ahead. I however happily ran head first into a completely ridiculous and unnecessary situation. To add to my misery the coffee high kept me up till half one in the morning!
However, the other side of the coin was one very good choice. I've joined a new training group! Under the guidance of Robin Dixon, an experienced Surrey coach, the group contains a number of the top distance runners in Surrey. My first session with them was on Saturday morning in Richmond Park with the die-hards of the group! The session was a 15 minute tempo run, including 5 minutes of up hill running, then 6 x 400 yards on the grass and a final 10 minute tempo run, this time, thankfully, on the flat! Talk about being chucked in at the deep end!
The session was great, exhausting, but great. It was a real test of my fitness and endurance as well as my speed. I knew I was going to be gracing the back of the pack, but I was pleased to say that after only three and a bit weeks of running I wasn't too far out of sight. Maybe they were taking it easy on me, not wanting to scare me off after my first go. I'd like to think they were busting a gut trying to put the new kid in his place. They were probably just running as they would any other session and were completely non-plussed by my presence!
Training with a bigger group, I feel, is really going to help me. The group meets more often during the week than my old group which helps motivation as there are fewer miles run on your own and because the group is much bigger it means the sessions are of much better quality, as there's always going to be someone up for it, pushing the pace along. I can't wait for the next session, and it all goes to show that I can make good decisions!