Sparkie's rundiary

Felt heaps better after yesterday's rest day, and decided to have a crack at the scheduled 8x300m session. Hamstrings were still a bit tight during the warm-up (2km in 8:15 and 4x100m run throughs), and it wasn't till the last run-through that I decided to attempt the session. I had received a lot of CoolRunning feedback after not making it through last week's session. Because most of it was contradictary, I decided to just tough it out, and run the session as scheduled (with 300m jog recoveries).

Managed to churn our 48.0/49.0/48.5/48.9/49.5/49.1/49.6/47.8 maintaining the 300m jog recoveries. Although shuffle was a better description of some of the later recoveries, I resisted the temptation to walk, and kept all the recoveries under 2:30. Given the session was on grass, I was happy with the times, and even gave myself a 'well done' as I crossed the line on the 8th interval. 800m cool down, which was a bit short but the hamstrings indicated they had seen enough fun for one day.

Very happy to have gotten through the session, and felt that it was a stronger session than last week. Paradoxically, even though this is a challenging session, I don't think I am working at full intensity, with the intervals still feeling managable. This is probably a good sign, as the next block calls for this session in 45-46 seconds, so a bit breathing space is helpful.

I am in two minds about racing in Saturday night. Part of me wants to have a hard workout over 1500m - ideally shooting for sub-4:20. However, it is probably too early in the season to worry about absolute times, and the alternative is to attempt another busy program, including:
* 110m hurdles
* high jump
* triple jump
* 100m
* 400m
* javelin
* 3000m steeple chase

The latter would give me a further five benchmarks for the season (110h, HJ, 100m, 400m, 3000mSC), and give me some more feedback on my general performance level. I am leaning towards this at the moment, but will keep an open mind (I still love to race).

Santa got his Xmas list today (well, Kings Track and Field did - although the guy on the phone was very jolly), with a javelin, a shot put, two discus and three hurdles on their way to a spot under the tree. Unfortunately, annual check-ups and shots for the blondes (plus an emergency after-hours trip to doggie ER after Sally had a reaction to her shots) has eaten into out running shoe budget, and the new shoes will have to wait until the new year (OK maybe one pair before Xmas).