Intervals.
Love them or hate them, they are an essential part of gaining some speed in your legs and pushing you harder.
There are much worse places to execute the prescribed dosage (thanks Pyllon), but equally there are better.
The Langdale Valley offers some stunning vistas and quiet trails/farm tracks, mingled with cattle grids and kissing gates, maintaining pace isnt always the easiest objective to complete.
After a short warm up, it was straight into the on the fly maths; ‘X’ time for this interval, stop when watch teaches ‘Y’, repeat slower, then work it out all again some 30+ times. Now I got a B at GCSE, near the end I may has well got an F.
Yes, I can programme it all into my watch if I so fancy…. one day I will (might).
My bored partner watched on as I ran repeats, capturing me occasionally and trying to keep herself entertained until the cool down run.As much as the initial rounds may suck, get 40% through and suddenly the task seems a lot easier and manageable.
You can train all you want at a slow pace, you’ll only ever remain at that pace. The running will get easier, you’ll be more efficient and burn more calories, but you won’t get to the line much quicker.
James Mackeddie 