Do my legs still work?

So I went fast… and it hurt (nicely).

It was grey and raining when I started; I found a straight, flat-ish stretch of road inside Hyde Park, alongside the lake which was slippery at first but also gave me 1400m or so of straight, so no awkward turns necessary. The only obstacles were geese and ducks wandering in front of me, and also the occasional Hooray Henry on a horse. To be fair, these riders are usually from the Household Cavalry barracks and do know what they are doing and their horses are not spooked by runners.

So it was 1600, then 1200, 800 and a tough 400 to finish, with a jog/walk back of equal distance inbetween. I started off slow on the first one and then picked up the pace. For the last 200 or so I had to dive off left, slightly uphill and into the wind – and that bit did hurt. The idea of this ladder of Ric’s is to do each section at a faster pace. Yes, you are getting tired, but the distances are shorter. I really felt the pace in my butt. The last 400m run was more mentally tough.

Times: 6:04, 4:19, 2:47, 1:15. Remember: sea level AND wind-assisted. As this was the first day of my trip I have woken up early AND felt reasonably normal, it was a great relief to be able to spin the legs and find the fitness pretty much still there.

Ric has very reasonably suggested that I *could* just blow off the 5k rather than getting desperate about it, but I would like to grab some points if I can. So I guess that means a few more short sharp workouts to fit in before getting on the plane.