reps

It was enough of a test of dedication to start with. The mission: to repeat last week's bring-you-to-your-knees muscle endurance workout, only this time unsupervised and solo on the track.

The workout is 5 x 300 with a scant 30-second rest between each one -- just about enough time to cram your heart back into your chest -- followed by a 3 minute break, then 8 x 200m with 100m jog between each one. I prepared myself for the ordeal; and then the snow storm rolled in.

Not to be put off, I summoned my British stiff upper lip and resolved to "just do it". An unexpected bonus: at the last minute I got a call from Arturo, one of the guys I used to run with last year. He said he was injured, but would join me for the warm-up. It was great to see him, and great to have some company for a change. Bearing in mind that it was training with him and Gabino Toledo that taught me how to "suffer like a Mexican", I shouldn't really have been surprised when, as the snow got heavier, Arturo declared he would do the workout with me, despite his painful Achilles. Halfway through the opening 300s I asked him how his leg felt, was it hurting? "Oh yes", he says, matter-of-factly..."it's painful". What can you do with these guys??

No, it's not Spring or anything, but I did manage to do my 3x12-minutes pace workout barefoot round the perimeter of the soccer fields.

There was bright sunshine and the pitches had drained well, so the only hazard were thousands of nearly-frozen goose droppings. (There is a 300-hundred strong flock that roosts there like disgruntled spectators who have invaded the pitch and refuse to leave. Come to think of it, they make the same amount of noise and mess.)

Running barefoot always perks me up. I know all the good intellectual reasons for doing it, like improving running economy, strengthening feet and ankles and so on, but really it just FEELS great. And it always gives me an emotional boost as I feel connected with a long tradition of distance runners, from Percy's boys on, who also ran barefoot as often as possible.

That's the title of a great article by exercise physiologist extraordinaire Dr. Owen Anderson that rescued my workout today.

I'll see if I can get permission to publish it on the site; but there's a simple, lesson from it that I can share. Here it is: If you're feeling really, really "off" and don't think you can train -- do two intervals or seven minutes as fast as you can, THEN quit.

Today in Boulder was a summer's day. But I was so knackered (English expression meaning very, very tired, originating from what they do to exhausted horses) that I really wasn't up to what was on the schedule: a quality session involving quite a few reps at a decent pace.