Hard work.........

So a beautiful day in sunny Driffield - a little bit of working in bed, and then up and out for a run by 11am.

Today I was due to do my postponed intervals from Tuesday - I was a bit worried because when woke up my lungs were still feeling pretty shredded, and the intervals were really tough looking - so I thought I would just go out and see how it went.

First difficulty round here is finding somewhere to run. Driffield is about 4 miles round if you run all the way round the outside - not great for intervals. Finding a straight road to run up and down is also a challenge - especially one either with pavements or with little enough traffic to make the chances of death low.

Anyway, I selected Spellergate as my road for running - I thought it was pretty flat (that is another problem - hills!) and knew it was very quiet. It was about 1km to the start of the road, my plan was then to run about 2.5km up the road, turn round and do my first 2km interval and my 400m RI, turn and go back, etc.......

So, first things first - it was pretty much 2.5km up hill once I got to Spellergate, how did I not notice this before? Also, about 1km in I realised I was overheating - so had to whip my kit off (lucky it was quiet) to remove my long sleeved base layer. That done, I got to the top of the hill, turned round and started my first interval.

I quickly realised that I wasn't going to manage what I was supposed to do - the 2km interval was going to be hard, the 3km interval that was supposed to follow it - which was going to end up being up hill - was going to be even harder, and my lungs weren't happy. So I changed things a bit. I did 2 x 1km intervals with 200m RI, then 4 x 800m intervals with 200m RI.

On the uphill intervals I just couldn't go fast enough (unsuprising) on the downhill intervals i was going a bit fast - so I reckon it all evened itself out in the end.

I was absolutely knackered by the end of it though (picture of me looking tired in the countryside - rest intervals are now photo intervals!) - but reckon that, despite not doing what was on the plan (this was my first 'miss') I did something equivalent.

It was very good support for doing intervals on the treadmill though - not so easy to bail out!!

But I did it, and was quite pleased with myself - considering.

A gentle 1.5km jog back to my mum's house and I was ready for a shower and lunch.

I had a great idea while I was showering - I had heard some talk of a place near by that did a great afternoon tea - so I suggested that maybe we (me, Helen, Mum & George) might head out there for a late lunch. It didn't take much persuasion - and by 3pm we were tucking into a huge pile of sandwiches and cakes.

Despite boasting that I could see away any manner of cakes that were put in front of me - I totally failed. Just too much sugar!

Great way to refuel though.

:)