Thursday May 7

Tempo day returned and I must confess I stressed a bit about this one, hence having some strange dreams and a not terribly good sleep (must learn to control silly brain). We were a hearty five at 5.30am this morning - Kate and Kate (S and M - no, really), Viv, Damien and me. We started out with a nearly 20 minute warm up before beginning the tough part of the session. I found it a struggle from early on, but managed to hold onto Damien who set a good pace for us. Damien really helped me to keep going this morning, so many, many thanks to him.

Coach Simon had suggested a 40 minute, 50 if I could manage, and I realised soon it would be take all my determination to keep going. I made it to 40 minutes (probably could have squeezed out a couple more minutes, so will keep focused on that for the next session), then took a quick break before beginning the cool down. Another runner, Denis, caught up with us and we made our way back to Mends Street and the all important coffee. Again, my tired mind and body struggled a bit with the final few KMs and again Kate S came to the rescue with good company and conversation. 

This was a particularly tough session, but I'm pleased to have done the 40 minutes without stopping. It was a little slower than my session in the U.S. (it was 5.30am and not a lot of sleep) but most KMs were in the 5.15 range, so I'm more or less on track. My hope is I can sustain that pace for a half marathon, but we'll see. The main thing is not to stress too much about it; it clearly doesn't do any good. The best part of this is having a great group of friends to run with - we keep each other company and push each other where we need to. It's absolutely worth the early rise.