Week 3 - In which I am thankful for my Y chromosome

Miles this week: 6
TOTAL MILES: 58

Tuesday 18^th Jan -  Interval training!

Show me the map!

(1 mile slow jog, then 6 x 0.5 mile at under 7m30 pace with 200mtr very slow jog in between, then final 1m slow jog)

It would appear that the schedule has deemed Tuesday to be ‘interval day’.

There’s nothing to say here that I haven’t said elsewhere regarding my love of hating interval training, so I won’t.  Except to reiterate that I do.

So anyway.  What of the session itself?  Well, here’s the thing:  it really wasn’t that bad.  Yes, it was tough, since I am a stone heavier than the last time I was running under 7m30 a mile, and yes, the place I’d picked to do the fast intervals had an incline in it which was enough to cause more cursing of the gods, and yes, the legs were once again receiving notes from other parts of my body, written in newspaper clippings, with pictures of puppies with guns to their heads, but apart from that it was actually ok.

With all that said, though, the pain was quite bad on the last couple of repetitions, although this paled into insignificance later on that night when I watched One Born Every Minute.  I mean, holy shit, who’d be a woman?  Not only that, but then the poor man gets to sit there in the corner of the room knowing full well that every woman in the room knows that he knows nothing and is about as useless as a third tit.  And they know he knows that they know and that makes it worse!

From the results of my research (2 episodes of said programme) it would appear that a man’s sole function in the birthing process is to hold the woman’s hand and say “breathe” from time to time.  Don’t get me wrong, I could do that, given enough training, but I’m not entirely sure that it’s not just something the midwives give the man to do to keep him safely out of the way.  I was kinda hoping, when I am deemed worthy of having one or two of my own, that men were required to do nothing more strenuous than sit outside with a pack of cigars and an expectant smile.

But I digress.  Back to the run.

So the hardest part was actually the 5^th repetition, which was the final one up the incline.  It was one of those when you have no choice but to keep your head down, get the legs moving and just wait for the beep from the watch.

I was so tired after this that I was praying to the gods for the following 200mtr slow jog not to end.  It turns out that prayers to gods whom you were insulting not moments before doesn’t actually cut it, though, and so I was forced to start the final fast half mile sooner than hoped.

The final slowdown mile was lovely, though.  In fact, this night’s run did quite a lot for my confidence that I’ll be able to keep the pace up when needed.  It also confirmed that I shouldn’t watch One Born Every Minute, but for the life of me, I can't stop watching!

Tonight’s music was supplied by the Shins.