Tuesday morning becomes Tuesday evening

I'd been muttering for a couple of weeks about getting to Sean Williams' interval session over at Kensington on Tuesday nights, and after being totally unable to get out of bed this morning I guess today was the day. I sent an SMS to Mister G to apologise for not joining him but discovered he'd not fronted either, continuing to battle the bug he's had for a week or so.

To be frank, felt a bit flat during the day and wasn't overly looking forward to the session. I'm at that point now that I realise I'm not going to speed up by missing these sessions, so at 5pm it was out of the office, onto a train to Central and the 393 bus from Central, and this young man from the west end of the lower North Shore was cast into the wilds of Kensington on a balmy June night...

The 6 o'clock group was just getting started when I fronted. Basically the set up there is a largish oval that the runners share with a rugby league training session, with a 400 metre circuit marked out by cones - explaining Sean's apparent obsession with 400 and 800 metre repeats.

Got through a 4.03k warm up in 18:17, rolling along pretty comfortably whilst chatting. Did a few stretches, and then down to business. Reps went:

2	44
2	43
2	47
2	47
2	49
2	49
2	51

I was pretty well finished at the end, taking a bit of time to get my breath back! Ambled through a 2.34k cool down in 11:14.

Disappointed I got the repeats arse about again, starting quick and then dying. Still, quicker than I managed at Rotary Park, which I put down to:
- gentler turns in the loop
- running in the evening, so the legs are warmer
- training in a group of faster runners
- getting fitter (gasp)

I was very breathless at the finish, so feel I had pushed harder than I would have by myself. Sean was philosophical at the finish, commenting that I'd pushed hard and that I had a target for next week, which I guess is true.

Well worth the effort of getting down there, though. Surface is nowhere near the standard of Rotary Park, but then its not an athletics venue, it's a rugby league field, so it's to be expected. Means I also avoid another desperately early start, although the evening's sacrificed.

Sorry, Mister G, looks like a permanent addition...