Tuesday late shift

Usual battle with public transport went pretty well, and I arrive at Kensington a couple of minutes before 6. Got changed and worked through a 4.31km warm up in 19:11, working up to some semblence of speed reasonable easily. Hip was a little grumbly, no sign of the hamstring.

After some stretching and drills, it was down to business, with the group smaller than usual. Times were as follows (well, near enough - they were all 1:17's and 18's):

1	17
1	18
1	18
1	18
1	17
1	18
1	17
1	18
1	18

SW pulled a cracker on us with the last rep - it was in the book at 8 x 400, but he decided to push us through one more rep. I thought I was well smashed after 8, but somehow managed to drag out another one at 1:18. Good even times, and I was able to hang on at the end with reasonable form. Would have been nice to kick on and find a second or two on the last reps, but it looks like I'm finding a rhythm.

Haven't really got any comparable sessions - the last 400 session I did was 12 x 400 at the end of June, where after a 1:18, times were between 1:19 and 1:24 with an average of 1:21.4 vs an average of 1:17.7 , so it's hard to say what the average would have been tonight - most likely under 1:20. Felt a lot more in control, tonight, though, and it was a good session. Hip was a little bit of an niggle, but nothing too serious - it was on the flat, though, and it's mostly hills that worry it.

I've also picked up a good natured rival in the squad - the fellow from Sunday, Gary, whose goals are pretty similar to mine, and we seem pretty close in the repeats, although he kicked away a little in the last three, finding a second or two on me in each there. His marathon PB is from Canberra '04 where he did 2:57, and from the sounds of things has been in the frame to run around 2:50 twice in the last 6 months or so but has had injury issues, which he's on the way back from now. Gradually learning names and faces, so I'm working my way in.

Finished with a gentle 2.87 cool down in 14:11 chatting to fellow CR Easy Tiger, to round off a good night.