Dirty Old Town

“I met my love by the gas works wall, dreamed a dream by the old canal, I kissed my girl by the factory wall, dirty old town, dirty old town…”

The plan:

80’ easy at 6:50 mi/pace (4:15 km)
3x8’ at 5:55 mi/pace
30’ easy at 6:50 mi/pace

The execution (a bit sloppy):

I headed out of town on the Goose and used the kilometer markers to (try &) set my pace. Although the effort felt easy, my HR surprised me as I expected it to be lower:

4:07 (149, 151)
4:06 (145, 152)
4:11 (149, 156)
4:12 (146, 151)
4:01 (144, 150)

Once off the Goose, I looped back towards UVic and down into the Uplands. I felt my pacing was better and concentrated on feeling relaxed. I arrived at the Jack Wallace Memorial Track exactly 1h20 into the run and had no problem starting into the tempos, as the track was empty. My split through the mile on each of the segments is as follows:

5:51 (147, 156)
5:53 (149, 153)
5:51 (149, 158)

My legs felt fine but I was surprised at my breathing, it was more rapid then I would’ve liked (it seems my legs have adapted to the training but my lungs and heart still have work to do). While keeping me company on the track earlier this week, Rumon noticed that a) my shoulders crept up as I became tired and b) when that happened my breathing increased. This is something I’m going to have to pay attention to in the next few weeks.

After the workout, Kirstie Hudson met Rumon and Jim at my place and we answered a few more questions. I’m quite excited to hear how the piece comes together. Best of luck to everyone racing the Bazan Bay 5-k tomorrow!

Training: 2:14:02, with 3x 8’ at MP, AHR 142