Training XVI

Just when you think it can't get any worse CE comes up with a new form of torture for our merry bunch ...

First of all congratulations are in order as CE and J-C both passed their fitness tests over the weekend. CE was so tired that he didn't partake in training tonight, he just directed us and he pushed us all hard tonight.

After the warm-up we had to run at 3/4 pace along the goal line, up the touchline and across the other goal line (total distance according to Google Earth of 205m!). Our recovery period was the walk down the other touchline to our start point. Once we reached the start point we repeated the exercise until we had completed 10 circuits of the field. It was hard, very hard. Zico managed to lap me and Titfer near the end of her 9th lap. Fat Lad almost caught me at the end of his 10th lap but I stayed just a few yards in front of him.

On my last lap I put as much effort in as I dared. I say dared because both hamstrings were complaining from the first run. I tore along the goal line and turned up the touchline, by this point I was running flat out and CE was encouraging me to keep the pace going right into the top corner. I managed that and then slowed a fair bit on the second goal line. I don't give any less in effort on the other runs, it's just that on the last lap or run I know I have nothing left to do so I push it all out.

Well that's how it has worked on previous sessions. Tonight we moved on to part 2 of the torture. CE asked us to sprint from touchline to touchline (Google Earth says it's around 59m). We had to do this not once, not twice but eight times. On the first couple I stayed close to Fat Lad and Zico and just in front of Titfer. On the third (maybe fifth) run, Fat Lad and Zico seemed to be struggling at the end. Zico had strained her thigh and Fat Lad had strained his hamstring, the same one that tweaked in Training VI. Zico tried another couple of runs but it was left to me and Titfer to finish all eight trips across the field.

I was still beating Titfer but yelling encouragement to him for him to beat me and on the last run he did just that! At the end of the session I lead the warm down and we finished after 75 minutes and I had managed an average of 75% max heart rate and 99% max (probably on the last run on the set of ten). I burned a total of 1053 calories which is pretty high. So a good session for me and a bad one for Fat Lad and Zico. I hope they recover quickly. Fat Lad and I have a charity game next Tuesday, so he better be ok for then.