Training 2.6

My legs were still sore from Wednesday's exertions and with training partners slightly low on number I decided on tonight's schedule.

Snails and Penfold turned up looking slightly less than chipper. Snails had trained with Bob on Wednesday and Penfold was still struggling from Wednesday as I was. So it was a gentle lap of the field before the usual shuttles. Penfold was already struggling and sat a couple out.

Then it was time for the real work. Never have I hated a squashed drinks bottle, a bottle of Scottish spring water and two small bananas as much. The squashed bottle went on the edge of the goal area, the spring water on the edge of the penalty area, the first banana on the halfway line and the second banana on the edge of the far penalty area.

So off we went ... goal line to the squashed bottle, back to the goal line, up to the spring water, back to the squashed bottle, up to the first banana, back to the spring water, up to the second banana. Easy to type but not so easy to run at an even pace. The first time we did it, I completed the set (probably around 165m) in 50s which might seem slower but there was a fair amount of time missed out in the 6 changes of direction, something I usually achieve with the poise and precision of an oil tanker!

The 2nd to 5th set were each completed in 1m and then we had a 5 minute rest. We repeated the 5 sets again and again the times followed a similar pattern. Poor old Penfold had suffered a bad reaction in his right knee and had taken a seat on the second of the first set of five. He had surgery on it last year and it still gives him a lot of pain if worked too much.

Just after Penfold headed home, I was on the 4th set of the 2nd five and Fat Lad turned up to do his warm down after a hard session at the County FA with the School of Excellence guys. He didn't let himself down and was well in with the mix of the other level 3s/4s. It shows he's ready for his test in 4 weeks! Mrs Fat Lad also looked ready for her Race for Life on Sunday.

Meanwhile my heart monitor had shown I had hit 119% of maximum on one of the last sets of the first set of 5. Now this comes hard on the back of Monday's little excess of 115% and I wondered if my heart problem was beginning to become a more serious issue. I had only just had a check up a few weeks ago so it seemed unlikely. This was supported by the monitor's reaction when I took my chest strap off ... it hit 113% as the strap laid on the mantelpiece!!!

So I'm not going to be concerned and I'm heading off on holiday in around 28 hours and I'm looking forward to 2 weeks on the beach, in the bar, in the pool, etc. I will admit that I've got training planned for Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday before breakfast. Just got to keep things interesting!

Try not to miss me too much.

P.S. calories 885, av hr 78%, max 119% (must be a fault)