Usual 9km run commute in this morning. Very slow recovery, enabling legs to loosen up ahead of the HuRTS lunch session.

14 x 3min is outright the hardest session on offer. Also the HuRTS turnout is now ridiculous at 60+. This makes it almost dangerous on Tuesdays between the two stone gates, particularly with the Pain in the Domain groups. Case in point, got a nasty shoulder in an early rep.

Two options were offered - do 10 x 3min at 90% or 14 x 3min at 80%.  14 reps is psychologically brutal and 10 reps for me means 3:10 pace. With heavy legs, I landed on a 'Goldilocks' 12 reps at 85%.

This left me stranded for most of the run between the front (Tommy, Barts, Fats, Quentin, Timmy on rep 1 only) at at least 3:15 pace, and the main pack probably at 3:30 pace. Quads felt like bricks, but legs loosened up and actually the final 12th rep felt the easier. Full credit to the final 6 including Renee that endured the full 14; I calculate a 90% attrition rate based on the 60 starting.

I don't set the watch for individual splits, but I maintained between 3:15 and 3:25 pace. Happy with the effort. Run summary with warm-up and warm-down was 13.6km at 3:46 min/km pace. I also put the HRM on for the first time in a long time. Peak was 166 bpm which I think is too low. In 2012 I recall it was as high as 178 at the end of a 10k race.

Run snapshot

I also noticed MC did a Houdini after 4 reps, having just lectured everyone on the right pacing. Spoke to him in the afternoon to prod for an explanation - hamstring strain from 10x400m last week. Sounds like he needs to stay away from red-zone intervals.

Finished off the day (and legs) with a cycle home plus the usual touch footy game. Played the full game and helped the team get its maiden victory (by scoring) ...10 games into the season.

Daily run summary - 9km recovery plus 14km quality speed. Quads suffering but all else OK.