Last week was dominated by soreness to my right shin. It’s not like the pain is killing me but it’s there and it’s annoying.
On Tuesday night Rita suggested I have the next morning off then do the ladder in the evening. I wondered how that would change anything and dismissed the idea. But I woke Wednesday morning with some discomfort and decided to give the ladder a miss. I then did 20 easy in the evening. With the 20 next morning I’d done 40 in less than 24 hours, but I’d also given my shin a break of nearly 36 hours. And suddenly I started to feel normal again.
Saturday went OK then, on Sunday, an Olympic rower turned up. Man he wound the pressure up! Mark (one of the Legend’s of the Ladder) went after him. At first they were on par with Mark’s superior downhill speed giving him a slight advantage, but then the big fella started to pull away. Mark had already done 20 laps when the tussle started and was feeling the pinch.
Just when it looked like Mark was going to crack he lifted a notch. A lap later they were back on level terms. Two laps later Mark was in front.
Meanwhile I was cracking out a fair pace of my own. They began gaining ground on me but I knew the pace was unsustainable. When I looked at my watch at the end of lap 14 it read 2:38. That’s a seriously quick lap. Someone had to blink.
I settled into stride and did enough to not let the big guy past. I wasn’t turning myself inside out but I wasn’t far away from max. On the next lap the Olympian called it a day and left. That left me with 5 laps to run and I thought I’ll keep going as was feeling ok. At the finish of 20 I’d set a PB for 15 laps of 42:03. Being that my first 2 laps took over 10 minutes I can see that cracking the hour for 20 will happen soon.
From now on I’m going to start my watch at the end of the third lap. That way I’ll be able to check my time at the end of lap 17. If the time is less than 52 minutes I’ll crank out an extra 3 for a lash at the 20 laps in an hour. If it’s less than 51 I can pretty much cruise through for an easy win.
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