SWAG

Training has been pretty tough this last week, and I think that it's all because of the heat. Our steady and easy runs have been generally slower than I would have done them at home, but they actually feel harder because of the conditions we are running in. The Kansas summer has reached its height - between 11 am and 5pm the temperature hasn't really gone below 35 degrees. Our easy run yesterday (28th) was at 4pm in the afternoon, where the heat just about tipped over 40. 

The difficulty of these runs is actually having a generally positive affect on my running I think, and I get a great tan as a bonus. I was surprised by how well I ran in my session on Thursday. Coach is very fond of fartlek's, and this one was the most difficult so far. We ran an even pace of between 3.10 - 3.20 a kilometre for a pyramid of 1,2,3,4,3,2,1 (minutes). The recovery corresponded to the length of the effort that preceded it and, as I have found to be the case in other sessions, it was this recovery that makes the session really tough. I have been used to jogging between efforts in these kinds of sessions, but we certainly weren't jogging in this session. I think our recovery probably averaged about 4.15 pace, and that can be surprisingly difficult to maintain off the back of an effort. I felt quite comfortable on the way up, but started to struggle on the way back down. The penultimate one, the second 2 minute effort, was without doubt the hardest. This was also the latest session I have ever completed. To avoid the heat, coach postponed practice too 8pm - which meant that we finished at around 9.30 at night. It would have been earlier, but coach sprung a nasty surprise on us after we'd finished. He calls it a 'gut buster', and I can see why. Apparently he has quite the reputation for finishing his sessions with this. Basically he gives you around five minutes rest after you've finished, and then he tells you that you've got to run another mile at race pace. I wasn't best pleased at this, but I got it done, just. 

Speaking of miles, we had our mile time trial on Tuesday. Having looked at the power of ten I realized that this would be my first track 'race' since the 29th of May 2019 - about 15 months ago. My time was okay - I ran 4.40 - but I felt that it could have been better. Coach was pretty happy with it though: he's going to run another at the end of the season so that we can see how much we've improved. We ran that at 8pm as well, with the loud speakers on and plenty of supporters. It was pretty exciting - you don't get to race under the lights very often. 

Some of the team after the Time Trial - our top guy Mauro is 
second from the right. My roommate Isaiah is on the far left. 

On Friday we got all of our kit, which looks incredible. Bethel has a deal with Under Armour for all of our running clothes, so I could probably technically claim that I'm sponsored by them, if only indirectly. We're also set to go shoe shopping in a few days, which will be fun. Coach wants me to follow in Emily's footsteps and invest in a pair of Hokas, but I haven't made up my mind yet. 

Last, and probably most importantly, I have finally moved out of quarantine! My roommate Isaiah is a fellow cross country runner, and he's thankfully just as boring as I am. He's an up by 7am, lights out by 10.30pm kind of guy, and we get along great. There has been one ongoing dispute however, to do with the air conditioning. Isaiah likes the room to be a similar temperature to the Artic circle, and I don't for some reason. I'm actually kind of glad that the debate on this has been 'heated', because its the only thing that's been keeping me warm. No matter though, because I have invested in some excellent new bedding - and a bed chair! Admittedly I didn't actually buy this, it was a present from my amazing coach, but I sure am glad that I've got it now. Me and Isaiah have also improved the bedding situation considerably by 'permanently borrowing' the mattresses from my old quarantine room, and replacing these with the less comfortable ones that we had been given in our own digs. 

Long run down in Wichita - I don't know why I look so grumpy! 
Behind us is a statue known as 'The Keeper of the Plains', it's very 
well known across Kansas.