Conquering the weak side of my brain

10 min, 1 min SR, 5 min

Pat introduced a new session today - either it was new or I missed it previously during my enforced absence with shin splints. Anyway, starting at the QUT Ampitheatre, the session called for a hard 5 mins outbound on the paths of the Botanic Gardens, turn around and then run back to the starting point even faster, arriving before the 10 mins was up. Following a 1 min standing recovery, the rep was repeated, this time over 2.5 mins out and back.

As has been the case for the last month now, Aaron, myself and Slash led the way up front. I chased Aaron all the way and never let him put more than 7-8 metres on me arriving back at the starting point with half a second to spare. There was a weak moment about two minutes into the start of the session when the weak side of my brain said to me "You don't need to chase Aaron, nor run this hard. You can afford to ease off just a little and still finish in the top three. Wouldn't that be something to be satisfied about?" I managed to quickly erase these negative thoughts by repeating the magic word "Noosa" to myself several times - a reminder of both the Noosa 5k next weekend and the big goal this year - the Noosa Tri 10k run leg. The magic word reminded me that the hard yakka was only going to last 15 mins and that I wouldn't be achieving any goals unless I embraced the pain - so I did! The fear of letting down my Northies team mates in the Noosa Tri is also a very powerful motivating factor. I ended up finishing the last minute of the 2.5 min out and back very strongly. As is the norm for sessions finishing at the QUT Amphitheatre, Coach Pat sent us straight up the steep 50m grass hill without a recovery. I love it! There's nothing like being totally spent, but knowing you only have to dig in for another 20 seconds and charging up that hill yelling "C'mon" to everyone!

Today saw an improved session from my good mate, Langy. A man who was a permanent fixture in the Top 3 runners earlier this year, Langy has been battling some injuries, followed by ill health and more recently the after effects of a procedure involving the cessation of his reproductive capacity. Despite this Langy never ceases to jump into the car brimming with optimism when he bums a lift from me on the way to speedwork. Today, he finally showed us just a little flash of his old dash. Keep it up Mate - the more competition in the Group, the merrier!

So, another satisfying session is in the bank. Less satisfying will be having to organise my tax return this afternoon, even though I am expecting a nice return. Oh well, we can't have everything.