My toughest ever session

On Mike Gratton's advice I tried a 'bulkier' session last night. I did 8 1000m reps at 5k pace: 6:36/mile - the pace I ran my 5000m at on Monday. In other words I ran a total of 8 kilometres at a pace I would only be able to sustain for 5 kilometres. I've never run a session like this before, either in terms of total distance or the 'excess' distance over the notional race distance.

The intervals were a bit short of 1000m - maybe 980m. Times as follows:
4:02
4:01
4:00
4:02
3:59
4:04
4:01
4:04

6:36/mile would be 4:01 per interval.
HR reached 157bpm - 91% of max HR

The first 3 recoveries were 2 mins, but realising how tough this was, I took 3 mins for the remaining recoveries. Maybe I didn't need such long recoveries as my HR was dropping to 95bpm between reps. It was hellishly humid, so the longer recovery let me cool down.

The last couple of reps were a real struggle. I had to push hard to keep to the pace, but I did manage it. It was very like the 5000m where I desperately wanted the pain to stop. Apart from the physiological benefits, I'm sure this will help me psychologically when I start to tire in a race.

All in all it was a really tough session but I'm glad I did it.

I hope I don't have to do a session where I run greater than race distance at marathon pace!