I understand your point. However, in order to get the climb in, I need to use the gym as there are no hills of note. There are some moderate hills on the streets, but most definitely nothing on grass that would take more than 30 seconds to run up.
I'll be out tonight as its club night though.
A 3 mile effort around the fields in a gusty breeze and rain.
Nice to be out?
... if only for the relief of getting home, clean and dry again.
3.5 mile with 600ft on a cracking morning.
Spring appears to have sprung
Steady hill climb, then a steady 1000ft in 15 mins on the stairclimber this morning.
Tonight was a quick 20 minute blast of around 3 miles, which brings me to one of my problems...
I can knock out 7 minute miles in the road all day, but try and up the pace by much and I really struggle to keep it up on a constant run. Just don't have the speed. I'm doing the quicker "rep" sessions with my club on a Tuesday night, but such are the demands of doing long fell races every few weeks, I miss half of these sessions as I can't run hard on the Tuesday after a race...
I know the answer, race less and train harder... But what race am I going to say no to.... Jura? Welsh 1000m? Wasdale? They are too magic to sacrifice for me, as someone who will never get near the top level...
If your focus is on races like Jura, Welsh 1000m and Wasdale, do you need any more speed than 7-minute miles on the road? I'm not saying that you should give up on the reps sessions; you need a decent turn of speed for that sprint up the Pyg Track at the end of the Welsh 1000m ; but don't feel too disappointed that you can never keep up with the blokes who are turning out 70-minute half-marathons, and don't feel that you aren't trying hard enough if you don't make it to every club training night.
Thanks for the reply, yes I guess you are right.
It's just my feeling that my climbing ability is worthy of a far higher position than I am able to maintain on the flat. It's perhaps more a case of improving my running craft on the flat fell sections, or even pacing my climbs better so I can push on the flat sections more.
I just feel that actual running prowess is sometimes underestimated amongst fell runners (at my level anyway).
And any turn of speed on the Pyg Track will be an improvement on last year when I spent far too much time horizontal across the track with walkers clambering over me!
2 mile fartlek training. Slow slow catch a monkey