Restarting on the WP has certainly been a humbling experience.  I did my best 10K ever in 2014.  It was a 36:33, which is a 1:49.7 pace.

Now today was not intended to be a time trial, but still, it is a little daunting how much work it will take to get back to that level of fitness.

I was pressed for time, so I skipped the warmup.

I set my target pace for this session at 1:57.  But I could tell by the time I got to 3000m that I wasn’t going to be able to hold it.  My legs and lungs were both complaining and I found myself playing with stroke rate to futilely try to find a groove.  I told myself that if I could stick it out to 5K, then it would be OK to slow down to a 2:00 pace.

This took off enough pressure that I could get through the piece, but even at a 2:00 pace, my HR plateaued and then started rising again.  It was a struggle, counting strokes all the way to the end.  It was 460 strokes by the way.

I skipped the cool down too.

But the session got done, and now I have a marker for next time.  That’s the magic of the WP.  There is no mystery about your goals for the next work.  Just try to do a little better than how you did today.  I need that simplicity right now.

So, I finished with a 1:57.9 average pace.  I guess I try for 1:57 again next time.

Tomorrow:  60′ L4 before I take off for Tokyo.