lungbuster..

7.5m in 51mins at 6:30, with 3 x 200m at 5:30 (at 2/3/4m). we actually slacked off to somewhere around 6:40 for the last mile and a half.. both feeling pretty empty. the weather was good, not so hot as the days previous, but still early 20s. big problem was the tree pollen coming down like rain, clogging up eyes and throats. had to stop at Lancaster Gate for water just to clear out and stop coughing. none too pleasant..

i think i might have been able to push this out just a little bit more than my mate, who called it on the pace at around 5m. i slacked off a little with him but kept it ticking over. i certainly felt it too coming down the park through that mile, but maybe could have gone on.. i chose not to, mostly because it's nice to run out together,  but also because i could feel that emptiness creeping up on me too. probably should have pushed it, but hey..

we also had to contend with the Mall and surrounding roads being blocked off as the Queen was down and through opening Parliament. it meant that we had to head up onto Pall Mall and out across Green Park, rather than up the side. not too much of an inconvenience. because of the pomp surrounding the event, we did get to run past about 200 of the Household Cavalry as they made their way back to barracks along the south side of Hyde Park. that made quite a change!

felt great to run, and run hard. my mate wasn't going to run at lunch again this week, so we compromised on the choice of run and tried to mix it up a little. the plan was to intersperse with 200m sprints every half mile, but that proved too much. all the same, the run was a real push versus what we've done recently and my lungs are certainly tired out now. good to test the lungs over the legs.