Day 78 – Saturday Sprinting and a Quiet Escape

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Saturday arrived, and with it, the glorious sensation of a morning that didn’t require a pre-dawn alarm call. The world, it seemed, was not in such a desperate hurry today, which was a pleasant change. The usual Saturday duties took precedence first—Daisy to swimming, then onwards to musical theatre—before a brief return home for a well-earned breather.

Sprinting into the Afternoon

Looking back over the week, it was clear that the higher-intensity work had been lounging about, rather like a cat that had found a particularly sunny windowsill. That wouldn’t do. Today’s run was all about effort, and effort was exactly what was given.

The session involved an anaerobic workout with seven repetitions of one-minute sprints, aiming for around a 4:15min/km pace. This was, naturally, both ambitious and painful. A few of these efforts even came with the delightful addition of an incline, as if gravity had suddenly decided to make things more interesting. Each intense burst was followed by a three-minute recovery, which quite reasonably involved some walking. There is no shame in walking—only in pretending you didn’t need to. These sessions are crucial for building speed and power, essential elements in the grand, exhausting puzzle that is marathon training.

A Well-Deserved Quiet Evening

Once the cooldown was complete, it was back home to embrace the best kind of post-run indulgence: doing absolutely nothing. With no further commitments demanding attention, the evening promised peace, comfort, and possibly a cup of tea large enough to double as a small bath. After a session like today, that was exactly what was needed.

Tomorrow brings another day, another run, and probably another moment of questioning why running seemed like a good idea in the first place. But for now, it’s time to rest. If you'd like to support my London Marathon journey, you can visit my JustGiving page here: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/saul-kay?utm_term=wjxQB77wD

Location: Sittingbourne, UK

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