Weeks 16 and 17 - time for a short interval

Michael Johnson took the usual route - claiming an unbelievable 200m world record when he unexpectedly missed out on selection for his preferred event in the Atlanta Olympics.
While the rangy genius Alberto Juantorena managed to dominate the 800m as well as the one-lap discipline.
He became the only man in history to claim Olympic gold in the two disciplines in the 1976 Games in Montreal.
But did either of them have to do their training on a scruffy dirt track in Shieldfield?

And would Johnson or Juantorena, or current top dog Jereny Warriner for that matter, have been put off future greatness if they had to dodge golf balls being fired at them by local youths or endure early-morning heckling from enthusiastic alcoholics?
The broken glass, sticks and dog muck on the track don't help much either.
I am now a weekly regular at the track after Kev Thomas stepped up my training routine after the latest round of fitness tests.
Alongside my regulars on the bike, in the pool and on the roads, I now have two interval sessions rostered on.
The first is a series of 400m laps. And they are pretty bloody tough.
I have to run the distance in 86 seconds (which isn't far off flat out at my pace), then rest for 90 seconds, then do it again.

In total, I complete 12 laps of the track. I haven't puked yet, but there have been a couple of times when the stomach has been churning a bit. It gets tougher next week when the run goes up to 800m, but more of that in the next instalment.
I also have a bike interval session to do once a week at the uni lab centred around the power output generated by pushing the pedals.
It's a bit more difficult to explain in layman's terms, but, essentially, it involves giving it some hammer for a minute, then slowing down for three minutes and being on the bike for about 50mins in total.
The funny thing about the impact of the two new sessions though is that Kev has told me to slow down by normal runs.
When I head out it's always with one target - to beat the time I did last time. Instead, I now have to run at a more controlled pace to give balance to my overall weekly routine.
And it's a nice feeling to have to continually slow myself down when I'm out and about. Certainly not one I'm used to, which makes it all the more enjoyable.

Week 16
Monday - Uni bike fitness test
Tuesday - no training (minor cold)
Wednesday - no training (minor cold)
Thursday - 2,000m swim - 38mins
Friday - 9.99km run - 44.23mins
Saturday - no training (bike maintenance course)
Sunday - 12x86sec 400m laps with 90sec rest slots + 800m warm-up and 400m warm-down

Week 17
Monday - 2,000m swim - 36mins
Tuesday - 40min bike interval session + 10min warm up and 15min warm-down
Wednesday - 6.70km run - 32.55min
Thursday - 2,500m swim - 44mins
Friday - 10.02km run - 48.17mins
Saturday - 11.22km run - 54.17mins
Sunday - 12x86sec 400m laps with 90sec rest slots + 800m warm-up