A tad warm today

OMFG, 39 degrees at 5pm according to the Laverton (2k away) weather station, but to ensure that we can race in the heat we must train, but in a controlled manner.

Myself, Jo, Steph, Celeste, Robyn & then two of Burkie's girls, Aliesha & Talissa braved my set; 2 sets of 4x200m, 100m float and 5 min in the shade between sets, at 800m pace or just slightly faster, I was going to run a third if all was well.

Some of the junior girls appeared to be worried about the heat, but as I told them, what happens when you have to race and if it turns to poo...I'll be there!

With times allocated we took off for the first 200m, hmmm a tad slow, I was aiming for 36 and hit 37.12, maybe the heat was harder than I thought, whilst there was some wind which would affect one of the reps, I was surprised I was hitting 37s. Dry mouth was experienced on most reps and it was hot! As soon as we finished the first set, I grabbed my water and wet towel and squirted Celeste & Steph on the back of the neck, they were HOT and very red in the face (I don't think they were excited by today's session...), we then moved into the shade for 5 min, the toilets were visited for lots of water on the face etc.

Back out for another set, all of the girls were starting to struggle, for Robyn she has been in hibernation and is an older lady who is still learning, Steph & Celeste only did 3x200 in the second set and Aliesha & Talissa slowed a bit, but Jo continued on, which is great as heat is not her fav! I stayed consistent and after 5 min recovery and checking on the juniors I did a 3rd set.

Times:

• 37.12 / 39.21 / 37.29 / 38.90
• 37.21 / 39.31 / 37.65 / 38.01
• 37.43 / 37.30 / 37.51 / 38.11

The third set the recoveries were shorter as I didn't have my coaching hat on, it was hit the line and go, no talking, no encouraging. Whilst I happy with the set, I was surprised that my times were 1-1.5 sec slower, same shoes and less wind, but a hell of a lot more heat. A couple of laps of the infield to cool down.

A 5k night in the heat.