6by5 3r - The light at the end of the tunnel?

Or just some *basket* bringing me more work! :lol:

So the schedule called for 45min + 30min r18 70% today - but tomorrow was 6by5min 3r at race rate with a target of 5k PB split (1:38.4 for me - the advantage of a weak PB) I decided to aim for 1:38.0 pace which was going to be 1530m per rep and really needed to get the rate up. Q suggested to drop the drag for a while as the legs are pretty fired so dropped that from 140 to 135 for now. Into work and worked out I had about 8 minutes to warm up so set a 2k and just went through some pace rate builds – then set the session and off I set.

The first stroke on the first rep the thighs complained immediately – fire burning in them – this was not going to be nice at all at all – so tried to concentrate on the rate and getting the pace. Every rep I found that I started faster than I wanted and it actually felt “easy” deceptively so as I approached the end of the first minute the leg crushing sensation crept in. Usually I find that I need to count out the strokes on a 30 seconds basis, so for 32spm I count 16 every 30 seconds (clever aren’t I) but today the rate was slumping and after a while I found that counting down from 32 every minute allowed me to keep the rate up a little higher and so I went with that. I struggled my way through the second and third rep, I really needed to complete one of these sessions having fallen asunder so many times recently. Into the 4th rep and being over half way I was in sight of the finish line, but then, instead of the usual heavy empty breathing I had experienced during the first three towards the end, I found myself almost hyperventilating for just over the last minute, kind of like when you have a panic attack (not as severe obviously) but that kind of “can’t get breath even though everything that’s supposed to move to get breath is moving” still I carried on and got through it. The fifth and sixth rep where therefore looking rather daunting, but all you can do is start and dig in, dig in I did and finish I did, the breathing nowhere near as bad as the 4th rep and session completed. So is this the light at the end of the tunnel – oh no – there’s Q with more work!