I've been caught speeding

With restrictions gradually easing, running clubs across the country have finally been able to resume group training. While a welcome relief for us all and a sign that things are slowly beginning to return to normal, my first training sessions have, however, felt a little like returning to the pub after a six-month alcohol amnesty and ordering a pint of tequilla.

Don't get me wrong. I have been running during lockdown - in fact, I've run quite a lot - I just haven't done any speed training whatsoever. I have taken the easy option and predominantly run at a leisurely pace for the past few months. An injury has thankfully provided me with a justifiable excuse for some of my lack of pace-based training, but there's no hiding from the fact that I simply haven't done enough.

This fact has been brought home to me over the first few sessions with my running club, all of which have involved some kind of speed training and unashamedly exposed my total lack of pace.

In short, it's not been pretty. 

However, this is a good thing. Unless being governed by a race training plan, I am not the kind of runner who will voluntarily take himself, alone, to a hill or a long, straight piece of road in order to hammer out a pyramid session. I need other people around me to pull me along in these sessions, to show me how much work I have to do and to make me push myself harder than I would on my own.

So I am grateful to Boris for allowing us to return to group-based training and to the run leaders at my club who are so adept at coming up with hellishly difficult speed sessions.

My aching calves and instantly improved Strava metrics are proof that this torture is doing me good and, although I often hate it while I'm doing it, I'll be back for more over the coming weeks.

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Paul Tonkinson, Runner's World columnist and comedian 

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