Every so often, a session appears in my training plan to which my gut response is “you what now?”. A goal so unachievable that it makes me wonder whether it is in fact a typo.
The most recent of these was an innocent enough looking instruction which simply read:
“1 mi w/u, 4 miles at 8:00 mile pace. 1 mi w/d”*
Only trouble is, I’ve yet to average 8:00 mile pace over 3 miles with a pacer, let alone over 4 miles by myself.
I queried it. It wasn’t a typo. It is, apparently, perfectly within my capabilities. All I have to do is FIND THE HURT LOCKER AND MAKE IT MY FRIEND!
Hmmmm. Not really my thing. I wonder whether I can get away with being civil to the cupboard of discomfort instead.
*Post script: In fact, that session was overtaken by events and never happened, but I can say, with certainty, that I am now on first name terms with the cupboard of discomfort.
abradypus 
How funny… I was listening to the Marathon Talk podcast on my long run today and ‘the hurt locker’ made a tongue-in-cheek appearance into their language. I automatically thought of my ‘niggle drawer’ (because it sounded a bit like ‘knicker drawer’, you see).
🙂
Niggle drawers, cupboards of discomfort, where do you get these things because when I went to Ikea they all had dull names like Flax and Jacime I want somewhere I can go to that gives me niggles and discomfort because if I have to go somewhere to get them then there’s a chance that occasionally I can leave them at home too – which would be nice 🙂 On a more serious note though I’m sure you’ll make your 8 minute miles, and while the training sounds like hard work I know you have it well within you to beat it! Best of luck!
Being able to leave niggles in a drawer just before a run would be fabulous. It’s right up there with modular replaceable body parts.
If you’ve got a spare pair of hips I wouldn’t mind borrowing them