Around the Discorectangle.

Rather a strange word, - discorectangle. It is the name for a shape that is very familiar to runners, most particularly track runners. I encountered this shape myself in very physical form this morning. It is the name that applies to a shape made up of a rectangle with semicircles at either end. My meeting with the shape was, as will now have been guessed, at an athletics track where a group training session had been arranged.

 

 

After the usual warmup and drills we started into the actual session. This was to be two sets of 5 x 400m with ninety seconds between efforts and ten minutes between sets. We have a mile race coming up in the next week so the aim was to mimic the pace that we expect to run that race at. For yours truly that meant laps of seventy seven seconds. We ran in small groups of similar ability with everyone taking their turn at the front and with the others tucked in tightly behind. The pace proved easier than I had thought it would be. My average time was probably around 75 seconds. The problem will be to stick four such laps together, back to back. If I get close to an average of 77 seconds I will be content. What was achieved last year is harder this year with yet another year in ones limbs.