2x3 mile

I was supposed to do a workout yesterday, but did it this morning before my class instead. 2 mile warm up at 6:30 pace, 3 mile tempo at 5:25 pace, recovery mile, 3 mile tempo at 5:25 pace, 2 mile cool down at 6:30 pace.

I was worried about the warmup being so quick, but Greg said he wanted the run to be harder. So out of the car I started running and it felt like a sprint already! Ugh! After a mile I got into it, but it was still pretty cool in the morning and kind of dark, so it was tough.

I did the first set on the library turkey trot course and started right at the line. I feel like I settled in pretty well and thought I was right under 5:25 for the first one, and that the next two were considerably harder. Turns out I ran 5:28, 5:24, 5:21. Pretty solid, but I thought that I was cratering a little bit too much on the third mile. I guess I was wrong.

I'd originally planned to do the same loop for the second interval, but decided to get tough and do the next one on the half course, uphill. I turned around and recovered back towards the ninth mile marker. I was rolling along at 7:20 pace initially, but got down under 7:00 and averaged under 7 for the whole recovery.

So I started the second repeat just before the nine mile mark and went way too fast at the beginning... 5:00-5:10 pace. It took me a little bit to slow down, going uphill under the Rt.1 bridge facilitated that decline nicely. I definitely felt like I was working harder, but at the same time, it was easier to be running a faster pace after the recovery. Mile 1 was 5:25, perfect. Getting up the hospital hill was a different story. I tried to go as hard as I could up that hill, but it's not easy! The way the program works on the watch, it didn't tell me what my total time was finishing the mile on Care Way. But as soon as the third mile started, it started yelling at me because I was going 6:34 pace! I got around onto Cowan and managed to pick it up, but that last hill was tough. I don't think it is nearly as bad as the Hospital Hill though. It might be similar in slope, but the distance seems less. I didn't make it to the top of the hill before the interval was over, but I jogged to the top before turning around for my cool down. My second miles ended up being 5:34 & 5:43. Not super fast at all, and slower than what the workout called for, but I'll take it. If I can run those times for miles 11 & 12 on race day and not get passed, I'll be happy.

I trotted around a little bit before I remembered that I was supposed to go faster. Luckily I was going downhill so it make it a lot easier. I made it back to the car and headed home. On the way home, I saw KC running down Lafayette, so I pulled over and parked on some street and ran with her for another 25 minutes!

I'll go long tomorrow.

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