8x3 Min with 2:30 Rest

Goal:

8x3 min at 5:30 or faster with 2:30 jog rest

Actual:

3 miles warmup

8x3 min at 5:11, 5:26, 5:22, 5:21, 5:26, 5:28, 5:25, 5:25 pace with 2:30 jog rest

1.1 mile cool down for 10 miles total

That's right. I just posted a picture of the ECU Pirates. Why? Because I did my workout in ECU country, in the heart of Greenville, NC. Fortunately I did not wear any of my Wake Forest gear, for fear of being insulted or having things thrown at me while working out. I'm staying at the Bullocks house for the next five days to say my final goodbye to Garrett before he goes off to Florida and other destinations to play minor league baseball for 7 months. I'm mentally preparing to not see him for at least two months, so I figure I deserve to spend some quality time with him before that long distance clock really starts ticking.

Fortunately for me, I was able to easily recruit Garrett to bike alongside me for this workout. I had mapped out a 900m loop right outside of his house, which added to the convenience factor for Garrett. I had set a goal to run at goal 5k pace or faster for these intervals. This was before I discovered that it was relatively cold and very windy. The temperature was hovering right around 40 degrees and, with the wind chill, it really felt like 35 degrees. After I warmed up 3 miles on my own, I concluded that the wind was not going to force me to adjust my goals and met Garrett on his bike at the designated starting line.

I won't bore you with the details of each and every interval, but let's just say that on the first one both Garrett and I went out way too hard (5:11 pace) and this made me hurt a lot more on the intervals that followed. Despite the speedy first interval, all of my paces were below my goal pace and I ran 300m-900m into a significant head wind. Mu slowest interval happened to be when a car was coming at us and we had to slow down.

Admittedly, I walked for a little bit during the rest on the last three because I was sucking wind and hating Garrett for being on a bike and for having it so easy. All the same, I was really grateful for his presence because it motivated me to keep going fast when all I really wanted to do was call it a day at #6. After I shouted "una mas" to a perplexed Garrett, I finished the final interval and cooled down for 1.1 miles - just enough to get me 10 miles for the day. This is another workout in the books that I can't really complain about. I'll walk away pleased with this one, and feeling ready for my 10k/5k double next weekend.

Next up: 30 minute tempo on Friday