Wednesday, May 30, 2012

800m Repeats

Goal:
8-10x800m with 2:00 rest

Actual:
3 mile warmup
8x800m at 2:40-2:42 with 2:00-2:20 jog rest
3.5 mile cool down for ~11 miles total

I'm pretty sure that this morning at the Speed Loop there were over 10 people doing various speed workouts. David, Chad and Pezz did 1000s.  Spada, Mike, Caleb, AJ and I were doing 800s.  Danielle, Michelle, Billy, and Carolyn all did different workouts.  It was definitely the largest showing that has ever appeared at the Speed Loop during the early morning hours.  For me, after closing out my previous week with a solid wave workout and steady state long run, I was just hoping to finish this one.  I could tell after the first interval that it was going to be a struggle for me to dip under 2:40, and turns out that I was right.  I stayed right at 2:40 through 6 intervals and then for the last two, I lost my main training buddies and lost my motivation to keep pushing for 2:40.  At the same time, my legs got increasingly harder to pick up off the asphalt and I finished the 8th one in 2:42, feeling tired and ready to be done.  After gathering the troops, we made our way back towards the Dowd before I veered off towards my house to head home.  I've just come to realization that even if I don't always run that fast in my speed workouts, it will still help me stay fit.  I've been finding that it's much easier for me to really push it in the tempos, which I enjoy much more than the speed work.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Week in Review

82 Miles
2 Doubles
4 Days of sickness
2 Workouts
16 Mile long run uptempo

As a result of an upper respiratory cough, I missed two of my double runs this week, which would explain why I was unable to run 90 miles this week.  I was able to still do all of my workouts for the week, even if one was adjusted largely to account for the hacking cough.  Even though the start of the week was off to a shaky start, I was able to finish it out with two solid workouts on Friday and Sunday.  Things are finally starting to come together and I feel like I'm in the best shape I've been in since Twin Cities in 2010.  Sometimes I really do think that I train best in the summer heat because that's when things usually come together for me.

John and I are also fully settled into the new house on Wilmore Drive, directly across the street from Matt Jaskot, two houses from Denise and Tyler, and half a mile from Thomas and Michelle.  We have our own little running club starting in this neighborhood and it's nice to know that we are surrounded by friends.  I've got just three weeks until the USA Half Champs and I'm ready!

14 Mile Steady State Success

Goal:
14 Miles at 6:20-6:40 pace

Actual:
1 mile warmup
14 miles in 1:28:16 (6:18 average) with splits of: 6:35, 6:31, 6:28, 6:26, 6:38, 6:21, 6:35, 6:21, 6:04, 6:15, 6:07, 5:59, 5:58, 5:58
1 mile cool down for ~16 miles total

I know that summer is officially here because I set my alarm for 5:45AM on a Sunday morning, which should be just plain blasphemy.  However, in the summer it's worth it to wake before the sun rises in an effort to escape the North Carolina heat that seems to get worse with each passing year.  This particular morning, I was set to meet Pezz, Aaron and Spada at McMullen for a 14 mile steady state run.  After eating a Fig Bar, I hopped in my car and arrived at McMullen a couple minutes shy of our starting time of 6:30.  Spada was running a little late, so it bought me some time to walk around before starting our warmup. The biggest surprise of the morning was that Pezz was early (who is always late) and that Spada was late (who is always early).

We started off with an easy mile before easing into our uptempo portion of the run.  Pezz and I made a sizable gap on Spada and Aaron within the first mile, and we were right on pace.  It felt effortless at that point while Pezz and I just enjoyed catching up.  By the third mile of the tempo, Aaron caught up to us as we discussed the USA Half Champs course, which we are assuming to be on the same course as the Grandma's Marathon.  Once we reached the end of the greenway, we began the first loop of the hilly circle around the gigantic Church on Rea Road.  I felt really good through this section, despite the hills. After one loop, Pezz headed back towards the main entrance while Aaron and I began the ascent to the Six Flags Church, the worst part of the run.  After we crested the last uphill, I kept the pace going strong and probably picked it up a little here.  Aaron grabbed some water before we made our way back onto the flat greenway portion.  I caught our first 800m split back on course, and we cruised through at 3:00.  Knowing that I had at least another four miles left, we eased it up a bit.  I still felt great at this point.  In fact, I felt like I was getting stronger with each step forward.  I started dropping some sub-6:00 miles and at this point, Aaron apologized for being a bad running buddy.  I assured him that his presence for 90% of my run was a huge life saver, especially through the hilly section.  Soon, he dropped off and I was left for the final 1.5 miles of the tempo on my own.  I closed in sub-6:00 again and felt really smooth.

At the .5 mile marker, I stopped, turned around and jogged back towards Aaron, who had just capped off a solid 20 miler just one week after his half marathon PR.  Internally, I did some math within my head and tried to hold back my excitement.  Almost two years ago, I did this exact same course as part of my simulation run for Twin Cities.  For 15.5 miles, I average 6:11 pace.  Today, for 14 miles, I averaged 6:18 pace in what was supposed to be a much slower run.  The difference today was that everything felt easy and I never once felt like I was really straining too much.  I wasn't breathing hard at any one point except maybe towards the end. I also can't help but think that my 6+ hours of dancing each week is paying off.  I think that my hips and other stabilizer muscles are getting stronger through dancing and that this is helping my running.  I was sick earlier this week, but somehow I still managed to have a fabulous 5 mile wave tempo on Friday followed by this great workout today.  Things are looking really good going into the USA Half Champs and now I have the confidence that I can achieve the goals I've laid out for this race.

Friday, May 25, 2012

5 Mile Wave Success...Finally

Goal:
5 Mile wave with alternating 800s at 2:50-2:55 and 3:00-3:05

Actual:
2.25 mile warmup
5 Mile Wave in 28:56 (5:47 average) splits below
2:49/3:00 (5:49)

2:49/3:00 (5:49)
2:46/2:59 (5:45)
2:47/2:59 (5:46)
2:46/2:58 (5:44)
3.25 miles cool down

Yet another successful workout in the last seven days. I can't complain, especially because there were a lot of circumstances leading up to this workout that would warrant complaints...Such as being sick with some sort of hacking cough and disgusting mucus that wouldn't leave my throat no matter how hard I coughed.  Such as moving my entire life two miles away into a new house.  Such as trying to work with the hacking cough.  Such as trying to run with the hacking cough.  And the list goes on.  Pushing all of those thoughts aside, I decided I would have a good workout today because my legs should have been well rested since I took a down week earlier.

Fortunately, I received a surprise text from Mike Beigay inquiring about workout plans for the morning last night.  The next morning, I ran to the Dowd to meet Mike and we made our way down South Blvd toward the speed loop to meet Spada.  After a couple of fist pumps, we hid our shirts in a tree, and jogged our way through the start line to begin with the "hard" section first. For our route, we did two rounds of the 800m loop and then did two rounds of the two mile loop.   I took us out kind of hard, but felt good.  I eased the pace back to 5:40 so that I would have enough room left in the tank for the final intervals.  Mike Beigay was intregal to keeping the pace for the first two hard 800s, and after that he fell back slightly as I continued to press. Spada still hung on, casually pacing behind me, his presence alone helping propel me forward.  After the third hard one, I dropped him slightly on the uphill on Lennox, but then eased up a tad on the "easier" portion so he could join me again.  By the fourth hard 800m, I was feeling great again and felt like pushing it even more.  I think Spada fell back on this one again and I wouldn't see him again until the finish.  And when I say "fell back" it really means he stayed at the pace we were aiming for.  I was just a touch faster on the intervals.  With just 800m to go, I was finally beginning to feel the fatigue settle into my legs and I used the slight downhill to my advantage to make it my fastest split of the day.  I finished in a time of 28:56, which is by far the fastest 5 mile tempo I've had since college I think. 

Things are finally starting to come together for me and this is a huge confidence booster for going into the half marathon champs in just three weeks.  I'm ready for a big PR in this distance and can't wait to toe the line with Meagan, Pezz and Alana.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Sickly 1200m repeats

Goal:
10x800m or 8x1000m with 2:00 rest

Actual:
2.7 mile warmup
5x1200m on speed loop with Michelle and Dalena in 4:28, 4:21, 4:16, 4:13, 4:08
3.5-ish cool down

So, I'm sick with some sort of upper respiratory virus.  I was supposed to work out with Caleb and Spada yesterday, but after a fitful night of sleep interrupted with congested coughs, I opted out and ran in the evening with Jason Martin.  This morning I managed to crawl out of bed at 5:00am to meet Michelle, my new neighbor, at 5:20 on the corner of our streets.  We picked up Dalena at the Dowd, and I trusted that once we made it to the speed loop that my legs would feel better.  I was wrong.  My breathing was all out of whack and my legs still feel tired.  I just stuck to Dalena's side and figured I could at least just help her out with her intervals.  After each one, I felt slightly light headed and knew it was a good call to modify my plans for today.  Later in the day, after my boss heard my hacking cough, he instructed me to go home so that (1) I don't get him sick and (2) so that I could get better faster.  I slept from 3PM-6:30PM today.  Clearly, I needed that.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Week in Review

62 Miles
1 Double
1 Day Off
2 Days in Pittsburgh
3 days of moving boxes
14 Mile Death March

Even though this week was supposed to be a down week, I hit a lower mileage target than I had hoped for.  I went on my first ever work trip this week and underestimated the time commitment, therefore missing a run altogether on our first day of travel.  After a full workweek filled with lots of tasks, I returned home each evening to continue transferring boxes from my condo to my new house in Wilmore, while also fitting in group dance classes.  In between all of that, I managed to fit in a solid 10 mile tempo effort.  However, after that, it was all down hill from there. On Saturday, the "Wilmore Running Club" traversed through the streets of Charlotte and I struggled to stay attached to the group as my legs from like lead. John and I spent our first night in the house on Saturday night and the first signs of sore throat and cough popped up that night. I could barely sleep, but I got out of bed to meet the trusty McAlpine long run crew at 7AM, hoping that this run would go better than Saturday's.  Boy, was I wrong. I could barely slog through at 7:20 pace and finally just called it a day after 14 miles.  My throat hurt, breathing was difficult, and my legs were extremely tight.  The lesson this week is that clearly I'm a little stressed, a little sick, and a little tired and I need to make up for all of this next week in order to get better.

Friday, May 18, 2012

10 Mile Tempo

Goal:
60 min tempo at 600-605 pace

Actual:
2.25 mile warmup
10 mile tempo in 59:23 for 5:56 pace (5;58, 5:49, 5:54, 5:57, 5:59, 5:52, 5:57, 5:54, 5:58, 6:00)
1.25 mile cooldown for 13.5 miles total

Caleb and I decided to be environmental today and carpooled to McMullen this morning for our tempo.  I was pleasantly surprised when he texted me yesterday about joining the workout.  I've always known that Caleb can workout with me, but he just didn't believe it yet.  I hoped today's workout would change his attitude on that.  We pulled into McMullen just as Mike Kahn pulled in as well.  After some aimless wandering in the parking lot, we started a slow warmup before turning around to find Spada, who had to drop his kids off at school.  We rounded back to the start line, did some strides, and all toed the line together.  My plan had been to go out in 6:20 and to gradually get faster, with hopes of hitting 5:50s for the last couple of miles.  Spada had other plans.  After about 400 meters with Kahn and I leading in what was apparently too pedestrian of a pace, Spada bolted ahead to take the lead.  Through the first mile, I even said out loud "6:02--we're fast."  This didn't phase anyone.  Spada pulled another couple of meters on Kahn and I.  Caleb even pulled ahead to go stride-for-stride with Spada.  Kahn was my trusty sidekick as we relaxed behind the two who were dueling.  By mile 2, the pace had dropped considerably, and, in doing so, we had dropped Kahn who is coming back from injury.  After a couple of minutes, Caleb dropped back to stick with me.  We ran the rest of the tempo together, side by side.  Spada continued to maintain a 10 meter lead on us through 3.5 miles.  Soon, I could tell that we were catching up to Spada and passed him just before the 4 mile marker.  I wanted to say out loud that we had just passed our motivation to keep the pace strong, but I didn't because I felt like saying it out loud would make the pace falter.

We got to the 5-mile turnaround and I think this mile is a little short, so you might need to add like 5-8 seconds onto my overall time.  After the turnaround, I broke everything down into multiples of 6.   This seemed to help a ton as at this point I could the effects of the Cardio Latin dance class I had taken the night before, especially in my hips and calves.  Caleb's presence helped considerably as we ran stride for stride and he pushed on the uphills while I pushed on the downhills.  His Garmin was completely off on the mile markers, so I tried to ignore his beeps that were putting us as a slower pace than what the markers on the path were telling me.  With just two miles to go, I tried to remain as relaxed as possible. I noticed that even though my legs were crying for me to stop that my breathing was fairly controlled--or, at the very least, it was relaxed.  It didn't start to feel taxing on me until the 9th mile, quite possibly due to the change in terrain from asphalt to cinder.  I clung to Caleb like he was my lifeline because I knew that if he dropped me, I would completely fall off pace.  Somehow we ran through the finish line right on pace. 

A couple of thoughts on the workout. 
  1. Caleb Boyd is in shape.  He might not have believed it before, but now he sure as hell better.
  2. This is the first time that I've run under 6:00 pace for a long tempo.  Side Note:  this is also the first time I've run a long tempo at McMullen that wasn't a steady state long run.  Clearly, the terrain here is much more conducive to faster times than McAlpine's terrain. 
  3. This is a confidence booster going into the half marathon champs in just one month. 

Overall, I'm very pleased with this workout.  Looks like the hard work that I put in over March and April is finally starting to pay off and I'm seeing improvements in my times in workouts that I've done in the past.  Now, I can focus on moving for the rest of the weekend!

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Week in Review

92.6 Miles
5 Doubles
2 Races - 2nd Place at NC USATF 10k Champs in 35:55 (Unofficial - 5:40, 5:49, 5:50, 5:40, 5:59, 5:53, 1:08), $300, and 1st Place at On a Mission 5k in 19:00, $100
15.5 mile long run
2 dance classes
20 boxes packed

This week was certainly jam packed with lots of activity. I managed to fit in a full work schedule in the office, several dance lessons in Matthews, 5 doubles, a mid-week long run, a drive to and from Raleigh and two races all in just 7 days!  When I initially planned this week out, I remember thinking that I would break mentally from the stress of fitting it all in.  Then, in the middle of it, I realized that you find ways to buy more time to fit everything in.  Without tapering, I drove to Raleigh on Friday night with the plan to run the NC 10k Champs as part of the Capital City Classic 10k. Garrett's cousins Emily and Matt were my gracious hosts yet again for my night before the race.  I arrived around 9:40PM after an awful drive through the construction near Concord Mills.  Emily and I caught up on the standard family topics before calling it a night.  They had NC State graduation to attend while I had a race.

At the 10k, I enjoyed warming up and toeing the line with Heather Magill, my friend from the other end of the state.  For the race, I went out entirely too fast, ahead of even 3x Olympic Trials Qualifier, now masters runner, John Hinton.  I was the first lady at this point, but this luxury didn't last long.  I didn't realize that Kerri Lyons, who had beaten me by 45 seconds at my craptastic rust buster NC 4 Mile Champs, had also toed the line.  Around 2.5 miles, Laura Swann cheered for me quite loudly, but then, quietly informed me that a girl was fifteen meters behind me.  At first I thought she said fifty meters, but then I realized if the girl was that far back, she wouldn't have spoken so quietly.  By 3 miles, the girl, Kerri, was running right next to me.  I fought with her up the hills until about 4.5 miles, when we turned left to continue yet another ascent, when I finally gave up.  I say gave up because that's exactly what I did.  My legs were tired and I used the excuse of "well, I didn't taper for this race, so it makes sense for her to beat me." How ridiculous!  I don't like making excuses to lose while I'm in a race because it leaves no room for motivation to win.  Kerri wasn't even that far ahead of me, so I could have willed myself to push a little harder, but didn't.  You can tell from my splits above that I really gave up in that 6th mile because it wasn't an amazing split.  The best part about this race was that I still managed to dip right under 36:00 despite losing the appetite for victory.  In the end, I came away with several desserts from the Carolina Bakery, which brought in some of the best post-race snacks I've ever had in my life, such as cupcakes, cookies, sweet potato biscuits, chocolate cheesecake bites, lemon pie bites, and chocolate croissants.

After an uneventful 2.5 hour drive back to Charlotte, I took a nap, ate some eggs, drank some more water, took a small detour with Matt and his parents to pick up a Craigslist bookshelf in Matt's van (the girl took a picture of his van to post on facebook as quite possibly the most creepy vehicle a Craigslist customer has ever appeared in before--don't worry I warned this girl of said van before we came so she didn't bail out).  Sooner than I would have liked, it was time to drive to Concord with John for the On a Mission 5k.  It felt like a high school cross country meet because of the laid back attitude, the hand timed system, and the note cards for our places.  However, it was totally worth the drive because the race director was so enthusiastic and I got to meet Sommer and Tim Baucom, who I've always seen in the CRC Newsletter results but never have met in person. At 8:05PM, we took off for the prize of a visa gift card.  My race pace stayed between 5:50-6:05 and I liked it just at that pace.  John took home the victory on the men's side and we both walked away with handcrafted wooden award plaques and a visa gift card to help assist us in the finances necessary for our move in just a couple of days.

In the end, this week was definitely a good one.  I can only aspire to be like Alana Hadley and Meagan Nedlo, who are able to consistently hit mileage around 90 miles without any struggle whatsoever!


Thursday, May 10, 2012

Mid-Week Long Run

Goal:
16 mile long run

Actual:
15.5 miles in 1:53:00

It's amazing how quickly my motivation can plummet once I'm left along on the final leg of a long run.  I had every intention of running at least 1:55 for my long run this morning, but once all my buddies dropped off, the comfort of my front door beckoned for me to come home.  I started at 5:15am and ran to the Dowd YMCA to pick up Jason Martin.  We ran down the Light Rail path until we had to turn around in time to pick up the Dowd crew.  The run continued along the Twilight 5k course with a slew of other familiar faces whose presence helped keep me going.  By this time, my legs finally had that extra pep in them.  As the sun peaked out from eastern horizon, I woke up at the same pace, both mentally and physically, but was getting annoyed at the constant stop and go resulting from the stoplights in uptown.  Unfortunately, since we weren't doing the standard 9-mile Colville Loop, people dropped off much earlier than I had expected and soon I was left on my own for the last 15 minutes of the run. After some solo miles, I decided to end as soon as I spotted my house, and immediately began to eat.  Now the 9-hour work day awaits me!

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Another Day on the Speed Loop

Goal:
3 Mile Tempo + 4x400m

Actual:
3 Mile warmup
2 Miles at 5:43, 5:42, 4 min rest, then 10x400m @75-77 with 55-60 sec rest
2-ish cool down
4 miles in the PM for 15.3 miles total

I switched out this workout because I decided not to taper for a 10k that I'm doing this weekend. Mark had prescribed my standard pre-race workout for Tuesday, but after checking with my work schedule next week, which involves travelling to Carnegie Mellon University on Tuesday and Wednesday and moving out of my residence of over four years on Thursday and Friday, I decided to hit 90 miles this week and to hit only 70 miles next week.  I've got a lofty goal to run 90 miles this week, which will effectively be my highest mileage ever, while also trying to win a decent amount of prize money at the NC USATF 10k Champs.  Originally, I just wanted to run 6:00 pace for this race.  Then I read Meagan Nedlo's blog from last year, and decided I needed to attempt to run as fast as she did on the hilly course.  We'll see how my legs hold up on the dreaded fourth, uphill mile of this race, especially after a tough workout Tuesday and a long run on Thursday.

With all of that gibberish being said, I did this workout on the speed loop.  Originally, I had planned to do 20x400m, but doing that on the speed loop seemed boring and my trusty cohort had to bail at last minute due to car repairs.  Paul Mainwaring was still going to be at the loop, so I willed myself out of bed with his presence as my one and only motivator.  Fortunately for me, both Chad and Danielle also showed up to the Speed Loop.  This bode well for me because Chad is closer to me in fitness than Paul, which meant that I had someone for company now!  In a last minute decision, which involved me convincing Chad it was a better idea to workout with me rather than for him to go run easy miles on his own, we started our workout.  The two miles went by as expected, in the low 5:40s.  I would have liked to dip under 5:40, but my legs have logged a lot of mileage in the past four days.  After a half mile jog rest, we began the 400s up and down on the 800m speed loop.  The times weren't blazing fast, but they were as fast as I had run on the track a month prior!  By the 7th and 8th intervals, my quads and glutes were burning as though I had run up mountains all day.  I told Chad I was done, but he convinced me to run two more at an "easy" pace.  Somehow I also managed to convince Michelle, Dalena, Caleb, Danielle, Paul and Mike to do these easy 400s with us too.  The company made the effort seem relaxed and fun.  By the time it was over, I was very glad.  I made the way back to my house very, very slowly before finally getting ready for work.  Tonight, I have a dance lesson with my instructor Tony.  Watch out Charlotte!

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Week in Review

~86 Miles
3 Doubles
18 Mile Long Run
2 Dance Lessons, 1 Group Lesson

A lot happened this week...I signed up for 3 private dance lessons a week and unlimited group dance classes.  I attended University of South Carolina Nursing Convocation for Elyse Bullock.  I ran lots of miles with numerous friends.  I placed second in the CRC Tequila 400m Birthday Dash.  I stood on the roof the infamous "pink building" in Charlotte and spit Fanta off the ledge.  I drove my delightedly drunk friends to the Cinco de Mayo bash at Aaron's house.  All in all, it was a busy, yet fun week.

From a running perspective, I had two unimpressive workouts, but I will account those lackluster performances to the heat and humidity that has found its way (must to early) to the Carolinas.  I have a feeling that this summer will be a hot one, but I don't mind too much.  Training in the summer is much better for me because I have time to stretch and drink water before jumping in my car to go home.  I don't have to rush to take a shower, for fear of getting sick from the cold and wet combination.  Surely, I have to start drinking a bottle of water every hour and take long naps on Sundays after grueling long runs in the sun, but it beats running in the cold, dark of the winter.

Next week, I've got the NC 10k Champs in Raleigh.  I've got dance lessons to pay for now so my goal is to win some more prize money at this one.

Friday, May 4, 2012

Cutdown on the Speed Loop

Goal:
6xmile with 2:30 rest

Actual:
2.5 warmup

On the Speed Loop:
2000m 6:57 (1:47)
1600m 5:33 (2:13)
1200m 4:03 (3:18)
1000m 3:20 (2:40)
800m 2:38 (2:38)
600m 1:56 (3:18)
400n 1:15 (1:20)
200m :35
2 miles cool down for 11.5 miles total

On a hot and muggy morning, David Willis and I departed from my house to meet Spada at the Speed Loop.  After twenty minutes of warmup, we toed the imaginary line and started our first rep--2000m.  David and Spada immediately bolted ahead and I was left in their dust. This would be the theme for the entirety of the workout.  When I wanted to zigzag off the course to hit up a sprinkler in the middle of an interval, I would glue my eyes to Spada's butt and ignore the desire for water.  Instead, I powered through this down ladder workout, even when it was really hurting.  Fortunately, our prescribed rest was much longer than usual (400m) with hopes that it would allow us to run super fast.  Well, it didn't.  It was to hot for that.  My body definitely isn't used to running in this humidity quite yet. I only need a couple more weeks and I'll be just fine, but until then, it will definitely be a struggle.

In this workout, I really hurt for the first three reps, and then by the time I hit the 1000m and shorter intervals, I was finally beginning to feel better.  My times don't really reflect that too much, but the effort was there today and I felt spent after each one.  My legs felt pretty heavy towards the end, but I did just run a solid tempo on Wednesday at McAlpine.  I'm hoping that I'll be able to push the last couple miles of my long run on Sunday to make this a solid week.

 

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

13 Mile Steady State

Goal:
9 mile tempo at 615 pace

Actual:
13 miles at 6:40 pace

I was supposed to do a 9 mile tempo this morning, but I never found anyone to run it with me, so I didn't find the resolve within myself to get out of bed to run a solo tempo.  This would mark the first one hour tempo I've done since 2011, and I wasn't up to the challenge.  Instead, I went back to sleep and opted to run in the afternoon at McAlpine....Eight hours later and thirty degrees warmer--BAD IDEA.  I am not used to this ridiculous heat and humidity yet and the fact that one must check the weather before making such foolish decisions such as working out at 4PM when it's 92 degrees and humid as hell.  I immediately decided to do a steady state run instead.  I can do a nice tempo in the next couple of weeks, when I can recruit someone like Stephen Spada or Alana Hadley for company.

Out at McAlpine, to avoid the sun, I ran back and forth on the lower Boyce trails for 6 miles before finally heading out back onto the normal back and to run the course backwards.  Once on the course, I started dropping 6:30s, which is that impressive, but it was humid, so I'll take it.  The unfortunate thing is that it didn't feel quite as easy as I would have liked.  I'm going to account this toward the humidity and my lack of endurance or fitness.  The true test will come during my 9 mile tempo in the next couple of weeks.

My splits for the first 3 miles were around 7:00, splits for 4-6 were around 650, splits for 7-9 were around 6:45, splits for 10-13 were 6:30