Long Run + 8 Mile Wave Tempo

Goal:
16 Miles + 8-10 Mile Wave

Actual:
4 miles warmup
8 miles wave in 47:44 (5:52, 6:14, 5:50, 6:06, 5:44, 6:01, 5:43, 6:10)
4 miles cool down

Caleb and I continued our tradition of doing long tempos at McMullen together today.  This time he drove us down to the McMullen entrance, where the skies seemed to be holding out just long enough for us to get the majority of our run in without a torrential downpour.  Going into this, my legs felt a little heavy still (potentially from my wimpy hike on Sunday?), but I figured I would still be able to hit my times.  The plan was to start on the easy interval, but Caleb and I took it out a little hard in the first 400m, so we had a change of plans and swapped it for the fast interval.  We ran to the four mile mark and back for the tempo portion, and the rain held off until mile 3.  I am surprised we were able to maintain our paces because the wooden pathways got a little slippery and I could tell that I was running more tentatively and timidly with each step forward. Fortunately, it wasn't too bad and didn't affect my workout.  Upon the turn around, we had turned up the heat on the paces.  Our "easy" pace inched closer and closer to 6:00 and I felt grand...until the last mile.  It wasn't like the wheels came off, but they unraveled a little bit.  My legs just couldn't pick up and move as quickly (and as easily) as they had before.  I could tell that Caleb was holding back and that he could have easily finished in a 6:00 flat mile, but he was a gentleman and stayed back with me as I willed the starting line to magically appear in front of my path.  We finished up the run just as it stopped raining as hard, so for our cool down we didn't have to worry about pouring rain dripping into our eyes again.

Since this is my last big workout before the USA half champs, I am very pleased with this effort.  I believe that I can run 5:50 pace for a half marathon and this workout as cemented that belief for me.  If I can run 5:50 pace for a 10 miler, then I should be able to add on a 5k at the same pace.  The most important piece to the puzzle now is to mentally prepare for my goals.  I haven't been injured (knock on wood) in the last three years, and all of that hard work is going to pay off in Duluth.