2x5 Miles on Sugar Creek

Goal:
15-ish miles with 2x5 miles @  (1st set) 6:05-6:13 and (2nd set) either same as 1st set or as fast as 5:58-6:03 average

Actual:
2.2 mile warmup in 23 min
2x5 Mile @ 30:32 - 615, 607, 610, 558, 602 (1 mile jog rest @ 7:30) and 29:51 - 601, 558, 602, 602, 548
2.5 mile cool down for 15.7 miles total

I finally turned on the heat in my house last night.  This makes it extremely difficult to get out of bed in the morning, even if I went to sleep at 8:30PM last night.  I woke up at 5:05AM to get in this workout with Laurie and Aaron, starting at the Dilworth Speed Loop and heading down towards the Sugar Creek Greenway.  With 8+ hours of sleep, I was hoping that my legs would feel pretty darn awesome this morning.  While I hit my times prescribed and even closed my last mile as the fastest of the day, the first part of the workout didn't feel easy. 

I was very grateful for the company from Aaron and Laurie.  For the first set, we all talked the whole time and I didn't notice the cold much.  Laurie and I both commented on how relaxed Aaron looked during the hard miles.  He just ran a marathon three weeks ago and has bounced back quickly.  After the first set, both Laurie and I commented that the 6:00s we were running really felt like 5:50.  It could very well have been the combination of the half last week, the cold and the dark that made us feel like poo.  Instead of taking the 800m rest, I grabbed a quick swig of water and then ran a slow mile for the recovery.

We began our assault on the last set with Aaron leading the charge again.  Laurie headed back home after 2 miles, so I was left with Aaron.  The temperatures seemed to drop at least five degrees during the second set and my entire lower half of my face was numb. I felt absolutely ridiculous because I could not enunciate my words, which effectively stopped any and all conversation.  Admittedly, I was pretty happy I didn't have to talk any more because it didn't feel easy.  I stopped looking at my splits during this half because I realized that Aaron was doing most of the work for me, so I could just trust him to help me hit the times.  On the last mile, he made 5-10M gap on me, but I didn't really try to close it because I felt that we were already faster than what I should be at. 

I'm obviously very pleased with hitting my goal time splits, but I can tell that I'm getting to that point in my training cycle where my body is ready for the marathon to come.  This is a great sign, because I think that I am going to peak at exactly the right time.  With a couple weeks of taper and in a competitive setting, I will be primed and ready!