4x2 with Peanut Butter on Top

AM: 17 min. w/u (2+ miles)
4x2 miles in 6:30-6:35 w/800 jog in between
(6:29, 6:33); (6:28, 6:36); (6:26, 6:36); (6:27, 6:35)
11 min. c/d (1.5 miles)
Total: 13 miles
PM: ~30 min. walk

As I mentioned yesterday, due to some scheduling conflicts we've had to rearrange things a bit this week. Normally I would not do a tempo on Saturday followed by a long-ish run on Sunday followed by intervals on Monday. However, Jeff said he wants some of our workouts to simulate the fatigue we will feel toward the end of the marathon, and this certainly ended up being one of those (whether he intended it to be or not).

So, for the second time in three days, I strapped on the trusty T5's and headed out to the river. Since I needed each mile to be accurately marked, I knew I had to stay on the dirt path the entire time. In general, this workout felt harder than I expected it to (which I would attribute to it being my third medium-to-hard run in as many days). I never really felt comfortable or fluid, and the last two intervals were especially taxing. While I tried to stay fair with the 800m jogs in between, I ended up taking an extra minute or two before the last two intervals to catch my breath. I desperately needed water before the last set, but was nowhere close to the fountain, so I pressed on without. The dirt was running especially slow today, so I would conservatively subtract 3-4 seconds per mile for that.

Overall, I was pleased that I basically hit the splits, but I wish they could've been a bit more even. My pacing was consistent...consistently bad, that is. On every single interval I took the first 800 out too hard (~3:10-3:12) and ended up dying a slow death on the last mile. Would've liked to do a better job with that. Also, I should've done a longer cool down, but I just didn't feel like it. I was exhausted and had probably sweated off 10 pounds by the end of the workout, so it was all I could do to wog around for 10 minutes before peacing out. I plan on walking it out with Brooke and Biz tonight to keep the legs from tightening up too much.


Peanut butter french toast at Highland Bakery
Could've used JoKin to eat the second piece

Speaking of those ten pounds I lost, I'm confident I promptly gained them back with the peanut butter french toast I ate for brunch earlier this afternoon. Carbs, protein, fat...pretty much the ideal recovery food, in my opinion.