An Eventful Morning

15 mins. core
72 mins. (10.5 miles)

According to Jeff's training schedule, the main purpose behind having so few double days is so we can go hard more frequently. So, instead of having a standard post-workout recovery day, Jordan and I both had ten mile runs on tap with the last five miles at an uptempo pace. For me, Jeff set this pace around 6:30, which I figured would be difficult but doable. Since Jordan's tempo pace is obviously much faster, he suggested that I run the first 4-5 miles solo, then pick him up so he could pace me on my uptempo portion (which would be his "easy" portion) before finishing off his final five miles solo. I thought this was a grand idea, especially since he had a Garmin and knew a route already, so after 30 minutes of running I swung by Main Street and picked him up.

Immediately upon starting the uptempo section I could tell my legs were feeling good. Like, unusually good, especially for having done a fairly intense workout the day before. I'd told Jordan we could go through the first mile in 6:45 or so before finding the pace, but to my pleasant surprise we clicked off a 6:34 from the gun. The following miles came in at 6:30, 6:27, 6:28 and 6:25. When we turned onto Jenkins for the fourth mile I was itching to cut the pace down closer to 6:20, but the combination of having to run a section on some uneven grass and an ill-timed crossing at a major intersection slowed things considerably. That said, I was surprised--shocked, really--at how easy this felt, as I only truly labored on the final half mile.

Soon thereafter Jordan and I parted ways, and I cooled down the rest of the way home while he continued his workout. We also had some excitement after the run was over. To avoid stealing Jordan's thunder I will simply link you to his blog to tell the story.