Miles at Norman High

20 min. w/u (2.5 miles)
Target: 4xmile @6:00 w/1 min. rest
Actual: 5:57, 5:55, 5:54, 5:43
22 min. c/d (~3 miles)
Total: 9-9.5 miles

Jordan, Scotty and I started at the same time (granted they were aiming to run almost a minute faster per mile than me, but who's counting) on a sunny yet fairly mild morning at the Norman High track. The breeze was a bit stiff on the homestretch but its effects on the pace were negligible, so overall it was a pretty great morning to be on the track. On paper this workout looked pretty easy...until I noticed there was only a minute rest between repeats. That would definitely kick the intensity up a notch, but I still felt confident I could hit the splits.

After coming through the first mile in 5:57 with little difficulty I could tell things would go well. In hindsight, I could've used this as an opportunity to really open up the legs and test myself, but that wasn't necessarily the objective of the workout so I resisted. Even with only a minute recovery I felt comfortable gradually squeezing down the pace per mile, and it wasn't until the last go that I decided to really push myself. My goal was to run sub-5:50, but when Jordan and Scotty joined in to tow me along the last half mile I knew I would come through much faster. That said, I was still surprised to see 5:43 on the watch without going to the well.

We finished things off with a delightful barefoot mile on the infield before putting our kicks back on and hoofing it back home. Except for a pre-race on Tuesday, this is our last workout before the half, so I'm pleased to have ended on such a positive note.