(Short) Mile Repeats

3 mile w/u + strides
Target: 6xmile w/3:30 rest; hammer 2nd half of #5
Actual: 5:24, 5:21, 5:18, 5:20, 5:15, 5:19
2 mile c/d
Total: 11 miles

Tanya and I had just finished our warmup and I was stretching near the Footlocker stage when it happened. You know what I'm talking about. One of those situations where you're sitting (or standing) there, minding your own business, and some 70-year-old guy shuffles up to and decides that you look like you want to have a conversation. Not a real conversation, mind you, but a scenario where you stand motionless save for the nodding of your head and the frantic darting of your eyes for an escape while he relives his glory days. "You know, I was a four-minute miler way back when." "I used to go through 10 miles of a marathon in 56 minutes, no joke." "Are you any good? What kind of times do you run? Because let me tell you, runners in New York are better than runners down here. They just are. It's a fact. Maybe we're better at sprints down here, but at distance events they're in a completely different league."

After enduring what I promise is represented factually by the transcript above, it's no wonder I ran fast today. I couldn't run the risk of getting cornered by Grandpa again.

Anyhow, once I escaped from that painful interaction, I was pretty much ready to get on with the workout. I was slightly bummed that we were running on the last mile of the Footlocker course today, as I knew it wouldn't give me an accurate reflection of the progress I'd made since running the same workout with Jordan a few weeks ago. That workout was on a different section of the trail. Today's intervals would take place on the notoriously "short" mile of the course, which is also gently rolling for the first 800 meters. I guess the objective of the workout was more about effort than actual pace, but I would've liked to replicate the last workout conditions instead. Oh well.

From the beginning, however, I could tell things were going well. It certainly helped to have Tanya 5-7 seconds ahead of me, as her presence definitely kept me focused and motivated through each section of the interval. Normally 3:30 rest between intervals would feel like an eternity, but it actually took us almost three full minutes to walk from the finish line back to the start line, so it was just about perfect for today. If I had any complaint (which I always do), it would be the temperature. We seriously underestimated how warm it would be out there today, and as a result suffered from not strategically placing water at both the start and finish. We were able to snag a few gulps here and there but I definitely could've used more.

With two intervals to go, Pezz joined us as she was starting her own 4xmile workout. Since we were supposed to hammer the second half of this interval, I benefited greatly from her presence. She really helped me pick up the pace in the final meters and finish in a respectable time. (Incidentally, Tanya blazed an eye-popping 5:05 on her hammer, by far the fastest interval of the day.) All of us were able to get back on pace for the final mile, which is a sure sign that the workout is fulfilling its purpose. We finished exhausted and thirsty but definitely excited about what we'd accomplished.

As I mentioned at the outset, this mile is short, so take the splits with a grain of salt. If I had to guess, I'd say it's around five seconds off at the pace we were running. But still, I believe today's splits translate pretty accurately to what we could run for the same workout on the track when taking into account the dirt surface and rolling terrain of today's course. That makes this undoubtedly the best mile repeat workout I've ever done, and further solidifies my goal if running 16:30 or faster at Penn next week. Perhaps then I will prove to that old guy that we Charlotte runners aren't so slow after all.