Mile Repeat Disaster

AM: 3 miles
PM: 3 mile w/u + strides
Target: 4xmile w/4 mins. rest
Actual: 5:21, 5:19, fail, 5:19
2 mile c/d
Total: 8.5 miles

Ugh. I just didn't have it tonight. Maybe it was a combination of working all morning and cleaning the apartment all afternoon, or the fact that we didn't leave for JCSU until 7pm, or the lingering heat and humidity. Maybe I'm still not quite recovered from Stanford despite having raced a full five days ago. Or maybe it was just an off day with no underlying cause or meaning. Whatever the case, I felt terrible from the start on this one. I'd hoped to run 5:15s or faster--I mean seriously, it's four minutes rest--but in actuality I struggled to run 5:20s on the first two and then called it quits on the third after one disastrous lap. I jogged around for a bit and was able to step back in on the final interval, but all in all I still ran slower than I did for six intervals on the trail in the middle of the day a few weeks ago. Not what I was hoping for. Making things better yet worse at the same time, it seemed as though everyone else--Tanya, Pezz, Jenna, Futsum and Mike--were having absolutely stellar efforts. I, on the other hand, could not have been more relieved to finish up. Hopefully I can recover tomorrow because I've got a monster long run on Saturday. With my parents in town and graduation festivities all evening, an early bedtime and staying off the feet is not looking too likely, but I suppose one can hope.