Mile Repeats With JSK

2.5 mile w/u + strides
Target: 4x1600 starting @5:22-25 and getting faster, 3 mins. jog
Actual: 5:25, 5:22, 5:20, 5:15
2 mile c/d
Total: 9 miles

After several days of uncharacteristically warm weather (an understatement for all the marathon runners), Wednesday seemed to take a turn in the opposite direction. A day that started off sunny and breezy turned overcast and blustery by late afternoon, just in time for me to take to the Beverly High oval with Jordan. He'd agreed to play queenmaker and pull me through some quick mile repeats, and though I'm always grateful for his presence the wind made me feel especially so this afternoon.

Though I knew the intervals were supposed to be fast, I also realized that the workout would go best if I just relied on Jordan's pacing and didn't check my watch every 20 seconds. So from the outset, I resolved to only check my split at the end of each interval and simply run by feel. The first mile was intended to be the slowest, and it felt that way. Still, I was a bit surprised/disappointed to see a 5:25 split as my legs sensed it to be a bit faster. That would be the theme throughout the workout; each split getting gradually quicker but feeling just a little harder than I'd like. I was pleased to set a new mile PR (pathetic, ha!) of 5:15 after the final push, but it didn't come easily. I'll need to be rattling off 5:15s with no problem if I hope to achieve my 10k goals later in the season. I look forward to revisiting this workout a month from now to see how much I've improved!