Notes
Plan for the workout was 6mi@5:35 (1:00 recovery jog) 5mi@5:25.
I could tell from the warmup that I was feeling good today. It's hard to describe the difference between today/yesterday and the previous couple weeks, but it seems like the muscles in my legs are firing more efficiently and that my stride is a lot more natural.
After a rushed 1.5 mile warmup around Tootin Hills, I started on the tempo going through Stratton Brook over to the bike path. The pace on miles 2 and 3 is a little deceiving because there is some significant downhill in each of them, but even from the begging of the workout, I was moving much better than I have on comparable workouts lately. Around mile 4, I really got into a rhythm. While I didn't really feel like I needed the minute break at the time, once I took it I started feeling phenomenal and the 5:20s felt pretty effortless.
The hard part of the workout came, again, in the last two miles when I had to make my way through town back to the beginning of Stratton Brook and over some sizable hills. In the final mile, I really had to dig in going up the hill in order to maintain the 5:25 pace I was shooting for. By the end of the last mile, I was having some uncharacteristically shallow, almost asthmatic breathing which may have been a result of the cold weather.
In the end, it was a really good workout. It's nice to feel like thing are going in the right direction. I'm both looking forward to and dreading my half marathon race pace workout in a few days, but I think it will give me a good indication of where I am and what my goals should be for my January half marathon in Naples, Florida.