Notes
9 miles easy+12 miles alternating MP and 30-40” slower+1 mile cool down. This week has been an eye opener as to what my body can sustain. I went to bed last night worried I wouldn’t be able to hit the paces I needed but knew I would be going out there to test myself nonetheless. Started from trueblood and headed through Sycamore and the soccer complex to the gravel roads the Hawkeyes use for tempo runs. I found the roads to be too slick with gravel and the uneven footing caused me to turn ankles and got my left hamstring a little pissy. I was going to go out and back for the whole run but turned at 7 out and would do the rest around Trueblood since it was flat and paved. I did the first MP mile on the gravel and knew it was a good idea that I wouldn’t be doing the majority there, however a small downhill helped to a fastish split (5:05.7). The real test was finding how low I needed to gear down off the MP miles and stay in that 30-40” range for the following. 5:44.1 for the steady. My hamstring was starting to eat angry during the second set with a lot of winding turns on the sycamore trail and ended up 5:13.0 (5:50.8 to follow). I had one more mile on before Trueblood and it was through a neighborhood with practically the only uphill I had left in the entire run, 5:08.0 (5:43.0 to follow). I was halfway through and now set to do endless loops around the lake. 5:11.7/5:48.4, 5:08.4/5:45.7. I now only had one rep to go but I was starting to feel the totality of the morning. I worked on running as smooth as I could but the speed cushion was all but gone, I managed to press the last quarter and run 5:11.1. I wasn’t out of the woods yet and I swear the 5:45(.6) to follow was just as brutal. I just wanted to be done. I took a nice easy jog after grabbing water from my car and finished up with a mile + at a comfortable pace.