Notes
Really strong workout today. Plan was to do 2x6K with 1K easy in between. Wore my Vaporflys and I feel they definitely helped me relative to the Zoom Streaks and Turbos. Warm up was pretty relaxed, a little slow. Weather was pretty good with only some wind mostly from the east so the first 1.5K of each set was a bit into the wind. Coming out of TT also felt like there might have been a bit of a headwind.
The first km of work was pretty comfortable and I was pleased to see a 3:57 compared to last week's 4:09. I think the shorter warm up definitely helped although there was also something else really off last week. I continued pushing in the 2nd km and as I settled in the pace dropped substantially. I knew I was on a good run at this point but knew I had to back off as the start was way too fast. The first set continued to get progressively harder but manageable, and pace wasn't dropping much.
After the first set I went into a brisk jog and grabbed some water without stopping my watch. Started the second set pretty strong but was definitely starting to tire by the 3rd km. My pace was slower than the first set but this was understandable. Slacked off a bit coming out of TT but was able to pick up the pace coming home for the last 2 kms. Never left tempo mode and went into a nice jog immediately after. Definitely had some left in the tank. Biggest difficulty was right hip feeling pretty tight especially in the latter part of 2nd set.
Cool down went ok but I could tell at the same time this was a really hard effort so will need to make sure I fully recover over the next couple of days. I did have some DOMs today but it wasn't too bad. Again did extended stretching before going out which I think helped.
Averaged 3:53.2 for first set and 3:56.5 for second set. Completed the entire 13K in 51:50 which was faster than my pace for the 15K race. Also ran 19:21 for the last 5K of the first set. Definitely my strongest effort ever at HM/tempo pace. But is there is still the question of whether I can approach this pace in the back half of the race as I haven't been able to nail a long run finishing multiple kms at this pace.