Notes
This wasn't exactly the start I was looking for, but I'm not too disappointed. Outside of lifting, I really haven't done anything specific to my own training outside of Sunday's long run. My goal was to hop in, run 5:30 and then try to cut down, but the opposite happened. I was 5:26 at the mile, which did not feel that hard. I think I was about 11 (~5:30-5:35) at the 2 and then probably 16:55 around the 3. I never really felt taxed or anything, I just did not have any real fitness to go off of. It was just a weird experience. I ran in trainers and just felt funky - complete opposite feeling of the 3k. Never really engaged, just sort of let things be.
Although I'm not in great shape, I have a much better base level of fitness than I did going into last summer (I'm not running 20:30, which is a good sign). This aligns basically with where I was my senior year of high school which was my best 5k shape and I had to run 50-60 miles a week to break 18 in the 5k back then. I think this is a nice place to start - I'm just going to work on putting in the time, building up to 60 mpw by June and hopefully maintain with some ups and downs throughout the summer. I have the right setting and the right group of people to run with, so I think I will really be able to get a lot of quality this summer, come in to the fall and hopefully run some big PRs in cross, not to mention GLR.