Notes
In Decorah!! My first run not near Ankeny in months. I'm dogsitting for the Neubauers so it will be a bit odd being in Decorah and not seeing anyone, but it still feels great.
And I guess my body was ready to enjoy Decorah as I woke up before 5:30. Or maybe it was the restless dog on the bed. Or maybe because there are no shades or curtains in the house yet and it was already bright out. Thankfully, I felt pretty awake.
I'm not so sure about Bruce though. I took him on the 1st 2 miles and he was dogging it (haha, I had to say it). I know he's better so I'm not sure why we only did 9min pace.
After dropping Bruce off, I hopped on 52 to get to the xc course. I'm hoping to get in some good miles the next 3 days, so I decided to get the workout out of the way first. My first thoughts were a trail workout, but I opted for grass since quality grass is in shorter supply than quality singletrack in central Iowa.
Gateway Prairie hadn't been mowed so I did repeats on the dike right next to it (not sure I've ever done that). It happened to be right at a 1/2 mile and I did 5 repeats, all within 2 seconds of 2:50. I tried to stay comfortable but not complacent. Legs felt good, breathing was average.
I wanted to throw in a few hills, but there wasn't a great option for a 20+ second sustained effort. I went up the one closest to Miller twice. I finished with 2 sprints on the track (I had heard the track was closed but every gate was open, still, I was in and out quickly).