Did my first speed workout in about 3+ weeks. It felt hard. Man, when I don't run fast for a while, even just a few weeks, and then I go back to it, the heart and legs seem to not like it so much. But if I do it consistently, I find that I crave the periodic speed/hard doses. And they don't hurt so bad. It probably didn't help that I miscalculated my pace on all my splits. I was going to do 8 x 400 on the path. I started out and did the first one in 1:06. Thinking to myself that was 76 seconds. Oops! I then proceeded to think 1:06 meant 76 seconds on all the subsequent repeats. So I was getting more and more annoyed and feeling out of shape that I wasn't able to hit 76 second quarter mile repeats. I kept coming short of the quarter mile in the 76 seconds. Afterward on my cool down it finally dawned on me. Then I felt like a total math whiz! Then I didn't feel so bad about my fitness after all. My actual pace on all the repeats ranged between 4:45 to 5:15 per mile (some up hill, some down hill). So I wasn't as bad off as I assumed, that's actually right where I expected to be. 10.5 miles total - 1:20 total time. a few hundred feet vert, tops. On a side note, Brian Beckstead was in town today, and at Nan's request, dropped her off a pair of Altras. And now I'm SUPER jealous of her. Those things look awesome! I can see now jun why you are continually going off about them. I wish I was elite so they would give me a free pair too! Or I wish they actually had them in stock so I could actually buy a pair. They look like pretty sweet running shoes to me.
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