A Balance, Redefined

Single: I knew ahead of time that today was going to be my busiest of the week. In addition to having lots of lab work to do Sandra is hosting an even at our church tonight. So I got up a little before 5am to get into work early. I had one thing to do before my run but that had turned into three things by the time I finally got out the door. So in the end I didn't get out the door until 8:30 and it was already pretty warm. My plan heading out the door was 2x2mi beyond that I wasn't 100% sure of what I was up for. I've obviously been pretty flat since WBR (if not since the marathon)... I headed up and over toward Popperton Park and started the first two mile surge along the cemetery after 1.5 mi warmup. For the first mile I was just thinking 6 or below and I hit 6:00.30 (a 38ft; d 103ft) can't get much closer to 6 than that. For the next mile I was thinking 5:45 pace (It is an aided mile 2nd half of the FireHouse mile plus into City Creek). When I looked at the split I was happy to see 5:40.72 (a 27ft; d 134ft). I then took a mile "recovery" up into City Creek (8:35 a 230ft; d 25ft). One of the benefits of doing workouts on your own is changing midstream. Up to this point I was thinking about shooting for the remaining miles at 5:45 but with the extra descent on the next pair and with how good the first two felt I decided to shoot for a 5:20/5:00 combo. For the first mile of the second 2mi surge I kept looking down and seeing 5:10-15 then I'd let up and be around 5:30-35. I watched my pace very closely as I wanted to make sure I had something in the tank for the final mile. I ended up hitting the mile in 5:20.94 (a 37ft; d 230ft) and was very happy to see that. I then decided I was not going to look at my Garmin a single time in the final mile and just kept moving. My thought was to give everything left in the tank. It was warm and despite having the help of the downhills for the previous miles I was feeling it. I really felt like I was flying and was so tempted to check my pace but I didn't. As I was nearing the gate to Memory Grove there were a lot of people and a dog got startled and ran right in front of me and froze. I almost ran over him but manage to dodge around him (remember I'm going close to if not faster than 12mph).  As I went through the gate I was really getting tired especially as you loose the nice downhill and even have the slightest of ups (at least by the Garmin) but knew I had something like a 1/4 mile left. I managed to keep pushing but knew I was starting to loose it. The final mile was 5:06.37 (a 104ft; d 271ft). I then turned around ran back up to the City Creek gate for a drink of water and then back to lab for a total of 5.5 mi cool down, too bad the weather didn't know it was cool down time as it felt so hot especially the stretch along the cemetery. Overall, I was very happy with the workout. Though I didn't hit my target for the final mile I'm sure if the dog wasn't there it would have been pretty close. Mi 12-T2 Avg. 8:00 yes that is right two runs in a row at exactly 8 min average...

Asics DS-Trainer #1: 309 / / Asics DS-Trainer #2: 317 / / Saucony Rides #1: 309 / / Saucony Rides #2: 326 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 175