LM warmup (10 reps), 11.36 miles in 1:22:55, 7:18/mi, HR 155, w/ 3 mile warmup, 2 x Strides/Drills, 3 x 10 minute Tempo Intervals @ HM, HM, 10K pace in 6:19/mi, 6:14/mi, and 5:57/mi avg, 3 mile cooldown. PU/SU/Leg ladder & stretching. Another crazy weather day. Bouts of sun intermixed with torrential downpours and hail. I tried timing my run for the non-downpour and hail portion of the day and managed to avoid most....except for the downpour and hail during my last (and toughest repeat). Fortunately I wasn't thinking too much about the weather during it. But I get ahead of myself. Still a bit tired despite getting more sleep last night. The warmup felt decent but the legs were completely unenthusiastic about the drills. After laboring through those, I discovered another gear during the strides.....suddenly at top speed my leg turnover was noticeably increased over previous strides. Wow. Perhaps trying to focus on the relaxed portion of the strides (and hill sprints) has helped? Or maybe I was just imaging things. In any event, the turnover increase was noticeable so I'll take it. Tempo repeat goals were 6:18/mi for the first 2 and 5:57/mi for the last one. I also wanted to avoid running the first one too hard like I normally do. So the first one in 6:20 was a bit slow but a success since it was the slowest of the group. Plus, the wind was starting to gust by now, so conditions were less than ideal. Each of the repeats feature a 180 turn where I probably lose a couple of seconds, so I probably ought temper the paces accordingly, but oh well. Repeat 2 felt hard but decent and I brought that one in under target. Repeat 3. Time to put $$$ where my mouth is. The other day, I vowed to stop letting those 5:xx paces intimidate me. It was difficult with the weather worsening, my legs tiring, and the normal "no way you can run 10 minutes at a 5:57/mi pace" thoughts surfacing, but I took a deep breath, pushed the thoughts out of my mind, stood tall, and went for it. I kept my head up looking down the road, much more than I normally do, and tried to just go hard and not look at the watch so much. Here's where the hail started greeting me. Fun. Looking up and down the road, I realized I probably run with my head down too much, which probably means I lean forward from the waist too much. Anyway, at about 1/2 mile in I was on a 5:32/mi pace. Wow. Now the outbound leg is downhill slightly so it was expected to be a bit fast since I normally lose some on the uphill return. I just tried to stay loose, push, keep the "you can't" thoughts out, and finish. So when I hit the 10 minute mark and the watch showed 5:57/mi pace I was thrilled. Then I wiped all the snot from my face and beard that had accumulated during the past 10 minutes. Real fun. The cooldown was uneventful, aside from crashing hard with about 1 mile left and stumbling in the final mile. Interestingly enough, about an hour later I got what I believe is an Ocular Migraine. My vision gets all funky, with wavy lights moving through making it difficult to read. I've gotten these before and they seem to be triggered by particularly hard exercise efforts. Fortunately, I don't seem to get the headache that some people do who suffer from these. I probably ought confirm my self diagnosis with my doctor sometime, but I've gotten these for years now after certain hard exercise bouts and I haven't keeled over yet, so I don't think it's too dangerous. Score: Dale - 1, 5:xx/mi Mental Demon - 0 | 