3k revenge time trial, after a pretty bad attempt about 4 weeks ago. On that day I wanted sub 10:00, a bit greedy, and did a 10:18, 5 seconds slower than my college indoor track PR. Today I had two guy pacers (Alfred and Ken), and a more modest goal of 10:10, which would still be a PR. So the plan was go out no faster than 40 sec for the first 200m, then 81-82 per lap, so perhaps 5:25 at the mile. Alfred was the primary pacer. I was pretty nervous, but thought 10:10 was very doable. 5k warm up, lots of stretching, several strides (don't want to go into this type of workout cold). First 200m was 37-38 (fast), first lap was 78-79 (fast), second lap was 82, at 1000m I told Alfred to pick it up, but the third lap worried me as we came in at 82-83 (per coaches calling, I wasn't lapping the watch), so I passed him and pushed the 4th lap and we came in for the mile at 5:22. He took over in the 5th lap and ran strong the rest of the run, at around 79-80, and we were under at 7:21 with 800 to go, 8:00 with 600m to go, 8:39 with 400m to go, and 9:52 to finish! Big improvement! 10 minutes of easy jogging, then 6 x 600m on/200m off cruise intervals at 88-90/lap pace. Long cool down since I got lost (8k). Three big PR's in three weeks, this sure is a golden period in my running. This is a perfect start to my marathon training cycle. By getting my speed up and already used to hard workouts, I should be able to do faster tempos which will lead to a faster marathon, right? Couldn't have believed 4 months ago I would be where I am now. Very very grateful. | 