I talked with Kevin and Scott in the fitness center before my run. They had both just finished some pretty good workouts. Scott had run on Kuhni Rd. After talking with him I decided that seemed like a good place to run today. It must have been, because I ran into Tom while out there and ran in the last mile or so with him. My training plan this winter is basically "run whatever I feel like" and enjoy myself, with an eye to increasing my short distance speed (5K/10K). Today I felt like running four one-mile intervals with 1/4 mile jogs in between. I thought I'd run the first one pretty hard (not all out) and then see if I could run the other three pretty close to the same pace. I warmed up running 0.91 mi to Kuhni Rd. @ about 8:21/mi. Like I usually do, I started out too fast on the 1st mile interval (around 6:38/mi) and slowed a little to finish it in 7:01. The 2nd mile I decided to not look at my watch and just try to match my effort for the first mile. The result was 7:28 for that mile. I returned to checking my watch periodically on the 3rd mile and ran it in 7:15. I started out the 4th mile at about the same pace but about midway through I noticed my pace had slowed to 7:37/mi. I pushed it back up and finished in 7:13. I saw Tom just after I finished this last interval. He was just finishing his tempo run so we ran the 1.16 mi back in together @ about 8:31/mi. Tom and I commented on the way back in that we both felt a little sluggish today. We thought it might be lingering effects from Saturday's 5K, the cold, or both. But Scott ran the same 5K Saturday, and ran in the same conditions on the same road today, and he ran great. Maybe age has something to do with it? | 