A.M. 20 miles total. Did the first 10.25 with the kids. First, did my 3.5 with Jenny and Julia running 3. I did the tempo mile in 5:36. Then 0.5 with Jacob and 1 with Joseph. Then 5.25 with Benjamin. He did a couple of pickups to catch runners in front of us which gave me 0.5 of tempo. Then I weighed myself at 142.4 lb and went on to finish the rest of the run. I decided to do a mild tempo - 5 miles targeting 86 quarters, or 5:44 per mile. I started the tempo after having run about 13.4 miles total for the run, and did it of the Fast Running Blog 5 miler course. The start was very sluggish - 89 followed by 87 after I had given myself a kick in the rear. After that I was awake, found the groove, and started gradually eating away at the 4 seconds I had lost. My split at the turnaround was 14:22, 2 seconds behind pace, so I gained 2 seconds, but then I lost them on the turnaround. I got mad about that, found the rhythm again after a couple of quarters, and was within 1 second of the pace with a mile to go. The pace up to that point felt good, but to go faster required a visit into a different dimension. Even though I say the pace felt good, it is all relative. I was in another dimension already. I do not realize these things until I see a passerby on the road. When he enters the area of my peripheral vision, he disappears. Somehow I am able to concentrate to the point of turning it off. Yes, it takes that much concentration for me to run sub-6:00. Once I had only a mile to go, I finally found the courage to visit that other dimension. I did the last mile in 5:34, which gave me 28:31.6 for the tempo. I jogged some more, and with 0.5 left I decided to test my fuel levels. They were better than last week. I ran 90 and 87 quarters - 2:57 for 0.5, 5:54 pace average, and I felt that I had another gear yet. So it was not bad at all. After the run I weighed at 141.6 lb. So that is the difference for me - 138.6 lb resulted in 93, 93 for the last two quarters with no other gear available. P.M. 2 miles. Did another fuel test in the last mile - got 5:42. First quarter was 89, then I kicked into gear, and did 86, 84, 83. Felt strong.
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