A.M. Did some sort of a redemption run after the Saturdays fiasco. Yes, I know I had every reason not to run well on Saturday, but I wanted to make sure it was a true neural fatigue no-warm up cocktail bummer rather than an indication of a more serious problem. So I told Jeff to pace me at 79 per quarter (5:16 pace) to failure, do not try to make up with a 78 if he accidentally hit an 80, do not hit any 78s. Jeff has to be given explicit instructions just like the Lamanites in Alma 23:2 regarding Nephite missionaries: "he sent a decree among them, that they should not lay their hands on
them to bind them, or to cast them into prison; neither should they
spit upon them, nor smite them, nor cast them out of their synagogues,
nor scourge them; neither should they cast stones at them" - everything that he could be tempted to do to run me into the ground needs to be spelled out to him or else I am in deep trouble. But once he receives the instructions he follows them with the exactness of the sons of Helaman. After failure the plan was to run my best to the finish and still try to get Five Fingers PR for the 5 mile tempo of 27:25. So it went like this (yes I am a geek and I remember every quarter): 79, 81, 79, 78.5 (5:18.5), 78.5, 79, 79, 80 (5:16.5, 10:35), 79, 83 (13:17), 84, 84 (5:30,16:05), 86, 88, 85, 83.5 (5:42.5), 83.5, 83, 82, 80 (5:29). Total time 27:16.7, new Five Finger PR for the course, and only 28 seconds slower than shod best. 5K split around 16:41, 19 seconds faster than in Saturday race. Average HR 161, max 169 reached in the last quarter. After prior to 79 pace failure it was 165. Then it dropped to 162 as I slowed down to 84s. Did not see what it was at 88, but once we were doing 83s it got up to around 164. Around 3 miles legs started caving badly However, 86/88 quarter combination was enough to allow me to regroup and pick it back up to a respectable pace. This workout eliminated some creeping doubts about getting old and worn down, etc. Nevertheless, the sensitivity of the nervous system to stress is still a concern. I really did not do that much before the race to stress it, most people would have handled that type of "stress" just fine. Part of the problem is that just about the only symptom of stress is that I run badly. So I just have to say - I know this is stress - I do not really feel it otherwise until I start to run hard. Finished 10 miles with Jeff, and then added 2 more with Benjamin in 16:. He ran a quarter PR in 81 with the splits of 22 - 21 - 19 - 19. Due to the fatigue from the tempo I mispaced him again, but he recovered with a strong kick. P.M. 2 with Jenny in 17:23. Julia was not feeling well today, so we put her in the stroller after the first mile in 9:48. Jenny at that point was 8 seconds ahead with Jeff. Jeff ran with us to 1.5, helped me push the stroller, then went on grass for 2 miles and ran to our house. Jenny's closing mile was 7:43, she wanted to earn a prize. 0.5 with Joseph in 5:17.
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