A.M. Ran with Jeff, Daniel, and Mary Ann. Daniel and Mary Ann did the warm-up (2 miles), and ran the first mile of the tempo. Mary Ann additionally did another 0.75 or so of the tempo starting at our 2.75 mark. Jeff ran everything with me. Tempo. 15 miles, 1:26:59, same course - 3 times the standard 5 mile tempo from Geneva Road to the Utah Lake and back. So 6 times on the same 2.5 stretch alternating directions, 5 180 turns, tedious, but I like being able to compare the splits. Conditions - the road traction was ideal, but it was windy. So some miles were slower than the effort we put into them.
Splits: 5:50, 5:55, 5:52, 5:54, 6:01, 5:54, 5:52, 5:46, 5:43, 5:52, 5:42, 5:40, 5:42, 5:42, 5:34. By 2.5: 14:44 - 14:48 - 14:39 - 14:28 - 14:17 - 14:03 By 5: 29:32 - 29:07 - 28:20 By 7.5: 44:11 - 42:48 Details: First mile felt great. Then we started dealing with the wind. Decided to ignore the splits and just go by the effort of the consensus. Meaning that both Jeff and I agreed we were putting in an honest 5:50 effort. The effort was producing splits about 10 seconds per mile slower than what we felt we deserved. Finally I got tired of this and suggested we trade quarters. Up to that point we'd been running side by side. This led to a pace increase. The surging to pass also agitated Jeff enough to where he started to want to run faster, and it was wearing me out. Sensing this I decided it was time to start drafting.
The last 5 miles I was following Jeff hanging on to dear life as he tried to bring us under 1:27:00. 5:40 pace for me at the end of a 15 mile tempo is hard even in ideal conditions, and with the wind gusts it was particularly tough. I moaned the last 3 miles. Moaning helps me deal with the pain and exert more effort. With 1.25 to go Jeff gapped me and then challenged to give him five. I made an effort to humble myself and feel Christ-like love in my heart. It was not easy. I think I learned something. You cannot learn this just sitting in Sunday School or reading the scriptures. But at the same time I do not think you will learn it as well if you had not been taught this in Sunday School or from the scriptures. You need the right balance of theory and practice to learn effectively. Jeff had just raised the bar on me after I had reached what I thought was my limit. I had to humble myself, not let my pride turn my focus to the pain, but rather hush that pride and believe that I could go faster. Truly believe, not just in my mind, but in the very depth of my heart.
So I made an effort to believe in my ability to run the last mile in 5:35 as much as Jeff believed it. It is easy for him, he is not getting my pain signals. But it is good that he is not. This allows him to believe naturally and lead the way. We grow when we lay our pride aside and allow those who are stronger to show us what we need to do. The last three quarters were 85, 83, 84, and 81, and we reached a time I thought was impossible in those windy conditions. This seems to be a common theme in those tempo runs lately. When we finished I felt nauseous and would have thrown up had there been anything in my stomach. After about a minute of my attempting to vomit we ran a 3 mile cool down. Total of 20 miles for the run. P.M. Snow on the roads. 0.34 with Joseph while pushing Jacob in the stroller in 4:11. 200 with Jacob in 1:47. 1 with Julia in 9:51. 2 with Benjamin in 17:50. Jenny ran the first 1.5 in 13:27.
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