A.M. When my alarm went off this morning at 6:20 I seriously was annoyed because I thought it was Sunday. I was looking forward to a day of rest. Yet, when I woke up more fully I realized I had a 20 mile run ahead of me. I thought it was not a good sign that I felt this way, and wondered if maybe there some some lingering fatigue, but from the way the run went I have to say it was more in the area of imagination. Sometimes I feel tired for no other reason than having too many memories. We did 20.1 in 2:19:48 with 3x3 miles in the middle on our much valued 1.5 mile stretch of the trail from the bridge construction to the end. The target was 5:40 pace. I admonished Jeff not to overachieve and he tried as hard as he could. We started after a 4 mile warm up and did 1.5 recovery jog in between at a bit slower than 8:00 pace. The first one was 16:44.0 with the splits of 5:38, 5:33, 5:33. Second, 16:41.3 (5:33, 5:35, 5:33). On the last one I told Jeff to pace perfectly at 84 per quarter, time every 100 if he had to, then after 2 miles 81, 81, 80, in the last one pace me for 78 but then with 200 to go hit the gas and try to run 30. We ended up doing 5:34, 5:36 (I did have to verbally adjust the pace a few times), then 78, 81, 80, 79 (5:18, 16:28) for me. Jeff dropped me with 500 to go and ended up running 37,30 in the last quarter with the last mile in 5:06 and total time of 16:16. Overall I was pleased with the workout. I thought 5:40 pace would challenging enough but I was able to average 5:32.6. In spite of going faster than planned I was able to run relaxed and I proved that it was true relaxation, not an illusion of relaxation, with the last mile in 5:18. I was able to maintain the pace after losing contact with Jeff. Before the last repeat I admonished Jeff not to do a 78 quarter immediately after the 2 mile mark thinking it would ruin my last mile and I would fade to 5:25. He did it anyway. If I had not reigned him in after the first 0.1 it would have been 74. But I did not fade, and instead was able to find a relaxed groove around 5:20 pace that I was able to maintain to the finish. And it felt good to be headed for a very low 17:00 5 K in the last repeat in the middle of a long run off a conservative start. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.
P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:41. 1.5 with Julia in 12:58. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:47. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:46.
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