Got very good sleep the night before. Did not get out of bed until my body told me it did not need any more sleep, which happened at 7:00 am, 8 hours of sleep total. Started the day by running with Benjamin to the Team Provo practice. Saw ROTC cadets there. They were doing a 3200 meter run. A couple of them wanted to be paced for 14:00. I led them pretty much on pace. Only one was able to keep it. With the kick it ended up being 13:44. Then Benjamin wanted to run 100 meters. He was pretty tired from everything, but still managed 19.8. On the way back, I pushed Benjamin in the stroller. By the time we got home I had 6 miles on the odometer for the day done in a one hour period. After a two hour break which included a play practice for our Stake Conference tomorrow and calling the ward leadership to remind them of the afternoon meeting, I continued the run. Ate a banana and drank a 17oz glass of water immediately before the run. Jogged 1.9 to warm up, then ran my standard 10 mile tempo. First mile in 5:54, then 5:50, 2:52 for the next half, 14:36 at the turnaround. On the way back held a steady 5:48 pace. HR finally stabilized at 151 until mile 4. Then there was a slight uphill section, and it went up to 154. 29:08 at 5 miles, 14:32 for the 2.5, and 5:49 for the uphill mile. Picked it up a bit on the next 2.5 stretch. Next two miles 5:42 and 5:43. HR stabilized at 157. Then 0.5 in 2:53, 14:18 for the 2.5 and 43:26 at the turnaround. Decided to push the pace hard on the last 2.5. Two bikers, a young couple on a date, passed me and made an encouraging comment. I asked them to pace me. They agreed. They wanted to chat, but I told them I'd chat in 2 miles. I started seeing 1:24 quarters, with occasional 1:25s. Steady 5:38 pace until the mile to go. With 0.75 to go I started pressing harder. I saw the heart rate climb to 166, but it felt sustainable. This could be partially due to the warmer weather, but also to an increased level of fitness. Ended up with the last mile in 5:33, last 2.5 in 14:00, last 5 miles in 28:18, and 57:26 for 10 miles, fastest time for the year. Cooled down with the bikers. Their names are Steve and Rachael. I guess if our Steve (Ashbaker) is not available to pace me, I'll find some Steve to do it even if he has to be on a bike. Having the Steve and Rachael at the end was very helpful. I am not used to people leisurely chatting around me when I am pushing the pace, but it was very nice. It got my mind off the pain, and I ran sort of in a trance. What is interesting is that on Thursday I ran a 5 mile tempo putting in a threshold effort in 28:00, which is only 18 seconds faster than the last 5 miles of the 10 mile tempo today, and I did not shift into threshold pain gear until the last 2.5. It is also interesting that the last 2.5 was 11 seconds faster than the last 2.5 of the tempo on Thursday in spite of the fact that this 2.5 stretch was from mile 15.5 to mile 18 for the day, and more precisely for the first 4 hours of the day. Part of it certainly is the gain in cardiovascular and muscular fitness, but I wonder if a part is biomechanical. I got up on my toes more on the last 2.5 and it came naturally. The form felt more smooth and relaxed once I started going faster. The uphill or 180 turns did not seem to knock me out of rhythm as much as they usually do. Of course, all of that could be the result of increased neurological strength gained from the sleep. Arthur Lydiard used to say that miles makes champions. That is not quite right. Beds make champions, not miles. Miles only prepare the champions for the bed to do the job. Miles make only tired and overtrained runners without proper sleep.
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