A.M. Big Workout with Ted at 6:00 AM. Woke up, was still feeling a bit funny. So I was not sure if this would affect my running or not. Yesterday at slower speeds it did not, but a 5 mile tempo has a tendency to explore and reveal hidden problems. Ted came wearing shorts and announced his car reported the temperature of 20 F. That was the last thing I wanted to hear because if it was true, I would have to wear pants in addition to gloves and jacket. So I went downstairs to my computer to check the temperature. It was 29.2 F at the airport. This was right on the edge of the shorts/pants threshold for me, but I was so happy that I could wear shorts. The warm up was slow, took us 2.5 to catch the 8:00 guy, but I heard the horses neighing. Hit 6.22 in 47:24, and started the tempo. Ted took the first quarter, a bit too hard, at first I thought I was just not warmed up, but then I saw 40 for the first 200 and told him we were going 5:20. So he backed off. We went through the first mile in 5:31 showing about equal degree of pace initiative during our quarter stints. Then Ted's ankle started to give out, and he started to lose steam. He did a 1:25 quarter, I did not want them to be slower than 1:24, so I picked it up on my turn and overcorrected to 1:21. Then Ted took his in 1:25 (uphill), which was fine with me, and I did mine in 1:24 which is still a bit uphill and rolling. This gave us 5:35 for the next mile. Then Ted did 1:26, it was a bit slow, but I did not feel like correcting it too hard with Ted being obviously not 100% already, the pending 180 turn and the goal of running 5:20 pace average on the way back. So I did mine in 1:24 again, 13:56 at 2.5, avg. 5:34.4. On the way back, I was able to kick into gear right away. The first quarter was 1:21, then a steady stream of 1:20s with one downhill one in 1:19 up to the 4 mile mark. 3rd mile was 5:31, 4th in 5:19. The first quarter of the last mile had some leaves. I also lost concentration going through the gates, and wondering if I should try to hit the stop button on my watch with the gloves on, or if I should just not worry about it and simply look when I cross the line. Then I started to get worried about the overall time being messed up. I caught myself quickly enough, but this slowed me down to a 1:21 quarter. I learned that when running 5:20s little things begin to matter - your mind must be void of vain worries or you lose the momentum.
Repented on the next quarter and ran it in 1:20 again. Picked it up with 0.5 to go, ran it in 2:35. Last mile in 5:16, last 2.5 in 13:16 (avg. 5:18.4), incidentally a PR for that stretch, total time 27:12, avg. 5:26.4, only 24 seconds slower than all-time PR which was done in 60 degrees, only 3 mile warm-up, trading quarters with Jeff, the intention to run fast all the way, and a mildly positive split. I suppose this means I am mostly over the mini-illness of yesterday, but sure did give me some serious concern at first. Talked to the farmer with the dog while waiting for Ted. His named turned out to be Harold, and the dog's name is Eeah (or however you spell it). Told him he was our farmer with the dog, and the dog's name for us is really Bingo. Cooled down the last 3.88 in 28:18, avg. 7:17.63, total time for 15.1 1:42:54, avg. 6:48.84. P.M. The Lost Sheep Stu decided to call me today. I told him he was officially a Lost Sheep. He said he wanted to go for a run. We ran 4 miles in 31:53. He committed to changing his Lost Sheep status. Encourage him through the new Private Message feature if he does not re-appear on the blog tomorrow. Then ran 1.05 with Julia in 11:16, and 1.5 with Benjamin and Jenny in 13:56. Benjamin drifted off at the end and finished in 13:51. Benjamin is tapering for Regions.
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