The long trip to NYC finally caught up with me this morning. I woke up at 5:15 in order to get my workout in before my meetings here began. The planned workout was a 6-mile warmup followed by 3x2 miles at 10:10 with 1/2 rest between each. I knew I was in trouble when none of my warmup miles were faster than 7:10 pace. You could practically see the lead in my legs. So as you can imagine, I was dreading running 5:05s after the warmup, especially in the hilly Central Park. My six mile warmup put me at the Onassis Reservoir where there is a 1.5 mile "track" that circles the reservoir. It's gravel, but pretty hard packed and more importantly, flat. The first rep went fine (10:08) but I was wondering how I was going to get two more in. After the 1/2 mile rest, I committed to do one more. I did...in 10:15. A bit slow but I got it in. Then as I was doing the 1/2 mile rest, Paul got into my head. I hate it when he does that. The old "leave it on the track" phrase wouldn't leave my mind. So I did a third but this time on the hilly backstretch of Central Park. First mile was in 5:06 so pretty much on pace. Last mile...not so much. Finished the 2-mile segment in 10:25. I don't get too worked up about missing times. Times are somewhat arbitrary anyway, but even more, I gave 100% effort and I came out uninjured. That's good enough for me. Probably 8-10 tomorrow before taking a day off on Thursday. | 