What a difference

The plan today was to repeat last Thursday's failed attempt at 3x1.5 miles with a .75 mile recovery between reps and a final hard but controlled .75 mile. Last week didn't go so well. I think there were multiple things that contributed to that... including a cold that I finally feel recovered from.

Today I wanted to slow things down a little from last week and hit 5:08 laps (6:50 pace) for the .75 mile loop on the first rep and then see how I felt for the next two. Here is how it all broke down:

warm-up
5:58
5:46
5:44

rep 1
5:05 (6:48 pace) 172 HR
5:03 (6:45 pace) 176 HR

recovery lap
5:31 (7:21) 172

rep 2
5:04 (6:46) 178
5:00 (6:41) 180

recovery
5:40 (7:35) 175

rep 3
4:57 (6:37) 182
4:50 (6:28) 186

recovery
5:17 (7:03) 181

Final Lap
4:36 (6:09) 186

Recovered to 130 in 1:22 and 120 in 1:39.

Today was a night and day difference from last week. But I also did not do a long run this week or hills on Tuesday. On top of that, I took Monday completely off. So it is hard to compare the two workouts. But I know that I felt great today and 6:45 pace on the first 2 reps really felt like a jog. It wasn't until the 3rd rep that I started feeling like I was getting outside of my comfort zone a little... especially on the second lap. Overall it felt very controlled and relaxed. It really was fun... during the second rep I was actually thinking about how much fun it was going to be to run the final hard lap. I like days like today =)