AM: 6M road - 34:45; 6M track - 32:35 (alt laps of ~75/90) :: 12M
PM: 6M road - 34:20; 5 x 2K track (6:23 avg); 600m rec :: 13M
Two medium intensity workouts equals one pretty hard day of running. This was the last really "hard" day before the race, however. That made it pretty tempting to drop the hammer, but I did a good job of keeping myself in check.
The weather for the morning workout was fantastic, with a thick fog hanging in the air. I got out a little too quick on the road, but I felt comfortable so I didn't get too bent out of shape. I just monitored the effort to make sure I wasn't putting myself in a hole before the track segment. Once I got on the track I had to make double sure not to go too crazy. Most of the hard laps were 74 (only one 72 and a couple 73s), but I found it hard to back off on the easy laps. I wanted to run 6:00 mile pace (90 secs/400), but I was constantly hitting 87-88. It still felt easy, but it would have felt even easier if I had run the correct pace. Regardless, I came away feeling pretty relaxed and that gave me confidence that the afternoon session would be manageable.
Of course I still had another 12 hard miles ahead of me; no walk in the park. I didn't feel that bad during the road interval of the second session. The first ten minutes were rough, but once I got going I found a good rhythm. The 2ks were hard, but consistent. I don't know how to explain it any better. I had to concentrate to maintain the tempo, but I wasn't struggling. If I had tried to go any faster it would have gotten tough, but I certainly didn't feel the need to back off. Kind of sounds like the definition of "tempo" pace, doesn't it? The rest interval was probably a little too long to consider it a true tempo session, but given the overall volume and intensity today, I'll cut myself some slack.
LINK
World XC today
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that was traveling.
Eric's in shape
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