Alright, so technically I was supposed to do this workout Thursday, but I was feeling sore and kind of sick. So my coach let me do my two easy days (Friday, Saturday) on Thursday and Friday instead, and do the mile repeats today. I knew I was going to need my full arsenal to complete this workout, I knew it would take everything I had. So I kind of had to set my self up mentally to think of each mile as a race (by myself) to be able to hit the times. So I warmed up just as I would for a race, I ran a mile, did some strides, did my drills, used my inhaler, and even put on spikes. Which I probably shouldn't have used my spikes considering my calves are in some serious pain now, but I knew I needed them to be fast enough for the workout. My first mile was 5:10 which was too slow, but I wasn't worried because I still felt good. I immediately started jogging my shallow 400m rest, and then immediately began my second one, 5:12. Again I was too slow, so I started getting nervous thinking Oh great. I'm just going to keep getting slower. I was starting to feel the workout aerobically at this point, I was starting to struggle with my breathing a bit, but surprisingly I felt good neuromuscularly (not sure if I'm using that word in the right context?). My legs still felt strong, so after again completing my 400m jog of rest I began my next one. This time I focused on each individual lap, I said to myself alright I will hit each lap exactly at the pace I'm supposed to, and not even let myself think or worry about how much I have left, and if I will be able to finish. It worked! My third was a 5:00. Right on pace :) I started late, so by the time I finished my third it was pitch black, and so I couldn't see my splits for the next two miles until I finished. I had to rely solely on feel. Also suprisingly I started feeling super good I got in the "zone" or whatever you want to call it, where I decided, Well it's not going to get any harder than this so I might as well stop thinking about the pain, and start pushing the pace more instead. My 4th was a 4:58, and my fifth I got so excited I was doing so good, and almost done I closed with a pretty good 4:51 mile (1600m technically). So I averaged a 5:02 in the end, which means that with only having 400m jog for rest, I can probably say it was one of the greatest workouts of my life :) I've done mile repeats before like during cross country, and have hit about the same splits, but in cross country we'll get around 5-7 minutes of rest between each mile. So I can definitely say this was definitely the most successful mile repeat workout I have ever done. Afterwards I went and met up with my Dad at the Washington rec center and jogged a nice little over 2 mile recovery run in my trainers. :)
Workout: 5*1 mile @ 5:02 average w/400m jog rest. Including 1 mile warmup, and 2 mile cooldown.
Strength Training: None
Note: Need to get more organized with my strength training, and do it more often.
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