half way up

well, i'm half way up the hill, and the first part of the climb wasn't all that bad. it's funny how much of a drama i'm making out these two workouts. yeah, it's two big mileage runs nearly back to back, and my first time at that, but it's not really the big deal that i'm making it out to be. i just need to do what karen said and focus on the next few yards ahead.

so, yesterday's track workout ended up being 14.5 miles total. ken met me at the el toro high school track (trabuco high had a track event going on...wish there were more rubber tracks locally). we warmed up with a slow jog for 2.5 miles and then i started into my speed work. i had the option of repeating the intervals two or three times, and when i started out, i wasn't positive that i'd try for three (who am i kidding, even if i hurt i was probably going to try it). i hit the times really consistently, although during the two mile intervals, i had a HARD time slowing down to the 7:10-7:20 range. here's the splits i turned in for the first two intervals

1m: 6:53
2m: 7:17, 6:56

1m: 6:58
2m: 7:02, 7:01

so, i did the half mile recovery after the second interval, contemplating whether i'd do the third psyching myself up for the third. i wasn't feeling bad at all, and was actually ready for the third set. here's the splits from it:

1m: 6:57
2m: 7:15, 7:04

i really wanted to cut loose for the final mile, but i figured that i needed to focus more on consistent effort than going fast. i planned on doing a two mile cool down, but as i jogged along at a slow pace, i really started to feel fatigued. i ended up doing 1.5 miles, and called it a night.

i headed home, ate a wonderful salmon dinner that smsmh had prepared, iced my knees for about an hour and crashed for a nine hour sleep. today is pure rest, refueling and hydrating to get ready for tomorrow's 20. which, now that the big interval workout is done, doesn't seem that daunting.