Promising ... ? Only If My Glass is Half Full

OBJECTIVE
2 mi.@ warm up @ 8:37-9:47
8 mi.@ 7:17 (marathon pace)
2 mi.@ cool down @ 8:37-9:47

ACHIEVED
2.02 mi. WU
8.02 mi.@ 7:22
2.04 mi. CD

7:24 AM 75° 82% 1 mph

Each workout seems tough lately. Today was no exception! I got a late start from the Y due to getting some much-needed rest by sleeping in this morning. I ran solo. The weather felt refreshingly cooler than usual but I see the temperature was only down 2 or 3 degrees and the humidity was down a couple of points and there was a slight breeze. Surprising what a big difference these slight changes seemed to make. I only wished I had started earlier as it probably would have felt even better earlier.

I took the warm up slow; taking inventory of how I felt. I could feel yesterday's hard tempo and last night's easy recovery but it didn't seem that it would be any problem for today. At Mile 2 I shifted into "marathon pace" and tried to find 7:17. A big part of this workout is to "groove" marathon pace into my muscle memory. Well, I was having trouble getting down that fast right away. No matter how I tried it didn't seem I'd be able to get down to it. The first mile was 7:25 and it just didn't seem I'd get there today. I started mentally rationalizing. Interestingly Mile 2 was 7:15. It didn't seem like I was doing anything different but somehow my pace picked up 10 seconds. That was a confidence booster but it would be my fastest mile of today's run. From there it went, 7:19, 7:21, 7:21, 7:24, 7:22, and 7:22. Even though the times don't reflect it, I was barely holding on over the last 3 miles. I was glad that I didn't give up but a bit disappointed that I was 5 seconds per mile behind schedule overall.

I suppose I should be fine. The next 48 hours is about recovery. I'll do my PT and get my sleep. I'm also headed to an ice bath right now. (Oh, joy!)

PRE RUN
weight=162
water, frosted mini wheats & 1% milk

POST RUN
SlimFast, water, multivitamin, low-fat granola w/1% milk