Mile Repeats - BLAH

Any opportunity to post Kara stuff, I will :) This is an interview from Runners World recapping her Boston Marathon experience in early April. Can't wait until later this summer and fall to watch the marathon season unfold - will be very, very exciting!!!

This morning, I received a call from Holabirdsports telling me my order for the 903's had some conflict, since the shoes were discontinued recently. They were going to offer me the 904's for a heavily discounted price of $74.95, so considering taking the risk of loading up on a newer shoe which had mediocre reviews. I don't think I can get this pair of shoes cheaper than $110 anywhere, so this is a pretty good opportunity to get a newer shoe at a great price. But I love the 903's so much, and can't stand the thought of running without them anymore! Oh, what to do, what to do???

Last night, had the distinct pleasure of doing track work over at the nearby Liberty Middle School track, located about 2 miles away from home. We had planned on getting it in right after work but was too hot outside to do intense speedwork, so we opted to wait a little bit for the weather to cool down. Pat and Crystal had me over for dinner, and Crystal made some amazing nacho salad which basically tasted like tacos (but healthier, sooo tasty!), so I consequently pigged out like a starving Kenyan. Big mistake. An hour later, I was still very full and not ready to move, let alone do mile repeats, but got dragged out anyways. We parked at a bank, which is a little more than a mile away from the school, and warmed up jogging to the track. Weather was much cooler, and a nice breeze - prob 60's at this point. The plan was 5X1 miles, at 6:15-6:30 pace. I was cramping really bad on the warmup, and tried to work it out out to some success. We rotated the inside lane every mile rep, which we designated as the pacer lane, and away we went. First two miles felt great, and ended up having to slow down on the last quarter to try to save energy for later. Third mile was definitely starting to get tougher, and I struggled a bit on the fourth rep. We quickly figured out that the inside lane was easier to run in (weird, because it really isn't that much more distance at all), so on the last mile we decided to switch lanes every quarter. This worked out amazingly well, as it made the last rep go by faster, and it was almost a break every quarter to switch back to the easier lane. Killed the last mile, but definitely had heavy legs and could feel the lactic acid buildup. Crystal kicked major butt on this workout, as she hung with me step by step on every mile on despite running much faster than we had originally planned. She is definitely getting faster, and I seriously need to watch my back now! Jogged back to the bank, went home and stretched. Total workout: ~8 miles counting warmup/cooldown and quarter mile walks in between mile reps. Splits: 6:10, 6:10, 6:09, 6:04, 5:58.

So looks like I'm in ok speed shape, so tentatively aiming for a sub 40 minute 10K (~6:20-6:25 pace). It will pretty much depend on the competition at the race, and who is running in the front packs. I am not going to go on a kamikaze mission if I'm running the majority of the race alone. Half the reason I ran so well in the 5 miler was because I ran in a group and was paced most of the way. Tonight, going to the Cubs/Cards game! Legs are pretty tired and right knee is sore, so may take the night off. Tomorrow, going to the game again so have to get in speed workout early!