12 myles - (10 - 1.01:54)

South Platte Pkwy - 10:00 a.m.
mid 50's, mild wind, partly cloudy
mind/body - eager
Hard effort

Have I ever mentioned that I hate speed work? Today was a good reminder that I would rather spread the pain over an extended period of time and distance rather than hurt more for shorter - I hurt me today!

I drove down to the South Platter River parkway with Jaxon to test my speed on a flat pathway. Jaxon rode his bmx bike and offered up aid whenever I needed it. Jaxon had a great time and even commented afterwards saying that was more fun than he thought it was going to be.

Mile 1 and 12 served as warm up and cool down respectively with the middle 10 being my tempo work. My intentions were to come in under 1.05 for an average of 6:30 or less but as I got going I made a concerted effort to go all out for as long as I could. You know the feeling; can't talk, lungs burning, legs weak, taste of blood in the mouth - kinda reminded me of my high school cross country days. I'm almost fearful of these kinds of runs because part of me doesn't want to know what kind of shape I'm really in and how much work I have to go. As it turns out I made it through 7 myles pretty good and then really started to hurt - at least now I know.

Here are my splits:

• mile 1,10: 6:05, 6:18
  
• mile 2, 9: 6:03, 6:06
  
• mile 3, 8: 6:14, 6:15
  
• mile 4, 7: 6:07, 6:13
  
• mile 5, 6: 6:10, 6:18
• 1.01:54 avg 6:11

A little better than I expected and well on my way.... as long as I can stay motivated. Remember I'm looking for 6:15s for 26 myles so I'm not quite there but making progress. If you're looking to challenge yourself and really, REALLY wanna know what kind of shape you're in then go as hard as you can and see how many myles you can make it; you'll know when you've cracked...