Gazelles Again, Mile Repeats at Zilker

Back with the herd again this morning after a full day of driving yesterday. I wasn't the only one there this morning who had played hard this weekend, so at least I wasn't alone feeling pretty tired. The folks who competed in yesterday's triathlon (a Gazelle won the event, naturally) were sent out to run a nice and easy 7-10 miles. The rest of us eased over to Zilker park for the road mile repeats. It was good to catch up with Jan, Frank and the gang as we ran along the trail.

The weather was really humid, but the temperature wasn't bad, in the low 70's. I felt better as we ran over there, so my mental outlook was improving as the morning progressed. Drills ensued, and then we grouped up for the mile repeats. As usual, it was on the rolling course at Zilker park, alternating directions on the loop each repeat. 2:00 between each repeat. Gilbert said not to worry about time, and maybe to take it relaxed on the first repeat.

My group was bigger than usual. My trail running acquaintance, Kim, was in there, along with Jan, Richard, Tess, Shannon, Tony, and a couple of others. They all lined up behind me and let me set the pace on the first repeat, which was pretty funny. Kim pulled out halfway through the repeat and went ahead of us, but everyone else just drafted off of me and we finished the first repeat in 7:47. Not fast, not slow, but a good warmup sort of mile all the same. I started feeling better, and after the rest interval, we were off again. During the second mile, we picked it up substantially, and kept the hammer down for the rest of the morning. There was some chatter as we ran, but less as the workout progressed. People started dropping out of the pack after 3 repeats, and by the last repeat, it was down to Tess, Kim and me. We blasted the last lap, surprisingly faster than the one before. My times were 7:47, 7:24, 7:21, 7:20, 7:17, which were very consistent after the easier first mile. I was very surprised at the quality of the repeats, considering how I felt this morning. Each repeat was faster than the one before, also a good sign.

I ran back afterwards with Sean, and we unknowingly ran pretty hard. Oh, well, so much for "cooldown." I took the time to find out what Tess was training for, since I figure she'll be in my pace group for most of these workouts.

At any rate, it was a good day at the running office, and I'm glad I dragged myself out there today. Tomorrow, it's back to the routine, so this should be a good week.