Mile Repeats with the Fast People

Well, well, well. This was my first Wednesday speedwork with the fall marathoners, and it was an eye-opener. The last time I did this workout (mile repeats at Zilker Park) was way back on May 31st, when I did 5 repeats at an average of 7:26/mile, with a fast repeat of 7:17 at number 5. I figured that I could shoot for a first repeat around 7:40, and see what happened after that. An average pace that was close to the May 31st workout would be fine with me, especially since that was my fastest set of mile repeats to date. My major goal for the day was merely to do 5 repeats. I'd rather have the quantity of speedy miles more than worrying about the pace of those miles.

So, I joined the pretty big group of Gazelles at 5:45 am at RunTex, and we set out for Zilker. The warmup run was nice and comfortable, and I ran over with Jan, Patrick and Richard, plus some other folks. It's been a while since I've talked with Richard, so it was nice to get caught up with his new entrepeneurial lifestyle. After the drills, we were already pretty sweaty, but that's Austin in August. Gilbert grouped us up and told us that after the first easy (easier) repeat, that he wanted us to knock off consistent times on the rest of them. I ended up in the last group of runners, as usual these days. With the Gazelles, that's not such a terrible thing, but it's still a little bit of a drag to be the last group. We had some good runners in the group, though, including, Kim, Marci, Richard, Jan, Carrie, and me. Off we went.

I think Rogue Training was there at the same time, doing 900m or 600m repeats...or some combination thereof. It made for a crowded little loop, and the Rogue folks were running faster since they were going a shorter distance. It got better once the sun rose enough to light things up, but while it was dark, it was tricky to avoid oncoming runners from time to time.

So, I hung back at the back of the pack, since it's been so long since I've done this workout, and I wanted to get my sense of pace settled down. We finished pretty much in a pack, although maybe I was one or two seconds behind the lead runners. I clocked 7:37 for that first lap. After just over 2 minutes of rest, we were off the opposite direction for lap 2. I hung pretty close to the lead pacers on this one, thinking I was struggling a bit, finishing up that lap in a very surprising 7:08, my fastest mile repeat time ever. Needless to say, I was shocked to see that time. We regrouped for the third repeat, and this time, I settled into my own pace with Jan and Sarah, and I finished behind those lead people, but still with a very good 7:15. By now, I was okay with what I was doing, and ignored the faster folks. I ran with Jan for lap number 4, and we clicked it off in 7:12. Jan was done after that one, and so I ran the last lap with Sarah, thinking I'd just run it comfortably. That last lap felt easier than the third and fourth laps, but I still came in on the fifth repeat at 7:13. Nice!

So, for the day, I ran the last four repeats all faster than my fastest repeat from May 31st, and my average pace for the day was 7:17/mile, 9 seconds per mile faster than that previous workout. I am very excited about this result, and surprised as well. I stayed consistent for the last 3 repeats after the silly fast number two, and that was all good stuff. I know that these times don't necessarily say anything about racing times, but it's still very cool to see some new speed this early in the Freescale calendar. It was interesting to me that all the weight work I did yesterday for upper body actually caused some difficulty in pushing uphill on the Zilker loop. I just didn't have much arm drive. Legs were fine, obviously.

After a few cups of water or Gatorade, we gathered up and did the easy cooldown back to RunTex. Frank joined Patrick, Jan and me for the cooldown. We had some nice conversation as we rolled along, too. It's been quite a while since I've done any sort of run with Frank, so this was a treat today.

At RunTex, I did the full stretching routine, and generally had fun with my running friends. A very good day of running, and a surprising amount of mileage at 8.7 miles. Tomorrow is a recovery run in the 40-50 minute range.