...And the Hits Just Keep on Coming! (Mile Repeats)

Today wasn't a great weather day (that seems to be the default weather report for runs these last months, huh?), but we had our work to do, Zilker mile repeats. A fairly small group of AT&T folks trundled over to Zilker through the thick and humid air in the seriously dark morning. We had some fun chatting, though, and despite my poor job of navigation to the bridge under Barton Springs Road, we made it to the warmup site without injury. Some of the new folks were a ways behind us, and they went to the wrong spot to meet, but that's understandable given Gilbert's spoken instructions ("By the Zilker Pool"). They'll get it next time. After some initial confusion, we all managed to get our drills drilled and we were ready to run.

Gilbert gave us instructions, and the AT&T folks set out for their prescribed 4 x 1 Mile Repeats. G didn't set us up with pace groups, but we sort of figured out who to run with as the workout progressed. Dennis, Braz and Eric ran just ahead of Rachel and I on the first repeat, which was supposed to be "easy." It was easy, I suppose, in a relative sense of the word. Funny how our whole perspective on such things changes based on where we are in our training.

Rachel and I were basically a self-contained pace pod for the entire workout, which was very helpful. She joked that she had to run with me step-for-step because she couldn't work her watch, and needed to know her times. I would bet that she was kidding, but whatever the reason, it was nice to have someone to share the psychic load of running fast. We just caught Eric at the end of the second repeat, going the direction that included the steeper hill. On the third repeat, we trailed Eric the whole way, but ended up the same time for that lap. On number four, we were basically just running on survival instincts as the drizzle became more persistent. We were careful going down the hill to the first corner, and tiptoed up the steep little hill to make sure we didn't slip and bust our butts. Once we hit the last half mile of the last repeat, I think we were actually moving faster than on previous repeats, but our overall time for number four was a tiny bit slower than number 3. We were pleased with our efforts, though, on a warm and very muggy morning. It was on repeat 4 that it was most crucial that Rachel and I were running together. We agreed that we'd have run substantially slower on that lap had we had to run alone. This is why training with the Gazelles is a big deal to me. Sharing the stresses of hard workouts like these is critical to completing them, especially when you are stretching to the edges of your abilities.

Splits: 7:32, 7:06, 6:57, 7:02. Avg. mile was 7:09, which was pretty solid. "PR" for this workout is either 3x1 mile @ 7:03/mile average or 4x1 mile @ 7:04/mile average, so I'm right where I need to be at the start of AT&T training. On a cooler morning, I think we'd have dropped that last repeat so that each one would progressively be faster. But, that'll have to wait for the next time.

After everyone else finished up, we eased back to RunTex at a nice relaxed cooldown pace. Our cooldown crew was Amy, Rachel, Eric, and me. It was a long day at the workout desk, but I know these are important workouts, and I'm pleased with our results.

It was raining for real by the time we finished the cooldown, so we stretched underneath the shed by the ice machines. It was cool to see the Chicago folks as they finished up their little 3000m marathon goal pace cruise. I probably won't see them until after their big race on Sunday, so I took the opportunity this morning to wish them luck. They're going to have great weather, it looks like, so I'll be watching online with high hopes for them all. I stretched with Lisa , Colleen and Rachel, and had a good long talk with Lisa about Chicago. It's going to be cool to see them succeed at their various race goals. Oh, well. My time will come in February. For now, I need to focus on each workout week, and do the proper job on the Distance Challenge races in the meantime. I've got a good idea of my race goals for Sunday, but I'll hang onto those for now. At least this year the course won't be as awful as the old Pervasive 10 Miler course!

For the day, 7.8 miles, and a great start to the running week it was!