Catch-up edition: 4.5 miles / 6.0 miles

Tuesday: 1 mile warmup/cooldown + ~2.5 miles of hillwork. 5 x ~400 meters fast up followed by jogging down. Here are my uphill times:

1. 02:28.7
   
2. 02:31.9
   
3. 02:29.0
   
4. 02:31.1
   
5. 02:17.6

Yeah, I kicked it on that last uphill. Good for me!

Did that hillwork help me?

Well, on Thursday I did my 4.0 mile tempo run (plus the usual warmup/cooldown). Annnnd... Not so much. I did it late in the day (after 5:00 PM) and it was humid. Not too warm, though; in fact it was fine, especially in the wind.

The plan was 2.0 miles north on the Springwater corridor, marking off the half-mile times, and then turn around and come back. I was hoping for race pace - 9:30 - 9:40 miles, meaning 4:30 - 4:35 half-miles. Here's my splits:

1. 04:29.8
   
2. 04:48.6
   
3. 04:46.8
   
4. 04:47.3*
   
5. 04:30.2
   
6. 05:13.8
   
7. 05:15.7
   
8. 05:52.0

See that * up there? That shows that, at the turn-around point, I had to stop and catch my breath. For four and a half minutes. Yeah, at the time it felt like I sucked air. Had to jog-walk most of the way back, except for a small burst of speed on the first returning half-mile.

But looking at it now, my total time for the first half-mile was 18:52.5, though, which is a 9:26 pace, which is slightly faster than I wanted to be, actually. That might have been the reason I felt so winded on the returning section.

I also think, counter-intuitively perhaps, that my long rest at that point meant that I'd cooled down too much, because my legs felt heavy and cold, and my breathing didn't feel... as efficient, or something. I think that if I'd rested less, I might have had a better time on the return leg because I would have still been warmed up and running at peak adrenaline.

It's just a theory. Next time I try that workout I'll see if I can improve.

Had a couple of Blokz before my cool-down jog/walk back home. Wore the Brooks. No music.