Really wasn't thinking I would run hard today, but coach surprised me as I thought it would be 400 repeats and it ended up being a 20 minute tempo run. He gave everyone goal paces that he deemed equivalent for runners a little, sometimes a lot, faster than their PRs. For example, Matthew (16:09) and Joseph (16:18) got the suggested pace for a 16:00 5k runner. Coach told me to run at 5:22 mile pace, which he said was the suggested tempo pace for a 15:25 5k runner. Most people ended up falling off of their paces. However, I got off pace in the wrong direction and ended up hitting splits slightly faster than the suggested ones and ran 5:19 mile pace the entire time. I felt in control, consistent, and relaxed, which isn't to say it was easy. It just felt like what a tempo run should be. Unfortunately, the rest of our varsity couldn't hit the paces assigned to them. My workout on Monday made me happy and seemed like an indicator of big development, but I was disappointed that allergies prevented me from seeing that in play on Wednesday. This is the best workout I've had in a very long time, especially considering the way it felt. Now I'm actually really looking forward to the races I will run in the next month and I can't wait to see what I do.
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