Workout

 Workout – I wasn’t feeling great today (knee) but wanted to get a workout in this week as the USAT NE 5k is coming up fast (May 17). Conditions were quite good with temperatures right at 50 degrees with cloudy skies. There was a breeze of about 10mph which wasn’t terrible since my route would never be in one direction for an extended period of time. My goal was to run under 13 minutes for 2 miles. It was a fairly aggressive goal based on my 5k race two weeks ago. I got in my normal 4:30 am run (6 miles in 49:06) and then worried that I pushed it a bit harder than I should have. I headed out the door at 11:30 with an aim of being under 16 minutes for the 2 mile warm-up. An 8:04 and 7:50 got me to the turn at 2 miles in just under goal time and right into the hard 2 miles. I had my watch set for ¼ mile splits, so I was getting a lot of feedback. The pace varied due to the terrain and which direction I was going relative to the wind. With splits of 1:36.4, 1:39.3, 1:40.4, and 1:36.0 I reached the mile in 6:32.1. Pretty close to goal pace and I thought the second mile could be a bit faster. I followed that with splits of 1:40.0, 1:36.1, 1:36.2 and 1:36.2 for a 6:28.5 second mile and a total time of 13:00.6. I just missed my goal but I’m still pleased with the effort.