March 26th-April 1st Training

Monday: 5.9 miles (6:56); 7.2 miles (7:06)

Tuesday: 7.3 miles with goal session of 8x 1/4 mile on the White House Greenway at sub 65 with 90s jog rest. I accidentally packed two pairs of "right" shoes, but luckily my work shoes are Nike Free Runs, so those weren't too bad. I ended up averaging 65.08 and only managed six before dying completely. A little frustrated that my speed is so poor, when it used to be my bread and butter. However, I felt that it shows that I still have a lot of room to improve this season and also that endurance is so much more important than speed; 6.8 miles very easy
Wed: 4.6 miles (6:37); 9.6 miles (7:18)
Thu: 2 miles easy, 8 miles medium at 5:54 pace; 5.2 miles with 4.2 miles running a fast 45s stride every half mile.
Fri: 5 miles (6:41); 9 miles (7:27)
Sat: 4.4 miles (7:44); 5.6 miles (7:23)
Sun: 15.5 miles with Knoxville Half Marathon in 67:21 or 67:09 to finish in 3rd place. I'm not sure if my watch or the official time is right. I thought I stopped my watch when I crossed the line but maybe I forgot. The course was really hilly and I would have been really happy with anything sub 68, since I ran 68:34 on the flat Tom King course three weeks ago. I ran in a pack for the first few miles and after 5 miles, it was just me and two other guys. The pace felt good but after two killer hills back-to-back, I suddenly was 10s back. I rallied back a little bit over the next two miles and narrowed the gap to about 5s but with a couple of miles to go, the guys took off and I wasn't able to go. Effort wise, this felt much easier than two weeks ago, I just wasn't able to find that extra gear that would let me dig deep. It felt like I could have run that pace for several more miles, I just wasn't able to run any faster. It was frustrating because they had a 5k as well and I had to zig-zag around walkers for the last 1/4 mile, which cost some time. Splits were: 5:19, 10:05, 5:01, 5:20, 5:04, 5:03, 5:28 (got dropped), 4:56, 5:01, 5:20, 5:24, 5:32 or 5:20 (1.1 miles); 3 miles (7:41)

Week Total= 99.1 miles. I wasn't happy with the crappy workout on Tuesday but I was really pleased with how the race went. I know feel my body is ready for consistent harder workouts, and if the weather is good, I think I can run close to 65:30 at the Louisville Half-Marathon in four weeks.