I ran my long run this morning. I had decided that I wanted to run a time trial, in order to simulate a race situation. The initial goal was to run 10k on the track, and aim to hit 75 second quarters. However, despite the fact that it was significantly cooler this morning than last Saturday, I still had issues with the heat, and it didn't help that there was a little wind either. It also did not help that a bunch of parents and kids were arriving at the track for a kids football game while I was running, and they got in the way on virtually every lap, oftentimes setting their things in the middle of lane 1, or just standing there completely oblivious to the fact that the same guy who almost ran into them 1 lap earlier (because they stepped right in my way just as I was going by) was coming around again. It was not the kids either, as not one kid got in the way, just parents here. In their defense they eventually all figured it out and learned to stay on the grass, its just that more and more people kept showing up and not realizing I was there they stood right in the middle of lanes 1 and 2. The worst was a few laps in when I had to go into the outside of lane 3 or maybe even lane 4 just as I was finishing up a lap, and about to head into the turn. Anyhow, that is enough complaining on my part. After 2 miles I ended up deciding that due to the heat and track congestion I would just run a 5k instead of 10, and then run another tempo later on in the run. Finished 5k in 15:38 (4:59, 5:01, 5:04, 0:34). I didn't feel as good as I would have liked during this tempo, but given the circumstances I don't think that I should put too much weight into this workout. My quads felt shot after I finished, and I was running fairly slowly for a couple of miles, until I realized that I needed to hurry up if I was going to get home before conference started. So, I sped up to 6:40-6:50 pace, which felt surprisingly easy given that just a 10-15 minutes earlier my quads felt completely shot. Anyhow, I maintained this pace until I was about 14.25 miles into the run. I then ran a three mile tempo, just aiming to stay comfortable at the beginning, with plans to speed up from there. Hit the first mile in 5:34, which was a pleasant surprise, as I would have been happy with anything under 6:00. Mile 2 was 5:31 on a significantly slower section of road, followed by a 5:20 on a trail section more similar to the first mile. Finished 18.5 miles by running back to my house, getting home at 8:51am with 9 minutes to spare before conference started. I hurriedly got ready, and only missed the announcements and a minute or two of Elder Hollands talk. I am actually fairly pleased with this workout despite the not so great showing in my "time trial". The ease at which I ran the last 3 mile tempo in warm weather was a confidence lifter for me. It gives me a little more hope that I am still on track to OTQ next month.
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