Notes
2-3x3 mile @ 5:10 w/ half mile jog. It was a cold windy morning and my expectations were summarily lowered because of such. I was feeling the bump in mileage but after Richey gave me the choice to do 3 reps I figured I'd muscle my way through even if it started going south so I could maximize that volume. Felt pretty average on the warm-up. There was a windstorm brewing in the mountains and would gradually get worse throughout the workout. The group was Isaac, Jarrod, Will, and me. We started at the 2-mile start to minimize the impact of the wind. Expectedly we were out a bit quick but I didn't stress about it since we would need to rally hard in the last mile going into the wind up Gunbarrel Dr. 5:08.8, 5:05.5, 5:08.8 (15:23.1). In what would be the wildest part of the workout, the first half of the 3rd mile was absolutely brutal going into the teeth of the headwind uphill, with the opportunity to make up as much as possible in the bombing downhill second half mile down Spine. On the first rep, I was 5:25 pace for the first half and 4:52 on the back half. Took the recovery slow marching back uphill to the tree. Rep 2 was a come-from-behind effort as I chased the other guys and would have a back-and-forth with Will for the most part. 5:09.7, 5:07.2, 5:06.9 (15:23.8). The last mile here was opened at 5:31 pace and closed hard in 4:42 as I rolled up on Jarrod in the last few hundred meters. The wind was getting tougher to deal with, but I was going to go for the 3rd rep after closing heroically at the end of #2. 5:10.2, 5:07.9, 5:16.7 (15:34.8). Now I know what you're saying, "Man that last mile must've been a shit show." and yes, for the most part, it sucked major balls, but I ran the first half of that mile in 5:44. I was getting blown upright from the gusts of wind and even when I made the turn I was fighting to keep moving forward. I still closed well with 4:48 pace for the last half mile but the damage was done in that stretch up Gunbarrel and I knew I wouldn't get much back after that. Regardless of the sour ending split, I feel really good about the workout and got a boost of confidence from the morning.