A little switch up

Today I was suppose to run 8 miles at a 7:00 pace, but I needed to switch things up a bit. So I moved Wednesdays run to today, will move today's run to Thursday and will do Thursday's run tomorrow (catch all that).

So tonight's run! What can I say? I was slatted to do a 3-2-1 speed work out and to tell you the truth I was a little afraid to do this run. The total miles for today was 11 miles, but there were some fast one's in the middle and the key with this run was no stopping between the speed parts. What I was suppose to do was the following:

Miles 1 and 2 at a warm-up pace (7:30's)
Miles 3,4 and 5 at a 6:00 pace
Miles 5 to 5.5 at a jog pace
Miles 5.5 to 7.5 at a 5:40 to 5:45 pace
Miles 7.5 to 8 at a jog pace
Mile 9 at a sub 5:30
Miles 10 and 11 at a cool down pace

What I ran was:

Miles 1 and 2 averaged a 7:30 pace
Miles 3,4 and 5 averaged a 5:56 pace
Miles 5 to 5.5 back at a 7:30 pace
Miles 5.5 to 7.5 averaged a 5:39 pace
Miles 7.5 to 8 back at a 7:30 pace
Mile 9 at a 5:24 pace
Miles 10 and 11 at a cool down pace at 7:30

This was one of my best workouts. The legs felt rested and each mile was comfortable. I drank enough water and ate enough during the day to make this one of the workouts to remember.

A few items to note during this run:

The 3 miles at a 5:56 pace seemed harder to sustain that the two at a 5:39 pace. I could tell that after the first set and "rest" that my legs just wanted to go. They were able to open up. My stride was dead on and my breathing was under control; I was totally relaxed.

Then the 5:24 pace at mile 9. I was actually holding back a bit. Based on my comfort level I was probably only at 85 to 90%. I still had another gear. Also the 7:30 miles. Talk about plopping along. Generally, this pace is easy, but after the faster miles this seemed like a walking pace.

I have to give credit to Matt Thull at Thunderdome Running on this kick-ass workout. His plan has been dead on thus far. I'm excited to see what the next 3 weeks has to offer.