working hard

It continues to be a rough week. Busy. Busy. Busy. I was able to get my recovery run in on Tuesday - I even got to run at Fort Harrison State Park - a place I haven't run in some time. It was a nice change of scenery. I ran it a little fast, but it felt good to 'get the lead out'. Last night was my tempo run. Another 8 miles. Started out with the skies overcast and ominous looking... I got about a half mile into the run and it started to rain. I wasn't feeling into the run, but I pushed on. It continued to rain. I felt slow and sluggish and wet. I had planned to go out 4 miles and turn around, but at mile 3 I felt dejected and turned around and headed back. I stopped a half mile later and stretched for a couple of seconds and then kept going. I was eager to finish this awful run. As I was approaching my start point, I felt guilty, so I pushed on a little more and decided to suck it up and finish it. Two more miles later, I was finished. Here are my surprising results:

1. 8:15/mile
2. 8:54/mile
3. 8:49/mile
4. 8:44/mile
5. 8:31/mile
6. 8:42/mile
7. 8:32/mile
8. 8:08/mile

Average Pace: 8:36/mile

Maybe not as fast as last week's tempo run, but I feel pretty good that even in the rain, feeling tired and sluggish I was still able to pull out some decent splits (although a little inconsistant).

Tonight is a rest night and tomorrow another run. Then rest for Sunday's 24 mile run...