Twilight JCSU

Time: 84:25
Distance: 12.08 miles

W/u: 8:31 for .91 miles
W/o: 6 x mile with ~70 sec. recovery
C/d: 38:35 for 4.86 miles

Tonight I met up with some members of the Charlotte Running Club at the Johnson C. Smith University track. We were lucky to have the lights left on for us tonight which made seeing and judging pace much easier. I guess the crew has worked out in the dark in weeks and months past. I arrived late so I missed most of the warm up from the track and only got in about a mile before the group was ready to start.

I was supposed to do this workout last Friday and opted out. It was just coincidence that the CRC was running a very similar session tonight consisting of 5 x mile with a minute rest. My very short pre-workout jog and the upper 30s meant I was going to have to use the first two intervals as part of my warm up. I ran the first interval with jacket and full tights on, the second mile I shed the jacket and finally by the third repeat I was comfortable enough to don the half-tights.

This post is late coming and I appreciate the comment from Allen who writes:

Hey, I was the old guy slogging around in the outside lanes Tuesday. Didn't get a chance to introduce myself as a) You're too fast to catch and b) I was too busy wheezing to speak more than the 'how's it going?'

Just wanted to say: 1) GD dude, those looked like some fast repeats. Hope you post splits soon. 2) Are you sure you don't want to run Shamrock instead of the National? Our 1 sub-2:40 guy, Chris Lamperski (see Theoden's previous blog for a very lively comment debate on him) decided not to run it either. So we are now studless. For some reason, I'm thinking my 3:20 (if I'm very lucky!) is still not good enough to help us secure a team victory and 3) Just what did Aaron say Tuesday that 1 time he passed you?

Allen, I did see you out there and recognized you. Here are the splits:

5:24.19, (63), 5:26.98, (76), 5:01.48, (90), 4:58.29, (76), 4:52.75, (79), 5:09.53 for 37:19 total and 6.31 miles.

I felt in control and pretty relaxed during this effort. Despite the cold temps the legs felt like they had a bit of pop to them. I felt good toeing off and kept my form throughout. On my third repeat I let Jay Holder and Paul Mainwaring get about 15 seconds ahead and I used them as a target to run down. I focused on inching into their lead each stride and not going out too hard. Aaron took off on what I thought was the final interval which is why the split is significantly faster. We covered the final 800 in about 2:24. Jay and Paul decided to toss in a sixth repeat which I jumped on and tried to use the interval to recover while still working. I didn't feel great, but managed to keep things together.

On the cool down I ran back to Queens University. It was longer than I wanted or expected but I was feeling good by the end of it. I'm pleased with tonight's effort and enjoyed having company out on the track.

Oh, and I'd repeat what Aaron said, but it's not family friendly. I will say that it was essentially a gentleman's challenge of manliness.