McMullen Cutdown Workout

Time: 57:22
Distance: 9 miles

W/u: 22:43 for 3.01 miles
W/o: 5 mile cut down - 5:20, 5:10, 5:00, 4:50, 4:40.
C/d: 9:09 for 1.01 miles

Today was no joke. I had a big workout for this evening and luckily had Mother Nature cooperating. The temps were much cooler, the rain held off and the humidity didn't seem unbearable. I wanted this workout to go well. I haven't nailed a tempo run, threshold type workout in quite some time.

I knew starting at 5:20 would feel relaxed and the trick was going to stay comfortable until mile 3. I was going to run out three miles, turn and hammer it home. I was willing to go to the well this afternoon to see where I was at in terms of fitness. I realized that if I completed the workout in full, I would have run the last 4 miles in 19:40 which is about 40 seconds faster than I raced at the RFYL 4 Miler.

Splits:
5:21.10, 5:10.49, 5:03.97
(6 seconds on the turn around)
4:58.60, 5:05.83 for roughly 25:30 total.

I was close. I ran the first 4 miles in 20:33 which is a little slower than the 4 Miler and the final 4 miles came out to 20:18. I was having a great run until the final mile. I was pretty much right on through 3 miles, was slow on the 4th mile, but still under 5 mins and then fell apart. I was itching to take off after about 8 minutes of running, but knew the tough section was ahead of me. Between the distance and the increase in body temperature I would be fighting a big battle over the final 2.5 miles. It was a bit of a waiting game.

In the end, I tired and couldn't get the legs to turn over the final 5 minutes of the workout. I'm happy with the effort because I was solo and trying to get a lot out of my body at the end of a long week. However, it would have been really encouraging to split something in the 4:40s at the end of this workout. I was gassed at the conclusion of this workout and didn't have much left in the tank.