Things have warmed up here the last few days. We actually hit 80 degrees today. It’s a final send off before I have to face my 15 miles in windy 26 degree weather on Sunday I think. In any case, I was scheduled for some threshold training today:

4 miles easy + 2 miles at my threshold pace (7:17) + 4 miles easy + 2 miles threshold + 1 mile easy.

I managed to keep myself at easy pace for the first 4 miles so that I was pretty fresh for the first interval. At the 4 mile mark, I hit the lap button on my Garmin and sped up pretty quickly. The first mile was easy, but the second was pretty tough. I knocked those two miles out in 14 minutes flat. I certainly felt like walking, but managed to hold on to roughly an 8:30 pace while I recovered for 4 miles. I had some pretty serious doubts about the second 2 mile interval, but I shot out again telling myself it would probably be alright if I averaged 7:25 or so. To my surprise, I finished those two in 14:03. I did take about 5 seconds of walking at that point, but finished the last mile at my easy pace.

Overall, I finished 13 miles in 1:47:03 - an overall average of 8:14 per mile and I was certainly not spent. So, I basically just have to take 45 seconds per mile off and I’ve got my goal for the half marathon. It won’t be easy, but I’m pretty confident at this point - especially when you factor in fresh legs from a taper, the lack of stopping for traffic and the multitude of other runners to pace me.