Feeling fast

I had a great workout this morning. Warmed up on the 1.2ish miles from my house to Liberty Park, and then did some flexibility drills. Then did 2x around the park in 27:38 (a 10:01 per mile pace, or 6:12 per km) for a lactate threshold workout. The first lap was great - 13:23 (6:02 per km or 9:42 per mile), and then the 2nd lap was not as fast.

I was not too worried, though, because I would have been a lot faster (30 sec? 1 min?) on the 2nd lap if not for my dogs. I have learned that my dog Copper is plenty fast and motivated. She can keep up with me just fine. Sahara, on the other hand, is fast only when she wants to be. She was keeping up all right on most of the first lap, but on the 2nd lap she lagged seriously unless we happened to be catching up to another dog, in which case she had no problem whatever keeping up (and more than keeping up - racing ahead). The rest of the lap, I was basically dragging her along. I don't really know how much she slowed me down, but it was significant. Thing is, I am not too worried about that. I still got a great workout, and I felt nice and fast this morning. My pace was exactly where I wanted it to be, and it felt good. For a fast 5K I will have to go about 15 sec/km faster, but I think I can do it. I was pushing really hard this morning, but it was not all-out, and I didn't have the adrenaline rush of a race.

I think I'm as ready as I'm going to be for the race next Saturday. I have one more serious track workout and then I'm tapering. I was pretty anxious about it, but then had a good conversation with my boss (who is not a walker, but just an all-around nice guy who has a good perspective) who suggested that I just needed to "have fun". He's right. The race is the Boise Women's Fitness Celebration, and I intend to treat it like a celebration. It's a huge victory for me to be in great shape and to be out there racing, when 3 years ago I was an obese couch potato. I'm going to have a great time!