Last hard speed workout before Spokane

I stayed up too late last night reading and relaxing, so it was hard to get out of bed this morning when my alarm went off at 5:30 am. But I'm glad I did. It was my last hard speed workout before Spokane, since my 5K is next Friday morning and I want to be well-rested before I go. I do have a 12-miler with TNT on Saturday morning, but it will be an easy pace, and I'll probably go to the track and do a few race pace intervals Tuesday and Thursday, but nothing too long.

Today's workout was 5x1K with 400m recovery (no stopping). I wanted to see if I could do them all in 5:36 or less, because if I'm going to race a 28:00 5K, that is 5:36 per km. I did the first one in 5:33, no problem. The second one was a bit harder, but still did it in 5:35. I did wonder if I could keep it up; I was pretty winded but recovered fine on the 400m. I pushed hard to get the third one in 5:34. I wasn't sure I'd be able to do the last two that fast, and I started each one with 3:24 for the first 600m (3:22 would have been the pace for a 5:36). However, I was able to sprint to the finish for each of them and finished both in 5:35. Wow! My heart rate was really high (177, or 92.6% max) after the last one, but I did it. I'm not sure I could do them that fast without the recovery laps, but maybe on race day with the adrenaline going and the competition, I'll be able to. I'll just have to play it by ear a little and see how it goes. I think it's more realistic to shoot for a 28:30, but I would so love to be able to get that 28:00. Today's total time for the 5K was 27:54, but that was with the recovery laps. So, who knows? We'll see what race day brings. I do feel like I have trained about as well as I can, and I feel proud that I have been able to do this without a coach and without teammates to spur me on through the hard track workouts. Whatever race day brings, I know that I have worked as hard as I can, and that I'm as ready as I can be. That's a great feeling.

On another note, I found out that I have a great aunt who lives in Spokane. I had no idea! I just called her this morning, and she is going out of town next Friday, but we are going to try to get together on Thursday night (I arrive in Spokane at noon on Thursday). It will be really fun to meet her and find out some of the good family stories.