Brutal but beautiful Thursday tempo workout

I didn't feel like attacking this workout today. I tried to tell myself that it was SO wonderful to be pain-free and able to walk fast, but that didn't alter the fact that this was going to be a tough workout to get through. It snowed last night (yeah, and yesterday I wore shorts for my morning racewalk - that's spring in Salt Lake for you!), but it didn't stick to the roads, so I was able to get outside for my tempo workout, which is much better than doing it on the treadmill.

Today's workout was warm-up, 4 miles at lactate threshold pace, then cool down. I decided to go to Liberty Park as a warm-up; it's about 1.2 miles (2k). When I got there (12:30 to get there), I stretched a little and then embarked upon 3 laps of the park (4.2 miles total) for my workout. The snow was SO beautiful, and I took some pics before I got started; I did stop only once during the 4.2 miles to get one of the pics, but the rest I did before or after the fast part of the workout.

Here were my 3 laps of the park:
lap 1: 13:33, ave HR 157, max 162, pace 9:33/mile
lap 2: 13:47, ave HR 160, max 165, pace 9:38/mile
lap 3: 13:52, ave HR 161, max 167, pace 9:43/mile

Then I cooled down, taking a leisurely 15:14 (12:20/mile) to get home. I felt pretty tired and my legs were definitely noticing the workout; however, tonight they feel fine.

Pretty good! I think this bodes well for a half marathon goal pace of 10:00/mile, but we will see.

Here are my photos. It really was VERY beautiful and I felt privileged to be outside. And so did my dog, Copper - she kept up with me, no problem. She's an awesome dog :).