It,s All Good

B4 the alarm went off at the ungodly hour of 4.51am this morning I knew I was in for a potentially tough day,no Chris on hand at work and 4x1 mile repeats post work.
Even if Chris had been available to work the choice to opt for mile repeats was a brave one,in the past I,ve tended to do them on Fri,Sat,Sun when it,s alot easier on the body,but as I,ve said b4 and will say again,I am a miler ergo 4x1 mile repeats is my go to repeat even in a shortened week due to a race.
Yes I could,ve opted for the easier out and done 2x1,000m given my double work load but as the Happy Mondays once sang that,s just "Stinkin' Thinking",I doubt very much the likes of John Hinton,Tony Young and Pete McGill take the soft option in training and since they are the guys I want to be mentioned in the same breath as.....mile repeats it was.
A slice{of bread and butter prehaps???.........}of good fortune,not an "arse,plate,served" kind of day at work,any day you are doing a two man job by your lonesome it,s busy but I paced myself knowing what I had on tap this evening.
Also serving to fuel the fire was the news that for the second year in a row I,ve been nominated for US Masters Track Athlete Of The Year.
It,s an honour just to be nominated but to be named along side the likes of Bill Collins,Nolan Shaheed,Val Barnwell,Tony Young,Jeff Hartwig and Roald Bradstock is really something.
And so to my repeats,it was 5.10pm by the time I got ready for my opening mile,conditions were comfortable enough to ditch traditional winter wear,I told myself to attack that first turn on my opening lap and set the tone early,"Dib" and I had talked about running on "feel" this evening,don,t get too caught up w/ my pace just see how I felt as each lap/mile went by.
#1,72,81,80,73-5.06.05. Wow opening w/ a 72 seemed brisk but I felt comfortable as hell w/ that pace,I did tell myself to back off going into lap 2,no point coming out all guns blazing in the opener if you finish like a damp squib.
#2,74,81,79,74-5.08.87.Again another impressive opening lap helping to set the tempo and while I was 2 seconds per mile down on Saturdays splits Saturday I ran fresh today I,d put in a 9 hour solo shift in a physically demanding job,loading dock foreman isn,t sitting at a desk all day pushing bits of paper around my desk thank you very much!
#3,73,80,81,73-5.07.87.Holy Shit{It is Ash Wednesday afterall!!!}where as weeks 1 and 2 had seen the arse end fall out of my mile repeats on mile 3 today I not only ended that sequence but also ran a faster mile than my pervious one,I really am getting to grips w/ this repeat
#4,72,80,84,68-5.04.79..............OH HOW,D YA LIKE ME NOW!!!!
Unbelievable,opening in 72 seemed unreal and yet felt so natural,that said as I approached 800m in 2.32 I was feeling the pace which may explain that bastard 84 second split on lap 3,the only blemish on an otherwise near faultless nite,closing in 68 was sweet,and while the cynics may say "anyone can close in 68 off of a 84" I say had I,ve gone 82-70 or 81-69 I,d have been just as happy.
A fabulous nites work,a well earnt rest day tomorrow though I do plan to trek upto New York and The Armory to spectate at the final Thursday Nite At the Races series and wish my good buddy Sid Howard a happy 70th b,day.