Don't Say I Didn't Warn You,This Prophecy's Coming True

"After all time building up,comes inevitable knocking down,One by One
Come receivers,liars,gamblers,pickpocket entourage,Two by Two
Selling out is a cardinal sin,sinning w/ a safety net,Three by Three
They say that all things come in threes,where here comes the third degree"
Where Were You Hiding When The Storm Broke?-The Alarm

And so a week fraught w/ bullshit at work{there's always bullshit at work....this week there just seemed to be an extra large helping of it heaped onto my plate!}and having to juggle my training schedule to accommodate the weather and band practice......came to a fitting climax.
On July 5th 08 I ran my first ever set of sub 5 minute 4x1 mile repeats:4.53.6-4.51.8-4.55.4-4.56.8. and periodically through to October 28th where I ran:4.59.4-4.59.7-4.56.1-4.50.9 I was able to make this an almost weekly thing.
In the 22 months since my last 4/4 @ sub 5 I haven't gotten close to those heights what w/ one thing and another but the writing has very much been on the wall since June 11th when I clocked 5.03.7-5.01.6-4.59.4-4.54.7. and thus began a one man crusade by yours truly to rescale those heights I'd been able to dial up week in week out in the 08 season.

I'm not going to front,I wasn't overly confident of my chances yesterday,I was physically and mentally whipped but having notched my first sub 5 decathletes mile{4.59.9.}on Wednesday and my first sub 60 10 miler w/ a 59 min out and back on Cobbs Creek Parkway on Thursday it was there for the taking to begin w/ and having just missed out last week when I clocked 5.00.0. on my 4th mile I wanted it badly enough to erase the mental and physical tiredness from my thoughts and flesh,fortune it is said favours the brave............

It was 11.05am by the time I lined up for my first mile after a mile warm up and 20 mins of stretching,conditions were ideal,sunny but not broiling hot and the track was reasonable free of obstacles,here goes...............
#1 mile,1.10-1.16-1.16-1.13-4.55.5.So much for going out conservatively??? but unlike last week where I went out in 1.10-1.14-1.13-1.12 I had the good sense to back off a tad and remember it was 4 1 mile repeats.

#2 mile,1.13-1.14-1.14-67-4.48.8.Had I done it again? at 3.41 at the bell I was well in control but somehow I managed to drop a 67 second closing lap,I felt the reason last weeks final mile got oh so slightly away from me was not having enough left in the tank and here I was dropping a 4.48.8 on #2.

#3 mile,1.13-1.14-1.15-1.11-4.53.9.So close I could taste it now! take away the back to back 1.16s I'd deliberately eased up on in mile #1 and this was an near clinic in even pacing at a reasonably brisk pace,and now for the sixty four billion dollar question,what did I have left in the tank?

#4 mile,1.12,1.14,1.16,68-4.50.1.GOTCHA!!! I'm not going to front I was huffing and puffing on the second lap and had to really dig deep on the third lap but I knew I was close to a return to the summit and to do it I'd have to suck it up,a wise man once told me"pain is temporary,glory lasts forever" and frankly I'd have the remainder of the day to recovery from going through the pain barrier but I'd be able to bask in in the knowledge I'd done what I set out to do.

What was the difference between today and last week and a fortnight ago? I think today I went in w/ a "one lap at a time"mentality and paid more attention to each lap split as opposed to thinking about the overall mile time.
I also think no pun intended repetition helped,I've noticed it in my 4x400s that the more I run them week in week out the more they become second nature,ditto now for the mile repeats,through different phases of my training this season it's been hard to have week in,week out repeats,this current phase allows me to revisit the same repeats w/in a week of the last one and I feel that helps,physically doing what I do is second nature but now mentally as I proved today I'm better equipped to handle the rigours of these repeats.

What next?if only for myself I want to prove today was not a one off so it's important to come back next week and do it again,it would be nice to get to a stage where I can also run my 4x1 mile repeats in descending order,granted time is ticking on my mile repeats{potentially 4 more} b4 I switch to the next phase of my training but rest assured I'll be looking to try and get there.