Speed Workout

Last night I had to run 7 miles, 5 of them as a tempo run keeping a pace of a little less than an 8 min/mile. I took off as soon as Jeff walked in the door, around 6 to make sure I'd have plenty of daylight. I warmed up by running the loop around my neighborhood and then took off for Winton Woods, a park 2.5 miles away. I forced myself to run hard without looking at my watch until I got to the turnaround. I wanted to just feel what an 8 min/mile felt like. Like almost every run, I felt completely awful the first 2-3 miles. I felt as if I was running in slow motion or underwater. I felt like I had no control over my body. I think the first few miles of the marathon will be hard for me. Hopefully I'll be able to remind myself that I always feel this way and I always feel better which happend last night as well. I should have gotten to the park in 20 minutes, but I got there in 18 which meant I was going faster than I meant to. I used the extra time to walk and catch my breath since basically the whole way back is up hill. I still managed to get back in 20 minutes and I took another lap around my neighborhood to cool down. Pretty good workout.