Mile Repeats.... again

I've pretty much thrown my original training plan out the window. With the set backs of getting the flu, followed by my training getting off last week because of hosting a cross country meet I decided to just schedule my workouts off of feel. I feel I'm experienced enough with both my own body and principles of endurance training to "make it up as a go along." I'm still going to do most of the same workouts, I'm just not going to plan it out more than about a week or two in advance. I'm responsible and dedicated enough and know how much mileage I need to run in order to feel good and run well. I don't think I need to necessarily write my mileage goals down anymore.

In light of this decision, I decided late last week that I wanted to get another mile repeat (cruise interval) session in prior to my race Sunday. But instead of 6 this time, I'd go for 8. The weather was great (slightly cold and overcast). I ran my first 6 repeats on the road. I have a 3 mile tempo course around campus marked off (I have it measured with a wheel) and I just ran from one mile marker to the next. When I got the end of the 3 mile loop I turned around and did it again. I average 6:56 on the roads taking 1 minute rest between each repeat. After the 6th one I took a 2 minute jog (to get back to the track) and proceeded to run my last two repeats on the track. I ran 7:07 and 7:04 for my last two, taking a 2 minute rest between them.

All-in-all it was a very good workout. I average 6:58.8 for each repeat (which is about my goal for a half-marathon in January) and did more repeats than I've ever done. I think I started out a little too fast on my first 3 repeats, but every one of my repeats was within no more than 11-seconds of my overall average. I ran 6:55 - 6:53 - 6:47 - 7:02 - 6:58 - 7:03 - 7:07 - 7:04.

Good day. I feel confident in my ability to run under 96-minutes Sunday.