Workout? On Sunday? Really?

I am not going to lie. I knew I was going to do a workout today but when I saw 5 x mile w/ 1 min rest @ 6:20-30 this morning at first I thought that it was just a bad joke. I thought I was going to do easy fartlek or strides or something, well shorter:) Mile repeats? On Sunday? After almost 10 days of no decent quality runs?

But it all makes sense. I have race on Saturday and how am I supposed to devise a race strategy if I do not know where I stand and what reasonable goals are? And a confidence booster would not hurt neither:)

Last time I did this workout was on Nov 4, one month ago. I averaged 6:24 and it felt like a jog.

Today, I also averaged 6:24, although it did not feel that easy, but still pretty laid back.
6:28- I need to start easy. Felt like a jog.
6:26- Still feeling very good, not pushing.
6:26- I wanted to run negative splits but it did not work out. I still felt very good, although my poor arms started to protest. I wonder why...
6:21- It is so easy to run 5sec faster or slower in a mile since it is so long. Still feeling good but I decided to try to push the pace little bit. It was not like hard pushing, just a comfortable effort. And arms stopped protesting:)
6:20- I need to negative split! Yeap, got it! Again comfortable effort but I started to feel legs in last 100m but nothing major.

So on one hand, I am pretty satisfied with this. It was not hard at all, but harder than when I did it a month ago. Which, me being a hard-core realist (some people call it pessimism, but no no, it is realism), immediately triggered thoughts that I am not as fit as I was at the beginning of November:( Me and my negative thoughts...

But pessimist or realist, I should be able to run a very decent race on Saturday!!!! They say that it is very fast and flat course. Going for sub-40. Too ambitious? No idea. Not enough experience with 10k races. Well, I need to discus it with my coach and blog word:)

This race on Saturday is the biggest Xmas 5k/10k race in LA. Maybe it was not such a great idea to try to PR at the crowded race but my opportunities to race are very limited. And already 2 people told me that it is a very fun race!


And as a good future triathlete, I also did bike workout today after I rested for 4 hours. I was not sure whether I should do it or not because it was planned based on my original (pre-24h bug) running schedule. But I figured it is pretty easy so no biggie. Just some spin ups. It was interesting because I am "power cyclist" and use higher gears (although I am working on it during my commute to school). I once tried cadence of 90 RPM and almost flew off the stationary bike. So these spin ups would do me good.

How do you call those things you put on your running shoes so you don't slip on ice? You know, like tire chains for a car. I need to get those before heading home but I do not know how it is called so no idea what to ask for.