Monday - Loin Queen Parader

"Gonna turn it up inside your head..."

Yesterday's mountain finish was awesome and very exciting to feel good while making a solid climb. Monday was looking to be a true test to try many things: run, run relaxed, fast, in control, comfortable and within myself.
I headed back to the Marathon Road with Najem and Boj on the bike. Boj ran 4 hours the day before and was looking to loosen up on the bike.
Here was the plan: 3 mile warmup, 3 x 2 mile at 5 min pace or as fast and relaxed as possible, and then cool down. The 2 mile repeats were going to be run on the same section of road to keep it honest, so 2 miles in one direction, mile cool down, turn around and then go the other direction, mile cool down, then finish heading back towards the start.
The warm up was what it was. I didn't feel great leading out and hoped I'd make it through the workout still on point. Composure was huge to today.
The first mile of the first set was a bit fast at 4:50, but felt well within my comfort zone. Ended up chilling and settling in for a 10:00. We jogged off a mile and turned around to start the second set which is "up hill" or flat... I opened up the first mile of the second set in 4:55 and comfortably ran to a 9:59. Certified roller is certifiably rolling. Once again I jogged off the recover mile and mentally geared for the last one. I was surprised to find how little effort it was in regards to the day I had the day before. Don't get me wrong, it was an effort but I could not have done this workout a few months ago, so to be tackling the work and the times was a great feeling.
I opened the first mile of the third set in 4:45 and knew I had the third set all wrapped up. My main focus was checking in with Boj to see if I looked as relaxed as I thought I felt. With 90 seconds left I smoothly increased the pace all the while keeping my relaxed breathing pattern. It was great to finish in 9:41 for the last set, know I was done for the day and took down another obstacle in my training.
I ended the day with 19 (7 miles in Keene on the rail trails) and felt very good, especially bc it was Monday an we were going to crush wings after at the pub!!! Cuss yea!