Mile Repeats

Only had limited time today, so ditched the swim plans and just focused on running.  Did 5 x 1 mile repeats on the treadmill, but skimped on the recoveries.  I tried to keep 7:30 pace for the miles and an 8:30 pace for the 880 intervals.

I tried to imagine what it would be like to run at that 7:30 pace over the course of 5 or 6 miles straight, without the rest intervals.  At this point, there's no way.   Yet that would be the pace I'd need to hold to approach the pipedream goal of a sub-46 minute 10K.  I've got a long way to go to get there, and I'm not even sure it's feasible at this point in my life.  I'm starting to realize that gains from here on out are hard fought and incremental.  There's such a vast difference for me between an 8-minute mile, which is comfortable, and a 7:30 mile which is pretty brisk. 

One of the joys I get from running is looking back and finding gains and improvements.  My focus these past few weeks has been gradually building up mileage, and the idea that I could actually be capable of running for 20 miles straight was practically unfathomable at the start of the year.  Yet I'm there.  But slow mileage building has been easier than speed and running strength improvements.  I'm not quite sure what it would take -- or if it's even possible -- for me to whittle my 5K and 10K paces down to 6:30 and 7:30 paces respectively. 

I look forward to the time I can look back (that's a funny way to phrase it) and remember this sentiment and marvel at how I am faster and stronger.  I hope that will be the case.  I might need many months or even years of dedicated running to eventually get to there.