Stretch it to 10

On 5/7/2020 I ran 15K in 1:03:49 (6:51 pace) in what I ultimately wound up considering my workout of the year.

It's been about a year, but today I ran a similar workout with similar results.  My legs were not particularly fresh and I was not feeling particularly sharp but it's been a week since my last workout and I wanted to get in a long solid effort at sub 7 minute pace.  The weather was good though and it seemed like a good day for a run so I put aside my doubts and gave it a shot.

Splits:

Mile 1:  The first 1/2 mile is uphill and I pushed it a bit to make sure I got out at a good pace.  I can usually get going okay but a warmup probably would have been a good idea.  I was just running out of time.  I was right at sub 7 at the .5 mark and then with the hill work done it got easier and I cut it down to 6:53 at the mile mark without increasing effort. 

Mile 2:  Held that pace for mile 2 and hit the split at 6:51.  At this point I figured I had some time banked on a sub 7 average pace.  

Mile 3 & 4:  These 2 miles were a struggle for whatever reason.  Legs were feeling fatigued and I couldn't quite get a rhythm.  I was pushing harder than I really wanted but still slowing slightly.  6:57 and 6:56 splits.  

Mile 5 & 6:  After turning the corner on mile 4 I started feeling slightly better.  I held effort but the pain and fatigue did not increase and I started to speed up again.  I was worried about the hill that starts of mile 6 but I barely noticed it.  6:45 and 6:51 splits.

Mile 7 & 8:  At the 5 mile point I wasn't sure if I'd wind up running 8 miles or 9 miles and I was doing the mental math to see how slow I could run and still be under 7 min pace with the banked time.  By the start of mile 7 I was sure I was going to do 9.  These two miles I was cruising as I finally found my rhythm and got lost in the run.  I stopped noticing the effort, my mind wondered, and my body entered cruise control.  6:54 and 6:48 splits.

Mile 9:  Mile 9 I consciously picked it up and was running a bit harder but still cruising along knowing I was close to the end.  As I hit the 9 mile mark my average pace had dropped to 6:50 and I was feeling better than my first mile.  Split pace of 6:42.

Mile 10:  I've run a lot of 15K training runs and have often thought that the next time I am running a solid 9+ miler that I should go ahead and tack on the extra bit and stretch it to 10 since my 10mile PR was fairly week in comparison (6:51 pace for the 15K vs 7:13 pace for the 10 miler).  Well, today I stretched it to 10, tacking on an extra loop through the Brimfield park.  I continued pushing and ran 6:28 for the last mile with an average HR of 160.

Final Stats:

10.01 miles

1:08:06

6:48 average pace

While this was one of my best runs ever, it was also remarkably easy, with a controlled but strong effort.  Way easier than the 6:38 pace 8 miler I ran last week and I don't foresee the recovery being quite so difficult.

It's always affirming when Strava gives you training PRs.  These were somewhat ripe for the taking but a PR is a PR.  Even with the new PRs they are still ripe for the taking if I ever run these distancing in an actual race... My 3rd best 10k as well, with my 2nd best happening a year ago during my now 2nd best 15K.  Cut 25 seconds off the 15 K but the last 10K of that run was 2 seconds faster (41:53)