First Specific Workout

Yesterday I had my Marathon Paced specific workout and thought I should describe it here fro some of you. The workout on the schedule was 4 x 3 mile @ MP (for me about 5:10) with 1 mile recovery at about 90% MP. This was done on an indoor track (Reggie Lewis), so you can already imagine the amount of laps I did. I didn't necessarily feel fresh going into this workout. I did a light progression run on Tuesday (10 miles at low 55min), and did a 8/13 double the day before. I had about 135 miles in the past 7 days going into this workout, but I wasn't worried about that. I was worried about a few other things: fluids, blisters and stomach issues. I did experience some trouble with a little bit of each. I had some cramps because my cytofuse fluid was a little too sweet. My mouth felt sticky as a result of the sweet fluid, next time I will just try water.I should've watered it down more. Also, I was already recovering my blisters from Sunday which were still hurting me. Anyway, I felt "decent" up until the last 2 miles of the entire workout. While running 5:10's may look easy, running it multiple times certainly isn't. I tried to relax and stay focused 100% from start to finish. Even during the first few laps, I tried to maintain even laps. I'm starting to notice that the most important thing when doing these type of workouts is to keep a good rhythm. Doing any sort of surge or pick up can cause trouble later. You might not feel it at 4 miles but at 14 miles it will hit you. Entire workout was 120 laps.

splits from my watch:

15:27 (5:10, 5:06, 5:10)
mile rest at 5:45
15:23 (5:09, 5:07, 5:06)
mile rest at 5:40
15:21 (5:07, 5:06, 5:07)
mile rest at 5:48
15:32 (5:06, 5:10, 5:14)
total workout 15 miles in 1:18:59