Renaissance-style oil painting of a runner mid-stride on an ancient track at dawn.Coach had this one labeled "Bridge 5k - 2." 20 minute warm-up, then 8x3 minutes at 5k effort with a 2 minute jog in between. Eight is a lot — by rep five or six you're just trying to hold the wheels on.
First six intervals came in around 6:27, holding steady, nothing heroic. Then rep seven — I felt good, so I let it go a little: 6:22. Rep eight, same idea, harder: 6:18. Not by accident. I had it and I used it.
Wore the Path Projects Sentinel Half Tights for this one. My buddy Jason got them for my birthday, and I'd been putting off trying them because I've run in Rabbit for a while and figured I was set. I was wrong. These are lighter, no compression digging in, none of the shaping Rabbit does. Barely noticed I had them on, which is kind of the whole point. These are what I'm wearing at the marathon.
Indianapolis is November 7th now. Getting close enough that it's real. I still don't have an exact number I'm chasing — sub-3:15 is the one I'll say out loud, which already feels a little ballsy typing it out. But sessions like today make me think it's not crazy. These treadmill blocks have been doing something. I'm not just surviving them anymore, I'm coming off them feeling like I got faster in the last hour.
Work's been a lot lately, more than I want to get into here. But I'm still getting out the door, still healthy, still able to do this. Not everybody gets that, so I try not to take it for granted.
Legs were done by the cooldown. Worth it.
