Arrived at the zoo trailhead at about 5:40, enough time to get in a mile before meeting up with Lisa M. Our plan was to run five easy miles up Emigration Canyon, and then run a five mile tempo down the canyon. The crazy thing today was that the wind was blowing up the canyon, rather than down the canyon. It is very rare that I have had a tailwind going up. If it's windy, it's almost always blowing in my face while I climb. It made for a smoother ride up, but on the way down it was a battle.
Lisa came down with a cold after the weekend, however, so she decided to back off a bit and she ran up to the 4 mile mark and back down easy. That's a good move, as she's planning to do the SL Half and probably needs the rest anyway.
So I continued on up the canyon to about the 5.5 mile mark (about .5 past the Sun & Moon Cafe). Turned around to start the tempo run and felt sluggish from the start. I haven't done anything quick since the half last weekend and I was concerned I would feel stale the whole time, so I just played it by ear and do all I could. First mile was 5:56, which reflected my sluggishness. I picked it up a bit in the second mile, 5:43. At some point I started to concentrate on letting go of the little mental blocks telling me that I was too slow today and that I should just be in bed. Third mile in 5:40. With two miles to go, I was approaching Ruth's diner. The grade in this part of the canyon is very runnable, but it does flatten out a bit. I think that's probably a good thing. During the fourth mile, Kevin Tuck drove up along side me and started talking about running. I love Kevin to death, but I was too deep into the run to slow down and focus on the conversation. I did manage to squeak out a few sentences. Fourth mile in 5:32. Okay, one mile to go. This is the flattest part of the canyon, but also probably the section I know best. I tried to concentrate on my best downhill form. Mile 5 in 5:27. Then a little cool down back to the car. The headwind coming down the canyon was definitely a factor, but nothing to do about it.
I feel like I needed this workout today to get over the hump of just running slow for the past several days. At some point, there's no such thing as an "easy" day if all the days are easy.
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