It was one of those days where I just felt TIRED. A walk would have been just fine with me. A beautiful, cool morning for one too, but no, we ran. And once again it demonstrated how much impact speed work has (hear that Christy and Mike?). Despite being incredibly tired and not really pushing it, our pace was always below 9:00 and every mile had a progressively faster pace. Yes, the last 1/2 mile I was trying to finish strong, but I wasn't consciously trying to go faster each mile. In fact every time my Garmin signaled the completion of another mile my thought was "Good, another mile DONE!" NOT "I should go faster the next mile". So we ended with an average pace of 8:43.

The cross training for the sprint triathlon in August is starting to take its toll. Not so much on my muscles, just in my energy level. Yesterday I swam 1000 meters with 3x25 and 5x50 meter sprints mixed it. Then I biked roller coaster hill. I hadn't on that, but the turn was about my half way point and I know I need to work on hills. Truly, I still don't think it is THAT bad of a route! Especially when it is above 40 degrees and not windy!

Tomorrow I think I will do my 8 mile pace run along the Lake Shore in Chicago. On Saturday my goal is to bike 1:45. My plan is to do it on the bikes in the hotel's fitness center. So, it will be interesting to see if I actually accomplish this, especially since I have to get it done before Jim goes to his meeting at 8:00. I keep on thinking about Elyse's story of when she stayed at this hotel and they brought cold, wet towels around to everyone - for FREE. That is the kind of pampering I would like to experience!