16.75 Mile Tempo/Progression

Andy, Mark, and I met up at Erik Kress's house at 10 Saturday morning. The plan was for Erik to drive us out to the Clarence Demar start line in Gilsum and then set up a fuel station at mile 10. The three of us did a quick 10 minute warm up and then got right into it. We wanted to be conservative the first mile to get things loose and came through mile one in 6:00. Unfortunately most of the lines have been washed away and we had to run on feel. The few splits I did get were around 5:30 pace in the beginning. After the water stop that Erik generously set up, I decided that things were going pretty well and wanted to hammer out the last bit of the effort. I started progressing and felt smooth. I ended up bringing the pace down to around five minute pace by the end of the session. I was feeling it and trying to hold up but felt strong. I think I may have had too much coffee earlier because I felt a little nauseous if I tried to go all out. My stomach seemed to keep me limited which was probably good. I missed the 16 mile mark and wasn't looking at my watch and ended up stopping on Felt Rd, which after mapping found out it is 16.75 miles. I guess that's extra credit. My final time for the workout was 1:29:44 which averages to about 5:21 pace. Basically, mission accomplished. It was an absolutely beautiful day and it was a fun workout with some good guys. Sunday we are meeting again for an easy, social, 20 miler followed with some burgers and beers. Don't you wish you lived in Keene man!