NICE WORKOUT

I had a nice workout on the treadmill last night; 2 mile warm-up, 2 x 3 miles at MP minus 15 seconds, 1 mile rest in-between, 2 mile cool-down. The repeats were run in 19:27 and 19:21 or 6:29 and 6:27 pace. All told, I ran 11 miles in 1:21 and had 16 miles for the day.

To be honest, during the first pick-up I didn’t think I’d be able to complete the workout. My lungs felt fine, but I made the mistake of dropping the pace of the treadmill from like 8:00 to 6:30 all at once. It felt like my legs were going to fly off the back of the ‘mill. It took me a half mile for my legs to catch up and finally start feeling comfortable. During the second pick-up I eased into the pace and it felt a lot easier.

Watching the Twins beat the Indians 9-4 helped make the workout go by quicker. Actually, the 7-8 pitching changes by the Indians slowed things down. I know, I know, it’s hard to believe I haven’t talked about the Twins lately. It seems like just last week they were 10 games out of first. Now they’re one game behind Detroit and two games ahead of Chicago for the wild card spot. I like what the Twin’s pitching coach said on the radio today; “We’re not looking behind us (at Chicago). We’re focused on Detroit and winning the division. Let the Tigers and Sox battle for the wild card spot.”

Since you’re all probably wondering about Joe Mauer too, I’ll give you an update. He’s cooled off a bit and is battling with Derek Jetter – down to the thousandth of a point – for the American League batting title. Right now they're both hitting around .345.

Alright, I know there are probably more runners that stop by than triathletes and you know I like to read what the elites are up to, so I thought I’d post Simon Whitfield’s blog, which I came across today.

I hate to “steal” quotes of the day but Mario posted a quote that’s too good to pass up. Going out too fast in my recent half marathon really has me focused on going easy at the start of Chicago.

“I was (watching) at the 5K with Tom. I looked down at my watch - fourteen twenty-five. Way too fast. The goal was fifteen minutes. Right then it was over. I go to the next Starbucks and get a coffee.” - Coach Dieter Hogen on Evans Rutto going out too hard two years ago at the Chicago Marathon.