Excellent Speed Work at Gibbons Park - 6.5 miles with 3 miles at sub-7 minute miles

Tonight I met the group at Gibbons park for our speed work session.  This session marked week one of the 18 weeks leading up to the Erie Marathon on September 13.

Without a dedicated plan in place, Coach John suggested 3 miles at "repeat" pace.  Bernie and I wanted a bit more than that, so we compromised with 2 miles at "marathon" pace and then 3 miles at "repeat" pace of 7:10 or better.

Here are  my mile splits:

7:21.81 (targeting 7:56) No break.
7:34.99 (still targeting 7:56) 3 minute break
6:56.06 (targeting 7:10)
6;53.56 (targeting 7:10)
6:49.51 (targeting 7:00)

My legs were feeling it for the last two, but we got through it.  It was great having Bernie next to me keeping the pace.  So my average pace for all 5 miles was 7:06.99 and my average pace for the 3 "repeat" miles was 6:52.71.

I'm pretty happy with this result.