Steady State run with my brother

Today my brother suggested to do 9 laps in the Blasco park in 4:50 per lap (5:22-5:23 per km), so I accepted. We met to run at 6:55 p.m. and He started the run like a bat, clocking the first lap in 3:57, I , of course, let him go, and kept a fast pace, clicking 4:16, but the rest of the way was much slower of course. We were head to head in the second lap in 8:56 (4:40), then He just built a gap again and kept it till the end of the run. Today I just wanted to run at a good pace without pushing like past week, I have to self talk in order to avoid pushing.

3rd lap came in 4:57 (13:53), was feeling pretty good and controlled, decided just to keep that effort till the end without pushing more than that. Splits for the rest of the way were: 4:51 (18:44), 4:48 (23:32 halfway), 4:45 (28:17), 4:43 (33:00), 4:40 (37:40), 4:40 (42:20), 4:31 to finish up the 9k (10 laps) in 46:51. 2 seconds slower than last week, but feeling much more controlled, last week I had to push a lot in the last couple of laps to run that time. My brother finished just in sub 46 mins, so basically He ran at almost 10k race pace today. I told him that He is in much better condition than his recent race performance are telling.

I finished feeling pretty good, strong and comfortable, heck, sometimes, I am more comfortable at this pace than my normal easy pace, laps just go faster at this effort, but I think that if it were not for the easy days, I would not feel this comfortable running at this effort.

Also, today is my diet soda free day, so I have a bit of a headache, but not as bad as last week. I still had a great run though, the withdrawals symptoms only affect me when I am not running.

Nice effort, good weather!