repeat pain

This past tuesday the razorback cross country team ventured off the beaten path and out to the cross country course.  The call was for 5 miles with 4 minutes rest, each mile was to be at 4:30.  As many of you know we are in our heavy training cycle (workouts, mileage, intensity of everyday runs) and the ability to workout at 100% is somewhat of a luxury, if possible at all.  The first mile went off without many problems running 4:35, the second mile was nearly perfect as we hit 4:29-4:30, cue the pain, only 300m into the third mile I was about 90% positive that I would not finish the workout, maybe not even the current mile, but luckily my inner coach Bucknam told me to "nut up" and shut off my brain.  Finishing the third one in 4:30 was a great mental weight lifted off my shoulders.  Our fourth mile felt a little easier even though the pace quickened as we hit a 4:26.  Closing out the workout with a near effortless 4:28 was a great way to end they day.  With this workout behind us but still with a grueling 400's workout at the golf course looming we had two days to recover, logging between 12-14 miles a day on wed, and thurs.  In just a few hours we will be meeting for our workout and I will be sure to post an update letting you know how the workout and saturday morning long run goes.