Week of April 23-29: 42 miles in 5 days/runs
  Monday: off
  Tuesday: 8.2 miles pushing a stroller at 7:56/mi.
  Wednesday: track workout (see below)
  Thursday: 8 miles at 7:43/mi.
  Friday: 8.2 miles at 7:28/mi.
  Saturday: off
  Sunday: Pike's Peek 10k race

I ended up doing my track workout this week on Wednesday instead of Tuesday, and it went well. It was the same workout I did last week - 4 x 1200 (800) - but faster. I averaged 4:24 per 1200, which is 5:53/mi. pace. I felt strong and smooth, and ran all four intervals at almost exactly the same pace. In fact, this workout felt so good that I started thinking about aiming for 37 minutes at the race on Sunday. I ran my first mile of the race in 5:54, which is just under 37 minute pace. But then I thought better of it and decided to back off to my original goal of running under 38 minutes, which would be 6:06/mi. pace. I stayed right on 6:06 pace for miles 2-4 but then slipped a little to 6:11 for mile 5 and 6:10 for mile 6. I wasn't hurting all that much but my legs started feeling heavy. But that first fast mile and a fast final .2 miles downhill were still enough to keep me under 38 minutes. I finished in 37:48, which is a PR by nearly 2 minutes, though I hadn't run a 10k for more than six months. My 5k split was 18:41 (I think), which is my second fastest 5k time, though obviously I'm due for a new 5k PR soon as well. I don't think the fast first mile affected much, since I backed off well before I felt tired, and I may have been able to speed up a few seconds for each of the last couple miles instead of slowing down a couple seconds if I had gone out slower. But I look forward to trying to hold that faster pace in my next 10k, after (I hope) running a couple of fast 5k's first. That's my next task, after recovering from this race: to prepare to run under 18 minutes for a 5k in three weeks, and then faster still (17:30?) two weeks after that. By June 9 (my next 10k), I hope that running 5:50's feels slow.