Mile Repeats Repeated

In some ways, today's workout was the hardest that I will complete before the marathon - mile repeats again (See September 16), but this time four of them.  I have hesitated looking farther than a week ahead during this training program because the daunting work still to come might seem intimidating.  But today I did look ahead, and it was encouraging.  I completed only three of these on September 16 and in two weeks I will complete another three.  So as far as mile repeats go, this was the summit, and I am descending the long slope of the taper which will culminate in Race Day.

As with other types of intervals, and even tempo miles to some extent, I was struck again by how close together these repeats were, only a few seconds separating them:  9:01, 8:58, 9:03, 8:59. (In fact, I believe that the first and third miles on the course I run are slightly more uphill than the second and fourth.)  If you asked me to close my eyes and say when a minute had passed, second by second, I don't think I could have been closer.  Surely this means that I am starting to recognize with more and more accuracy my mile-repeat and my tempo-mile pace.  My legs fall into the pace like slipping on a comfortable pair of pants, or sitting in a favorite chair.  And that's one of the main objectives of training with so much attention to a watch.  On Race Day, that 9:30 pace should seem like a familiar friend, as familiar as the Garmin on my wrist.