I need speed

Ran a good training run last night. One of my usual loop, the 3.2 loop. It measured 3.16 and I decided to run it at race pace to see where I am in training as I have a 5K coming up. I felt pretty tired and winded in the first half mile. My pace was 7:33 so I was pretty happy with that.

By the time I reached a mile, I was feeling better and more settled in. Mile 2 was tougher of course as it is the dirt part that starts as a long gradual up hill and then a pretty good hill at the end.

Legs were feeling pretty heavy by the time I crested the hill (7:46 pace)and my mind searched reasons to stop. This told me I was probably running at about my max. Caught my wind on the flat and ran the last mile at 7:10 pace.

Finished with a pretty good kick (6:38P) and I knew that was all I had. My time of 23:30 is acceptable and I am quite happy with that. After a .1 walk to catch my breath I finished off with a 1.22 pickup run.

This is not a measured distance, but I can compare for training purposes as I have run this loop many times. This is a pretty good time for this loop. I hope to get two or three more "race pace"
runs in before the 5K.