perhaps I am being too hard on myself: Poor 'ole me

Today, I did 5x1000...all alone.  Poor 'ole me.

I chose to do this workout because I want to compare my fitness level with that in August 2010.  I used the first 1K of the XC course across the street.  With the adjustments made to the course, the 1000m mark is one telephone pole shy of where it used to be: at Plumly & Shiloh. Like the 800s last week and the 1Ks I've done on this course in the past, I did decided an out and back pattern, running a 1000m, stopping, and then running the next 1000 in the opposite direction. The target: 3:25/1K w/3:35 recovery, for an even 7 minutes. I hit 3:39, 3:23, 3:26, 3:22 and 3:26, for an average of 3:27.  The ones going in the opposite direction were a bit easier; even though the terrain was still rolling, the run seemed to have a downward trend in elevation.  I guess my pace made for a 17:25. This felt good. Warmed up 1M. Cooled down .85M. Total: about 5 miles.
  For comparison sake, on 7/31/10 I did the same exact workout (5x1000) with my son and Justin, a friend, using roughly the same portion of the XC course.  That day, according to my log, the target was 3:40/1K w/3:40 recovery. I hit 3:37, 3:28, 3:30, 3:23 and 3:27, for an average of 3:29. We apparently took about 4:00 rest. (Justin hit 3:37, 3:28, 3:40, 3:40, 3:40, and DJ managed 3:39, 3:36, 3:58, 3:50, 3:53.)  I noted that I felt good. Perhaps the warmed up of 1.25M and cool down of 1.85M, for a total of about 6.1 miles, helped.   Four weeks later, on 8/29/10, I was at it again, this time, however, by myself.  I warmed up 1.25M and stretched well. My target pace was 3:20 with 3:40 recovery...for an even 7 min. Trial 1: 3:28; trial 2: 3:18; trial 3: 3:15; trial 4: 3:14; trial 5: 3:22.  My average was 3:19+. Apparently, as noted in my log, this was a tough workout after all the lifting the day before.  However, it felt good to run, on average, my target time.   My workout today was closer in time to what I did on 7/31/10 than to what I did on 8/29/10.  (I find it intriguing that I ran faster alone on 8/29 than I did on 7/31 when I ran with Justin and DJ.)  It would appear that I am roughly 3 weeks behind where I was 3 weeks ago.  This can be attributed to a myriad of things, not the least of which is my low mileage this past spring and first half of summer.  I just started distance work this month!  Thus, perhaps I am being too hard on myself.