Tempo Run

This morning was absolutely perfect! 45 degrees, clear, low humidity. Just a spectacular morning for a run, and we were out there to enjoy it. Nice group of Gazelles gathered at 6:00 am, and after a little warmup and drills, we were ready for the tempo run. 4 miles, at 80-85% effort. Since I have my HR monitor back, I was able to run to a HR number, which would be interesting.

We took off, and after the initial quarter mile where I always feel like I am running way too hard, everything settled down. I rolled along with Amy, just behind Margaret and Joseph, as we watched the speedy people pull away ahead of us. The last time I did this tempo run, it was warmer, and I ran 7:56 pace (31:37). My plan this morning was to go out at 8:00 pace, and bring it home strong. Instead, I was surprised to see a first mile split of 7:47. HR was right in range, and I wasn't struggling, so I kept rolling along. By now, Margaret and I had grouped up , and we had pulled away from Joseph and Amy. We reached the turnaround with a mile 2 split of 7:43, and I still was feeling well in control. Heading back, my mile 3 split was 7:40, so I was on a very steady pace. For the last mile, I focused ahead on a fellow Gazelle, and tried to match her pace. For the last half mile, I tried to use nice flowing form, and concentrated on that. My last mile was a surprising 7:20, for a total time of 30:30, 7:38 overall pace.

I felt like I could do more at that pace, so this was a fabulous run for me, and yet another sign that the training is working for me. After some strides to warmdown, I put my jacket back on and we headed back to RunTex. Gilbert was very happy with my performance, and that made me feel even better about things. My legs felt great, no aches or pains, and I did a good stretching session afterwards.

I talked with Gilbert a bit about the long run on Saturday past, and he agreed that we had gotten a little carried away with our pace on it. I'll try to be a better pacer this Saturday, and only pick it up over the last couple of miles. Speedwork is speedwork, and long runs are long runs. Only on the marathon pace runs do the two things meet. These are things to remember.