Re-visiting the tempo run

The idea today was to do an 8-mile tempo run on the McAlpine Greenway from the Sardis lot to Harris Blvd. and back.  Out-and-backs can be boring but this was a good route for a tempo run because all the miles are clearly marked and the terrain is predictable.  I met up with Daniel Eggers, David Brinkley, and Mike Oelz.  This was the first time all four of us had run together since we began our training.  We decided to run the first four miles at 6:45 pace, bump it down to about 6:30 after that, and then just do what we could for the end of the workout. 
This was going to be a very important workout for me.  I've had some time to think about the Komen race and determined that my poor strategy mirrored my recent workouts - I started out great, faded badly in the middle, and finished strong.  I was determined to figure out how to pace myself better and trying to run the same pace for 8 miles would be a great way to do that.

We were right around 6:38-6:40 pace for the first four miles and I was feeling great.  I ran with Eggers and Brinkley for a bit in mile #5 before surging ahead.  I ran about 6:18 for the 5th mile, the one in which I was worried about fading.  That would prove to be my fastest mile.  Eggers took control with about 2.5 miles to go and it quickly became apparent that I would be staring at his back for the rest of the run.  With Brinkley right on my heels, I threw in a little surge to put distance between us with two to go and just tried to maintain pace for the remainder of the workout.  Just when I thought I was about to reel in Dan, he took off again, I slowed down, and that was that.  I ran about the same pace (just under 6:30) for the final two miles but I was speeding up and slowing down rather than running consistently.  I came through in a time of 52:38 for an average mile of 6:35. 

Check back at this workout and you will see the progress that has been made in one month's time.  That was our first real workout, and it feels like forever ago.  The 30-degree difference in temperature doesn't hurt, of course, but myself and all my training buddies have made some excellent progress in that amount of time

Eggers and I agreed after the workout that we could have continued that pace for several more miles but neither of us could have gone much faster.  Endurance, not speed.  We agreed to attempt a shorter, faster workout for next week - maybe some mile repeats - in order to push the pain threshold and pick up some footspeed. 

Stay tuned.