I set out to redeem myself today after trying and failing a ten-mile tempo run last week. Perhaps I just wasn't ready for it coming off a 60-mile week but I felt I could be ready today.
My main plan was to simply start out slowly and hold a decent pace for awhile before cranking things up and trying to hold on. I wanted to run a faster pace for 10 miles than I had done for 8 for the last tempo run. Having to do this one solo was a factor that could work against me, however. I'm pleased to note that it's finally starting to feel like fall, as this would be the first hard workout I have done with the temps below 50 degrees. My route would take me from the Sardis lot to Harris Blvd, back to the park and the final 2.5 miles of the 5k course, and then back to the Sardis lot. In other words, I was keeping with tradition by doing my hard workout at McAlpine.
I felt pretty slow as I set out on the greenway but I came through the half in about 3:20 and continued on to 6:40 for mile one. I slowed down some, then sped up again; overall, I kept the pace around 6:40-6:45 for the first three miles. By mile four, I felt a bit sluggish and some demons began creeping in: maybe I confused my body by running four days a week two weeks in a row and then running sixty miles in six days...maybe I need some new shoes...maybe I'm too tired today and can't do this by myself...
Those demons were slain. I slapped the 4.0-mile marker post at Harris, turned around, and proceeded to pick up the pace, dropping it down to 6:15 for the next mile and 6:10 for the mile after that. I had been sluggish; now, my legs were awake. I ran about a 6:30 for the hill mile on the course and then whipped out another 6:15, coming through the 8-mile mark in 51:40 - an entire minute faster than I had for the 8-mile tempo run a few weeks prior to this. Perhaps feeling a bit too good about myself, I briefly faded to a 6:51 for mile #9 but closed with a 6:27. I hadn't really planned to run my fastest miles in the middle portion of this workout but I felt pretty good about it. That's the point where I have had trouble in the past, and I still finished strong, so I could live with it.
I totaled 1:04:58 for the ten miles, or 6:29 per mile, achieving my goal of besting the pace I ran for the last tempo despite running an additional two miles. This may or may not be my last tempo run. I need to do another hill workout and I still have the 3x3-mile repeats - a brutal workout that's probably going to bring me closer to God. I can work a progression run in there, but I don't know if a 12-mile tempo is on the docket yet or not.
Stay tuned!
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