Last night was my first Official Tempo Run, where I was actively trying to do a tempo run and following the little Runner's World article I found on how to do so. Result: moderate success.
The run:
10 min warmup - 10:00/mi pace
4 miles - 8:00-8:30/mi pace
5 min cool down
I basically spent the whole time reciting this in my head, over and over and over, "'comfortably hard'...you know you're working, but you're not racing. At the same time, you'd be happy if you could slow down," and tried to keep myself in that zone. Unfortunately, the iPod was not on my side yesterday and kept shuffling all this really great, mellow, cool, long-easy-run type music. That is, until the last few minutes...then it kicked in with the stuff I downloaded specifically for the days when I need a fast beat to keep my legs moving or to pick up the pace. The ultimate slap in the face? As I was just finishing my cool down, Madonna's "Give It 2 Me" came on. And I wanted to give it to her, I wanted to keep going...but had to go pick up the kids. Damn you Shuffle!
PS: I would like to thank Vanilla over at Half Fast for giving me the new excuse that I'm not slow just because I'm slow...I'm slow because I'm training for a marathon. Duh.
Also, I just noticed the St.Patrick's Day run that you completed on the 21st. Was that the 5k in Highlands Ranch? If so, I did that one, too!
ReplyDeleteI also see that you're running the DU 5k on the 5th of April. I looked at that one and am debating between it and a 5k in Ft. Collins...
Ooh, I have the same problems with my shuffle! Just when I need a good fast song, something with a mild tempo comes on. Then, I'm hitting the "next" button until I find something that works! Ah, the life of a runner...
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