I'm back again - breaking down some more tempo runs. Took a break last week with the mid-zone because I had an unfortunate incident with a treadmill that left the run less then desirable, so I will hit that one on the second go around. This was week 3 of my 6 week base build 1. By far this was the best week so far that I've had. I felt very strong and had great runs - hopefully this will continue and I didn't either have a fluke or used up valuable reserves thinking I was running well.
My tempo run for week 3 was High-End run. This run is most like doing speed work - and the closest I will come to doing speed work for awhile. One of my goals/ needs was to get off the track and start building speed on the road - prepping for race situations. By doing High-End tempo runs consisting of mile repeats, my goal was to gain the speed on the road that I some how can't muster during a race. My original goal was to run the mile repeats at 9:10 pace - I didn't want to go out too fast...but just naturally my body took me to about a 9:00 min pace, so I stuck with it. While they were slightly difficult, it was still fairly easy, which is encouraging. As I build on this first week I would like to go from 3x1 mile repeats to 4x1 mile repeats and then jump up to some 2 mile repeats and really start pushing my endurance at an aerobic rate. Sticking with this plan through the summer, I would like to be at the point where I could possibly run 3x2 mile repeats at around a 9-9:10 pace.
The back end of this week was supposed to be a long slow run. Because I would be pressing hard mid week, I figured my body would be exhausted and would need the slow miles. Planned 12 miles at 10:25 pace. I headed out with the group and hit some high splits for the first two miles - around 9:35. I wasn't feeling any fatigue at this point but knew if I kept up the pace I would. I decided since I felt so good that I would just run by feel instead of forcing myself to slow down - I figured around 5 miles I would crash and sludge back at a 10:45 pace to even out. Well got to mile 5 and didn't feel any pain, it was like I had done 1 mile, and I was still holding an even 9:45 pace or so. Wow! Decided at that point, against my better interest to go for 12 and headed out for the extra mile on the out and back route. Got back to the water stop at 7 and still felt like gold. Headed back in and never really felt fatigue. Mile 11 my legs were getting a little sluggish after the hill, but I threw in some striders in mile 12 and came in at a 9:52 avg pace. Wow! that was supposed to be the pace the week before on my 10 miler and I couldn't hold that for anything. So I don't know if I blew it all, or if my legs are getting stronger from strength training and the extra running I'm doing.
I feel very encouraged after 3 weeks of the program and looking for great things in the next 3 to come!
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