Thursday Workout

Last night was clinic night at the Running Room, 2nd week of this session, and we started Tempo work. Since my setback in early March I have not done any speed work so I wasn’t sure how tonight was going to go, especially since I was at a Client site all day and did 4 hours total of driving, so needless to say I was a little tired. The plan was for us to do a 2.5k warm up to the beginning of where we would start our 3k Tempo run and then do a 2.5k cool down back to the store. Some people stop to reset their watches after the 2.5k but most people just continue into the Temp without a break. I stopped a 100 meters or so before the starting point and walked to give my legs a break. I find that my shins are always a little tight when I start out on a run but when I take a short walk break and then continue everything is great. Anyways I was the only one that did this, leave it to me to rebel. As soon as I started I felt great and gained momentum quite quickly. I definitely started the 1k a little too fast but boy did it feel great.

Breakdown of the 3k Tempo Run:
1k: 5:01/km
2k: 5:15/km
3k: 5:04/km

Our instructor provided Tempo time ranges before we started based on our best times using the MacMillan calculator. So when I plug in my best ½ marathon time from this year, I get the following (when I do my best marathon time, the times are slower).

Endurance Workouts Pace/K

Recovery Jogs                   6:44 to 7:03
Long Runs                        6:07 to 6:44
Easy Runs                         6:07 to 6:26

Stamina Workouts Pace/K
Steady-State Runs             5:30 to 5:40
Tempo Runs                      5:17 to 5:30
Tempo Intervals                 5:12 to 5:23

I definitely did yesterday’s workout way too fast but I needed that ego boost given the set back I experienced in the past few months. So based on the calculator results above, my Tempo run average should be between 5:17 and 5:30. Next week I will certainly give it a try and stay within that zone and see how I feel.

Marlene I couldn’t help but think of you during this Tempo run for the last time we did these runs, my goal was always to stay on your tail. There is no hope in hell that I would be able to do this now given the incredible progress you have made but one can only hope. I hope you have a great Marathon experience tomorrow in Seattle!!!!!!!!!!!!!