Solid Tempo

Saturday, September 22nd

9:00 AM - Tempo Run
Lincoln
25 min warmup
strides
4.6 Mile Tempo - 23:36 [5:12, 5:12, 5:09, 8:02 (3:04, 4:58)]
5:07 Avg. (in trainers)
25 min cooldown
Total = 12 Miles, 74 min

So let me explain the jumble above. We have this 4.6 mile loop that we run out at lincoln which is in a pretty good spot. It's on the roads but doesn't get much traffic and it's fairly hilly but ends on a nice downhill ...which is always appreciated. Kevin always drives to the 1, 2, and 3 mile marks on the course to yell splits but rather than figuring out where the 4 mile mark is and going there, he just goes to the mile-to-go mark which, because of the loop we do, is the same as the 1 mile mark. So I can't tell you what my 4th mile was but I do know my last mile was 4:58 and by doing some quick math on that .6 Mi time (3:04), I figure I was about 5:05 for the 4th mile, putting me at about 20:38 for 4 Miles.

Overall it wasn't too bad, I ran it with Lutz and Liam and with doing a staggered time start, we caught everyone except for Mark Mayall. I think this was Justin's first workout back and Liam claimed to be in just OK shape since he was "only at 100 miles/week". However, they both pulled away from me a bit in the last half mile so either they're in better shape than they think or I'm just a little behind them in fitness. It did feel tough in the last mile but considering the pace and how early in the season it is, I'm not too concerned about letting those guys go at the end. At this time last year, I couldn't run that pace in a 5k race so I'll take it as a quality workout and use it to gage my projected efforts for next weeks 5K at Murray Keatinge. It will serve as my "rust buster" to open up the season but I still hope to put up a good effort and at least close hard in the end. Time seems to be going by faster and faster as we prepare to enter october so I can't help but get a little anxious for upcoming races. However, I remind myself of the big picture and that these races are simply my preparation for what lies further down the road.