Thursday Tempo Work

A few quick articles I found - first, a goodbye of sorts to Brian Sell from his Hansons teammate and friend Patrick Rizzo - very well written, might I add. Second, a NY Times piece on running in the winter and the "shocking" allegation that it is tougher to run in the colder conditions. And lastly, marathon legend Catherine Ndereba intends on becoming the oldest marathon winner at the 2012 London Games at age 40.

Wednesday night, gave in to feeling like crap and general laziness and postponed my easy run until tonight. Sort of regretted it, but I slept so well that night that it was probably in my best interest to do so. Yesterday, got home after work and immediately pushed out thoughts of waiting to run. At this point, it is so easy to take a nap when I get home since it gets dark so fast, and the longer I wait the less likely I am to run. Put on my shoes, ate some raisins, and got ready to run. Weather was nice outside - 60's and breezy. Sort of following the Runners World 1/2 Marathon Training plan developed by Toby Tanser for the next couple months, which should help me develop speed again, but with faster splits. So the plan was 5 mile tempo, and I intentionally picked a somewhat hilly route to help develop strength for my legs.

First mile, felt pretty decent and the legs were responding well. Ran out towards the trail, and was really aggressive the first half so had to slow it down a bit. Made an impromptu decision to hit a couple miles on the trail despite it getting pretty dark, but figured it would motivate me to keep up the fast pace if I was racing the sun/moon. On the trail, it's a lot more flat so settled into a good rhythm and just got lost in my own world. Breathing was under control, turnover was also good. Made the turn around, which is never fun to literally come to a complete start then restart, but got back into it pretty fast. Freaking animals scurrying in the dark always make me a little antsy, so pushed it midway on the 3rd mile to get the heck off the now dark trail. Made my way back out to the "wonderful" 1.5 mile hilly finish, and was feeling pretty decent. Pushed it a little and had fun with the run in general. Last half mile stretch is net downhill, so picked it up even more and hit my fastest mile split. Did one mile cooldown, stretched out a bit, felt awesome. Total mileage: ~6 miles - splits were: 6:26, 6:34, 6:39, 6:27, 6:17.

I think when I'm having a good day, the tempo run is my favorite run to do - conversely, if you're feeling like crap it's the most strenuous and evil run of all, but I nailed it today. Hit 6:29 average, and had plenty left in the tank to have pushed it more so the last couple weeks of speedwork is starting to show. I am still looking for a 5K to do within the next couple weeks, but will continue on with my current schedule. Wanted to do the Alton 10 Miler on Thanksgiving weekend, but not going to fit in my schedule so will find some other race to do. Tonight, will do my Wednesday easy run (legs feel fantastic right now), then hit up a long run and a medium sized run over the weekend. TGIF!!!