Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Tempo Run This Morning

It's Wednesday - which means speedwork for me.  Instead of hitting the track for intervals, I decided to do a tempo run this morning.  Since the mileage is decreasing this week with the taper, I was only doing 6 miles - so I was able to use one of my neighborhood loops.  The actual distance on this loop is 6.2 miles - so I'll be able to see what I can do with a 10K race :-)

I started the run out with an easy first mile - my HR was in the 140s most of the time - and I clocked it at 10:05.  Wow...my body felt really sluggish and tired - like it was hard to move - yet my pace was really good.  It was perfect running weather - about 55 degrees and overcast - so perhaps that was why I did so well?  Maybe my body really has adjusted to all the training and I'm in great running shape?  Who knows.  I know why I felt sluggish - not enough sleep and not enough carbs....and I still have 5 more days of Passover - YIKES!

After the easy mile I kicked it into higher gear.  I wanted to keep my HR in the 160s.  I did this through miles 2 and 3, however, during miles 4 and 5 there were some uphill patches - and some were on the steeper side - so I ended up getting into the 170s.  But I kept my pace up.  I finally slowed down with about 1/3 of a mile left - I know it was a short cool down...I was thinking it was 1/2 mile to home, but I underestimated the distance.

I ended up running the full 6.2 miles in 58:07.  My PR for the distance is 56:14 at the 2006 Pike's Peek 10K - which is a net downhill race.  The past two 10K Turkey Trots I have not done so well - times over 1 hour - but in each case I had donated blood less than a week before the race...and I am now seeing the correlation between my blood donations and running performance.  Either way - I'll take a 58:07 10K...and I may use this as a race strategy for my next 10K!!!

1 comment:

Rick said...

Don't sweat the fatigue feeling, in addition to your Passover diet, stress, and lack of rest, I think it is just generally typical of the tapering period as well.

I was going to drive my course a few weeks ago before the race, but in hindsight, am glad that I did not. I think it would have only served to have psyched me out.

You're doing well. Keep it up! Try and get some quality rest in this last week or so if you can. That's just as important as well.