After an easy run yesterday, I was planning on a harder workout today. I've been doing so many 800 repeats lately that I am becoming comfortable with them. I really like running hard for a short distance and then being able to recover. Instead of running more of those, I need to start doing more tempo runs. I need to get out of my comfort zone. Tempo runs are more productive for marathon training anyway.
A few weeks back, I attempted a tempo run, but went out too hard and crashed and burned around mile 2 of "comfortably hard" running. The goal today was to put in 4 miles with that kind of effort.
The tricky thing today was the weather. It was raining all morning and afternoon. I took a nap after work because of that. I struggled to get up. Things were fairly clear near dinner time. I was just glad there was no lightning (as the forecast had called for). It was actually quite cold, so I had on a regular shirt and shorts.
The plan was for a 2 mile warm up and cool down and then 4 miles at a tempo pace in between. Since it rained all day, I need some pavement to run on. I didn't want to run on a soggy, stone trail. That could've really messed things up.
I went to the Plainfield Recreation Trail. I haven't run there in awhile. I don't really enjoy it there, so I don't go there often. Still, I liked the idea of having no busy road crossings. As I was changing socks and shoes in the car, I saw a skunk walk across the trail. That was enough to make me run elsewhere.
I wasn't too far from Mill Race Park, so I drove down there. This is a nice place to run, although it isn't totally flat (at least not near the park). It is pretty along the creek and can actually be fairly crowded with people and activity.
I started off heading towards Penn Pump Park. I began nice and slow. The legs felt pretty good. There was no soreness. When I got a massage last week, I thought it would have a noticeable impact right away. That wasn't the case, but I think it is having some effect now. I feel great.
I learned early on in this run that my GPS watch would be unreliable. I was going slow, but I certainly wasn't running at a 10 minute pace. At one point, it went from over 10 minutes, to 9:47 pace and then back to like 10:07 in a short period of time. I didn't care how accurate it was during the warmup, but that would be more important during the key portion of the run.
I can typically tell how a tough workout will go by how I feel during the warm up. The first mile was good, but the second mile seemed to drag on a bit. I don't usually warm up that long. I got faster and faster by the end of that mile. It was right around 8 minutes flat.
I was now into the tempo portion of the run. Last time I tried a tempo run here, I was in the 6:40s for the first hard mile and I burned myself out. Today, I was able to start more conservative. I wanted to make sure that I had enough for 4 good miles.
I was a little disappointed in the first mile. I was hoping that I could run under 7 minute miles and maybe even under 6:51 for the entire tempo segment. However, that first hard mile was only a 7:06.
One of the things that kept slowing me down were the road crossings. At Penn Pump Park, I had to stop to cross the road. For some reason, they still haven't officially opened the new section. That's a little ridiculous because the paving was done in the fall. Running around the construction gates slowed me up too. More than that, it broke up my steady rhythm.
I ran by a house and a dog was barking. I was glad it didn't chase me. I continued on, running fairly hard. My breathing was pretty labored. Even though it was cool, with the rain, the air was very damp. That made breathing difficult and also caused me to sweat. I guess it wasn't exactly ideal conditions.
One good thing is that not knowing if my GPS was accurate caused me too push on and just try to maintain the effort I was putting forth. If I was running that slow and I knew it was accurate, I might have quit earlier or slowed down when things got tough.
I ended up turning around at about 1.67 miles into the tempo portion of the run. At this point, I was behind the Crayola Factory. Some kids drove by and yelled something at me. I was too focused to care.
I continued on and was disappointed that I wasn't running miles under 7 minute pace. It is what it is though. I just have to run wherever I'm at now and work from there. It was better to run longer today than to run shorter and faster again. I need to start extending my speed. I don't need to get a lot faster. Hard mile 2 was an identical 7:06.
My legs still felt good, but that this point, I was working really hard. I didn't think I could possibly keep up this breathing for the remaining 2 tough miles. I just tried to focus on making it to hard mile 3 and not worry about the other mile. I did slow down in this mile. Some of that could've been due to going uphill. Also, I'm not sure if my GPS was correct.
I battled up the slight incline and hit 7:13 for this mile. I thought I was slipping. I was near Mill Race Park and decided to turn around for the final hard mile. This would now be downhil.
The GPS was definitely off early in this mile. At one point, it read 8:13 or so. That was early and I was slowing some, but I wasn't going anywhere near that slow. I just worked and worked. I kept looking down at my watch, but it seemed like forever. My legs were losing a little bit at this point. It was still my breathing that was holding me back though. It was encouraging to watch the pace drop for this mile.
I started to get a side sticker, but I was able to get through that. I was now soaked. Some of that from the rain, some of that just from sweating in the damp air. I finished the last hard mile just before the busy Penn Pump Park road crossing. It was a 7:07 mile. That wasn't accurate either. I might've been closer to a 7 minute mile. I was happy to finish the hard segment strong.
After I hit that fourth hard mile, I immediately slowed to a crawl. I should probably bring my speed back down gradually after a hard run. I build it up gradually during the warm up and should do the same on the cool down.
I cruised on back at a nice a slow pace. Now, I was actually close to a 10 minute pace. I was glad that my legs weren't hurting. Of course, I was more grateful that I was done with the hard running portion.
The last two easy miles seemed to take forever. Just before the last mile, I took my shirt off. It was soaked and sticking to me. It caused some nipple chafing. I must've looking crazy to the guy that I ran by, because it was pretty cold out and I was shirtless. There were a few people running in the beginning of the workout, but most were done by the end. One guy was running in khakis and seemed overly happy when he was waving. I'm glad he enjoyed himself.
I didn't quite have the pace that I was hoping for, but I was still happy with the effort. I do seem like I might be getting a little slower, instead of faster over the last couple weeks. I don't know, but my progress hasn't been as great as I would've hoped for. Obviously, I'm much faster than this time a year ago, so that is good. At that time, I ran a 4 mile race at just under 32 minutes. Today, I ran my 4 mile fast segment at just over 28 minutes. I could've probably broken 28 minutes if I really killed myself.
I also looked at my watch at the 5K point of the fast running portion of the workout. The watch read 39:20 overall. That meant that I ran this fast 5K segment in 22:14. I guess that pretty good considering that I ran almost 23 minutes in a race in March and today was also faster than my Blue Eagle 5K race last summer. I'm curious as to what kind of 5K race time I am capable of running at the moment.
I'm hoping I recover well from this run. Tomorrow, I will likely go to Trexler. That could be interesting because it might be in the 90s. I'll probably go in the evening. I guess I'll likely have to carry water. I'd like to run the whole loop, but the heat might dictate the distance.
8 miles - 1:05:09 (8:09 pace)
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