It was a very nice morning for a run. Just a hair on the cool side after so many warm days last week, but I won't complain. I know the summer runs at 80 degrees and 100% humidity are coming soon enough.
I was set to do my Tempo run this morning. My plan says to do 35 minutes at race pace minus 45-60 seconds. In keeping with the theme established during my long run Saturday, I decided to push that up just a bit. I figure if I'm trying to get faster there's no real need to pussy foot around it. Seriously, why would I run 35 minutes at less than race pace when I know I can run it faster than race pace. Logically, it seems that would improve my speed and endurance more than taking it easy for 35 minutes. I don't get the reasoning, myself. So, I went for it. I started out thinking I would try to hang in the low to mid 9s. I looked down after mile one and Mr. Garmin told me I had done it in 9:08 - a faster pace than my previous 5K. I knew I could run faster so I didn't slack off and tried to push just as hard as I had been. Mile two was down in 9:03. At this point I wanted to see how much I had left so I picked up the pace fairly significantly. My specific goal at this point was to beat my previous 5K time. Mile three came and went in 8:43 - my fastest mile ever. I watched the clock for the next .1 mile to see what my 5K time would be and it clicked over to 3.1 at around 27:40 which would be an average per mile of 8:55. At this point I still had over seven minutes left to run and I had pushed myself pretty hard. I let up just a little bit, but my momentum wouldn't let me slow much, so I just did what felt comfortable for the time I had left.
I pushed pretty had this morning but still feel like I could have gone faster, especially for the 5K distance. I'm pleased with my performance and I'm looking forward to my next race at the end of the month.
Today's Stats: I did 3.9 miles in 35 minutes for an average pace of 8:58/mile. That's 11 seconds faster per mile than my best 5K time.
Next up: I skipped yesterday's swim. Mondays and swimming just don't go together, apparently. I'm hoping to get back to the pool in the morning. Thursday will be an interval run.
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