Tempo Run: 5/30/11

I'm trying to get back in the groove.  I have a tentative 5K on my schedule for June 25.  I only ran 9 times in May.  That's just not good enough.  Yesterday being a Memorial Day made it a little easier because I didn't have to get up as early as normal in order to be have time to run and get ready for work. 

I had decided on a tempo run to get back in the swing.  I didn't want to follow the prescribed pace of 30-45 seconds slower than my most recent race pace, though.  I don't want to just beat my last 5K, I want to crush it.  I figure if I want to run a race in the low 8s, I'm going to need to train as if that's my race pace.  That may be misguided, but as long as I'm injury free, I don't see how it can hurt.  I decided to shoot for around a 9:00 mile average for my tempo run. 

Mile 1 was a little slow as it has a long fairly steep uphill section at the very beginning.  I do get the benefit of turning around and doing that section in the other direction going downhill though, so it worked out.  First mile was done in 9:16.  I was able to pick up the pace slightly for mile 2.  That section is basically flat.  I completed the second mile in 9:01.  By the third mile, I was feeling the heat and the fact that I haven't been running as much as I should.  My heart rate had been steadily climbing and finally reached the 170s during the third mile.  I pushed on, though.  I'm not going to get faster by slowing down when I'm a little uncomfortable.  I finished mile 3 in 8:55.  I had it in my mind that I would be able to slow down a bit after I completed the third mile, but it seems like the faster I go, the faster I want to go, so I just kept pushing it out all the way back to the car, sprinting up the final hill with all I could give it and averaged an 8:37/mile pace over the final .6.  Probably not a true tempo run, in that I accelerated through the whole thing instead of maintaining a steady pace.  I figure it's beneficial, though, as long as I'm not slowing down. 

Today's Stats:  I did 3.6 miles in 32:27 for an average pace of 9:00/mile.

Next Up: I'll be doing intervals in the morning.  My plan is 10 reps of 2 minutes @ 8:00/mile followed by 1 minute of easy jog sandwiched between a one mile warm up jog and a one mile cool down jog.  I may skip the cool down as I have in the past.