THOMAS' TEMPO TORMENT

I've been needing to do speedwork for a while. This fact has been floating around in my noggin but rarely have I felt good enough to do it. Well, after a boost of confidence after the twenty miler and a body that didn't feel 90 for once, I was all set to do a tempo run yesterday at PRC. After feeling bad about doing an "easy run" Monday I pretty much made plans with Alejandro to run fast today. Once committed, I couldn't back out. I was even looking forward to finally pushing myself.

Well, yesterday rolls around and it's freaking hot. It was 90 degrees at 6pm when we started running. Alejandro was the one trying to back out (he had legitimate excuses) but I was stubborn. I was going to do my tempo run. I realized the heat was going to slow me down, but that didn't mean I shouldn't do it. If anything it was great training that would make me even stronger. So out we went. I was targeting something like a 7:55/mile pace. I hadn't run under 8:00/mile in seemingly forever so the 7:55/mile in that weather seemed like a good challenge.

7:55 would have been a challenge. Instead, my miles went: 7:26, 7:26, 7:33, 7:36, 7:41, 7:28. So it was a super challenge. Once we hit mile six, Alejandro, another guy that joined us, and me slowed down to a 9:00ish pace for a "cool down" mile. Six miles was torturous enough and a hell of a workout. Overall, it wasn't as bad as I thought. That pace felt quick and challenging, but not impossible. The heat was soul sucking though. It didn't bother me for the first few miles but towards the end I was starting to feel it. All in all I was really glad I did the run and it gave me another boost of confidence... I am not in the shape I was last year, but I am not in horrible shape either.

All runs under 8:30/mi(!) in the last two months.

When I got home I was curious about when my last tempo run was. Turns out the last time I "ran fast" was July 15th! That was a 10k on my "home loop" done at 7:58 a mile. The week before, on July 9th, I did intervals on the Southridge track, averaging 7:18/mile. Good two weeks of workouts there. However, before those, my last tempo run or intervals was June 11th! A four mile tempo at home. Meaning in the last two months I've only done four speed workouts. Oops. All told though, my marathon legs seem to be rounding into form and this latest tempo went pretty well so, all given, I'm doing pretty well.