Friday, August 21, 2009

Tempo

I just finished my first tempo run of the season. That is kind of crazy given I am in week 11 of training! I guess I had a 5K and a 10K a couple weeks ago, but this was my first true tempo run. And it wasn't one for the weak-hearted: 11 miles with 6 @ 15K pace.

I looked at McMillan the equivalent 15K pace for a 3:25 marathon was 7:31. That seemed kind of slow, but perfect for my first heavy tempo - particularly since it is in the middle of my first 70 mile week! (Turns out it was slow - I looked at it wrong - proper tempo was 7:16. But 7:30 is more accurate for me right now).

I got up at 4:40 am. Ouch. My warm-up was slow and my HR seemed really high. It was 60 degrees and humid. As my warm-up progressed, my HR dropped some. Thank goodness. Then I was off: 7:30, 7:33, 7:32, 7:26, 7:29; 7:10. Perfect. Did a short cool down and hit my 11 miles. Sweet.

My boys are off to Mount Olympus today. It is a huge water park / amusement park. James is thrilled and keeps talking about a roller coaster he wants to go on called "Hades" - it has a 160 foot drop and then goes underground. Top speed - 70 mph. I am excited for them, but also a bit terrified. I used to do legal work for an amusement park holding company so I know what kind of terrible things happen all the time. Not to mention tons of people. But alas, I need to put that out of my mind and have faith that they'll be safe and have a terrific time.

I am also meeting with the principals of 2 local schools at lunch today to discuss Girls on the Run. Very cool.

Happy Friday!

1 comment:

Runnin-From-The-Law said...

Nice tempo! What a great run to get done before work.

The Girls On The Run things sounds so cool! I have looked into chapters here and have contacted one that is close by to see if they need help/volunteers. I would definitely think of starting one near where I live and/or work - once life slows down for me! I'll be very interested to hear how you do it - keep blogging about it!