I am working on my speed lately and doing different types of training to get my speed and endurance up for our half marathon in 18 days.  Yesterday was tempo run day.  It was very interesting to run.  This was my second tempo run as I ran one last week also, but I approached this one differently to see if I could get a better result.

First, I ran it my first day back to running this week.  TJ, RS and I take Monday’s off to rest, but it all starts again Tuesday.  TJ likes to run a regular run on Tuesday, and that is what I did last week, but as I mentioned yesterday, I think I need more time between my hill run and my long run, so running my tempo run on Tuesday will make my hill run on Thursday and I’ll have 2 days before my long run on Sunday.

So how did it go?  Well, I decided to run 2 miles before increasing my pace to the ~7:00 mark.  I felt good and think it was beneficial to run 2 miles before rather than last week when I only ran one.  The tempo part (starting mile 3) seemed easier than last week.  In fact it seemed much easier for the first 1.5 miles even though I was running the same route.  Then the last half mile was a killer.  I end my second mile going up an incline, not large, but it does hit hard after running that fast.  By the time I got the second mile completed, I was spent – just like last week.  I decided rather than going down hill to my home, that I would continue straight and see if I could make 3 miles – nope.  I got about a 10th of a mile further and had to slow down.  So I just ran mile 5 at a slower recovery pace.

My goal is to make 3 miles at my tempo pace, but just doing this for 2 weeks I know it will take more time.  So here is the interesting part – I ran my first two miles at a medium fast regular pace and my tempo miles slower than last week but still under 7:30 pace.  In the end, I finished the 5 miles two seconds slower that last week.  Two seconds.  Here is the breakdown for anyone who is interested (or for me to look back on to compare):

Mile 1 – 8:46
Mile 2 – 8:34
Mile 3 – 7:19
Mile 4 – 7:21
Mile 5 – 8:52

I ran all five miles in 41:08 this week and in 41:06 last week.  So I guess my tweaking didn’t make much of a difference, except the fact I felt better during the tempo part for a longer time, but I also ran it a bit slower.

That is it. Another run down

I love running.