Tempo Run

Good morning everyone. It really is a GOOD morning!

I woke up this morning a bit after 8 and got ready for a run. I had about 15 oz. of water mixed with Accelerade, which is a sports drink powder. Then I had 3 of the Chocolate PB Protein Cookies (which taste like bread - but don't taste bad!).

The temperature outside must be in the 60s and it's sunny = ideal running weather.

This morning I did a tempo run. A tempo run is when you do a mile or so of a warm up pace, and then accelerate for x number of miles or minutes, and then finish with another mile or so of a warm up pace. They train your body to run at a faster pace for a long period of time, so they are ideal in training for a 10k or 15k or what have you.

This was my planned tempo run:

Warm up - 10 minutes
Hover around 9 min mile pace - 15 minutes
Back to around 10 min mile pace - 10 minutes

Sounds pretty simple, right? Add in climbing hills in Cherokee Park and you get a bit of a challenge!

First of all, let me begin by saying that I have figured out why my Garmin was taking so long to warm up and locate satellites. I would turn the thing on indoors and move around. You're supposed to turn it on outside in an open area and just keep still. I went outside and turned it on and no later than 1 minute later it was good to go!

Here are my stats for the 35 minute tempo run:

Lap 1 (Mile 1) = 10:09
Lap 2 (Mile 2) = 9:17
Lap 3 (Mile 3 - which included 5 minutes + of the tempo section of my workout) = 9:22
Lap 4 (Mile 4 - the first half of which was the last 5 minutes of my workout) = 10:23

I decided to run an even four miles at the end.

My reached my max pace on mile 2, which was a 7:28 minute mile. I'm not sure how long I held it, but I was there!

For the 35 minutes of my set workout, I ran 3.6 miles. Given the fact that I had to run up two hills, I would say this is pretty good. The 4 total miles I ran took me about 39:12.

Right now I feel great. This workout brings my mileage for the week to be between 13-14 miles.

My elbow is sore this morning. The pain is dull which seems like it would be better than sharp!

I'm off to stretch, ice, and get coffee with a friend. Have a great day!