Under (Peer) Pressure: Workout Wednesday

I wanted to run a workout that would benefit me in my upcoming 10K race this morning, so I asked my training partner Missy if she would do any of the following workouts with me.  Keep in mind that she is a triathlete and training for an August Ironman, an October 70.3, and likely a November marathon. She can exercise forever!

A)       3 x 2 mile repeats with 1 mile recoveries

B)      Repeats of 2 miles, 1.5 miles, 1 mile, 0.5 mile with recoveries of half the distance of the previous repeat

C)      5 mile tempo run, 1 mile recovery, 1 mile throw down

Her reply?  “I don’t think I want to do any of that!  I may die!”  I know full and well that she is in great shape and COULD do any of these right with me, but she is scared of faster work like I am scared of double digit tempos.

So I went on from there to tell her how it will help increase her VO2 max, which would help with her longer races because she wouldn’t have to run at as high of a percentage of VO2 max at a given pace.  I then continued to coerce her into running the 5 mile tempo with me, because I knew she would pick it above the other workouts -  with the disclaimer that she could drop back a little if needed and also still get in the 15 miles total that she wanted (I was only doing 10ish total, and could not be coerced into doing a 15 mile tempo with her so soon after racing a half).  I really wanted to have her with me on this workout, and I knew she would rock it!

Then she acquiesced!  I told her 6:30ish pace for the tempo miles, and we were both off to bed for 4:XX a.m. alarms.

We met bright and early, each starting in different locations and running to each other on the warm up.  We met when she was at nearly 3 miles in and I wasn’t even to a mile yet, as she was running more mileage total than me.  We wrapped up the warm-up to give me a little over 2 miles warm-up (2.1 to be exact), and we were off on the tempo miles!

I felt good and went out in the 6:20s instead of the 6:30s.  After passing mile 1 in 6:24, the pace was set.  I have a thing where I cannot let my first mile be my fastest (and prefer that it is my slowest)!  My splits ended up being 6:24, 6:22, 6:23, 6:23, and 6:15 for the tempo miles (average 6:21).  I was pretty happy with my consistency and strong finish!  I wasn’t aiming to pick up the 5^th mile since I still had the throw down mile remaining, and in fact I told Missy that I WASN’T going to, but I think I just do it naturally once my brain says, "last mile!"

Then we were off on a 1-mile recovery jog, but based on logistics of where it would be best to start our cool-down, we ended up cutting it to a 0.7 recovery.  Missy didn’t do the throw-down mile with me, but I pushed with all I had for a 6:05.  I would have liked to be sub-6:00, but for a rolling road course this was what it was!  Overall I was pleased with the workout. I then walked while Missy caught up and I ran what ended up being a 1.7 mile cool down for 10.5 miles total for the morning.

Missy ran 15 miles total like a complete stud, and told me that she was glad we did the workout we did.  I push her out of her comfort zone on the shorter faster stuff, and she pushes me on the longer stuff, so we are a good pair!  Now I live in fear of an upcoming 12+ mile tempo that's I've committed to!