My coach gave me 6:15-6:25 as my goal pace range for the tempo miles, and also said to start slower and speed up if I could. I've written a few times about his grandiose ideas for my tempo paces, and I've mostly just been hanging onto the top of the pace ranges he has given me. I had the same pace range for my last 6 mile tempo a couple of weeks ago, and I averaged 6:24 on it so had no delusions of running anywhere near 6:15 pace for 8 miles, and really figured that 6:30 was probably a more realistic pace goal for this run (I could NOT have run 2 more miles at tempo the day I did the 6 at 6:24).
I've felt kind of crummy all week; I think it's been a combination of a hard running weekend (Saturday race plus Sunday 18 miler) in the heat, not getting enough sleep, and the stress of and work of getting ready to leave on an 8-day vacation. Then when I don't sleep enough I end up eating crappier, so I've been on sugar which gives me a temporary lift, then I feel worse, and then have to reach for more sugar and end up in a bad cycle (and I also feel bloated!). I did not feel confident about this workout (goal pace or total mileage) - especially considering how I felt on Wednesday (I ran a fartlek that day and wasn't even hitting near 6:25 pace on the "ons", which were only 2-3 minutes!). So I was feeling a little doomed, but decided that all I could do was give it a try with both the tempo and total mileage, and if I couldn't do part of it or any of it then I couldn't; sometimes your body just can't do it and I am learning to respect that more.
I think having a super short easy run yesterday helped, because I didn't feel awful when starting this run - the first time I could say that this week. I did my warm-up, which ended up being 2.3 miles, peed and got a sip of water, and started off. I ran this on the YMCA dirt half mile loop, which sounds awful when you think about 16 laps, but which I love because I get in a really good rhythm and pace well on it without looking much at my watch. I also think it's a fast course, and I knew that it was probably my only chance to hit my pace goal! I planned to start around 6:30 pace and knew I would feel fine about this workout if I ended up averaging 6:30, but figured if I felt good then I could try to drop the pace a bit as the run went on and try to sneak closer to the 6:25 goal average.
My first two miles were both 6:30 exactly, and they were okay but I did not feel confident about finishing the 8 miles tempo at that point. I felt like I was having to push a bit too much to keep my pace there (on a good tempo I usually feel like I am holding back on the beginning miles, especially with a tempo this long). Mile 3 felt a little better and my pace dropped a bit, and then as I came towards mile 4 I actually started to feel good! For the first time I thought that I was going to be able to finish the workout! Miles 4-5 were great and I was in the zone, and mile 6 was a little harder but I felt like I had a good chance at keeping it under 6:30 for the remainder. I looked at my overall pace average, which was 6:27 at that point, and told myself that it was only 2 more miles. "It's like mile 11 of a half marathon!"
That thought helped me push more and speed up mile 7. Then I decided to hammer mile 8 and see how much I could take off my average pace. I was happy to see that I dropped to 6:11, and also quite happy to be done! I walked for probably 2 minutes and got a drink before starting my cool-down. I didn't feel too confident about running all 5 miles of it, but again I decided to try!
The 5.1 mile cool-down felt much like I expected it would when I saw this crazy workout on paper, and believe it or not "good" was not the adjective that came to mind! I felt like I was really slogging, but my pace stayed right around 8:00 or just under, so it was just fine and I got the miles in. It wasn't the easiest but it was manageable.
My legs are pretty hammered from this, but my next 3 days are pretty light (5 easy miles, 7 base pace miles with strides, cross-train), so hopefully I can recover well - although I will be on vacation which will be a barrier. I don't have my August training schedule yet (I am expecting it on Sunday - but I know that August 1 will be no running because I never run on Mondays). I am both excited and terrified to see what it brings! I once read a quote that was something like, "If your goals don't scare you, they aren't big enough", and I guess the same could be said about your tempo paces!
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