Spot-On Tempo Run

Last night when I looked at my training schedule, I got a little excited at the workout Coach had planned for me this morning: it included three sets of five-minute intervals to be run at tempo pace. He even gave me a goal pace: under 7-minute miles. I knew it would be tough, but I also knew that if I nailed it, it would boost my confidence in my run. Running is definitely the area that I need the most work. Some of it is that I need to train in a speedier realm and get my body to learn to be comfortable at those paces, but a lot of it is mental.

Before my run I started with some foam rolling and Movement Prep exercises just like Jessi taught me, because I've found that it really does help to get the blood flowing before a workout. I felt great on the first tempo interval which resulted in an average pace of 6:46 min/mile. The second interval was a little tougher, but I pushed through and wound up with a 6:44 min/mile pace. I thought to myself, "great job, but you've got one more to go!". The jogging recovery between the 2nd and 3rd interval was most definitely much slower than between the 1st and 2nd. Of course, the third interval was tough. I dug deep and gave it my best shot, but I was at my threshold for sure. Some of the walkers I passed gave me some concerned looks. The last interval's pace was right at 7 min/mile. I was a little disappointed in that last one because it was so close to being under 7 min/mile pace, but knew I had given it my all.

I finished up, quite pleased with my efforts, and jogged (yes, I am using the term "jogged" here for a reason!) on back home. After I logged my workout in TrainingPeaks, Coach emailed me with some kind words. He basically said I did that workout perfectly because I pushed myself and fell off pace on the last interval. I'm happy to know that I did that workout just as he had designed it. The fact that he gave me a goal pace really, really helped me to focus my efforts. Otherwise I probably would have thought to do them at 7:30 pace, which clearly would not have been fast enough.

I love nailing a workout. It just adds more fuel to the fire, and I know to savor it because there are certainly going to be bad ones, too. Looking forward to the next challenging workout...