5 miles – This was my first “do 20 minutes at tempo pace” run of this marathon training cycle.
I ran from my hotel, the Smithfield Station, up the rural road and around some restaurants then retracing my route back. I returned in my car after breakfast to take a few photos of the things I saw.
The goal was to warm up for a mile, then go to tempo pace for 20 minutes, then cool down for a mile. My tempo pace as per the Amby Burfoot pacing charts is 6:43.
I went for 20 minutes, then kept going an extra .25 miles to get three miles at tempo effort. I was above the goal pace on all three of the miles, coming in with 6:56, 6:51, 6:50. I saw the first one and did not make a hard effort to change my speed, this was what was coming out this morning on these roads. The weather was humid but 73 degrees. I was satisfied with this effort, I know how the tempo runs feel now.
They are sprinkled in through the weeks of training, I can adjust them as I see the need. This was a good run, I won’t fret over a 7-13 second deficit because my effort was fair and getting this done while traveling was better than leaving it off the schedule and trying to piece it in somewhere else.
drun4fun 